Second Coming · False christs; the visible coming

Matthew 24:23-31

Jesus · ~30 AD · Status: Future · Confidence: 60%
“Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
King James Version · the opening — all 9 verses are below
More of Matthew 24 on this siteMatthew 24:2 · Matthew 24:3-14 · Matthew 24:15-22 · Matthew 24:32-35 · Matthew 24:36-51

Jesus warns against false christs and describes His own coming as unmistakable as lightning — visible, glorious, gathering the elect.

Read the whole passage — all 9 verses (KJV)

24:23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

24:24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

24:25Behold, I have told you before.

24:26Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

24:27For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

24:28For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

24:29Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

24:30And 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.

24:31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Fulfillment References

Daniel 7:13-14 Revelation 1:7 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 Matthew 24:30

How Traditions Read This Prophecy

Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalThe returning Son of Man is Jesus Himself in glory; Apostolics resist every counterfeit 'christ' and watch for the one Lord (Acts 1:11).
JewishThe Son of Man imagery draws on Daniel 7; Judaism reads Daniel's figure variously (Israel, or a Messianic agent) and does not identify him with Jesus.
CatholicThe unmistakable, public Parousia; the Church warns against deceivers who claim a hidden or private coming.
ProtestantA guard against date-setters and false messiahs — Christ's return will be self-evident, not secret or localized.
OrthodoxThe glorious manifestation of Christ to all, gathering the elect, with sober vigilance against deception.
DispensationalThe visible return to earth at the end of the tribulation (distinct from the rapture), when Israel's elect are regathered.
AcademicScholars trace the passage to Danielic and Zecharian imagery woven into the Synoptic apocalypse, addressing first-century deception.

Scholarship & Sources

Whether 'they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds' (24:30, citing Dan. 7:13) refers to the AD 70 judgment-coming or the visible second advent is the crux dividing preterist and futurist readings of the Olivet Discourse.

Open the full interactive entry →
Audio narration (listen to this prophecy read aloud), cross-references, Hebrew/Greek, Dead Sea Scrolls notes, a prophetic timeline, network maps, study tools and multi-tradition analysis in the interactive explorer.
Bible Prophecy Explorer · based on J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy catalogue · an openly Apostolic (Oneness) Pentecostal study resource — all traditions presented fairly. Pastor: C. Myles Young, D.Min. · Bishop: Nathaniel J. Wilson, Ed.D.