Our last post mentioned that inmillennialism rests on pillars found in the Olivet Discourse. We examined the definitions of four key words. We also mentioned two other supports: a key prophetic image and a literary device. This post will discuss the image and our next post will consider the literary device (D. V.).
Jesus used a limited amount of apocalyptic language in the Olivet Discourse. This makes it a good passage with which to begin building our prophetic model. But such language is not entirely absent.
We will interpret Jesus’s words using the analogy of faith. He says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Matt 24:29 NKJV; emphasis added).
The central issue is simple. Is Jesus speaking of literal, physical events, or is he using figurative language?
Many commentators assume Jesus is being literal. For example, one says Jesus refers to “a splendorous, visible event.” His “return will be accompanied by unusual displays in the heavens.”1
If Matt 24:29 refers to literal events, certain conclusions must follow. Nothing like this has happened since Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse. This means the definitions we provided in our last post are wrong. The “end of the age” cannot mean the end of the Mosaic age (Matt 24:3, 6, 13, 14). It must refer to an “end” in our future.
“Parousia” cannot mean Jesus’s presence when the Temple fell in AD 70 (Matt 24:3, 27, 37, 39). Nor does it refer to his ongoing presence with his churches in the (present) messianic age.
The “land” cannot mean Israel’s territory—the land of Canaan. This literal language means events in the Olivet Discourse affect the entire cosmos.
And, “this generation” cannot mean Jesus’s generation. His contemporaries did not see literal events like these, even though he promised they would (Matt 16:27–28; 24:34; et al.).
This literal approach to Matt 24:29 invalidates our prophetic model (i.e., inmillennialism).
But we assert this interpretation is wrong. Jesus is not speaking of literal phenomena. He is using standard prophetic imagery. He is using well-known metaphorical language.
An observation in a standard commentary supports this assertion. Speaking of Mark 13:24–25—a parallel passage to Matt 24:29—it says, “Nearly every expression will be found used of the Lord’s coming in terrible national judgments: as of Babylon (Isa 13:9–13); of Idumea (Isa 34:1, 2, 4, 8–10); of Egypt (Ezek 32:7, 8); compare also Ps 18:7–15; Isa 24:1, 17–19; Joel 2:10, 11, &c.”2
We will use several passages to emphasize (through italics) this point. Speaking about God’s soon-coming judgment of Babylon, Isaiah says,
Behold, the day of the LORD comes,
Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger,
To lay the land desolate;
And He will destroy its sinners from it.
For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not give their light;
The sun will be darkened in its going forth,
And the moon will not cause its light to shine.
I will punish the world for its evil,
And the wicked for their iniquity;
I will halt the arrogance of the proud,
And will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold,
A man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Therefore I will shake the heavens,
And the earth will move out of her place,
In the wrath of the LORD of hosts
And in the day of His fierce anger. (Isa 13:9–13 NKJV; emphasis added)
This language resembles Matt 24:29. God fulfilled this prophecy when the Persians overthrew Babylon in 539 BC. The physical stars, sun, and moon continued to shine. The earth continued its orbit in the heavens.
Isaiah was not speaking about literal, physical phenomena. He was using rich metaphorical language to emphasize the coming judgment.3
Isaiah also foretold God’s judgment of Edom (Idumea). He says,
Also their slain shall be thrown out;
Their stench shall rise from their corpses,
And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;
All their host shall fall down
As the leaf falls from the vine,
And as fruit falling from a fig tree.
For My sword shall be bathed in heaven;
Indeed it shall come down on Edom,
And on the people of My curse, for judgment. (Isa 34:3–5 NKJV; emphasis added)
When God fulfilled this prophecy, the literal mountains did not melt. The hosts of heaven did not dissolve or fall. God did not roll them up into a literal scroll. This was the symbolic language of judgment.
The Psalms use this language to describe God’s ongoing judgment of Israel:
O God, You have cast us off;
You have broken us down;
You have been displeased;
Oh, restore us again!
You have made the earth tremble;
You have broken it;
Heal its breaches, for it is shaking.
You have shown Your people hard things;
You have made us drink the wine of confusion. (Psa 60:1–3 NKJV; emphasis added)
David was not describing a literal seismic event. He was using earthquake imagery to describe the magnitude of God’s verdicts.
