The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is a very obvious event when it finally occurs because everyone in the world will be able to see him. Now there are many details of the Second Advent that are revealed in this text.
The Coming of the Son of Man is:
After the tribulation 29 – When a Christian identifies himself as pre-tribulation and pre-millennial, he is telling others that he believes the church will be raptured before the tribulation begins and that the Lord will return before his kingdom on this earth will begin. Notice that the Lord comes “immediately after the tribulation of those days.” So, the proper order is the church age followed by the tribulation, and the tribulation followed by the 1,000-year reign of Jesus on the earth.
Preceded by darkness 29 – The sun and the moon are darkened and the stars fall from heaven. Joel 2:1-11 describes what happens on the earth when the darkness falls. It is great and very terrible. The stars falling from heaven are seen in Rev 12:4-8.
Accompanied by the powers of heaven shaking 29 – The powers of the heavens correspond to the devil and his angels. The devil is called “the prince of the power of the air,” in Eph 2:2. We wrestle against “spiritual wickedness in high places” according to Eph 6:12. There are literal “star wars” in heaven in Rev 12:7 around the time of the Lord’s return.
Revealed by a sign 30 – This is one of the things that the disciples were asking about in verse 3. The sign of his coming will be like lightning shining from east to west. The sign of his coming will be a bright light shining in the darkness (Jn 8:12; 1:4-5; Is 9:2 context v5; 2 Pet 1:19; Acts 9:3; etc).
Visible to everyone on earth 30 – Rev 1:7, “every eye shall see him.”
In the clouds 30 – Just as the angels said in Acts 1:9-11. Notice the clouds in the context of his coming in Rev 1:7; Dan 7:13; and Joel 2:2.
With power and great glory 30 – These are the power and glory that Jesus passed up in Lk 4:6. The glory and power with which he comes is the glory and power of his Father and not the glory and power that the devil and the world give (Matt 16:27; 28:18).
At the time of the tribulation rapture 31 – The tribulation rapture and the rapture of the church are two separate raptures. In the tribulation rapture, the angels are sent to gather the elect and a trumpet sounds (Rev 14:15-16; Rev 7:9, 14-15; Rev 11:15; Deut 30:3-5; Ps 50:5-6). In the rapture of the church, the Lord himself descends from heaven (1 Thes 4:16-18) to gather his saints.
Known by the generation that sees all these things 32-34 – All of the signs that Jesus preached in Matt 24:13-31 are the signs that will be seen by the generation that will witness the second coming of Jesus. Some have said that “this generation” in verse 34 was a reference to the generation alive at the time that Jesus spoke these words. They then conclude that the Second Coming was spiritual (not literal) around the time that Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD. But this cannot be true because all of the signs didn’t come to pass back then.
More certain than the existence of the universe 35 – What Jesus said that is recorded in the Bible will be here forever. And the things that he said will come to pass just the way that he said. The universe, on the other hand, will only be here until the Great White Throne judgment (Rev 20:11). What a surprise that will be to evolutionists who believe in the eternity of matter and reject the words of God.