And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
All Commentaries on Matthew 24:30 Go To Matthew 24
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Ep. 199, 41: The first and most apparent meaning of this is of that time when He shall come to judge the quick and the dead in His body—that body in which Hesits at the right hand of the Father, in which He died and rose again and ascended into heaven. As we read in the Acts of the Apostles; “He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out their sight,” upon which it was said bythe Angels, “He shall so come as ye have seen Him go into heaven,” we may reasonably believe that He will come again, not only in the same body, but also in a cloud.
But because the Scriptures are to be searched, and we are not to content ourselves with the surface of them, let us look closely at what follows, “Whenye see all these things come to pass, know that he is near even at the door. "We know then that He is near, when we see come to pass not any of the foregoing things, but all of them, among which is this that the Son of Man shall be seen coming. “And he shall send his Angels,” who from the four quarters of the world shall gather together His elect. All these things He does at “the last hour” coming in His members as in the clouds, or in the whole Church asin one great cloud, as now He ceases not to come. And “with great power and glory,” because His power and glory will seem greater in the Saints to whom He will give great power, that they may not be overcome of persecution.
