Originally posted by Brian45
Matthew 24
20And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.
How can what happened 2000 years ago be the worst time in history , we all know that world war 2 was far worse than anything that happened before .
Hi Brian.
Lets compare scripture with scripture, to take a closer look at your hermeneutic here, and see if it holds up shall we?
Jesus was utilizing a common Old Testament figure of speech in Matthew 24:21: "ever was/nor ever shall be."
Scripture tells us in 1 Kings 3:12 that there was "no king like Solomon before or
after him." Such statements are then repeated in 2 Kings 18:5-6 of
Hezekiah and in 2 Kings 23:25 of Josiah. Obviously, they can't all be
the greatest King there ever was nor ever shall be. And, of course,
Jesus Christ surpasses even Solomon (Matt. 12:42). This same Old
Testament idea of "never will be again" is employed of various judgments
that have already been fulfilled, such as locusts in Egypt (Ex.
10:12-15; cf. Joel 1:1-4), a cry in Egypt (Ex. 11:6), and judgment upon
OT Israel (Ez. 5:9; Joel 2:2).
Therefore, we are bound by the set precedent to recognize that the expression "ever was/nor ever shall be" is a common Hebraic idiom
meaning "very great" or "very much." To ignore this set precedent is, IMHO, unfounded.
I'd ask you to comment on how the same Old Testament idea of "never will be again" is employed of various judgments that have already been fulfilled, such as locusts in Egypt (Ex. 10:12-15; cf. Joel 1:1-4), a cry in Egypt (Ex. 11:6), and judgment upon OT Israel (Ez. 5:9; Joel 2:2). Seriously, how can you ever square Ezekiel 5:8-9 with some yet-future "greatest disaster against Israel" ? The prophet Ezekiel, in Ez 5:8-9, clearly calls the Babylonian desolation against Israel the greatest disaster that God will ever bring against Israel. With your hermeneutic, there is no way to claim that some GREATER disasters lie in political Israel's future, or to claim that AD70 was worse than the Babylonian exile (when it clearly was) No way at all. Ezekiel assigns the "Greatest of all" to 586 BC!
Our Lord was simply saying in
Matthew 24:21 that there would be very great tribulation. It was in fact the "greatest tribulation" ever suffered by the Mosaic economy of Operational Biblical Judaism.
Use scripture to interprate scripture Brian.
And what about this : Revelation 11:17
"We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
The One who is and who was and who is to come,<SUP>[7]</SUP>
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
<SUP> 18</SUP>The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come,
And the time of the dead, that they should be judged,
And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints,
And those who fear Your name, small and great,
And should destroy those who destroy the earth."
Who was destroying the earth 2000 years ago ? and with what weapons ?
Again, If you would only let scripture interprate scripture, you will see that this language of "universal destruction" is used by the prophets over and over and over and over to describe
local judgements against nations, principalities and people.
If we were to apply your current hermeneutic with consistancy, across the board, whenever we come across this type of language, we would have to assert that the "World" was totally destroyed several times prior to Christ's Birth.
See:Isaiah 13, Isaiah 24, Isiah 34, Nahum 1: 1-5.
All of these speak of "Day of the Lord" Events, in our past, where the "world", even the "Heavens" were completely and utterly destroyed.
The Bible interprates itself quite well Brian. We don't need TV, Newspapers, Left Behind Fiction Novels, Movies, Encyclopedias, Dictionarys, or a 21st century World Atlas to do it for us.