What is Mat 24:30 “the sign of the Son of Man” that appears in heaven?

In Matthew 24, where Jesus talks about the end of the age and His return, He mentions that the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.

Mat 24:30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

What is the sign of the Son of Man that will appear in heaven? The phrase, “the sign of the Son of Man” is only mentioned in Matthew. None of the other gospel accounts mention it. This makes it harder to understand, nevertheless, I believe the Bible does explain its meaning. Before taking a look at this in detail, let’s look at the context.

At the start of the chapter, the disciples asked Jesus about the end of the age. Jesus, in verses 4-14, gave a summary. He said there would be false teachers deceiving many, wars and rumours of wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, persecution of God’s people, the gospel of the kingdom would be preached in all the world, and then the end will come. So, the period leading up to the end is filled with awful events. After this summary, Jesus gave us something to look out for.

Mat 24:15 “Therefore when you see the ‘ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand),

The appearance of the ‘ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION’ is an important event because it is the start of great tribulation.

Mat 24:16 “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Mat 24:17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house.
Mat 24:18 And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
Mat 24:19 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
Mat 24:20 And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.

God’s people who are in Judea need to flee quickly.

Mat 24:21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.

The appearance of the ‘ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION’ indicates the start of great tribulation. The great tribulation is a time of terrible trouble on the earth that will threaten the very existence of all flesh – animals and men. The next verses, 23-28, warn about false Christs and instruct that the return of the true Jesus Christ will be obvious.

We have now covered the context and come to the verse in question.

Mat 24:29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Mat 24:30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Mat 24:31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

These three verses are a summary of events which are described in more detail in Revelation 6, which describes the seven seals. The first four seals are the famous four horses, white, fiery red, black, and pale. These are respectively, religious deception, war, famine, and disease. The fifth seal is martyrdom of God’s people. The sixth seal is heavenly signs. Let’s look at these three verses (Mat 24:29-31) in more detail with the sixth seal in mind.

Mat 24:29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days …

The “tribulation of those days” are all the events following the appearance of the ‘ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION’ that Jesus just described in the preceding verses, 15-28. The “tribulation of those days” is also described by the first five seals of Revelation 6.

Mat 24:29 … “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

These heavenly signs or disturbances are the same ones described in the sixth seal.

Rev 6:12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.
Rev 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.

What follows these heavenly signs?

These same events are also described in the sixth seal.

Rev 6:14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.
Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,
Rev 6:16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
Rev 6:17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

“All the tribes of the earth will mourn” in Mat 24:30 is described in more detail in Rev 6:15-17, where all men from different statuses will hide in caves to hide from God and His wrath. They know their day of reckoning has come and are clearly not happy – they are mourning.

“They will see the Son of Man” in Mat 24:30 is described in Rev 6:16 where they will want to hide from the face of Him who sits on the throne. They will see the Son of Man and want to hide from Him.

Lastly, “the sign of the Son of Man that will appear in heaven” in Mat 24:30, surely corresponds to the sky receding as a scroll when it is rolled in Rev 6:14. Both follow the heavenly signs and both precede the tribes of the earth mourning.

What is the sign of the Son of Man that will appear in heaven? If Scripture gives an answer, then surely it is the sky receding as a scroll when it is rolled up.