Stormcrow
Member
Let's try understanding Matthew 24 again from a different course and heading: understanding apocalyptic language.
When Jesus says this:
"But 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 the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29 (NASB)
He is using the same language the Holy Spirit-inspired prophets of the Old Testament used to describe the coming judgment of God upon a nation and its people. Here are some examples:
When the prophet Isaiah prophesied against Babylon and its coming destruction at the hands of the Medes:
The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. For 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. Isaiah 13:1,9-10 (NASB)
This prophecy was fulfilled in the events recorded in Daniel 5, when the Medes invaded Babylon:
That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two. Daniel 5:30-31 (NASB)
Or when the prophet Ezekiel prophesied of the coming defeat of Egypt at the hands of Babylon:
In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt... Ezekiel 32:1-2 (NASB)
"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. "All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you And will set darkness on your land," Declares the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 32:7-8 (NASB)
This prophecy was fulfilled in the events of Jeremiah 46:2, 607-606 BC:
To Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: Jeremiah 46:2 (NASB)
The defeat of Neco's armies caused Egypt's holdings over large tracts of Syria, Phoenicia, and Judea to fall to Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, paving the way for the events of 587 BC, as prophesied by the prophet Joel, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Babylon:
Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.
Before them the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness. Joel 2:1-2,10 (NASB)
This prophecy was fulfilled in the events recorded in the book of II Chronicles, chapter 36 (among others):
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God; he did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the LORD.
He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God. But he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel.
Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the LORD which He had sanctified in Jerusalem.
The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy.
Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand.
All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon.
Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths.
All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete. 2 Chronicles 36:11-21 (NASB)
The language Christ used in Matthew 24:29 (and the other synoptic gospels) is symbolic language intended to convey the horror of falling under God's judgment!
When He uses it in Matthew 24, He is telling His disciples that the same fate that befell Babylon, Egypt, and Jerusalem, in 587 BC, is the same fate that will befall Jerusalem again before their generation passes.
Matthew 24:29 was fulfilled in the events of 70 AD by the legions of Rome under the Roman general Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian.
When Jesus says this:
"But 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 the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29 (NASB)
He is using the same language the Holy Spirit-inspired prophets of the Old Testament used to describe the coming judgment of God upon a nation and its people. Here are some examples:
When the prophet Isaiah prophesied against Babylon and its coming destruction at the hands of the Medes:
The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. For 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. Isaiah 13:1,9-10 (NASB)
This prophecy was fulfilled in the events recorded in Daniel 5, when the Medes invaded Babylon:
That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two. Daniel 5:30-31 (NASB)
Or when the prophet Ezekiel prophesied of the coming defeat of Egypt at the hands of Babylon:
In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me saying, "Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt... Ezekiel 32:1-2 (NASB)
"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. "All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you And will set darkness on your land," Declares the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 32:7-8 (NASB)
This prophecy was fulfilled in the events of Jeremiah 46:2, 607-606 BC:
To Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt, which was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: Jeremiah 46:2 (NASB)
The defeat of Neco's armies caused Egypt's holdings over large tracts of Syria, Phoenicia, and Judea to fall to Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, paving the way for the events of 587 BC, as prophesied by the prophet Joel, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of Babylon:
Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.
Before them the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness. Joel 2:1-2,10 (NASB)
This prophecy was fulfilled in the events recorded in the book of II Chronicles, chapter 36 (among others):
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the LORD his God; he did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for the LORD.
He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear allegiance by God. But he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD God of Israel.
Furthermore, all the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of the LORD which He had sanctified in Jerusalem.
The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them again and again by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place; but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, until there was no remedy.
Therefore He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them all into his hand.
All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon.
Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths.
All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete. 2 Chronicles 36:11-21 (NASB)
The language Christ used in Matthew 24:29 (and the other synoptic gospels) is symbolic language intended to convey the horror of falling under God's judgment!
When He uses it in Matthew 24, He is telling His disciples that the same fate that befell Babylon, Egypt, and Jerusalem, in 587 BC, is the same fate that will befall Jerusalem again before their generation passes.
Matthew 24:29 was fulfilled in the events of 70 AD by the legions of Rome under the Roman general Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian.
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