"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." Matthew 24:30-1.
So, what is that sign? Could it mean the sign that the Son of man is in heaven and not a vision of Him coming from heaven? The sign that the Son of man is in heaven refers to Jesus's statement to His accusers in Matthew 26:64: "Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." In other words, Jesus knew that after He was executed, resurrected and ascended to heaven, He would have all power in heaven and on earth to destroy His enemies and His church's enemies.
The Greek word for earth can be translated "land," as in the land of Israel. See, for example, the words of Matthew 2:6: "And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda." It is used that way in the New Testament 42 times. Where else do you find tribes in the bible? The twelve tribes of Israel might ring a bell. Did the tribes of the land of Israel mourn? You betcha! Their land, their government, their temple, their way of life was being taken away from them, and for those who had not accepted Christ and His Kingdom in place of the Old, it was unendurable.
If the leaders who conspired to put Jesus to death were to see the Son of man "sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven," how would that happen? Would the Lord keep them alive for thousands of years? They wouldn't need to actually see Him in heaven. Wouldn't they simply need to see the effects of His rulership? How would Christ's rulership in the most powerful position in the universe be evidenced? Perhaps in His defending His people? Would He come with the clouds of heaven as the avenging God of the Old Covenant standing for His truth and His saints?
He would destroy those who fought to keep the old, dying covenant alive, and He would stand on behalf of those who gave their lives for the gospel. It happened. In 70 AD, those who fought for the old covenant gave their lives, and the physical temple was destroyed. And the church of the new covenant grew, and those who died were replaced by more and more until the church took over the society. And the old Roman Empire, which had died in heart, had nowhere to turn but the church for a reason to continue. The church didn't win by military might, even though Constantine won great battles; it won by overwhelming the society with a new way of life and faith and truth long before Constantine took to the battlefield. Christ had won long before that. The bankrupt Roman society had nowhere else to turn but the church, which was building the hospitals, adopting the orphans, and providing a new way of faith for all who believed.
So, if Christ fought for His saints to the point of utterly annihilating them in 70 AD, will He fight for them now? Is He still on the most powerful throne in the universe? Does He still uphold the Word of the living God, His Father? If we stand for His word, will He stand with us? Then why do you think that compromise is what will keep us going? You give up His word, like a fearful noble give up land or accepts payments from the King trying to take over their lands. You're living for yourself, not the King who rightfully owns everything, and whose word should rule all of life.
If we stand for Christ now in the areas that have been taken over by the enemy, like the political realm, we might lose personally, but we will win eternally and in time on earth. He who rides the white horse will come to our aid and either convert our enemies to light, life and truth or destroy them with the sword coming out of His mouth. Revelation 19:11-21. In this way, we continue to show the "sign of the son of man in heaven." Why? Because we show He still reigns with total power to confirm His Father's word.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Matthew 24 Part 7
"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." Matthew 24:30-1.
"Now, we have him," the end-of-the-world pursuers say. How can he explain this portion. Clearly, Jesus returns physically at the end of time, according to this passage. But this entire passage is bookended by timing verses. The first, of course, is when Jesus' disciples ask him when the temple will be destroyed, and He answers very clearly and explains the signs of an event we already have the historic record of its occurrence. Then he follows with a specific timing statement for those who didn't have that history . . . yet. "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matthew 24:34-5.
Before the generation to whom He was speaking passed, the events He spoke of were to occur. It doesn't get any plainer. But do we accept the plain statements of Jesus? No. We have to complicate it and find a way around His words. We are so intent upon believing that He was referring to our time that we ignore the literal meaning of His plain statements. We make literal His symbolic statements, and we make symbolic His literal statements. We are stiff-necked!
Matthew 24:32-3 states: "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." That's the passage we use to get around Jesus' clear words. Obviously, the events He spoke of were a sign just as the leaves on a tree indicate the coming of spring and summer. It doesn't mean the fig tree is Israel. But what would be so strange about Jesus using the fig tree to symbolize Israel, seeing that Jesus is talking about the end of Old Covenant Israel?
Take for example the following lunacy "NOW THE END BEGINS:"
"So Jesus was saying that when you see ISRAEL re-blooming, whenever that would take place, that that generation would be the one that would be on the earth and living when the Last Days would occur. So if Israel was destroyed in 70 AD, and it was, when did it "bloom" again? May 14, 1948 is the date that history records that fact occuring[sp]. The generation that witnessed that, the WWII generation, still have not, for all intents and purposes, passed off the scene. They are still alive and with us today, and we are the people that Jesus said would be alive on the earth when the Last Days would happen.
"That time is right now. Let it sink in for a moment, I will say it again.
