Jesus and Apocalyptic Imagery
Listen to this blog on The PRODCAST.
31 And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
AN ESCHATOLOGICAL ROSETTA STONE
As one of the engineering divisions, of Napoleon Bonapart’s army, was preparing another Egyptian building for demolition, one of his lieutenants inadvertently stumbled upon one of the greatest archeological discoveries of the modern era, the Rosetta Stone. Built right into the wall of that house, moments from being torn to the ground, was a massive stone text with an inscription written in three different languages, that would unlock the keys to understanding Egyptian Hieroglyphics from that day forward. Before that find, the pictorial language was nothing more than esoteric images arranged neatly on pottery shards and on the sides of ancient buildings that scholars could not make heads or tails of. Yet, after that, the entire world of the ancient Egyptians opened up like never before. The key had been found.
If you carry this as a metaphor over into the world of Biblical studies, the apocalyptic genre is very much like those Egyptian Hieroglyphics. The genre is not only well known for its confusing images, words, signs, and symbols, which are arranged in the most obfuscated ways, but it has also been a source of confusion among the scholarly community who come up with one theory after another attempting to crack the code. Thankfully for us, the Rosetta stone we need to interpret these events has already been found.
Instead of looking at current geopolitical events, reading Reddit subthreads about the rise of Luciferians and Ancient Freemasons, or buying that tinfoil hat from the cooky guy on Youtube, the key to understanding the Biblical apocalyptic genre is found right in the pages of Holy Scripture. Unlike most genres of the Bible, apocalyptic is entirely dependent upon past revelation, since it borrows language, images, and symbols that come right out of Scriptures that were previously recorded. With that, the key to understanding the prophecies that are given in this genre will not be found in piecing together current events 2000 years disconnected from their author but will be found in understanding the Old Testament Scriptures those authors were alluding to.
Today, I want us to look at a poignant example of this. If you have been following along with this blog, our thesis has been that, in the prophecy given to His disciples in Matthew 24, and especially in the apocalyptic section listed in verses 27-31, Jesus was not talking about the end of the world or of human history but was instead speaking about the doom that would soon befall wicked Judah. To support such a claim we have cited linguistic evidence, historical data, first-century extra-Biblical sources, 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 this rather large Sunday.
BROUGHT TO YOU COURTESY OF RED, WHITE, AND BLUE APOCALYPTICISM
One of the distinguishing features of the apocalyptic genre is that it communicates urgent news and important truth, using ancient signs, symbols, characters, and figures. The writer, who had an urgent message to share with his contemporary audience, would ratchet up the intensity of his message by reaching back into the annals of his past, resurrecting common images, stories, and characters from their shared collective history and experience, employing them in the story-world of his apocalyptic vision. Wow, that was certainly a mouthful… How about a country music example to drive home my point?
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 was “Courtesy Of The Red, White, And Blue'', which was written by country music legend Toby Keith. In that song, Keith masterfully employed American apocalyptic images in order to threaten destruction upon the terrorists who had weaponized planes against our people. Addressing the terrorists directly, Keith bellowed out the following lines:
Hey Uncle Sam, put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty started shakin' her fist
And the eagle will fly, man, it's gonna be hell
When you hear mother freedom start ringin' 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
If you were living in the year 40 AD or 4000 AD, none of this would make the least bit of sense to you. But, it is obvious to all twenty-first-century Americans what Toby Keith is saying. He does not have an angry uncle named Sam who is fond of making kill lists. Some Statue that is dedicated to Liberty did not come to life in fist-shaking fury. Mother freedom (whoever that lassie is) did not begin ringing any strange bells. And some object that is colored red, white, and blue did not come to life to fight any actual battles. All of this is apocalyptic imagery.
Toby Keith is borrowing from the common canon of American iconography, not only using these well-known images but also bringing them to life in visionary and war-like ways. Why is he doing this? Because this powerfully communicates the message of vengeance and doom that would soon come upon those who attacked America. This is why Uncle Sam in the song, a symbol of American Patriotism and troop recruitment, is going to gather up the soldiers for war. This is why the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of our ordered liberty and national freedom, is angered when that same freedom is in jeopardy. And that is why the nation will become unified in administering furious justice, which is represented by the red, white, and blue flag that is raining munitions down on top of the terrorist's heads. All of these images are apocalyptic and we understand them easily because they are our national images.
