A Parting of the Ways — Part 1

Our effort to develop a biblical prophetic model has reached a critical juncture. We will use the imagery of Hebrews 3:1–6 to show the central idea of this post. In that passage, Moses’ house signifies his management of the Old Covenant. The writer of Hebrews said Christ’s house—his administration of the New Covenant—would soon replace the former house (Cf. Hebrews 9:8; 10:37).

With a small amount of ambiguity, we can say these two “ways” of worshipping God ran parallel to one another during the Apostles’ generation. “A parting of the ways” came when the Old Covenant ceremonial worship instituted by Moses ended. New Covenant worship, established by Christ and enabled by the Spirit, continued. The division between them occurred when the Temple fell under the weight of God’s judgment against apostate Israel. They did not know the day of their King’s visitation (Luke 19:44). They rejected and crucified him. God was ready to judge their rebellion. He would leave their (Mosaic) house desolate (Matthew 23:38). Their Temple-based “way” (or form) of worship would vanish.

In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus foretold the Temple’s destruction and gave signs related to it. His “immediate signs” (Matthew 24:27–31) included some that pointed to the end of the Old Covenant age and others that signaled the New Covenant age. This group of signs, therefore, showed the “parting of ways” of the two ages.

Jesus used traditional prophetic symbols to describe the coming judgment on the Temple. Of the seven “immediate signs,” four pointed to the end of the Mosaic age. These include the feasting vultures (Matthew 24:28), cosmic collapse (Matthew 24:29), mourning tribes (Matthew 24:30b), and the coming of the Son of Man in judgment (Matthew 24:30c).  The remaining three signs—the parousia (Matthew 24:27), the sign of the son of man in heaven (Matthew 24:30c), and the gathering of the elect (Matthew 24:31)—pertained to the Messianic age. The following diagram shows this division and emphasizes the fulfillment of these signs at the point of age transition:

We will (D.V.) examine the three signs associated with the Messianic age in our next post. This post will examine the four signs associated with the end of the Mosaic age. It will emphasize their presence in the Old Testament prophets and show that our Jewish forefathers (1 Corinthians 10:1) well understood their meaning.

Feasting Vultures

“For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” (Matthew 24:28).

By “eagles,” Jesus meant what we now call “vultures.”¹ These scavengers would feast on dead bodies. Invading armies would cause “desolation” (Luke 21:20) and many people would “fall by the edge of the sword” (Luke 21:24). Vultures would feast on the carrion produced during the “great tribulation” just before the destruction of the Temple.

The disciples recognized, we assume, this vulture imagery as an ancient symbol of God’s judgment on Israel. The prophet Jeremiah had used it to describe the carnage connected to the fall of the first Temple. He prophesied “early in [King] Jehoiakim’s reign (c. 609–605 BC)”² that “the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away” (Jeremiah 7:33; emphasis added).

Sometime around 626 to 590 BC,³ the prophet Habakkuk described the soon-coming slaughter by Babylonian armies using this imagery. He said, “Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat” (Habakkuk 1:8; emphasis added). Within a few years, the eagles landed and feasted on the dead bodies in Jerusalem.

The prophet Hosea will supply our final example. He said, “Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law” (Hosea 8:1; emphasis added). John Gill says the prophet used an eagle as a sign

of Salmaneser, king of Assyria, compared to this creature for his swiftness in coming, his strength, fierceness, and cruelty; this creature being swift in flight, and a bird of prey. So the Targum interprets it of a king and his army, “behold, as an eagle flieth, so shall a king with his army come up and encamp against the house of the sanctuary of the Lord.”⁴

History shows the appropriateness of this sign in relation to the fall of the Temple. Josephus witnessed the devastation caused by the Roman armies in AD 70. His account of their actions shows the gruesome nature of the eagles’ feast:

One would have thought that the hill itself, on which the temple stood, was seething hot, as full of fire on every part of it, that the blood was larger in quantity than the fire, and those that were slain more in number than those that slew them; for the ground did nowhere appear visible, for the dead bodies that lay on it; but the soldiers went over heaps of these bodies, as they ran upon such as fled from them.⁵

Jesus used this long-standing prophetic sign as an effective description of the devastation linked to the destruction of the Temple.

Cosmic Collapse

“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” (Matthew 24:29).

