39. Jesus and Apocalyptic Imagery (End Times Series Part 20)

Welcome back to the broadcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf. This is episode 39 Jesus and apocalyptic imagery

Matthew 24 31 says and he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other an

Eschatological Rosetta stone One of the engineering divisions from Napoleon Bonaparte's army was preparing another

Egyptian building for demolition While this was happening one of his lieutenants inadvertently stumbled upon one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of the modern era the

Rosetta stone Built right into the foundation of that wall and just moments before the building was torn to the ground

That massive stone text with an inscription written in three different languages Was discovered that would unlock the keys to understanding

Egyptian hieroglyphics from that day onward Before that find the pictorial language of hieroglyphics was nothing more than esoteric images arranged neatly on pottery shards

And on the sides of stray ancient buildings that scholars could not make heads or tails of quite literally

Yet after that the entire world of Egyptian iconography opened up like never before the key had been found now if you carry this metaphor over into the world of biblical studies the apocalyptic genre is

Very much like the Egyptian hieroglyphics This linguistic genre is known

For its confusing images words signs and symbols which are arranged

Almost like hieroglyphics in the most obfuscated ways But it also has been a source of confusion among the scholarly community

Who come up with one theory after another attempting to crack the eschatological code?

Thankfully for us the Rosetta stone that we need in order to interpret these events has already been found

Instead of looking at current geopolitical events reading reddit sub threads about the rise of Luciferians and ancient

Freemasons or buying the tinfoil hat from the kooky guy on YouTube the key to understanding the biblical apocalyptic genre is found right in the text unlike most genres of the

Bible the apocalyptic genre is entirely dependent upon past revelation in order for it to be understood since it borrows from Old Testament language images symbols and all of that that come right out of Scripture That's previously revealed with that the key to understanding the prophecies that were given in this genre

Will not be found in trying to piece together current events 2 ,000 years disconnected from their authors

But it will be found in Understanding the Old Testament and its images and its symbols and all of the things that it's saying

Especially in the prophetic parts of the Bible. We need to know When a

New Testament author uses the apocalyptic genre, what Old Testament image are they pointing to?

If you don't know that you can't understand New Testament apocalyptic What a day

I want us to look at a poignant example of this If you've been following along with this blog

You'll know that our thesis has been that the prophecy given by Jesus to his disciples in Matthew 24, especially in the apocalyptic

Section which is listed out in verses 27 through 31 that Jesus was not talking about in that section the end of the world or the end of human history

But was instead Speaking about the doom that was soon going to befall wicked and faithless

Judah To support such a claim. We have cited linguistic evidence historical data first century

Extra -biblical sources like Josephus and Tacitus and Suetonius and others. We've cited careful

Contextual factors and other lines of compelling data to resoundingly prove our premise today

I Would like to add a few more cherries on top of that rather large Sunday Section 2 brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue apocalypticism

One of the distinguishing and most identifiable features of the apocalyptic genre is that it communicates urgent news an important truth using ancient sign symbols characters and figures

The writer who had an urgent message to share with his contemporary audience Would ratchet up the intensity of that message by reaching back into the annals of the past resurrecting common images stories and characters from their shared collective history and culture

Employing them in the story world of his apocalyptic vision now, that is a mouthful for a definition

How about to help drive this point home? I give you a country music example

And you have to forgive me because I'm from North Carolina, and that's just what I do After the harrowing events of September 11th one of the songs that captured the

American heart and became a ballad of courage for so many Americans was Courtesy of the red white and blue by country music legend

Toby Keith and That song Keith masterfully employed American apocalyptic

Apocalyptic images in order to threaten destruction upon all the terrorists who had weaponized their planes against our people

Addressing the terrorists directly Keith bellowed out now the famous lines. Hey, Uncle Sam We put your name at the top of his list and the

Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist and The eagle will fly man It's gonna be hell when you hear mother freedom start ringing her bell and it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you

Brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue Now if you were living in the year 40

AD or if the world continues to 4 ,000 AD You would not have any idea what

Toby Keith was talking about but It's obvious to all the 21st century

Americans what he's actually saying He does not have an angry uncle named

Sam who's fond of making kill list He's not talking about some statue that's dedicated to Liberty in some esoteric way that has that breaks out in fist -shaking fury.

