Kingdom Eschatology

PART 3

PROBLEMS IN MATTHEW 24

Regarding the SYMBOLS used in Matthew 24.

Matthew 24:29-31 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, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
I believe that the Bible interprets itself.

Look at these pictures....

Isaiah 13:1, 10,13 - BABYLON'S fall.
Ezekiel 32:7-8 - Egypt's fall
Isaiah 34:4-5 - EDOM'S fall

All of them speak of the stars and sun blackening. But none of that occurred literally.

They descriptions of divine displeasure and judgment. A sword never came down literally upon Edom any more than the sun went black literally. All these things are metaphors, and these verses prove that the Bible speaks using these manners of language. Same with Matthew 24. I thought as many of you did for years, until I saw these other verses.

Genesis 1 speaks of the sun and moon as though they RULE the night and day. RULERS. That is why God uses them as darkening to indicate KINGDOMS falling. Lights out for those kingdoms!

The stars falling and the sun turning black and the moon to blood is FIGURATIVE of KINGDOMS being destroyed. Look at the Old Testament references to the same thing, when in actuality the sun and stars did not literally stop shining. You have to take all these figures from the Old Testament. My opinion is that saying these things are literal is to speak from a lack of awareness of the idioms used in the Bible elsewhere.

The rapture is going to occur, but it is not referred to in Matthew 24 by any means. What is referred to is two in the field and one taken. How is the one "taken?" In rapture? Can't be. Look at the comparison Jesus gave about Noah. In Noah's day, Jesus said, the sinners were eating and drinking until the flood came AND TOOK THEM all away. And then He says, "So shall two be in the field. The one TAKEN and the other left." If it is going to be like it was in Noah's day, and the one "taken" in Noah's day was the sinner taken in desruction, then it only contextually makes sense that the one "taken" from the field is the sinner taken in destruction.

Matthew 24:37-40 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
That fits with Jesus' entire set of contrasts from Chapter 21 through 25. Those who rejected Him were doomed, and those who accepted Him would be preserved. But if you chop chapter 23 away from chapter 24 you miss that connection.

I thought that referred to great tribulation, and saints standing through it all, and I was right. But not as I originally thought. The great tribulation was 70 AD. And the church remained while the unbelievers of Jerusalem were taken. Per capita, there has never been such tribulation as was in 70 AD.

Again, compare Noah's account and the account of the time the Son of man comes.

The TRUE rapture references are found in 1 Cor. 15. and 1 Thess 4. Matthew 24 does not speak of the rapture.

THIS GENERATION does not refer to one in our day. I can't. It refers to the PEOPLE TO WHOM JESUS SPOKE. Jesus spoke from Matthew 24:1 through to verse 34. And ALL THE EVENTS that He spoke about from the very first verse He said were to take place in THEIR generation. That includes the temple destruction which took place in THEIR GENERATION.

Matthew 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
All WHAT things? All the things He spoke about from verse 1!

Compare with:

Matthew 23:36-38 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.



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