Jesus is NOT coming soon!

8/15/2019 Jesus is NOT coming soon!

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Jesus Is NOT Coming Soon!

"What do you mean, 'Jesus isn't coming soon?' Doesn't the Bible say

Jesus is coming soon?"

Yes, the Bible clearly says Jesus was coming soon, and either He came

when the Bible said He would come, or the Bible is mistaken anduntrustworthy.

There isn't a single verse in the Bible that can be reasonably translated

"Jesus is not coming soon, but He will come in about one thousandnine hundred and seventy-five years."

There are at least 101 verses in the New Testament that claim that

Jesus is Coming Soon not exactly those words, but clearlyteaching that Christs Second Coming is at hand, near, or ready to

happen. These verses are tied with the bold declaration that thedestruction of the temple in Jerusalem and consummation of the Old

Covenant is just around the corner. This is one of the most

important themes in the entire New Testament. It is part of thethinking of all New Testament authors. It must be dealt with. Heres

what happens when we dont:

Atheist Bertrand Russell, in his book Why I Am Not A Christian,discredits the inspiration of the New Testament based on the failed

prediction of Christ and the Apostles:

I am concerned with Christ as He appears in the Gospels. . . and there one does find some things that do not

seem to be very wise. For one thing, He certainly thought

that His second coming would occur in clouds of glorybefore the death of all the people who were living at the

time. There are a great many texts that prove that. Hesays, for instance, Ye shall not have gone over the cities

of Israel till the Son of Man be come. Then He says,There are some standing here which shall not tastedeath till the Son of Man comes into His kingdom; and

there are a lot of places where it is quite clear that Hebelieved that His second coming would happen during the

lifetime of many then living. That was the belief of his

earlier followers, and it was the basis of a good deal ofhis moral teaching.


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Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not A Christian (New York: A TouchtoneBook by Simon & Schuster, 1957), 16.

Russell is mistaken when he starts with the premise that Christ and

the Apostles were predicting the end of the physical world. Well seethat in a minute.

Russell is correct when he says that much of the New Testament wasbased on this belief: that the coming of the Son of Man in His

Kingdom and the end of the world were at hand.

But if Christ and the Apostles were teaching the imminent destructionof planet earth and the inauguration of the eternal state or some

kind of "millennial kingdom" like the Jehovah's Witnesses talk about,then the authors of the Bible were clearly mistaken.

The interpretation offered on this website avoids this objection by

agreeing that Christ came in some sense, and the end of the worldwas really the end of the age of the temple and the Old Covenant.

There are two issues in this debate: (1) the timing of the Second

Coming and (2) the nature of the Second Coming. The timing versesare clear; conclusions about the nature of the Second Coming come

from verses which are not as clear. Preterists interpret the natureverses in light of the timing verses, and not the other way around.

The overwhelming testimony of the New Testament is that the SecondComing would occur in the first century A.D., that is, before the deathof the generation in which Christ lived.

Lets look at some of the timing verses.

Ideally, you could read the following verses in their context and seehow the idea of the imminent first-century return of Christ and great

Day of Judgment thoroughly dominates the pages of the NewTestament.

1. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2)

2. Who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come? (Matthew

3:7)

3. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees. (Matthew 3:10)


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4. His winnowing fork is in His hand. (Matthew 3:12)

5. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)

6. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 10:7)

7. You shall not finish going through the cities of Israel, until

the Son of Man comes. (Matthew 10:23)

8. ....the age about to come. (Matthew 12:32)

9. The Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father

with His angels; and will then recompense every man accordingto his deeds. (Matthew 16:27; Mark 8:38; Luke 9:26)

10. Verily I say unto you, there are some of those who are

standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Sonof Man coming in His Kingdom. (Matthew 16:28; cf. Mark 9:1;

Luke 9:27)

11. When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to thosevine-growers? ....He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and

will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers, who will pay him theproceeds at the proper seasons. ....Therefore I say to you, the

kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nationproducing the fruit of it. ....When the chief priests and the Pharisees

heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking aboutthem. (Matthew 21:40-41,43,45)

12. This generation will not pass away until all these things

take place. (Matthew 24:34)

