What does Mark 13:24-27 mean?

²⁴ But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, ²⁵ And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. ²⁶ And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. ²⁷ And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. (Mark 13:24-27 KJV)

The Coming of the Son of Man

These verses seem to point to Christ’s second coming to judge the world. The disciples, in their question, had confused the destruction of Jerusalem with the end of the world (Matthew 24:3), based on the mistaken belief that the temple would last as long as the world itself. Christ corrects this error and shows that the end of the world—the day of his coming and the final judgment—will occur after that tribulation, not at the same time. Those who live to see the Jewish nation destroyed should not think that because the Son of Man does not visibly come in the clouds, then he will never come that way. No, he will come afterward. And here he foretells:

1. The final dissolution of the present world order, even of the part least likely to change—the heavens. The sun will be darkened, and the moon will no longer give its light, for they will be outshone by the glory of the Son of Man (Isaiah 24:23). The stars of heaven, which have maintained their course since the beginning, will fall like leaves in autumn, and the powers in the heavens—the fixed stars—will be shaken.
2. The visible appearance of the Lord Jesus, to whom the judgment of that day is committed (Mark 13:26): Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds. He will likely appear over the very place where he sat when he said this, for the clouds are in the lower part of the sky. He will come with great power and glory, fitting the purpose for which he comes. Every eye will see him.
3. The gathering of all the elect to him (Mark 13:27): He will send his angels to gather his elect from one end of the world to the other, to meet him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17). None will be missing from that great assembly. They will be brought from the farthest parts of the earth to the farthest parts of heaven. Their journey will be certain, swift, and easy—none will be lost, even if they must be carried from the edge of bondage to the edge of the promised land.