Summary of Mt 24 & //s and the 1st century
[FONT='Times New Roman','serif'] [/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']As originally written, Mt 24 & //s is about that generation following Jesus. To summarize again what I see:[/font]
*the warning is that Judaizers would whip Israel into a messanic frenzy and wish to take on Rome. They would believe they had God's help doing so (the revolt, not the frenzy!)
*Christ and the apostles hoped all Israel would become missionaries to the ends of the earth and not attempt to take on a freedom fight against Rome[/font]
*the conflict was foretold in Dan 9; the one official quote of Dan 9 in the NT is here in this setting[/font]
[*the end of the world was expected 'immediately after' this mistaken messanic war, with the allowance that only the Father knew the end[/font]
*the revolt failed miserably; over a million perished; there was maternal cannibalism[/font]
*the end did not come[/font]
*2 Peter 3 explains the delay of the end in the same terms--it is up to the Father. There is nothing Judaistic about Peter's depiction of the future, as with other didactic passages such as I Cor. 15 or Heb. 9. The other didactic passage about antichrist (I John 2 and 4) not only says it was in the last days but the last hour.[/font]
*Revelation is about this same conflict in the hope that Israel would believe and become missionaries. It was written about things which would happen very soon. Gentry, Bray, Adams, Preston and Van Meter are among those who have shown how Revelation has to do with the 1st century Judean conflict.[/font]
*we are in this same situation of delayed return and mission today.[/font]
(It can help to realize that there are times when Jesus here used the term 'ges' (world, earth) for the land of Israel. Mt 5 for ex., his believers are salt of the land of Israel, preserving it (from the conflict). [/font]
*The Mt 21-25 material is very linked and connected to the 1st century Judea, as seen by Mt 24:2, 15, 26 (the temple's inner rooms); these events are said to be the punishment in fulfillment of all that is written, Lk. 21, which is a sweeping declaration). Mt 21-22 have a pair of parables that both mention the wretched end of the self-seeking tenants and the burning end of the city of those who did not respond to invites to the feast. More important, Mt 21 contains the entry scene with its phrase from Ps 118 'blessed is he...' and 23 explains that the true Israel must sing this about Christ as he is/was to 'see' him. It is not a prediction per se.
*I do understand how there may be a replication of the messianic war events in modern times, but then these passages would refer to two generations at the most—the one immediately following Jesus and one at the end. This is unlikely, because the emphatic destruction of Jerusalem (emphatic as Lk 21 says) of 70 AD is already the 2nd time such has happened. Mt 23 says all the sins of Israel were imputed to the generation of Christ's time. [/font]
*What is certainly allowable, because everything moves or stops on the basis of the proclaiming of the Gospel, is that if a swarm of modern Jews suddenly started preaching justification from sins by Christ alone, there could be an enormous turn around to this dark age. It would not matter where they were located. By contrast to such a possible development, the fact of a legal modern Israeli state means nothing prophetic that I know of. I do hope the number of constitutional, representative states in the region continues.
*All Israel will be saved is refering to all people who are producing the fruit of the kingdom. None of the discussion is strictly racial or ethnic in all of Rom 9-11. There is another Israel he is refering to from 9:6 on and solidified by 9:24's quotes. And in any case "saved" would not refer to a legal-political entity. it would be the same as usual (Rom 10).
*The Bible is therefore thematically structured A-B-A in which A is the nations and B is Israel. It dwells on Israel from Abraham to Pentecost (if you see that reaching the nations is mentioned in Jesus post-resurrection words and Acts 1 and that when people went home from Pentecost, they took the message rapidly to the "whole inhabited world.") To go back to theme B would be to overturn the best, clearest and most complete statements by the apostles themselves about what is going on, about what is the big picture: Gal 3-4, Rom 3-5, 2 Cor 3-5, Acts 13's sermon, Hebrews, Eph 2-3, Acts 26's defense.