13. Hereafter, you [Caiaphas, the chief priests, the scribes, theelders, the whole Sanhedrin] shall be seeing the Son of Man sitting

at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of

heaven. (Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke 22:69)

14. The kingdom of God is at hand. (Mark 1:15)

15. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy

the vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others. ....They [thechief priests, scribes and elders] understood that He spoke the parable

against them. (Mark 12:9,12)


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16. This generation will not pass away until all these things takeplace. (Mark 13:30)

17. Who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come? (Luke

3:7)

18. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees. (Luke 3:9)

19. His winnowing fork is in His hand. (Luke 3:17)

20. The kingdom of God has come near to you. (Luke 10:9)

21. The kingdom of God has come near. (Luke 10:11)

22. What, therefore, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He

will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to

others. The scribes and the chief priests understood that He spokethis parable against them. (Luke 20:15-16,19)

23. These are days of vengeance, in order that all things which are

written may be fulfilled. (Luke 21:22)

24. This generation will not pass away until all things take

place. (Luke 21:32)

25. Daughters of Jerusalem , stop weeping for Me, but weep for

yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are comingwhen they will say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that neverbore, and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to

the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us. (Luke 23:28-

30; Compare Rev. 6:14-17)

26. We were hoping that He was the One who is about to redeem

Israel . (Luke 24:21)

27. I will come to you. In that Day you shall know that I am in MyFather, and you in Me, and I in you. Lord, what then has happened

that You are about to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world?(John 14:18,20,22)

28. If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?

(John 21:22)


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29. This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: And it shallbe in the last days (Acts 2:16 -17)

30. He has fixed a day in which He is about to judge the world in

righteousness (Acts 17:31 )

31. There is about to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the

wicked. (Acts 24:15)

32. As he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgmentabout to come (Acts 24:25)

33. Not for [Abrahams] sake only was it written, that [faith] was

reckoned to him [as righteousness], but for our sake also, to whom itis about to be reckoned. ( Rom. 4:23-24)

34. If you are living according to the flesh, you are about to die.(Romans 8:13 )

35. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy

to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us.

(Romans 8:18 )

36. It is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now

salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almostgone, and the day is at hand. ( Romans 13:11-12)

37. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. (Romans

16:20 )

38. The time has been shortened. (I Corinthians 7:29)

39. The form of this world is passing away. (I Corinthians 7:31)

40. Now these things were written for our instruction, upon

whom the ends of the ages have come. (I Corinthians 10:11)

41. We shall not all fall sleep, but we shall all be changed, in amoment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the

trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and weshall be changed. (I Corinthians 15:51-52)

42. Maranatha! [The Lord comes!] (I Corinthians 16:22)


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43. ...not only in this age, but also in the one about to come.(Ephesians 1:21)

44. The Lord is near. (Phil. 4:5)

45. The gospel was proclaimed in all creation under heaven.(Colossians 1:23; Compare Matthew 24:14; Romans 10:18 ; 16:26 ;

Colossians 1:5-6; II Timothy 4:17 ; Rev. 14:6-7; cf. I Clement 5,7)

46. things which are a shadow of what is about to come. (Colossians2:16-17)

47. we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord We

who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in theclouds You, brethren, are not in darkness, that the Day should

overtake you like a thief. (I Thessalonians 4:15,17; 5:4)

48. May your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, withoutblame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Thessalonians 5:23)

49. It is only just for God to repay with affliction those who

afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to usas well when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with

His mighty angels in flaming fire. (II Thessalonians 1:6-7)

50. Godliness holds promise for the present life and that which is

about to come. (I Timothy 4:8)

51. I charge you that you keep the commandment without stain orreproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Timothy

6:14)

52. storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation forthat which is about to come, so that they may take hold of that which

is life indeed. (I Timothy 6:19)

53. In the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of

self Avoid these men. For of these are those who enter into householdsand captivate weak women These also oppose the truth But they willnot make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all (II

Timothy 3:1-2,5-6,8-9)

54. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus,who is about to judge the living and the dead (II Timothy 4:1)


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55. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets inmany portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us

in His Son. (Heb. 1:1-2)

56. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for

the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14 )