The same is true for the first-century disciples. While their images may look different than ours, the symbols Jesus used would have been meaningful to them and would have communicated intense judgment and fury was soon to come upon the enemies of God. If we have any hope of understanding this passage, we cannot employ our images, our categories, and our presuppositions. We must endeavor to understand their images and symbols so that the passage comes to life in all its honky tonk glory.
THE ANGELS SENT FORTH
Jesus told them
“And He will send forth His angels”
After Jesus describes the 40-year period of trials that would lead to Jerusalem’s downfall (24:4-14) and the Roman / Jewish war that will leave the old covenant city as a smoldering pile of rubble (24:15-26), He switches to the apocalyptic genre in verse 27 to drive home His point with visionary intensity and a sobering finality. As we discussed in the previous two articles, the sun, moon, and stars (which are Genesis 2 images of celestial covenantal rule) were reacting to the judgment of Judah, by going dark, refusing to give their light, and falling out of the sky. The heavens were also shaking which is a common prophetic image for the upheaval of nations.
We also discussed how the tribes of the land (all those within Judah and Jerusalem) would see the sign of Jesus’ heavenly enthronement (An image coming out of Daniel 7), where Jesus ascends up to the Ancient of days and sits upon His throne to reign over His blood-bought Kingdom. This caused 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 is no longer talking about the grim events that will be coming upon Judah when they are punished with fire in AD 70. Now, He moves on to share what will happen to the church, who suffered tremendously during this forty-year period of time. More specifically, He addresses how redemption will be accomplished in this unique era between the ages. What do I mean between the ages?
REDEMPTION BETWEEN THE AGES
As the old age of temples, priests, sacrifices, and priests was coming to a jarring halt and the new age of Christ’s Kingdom was dawning, this forty-year period from AD 30 to AD 70 became a unique era where both ages coexisted simultaneously. This created more than a little confusion among 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 or Sunday? And I am sure you can imagine more than a few additional questions that life-long Jews would need to have answered while the temple and Judaism were still standing.
One of the questions we know they were asking is where do the believers go, who were killed during the overlapping of ages? For instance, suppose a Christian was killed by a band of Jewish zealots in the year 55 AD. What happened to them, since the old covenant kingdom had not been fully put away? Since their temple still stood? Since Jesus had not yet returned in judgment against them? Do the martyrs, who died before all these things took place, get all of the blessings that Jesus promised?
PAUL’S ANSWER
Paul addressed this question to the Thessalonian church, who was asking the same question, in the mid 50’s AD. Apparently, there was a band of fools that had infiltrated the church and were attempting to convince people that Jesus had already returned and those who died before His judgment coming against Judah would miss out on the resurrection (See 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10). Paul not only assured them that Jesus would return soon to punish the Jews (in 2 Thessalonians 2) but in 1 Thessalonians 4, he also assured them that all who believed in Christ would be gathered into the savior's Kingdom regardless of when they lived and died. They would not miss out on the resurrection!
JESUS’ ANSWER
This is also what Jesus is doing in Matthew 24:31. He is reminding His disciples that He will “send forth His angels”, and collect all of His people, even those who died in the overlap of ages. We know this is the right interpretation because Jesus already interpreted this for His disciples once before. In Matthew 13 to be exact.
In that chapter, Jesus interpreted the parable:
And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for 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 is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are 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 stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and 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 as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. - Matthew 13:37-43
There is certainly a more general fulfillment to this passage, which spans the full church age, includes final judgment, the final separation of the elect and reprobate, the eternal destinies of heaven and hell, and the closing out of human history and entrance into the eternal state. But, there is also a very poignant near-term fulfillment that involves the covenantal removal of Jerusalem, the temple, the counterfeit people, and the beginning of the final age of redemption, which is the Kingdom of Christ!
In regard to the near-term fulfillment, Jesus not only accused many of the first-century Jews of being cheap replicas of the people of God, but He told them that they were planted by the devil himself, which meant they were in league with Satan (John 8:44). He also promised that at the end of the Jewish age, a harvest would occur, a reckoning, where all their sins would be visited upon their heads and they would be removed from the covenant community of God. The Church that lived and died during this era of reckoning would be grafted into the true Israel of God even as all the covenantal thieves and robbers of Judah were being pruned out by the Roman fires.