Again, when God judged Egypt, he did not ride on a literal cloud. The heart of Egypt did not turn to physical molten metal. But Isaiah used this language as a graphic picture of God’s wrath against this heathen nation. “The burden against Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud, And will come into Egypt; The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence, And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst” (Isa 19:1).
Ezekiel described this judgment of Egypt using the same metaphors. “When I put out your light, I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, And the moon shall not give her light. All the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you, And bring darkness upon your land,’ Says the Lord GOD” (Ezek 32:7–8).
These images occur in other judgment contexts. The Song of Moses uses them to show Israel’s future (Deut 32:22). The book of Judges uses them to describe Sisera’s opposition (Judges 5:20). David uses them to describe the start of the Mosaic age (Ps 68:8).
Our final example is of utmost interest. It is a prophecy of God’s previous judgment of Israel when he allowed the Babylonians to destroy the Temple in 586 BC.
“For My people are foolish,
They have not known Me.
They are silly children,
And they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge.”
I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void;
And the heavens, they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled,
And all the hills moved back and forth.
I beheld, and indeed there was no man,
And all the birds of the heavens had fled.
I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness,
And all its cities were broken down
At the presence of the LORD,
By His fierce anger.
For thus says the LORD:
“The whole land shall be desolate;
Yet I will not make a full end.
For this shall the earth mourn,
And the heavens above be black,
Because I have spoken.
I have purposed and will not relent,
Nor will I turn back from it.” (Jer 4:22–28 NKJV; emphasis added)
John Gill says these images pertain to “the land of Judea, not the whole world.”4 Israel survived this judgment. She returned from Babylon, rebuilt the Temple, and resumed the sacrificial offerings.
Isaiah used this de-creation imagery to describe a temporary judgment. How can we object to Jesus using it to portray the Temple’s final overthrow and the end of the sacrificial system?
Conclusion
This imagery is appropriate for Israel’s judgment. Heavenly bodies represented the nation at its beginning. Joseph dreamed about “the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars” (Gen 37:9 NKJV). These represented the young nation—Joseph’s father, mother, and brothers (Gen 37:10). Now, in Matt 24:29, Jesus is describing the end of Israel after the flesh (1 Cor 10:18). Cosmic collapse serves his purpose well.
Jesus foretold the Temple’s fall. The disciples realized this event’s significance. It would end the Mosaic age and usher in the messianic age, the age of Christ’s parousia (presence) with his churches. They asked for signs showing its approach (Matt 24:1–3).
Jesus gave a list of signs (Matt 24:4–31). The intensity of the signs increased as he continued. They culminated in the short burst of prophetic imagery we have been discussing (Matt 24:29).
This imagery pertains to the final overthrow of the Temple. The Scriptures contain no promise of its rebuilding. The sacrifices will not resume under God’s blessing. Jesus has fulfilled everything for which they stood. The antitype has replaced the type.
We have no reason to interpret the language of Matt 24:29 as literal. All indicators point to the fact that Jesus’s was continuing a long prophetic tradition. He was using cosmic collapse imagery to show the magnitude of God’s coming judgment. He would destroy the Temple and Jerusalem in Jesus’s generation (Matt 24:34).
We should remember Richard Chenevix Trench’s observation. Many passages speak of the end or consummation of the αἰών (i.e., age), but “there are none which speak of the end of the κόσμοσ (kosmos).”5
And so it is in the Olivet Discourse. This passage speaks of the end of the Mosaic age, but not the end of the physical creation. Matt 24:29 is symbolic, not literal.
Inmillennialism remains a viable alternative with which to interpret prophecy.
Footnotes
- Louis A. Barbieri, Jr., “Matthew,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck (Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1985), 2:77–78.
- Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Commentary, Critical, Experimental and Practical on the Old and New Testaments, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1976), 3.1:194.
- The image in this post is Isaiah’s Vision of the Destruction of Babylon by Gustave Doré (1832–1883). This file (here) is in the public domain (PD-US).
- John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 9 vols. (1809–1810; repr., Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989), 5:426.
- Richard Chenevix Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1953), 214.