57. He did not subject to angels the world about to come. (Heb. 2:5)

58. and have tasted the powers of the age about to come. (Heb. 6:5)

59. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and

brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled,

receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it isworthless and near a curse, and its end is for burning. (Heb. 6:7-8)

60. When He said, A new covenant, He has made the firstobsolete. But what is becoming obsolete and growing old isready to disappear. (Heb. 8:13)

61. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way of the [heavenly]

Holy Places has not yet been revealed, while the outer tabernacle isstill standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both

gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiperperfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and

various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of

reformation. (Heb. 9:8-10; Compare Galatians 4:19; Ephesians 2:21-22; 3:17; 4:13)

62. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good thingsabout to come (Hebrews 9:11 )

63. Now once at the consummation of the ages He has been

manifested to put away sin. (Hebrews 9:26)

64. For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things aboutto come (Hebrews 10:1)

65. as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:25)

66. the fury of a fire which is about to consume theadversaries. (Hebrews 10:27)


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67. For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and willnot delay. (Hebrews 10:37)

68. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the one

that is about to come. (Hebrews 13:14)

69. Speak and so act, as those who are about to be judged by the law

of liberty. (James 2:12)

70. Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which arecoming upon you. It is in the last days that you have stored up your

treasure! (James 5:1,3)

71. Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.(James 5:7)

72. You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming ofthe Lord is at hand. (James 5:8)

73. salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (I Peter 1:5)

74. He has appeared in these last times for the sake of you. (I

Peter 1:20)

75. They shall give account to Him who is ready to judge the

living and the dead. (I Peter 4:5)

76. The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of soundjudgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. (I Peter

4:7)

77. For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. (IPeter 4:17)

78. as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a

partaker also of the glory that is about to be revealed. (I Peter 5:1)

79. We have the prophetic word which you do well to pay attention asto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the Day dawns and the morning

star arises in your hearts. (II Peter 1:19)

80. Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is

not asleep. (II Peter 2:3)


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81. In the last days mockers will come. For this they willingly areignorant of (II Peter 3:3,5)

82. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the

heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed

with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Sinceall these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of peopleought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and

hastening the coming of the day of God. (II Peter 3:10-12)

83. The darkness is passing away, and the true light is alreadyshining. (I John 2:8)

84. The world is passing away, and its desires. (I John 2:17)

85. It is the last hour. (I John 2:18)

86. Even now many antichrists have arisen; from this we know that itis the last hour. (I John 2:18; Compare Matthew 24:23-34)

87. This is that of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is

coming, and now it is already in the world. (I John 4:3; Compare IIThessalonians 2:7)

88. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were longbeforehand marked out for this condemnation. About these also Enoch

prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord came with many thousands ofHis holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all theungodly (Jude 1:4,14-15)

89. But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken

beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they weresaying to you, In the last time there shall be mockers, following after

their own ungodly lusts. These are the ones who cause divisions(Jude 1:17-19)

90. to show to His bond-servants, the things which must shortly

take place. (Revelation 1:1)

91. The time is near. (Revelation 1:3)

92. Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come. (Revelation

2:25)


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93. I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is about tocome upon the whole land. (Revelation 3:10; cf. Matthew 2:6,20,21)

94. I am coming quickly. (Revelation 3:11)

95. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is about to rule allthe nations with a rod of iron. (Revelation 12:5)

96. And in her [the Great City Babylon] was found the blood of

prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.(Revelation 18:24; Compare Matthew 23:35-36; Luke 11:50-51)

97. to show to His bond-servants the things which must

shortly take place. (Revelation 22:6)

98. Behold, I am coming quickly. (Revelation 22:7)

99. Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for

the time is near. (Revelation 22:10; Compare Dan. 8:26)

100. Behold, I am coming quickly. (Revelation 22:12)

101. Yes, I am coming quickly. (Revelation 22:20)

All of these verses concerned those who lived in the first century, not

those who would live thousands of years later (though we can certainlylearn some general principles from every verse of Scripture, even ones

that weren't intended directly for us). The imminent destruction of the

temple and judgment of those who rejected the Messiah is adominant theme of the New Testament, and was a top priority in the

minds of Christians in those days.

