New Thoughts (10/04/11-10/06/11)
Once again I recognize that the choices I have made in organizing this material are something of a hash. Much of what I have gathered together under the heading of this entry in the outline runs parallel to material previously encountered. Thus, the matter in Matthew and Mark relating to astronomical signs more fitly parallels what was just covered in regard to Luke 21:25-26, and Luke’s coverage of the body and the vultures is clearly parallel to Matthew 24:28. Why I pulled these passages together here is beyond me, some eight years after the fact. However, they are here, and here they will be covered. Given the previous coverage of their parallels, though, the coverage will be perhaps more brief.
Concerning the astronomic events described by Matthew and Mark (and Luke in the preceding verses), I am more and more intrigued, I must admit, by the sort of event that is possibly being foretold here. Maybe it ought to be written off to nothing more than the influence of reading so much science fiction. But, it strikes me that what Scripture describes, not only here but repeatedly throughout the record, may be more nearly literal than we may suppose.
Let me start with what is clear: The return of the Christ will be preceded by some form of cataclysmic astronomic event. Bringing in the way it was described elsewhere in Jesus’ words that people would be fainting away from the anticipation of what was coming, it seems equally clear that whatever this is, it comes with plenty of warning, although the warning does not provide means of escape, only certainty of outcome. I have already relayed elsewhere of how some of the authors in the science fiction genre have picked up on this theme and offered what might serve to explain the phenomena described here. Indeed, I seem to recall hearing of a movie either recently released or in development (not something I track that closely) that seeks to offer something like the atheist’s perspective on what the Left Behind series popularized – the event without the significance, I suppose.
All that aside, as one looks at the several descriptions of these signs that come throughout Scripture, it does form something of a picture doesn’t it? Over and over, we have these descriptions of the sun and the moon going dark, of the stars ‘falling to earth’. Obviously, that latter reference is not to a literal landfall of stars upon the earth. The earth would, seems to me, be consumed long before such a thing could occur even once, let alone multiple times. But, what does the imagery convey? It could speak of asteroids or meteors cutting through the atmosphere. That has certainly been viewed as an omen in times past. However, it is also something that has occurred with sufficient regularity as to lose value as a sign of a one time, final event. Likewise, it seems to me that viewing the darkening of sun and moon as being no more than an eclipse fails to match the implied significance.
Looking at the added description we gain from Revelation 8:12, however, seems to lend a certain amount of weight to thoughts I have. Consider what is said there: That it speaks of a third of the sun, moon and stars being destroyed is, I think taking something of poetic license with the description. It seems to me to imply matters of magnitude as opposed to suggesting that a third of the sun is literally ripped away. On the other hand, there is the follow-on description that speaks of one third of the day and one third of the night having no light at all. That seems to me to provide clarification for the preceding statement. The sun may be whole, but its time in our part of the sky is reduced 30% or so, and likewise the moon.
What could explain such a thing? And what could explain that in a fashion that explains the absence even of starlight for that period? Think about it. On average we would construe that half of each day is spent with the sun overhead, and now we are told that this will be reduced to significantly less. It’s not that the overall day is growing shorter, not that the rotation of the earth is sped up, but rather that the sun has absented itself early, and nor does the moon’s orbit take up the slack. The key image for me, in all of this, is that shocking picture of stars falling.
All of it combined suggests to me that what is being described is some cataclysmic event that results in the earth being knocked out of its orbit. Could be an asteroid impact, I suppose, although the planet has seen enough of those and held course. Could it be something larger? There was that book I read not so long ago that explored the possibility of one of Jupiter’s moons parting its orbit of that planet and managing an intercept course with earth - a flyby rather than a direct impact, but still the damage spawned by the disruptions to gravity and so on would prove devastating. Is it possible, though, that such an event could result in a disturbing of the earth’s orbital path? Could it skew us further out of plane, perhaps throw us off into a more oblong course that would take us nearer and farther from the sun at various points?
Yet, that still fails to explain the total absence of anything visible in the heavens for fully a third of the day – not even the stars in the sky. What if we picked up a partner planet? Is such a thing even possible, that two planets should join in cosmic dance like this? And even if it were would not the other planet show a light all its own when the sun was opposite? Perhaps it is all vain imagination and nothing more on my part. In the end, we shall just have to wait and see just what it is that is really being described here. It shall, to be sure, be obvious after the fact.
