Drew
Member
- Jan 24, 2005
- 14,249
- 81
I believe that Christians err when they read Biblical texts containing end of the world language – stars falling, the moon turning red, earthquakes, splitting mountains, etc. – and take such language literally. One common manifestation of this involves interpreting prophetic texts that use such language as having “end of the time†events as their referent - when it is believed that there will indeed be such cataclysmic events. Such readers rule out the possibility that these prophecies have already been fulfilled by basically arguing “That could not have happened in the past, since the stars did not full or the moon did not turn redâ€Â.
This entire positions rests on a radical misunderstanding of how these texts are used in the Biblical tradition. We know for a fact that such language is not intended to be taken literally – it is a literary device used by the prophet to emphasize the theological significance of much more “mundane†events – events that do not involve the end of the world but rather changes in the socio-political order, the rise and fall of specific nations and empires. There are many examples of this. Consider this from Isaiah 13:
10For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises
And the moon will not shed its light
What was going on? Babylon was being destroyed, never to be rebuilt – check the context and consider the historical record. The world was not coming to an end and we are not take this text literally.
Here is another example from Isaiah concerning the fate of the nation of the Edomites:
And all the host of heaven will wear away,
And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All their hosts will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
5For (K)My sword is satiated in heaven,
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom
Has this prophecy already been fulfilled? Was Edom defeated? The historical record indicates that it indeed has. Did the sky roll up? Did the stars (the “host of the skyâ€Â) stop shining (wither away)? No, in both cases. But it doesn’t matter anyway. The point is that judgement specific to a nation is described in these globally apocalyptic terms. If the end of the world languages is taken literally, then it is not only Edom that is being judged, but the entire world. And yet it is otherwise clear that this is material specific to Edom. Consequently, we must see the end of the world language as being metaphorcal.
Here is another example from yet a different prophet – Ezekiel:
2"Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him,
'You compared yourself to a young lion of the nations,
Yet you are like the monster in the seas;
And you burst forth in your rivers
And muddied the waters with your feet
And fouled their rivers.'"
3Thus says the Lord GOD,
"Now I will spread My net over you
With a company of many peoples,
And they shall lift you up in My net.
4"I will leave you on the land;
I will cast you on the open field.
And I will cause all the birds of the heavens to dwell on you,
And I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth with you.
5"I will lay your flesh on the mountains
And fill the valleys with your refuse.
6"I will also make the land drink the discharge of your (I)blood
As far as the mountains,
And the ravines will be full of you.
7"And when I extinguish you,
I will cover the heavens and darken their stars;
I will cover the sun with a cloud
And the moon will not give its light.
8"All the shining lights in the heavens
I will darken over you
And will set darkness on your land,"
Declares the Lord GOD.
Again, the material in verses 7 and 8, if not earlier verses, is not to be taken literally. If it were, judgement specific to Pharoah would be carried out against the entire world – you cannot cover the sun and darken the stars for Egypt only.
Jesus was born into this tradition, he was steeped in this tradition. No first century Jew (who knew his Old Testament) listening to the discourse of Mark 13 (or its parallels) would take such language literally as denoting literal end of the world events. He would have interpreted such language in accordance with Biblical precedent – as a literary device to ascribe theological significance to non end of the world events.
Isaiah uses end of the world language. What is his real intent? To describe judgement against Babylon and Edom, not worldwide “end of the world†judgement.
Ezekiel uses end of the world language. What is his real intent. To describe judgement against Egypt, not worldwide “end of the world†judgement.
And, of course, it should be no mystery what the real referent of Jesus’ judgement is in Mark 13 and Matthew 24. It is not about the end of the world. It is about coming judgement against, of course, a specific nation (following in the nation-specific use of such language by the prophets). Which nation? Israel. Those to whom He was speaking saw that judgement in 70 AD – within one generation, just as Jesus has said.
This entire positions rests on a radical misunderstanding of how these texts are used in the Biblical tradition. We know for a fact that such language is not intended to be taken literally – it is a literary device used by the prophet to emphasize the theological significance of much more “mundane†events – events that do not involve the end of the world but rather changes in the socio-political order, the rise and fall of specific nations and empires. There are many examples of this. Consider this from Isaiah 13:
10For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises
And the moon will not shed its light
What was going on? Babylon was being destroyed, never to be rebuilt – check the context and consider the historical record. The world was not coming to an end and we are not take this text literally.
Here is another example from Isaiah concerning the fate of the nation of the Edomites:
And all the host of heaven will wear away,
And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All their hosts will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
5For (K)My sword is satiated in heaven,
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom
Has this prophecy already been fulfilled? Was Edom defeated? The historical record indicates that it indeed has. Did the sky roll up? Did the stars (the “host of the skyâ€Â) stop shining (wither away)? No, in both cases. But it doesn’t matter anyway. The point is that judgement specific to a nation is described in these globally apocalyptic terms. If the end of the world languages is taken literally, then it is not only Edom that is being judged, but the entire world. And yet it is otherwise clear that this is material specific to Edom. Consequently, we must see the end of the world language as being metaphorcal.
Here is another example from yet a different prophet – Ezekiel:
2"Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him,
'You compared yourself to a young lion of the nations,
Yet you are like the monster in the seas;
And you burst forth in your rivers
And muddied the waters with your feet
And fouled their rivers.'"
3Thus says the Lord GOD,
"Now I will spread My net over you
With a company of many peoples,
And they shall lift you up in My net.
4"I will leave you on the land;
I will cast you on the open field.
And I will cause all the birds of the heavens to dwell on you,
And I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth with you.
5"I will lay your flesh on the mountains
And fill the valleys with your refuse.
6"I will also make the land drink the discharge of your (I)blood
As far as the mountains,
And the ravines will be full of you.
7"And when I extinguish you,
I will cover the heavens and darken their stars;
I will cover the sun with a cloud
And the moon will not give its light.
8"All the shining lights in the heavens
I will darken over you
And will set darkness on your land,"
Declares the Lord GOD.
Again, the material in verses 7 and 8, if not earlier verses, is not to be taken literally. If it were, judgement specific to Pharoah would be carried out against the entire world – you cannot cover the sun and darken the stars for Egypt only.
Jesus was born into this tradition, he was steeped in this tradition. No first century Jew (who knew his Old Testament) listening to the discourse of Mark 13 (or its parallels) would take such language literally as denoting literal end of the world events. He would have interpreted such language in accordance with Biblical precedent – as a literary device to ascribe theological significance to non end of the world events.
Isaiah uses end of the world language. What is his real intent? To describe judgement against Babylon and Edom, not worldwide “end of the world†judgement.
Ezekiel uses end of the world language. What is his real intent. To describe judgement against Egypt, not worldwide “end of the world†judgement.
And, of course, it should be no mystery what the real referent of Jesus’ judgement is in Mark 13 and Matthew 24. It is not about the end of the world. It is about coming judgement against, of course, a specific nation (following in the nation-specific use of such language by the prophets). Which nation? Israel. Those to whom He was speaking saw that judgement in 70 AD – within one generation, just as Jesus has said.
