PASSION WEEK – Wednesday

This is the only Bible chapter I am aware of that has its own song. Well, 2 songs actually; if you count Johnny Cash’s Matthew 24 Is Knockin’ At the Door. The song I know was recorded by George Jones, Porter Waggoner, and Kitty Wells along with a host of other artists. Here’s a link to a solid rendition by brothers Jim & Jesse.

This chapter might bend our brains a bit. So, like any good workout, we should begin by stretching so we don’t injure ourselves. Also, you didn’t think a blog post on Matthew 24 was going to be a short one, did you?

Not. A. Chance.

C’mon brain. Let’s do this.

We exist in 4 dimensions.

We experience 3 spatial dimensions:

• Length
• Width
• Height

The three spatial dimensions tell us WHERE something is.

We experience 1 temporal dimension:

• Time

This dimension tells us WHEN something is.

The Almighty exists both outside of and throughout these 4 dimensions. There isn’t a place or time you could go where God isn’t. And He’s not just everywhere all at once. He is also everywhen all at once.

And that’s really hard to wrap our heads around. Here’s an illustration that might help. It’s rather clunky, but bear with me.

There is a river that flows through the crack called the Colorado River. People like to raft down the Colorado River in the canyon.

Imagine there were 4 groups of rafters on the Colorado River at 4pm.

The BLUE group began their trip yesterday afternoon and camped overnight in the canyon. They got back in this morning after a leisurely campfire breakfast and repacking the rafts and now they are nearing the end of the trip.

The GREEN group left very early this morning just as it was getting light. They stopped only for a short lunch break.

The RED group left a few hours after the green group.

The ORANGE group is doing a 2-day trip like the blue group. They have only been on the river a couple of hours. They will camp tonight in the canyon and finish the trip tomorrow.

Someone flying above the canyon could look down and see all four groups at once. None of them can see each other; though they are aware that other groups must exist. They are stuck in the river. They cannot go any faster than the flow of the water. They cannot raft back upstream. They can only see the scenery surrounding them as they pass it, while someone above could see all of the scenery all at once.

That river is one way to conceive of time.

You and I are stuck in time like the rafters. We cannot go backward. We can only move forward, and only at the pace of the “river.” We cannot go ahead any faster. We cannot see the groups who got into the river before us, though we are aware of their existence and may see signs of them having come before us – like the charred remains of a camp fire or archeological artifacts.

From His Heavenly perspective, God is like a cloud that can cover and touch all of the groups in the river of time all at once. From His perspective, they are all present, even though – to each other – they appear to be future and past with one nearing the end of the journey and another just beginning. God is not stuck in the river but He is present at every point along the way.

The LORD is overshadowing all of us at once. I suspect that the past is only the past to us. If God is not stuck in time, then He is still in your yesterday and already in your tomorrow.

I find TREMENDOUS comfort in that!

The yesterday where things went wrong? He’s still present in it; redeeming it, if we will ask Him to. The unknown tomorrow? He’s already there waiting on us.

The cloud of His presence covers the parts of the river that are future and past to us – our ancestors, our descendants.

As Jesus tells the disciples the signs of:

• The destruction of the Temple
• The end of the Age
• The Coming of the Son of Man

He is describing 3 separate events at 3 separate times. The temple was destroyed in 70 AD. The 2nd Age (according to the Dead Sea Scroll calendar) ended in 75AD. And here we sit at the approach of the end of the 3rd Age still waiting for the coming of the Son of Man. If the Lord is above time, then He sees all of this at once. 70 AD is only in the past to us. It’s still very much in His present.

Jesus came the first time at the end of the 2nd Age. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that He will come again at the end of the 3rd Age.

I know this Middle-Earth talk of Ages is a little strange, but doesn’t it make you feel more like we are in an epic story headed toward a glorious victory, and not just a random, pointless existence? It makes me want to be more heroic or something. Like…

In Matthew 24, Jesus starts speaking about “the coming of the Son of Man” in verse 36. And He famously compares the days of the coming with the days of Noah.