As regards this matter of darkened astronomy, one last point caught my attention, and that was something said in Ezekiel 32:7. He associates these extinguished lights of the sky with another extinguishing: “When I extinguish you…”. Of course, looking at this simply in terms of its being a parallel description to the passages from Matthew and Mark, it is stripped of context, and one is left wondering which ‘you’ God has in mind here. As it happens, the message is to Egypt, a constant symbol of worldly oppression of God’s people, and a tempting distraction to them. It is the destruction of Egypt, of the worldly power of darkness that is in view. Isn’t it interesting, by the way, that the power of darkness so often seeks to be viewed as the source of light? Not surprising, given the usurper’s goal that is ever before the dark prince of this world, but interesting none the less.
Having established the context of Ezekiel’s words, more fitly, God’s words through Ezekiel, it is clear that this indeed parallels the event Jesus is describing. Egypt is a type set for the whole corrupted world order, just as Israel is a type set for the whole number of the redeemed children of God. It is the same event, then, the same day of judgment being pronounced. It is the same arrival of the One True King being proclaimed by the very stuff of creation. And once more He is shown to be in absolute control of the very stuff of creation. “I will cover the heavens, darken the stars, block the sun, dim the moon.” It is no accident. It is not just the result of some mindless mathematical formula played out amongst the planets. I do it, and I do it very deliberately and for very definite reasons.
I want also to give some brief consideration to the question of how we should understand Luke 17:37. It should be understood that both the term describing the body and the term describing the birds are ambiguous as to intent. The body could be referring to something alive or something dead. Or, it could be referring to something else, to a collection of like things. The bird described might be a vulture or it might be an eagle, the term is used for both. It is due to this ambiguity that one finds variety in the translation of the verse.
The general conclusion that most have reached is that vultures are intended, and this conclusion is reached in part on the assumption that the body is dead. Vultures are carrion eaters where eagles generally are not. That’s fine, but I’m not fully convinced it’s accurate. There are other questions that must play into how we perceive the image Jesus is painting. Those questions pertain to what the symbols are intended to represent.
Let’s start with the body. Is the body of Jesus’ answer intended to represent the saved or the condemned? It makes rather a big difference. Going back to the beginning of Jesus’ dissertation in this chapter, we find it opening as a discussion of the kingdom, and how its arrival is to be known – more critically, how it is not to be known. It will not come with signs (Lk 17:20-21), but will be clearly obvious to all when it comes (Lk 17:24). The bulk of humanity will notice nothing until the culmination of its arrival is found in the Son revealed (Lk 17:26-30). Then, Jesus speaks of how some will be taken and others left (Lk 17:31-36). It is in response to this matter of taking and leaving that the disciples ask Him where this will happen. The question is, as He answers, is His mind on those taken or those left? If the focus is on those who are taken, then it makes sense to view the body as alive; if on those left, then the body is better understood as being dead.
The consensus view holds that He is thinking of those left, and the image is of their punishment. Perhaps so. On the other hand, there is this overarching point about the clear and exposed nature of His return, how His own will have no need of pointers to indicate He has come, or better informed brothers to point the way to His place of return. In that light, let me just interject, the question of the disciples seems demonstrative of their not having been listening very closely. Set that aside, though. Where do you suppose their thoughts lie in posing this question? For, it seems doubtless to me that Jesus is answering the intent of their question with His reply, however the two may seem disconnected. My sense is that their concerns are for themselves by and large. Where will we be? Where should we be?
What about the imagery associated with the possible interpretations of the bird? A vulture, being a carrion-eating creature associated with death and feeding on death is bound to have certain connotations associated with it. There is a natural affinity with the image at hand, it is true. Vultures are most commonly depicted as they circle the carcass of something dead or dying on the ground, and do certainly serve as a marker of sorts by that behavior: Here be death.
The eagle, on the other hand, also has some rather negative connotations. The sense of their being possessed of a ‘rapacious cruelty’ might be in view, particularly given the propensity of Israel’s enemies for having the image of the eagle on their standards. Let me hold that thought for just a moment, though. The eagle has other connotations besides this strongly negative one. They are also well known for being far-sighted and strong, and this aspect of their nature is referred to in the wisdom texts.