We devoted our last post (here) to the proposition that Jesus used cosmic collapse imagery to describe the judgment coming on Jerusalem and the Temple. We will not now provide further examples—although several are available—to reserve space in this post for the other signs.

Mourning Tribes

“. . . and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn. . . .” (Matthew 24:30b).

The Greek word Jesus used (gē) can mean either “land” or “earth.” We will do well to follow Milton Terry’s advice: “some words have a variety of significations, and hence, whatever their primitive meaning, we are obliged to gather from the context, and from familiarity with the usage of the language, the particular sense which they bear in a given passage of Scripture.”⁶

Within the Olivet Discourse, the meaning “land” should prevail. This is a prophecy—with explanation—of the destruction of the Temple. Nothing in this context shows Jesus is describing an event outside Israel’s boundaries, or in the “earth.” Everything here concerns coming events in the “land” of Israel where the Temple stood. The marginal reading of the Holman Christian Standard Bible gives the right idea: “And then all the tribes of the land will mourn.”

Donald Hagner reinforces this conclusion and shows how Jesus again used standard prophetic imagery. He says Jesus’ “language is virtually the same as that of Zech 12:10–14 (where both the same verb, ‘mourn,’ and the phrase ‘all the tribes,’ as well as ‘the land [of Israel],’ occur).”⁷

The question of how to interpret Zechariah’s mourning-tribes prophecy generates much discussion. We will not enter the fray here, but make a single observation: Zechariah linked the mourning of the tribes of Israel to the generation that would crucify the Messiah. Jesus did the same in the Olivet Discourse.

John Gill provides another reason for restricting this mourning sign to the “land” around the Temple. He says Jesus is speaking of

the land of Judea; for other lands, and countries, were not usually divided into tribes, as that was; neither were they affected with the calamities and desolations of it, and the vengeance of the son of man upon it; at least not so as to mourn on that account, but rather were glad and rejoiced.⁸

The mourning of Israel’s tribes in their land served as a sign for the destruction of the Temple.

Judgment Coming

“. . . and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).

The Old Testament prophets used every element of this prophecy in relation to God’s previous judgments against nations. We will make brief observations on three: the “seeing,” the “coming,” and the “clouds.”

The Seeing

Jesus said they would “see” the coming of the Son of Man. In Scripture, “seeing” is not just a physical sense. It often means “to understand” or “to perceive.”⁹

The Hebrew prophets had used this type of speech. In his prophecy about the end of Egypt’s world—of which we wrote here—Isaiah said, “Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt” (Isaiah 19:1). The word “behold” is “an interjection demanding attention, ‘look!’ ‘see!’”¹⁰ The prophet did not mean the Egyptians could look into the sky and “see” the Lord in the clouds with their physical eyes. They could, however, “understand” that God was there because of the physical phenomena they witnessed: their nation lay in ruins.

The Jews would “see” the Son of Man in the clouds in the same manner. When the Temple fell, they would “understand” Jesus had arrived to execute vengeance upon them. Even though they could not see him with physical eyes, they would know he had come. Their city and nation would perish.

Physical eyes are unnecessary for this kind of “seeing.”

The Coming

We should compare and contrast the Greek word Jesus used here for “coming” (erchomai) with the “coming” (parousia) in Matthew 24:3, 27. That some translations use the same English word to translate two Greek words can cause confusion.

We have stressed (here) that parousia means “presence”; it does not show “motion towards,” or coming or going. It “denotes a state, not and action.”¹¹ This “state” of being is the new condition of the people of God—they enjoy Jesus’ “presence” during the entire Messianic age.

Erchomai, however, represents motion. Its relation to parousia is straightforward. In secular Greek literature, parousia often signified the “visit” of a ruler to a city.¹² The ruler must “come” (erchomai) to begin his “visit” (parousia).

This is the exact relation of these two words in the Olivet Discourse. The Son of Man must “come” (erchomai) to destroy the Temple. He would then “visit” (or, “be present”) with his church during the Messianic age after the Mosaic ceremonial institutions ceased.

This creates the following three stages regarding God dwelling in covenant with his people. First, before Christ came, God dwelt with them through the Temple-based priesthood. Second, during the transition generation—in the “last days” of the Mosaic age—God dwelt in covenant with his people in Christ while the Temple and its priesthood remained. The New Covenant had come and the Old was ready to vanish away but had not yet done so (Hebrews 8:13). Third, after the fall of the Temple, God dwells with his people in Christ alone.