He's Mother freedom whoever that lassie is did not begin ringing any strange bells and Some object colored red white and blue didn't come to life to fight in the actual battle

All of this is apocalyptic imagery in this paragraph all of it Toby Keith is borrowing from the common canon of American iconography

Not only using these well -known images that are important to American life But also bringing them to life in visionary and warlike ways

Why is he doing this? Because this kind of communication powerfully communicates the message of vengeance and doom that is soon going to be rained down on top of the enemies of America That's why uncle

Sam in the song a symbol of American patriotism and troop recruitment is going to be the ones gathering up the boys for war

That's why the Statue of Liberty which is a symbol of our ordered liberty and national freedom is angered when that same freedom is in jeopardy

That's why the nation will become unified in administering furious justice, which is represented by a red white and blue flag raining down munitions on the top of the terrorist head all of these images are apocalyptic to the core and They speak about the core of American identity

The same is true for the first century disciples now while their images may look very different than ours

The symbols that Jesus used would have had would have been meaningful to them and would have communicated intense judgment and fury was soon going to be coming upon their enemies if We have any hope at all of understanding this passage.

We cannot Transplant our images our expectations our categories and our presuppositions onto this text

We must endeavor to understand their images and symbols So that the passage comes to life in all of its honky -tonk glory

Section 3 the angels sent forth Jesus told them and he will send forth his angels

Matthew 24 31 a After Jesus describes the 40 -year period of trials that would lead to Jerusalem's downfall in verses 4 through 14 and The Roman Jewish war that would leave the

Old Covenant city a smoldering pile of rubble versus 15 through 26 He switches to the apocalyptic genre in verse 27 to drive home his point with the visionary intensity and so and sobering finality as We discussed in the two previous articles the

Sun the moon and the stars which are Genesis 1 images of celestial Covenantal rule were reacting to the judgment of Judah by going dark refusing to give their light falling out of the sky, etc

The heavens were also shaking which is a common prophetic image for the upheaval of nations

We also described how the tribes of the land all those within Judah and Jerusalem Would see the sign of Jesus as heavenly enthronement

Which is an image coming out of Daniel 7 where Jesus? Ascends up to the ancient of days and he sits upon his throne to reign over his blood -bought kingdom this calls the people of Judah to mourn as They were being destroyed not because they regretted their actions but more like those who weep and gnash their teeth in hell in verse 31 however

Jesus switches his apocalyptic referent He's no longer talking about the grim events that are gonna be happening to Judah when they're punished with fire in 8070 now verse 31

He moves on to share what's gonna happen to the church who had suffered

Tremendously during this 40 year period of time as well More specifically he dresses how redemption is going to be accomplished in this unique era between the ages

Now, what do I mean by between the ages? well as the old age of temples priests

Sacrifices and all of that was coming to a jarring halt and the new age of Christ Kingdom was a dawning

This 40 year period from 8030 to 8070 became a unique period of overlap between the two ages where they both coexisted simultaneously

The old age existed at the same time as the new age For that 40 year period this created obviously more than a little bit of confusion among the

Christians who converted from Judaism Should they worship in the temple or in their homes?

Should they be circumcised any longer or not? Should they worship on Saturday as was traditional for all of their history or on Sunday?

And I'm sure you can imagine more than a few additional questions that any lifelong Jew would needed to have answered

While they were trying to follow Jesus at the same time that a temple in Jerusalem was still standing

One of the questions we know that they were asking during this period is where do the believers go when they die?

More specifically, what about the believers who were being killed during this overlapping of ages?

For instance suppose a Christian was killed by a band of Jewish zealots in the year 55 AD. This was very likely

But what happened to them since the Old Covenant Kingdom had not been fully put away yet?

What happened to them since the temple was still standing had Jesus's kingdom really come in full? This is the question that they were asking do the martyrs

Who died before They saw Jesus's kingdom come in full after he had put away his first enemy of Judah Did they get all the blessings that Jesus promised as well?

