Can someone tell me, possibly with some learned interpretations, what it means when Matthew 24:35 means when it says "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."? Does this mean alterations, destruction, disintegration, is it a metaphor for something? Also, why are fixed things sooner to pass away then His words? Is that to say He is everlasting and unchanging?
Can someone explain to me in depth what Matthew 24:35 means?
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mothcorrupteth
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We have to keep in mind the audience to whom Jesus is speaking, the immediate context within the Olivet discourse, and the prophetic context of the Old Testament.
First, the audience. Jesus is speaking to the disciples after having openly declared in the Temple, ch. 23, that the Jews' house will be left to them desolate. The disciples, possibly out of protest over this announcement, begin to point out to Jesus how marvelous the Temple's construction is. To which Jesus responds that the Temple will be destroyed. This sends the disciples into even more of a buzz, so they ask Jesus when these things would take place, and what would be the sign of his coming and of the end of the age. So remember first, that the disciples are astounded that Jesus would imply that the Temple would be destroyed.
Second, the immediate context. Jesus proceeds to answer each of their questions in order. In vv. 4-28, he describes all the signs leading up to the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. In vv. 29-51, he describes all the signs surrounding his coming--i.e., his coming in judgment against Jerusalem, not his coming in glory. In chapter 25, he describes the end of the age and his coming in glory. That this is the correct way to interpret the Olivet Discourse, I am mainly persuaded from two points of evidence: (1) Mt. 24:34 says that all of the events described prior to that verse would take place within a generation of when he was speaking; and (2) Mark and Luke's accounts of the Olivet Discourse only have the disciples asking when the Temple would be destroyed and what would be the sign that it would take place, and they also omit the parables found in Matthew 25, which suggests that that material concerns the question that is exclusive to Matthew's account: what would be the sign of the end of the age?
Third, the prophetic context. Many people assume that Jesus' discussion of the stars falling and the heavens being darkened is literal, but it's actually an apocalyptic description of the downfall of world rulers. In Genesis, the sun rules over the day and the moon and stars rule over the night. They are metaphors for rulers, then. We see the use of this metaphor in Is. 13:10, where Isaiah is prophesying the destruction of Babylon (and that he IS describing Babylon's destruction is shown from Is. 13:1). The same metaphor is employed when Isaiah prophesies the destruction of Idumea in Is. 34:4-5, and when Ezekiel prophesies the destruction of Egypt in Ez. 32:7-8. What Jesus is describing in Mt. 24:29 is the downfall of a nation, and that it is the nation of Israel is obvious from the word immediately. These things will take place immediately after the tribulation of the siege of Jerusalem.
And one final piece is needed to understand what Jesus is saying in vv. 35. In Is. 51:15-16, the prophet compares the establishment of the nation of Israel to the creation of the heavens and the earth: "And I have put my words in your [Israel's] mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, 'You are my people' " (ESV).
When, therefore, Jesus says, "Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Mt. 24:34-35), he is continuing the metaphor by using a similar one from another prophecy. He is saying, "You marvel at the Temple. It's going to be destroyed. You marvel at the nation of Israel. Well, I'm telling you that it's going to be laid waste, too. The nation that God planted and blessed, he will now uproot and curse, because they have rejected His Messiah. And what I am saying to you will not be uprooted. History will judge me to have spoken rightly. Do not put your trust in these types and shadows that you can see, these tokens of God's favor that you can touch. Put your trust in the eternal and invisible Word of God, which I speak to you now."
First, the audience. Jesus is speaking to the disciples after having openly declared in the Temple, ch. 23, that the Jews' house will be left to them desolate. The disciples, possibly out of protest over this announcement, begin to point out to Jesus how marvelous the Temple's construction is. To which Jesus responds that the Temple will be destroyed. This sends the disciples into even more of a buzz, so they ask Jesus when these things would take place, and what would be the sign of his coming and of the end of the age. So remember first, that the disciples are astounded that Jesus would imply that the Temple would be destroyed.
Second, the immediate context. Jesus proceeds to answer each of their questions in order. In vv. 4-28, he describes all the signs leading up to the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. In vv. 29-51, he describes all the signs surrounding his coming--i.e., his coming in judgment against Jerusalem, not his coming in glory. In chapter 25, he describes the end of the age and his coming in glory. That this is the correct way to interpret the Olivet Discourse, I am mainly persuaded from two points of evidence: (1) Mt. 24:34 says that all of the events described prior to that verse would take place within a generation of when he was speaking; and (2) Mark and Luke's accounts of the Olivet Discourse only have the disciples asking when the Temple would be destroyed and what would be the sign that it would take place, and they also omit the parables found in Matthew 25, which suggests that that material concerns the question that is exclusive to Matthew's account: what would be the sign of the end of the age?