OK, let me attempt to draw my wandering thoughts towards a point of sorts. As I have noted, the consensus view is that we are being shown vultures circling the corpses of the reprobate, the scene of judgment that must necessarily be a part of the final arriving of the kingdom. But, isn’t it just possible that what is intended is to put the obverse on display, that which will be as visible as the lightning flashing across the sky? What is that clearly visible thing, for it is not, Jesus says, a sign announcing His arrival?
Considering other discussions of this final coming of our King before us in this study, I am mindful of the description of the ingathering, the elect from every reach of heaven and earth, alive and dead, gathered to Him in the sky. If I dare to suppose that the birds around the body are a thought paralleled to the elect gathered to Jesus, then the body is He, and is most assuredly alive! Vultures have no place in that setting. Vultures are earthbound, and attend to things of the earth and death. Eagles soar, and they are far-sighted – clear eyed. They are positioned to not only see His arrival but come swiftly to Him. Is this the intended meaning? Or should we hold with the consensus, that it is a picture of final judgment? I cannot speak with any great authority on the matter, but I do find that the case for thinking Jesus speaks of the ingathering and not the winnowing is as compelling as the obverse.
Now, then, a very brief comment about this business of the eagle on the standards: The list of Israel’s enemies who have borne this image on their standards is striking, if not particularly surprising. The eagle, is after all, emblematic of strength and vision, of fierceness and speed. As such, it is a particularly apt emblem for a military outfit. But, the list is interesting. Persia came with eagles on their banners. Assyria came with the sign of the eagle. Then Rome, whose standards bore the image, and which image was given offerings as the chief, or at least most immediate, deity of the legions. All of these armies came to overrun Israel, to oppose the God of all creation. Looking at that list, and given the state of our own times, I find it almost disturbing to consider that the USA also displays the eagle as its emblem, and for many of the same reasons. I pray that this does not mark us out, finally, as yet another enemy of God’s people, although I confess that at times it seems the nation is just that, even when it comes to God’s people within its own borders.
To be sure, we know less than nothing of the persecutions familiar to those in the lands once known as Persia and Assyria even to this day. We know less than nothing of the persecutions common to God’s people in so many regions today, in Egypt, in the Balkans, in China. But, we also know less than nothing of what the future holds for us here where we think ourselves relatively safe. What we do know is what Jesus has been describing in this discourse and in other portions of Scripture that provide us some insight into the final days. What we know from that is not terribly comforting except we consider and focus upon that which lies beyond those days. We should expect that the persecutions familiar to foreign lands today is entirely likely to become our lot as well. We should expect that faith in God will become less popular and more commonly viewed as criminal. We should expect that it will become more challenging to hold to faith. But, we should also expect that we shall endure, for it is God Who is at work in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure (Php 2:13). Oh! Hold to that, my soul, and find yourself indeed renewed, your strength like the eagle (Ps 103:5)! Look up! Rejoice! Your redemption draws nigh.
The next image we have that deserves some consideration is that of the trumpet. When He is come, we are told, He will send His angels with a great trumpet (Mt 24:31). Presumably, the point here is that He will sound the trumpet to command their deployment, as opposed to a bunch of angels carrying some enormous horn forth to call us. Yet, that call is as much for us as for them. It is twofold, then. This, I would note, fits the original purpose assigned to the trumpet in Scripture. One interesting thing I have discovered in looking at this business of the trumpet is that there were two distinct types in use in Israel. The first is actually a straight horn fashioned from metal, as opposed to the shofar that we more commonly associate with Israel. Let me just stress one thing about these trumpets which holds with regard to both its forms: These were not intended or used as musical instruments. When we read of the priests with their trumpets standing opposite the Levites, they are not the worship team providing some hip soundtrack for the Levites to sing over. Not at all. They were actually more of a counterpoint, an interjection into the places where the Levites were not singing, and the music was not playing. It’s almost as if we ought to sense them as filling those Selah spots in the Psalms. It is also worth noting that these trumpets were for the exclusive use of the priests. Not even the Levites were given to blow them. How much that changed over the history of Israel I am not certain, but at the outset, and through to Solomon’s time, at least, this was the case.