"The time of the "last days" that Jesus refered [sp] to, is not "in the future" and it's not "coming soon". It is here right now. For the past 6 decades, all the major players have been taking the stage and playing the parts that God said they would." http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/pages/the_fig_tree_prophecy.htm, accessed on 11 March 2014.
So, "NOW THE END BEGINS," how long is a generation? 65 years or more? This was Hal Lindsey's theory in the seventies, when only 30 years had gone by. Jesus indicated the blooming would mean the end was "near, even at the door." Why do we keep having trouble with the meaning of the word "near?" You could repeat the message a million times, used by thousands of end-timers from Hal Lindsey to "NOW THE END BEGINS" trying to apply to our day Jesus' clear message to His apostles' generation that the end would come in their time.
Jesus didn't make it complicated. Before the generation of the apostles was over, the end would come, preceded by the events He spoke about and which we continue to think haven't happened yet. But what is this "sign of the Son of man in heaven?"
"Now, we have him," the end-of-the-world pursuers say. How can he explain this portion. Clearly, Jesus returns physically at the end of time, according to this passage. But this entire passage is bookended by timing verses. The first, of course, is when Jesus' disciples ask him when the temple will be destroyed, and He answers very clearly and explains the signs of an event we already have the historic record of its occurrence. Then he follows with a specific timing statement for those who didn't have that history . . . yet. "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matthew 24:34-5.
Before the generation to whom He was speaking passed, the events He spoke of were to occur. It doesn't get any plainer. But do we accept the plain statements of Jesus? No. We have to complicate it and find a way around His words. We are so intent upon believing that He was referring to our time that we ignore the literal meaning of His plain statements. We make literal His symbolic statements, and we make symbolic His literal statements. We are stiff-necked!
Matthew 24:32-3 states: "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." That's the passage we use to get around Jesus' clear words. Obviously, the events He spoke of were a sign just as the leaves on a tree indicate the coming of spring and summer. It doesn't mean the fig tree is Israel. But what would be so strange about Jesus using the fig tree to symbolize Israel, seeing that Jesus is talking about the end of Old Covenant Israel?
Take for example the following lunacy "NOW THE END BEGINS:"
"So Jesus was saying that when you see ISRAEL re-blooming, whenever that would take place, that that generation would be the one that would be on the earth and living when the Last Days would occur. So if Israel was destroyed in 70 AD, and it was, when did it "bloom" again? May 14, 1948 is the date that history records that fact occuring[sp]. The generation that witnessed that, the WWII generation, still have not, for all intents and purposes, passed off the scene. They are still alive and with us today, and we are the people that Jesus said would be alive on the earth when the Last Days would happen.
"That time is right now. Let it sink in for a moment, I will say it again.
"The time of the "last days" that Jesus refered [sp] to, is not "in the future" and it's not "coming soon". It is here right now. For the past 6 decades, all the major players have been taking the stage and playing the parts that God said they would." http://www.nowtheendbegins.com/pages/the_fig_tree_prophecy.htm, accessed on 11 March 2014.
So, "NOW THE END BEGINS," how long is a generation? 65 years or more? This was Hal Lindsey's theory in the seventies, when only 30 years had gone by. Jesus indicated the blooming would mean the end was "near, even at the door." Why do we keep having trouble with the meaning of the word "near?" You could repeat the message a million times, used by thousands of end-timers from Hal Lindsey to "NOW THE END BEGINS" trying to apply to our day Jesus' clear message to His apostles' generation that the end would come in their time.
Jesus didn't make it complicated. Before the generation of the apostles was over, the end would come, preceded by the events He spoke about and which we continue to think haven't happened yet. But what is this "sign of the Son of man in heaven?"
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Apocalypse
The Greek word translated as The Revelation in Revelation 1:1 is apocalypse.
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: . . . ."
The Greek word, apokalypsis, means:
1. laying bare, making naked
2. a disclosure of truth, instruction
1. concerning things before unknown
2. used of events by which things or states or persons hitherto withdrawn from view are made visible to all
3. manifestation, appearance
From Blue Letter Bible, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, at http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G602&t=KJV, accessed on March 1, 2014.
So, when we read in Revelation about Jesus Christ riding on a white horse and destroying His enemies, it is a revealing, an unveiling of who He is, not a revealing of what will happen in the future. Do you really think He sits in the most powerful position in the universe, that of God Almighty, and does nothing to advance His kingdom? At least, you have to believe that God the Father cares enough about the sacrifice of His Son that He advances His cause.