Now Paul addresses this question to the Thessalonian Church Who we know was asking that question in the mid 50s

AD Apparently there was a band of people in the church who had infiltrated and were

Attempting to convince people that Jesus had already returned in Judgment against Judah and that all those who had died

Before his coming We're gonna miss out on the resurrection. See 2nd

Thessalonians 2 1 through 10 Paul not only assured them that Jesus had not yet returned and would soon return in order to punish the

Jews He also in 1st Thessalonians 4 Assured them that all who believed in Christ would be gathered into the

Savior's kingdom regardless of when they lived and died Paul was telling them that they would not miss out on the resurrection

This is also what Jesus is endeavoring to answer in Matthew 24 31, although a little bit differently

He is reminding his disciples that he will send forth his angels

And then he is gonna collect all of his people even those who died in the overlapping of the ages We know that this is the right interpretation because Jesus already interpreted for his disciples once before Matthew 13 to be exact in that chapter

Jesus interpreted the following parable and he said the one who sows the good seed is the son of man and The field is the world and as far as the good seed

These are the sons of the kingdom and the tares are the sons of the evil one and the enemy who sowed them as the devil

And the harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are the angels So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire so shall it be at the end of the age the son of man will send forth his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all the stumbling blocks and all those who commit lawlessness and We'll throw them into the furnace of fire in that place.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth Then the righteous will shine forth as the son in the kingdom of their father and he who has ears let him hear

Matthew 13 37 through 43 Now there's certainly a more general fulfillment to this passage which spans the entire church age and includes the final judgment the final separation of the elect from the reprobate or the sheep from the goats or the wheat from the tare

That involves the eternal destinies of both heaven and hell and the closing out of human history and the entrance into the eternal state of course

But there's also a very poignant and very near -term fulfillment That this passage is talking about that involves the covenantal removal of Jerusalem the temple the counterfeit people and the beginning of the final age of redemption, which is ushered in by the kingdom of Christ in Regard to this near -term fulfillment.

Jesus is not only accusing Many of the first century Jews of being cheap replicas of the people of God but he told them that they were planted in God's field by the devil himself, which

Meant that they were in league with Satan as he mentions in John 8 44 He also promised that at the end of the

Jewish age a harvest would come a reckoning of sorts where all their sins Would be visited upon their heads and they would be removed from the covenant community of God just like Jesus says in Matthew 23

The church that lived here and died during this era of reckoning would be grafted into true

Israel Even as all the covenantal thieves and robbers of Judah would be pruned out by the

Roman fires to the church Jesus used the phrase the Son of Man will send forth his angels as a way of Describing what was going to happen to all of those who follow him both

Jew and Gentile For all of those who died between the two covenantal ages

They would enjoy the same covenant status and the same covenant blessings as all other believers in all other ages

They would be made righteous as all believers in Christ have always been They would be gathered into the kingdom of God and they would live with him just like we will in the eternal resurrected life

Jesus uses the same phrase sending forth his angels in both Matthew 24 and Matthew 13 which cannot be accidental as The disciples were listening to this prophecy perhaps some of them were beginning to become afraid that they were going to die in this coming period of tumultuous tribulation persecution and chaos

But as they listened They would have been encouraged that the end time gathering of elect of the elect would also include them

His disciples needed not to fear death as they faced the next 40 years of calamity uncertainty.

Why? Because they too would be gathered into the kingdom of Christ. They too could live with full assurance courage and conviction

Serving their Lord no matter what happened to them because they knew they were a part of his kingdom Now Jesus also alludes to Joel chapter 2 here we mentioned earlier that the apocalyptic genre routinely uses words images and symbols of A shared past in order to communicate an important message about a shared future that applies to a particular people in the present

When Jesus said the Son of Man will send forth his angels. He is not only using his past words

But he's also using the words of Joel chapter 2 If you've not read

Joel chapter 2, I would highly encourage you to read it. Of all the chapters in the Bible there is no chapter that more directly and specifically informs

Jesus's apocalyptic understanding in the Olivet Discourse than that one. As you read it, you will notice nearly all of the elements

Jesus has been speaking about in Matthew 24 27 through 31 Have a Joel 2 referent

For instance both chapters speak about corpses death and destruction upon the Jews Matthew 24 28

