The Second “Coming” Already Happened… But Not In The Way You’re Thinking (Part 2)
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NICKEL THERAPY SESSIONS AND JUDGMENT COMINGS
The melancholy boy walked timidly away from the five-cent therapy booth, questioning the psychological advice Lucy had given him again. “There is no better emotional outlet than kicking a football”, she mused with an air of clinical sensitivity. “If you cannot trust your therapist”, Charlie Brown muttered to himself as he was walking away, “then who can you trust?” That thought seemed to push him over the edge, propelling his lumpy little body awkwardly toward the prize, activating his casserole abs and cupcake quads into the locked and loaded position and ready to fire. With the safety off and the trigger pulled, his foot swept briskly through the air, missing the ball entirely that had now been pulled out from under him, yanking his husky little body up toward the sky like Darius on a warm summer day, only to crash under the weight of his unmet expectations.
When scenes like this play out over comic books or airwaves, we chuckle at the silly dolt who fell for it once again. We laugh, even while detesting all of the modern-day Lucy’s over at Buzzfeed and the ad approval division at Twitter who treat us in much the same way. Yet, as much as I personally detest clickbait and rug pulls, I found myself almost giving in to my inner Lucy on the blog last week. Almost.
For a split second, I almost went with the title, “Ten Reasons Why The Second Coming Has Already Happened”. And of course, if you read the article, that is perfectly true so long as you let me define the word “coming”. But after some prayer and counsel from an older brother in the faith, I added the clarity that was needed to the title, and all was well. But, I am sure you are wondering, why is all of this important?
Because I do not want to be a Lucy in your life when it comes to this topic. I want you to kick the eschatological ball down the field and through the uprights. I want you to understand what the Bible is saying about these things and not be left lying on your back in eschatological grief and confusion.
SPIRITUAL V. PHYSICAL “COMINGS”
To do that, we have been introducing the concept that there are two kinds of divine “comings” in the Bible. There are times when God “comes” against a people for their sins. When this occurs, the coming is always spiritual, covenantal, always in the apocalyptic genre, and always in the context of divine judgment. There is also another kind of “coming” where God pursues a people in order to rescue them. When this happens, the coming is always physical, incarnational, and personal.
For instance, when God comes bodily in the garden, it is to rescue Adam and Eve from their sins. When God comes bodily to Abraham it reveals God’s promises to Abraham and to cut him into the covenant. When God comes physically to the people of Israel, it is to rescue them from Egyptian slavery. When God comes physically and incarnationally in the first century, it is to rescue all of God’s elect who were in slavery to Satan, sin, and death. And, when Christ comes physically at the end of human history, it is to rescue God’s people, finally and forever from the curse and death, and to deliver them imperishable and incorruptible into eternity with Him (See 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Thessalonians 4).
And yet, this bodily, salvific, and incarnational coming does not account for all of the kinds of “comings” that we see God engaging in within the Bible. For instance, look at Isaiah 19:1
Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. - Isaiah 19:1
In a passage where lifeless idols, made of wood and stone, take on personified attributes of trembling, and where human hearts are melting faster than a Yankee candle under a flamethrower, then is it any wonder that the language of “coming” is not describing a physical and bodily event but a spiritual judgment coming of God against a wicked nation. When you also understand that “clouds”, “suns”, “moons”, “stars”, and “heavenly shakings” show up in every single passage where a major nation or city comes under the judgment of God (such as Babylon In Isaiah 13, Egypt in Isaiah 19 and Ezekiel 32, Tyre in Isaiah 23 & 24, Edom in Isaiah 34, Judah in Jeremiah 4, and against Jerusalem in Joel 2 and 3, Amos 5 and 8, as well as various other passages) then you realize that there is a tremendous amount of passages where God truly and actually “comes” against a nation in judgment, without it being bodily and incarnational.
As we have been proving over the last several episodes, the “coming” passages described in Matthew 24, especially in verses 29-31, do not represent the end of human history and the bodily final coming of Jesus but are the fulfillment of prophecies in the Old Testament, where God promises His day of wrath will eventually fall on Judah. When Jesus answered His disciples' questions in Matthew 24, a forty-year countdown clock began, that would end in God “coming” against the Jews and their city being leveled to dust.
In that spiritual, covenantal, and apocalyptic sense, I can say that the second coming has already come. And I intend to share more evidence with you this week that this reading of Matthew 24 is the Biblical reading. But, for the sake of clarity please let me repeat my aforementioned qualification. I am not a full preterist. I believe in a bodily end of world history coming. And I believe that this coming is still in our future. I contend that this is not what Matthew 24 is speaking about, and to that end, let us continue where we left off last week.
