30 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. 31 And 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. (Matthew 24:30-31 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Then shall the tribes mourn; that is, then shall the Jews be convinced that their destruction was the punishment of their sin, in rejecting and crucifying Christ; and accordingly they that pierced him shall behold him, and mourn over him. Thus it was before the destruction of Jerusalem, and thus will it be before the final judgment. They that pierced him shall be brought before him.
Lord, how will the sight of a pierced Christ pierce their souls with horror! they who have not seen a pierced Christ in the sorrows of repentence, shall hereafter see him in the sorrows of despair.
To behold Christ with the eye of sense hereafter, will be very dreadful and terrible to all those that have not beheld him with the eye of faith here.
And he shall send his angels with the sound of trumpet. Those that apply this to the destruction of Jerusalem, by the angels understand the ministers of the gospel, who by the trumpet of the word did bring in believers throughout all Judea, who were saved from that destruction. Those that understand it of the general judgment, take it literally, that Christ at the great day will send forth his holy angels, and gather all his elect to himself with the sound of a trumpet.
Probably, as there was an audible sound of a trumpet at the giving of the law, so there shall be the like sound of a trumpet, when Christ shall summon the world to judgment, for transgressing that law. A joyful sound will this be to the friends of Christ, a doleful, dreadful sound in the ears of his enemies.