Now, as you know, I believe the scriptures tell us that the days of Noah involved some pretty wild stuff – mainly, the Sons of God and daughters of men making some kind of hybrid offspring that really drove the world off the rails with extreme violence and wickedness. And I would recommend keeping an eye and ear out for similar occurrences in our time. I don’t think that history necessarily repeats itself so much as it “rhymes.” It also seems like the rhymes ripple out like rings from the center of history – which is Jesus. And we are at the part of the poem that rhymes with all the world sharing a speech and language [lookin’ at you, Google Translate], and building something that gives us access to god-level knowledge on our terms (or so we think). The first time it happened it was called Babel. This time, it might be called A.I. And then the next line in the poem would rhyme with global, cataclysmic, civilization-ending destruction. That’s the days of Noah.

All that said… we should note that Jesus never mentions Nephilim, giants, or fallen angels here. The emphasis seems to be on the “business as usual” aspect. Just like in Noah’s time people had no idea they were about to all die, and life was just proceeding as usual, that’s how it will be when Jesus returns. Could there be a Nephiliim 2.0 scenario? I suspect so, though it could look quite different than Gen. 6. It may already be beginning with some forms of gene-editing and bio-computing. But I think it may be stretching this text about “the days of Noah” a bit too far to insist that Jesus was talking about fallen angels and Nephilim here.

And let me just insert some cautions… ⚠️

⚠️ We need to be EXTREMELY careful about online content around Nephilim, giants, fallen angels and all of that. It’s a very hot topic so there are tons of videos on YouTube that are entirely A.I. generated and full of clickbait and opinions drawn from Reddit. I’ve also seen well-intentioned video mash-ups of good content by Christian scholars, but clips are taken out of their original context which could be misleading. There are also plenty of people talking about these topics that aren’t even brothers in Christ. I think we should be careful about taking counsel from the unconverted.

It is WILD to me that the Nephilim have become such a hot topic. Even in the early 2000s, “the Angel View” of Genesis 6 was considered a minority view among Christians. I know because I had this view before anyone heard of Michael Heiser and my 3rd and 4th year theology classes saw many vigorous debates on the identity of “the sons of God.” At that time, the only place you’d hear the word “Nephilim” was a seminary classroom. Unbelievers (and most Christians) had never heard the word “Nephilim” and probably would’ve thought it was something like Winnie the Pooh’s Heffalump. And now you have non-Christian bearded bros on YouTube having 2 and 3 hour conversations about Nephilim, UFOs and Sasquatch. What a time we live in!

⚠️ There is also deliberate disinformation on many of these topics, particularly UFOs. We need to approach all of it with a healthy skepticism and not just swallow without chewing. Nephilim content is paranormal so it gets enmeshed with Ancient Astronaut Theory, PanSpermia, BigFoot, UFO’s & Aliens, Psychic Phenomena, Anunaki and Niburu, and just ALL the fringe internet topics.

Internet content on fringe topics tends to drop off quickly into endless (and uninformed) conspiracy theory rabbit holes. And while there have been and are actual conspiracies, the spirit of Gnosticism is strong with the “Truther” community. They have special knowledge that the masses of sheep do not have. Their knowledge makes them superior. And “waking up” or being “red-pilled” is viewed almost as salvation. Be very careful and skeptical.

⚠️ I’m all for us understanding the natural and supernatural world we live in. I’m all for understanding the scripture in its own context and having a supernatural worldview. But I’m going to be VERY guarded as to what I believe and keep it tightly limited to the pages of scripture.

⚠️ If a person has a real encounter with a demonic deception and then tells people about it, is it real or is it deception? Yes they had a real experience, but the experience may have been a lie and they have no idea. That’s why this whole subject needs to be handled with tremendous prayer, humility, discernment, and resistance to believe everything someone says.

More than earthquakes or wars, Jesus warned about deception. False Messiahs and fake prophets come with deceitful signs and lying wonders. That’s why it’s crucial to get as close to the real biblical Jesus as possible.

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FALLING STARS

As I mentioned yesterday, if a physical yellow giant, red giant, neutron star, or heck, even a brown dwarf were to fall to the earth, it’s over for the whole planet. There’s nothing after that. There are no “tribes of the earth” to see the Son of Man returning in power and glory because the whole planet and the moon and everything within a few million miles has been utterly VAPORIZED.

