The disciples said to Jesus, What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age? And then the Lord foretold the successive states of the church down to its end; and of its end He said, Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory (Matt. 24:3, 30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27). "The consummation of the age," means the last time of the church; His "coming in the clouds of heaven with glory," means the opening of the Word, and the making manifest that the Word has been written about Him alone. In Daniel:

I saw and behold one like the Son of man came with clouds of the heavens (8:13). In the Revelation:

Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him (1:7). This also is said of the Son of man, as is evident from verse 13. I saw and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man (14:14). [2] That by "the Son of God" the Lord meant one thing in Himself, and by "the Son of man" another, is evident from His reply to the chief priest:

The high priest said unto Jesus, I adjure Thee by the living God that Thou tell us whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said unto him, Thou hast said; nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven (Matt. 26:63, 64). Here He first confessed that He was the Son of God, and afterwards said that they should see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven, by which is meant that after the passion of the cross He would possess the Divine power of opening the Word and setting up the church anew,* which could not be effected before, because He had not then conquered hell and glorified His Human. What is signified by sitting upon the clouds of heaven, and coming in glory, has been set forth in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 1.) * Latin instaurare, to set up, not originally, but in restoration and repair. [Tr.]