It is important to see the many verses above that are talking aboutthe destruction of the temple. This was the subject of Jesus

important Olivet Discourse, a major prophecy. Please read Matthewchapters 23-24 to review this subject. Note especially Matthew 23:34-

36. Chapter 24 is an elaboration on this prophetic curse, which Jesusplaces on those anti-christs (cf. 1 John 2:22; Acts 2:36). Well examineMatthew 24 below.

The End of the World


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Every occurrence of the phrase end of the world (in the King JamesVersion) is mistranslated. The literal rendering is end of the age

(Greek: aion). The idea of "the end of the world" has confused manypeople. The stereotypical "prophecy nut" carries the sign saying "THE

END IS NEAR," and he is always wrong.

1. Matthew 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; theharvest is the end of the world age; and the reapers are the angels.

2. Matthew 13:40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in

the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world age.

3. Matthew 13:49 So shall it be at the end of the world age: the

angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,

4. Matthew 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, thedisciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these

things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of

the world age?

5. Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I

have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the

end of the world age. Amen.

6. 1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for

examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the

ends of the world age are come.

7. Hebrews 9:26 For then must he often have suffered since the

foundation of the world [Gk: kosmos]: but now once in the end of theworld age hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

8. Extra credit: Ephesians 3:21 (cf. Isa. 45:17)

Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages,world without end. Amen. (Lit., to all the generations of the age of

the ages)

These verses signify the end of the Old Covenant, not thedestruction of the planet. A proper understanding of Christs

Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) will aid our

understanding of the end of the age. Christ predicted thedestruction of Jerusalem and the temple, which happened 40

years later, in A.D. 70.


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Matthew 23:29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the

monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, If we had lived in the daysof our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the

blood of the prophets.

31 Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sonsof those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of

your fathersguilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escapethe condemnation of hell? 34 Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets,

wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and

some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute fromcity to city, 35 that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on

the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah,son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the

altar. 36 Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this

generation. 38 Behold! Your house is left to you desolate;

After making this prediction, His disciples asked for signs of

this event, so they would know when it would happen.

Matthew 24:1 Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, andHis disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And

Jesus said to them, Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I sayto you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be

thrown down. 3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples

came to Him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be? And

what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world?

Jesus then proceeds to spell out the signs that would precede His

coming and the end of the world, which, as weve seen, really meansthe end of the Old Testament age. Lets read Lukes account of Jesus

spelling out the signs of His coming and the end of the age, as itbrings out the immediacy of Christs coming in judgment against

Jerusalem:

Luke 21:20 But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, thenknow that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea

flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart,and let not those who are in the country enter her. 22 For these are

the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be

fulfilled. 23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who arenursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the

land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge ofthe sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will


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be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. 25And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and

on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the wavesroaring; 26 mens hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of

those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the

heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see the Son of Mancoming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Verse 27 takes us back to one of the critical any moment verses we

began with:

The Son of Man is about to come in the glory of His Father with His

angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds.There are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste

death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. (Matthew

16:27-28; cf. Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27)

This is clearly an event that was about to happen to that generation,

and did in fact happen: Jerusalem was laid waste. It was a time of

tribulation greater than any Israel had ever experienced, and greaterthan any that Israel would ever experience again.

Lets connect the context of the New Heavens/New Earth in 2 Peter 3

with the heavenly terminology found in Matthew 24:[1]

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 fallfrom heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and thenwill appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and all of the tribes

of the land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on theclouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send forth

His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His electfrom the four winds, from one end of the heaven to another (Matthew

24:29-31).

The Preterist says Matthew 24 the entire chapter was fulfilled inthe first century. The Great Tribulation was the complex of events

that occurred prior to and during the siege of Jerusalem, culminating

in its destruction in A.D. 70. Jesus seems to be saying that the SecondComing will occur immediately after the Tribulation. Did the Second

Coming occur in A.D. 70? Have we missed it?

First, let us be clear about one thing at the outset: there is just nogetting around that word immediately. It means immediately.


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Acknowledging that the tribulation took place during the then-livinggeneration, we must also face the clear teaching of Scripture that

whatever Jesus is talking about in these verses happened immediatelyafterward. In other words, these verses describe what is to take place

at the endof the Tribulationwhat forms its climax.