So if verse 29 is not talking about the belt of Orion, Arcturus, Polaris or some such, what IS it talking about?

🤔 Meteors?

☝️🤓 Asteroids? ☄️

Possibly. There’s one that will – in astronomical terms – shave the eyebrows off of earth in April of 2029.

Astronomers have calculated that it will pass by earth within about 20,000 miles. It should be quite a spectacle. NASA is sending a probe to meet up with it just after fly-by. Trajectory calculations from back when it was discovered in 2004 showed a pretty high possibility of a collision so they named it after the Egyptian god of chaos and destruction.

😒 Lovely.

Here’s an article by the European Space Agency all about it for your edification.

And here’s a video that animates the potential impact of various sizes of asteroids, including Apophis. The last one, Ceres, is the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt and the only recognized dwarf planet in the inner solar system.

So, “stars falling from heaven” could refer to asteroids and meters. But I wonder if this verse is limited to physical objects.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭29‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Mark and Luke also use this exact language. The physical, celestial objects – sun, moon, and “stars” (asteroids/meteors) – seem to be linked with “the powers of the heavens.” What are those? Or maybe we should ask, “WHO are they?”

We have already met the Greek word used here: dunamis. It is used a lot in the NT; mostly to speak of the power of God. But it is also used about other powers:

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭38‬-‭39‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Here, “powers” appears in the lineup with angels and principalities. Peter does the same thing when he writes about Jesus…

“who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭3‬:‭22‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Other places in the NT list “principalities and powers” and sometimes a different Greek word is used: exousia, which is often translated “authority” because it is the power of position, privilege, and delegated influence. Such as in:

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭12‬ ‭KJV‬‬

This text is clearly speaking of unseen, malevolent spiritual entities. Perhaps they are rebel sons of God (fallen angels) or the disembodied spirits of their demonic progeny but whatever they are, they are REAL. And they exist in “high places,” which may (and probably does) refer to higher dimensions rather than strictly physical altitude above earth.

Paul wrote that Christ was the One who created the “principalities and powers” in Colossians 1:16. And then in Col. 2:5 he explains that Jesus also triumphed over them by means of the cross. In Eph. 1:21 Jesus is elevated “far above all principality and power.” He is not speaking of human power only, but all power “in heaven and earth,” (Mt. 28:18).

In Titus 3:1 Paul speaks of “principalities and powers” in terms of human government. These are clearly a different set of “principalities and powers” than Eph. 6:12 because human magistrates are most definitely “flesh and blood.”

This is not an exhaustive list of texts like this, but I go through these to point out that the “stars” and “powers” in Matthew 24:29, may refer to spiritual entities falling from heaven and toppled from their places of influence over humanity.

The place(s) in Revelation where we see “falling star” language is:

• The 6th seal (Rev. 6:12-17)
• The 3rd Trumpet: Wormwood (Rev. 8:10-11)
• The Dragon and the stars cast to the earth (Rev. 12)

Paul communicated two main things about the principalities and powers.

1. Jesus has all authority and is forever exalted over all of them- both the good and the bad.
2. The bad ones still attack the saints and we must resist them and battle them with spiritual weapons.

To me, that sounds a LOT like what Revelation 12 is saying. The Dragon with his “stars” attempted to eat the man-child (Jesus) but the man-child won and was caught up to God and His throne while. Then the Dragon with his “stars” go off to make war on the woman and the saints.

We have to stop thinking so linearly about prophecy. God is not stuck in the river of time. Things transpiring in the spiritual realm don’t adhere to our limited past-present-future, linear experience of time.

Scientists already know that time gets distorted at the event horizon of a black hole. It slows way down. It’s like in that movie Interstellar. A month that passes in “space” is 5 years on earth. It’s possible that what is taking 2000 years to unfold on earth is a matter of “days” or “hours” in the immaterial “space” of the heavenly places.

I don’t think we are waiting for Revelation 12 to happen. I think it’s been happening for 20 centuries. And I suspect that some spiritual aspect of MT. 24:29 has also been happening. That doesn’t negate future (to us) meteors or asteroids. I see no reason why both cannot apply.