As to the point of the horn, the first form of the horn was originally used to signal that it was time to decamp. Given what is being discussed in these passages, it seems to me that is the image we ought have in mind. The Son of Man, the High Priest of eternity, takes His stand, and blows His trumpet as a signal. It is time. It is time to decamp, to take up the tabernacle and form ranks. The angels have gone out, rather like the heads of the tribes, I should imagine, to make certain that all have heard and responded to that call, that all are gathered into their proper ranks and proper positions around the Son, the Living Tabernacle.
This, it seems to me, is just one more way in which the Final Day is visible in the Mosaic narrative, in the Exodus of Israel from out of Egypt. Let me bring in just a few verses from that period to establish the connection. This one seemed particularly striking: “So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled” (Ex 19:16 NASB). First, we see that it was the morning of the third day when the action takes place. Is that not a perfect parallel to the Savior who arose on the third day, pronouncing with finality the victory of God? Second – and it is for this cause that the verse is brought in as a parallel to our current texts – there is the sounding of the trumpet, the calling together of the people of God. This is clearly emblematic of that final trumpet sounding by which He calls His own to Himself. As much as we look forward to the day of our calling home, I dare say we shall find that our situation parallels that of those before Mount Sinai when we truly encounter the full awesomeness of God: that we shall likewise tremble before Him, even as we rejoice in knowing we are homeward bound at last.
Another passage that ties in with similar thoughts comes from Deuteronomy 30:4: If your outcasts are scattered to the ends of the earth, the Lord Your God will gather you from there and bring you back. There is no place from which God cannot and will not gather His own. No place. Not even death or life can separate us from His love (Ro 8:38-39). Nothing. No place. No power. No condition of body. Buried or scattered as ashes, it matters not. Walking the earth or buried beneath, it matters not. He will call and we will answer. It’s that simple, that certain. That trumpet call is not some alarm we might miss if we’re not listening for it. It won’t be drown out by the music we’re listening to at the time, or the machines we’re operating. Nothing will prevent His own from hearing, and look! He’s got angels on duty to make sure of it. Should anything or anybody seek to block us from heeding that call, to distract us from noting it, He’s sent back up. Among the elect, there shall not be one left behind. Where His body is, there we eagles will be gathered.
I have already commented on this matter of sun, moon and stars, and in the previous study, I considered the way in which the picture almost comes to seem like these celestial objects are bowing before their Creator. Another image is of the waves of the heavens parting to let His people through. We have, thanks to the special effects folks in Hollywood, some images to impress our senses with the wonder of Israel having passed through the midst of the Red Sea on dry land. And, it was indeed a wonder, a thing to be brought back to mind for generations on end, that each generation might be kept mindful of the God Who cares for them. But, it is also, I think, a type and a shadow of this final exodus of which Jesus is speaking.
Do you see it? The heavens, the impassible, impossibly large heavens, are being parted at His coming. It has the appearance of a cataclysm, and it shall doubtless be so for those who are to find His return a day of final judgment. But, in reality, it is the way of escape being opened for His own. Just as it was for Israel there at the sea, no way forward and an overwhelming enemy closing in behind, so for God’s people when that trumpet sounds. Is that not the picture Jesus has painted us here? You will be up against it. All around you is trouble and death. Nations in turmoil, the very fabric of nature in turmoil. But, lo! There is a parting of that fabric. The skies are rolled back like a scroll! What then? What lies beyond that sky? If the universe is constantly expanding, into what does it expand, and what shall become of it when it has expanded to its utmost? One thinks of a balloon blown to its fullest inflation. And then, one adds that slight bit more air and the skin of that balloon can no longer hold all the expansion. It is torn asunder. Here, things are just a bit more orderly. There remains that path beside still waters, even as it leads us home through a rend in the universe itself. Though the seas of the heavens continue to roil on either side, through the middle, there is a Way, a highway upon which the righteous do not travel.