Joel 2 20 Both describe the judgment coming of the Lord is being near Matthew 24 29

Joel 2 1 Both use gruesome language to describe the character of those days

Matthew 24 29 Joel 2 2 11 and 31 Both foresee an invading army that decimates the people of Judah Luke 22 21 and Joel 2 3 through 9

Both employ similar apocalyptic signs that are going to be occurring in the heavens such as the

Sun the moon and the stars and the shaking of the heavens Matthew 24 29 through 30 Joel 2 10 and 30 and 31

Both passages describe the people in the land who are in mourning Matthew 24 30 and Joel 2 1 6 12 through 15

Both announced that the Son of Man will be coming Matthew 24 27 and 30 and then

Joel 20 or 2 16 Both describe a trumpet being blasted Matthew 24 31 and Joel 2 1 and 15

Both describe the angelic armies of God gathering the elect people of God into his end time kingdom

Matthew 24 31 Joel 2 11 16 19 and 27 and both

Use a metaphor of a summer fig tree That is ready to produce its fruit as a metaphor for the newly blood -bought

Kingdom of the Messiah that had been cut loose from faithful Judah to produce her fruit for the nation's

Matthew 24 32 through 35 Joel 2 22 Clearly from the very beginning to the very end

Jesus had Joel 2 on his mind the trumpet blast

Jesus said and he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet

Now we have already shown that this image appears in Joel chapter 2, but what we have not shown is what it means

To do that. I would like to briefly highlight a few examples The first has to do with the trumpet as God's judgment

The first time the word trumpet is used in the Bible God himself blows it from the top of Mount Sinai This is the place where he had descended into the camp of Israel and all the people of that generation were trembling in fear

Exodus 1916 you can also see Exodus 20 verse 18 Now here we have

God descending on the clouds His holy presence as a form of judgment against people who are unholy by nature and all of that generation responded by trembling in fear now this is

Exactly what Joel 2 and Matthew 24 are alluding to when it comes to Jesus coming in judgment The unholy people the land are going to be trembling in fear

This image would have been a powerful Apocalyptic image to show the Jews what kind of coming was about to happen their covenant

God was going to revisit them like he did in the days of Sinai and sadly

Like the wilderness generation before them they too were gonna end up dead in the desert in the span of 40 years

Striking Yet the trumpet was not only used as an instrument of judgment. In fact, it also appears that it had a dual purpose in the life of Israel to those who were considered the rebels of God his trumpeting presence descending upon the clouds would be like a moral terror to their impish souls

But to those who trusted in the Lord it could be used in a couple of different ways of blessing for instance

When the people of Israel were traveling from Mount Sinai and they were going to the promised land a single trumpet blast would often be

Blown so that it would alert the people of God to come to the tent of meeting for worship For a holy convocation and to experience his

Sabbath rest Leviticus 23 23 through 25 But when it was blown twice in a row the congregation of Israel would know that they are to gather at the tent of meeting for war

Understanding their duty was to defend God's temple and to extend God's kingdom over it against the pagan and Canaanite nations who were squatting in God's land numbers chapter 10 as an example

Now think about the dual symbolism that is being employed here If you're a hater of God like many of the

Jews in the first century Then the blast of his trumpet would have been a terror to you But if you love the

Lord Jesus Christ and you belong to him he was your Savior and Lord It would not only signal the eternal rest that you have found in your

Savior But it would also remind you of the duty that you would have to go to the nations at war

Spreading his kingdom to all the nations who were in rebellion against God When Jesus blew his apocalyptic trumpet in the first century

Both outcomes would have been symbolically significant to his audience you can also see

Isaiah 27 in Zechariah 9 8 through 7 as examples of The Messiah's trumpet being blown when his kingdom is inaugurated in the first century the four winds of heaven

Jesus said and he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet From the four winds of heaven from one end of the sky to the other

Matthew 24 31 This is one of the few images coming out of Matthew 24 27 through 31 that does not correspond to Joel chapter 2

Instead this phrase the four winds is mentioned in a variety of Old Testament passages in a variety of different ways

See Daniel 7 2 Jeremiah 49 36 Ezekiel 37 9 and Zechariah 2 6

Sometimes the four winds of God connotes universal divine judgment that comes violently from all four directions to scatter a rebellious people to the four corners of the earth

See the example of Elam in Jeremiah 49 34 through 39

At other times it signals God's divine providence in raising up and eventually destroying pagan empires such as Babylon Persia Greece and Rome Daniel 7 2

Still on other occasions four winds refers to the first century Church of Jesus Christ Being scattered by the

Holy Spirit to the ends of the earth so that they can avoid the devastating Roman invasion against the Jews Who is described in that passage as the daughter of Babylon Zechariah 2 6?