In order to understand the meaning of Jesus expressions in thispassage, we need to understand the Old Testament much more than

most people do today. Jesus was speaking to an audience that was

intimately familiar with the most obscure details of Old Testamentliterature. They had heard the Old Testament read and expounded

countless times throughout their lives, and had memorized lengthypassages. Biblical imagery and forms of expression had formed their

culture, environment, and vocabulary from earliest infancy, and thishad been true for generations. There was no Oprah, no Fox News, no

ESPN, no Britney Spears. (Recall, for a modern parallel, the influence

of the Puritan Pulpit in colonial America.[2])

The fact is that when Jesus spoke to His disciples about the fall of

Jerusalem, He used prophetic(Biblical) vocabulary. There was a

language of prophecy, instantly recognizable to those familiar withthe Old Testament. As Jesus foretold the complete end of the Old

Covenant systemwhich was, in a sense, the end of a whole worldHe spoke of it as any of the prophets would have, in the stirring

language of covenantal judgment. We will consider each element in the

prophecy, seeing how its previous use in the Old Testament prophets

determined its meaning in the context of Jesus discourse on the fall ofJerusalem. Remember that our ultimate standard of truth is the Bible,and the Bible alone.

The Sun, Moon, and Stars

At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus said, the universe will collapse: the

light of the sun and the moon will be extinguished, the stars will fall,the powers of the heavens will be shaken. The basis for this symbolism

is in Genesis 1:14-16, where the sun, moon, and stars (the powers of

the heavens) are spoken of as signs which govern the world. Laterin Scripture, these heavenly lights are used to speak of earthly

authorities and governors; and when God threatens to come againstthem in judgment, the same collapsing-universe terminology is used to

describe it. Prophesying the fall of Babylon to the Medes in 539 B.C.,Isaiah wrote:

Behold, the Day of the LORD is coming,


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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 with their light;

The sun will be dark when it rises,And the moon will not shed its light. (Isaiah 13:9-10)

Significantly, Isaiah later prophesied the fall of Edom in terms ofde-

creation:

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. (Isaiah 34:4)

Isaiahs contemporary, the prophet Amos, foretold the doom of

Samaria (722 B.C.) in much the same way:

And it will come about in that day,Declares the Lord GOD,

That I shall make the sun go down at noon

And make the earth dark in broad daylight. (Amos 8:9)

Another example is from the prophet Ezekiel, who predicted the

destruction of Egypt. God said this through Ezekiel:

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 shall not give its light.

All the shining lights in the heavens

I will darken over youAnd will set darkness on your land,

Declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 32:7-8)

It must be stressed that none of these astronomical events literallytook place. God did not intend anyone to place a literalist construction

on these statements. Poetically, however, all these things didhappen:as far as these wicked nations were concerned, the lights went out.

This is simply figurative language, which would not surprise us at all if

we were more familiar with the Bible and appreciative of its literarycharacter.


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What Jesus is saying in Matthew 24, therefore, in propheticterminology immediately recognizable by his disciples, is that the light

of Israel is going to be extinguished; the covenant nation will cease toexist. When the Tribulation is over, old Israelthe old heavens and

earth will be gone.

Why Does it Matter?

Last year in America, over 10,000 people were murdered. During the

20th century, around the world, about that same number weremurdered each and every single day. Even more astonishing, these

murders were all "legal." In fact, they were all carried out by variousgovernments around the world. This number does not include

abortions, legal or otherwise. Last year around the world, there were

about 135,000 abortions each and every single day. These murdersare not necessary. There are about 200,000,000 Americans who call

themselves Christians. These are, by and large, the most powerfulpeople in the world. They have enough money to end poverty and

illiteracy around the world simply by tithing 10% of their income to

groups committed to Christian Reconstruction. But 200,000,000Christians are not investing in the future of the planet because they

believe "Jesus is coming soon."

Notes

[1] Much of the following is taken from David Chilton, Paradise

Restored, Tyler, Texas: Dominion Press, 1985.

[2] Harry Stout, The New England Soul: Preaching and ReligiousCulture in Colonial New England, Oxford University Press, 1986.

Jesus is NOT coming soon!

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