To think otherwise is to be like the people Jesus spoke to about His Father working. They appeared to think that upon finishing the sixth day of creation, God just sat down to rest for all eternity. But that was a complete misconception, according to Jesus. "But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." John 5:17.
Therefore, your cause that you are called to work for His kingdom, He will work to uphold it, even if that means gathering the armies of heaven together as a conquering commander and going to war against your enemies.
The verb form of the word, apokalyptÅ, is translated "reveal" 26 times in the New Testament. The revelation of who Jesus Christ really is, the conquering King of this earth and the entire universe, is revealed in the New Testament, the hearts and minds of believers by the Holy Spirit, and in history before the watching eyes of unbelievers, who see the crucified one destroy the idols they have exalted and avenge His saints, whom they have persecuted.
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: . . . ."
The Greek word, apokalypsis, means:
1. laying bare, making naked
2. a disclosure of truth, instruction
1. concerning things before unknown
2. used of events by which things or states or persons hitherto withdrawn from view are made visible to all
3. manifestation, appearance
From Blue Letter Bible, Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, at http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G602&t=KJV, accessed on March 1, 2014.
So, when we read in Revelation about Jesus Christ riding on a white horse and destroying His enemies, it is a revealing, an unveiling of who He is, not a revealing of what will happen in the future. Do you really think He sits in the most powerful position in the universe, that of God Almighty, and does nothing to advance His kingdom? At least, you have to believe that God the Father cares enough about the sacrifice of His Son that He advances His cause.
To think otherwise is to be like the people Jesus spoke to about His Father working. They appeared to think that upon finishing the sixth day of creation, God just sat down to rest for all eternity. But that was a complete misconception, according to Jesus. "But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." John 5:17.
Therefore, your cause that you are called to work for His kingdom, He will work to uphold it, even if that means gathering the armies of heaven together as a conquering commander and going to war against your enemies.
The verb form of the word, apokalyptÅ, is translated "reveal" 26 times in the New Testament. The revelation of who Jesus Christ really is, the conquering King of this earth and the entire universe, is revealed in the New Testament, the hearts and minds of believers by the Holy Spirit, and in history before the watching eyes of unbelievers, who see the crucified one destroy the idols they have exalted and avenge His saints, whom they have persecuted.
Matthew 24 Part 6
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken." Matthew 24:29. Here is what Luke says in Luke 21:25: "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring."
Again, the bible itself explains the bible. "Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” Genesis 37:9. Joseph's dream was immediately understood by his brothers, his father, and his mother. Genesis 37:10. He would rule over them. Why would they immediately understand that as the meaning, unless they already understood the heavenly bodies to stand for the family of Jacob? Didn't God show Abraham the heavenly bodies and say, "And he brought him outside and said, 'Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.”? Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.' ” Genesis 15:5.
Isaiah 13:10 is part of a prophesy against Babylon by Isaiah concerning punishment upon it for its evil. "For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light." The judgment involves the falling of Babylon's rulers, and Isaiah states it as Babylon is rising to power, not when it's falling. The rest of the world is included in the judgment: "Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger." Isaiah 13:3. The context of the entire book of Isaiah is the coming judgment upon Israel, Jacob's descendants.
When Israel is judged, the entire earth and heavens are shaken. "Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders." Isaiah 24:23. "The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again. On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth." Isaiah 24:19-21. The host of heaven, by the way, means the stars and heavenly bodies in the sky. No prince, no matter how high or how great, will be punished.
This passage is not talking about the final end of the world; the context, which is essential to understanding a passage, makes it clear that Isaiah is referring to coming judgment on the nations of Isaiah's day and not long after. These descriptions of disaster in the heavens could refer to actual physical phenomena of the time, but it also refers to the falling of governing powers, both Jewish and Gentile. See also Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15, passages referring to judgment by God on nations during the Old Covenant period, not at the end of all time.
Notice that Jesus is still speaking of the time of the destruction of the temple, which occurred in 70 A.D. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days" is when the powers of the heavens are shaken. And He indeed shook them. The heavenly bodies, leadership of the Jewish nation, were shaken to the point of being totally unrecoverable. They were murdered and assassinated by the Zealots, who thought them too weak before the Romans. And those totally committed Zealots who took over in Jerusalem just before the Romans began their siege, were destroyed in a bloodbath in that City that is difficult to describe in its horror and savagery. See Josephus' "Wars of the Jews." Throughout the Old Covenant, God used Gentile armies to discipline His own people. When faithful and obedient, He gave them victory. By instigating and being complicit in crucifying the Son of God and persecuting His Church, they were not faithful and obedient.
"For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." Luke 21:22. Remember Jesus' words to the scribes and pharisees just before his discussion with the disciples:
"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation." Matthew 23:33-36.