Perhaps Jesus is alluding to all three of these scenarios in Matthew 24 an allusion to Jeremiah 49

Jesus could be referring to the fact that the first century Jews had become just like the people of Elam Instead of loving

God's people now They were the great persecutors of God's people who would need to be punished by the violent breath of the

Lord In allusion to Daniel 7 Jesus could be referring to the final army in that great vision

Rome who had been summoned by the breath of God to destroy the faithless people of Judah and Then still yet Jesus could be referring to Zechariah 2 showing how the earliest

Christians were actually scattered away from Jerusalem because of the persecution that was happening and They were spared from the bloody war by leaving that city and going out into the rest of the

Roman Empire But there's still one more reference to the four winds that I believe fits best with the context of what

Jesus is saying All of the ones that I've already mentioned could very well be in view But I believe that Ezekiel 37 at least in my opinion seems like the very best candidate for what

Jesus is referring to if You remember in Ezekiel 37 the prophet Ezekiel has a vision where he is told to survey a valley of dry bones

He is told that God himself would revive these bones when the prophets summoned God's life -giving breath

When Ezekiel obeyed and summoned the breath God then animated the dry bones and revived them in the power of resurrection

You can see Ezekiel 37 8 through 10 These bones represent the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah Israel as you know was the northern ten tribes who had intermarried with the pagan nations and had basically become the

Gentiles The Jews that he's referring to is the true nation of Judah those who bowed an allegiance to Christ These two divided peoples the

Jews and the Israelites would be divided no longer under the lordship of their coming

Messiah Ezekiel 37 11 through 28 in Christ the true son of David The dead will be raised to new resurrection life in the kingdom of God would be filled with the

Jewish and Gentile believers the Israel of God the eschatological

Zion who would be then sent out to the nations as God's ambassadors of his great gospel in Matthew 24 31

Jesus focus is on the church Who will be offered the life -giving breath of God and who is the church?

These are the people that are going to be gathered at the end of the ages into his kingdom by the angels of God both

Jew and Gentile in this life The Christians are going to be scattered to the four corners of the earth on mission for Jesus Christ And that is for a purpose so that we can tell every tribe tongue and nation who

Christ is But like the Valley of Dry Bones both Jew and Greek believers will be made eternally alive in him

Forever loyal always eager to bow in allegiance to our Messianic King in eternity with him

Conclusion The apocalyptic genre takes old images from the past and then it applies them to a present people

Discussing near -term very important events that were soon going to happen in their future in Matthew 24

Jesus plunders the pages of the Old Testament scriptures grabbing pregnant images and metaphors that speak volumes of information to his disciples in just a few short sentences as You've seen in this article we've barely scratched the surface of everything that Jesus was saying and this is especially true in verse 31

My hope is that you see this verse in a whole new and glorious light

We are not waiting on the future Jesus to come riding on a cloudy surfboard Coming to the 21st century people who rejected him in order for Matthew 24 to be fulfilled

We are not waiting on blood moon solar eclipses the stars falling out of the heavens and the in the skies shaking in fury

For Matthew 24 to be proved true We are not waiting to hear trumpet blast or see reaping angels collecting the elect from all the four corners of the world

In order for every single element of Matthew 24 to be eschatologically satisfied

Matthew 24 has already happened All of these images come directly from the pages of the

Old Testament and they show us Exactly what Jesus was referring to when he gave these visionary statements with that Go on the attack

Live this life with joy and righteousness Spurn the devil defy the world forsake your flesh

Participate in the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ do everything you can to the glory of God and serve him faithfully until our