To the church, Jesus uses the phrase “The Son of Man will send forth His angels” as a way of also describing what will happen to all those who follow Him (both Jew and Gentile). For all those who died between the two ages, they would enjoy the same covenantal and eternal blessings as all other believers of all other ages. They would be made righteous as all believers in Christ, they would be gathered into the Kingdom of God, and they would live with Him, just as we, in eternal resurrected life.
Jesus uses the same phrase in Matthew 24 that He used in Matthew 13, which cannot be accidental. As the disciples were listening to His prophecy, perhaps some of them were becoming afraid that they would die in this coming period of tumultuous chaos. But as they listened, they would have been encouraged that the end-time gathering of the elect would also include them. His disciples needed not to fear death as they faced the next forty years of calamity and uncertainty. Why? Because they too would be gathered into the Kingdom of Christ and could live with full assurance, courage, and conviction for their Lord no matter what happened.
JESUS ALLUDING TO JOEL 2
One last thing on this section… We mentioned earlier that the apocalyptic genre routinely uses words, images, and symbols of a shared past to communicate an important message about a shared future that applies to particular people in the present. When Jesus said: “The Son of Man will send forth His angels” He was using His own past words, to talk about a shared future the present disciples would be sure to undergo. In that sense, Jesus quoting Himself fits the definition. Yet, there is more going on in this phrase than just that because Jesus is specifically alluding to Joel chapter 2.
If you have not read Joel 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' apocalyptic understanding in the Olivet Discourse than this one. As you read it, you will notice nearly all of the elements Jesus has been speaking about in Matthew 24:27-31 have a Joel 2 referent.
For instance, both speak about corpses, death, and destruction upon the Jews (Matthew 24:28; Joel 2:20). Both describe the judgment coming of the Lord as being near (Matthew 24:29; Joel 2:1). Both use gruesome language to describe “those days” (Matthew 24:29; Joel 2:2, 11, 31). Both foresee an invading army that decimates the people of Judah (In Luke 22:21; Joel 2:3-9). Both employ similar apocalyptic signs occurring in the heavens, such as the sun, moons, stars, and the shaking of the heavens (Matthew 24:29-30; Joel 2:10, 30-31). Both passages describe the people of the land in mourning (Matthew 24:30; Joel 2:1, 6, 12-15). Both announce that the Son of Man will be coming (Matthew 24:27, 30; Joel 2:16). Both describe trumpets being blasted (Matthew 24:31; Joel 2:1, 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. 27). And, both use the metaphor of a summer fig tree, ready to produce its fruit, to describe the newly blood-bought Kingdom of the messiah that has been cut loose from faithless Judah to produce her fruit for the nations (Matthew 24:32-35; Joel 2:22). Clearly, Jesus had Joel 2, and the dual-prophecy of Jerusalem’s downfall and the inauguration of the New Covenant Kingdom, on His mind!
THE TRUMPET BLAST
Jesus said:
“And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet”
We have already shown that this image appears in Joel 2. 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 a trumpet is used in the Bible, God Himself blew it from Mt. Sinai when He descended into the camp of Israel, and all the people of that generation trembled in fear (Exodus 19:16 see also Exodus 20:18). Here we have God descending on the clouds, His holy presence is a form of judgment against the people who are unholy by nature, and all of that generation responded by trembling in fear.
Is that not exactly what Joel 2 and Matthew 24 are alluding to when Jesus comes in judgment, and the unholy people of the land tremble 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 coming to visit them, and sadly, like the wilderness generation before them, they too would all be dead in the dirt in the span of forty years from Jesus speaking.
Yet, the trumpet was not only used as an instrument of judgment. In fact, it appears to have had a dual purpose in the life of Israel. To those who were considered the rebels of God, His trumpeting presence descending on clouds would be a moral terror to their impish souls. To those who trusted in the Lord, it could be used in a couple of blessed ways.
For instance, when the people of Israel were traveling from Mt. Sinai, going to the promised land, a single trumpet blast was used to call God’s people to the tent of meeting for worship, holy convocation, and to experience His Sabbath rest (Leviticus 23:23-25). When it was blown twice in a row, the congregation of Israel would gather at the tent of meeting for war, understanding their duty to extend God’s Kingdom over and against the pagan and Canaanite nations who were squatting in God’s land (Numbers 10).