Why would all righteous blood come upon that generation; it doesn't seem fair. It is fair when you consider who was the final prophet they killed - Jesus Christ. He was the penultimate, the final, the comprehensive statement of all God had ever said in the past. He was the exemplar of all that was good and loving and merciful and just about God. Yet they killed Him. Therefore, that sin wraps up all the sins of history into the worst, the one deserving the greatest punishment in history.
By the way, the destruction of Jerusalem was not the only upheaval of political leadership going on in the first century, but there's not time in this one post to go into it all. I can say that the upheavals even affected the internal politics of the emperors and other leadership of the Roman Empire. It was a time in which wars upset the Pax Romana, that unusual period of history when there was relative peace throughout the Empire. But the sins of the Jews had come to their head. They suffered the most, and the Old Covenant had to be finalized so no one could be confused. Let's not add confusion to the matter, Christians, by misunderstanding what is happening in the first century.
So, when Jesus says that "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken" in Matthew 24:29, He means it. And it doesn't take long for those who persecuted the Son to see Him coming in vengeance. He will take vengeance on His enemies today.
Again, the bible itself explains the bible. "Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” Genesis 37:9. Joseph's dream was immediately understood by his brothers, his father, and his mother. Genesis 37:10. He would rule over them. Why would they immediately understand that as the meaning, unless they already understood the heavenly bodies to stand for the family of Jacob? Didn't God show Abraham the heavenly bodies and say, "And he brought him outside and said, 'Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.”? Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.' ” Genesis 15:5.
Isaiah 13:10 is part of a prophesy against Babylon by Isaiah concerning punishment upon it for its evil. "For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light." The judgment involves the falling of Babylon's rulers, and Isaiah states it as Babylon is rising to power, not when it's falling. The rest of the world is included in the judgment: "Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger." Isaiah 13:3. The context of the entire book of Isaiah is the coming judgment upon Israel, Jacob's descendants.
When Israel is judged, the entire earth and heavens are shaken. "Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders." Isaiah 24:23. "The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again. On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth." Isaiah 24:19-21. The host of heaven, by the way, means the stars and heavenly bodies in the sky. No prince, no matter how high or how great, will be punished.
This passage is not talking about the final end of the world; the context, which is essential to understanding a passage, makes it clear that Isaiah is referring to coming judgment on the nations of Isaiah's day and not long after. These descriptions of disaster in the heavens could refer to actual physical phenomena of the time, but it also refers to the falling of governing powers, both Jewish and Gentile. See also Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15, passages referring to judgment by God on nations during the Old Covenant period, not at the end of all time.
Notice that Jesus is still speaking of the time of the destruction of the temple, which occurred in 70 A.D. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days" is when the powers of the heavens are shaken. And He indeed shook them. The heavenly bodies, leadership of the Jewish nation, were shaken to the point of being totally unrecoverable. They were murdered and assassinated by the Zealots, who thought them too weak before the Romans. And those totally committed Zealots who took over in Jerusalem just before the Romans began their siege, were destroyed in a bloodbath in that City that is difficult to describe in its horror and savagery. See Josephus' "Wars of the Jews." Throughout the Old Covenant, God used Gentile armies to discipline His own people. When faithful and obedient, He gave them victory. By instigating and being complicit in crucifying the Son of God and persecuting His Church, they were not faithful and obedient.
"For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled." Luke 21:22. Remember Jesus' words to the scribes and pharisees just before his discussion with the disciples:
"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation." Matthew 23:33-36.
Why would all righteous blood come upon that generation; it doesn't seem fair. It is fair when you consider who was the final prophet they killed - Jesus Christ. He was the penultimate, the final, the comprehensive statement of all God had ever said in the past. He was the exemplar of all that was good and loving and merciful and just about God. Yet they killed Him. Therefore, that sin wraps up all the sins of history into the worst, the one deserving the greatest punishment in history.
By the way, the destruction of Jerusalem was not the only upheaval of political leadership going on in the first century, but there's not time in this one post to go into it all. I can say that the upheavals even affected the internal politics of the emperors and other leadership of the Roman Empire. It was a time in which wars upset the Pax Romana, that unusual period of history when there was relative peace throughout the Empire. But the sins of the Jews had come to their head. They suffered the most, and the Old Covenant had to be finalized so no one could be confused. Let's not add confusion to the matter, Christians, by misunderstanding what is happening in the first century.
So, when Jesus says that "the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken" in Matthew 24:29, He means it. And it doesn't take long for those who persecuted the Son to see Him coming in vengeance. He will take vengeance on His enemies today.
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