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***"Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." And that verse is specifically applied to the first century (Matt. 24:34)***

Jesus is addressing TWO questions from the disciples in Matt 24...

1. "Tell us, when will these things be...?"

2. "... And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"

So both events are in play in the chapter, the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the age. Jesus clearly didn't return "on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" in AD 70.

*** Christ comes in judgment upon Jerusalem in the events of A.D. 67-70.***

I vaguely remember a post millennial interpretation that has Christ in a mini-advent in AD 70. I think this is clearly a faulty exegesis. We were clearly promised,

"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." - Acts 1:11

***He will be destroyed by the breath of Christ,...***

And by the "...with the brightness of his coming". Which clearly didn't occur to Nero.

When he returns, it will be in the same manner in which he left. And every eye will see him.

So both events are in play in the chapter, the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the age. Jesus clearly didn't return "on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" in AD 70.

Actually, if you understand Jewish thought at that time you'lll see they have only one event in mind. The destruction of the temple was intimately related to the "end of the age", that is the Jewish economy under which they were living. It is a misunderstanding to push "end of the age" out to mean some time far in our future. As we are told in Hebrews 9:26, Christ appeared at the "consummation of the ages" when He came the first time to deal with the sin problam of Israel.

I vaguely remember a post millennial interpretation that has Christ in a mini-advent in AD 70. I think this is clearly a faulty exegesis. We were clearly promised,

The confusion is that some people fail to distinguish between Christ's "cloud coming" in AD70 and what we call His second coming that is yet to be revealed. Matt. 24:4-31 and the parallel passages in Mark 13 and Luke 21 describe the former, passages like Acts 1 and 1 Cor. 15 describe the latter.