Jesus again used traditional prophetic language to describe the move from the second to the third stage. The prophets often described the “coming” of the Lord to judge a city or nation. God often used human armies to execute judgment when he “came” in judgment. Jesus said the Son of Man would “come” in this manner to judge Israel and remove the Temple.

We have already seen this language in Isaiah’s prophecy of Babylon’s destruction (here) by the Medes and Persians. The prophet equated the “coming” of armies with the “coming” of the Lord against that nation:

The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. (Isaiah 13:4–5; emphasis added)

Jesus is saying nothing more than this about his “coming” in relation to the destruction of the Temple. The Roman armies would also “come” from a far country and this would be the coming “even of the Lord.” In both cases, armies would destroy “the whole land,” Egypt in one case and Israel in the other.

The “coming” (erchomai) of the Son of Man in Matthew 24:30 would bring judgment against Jerusalem and the Temple. The “presence” (i.e., parousia) of Christ (Matthew 24:3, 27) would then characterize the new age.

The Clouds

Jesus said his coming would be “in the clouds of heaven” (Matthew 24:30c). This would create mourning among the tribes of the land (i.e., of Israel). This sign would show the destruction of the Temple was at hand.

We should allow the Old Testament Scriptures to determine our understanding of Jesus’ words.  There we find that God uses clouds as his chariot. God is the One “who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind” (Psalm 104:3; emphasis added). This is normal prophetic imagery to depict God’s mode of transportation.

God uses his chariot cloud(s) when executing judgment. Nahum tells us how the clouds function when God’s patience yields to his judgment.

God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:2–3; emphasis added)

Commenting on this passage, John Gill says, “the clouds are his chariots; in which he rides swiftly; and which, for their appearance and number, are like the dust raised by a multitude of horsemen riding full speed.”¹³ The prophet connects God’s vengeance to the clouds.

Using similar language, Jesus said the destruction of the Temple would occur during the days of vengeance against Israel (Luke 21:22). The Son of Man would arrive “in the clouds of heaven” to execute this judgment.

We can take yet another glance at the end of Egypt’s world. Isaiah said the Lord would “come” to execute judgment against that nation: “The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt” (Isaiah 19:1; emphasis added). Yet again, God’s judgment involves a cloud.

These representative Old Testament passages show how God uses clouds in the display of his wrath. Men on earth did not “see” judgment clouds—or God in them—with their physical eyes. They did, however, understand the clouds of judgment had passed over them because their physical eyes saw the concrete effects of God’s judgment.

Conclusion

Our prophetic model must account for the signs Jesus gave for the destruction of the Temple. We should interpret the signs nearest the event as figures or symbols. Doing so does not mean we are “spiritualizing them away.” Rather, we are using the “analogy of faith” to interpret them in the light of Old Testament usage.

This method shows that none of the four signs we considered in this post expands the Olivet Discourse beyond its stated subject—the fall of the Temple (Matthew 24:1–3).

The signs Jesus used achieved their purpose. The physical Temple fell. Worship centered on the One who is “greater than the Temple” (Matthew 12:6) remained. The signs showed the “parting of the ways” of the two ages, each defined by its respective temple.

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1. Henry George Liddell et al., A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), 29.
2. Charles L. Feinberg, “Jeremiah,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol 8, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), 426.
3. Carl E. Armerding, “Habakkuk,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol 7, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), 493.
4. John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments (Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989), 6:415.
5. Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews, trans. William Whiston (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974), 6:5:1.
6. Milton S. Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics: A Treatise on the Interpretation of the Old and New Testaments (New York: Eaton & Mains, 1890), 79. Emphasis added.
7. Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 14–28 (Dallas: Word, 1995), 714; my Greek transliterations. I have deleted Hagner’s Greek, without ellipses, to smooth out his technical language.
8. Gill, Exposition, 7:294–95.
9. Gary DeMar, Last Days Madness: Obsession of the Modern Church (Atlanta: American Vision, 1997), 169.
10. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (2-Vol. Set) (Chicago: Moody, 1980), 220.
11. W. E. Vine, Collected Writings of W. E. Vine (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 5:149.
12. Albrecht Oepke, “Παρουσία Κτλ.,” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed. Gerhard Kittel, Gerhard Friedrich, and Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 5:859.
13. Gill, Exposition, 6:596.