“Sed in illis diebus, post tribulationem illam, sol contenebrabitur, et luna non dabit splendorem suum :”
“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,”
“But in those days, after that tribulation: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light;”
“But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light,”
“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,”
In the day of judgment the luminaries of heaven shall be darkened, not by the privation of their light, but by the approach of the true light of the world, i.e. the great Judge. And what cause for wonder can there be, that man should be terrified at the thoughts of the last day, when the angelic powers shall tremble; or, how will these mortal habitations of ours stand the shock, when the very pillars of heaven shall be moved? what will the tender osier suffer, when the lofty cedars of Paradise bend their head! (Ven. Bede)
I. What is here foretold concerning it.
Verses 24-27 The disciples had confounded the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world. This mistake Christ set right, and showed that the day of Christ's coming, and the day of judgment, shall be after that tribulation. Here he foretells the final dissolution of the present frame and fabric of the world. Also, the visible appearance of the Lord Jesus coming in the clouds, and the gathering together of all the elect to him.