EVIDENCE 4: THE SIGN IN THE SKY?
When Jesus says:
And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky - Matthew 24:30a
We have several issues that need to be understood. First, the time frame has not changed. “And then” signals a logical and chronological sequence of events that ties this entire prophecy together. After forty years of signs and evidence that will increase in magnitude and intensity over a single first-century generation (Mt. 24:3-28, 34), one of the final signs will be shown in the heavens that will signal Christ’s Kingdom has come and that the old Kingdom is passing away.
Second, there are a few linguistic challenges in this passage that need to be worked out if we are going to understand what it means. For now, we will only deal with the first one, which is the translation of the word “sky”.
In our modern English translations, it appears as if the Son of Man will make an appearance in the sky. If you read further down, it seems like all the world will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds and the people of the earth will mourn over what they have done. This is what the dispensational types would have you to believe, but it is not a faithful translation of the text.
More will be said below, but the word that is being translated as “sky” here, which exists in the material realm, is actually the common word for heaven, which is in the spiritual dimension. To illustrate my point, you and I cannot build a rocket that will fly to the heavenly throne room where God dwells, because heaven does not have a physical address at some interstellar crossroads in the cosmos. Heaven exists in an entirely different plane of existence that we cannot travel to with material ends. One might say that heaven is skyward, but that is only until you start accounting for the rotation of the earth, our location in orbit with the sun, and various other issues like this.
Whenever God appears in bodily form, or divine form, or also when He disappears in bodily form, He does not go up or down or take a specific direction of flight. He simply shows up at a location, or leaves a location, almost out of thin air. For instance, when the crowds are looking to kill Him, He vanishes. When He transfigured before His disciples, He does not go anywhere but merely pulls back the material curtain so that they can see the spiritual realm. In this sense, heaven is not a location that one needs to travel to but an overlapping sphere of reality that God may step in and out of effortlessly without even moving.
The only exception to that rule is Christ’s ascension UPWARD into heaven, which has massive theological implications that we will look at in a moment. For now, suffice it to say that heaven is not a physical or material space where God travels to and from. It is an immaterial and real plane of existence that God may step in and out of at His pleasure.
This is incredibly important because we need to know where the sign occurs. If it occurs in a material sky, and if Jesus will be riding a material cloud, and if all the material world will see it happen, then we have a problem. Because there is no record that an event like this ever occurred. In that case, this would be good evidence to support a futurist conclusion.
But, this interpretation ignores the fact that a switch in genres has occurred and that we can no longer interpret these verses with the same rigid wooden literalism we employed before. Usually, most people (not including dispensational futurists) understand this kind of linguistic switch intuitively when it happens.
For instance, if I were talking to an enthusiastic Wall Street type about a particular stock that had incredible upside with great fundamentals popping up on the technical charts, he would know what I mean if I said: “Wow, I hope this stock goes to the moon”. The gentleman, who has just been speaking to me in a highly technical and literal way, would not struggle to understand what I mean. He would not imagine 1’s and 0’s showing up in space any more than he might wonder if there is a stock exchange on the dark side of the moon that I plan on making my purchases at while buying green cheese. We would both know I expect the stock to go way up, which would be consistent with the technicals he provided me.
In the same way, Jesus switches to a figurative and apocalyptic way of speaking to enhance, supplement, and further establish the truths He has already been communicating in a more literal genre. As we have shown last week, when He employs the language of suns and moons not giving light, stars falling from the sky, as well as the heavens trembling, He is using common apocalyptic images that describe the downfall of a nation. In this case, it is Judah.
Therefore, when we consider the genre, the context, the meaning of the word “heaven”, and the Old Testament passages Jesus is quoting from, a physical and material interpretation is not only woefully inadequate it is also entirely misleading.
The third thing we need to understand in this passage is what the sign is pointing to. If it is not a bodily coming of our Lord on the clouds, which would confuse the sign and the thing it signifies, then what is it pointing to? In my view, all of these signs in the heavens are demonstrating the covenantal upheaval of one kingdom and the coming together of another. Jesus came to bring the old covenant era to a close. He also came to accomplish redemption, which entailed ascending into heaven to receive His blood-bought Kingdom from the Father and to rule over that Kingdom until it is finished (1 Corinthians 15:24). Thus, the sign is not a physical event that will flash in the atmosphere or nighttime skies but a spiritual event that reverberates from the heavens. We will add more detail to this in just a moment (See also Hebrews 9:24).
