is given to the “Son of man” whereby he rules and crushes the beastly governments that the sea of humanity has spawned.—Compare Revelation 13:1-3 and Re 17:15.

In the Bible, clouds are the accompaniments of the “power and great glory” Jesus mentioned at Matthew 24:30, and also are symbolic of invisibility. (1 Ki. 8:10-12) At Mount Sinai it was in clouds and with thunder and lightning that Jehovah God “met” with Moses, and neither Moses nor the people below saw God with their fleshly eyes. (Ex. 20:21; 24:18; 33:20; Deut. 4:11, 12) Likewise, when God’s Son, Christ Jesus, took leave of his apostles and began his ascension to the heavens of God’s presence, the record at Acts 1:9 tells us: “While they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud caught him up from their vision.” The cloud thus cut him off from their literal eyesight but, on the day of Pentecost, Jehovah God opened their understanding to perceive that Jesus had ascended even to God’s right hand. (Acts 2:33-35) Since the angels, standing by at the time Christ began his ascension, told the disciples that Jesus would “come thus in the same manner,” we can be certain that his ‘coming in the clouds’ will be invisible to fleshly eyes and be perceived only with the ‘eyes of the heart.’ Like his Father, Jesus now “dwells in unapproachable light, whom not one of men has seen or can see.”—Acts 1:11; 1 Tim. 6:15, 16.

READING THE SIGN WITH UNDERSTANDING

What does this “sign” mean for you, yes, for every person living today? The empowering of Christ Jesus, the “Son of man,” with “rulership and dignity and kingdom” means that “peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him.” (Dan. 7:14) Their doing so will mean life under a perfect government with all the grand benefits that will proceed from such a rule. The “sign” also points out the grave danger of failing to serve that kingdom willingly. Whereas the kingdom of the “Son of man” will be “everlasting” and ‘never will be brought to ruin,’ the kingdoms and governments of earth, which these persons of all national and linguistic groups have served, are faced with utter destruction.—See Daniel 2:44.

How providential it is for all of us, then, that this “sign” of the installed King in the invisible heavens, beyond the power of our human vision, has been made evident by yet another sign, one that is seeable by human eyes. This visible sign follows after and results from the invisible “sign of the Son of man,” since it is composed of the many events and conditions that the Bible foretold would follow and result from the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom rule. It is, therefore, a composite sign, and the appearance of all these events and conditions would thus “spell out” that visible sign and open the eyes of their readers to perceive that the ‘sign of the Son of man has appeared in heaven.’ Yes, they would fairly shout out the announcement: Christ Jesus is now ruling!

Read for yourself the description of the multiple features and details of this composite sign as given by Jesus at Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 and Revelation 6:1-8, including global wars, widespread food shortages, pestilences, earthquakes in many places, increase of lawlessness, anxiety and fear of the future, and an earthwide preaching of the “good news of the kingdom” by persons who would be persecuted in all nations. That composite sign is not only visible in this generation since 1914; it is inescapable. It faces you every time you pick up your daily paper, its sound rings through every news broadcast on your radio or television, it is all around you as you go through each day of your life no matter where you may live.

By means of this visible, composite sign, over a million persons in all parts of the globe today acknowledge that they have been enabled to “see” “the sign of the Son of man” and to recognize its meaning. They have witnessed the way in which the evidence has piled up year after year for more than half a century, which evidence testifies to the fact that as of the year 1914 “the sign of the Son of man” appeared in heaven. They are, therefore, different from the Pharisees and Sadducees of the first century to whom Jesus said: “You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but the signs of the times you cannot interpret.” (Matt. 16:3) You can also be aided to see and read the meaning of the “signs of the times” by personal study of the Bible prophecies and by comparing these with the events of our day.

Realizing that Christ Jesus has received kingly authority and has begun his rule and that the end of the world systems of government draws ever closer, those who act in response to the import of “the sign of the Son of man” now submit to Christ’s Kingdom rule and put that kingdom first in their lives. (Matt. 6:33) They rejoice to serve as witnesses for Jehovah God and to draw attention to this “sign” in a grand publicity campaign that has reached into 197 lands and islands of the sea. Through them this magazine has come to you.

The day will come when “every eye” must see this “sign,” as Revelation 1:7 indicates. Unfortunately for the majority, this will be at the time described at 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9: “At the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels in a flaming fire, as he brings vengeance upon those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. These very ones will undergo the judicial punishment of everlasting destruction from before the Lord and from the glory of his strength.” Such ones who now refuse to open their minds and hearts in order to “see” the “sign of the Son of man,” or who insist on giving a wrong reason for the evidences pointing to it, will be forced to recognize the presence of Christ Jesus as reigning king when he acts to destroy all such in the war of Armageddon. Jesus said that, for such ones of “all the tribes of the earth,” the sign will produce, not joy, but only ‘lamentation’ and a ‘beating of themselves in grief.’ To them it will spell only disaster.—Matt. 24:30; Rev. 1:7; 16:16.

For your own life’s sake, allow your eyes of understanding to focus on this vital “sign.” With the help of God’s Word read it correctly, and let it lead you to “obey the good news about our Lord Jesus,” the Son of man, and to “serve even him.” Then the “sign” will spell life to you.

Pestilences and Famines

Have we seen an increase in “pestilences” and “food shortages” since 1914, as Jesus Christ foretold as part of the visible “sign” of his second presence? (Luke 21:11) Yes, we have. The “Spanish influenza,” termed “one of the most devastating plagues of all time,” took 20 million lives and, for a few short months, put 200 million in bed. Cancer and degenerative diseases continue to increase. As for food shortages, the Director General of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization recently said that “up to half of the world’s population, 1,500 millions, suffer from hunger or malnutrition or both.”