As he sat upon Mount of Olives, Jesus was telling his disciples about the end of the world and what they could expect just before that apocalyptic event. They asked him,
"When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” And Jesus answered...For 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...the sun shall 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: 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. 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.... when ye shall see all these things, know that it (coming of son of god) is near... (Matthew 24:1-34)Jesus left no doubt about when the apocalypse would occur: it would be soon:
Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." (Matthew 16:28) ....Immediately 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: 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. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet.......when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
(Matthew 24:29-34)
The disciples standing before Jesus obviously have already tasted death, unless somewhere there is a 1900-year-old disciple wandering around Israel, and the angels have not come yet with sound of trumpets. The generation Jesus spoke of has long passed, and all those things Jesus said would happened before it passed have not happened. Thus, either Matthew was wrong about what Jesus said, or else Jesus was wrong, or both. Either way, the Bible is in error.
Joseph F. Alward
"Skeptical Views of Christianity and the Bible"