Given these parallels to the events that brought Israel out of Egypt, one wonders what Jesus must appear like, as He fills the type of that pillar of fire by night and cloud by day. The popular song a year or two back was, “I Can Only Imagine.” Its focus was on what we will find when we arrive in heaven. Thinking upon these things Jesus tells us precede that arrival, I find it applies with equal force to the last journey. I can only imagine what it’s going to be like when His return flashes across the universe like lightning does the sky. I can only imagine what Isaiah was trying to describe when he wrote about the skies parting like a scroll rolling up. I can only imagine what the reality is that Jesus is trying to describe here when He talks of stars falling from the sky. And, whatever I can imagine, this I can count on: The reality will be more marvelously awesome yet.
Turning to the culminating events that Jesus sets before us now, it is finally made clear that all is not to be doom and gloom. This is not to minimize the sorrows by any stretch, and He has made that abundantly clear by the amount of time He has spent describing these preliminaries. But now comes the denouement. Now, the payout is seen! The Son will appear and gather all of His elect to Himself. The kingdom will be fully and finally established, and not one of those whose hope has been in the Lord will miss it! This may well be the sign of the Son of Man that Jesus speaks of. That seems most commonly to be associated with His appearing in the first place, but set that alongside the description Paul gives of the event: the elect resurrected and gathered to Him in the twinkling of an eye (1Co 15:52). This, too, will be a thing manifest to all.
Allow something of an interjection here. The popular conception of this event these days seems inclined to focus on the sudden disappearance of the elect from the earth. There is, for example, from the outset of the Left Behind series, this idea that the elect are gone and nobody knows what happened to them. But that doesn’t seem to jibe particularly well with what Jesus is saying here. When He comes, He has said, it will be like the lightning flashing. Nobody will fail to notice. Everybody will know. I don’t see that this is a state reserved to the elect. This is more of a universal, a precursor to that day when every knee (willing or not) shall bow. It seems likely to me that this gathering of the elect will be an equally observable event. There will be no question of where we have gone. We will be seen, and all those who have passed from this life belonging to Him beforehand will be seen as well. Imagine that! Imagine the shock and awe of seeing, Moses together with John the Baptist together with Augustine together with Calvin and Luther together with us, and with all those believers we have known or known of. And, do you know the most marvelous aspect of this? We won’t be impressed by the company around us, although perhaps surprised at some who are there and some who are not; certainly pleased by the fellowship. But, the Christ will be all. He to Whom we are gathered will be the sole focus of our attention, and fully worthy to be so. Those left behind might find cause to marvel at the recognizable heroes of the faith to be seen that day, or those who not being recognized per se are yet recognizably men of the faith. But, for us, all of that will have dimmed to insignificance at the revelation of the King.
Will that prove to be enough to purge sorrow from our hearts for those not found in our happy company? It might seem callous to even suggest such a thing, and yet, I am inclined to believe that this will indeed be the case. I have been discussing the parallels between this final calling and the types and shadows of the Mosaic period. Consider this one, which I know is something I mention fairly often. Aaron once had two sons ministering with him. But, they corrupted the practices entrusted to them, and began making things up as they went along, turning the purity of what God had established into a means of entertainment and profit. God was not amused. Neither would He tolerate the idea of these practices persisting. So, those two sons were condemned, their lives required from them for their sins. All of this Aaron was made aware of, and simultaneously, he was instructed not to go into mourning for them. Why? Why would God ask such an impossibility of a father? Fundamentally because He is to be not only first and foremost in our hearts, but the exclusive focus of our hearts. If, then, He upon whom our hearts are set is glorified by the happenings around us, then we are to rejoice in His glorification, blessed by His manifested goodness, and not to be sorrowful and mourning when that goodness and glory happen to be manifested in judgment. In mercy or in judgment, God is equally glorified and therefore, those upon Whom He has had compassion ought to be pleased to praise Him for both.
With that, look at the closing thought Jesus relays to us as Luke records the event. “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Lk 21:28 NASB). Start with this: That business of straightening up, it’s more than just stiffening one’s resolve, standing firm against the onslaught. Indeed, it’s something different altogether. The sense is that of being elated. Indeed, Wuest provides that explicitly in his paraphrase: “be elated and lift up your heads”. Note well, friend, when we are instructed to behave in this fashion: “when these things begin to take place.” What things? All that has been described: the persecutions we shall face, the shaking of the earth, the rending of the heavens. These terrible events are not cause to be terrified, after all. They are cause to be elated.