One tip I could give for considering Bible prophecy is to mentally pick up all we have been told from Genesis to Revelation, and hold it all in the present as if there were no past or future. To try to see things from God’s perspective as much as our finite minds possibly can.

Einstein’s famous equation, E=MC2, has been tested and proven many times and it shows that time is relative to speed.

It’s like the Marvel Comics character Quicksilver. He moves SO fast, that relative to him, the rest of the world is sitting still. For him, 3 seconds is like 3 minutes.

For Yahweh, 1 day is like 1000 years, and 1000 years is like a day, (2 Pet. 3:8).

God is so fast – way faster than Quicksilver – that He is everywhere and everywhen all at once. And this matters if we’re trying to understand how things happening in the spiritual realm impact and unfold in the physical realm.

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ONE TAKEN, ONE LEFT

I think that most Christians view the verses about one being taken and the other left as a description of the Rapture. I suppose it could be, but I am not convinced. Here is why:

Look at the immediate context…

“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. At that time there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left.” Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭38‬-‭41‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Who got taken away in the flood? Righteous Noah and his family or the inhabitants of the earth? Jesus says that the people were going about their business and had no idea about destruction until the flood came and TOOK them all away. Then He says THAT is how it will be at the coming of the Son. One will be TAKEN, and one left.

“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you must be ready as well; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.” Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭42-‭44‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Jesus compares His coming to a burglar. Burglary is NOT a positive thing. So we need to ask, “Who would view the coming of Christ as a BAD thing?” Or, “To whom would the coming of Jesus be as unwelcome as a thief?” And the answer is obvious: the sinner. The proud and powerful movers and shakers who control the world are about to have their home invaded. And thieves take things that the owner didn’t want taken.

Let’s look at a parallel passage…

In Luke 17:20-37, Jesus teaches on the coming of the Kingdom of God which is a bit different than the coming of the Son of Man. The Kingdom of God comes first invisibly within the souls of men. But the coming of the Son of Man will be very different, Jesus said. It will be like lightening flashing from east to west. And then Jesus does the same comparison to the days of Noah that we read in Matthew, but in Luke He also compares His coming to the days of Lot. And then we get the same “one taken, one left” language. The disciples want to know where the taken ones go.

“And responding, they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.””
‭‭Luke‬ ‭17‬:‭37‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

You read it yourself and decide but, in its context, it sounds to me like the ones taken are either the dead body or the vultures. Neither one is very nice. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not be “taken” if it amounts to being a corpse or a buzzard.

Look at another place where Jesus talked about “taking” things in the context of the return of the Son of Man…

Let’s look again at the Parable of the Wheat and Weeds in Matthew 13:24-50. At the end of the story, at the harvest, look what gets “taken” first:

“Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭13‬:‭30‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

And then Jesus explains the parable. In verse 39 He says that “the harvest is the end of the Age.”

“So just as the weeds 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 stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears, let him hear.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭13‬:‭40‬-‭43‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

It’s not a good idea to start with an idea or doctrine (like a rapture or 7-year Tribulation) and then try to make these texts fit that idea. It’s better to suspend all eschatological ideas and just let the text say what it says, even if it’s a bit uncomfortable or doesn’t fit what we always thought.

I mean, look at these verses.

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet blast, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭29‬-‭31‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬

Again, let’s suspend all eschatological ideas. In this text we have Jesus coming after “the tribulation of those days” and His angels are gathering the “elect” (the saints) from all over the world. There are some end-times models that have to do some pretty fancy maneuvering to make these verses fit. Usually it amounts to Jesus coming twice for two groups of saints. And we need to ask ourselves if the Bible honestly describes Jesus coming twice for two different groups of saints or if we are reading that idea into the text.

Since we are now neck-deep into eschatology, in case you’ve never seen them, here is a summary of the 3 major views of “the end”:

You are not required to “pick a team” and be loyal to it. This isn’t college football. But I wanted to put these here so they are on our radar as we continue in the NT. You may want to save them to your device. As we encounter texts about the return of Christ, we should reflect on what they are saying. Do they point to one of these views more than the others? Perhaps none of the systems have it 100% correct. Our loyalty should always be to Christ Himself and Scripture, not a doctrinal position or interpretation.

Jesus isn’t done talking about His return. He’s just getting warmed up.