Third, the prophetic context. Many people assume that Jesus' discussion of the stars falling and the heavens being darkened is literal, but it's actually an apocalyptic description of the downfall of world rulers. In Genesis, the sun rules over the day and the moon and stars rule over the night. They are metaphors for rulers, then. We see the use of this metaphor in Is. 13:10, where Isaiah is prophesying the destruction of Babylon (and that he IS describing Babylon's destruction is shown from Is. 13:1). The same metaphor is employed when Isaiah prophesies the destruction of Idumea in Is. 34:4-5, and when Ezekiel prophesies the destruction of Egypt in Ez. 32:7-8. What Jesus is describing in Mt. 24:29 is the downfall of a nation, and that it is the nation of Israel is obvious from the word immediately. These things will take place immediately after the tribulation of the siege of Jerusalem.
And one final piece is needed to understand what Jesus is saying in vv. 35. In Is. 51:15-16, the prophet compares the establishment of the nation of Israel to the creation of the heavens and the earth: "And I have put my words in your [Israel's] mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, 'You are my people' " (ESV).
When, therefore, Jesus says, "Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words will not pass away" (Mt. 24:34-35), he is continuing the metaphor by using a similar one from another prophecy. He is saying, "You marvel at the Temple. It's going to be destroyed. You marvel at the nation of Israel. Well, I'm telling you that it's going to be laid waste, too. The nation that God planted and blessed, he will now uproot and curse, because they have rejected His Messiah. And what I am saying to you will not be uprooted. History will judge me to have spoken rightly. Do not put your trust in these types and shadows that you can see, these tokens of God's favor that you can touch. Put your trust in the eternal and invisible Word of God, which I speak to you now."
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Heavens---(not the sky-or the physical sky) where the important things that have meaning in your life are. The things which in one's life are most elevated. The things of ones life that are held to a higher value. The bright things of ones life. The things that light up your life, or are the bright things of your being. Things or a person held high,as, putting a friend on a pedestal. A person, such as a movie "star" --held in high esteem or recognition.
At the time of the end ones values will be changed to a recognition of new found values. In this case---the person's heavens have passed away and replaced by the new----new things valued or held in high esteem.
New Earth ---new soul, At the end time people a made anew as in - reborn. The old person has been relieved and replaces by the new.
New heavens ans new earth--The replacment of old values which results in a new person---no longer of the world once known.
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Jesus' words can be trusted, it's more permanent than even the most permanent things we can experience in this life--heaven and earth.
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Heaven and Earth, as we know it, shall pass away into a New Heavens and a New Earth, but God's words, plural, indicating the importance of plenary inspiration and preservation of "each of God's inerrant, infallible words, will last for eternity. The pure and uncorruptible words God breathed out, and his writers breathed in, are preserved for us today, and we will always have them because they come from the library of heaven.
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I agree that this is part of the reason. But another part of the reason is that Jesus was saying that not even one single item of what He was saying would fail to come to pass. This is a common theme in the prophetic scriptures.
We read, for instance, in Isaiah 34:16, "Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them." And in Isaiah 46:9-11 we read, "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it." And in Jeremiah 4:28 we read, "I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it." And in Ezekiel 12:25 we read, "For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass;" ANd just three verses later, in Ezekiel 12 :28 we read, "the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD." And in Ezekiel 22:14 we read, "I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it." And in Ezekiel 24:14 we read, "I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent." ANd in Ezekiel 36:36 we read, "I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it."
This is also why Jesus said "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Mathew 5:18) The jot and tittle were not even letters of the Hebrew alphabet. They were marks used to make up the individual letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Jesus was saying that not even a part of a single letter of the law (the books of Moses) would fail. Everything would be fulfilled exactly and precisely, down to the tiniest detail.
That is why the scriptures so often repeat the formula, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by..." These words, or something very similar to them, are repeated 22 times in the scriptures in regard to a literal fulfillment of an explicitly stated prophecy. 21 of these 22 times are in the four gospels in regard to explicitly stated prophecies fulfilled literally by Jesus. The other one is in Ezra 1:1, but it is also in regard to a literal fulfillment of an explicitly stated prophecy.
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