How could the time have been near? When did Jesus return on a cloud? Where was the Anti-Christ? When did the stars fall out of heaven? When was the sun darkened? I'm still standing here, when did the world end?
Those are all questions I had. What I'm suggesting is, the New Testament writers and Jesus were not predicting the end of the world. They were predicting an end to the old convenient and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN." Then the high priest tore his robes and said, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy... (Matt 26:64-65)
Question: Caiaphas the high priest tore his robe and said Jesus' statement was blasphemy, why?
Answer: Because Caiaphas being a high priest and a FIRST century Jew would have been very familiar with the Old Testament. More specifically, the prophets.
Caiaphas was very familiar with the language God often used in the prophets to pronounce judgment.
The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. (Isa 19:1)
Question: Did God literally ride on a cloud into Egypt? Did their hearts literally melt within them?
Answer: No... it was language that God often used when pronouncing judgment. Over and over again you'll see this in the prophets as you read through them.
Fast forward to the first century. Lets take a look at what Jesus was telling his disciples before he had been taken to Caiaphas the high priest.
"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. "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. (Matt 24:29-30)
Sound familiar? Maybe not to you and I as twenty first century Christians, but to a first century Jew, you would have know exactly what Jesus was talking about; thus the reaction of Caiaphas. For the context of Matt 24:29-30, read the chapter.
Let's take a look at the prophets again:
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. (Isa 13:9-10)
Read the context of Isaiah 13 and you see that God is pronouncing judgment on Babylon.
Question: When God judged Babylon, was the sun darkened and did the moon not shed it's light?
Answer: No... it was again language that God often used to pronounce judgment. Sure does sound like the end of the world though doesn't it?
Question: So Jesus must have been predicting the end of the world?
Answer: If He was, why was he telling THEM to flee Judea? See Matt 24:15-18. It doesn't make sense for Jesus to be telling THEM to flee Judea, if the judgment He was talking about was suppose to be a world wide judgment. You don't need to read the news paper to find out what he was talking about, you simply need to read history. Everything that Jesus predicted happened. The temple was destroyed (in A.D. 70) and those event took place just as Jesus said they would.
To Be Continued...
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