According to Luke, there would be heavenly signs, pertaining to the sun, moon and stars before the time of the end (Luke 21:25). Both Matthew and Mark wrote that the sun would be darkened, and the moon wouldn’t give its light, and the stars shall fall from heaven (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-25), but if the sun withheld its light, the moon wouldn’t be able to shine, because it reflects the sun’s light. Moreover, if even one star fell from heaven to the earth, the earth and everyone on it would be destroyed. So, this couldn’t be literally true, but, rather, is apocalyptic language describing events that would occur near the time of the end.
Additionally, Luke tells us that there would be distress and perplexity of nations upon the land (Luke 21:25), but Luke 21:23 says this distress and wrath would be expressed toward the people of the land—i.e. the Jews. We could understand this as the distress and perplexity of the Jews of the Diaspora throughout the Empire, as they see Rome rising up and flowing over their homeland like the waves of the roaring seas (Luke 21:25; cf. Isaiah 17:12-13; Jeremiah 46:7-8). As far as the signs in the heavens are concerned, we could understand them as the leaders of the Jews (cf. Genesis 37:9-10) no longer in authority over the nation, or we can understand them as the heavens (God) being silent, no longer lighting the way for his people :
“Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it. And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.” (Isaiah 5:28-30 KJV – emphasis mine)
No matter how one reads the above, Luke 21:25 points to the defeat of the Jews in their war with Rome in 66-70 AD. Moreover, the hearts of the Jewish people would fail them as they endure the judgment God sends upon them (Leviticus 26:36; Deuteronomy 28:32-34, 65-67). It is not a matter of seeing some strange, unknown thing that makes them afraid, but, rather, it is the fact that they see their coming judgment from God and understand that their prayers for their homeland and Temple won’t be answered. They feel weak and without hope.
Jesus’ coming in the clouds (Luke 21:27; cf. Matthew 26:64) concerns his judgment upon his people as their Messiah, before whom they had refused to submit themselves (John 19:15; cf. Luke 19:14).
In Luke 21:28 Jesus seems to be pointing to the signs in the sun, moon and stars, and the fact that there doesn’t seem to be anyone who is able to stop the Roman army from flowing over the land (Luke 21:25). This all began when Cestius’, the Roman general, army surrounded and then entered the city of Jerusalem at the very beginning of the war. Jesus said when that occurred, the end would be at the doors (Luke 21:20-22; Matthew 24:33; Mark 13:29). That event occurred in 66 AD, and the war lasted three and one half years before Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed. From 66 AD onward until 70 AD every day was a sign of the coming judgment, and every day signaled the time of the end, meaning the Day of the Lord. While no one knew exactly when Jesus would end it all, every believer knew the time was near.
When the end was near, believers were supposed to look up (i.e. look to the Lord), because their redemption drew near, i.e. the time of their vindication and their deliverance from the enemy (their persecutors) drew near (Luke 21:28).
While all unbelieving Jews looked upon the judgment of God as something terrible and unexpected (Luke 21:25-26), believing Jews looked upon the judgment of God as a time of their freedom from their persecutors (Luke 21:28). Believers were released and vindicated, for they had been preaching that Jesus was the Messiah and foretelling Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed, but their persecutors wouldn’t accept this or repent and submit to Christ. The very **sign** that Jesus was in the heavens and reigning as Messiah (Matthew 24:30) was his judgment upon Jerusalem and the Temple (cf. Matthew 26:64). With Jerusalem and the Temple destroyed, there was no longer an organized persecution against believers, and the Gospel of Jesus being the Messiah was vindicated (Luke 21:13).
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