--Inter
[FONT='Times New Roman','serif'] [/font]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']As originally written, Mt 24 & //s is about that generation following Jesus. To summarize again what I see:[/font]
*the warning is that Judaizers would whip Israel into a messanic frenzy and wish to take on Rome. They would believe they had God's help doing so (the revolt, not the frenzy!)
*Christ and the apostles hoped all Israel would become missionaries to the ends of the earth and not attempt to take on a freedom fight against Rome[/font]
*the conflict was foretold in Dan 9; the one official quote of Dan 9 in the NT is here in this setting[/font]
[*the end of the world was expected 'immediately after' this mistaken messanic war, with the allowance that only the Father knew the end[/font]
*the revolt failed miserably; over a million perished; there was maternal cannibalism[/font]
*the end did not come[/font]
*2 Peter 3 explains the delay of the end in the same terms--it is up to the Father. There is nothing Judaistic about Peter's depiction of the future, as with other didactic passages such as I Cor. 15 or Heb. 9. The other didactic passage about antichrist (I John 2 and 4) not only says it was in the last days but the last hour.[/font]
*Revelation is about this same conflict in the hope that Israel would believe and become missionaries. It was written about things which would happen very soon. Gentry, Bray, Adams, Preston and Van Meter are among those who have shown how Revelation has to do with the 1st century Judean conflict.[/font]
*we are in this same situation of delayed return and mission today.[/font]
(It can help to realize that there are times when Jesus here used the term 'ges' (world, earth) for the land of Israel. Mt 5 for ex., his believers are salt of the land of Israel, preserving it (from the conflict). [/font]
*The Mt 21-25 material is very linked and connected to the 1st century Judea, as seen by Mt 24:2, 15, 26 (the temple's inner rooms); these events are said to be the punishment in fulfillment of all that is written, Lk. 21, which is a sweeping declaration). Mt 21-22 have a pair of parables that both mention the wretched end of the self-seeking tenants and the burning end of the city of those who did not respond to invites to the feast. More important, Mt 21 contains the entry scene with its phrase from Ps 118 'blessed is he...' and 23 explains that the true Israel must sing this about Christ as he is/was to 'see' him. It is not a prediction per se.
*I do understand how there may be a replication of the messianic war events in modern times, but then these passages would refer to two generations at the most—the one immediately following Jesus and one at the end. This is unlikely, because the emphatic destruction of Jerusalem (emphatic as Lk 21 says) of 70 AD is already the 2nd time such has happened. Mt 23 says all the sins of Israel were imputed to the generation of Christ's time. [/font]
*What is certainly allowable, because everything moves or stops on the basis of the proclaiming of the Gospel, is that if a swarm of modern Jews suddenly started preaching justification from sins by Christ alone, there could be an enormous turn around to this dark age. It would not matter where they were located. By contrast to such a possible development, the fact of a legal modern Israeli state means nothing prophetic that I know of. I do hope the number of constitutional, representative states in the region continues.
*All Israel will be saved is refering to all people who are producing the fruit of the kingdom. None of the discussion is strictly racial or ethnic in all of Rom 9-11. There is another Israel he is refering to from 9:6 on and solidified by 9:24's quotes. And in any case "saved" would not refer to a legal-political entity. it would be the same as usual (Rom 10).
*The Bible is therefore thematically structured A-B-A in which A is the nations and B is Israel. It dwells on Israel from Abraham to Pentecost (if you see that reaching the nations is mentioned in Jesus post-resurrection words and Acts 1 and that when people went home from Pentecost, they took the message rapidly to the "whole inhabited world.") To go back to theme B would be to overturn the best, clearest and most complete statements by the apostles themselves about what is going on, about what is the big picture: Gal 3-4, Rom 3-5, 2 Cor 3-5, Acts 13's sermon, Hebrews, Eph 2-3, Acts 26's defense.
--Inter
Last edited:
