<p>13:26 <i>And then shall they see the Son of Man- </i>In Matthew, when &ldquo;all the tribes of the earth / land mourn in repentance&hellip; then shall they see the Son of man coming&rdquo;. Some in Israel must repent before Christ returns. The Lord refers to this in speaking to the Jews who crucified Him: &quot;You shall see s.w. the Son of Man... coming in the clouds of Heaven&quot; (Mt. 26:64). They would see that all too late, as part of the process of their condemnation- to realize it was all true, and it is too late to do anything about it. The Lord had earlier used the same idea, in saying that that group would only &quot;see&quot; Him again when they said &quot;Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord&quot; (Lk. 13:35). They would see that and say that all too late. The Lord's words clearly suggest they of that generation would see His return in glory. But His coming was delayed, and they did not. But they will at the last day, for they will be resurrected to face judgment and condemnation. The chronological issues need not worry us too much- i.e. when will they be resurrected, at precisely what point on the timeline of these events. The meaning of time will surely be collapsed around the Lord's return. This will be the final fulfilment of the prophecy that they shall look upon Him whom they pierced and mourn (Rev. 1:7; Jn. 19:37; &quot;look&quot; is s.w. &quot;see&quot; in Mt. 24:30). The invitation of course is to look upon the crucified Christ now and mourn in repentance; for we shall have to do this one way or the other, either now in repentance, or too late in condemnation.</p><p><i>Coming in the clouds- </i>Dan. 7:14. The language of clouds and then Angels (Mt. 24:31) is reminiscent of the Lord&rsquo;s ascension, at which the Angels promised His return &ldquo;in like manner&rdquo;; and the same language is used of His return in Acts 1:7. This precludes any invisible &lsquo;coming&rsquo; in AD70. Rather than thinking that the Lord somehow &lsquo;came&rsquo; in AD70 in some metaphorical manner, I would suggest that the literal language is such that we can only conclude that His literal return has been delayed. Otherwise we end up forcing the obviously literal into the metaphorical.</p><p>The moment of the second coming is likened to a flash of lightning and the beginning of rain at the time of Noah's flood.&nbsp;&nbsp; This makes any application of&nbsp;<i>parousia</i>&nbsp;to the prolonged series of events in A.D. 69/70 at least tenuous when compared to the obvious application to the moment of the second coming.&nbsp;&nbsp; There are many links between Mt. 24,25 and 1 Thess. 4,5 which have been tabulated by several expositors. According to these connections, the Lord's 'parousia' mentioned in Mt. 24 is interpreted by Paul as referring to the literal second coming (Mt. 24:30,31 = 1 Thess. 4:15,16). In view of all this, it is desirable to interpret the 'coming' of the Lord in Mt. 24 as referring to the literal presence of Christ at His return, although this is not to rule out any primary reference to the events of A.D. 70.&nbsp;Indeed I would argue that since&nbsp;<i>parousia</i>&nbsp;means a literal presence, it&rsquo;s not the case that the prophecy received a primary fulfilment in AD70; rather is it that the literal return of Christ was intended then, but was rescheduled. At best, the&nbsp;<i>parousia</i>&nbsp;element of the predictions had no partial fulfilment in AD70. The flow of the prophecy is indicated by the repetition of words like &quot;then&quot; : &quot;<i>Then</i>&nbsp;shall they deliver you up...&nbsp;<i>then</i>&nbsp;shall many be offended...&nbsp;<i>then</i>&nbsp;shall the end come...&nbsp;<i>then</i>&nbsp;let them which be in Judea...&nbsp;<i>then</i>&nbsp;shall be great tribulation...&nbsp;<i>then</i>&nbsp;if any man shall say unto you, Here is Christ...&nbsp;<i>immediately after the tribulation of those days</i>&nbsp;(&quot;in<i> those days</i>, after that tribulation&quot;, Mk. 13:24)...&nbsp;<i>then</i>&nbsp;shall appear the sign of the Son of man...&nbsp;<i>then</i>&nbsp;shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the son of man coming&quot; (Mt. 24). There is no suggestion here of any break in application, from AD70 to the last days. If the reference to Christ coming in glory with the Angels is accepted as referring to the last days, but the earlier verses of the prophecy to AD70 alone, we have to find the point where Christ breaks from AD70 to the last days. And I would suggest such a point cannot be found.</p><p><i>&quot;</i>In the clouds&quot; clearly alludes to His ascension in clouds, and the promise that He would return &quot;in like manner&quot; (Acts 1:11), presumably meaning in clouds to the same Mount of Olives. Again we are invited to understand these as literal clouds, just as the signs in the heavenly bodies are likewise to be understood. At His coming, the figurative will pass away and planet earth and those who dwell upon it will be faced with the ultimate reality- the personal, literal coming of God's Son to earth.</p><p><i>With great power and glory</i>- The very words used by the Lord in the model prayer of Mt. 6:13 concerning the power and glory of the Kingdom of God. The coming of the Lord to establish the Kingdom is clearly yet future and did not occur in AD70. This is the time when &ldquo;the Son of Man shall come in the glory s.w. of His Father with His angels, and then shall He repay every man according to his deeds&rdquo; (16:27; 25:31). Likewise, this is &ldquo;the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of his glory s.w., and you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel&rdquo; (Mt. 19:28). Such a judgment and coming with Angels never occurred in AD70. John&rsquo;s equivalent of this is to emphasize that in essence, the believers behold Christ&rsquo;s glory now, insofar as they perceive the wonder and moral pinnacle of His achievement for us on the cross (Jn. 17:24). Col. 3:4 teaches that &ldquo;When Christ who is our life i.e. our basis of resurrection shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory&rdquo;. His coming in glory will be ours, in that we will have been snatched away to meet with Him and will come with Him to Zion. And yet the next verse speaks as if now, at this point, the Angels are sent to gather the elect. But these chronological discrepancies are no real issue for the believer if we accept that the meaning of time must be changed around the time of Christ&rsquo;s coming, as must the meaning of space if Einstein&rsquo;s theory of relativity is correct. This would explain all practical concerns about space and time issues relating to the day of judgment. Another window on the apparent chronological discrepancies is the consideration that there are various possible potential scenarios, which will work out according to the speed and nature of the spiritual response of both natural and spiritual Israel.</p>