Think about the dual symbolism being employed here. If you are a hater of God, like many of the Jews in the first century, the blast of His trumpet would have been a terror to you. But, if you loved the Lord Jesus Christ and belonged to Him, it would not only signal the eternal rest you have in your savior but the duty that you would have to go to war for Him, spreading His Kingdom to all the nations on earth.
When Jesus blew His trumpet in the first century, both outcomes would have been symbolically significant.
(See also Isaiah 27 & Zechariah 9:8-17 as examples of trumpets being blown when Messiah inaugurates His Kingdom and sends them out to take dominion of the nations)
FROM THE FOUR WINDS OF HEAVEN
Jesus said:
“And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”
This is one of the few images in Matthew 24:27-31 that does not come out of Joel chapter 2. Instead, this phrase “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 rebellious people to the four corners of the earth (Jeremiah 49:34-39). At other times, it signals God's divine providence in raising up and eventually destroying pagan empires such as Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome (Daniel 7:2). Still on other occasions, it refers to the first-century Church of Christ, being scattered by the Holy Spirit to the ends of the earth, so that they can avoid the devastating Roman invasion against Judah, who is described as the daughter of Babylon (Zechariah 2:6).
Perhaps Jesus is alluding to all three of these scenarios in Matthew 24. In allusion to Jeremiah 49:34-39, Jesus could be referring to the fact that first-century Judah had become just like the people of Elam, persecuting His own dear people, and would need to be punished by the violent breath of God. In allusion to Daniel 7:2, Jesus could be referring to the final army in that great vision, Rome, who was summoned by the breath of God to destroy the faithless people of Judah. Still yet, Jesus could be referring to Zechariah 2:6, showing how the earliest Christians would be scattered away from Jerusalem because of persecution, which would cause them to scatter to the ends of the Roman empire, thus, avoiding the bloody war going down in Jerusalem.
But, there is still one reference to the four winds that I believe fits best with the context of what Jesus is saying. All of them could very well be in view, but Ezekiel 37 seems to be, at least in my mind, the best candidate for what Jesus is referring to.
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 prophet summoned God’s life-giving breath. When Ezekiel obeyed, God animated the dry bones and revived them in the power of resurrection (See Ezekiel 37:8-10). These bones represent the united Kingdom of Israel (The northern ten tribes who intermarried with the pagan nations and became Gentiles), with true eschatological Judah (those true Jews who bowed in allegiance to their Christ). These two divided peoples would be divided no more under the Lordship of their messiah King (Ezekiel 37:11-28). In Christ, the dead will be raised to new resurrection life and the Kingdom of God would be filled with the Jewish / Gentile Church, the Israel of God, and eschatological zion, who would be sent to the nations as the ambassadors of His Gospel.
In Matthew 24:31, Jesus’ focus is on the church who will be offered the life-giving breath of God. These people will be gathered at the end of the ages into His Kingdom by the angels of God. In this life, they will be scattered to the four corners of the world, on mission for Jesus Christ. And like the valley of dry bones, both Jew and Greek believers will be made eternally alive in Him, forever loyal, and always eager to bow in allegiance to our Messianic King.
CONCLUSION
The apocalyptic genre takes old images of the past, and the author applies them to his present people and discusses near-term important events that would soon happen in their future. In Matthew 24, Jesus plunders the pages of the Old Testament, grabbing pregnant images and metaphors, to speak volumes of information to His disciples in just a few sentences. As you have seen in this article, we have barely scratched the surface of what could be shared, just when it comes to 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 twenty-first century people who rejected Him, in order for Matthew 24 to be fulfilled. We are not waiting on blood moons, solar eclipses, the stars falling or the heavens shaking for Matthew 24 to be proved true. We are not waiting to hear trumpet blasts or see reaping angels collecting all the elect from the four corners of the world for all the elements of Matthew 24 to be eschatologically satisfied. Matthew 24 has already happened. All of these images come directly from the pages of Old Testament Scripture and show us exactly what Jesus was referring to when He gave these visionary statements to His disciples!
With that, go attack this life with joy and righteousness, spurn the devil, defy the world, forsake your flesh, participate in the Kingdom of our Lord and Christ, and do everything to the glory of God until our King returns!
See you next time on the PRODCAST.