Now, I ask you: What do you suppose an unbelieving populace will make of one who rejoices to see such things? The most benign response we could reasonably expect is that they will count us mad. More likely, they will condemn us as perverse, inhuman, dare I say as dangerous terrorists. At present, their view of us may be satisfied to dismiss us as bores and as benighted folk of limited intelligence, still caught up in myths and nonsense, and incapable of facing the life in its stark reality. But, as these things begin to transpire and we are found not to be sharing the terror they feel, what then? What is wrong with you people? Can you not see what is happening to us? Do you suppose you will escape it somehow? How can you possibly find calm in this, let alone this joy you seem to be experiencing? Do you hate your fellow man so much that you embrace his death even at cost of your own?
If ever there is a call to be ready in season and out to give answer as to the cause of your hope, this will surely be it! If ever there will be a moment when every real believer must give witness to faith, this is it. If there has not been persecution before, be very sure that there will be as things start falling apart and you have the appearance of holding some secret key to survival. Indeed, you do hold the key, but it has been no secret. This, however, is highly unlikely to turn aside the anger in the least. No. You will be persecuted, even put to death, but know this: Not one hair of your head will be lost, you will endure and by enduring enter into Life (Lk 21:17-19). Rejoice!
Rejoice knowing that your redemption is drawing nearer by the moment. Rejoice in knowing that you shall indeed be redeemed. Whatever is breaking all around you, you remain in His hands, and He has never lost a one, nor ever shall. Indeed, this is the great battery that powers the believer throughout life. Recognize the unlimited nature of this event. It doesn’t matter where you are at the time. You may be in the deepest wilds of the earth, or you may be in the midst of an urban setting. You may be alive and well, or you may be dead and buried. You may be ashes scattered upon the sea. You may be traveling to some distant planet. It matters not. The call has come to break camp, and there is no doubt at all but that you will answer. He will call and you will come. The God Who can roll back the heavens to make His entrance, and clear our exit can surely see to it that we are present before Him on time for that exit! Rejoice! If God is for you, who can be against you? If God has redeemed you, who can in any way hinder Him from His chosen purpose? There is no one.
One last small point of interest to me as regards these verses is the way that Luke has seemingly removed the angels from the scene. Matthew and Mark have the angels amongst the front ranks, serving the returning King as they go out to summon His loyal subjects. But Luke reduces our focus to see only the Son of Man coming in power and great glory. He is not only front and center, He is all in all. It would be tempting to read some sort of culturally import to this decision on Luke’s part, but he has given the angels their place in his narrative before. It is no bias against the angelic that drives his pen, but rather, I think, the very purposeful matter of putting our focus on the One worthy of our exclusive focus. All else pales in His presence. Angels there may be, but they are of no significance when the King is present. They are but servants such as ourselves. Let me be swift to note that this in no wise raises Luke above the other evangelists. Not at all. Each of these men had their own God-given reason in writing what they did as they did. But, thanks be to God that we have in Luke this reminder that the angels, awesome though they may be, are not fit objects for our worship, only the Lord God, only the Lamb Who was slain, Christ our Redeemer.
Look back to the opening of Luke’s account, and hear the words of Zacharias on the birth of his child, John. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people” (Lk 1:68). Indeed! Jesus was not yet born, and yet this was already a Truth, a settled and accomplished fact. God has visited. It is established. With the forerunner come on the scene, the rest was already nailed down and assured of running its course in accord with God’s eternal plan. Indeed, we could go so far as to roll that certainty right on back to the moment of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden, or for that matter back to the moment of Adam’s creation in the first place. Even then, it could be said with equal certainty: God has visited and He has accomplished our redemption. Truly, Scripture tells us that we were chosen by Him before the world even began. From the very outset of time, it was established, all that transpired to bring us to this point and all that remains to pass before time comes to its end and the eternal kingdom is seen in full. God always has been and ever shall be in control, and He has long since proclaimed, “It is finished!”
So, I shall close with those words of Jesus once more before me: “Lift up your heads and rejoice, for your redemption is drawing near!” Even so, Lord, even so! Today it is closer than ever before, and I would it were closer still. Come, Lord Jesus, and take up Your throne! Come and gather Your brethren to Yourself that we may glorify Your name together for all eternity.