EVIDENCE 5: ALL THE TRIBES OF THE EARTH WILL MOURN?
Jesus continues:
“and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn” - Matthew 24:30b
This is another misleading English translation that has produced a massive amount of confusion, and speculation, and is patently unfaithful to the text. Again, we have “and then”, which upholds our continuity with a first-century time frame and limits the prophecy to a very narrow window of fulfillment. Knowing this, we can put away any silly notions that this is evidence for an international television broadcast over satellite news feeds, pumped into every device on earth so that all people can somehow see the event and mourn over it in unison. This is what many futurists will say, but when you examine the text it cannot stand up to reason. Further, this is also not good evidence for the flat earth, but I hope that you already knew that.
If you were to take the futurist view, the text seems to be communicating that all the various collections of peoples and people groups on earth will simultaneously see and then mourn at the coming of the Lord. But, this translation and interpretation will not hold water when it is examined.
The word that our translators have rendered as “earth” is not the Greek word you would use if you were trying to refer to the entire spherical planet. Had Jesus wanted to say that every person on planet earth would see this event at the same time and all of them would mourn, He would have used the word Cosmos, which covers the appropriate lexical range of meaning. Instead, Jesus uses the word “γῆ” (gey), which means soil (Matthew 13:5), ground (Hebrews 11:29), or dry land (Matthew 14:24 or Acts 27:43 as an example).
But, Most often, when the word “γῆ” is used, it refers to a specific track of geography that belongs to a specific group of people. For instance, looking at the book of Matthew alone, the word “γῆ” is translated as “land of Judah” (Matthew 2:6), “land of Israel” (Matthew 2:20), “land of Zebulun and Naphtali (Matthew 4:15), “land of Sodom and Gomorrah” (Matthew 10:15), “land of Gennesaret” (Matthew 14:34), and it refers to the geographical land belonging to Galilee in Matthew 9:31 and Jerusalem in Matthew 27:45. Overwhelmingly, the concept being communicated is a patch of earth that belongs to a specific group of people and not the entire planet we call “earth”.
When you combine this with the fact that Jesus uses the word “tribes”, which only ever refers to the twelve tribal divisions existing as a part of the Mosaic system of land allotments, the correct meaning could not be more clear. Of all the nations on earth, there was only one at the time that so clearly organized itself by tribal land divisions and that was Israel. Yet, even if you grant that some other nations could have adopted that structure, it was not all nations. Rome was not organized that way and Greece was not organized that way and neither were countless others. Thus, the text cannot be saying that “all peoples on earth” will see this sky event because the word “sky” really means an event in the heavens and because “tribes” only refers to the people of Judah.
So what does it mean? If you translate it correctly, it reads: “All the tribes of the land will mourn”. This refers to the ancient people of Judah, who would undergo unimaginable pain and grief from rejecting their covenant God. In fact, Revelation 1:7 says the same thing, but with added clarity.
Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth [“γῆ” - land] will mourn over Him.” - Revelation 1:7
John tells us, in case we are confused who will see Jesus’ coming? Spoiler alert, it is not a twenty-first-century audience watching on their iPhones, it is a first-century, Jewish people, who were responsible for “piercing” (aka crucifying) their God.
One last thing. The text does not say that the people of Judah would mourn in a way that entails regret or repentance. It could mean that semantically, but it does not say that explicitly nor does not mean that contextually. In the same way that some people in hell weep and others nash their teeth, yet both of them are in some sense mourning, so the Jews gnashed their teeth at Christ, rejected His Kingdom in favor of Caesar, and mourned at the downfall of their nation. They mourned over their hatred of the consequences and not over their regret for rejecting Christ.
EVIDENCE 6: JESUS COMING ON THE CLOUDS
Jesus continued:
And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. - Matthew 24:30c
Since we have shown that this is a first-century event that will be seen by first-century people in the tribally divided lands of Judah, I will not belabor that point. But, what we do need to understand is what clouds often symbolize in the Old Testament and how Jesus is directly quoting from an Old Testament passage that renders the futurist view entirely untenable. Let me say it this way, if you grab hold of what Jesus is saying here, you will realize that Matthew 24 cannot be talking about a future coming of the Lord. It would be rendered a totally whimsical, farcical, and impossible reading of this text.
First, clouds often symbolize the glory of God and His presence being shared with His people. In this sense, the cloud symbolizes His gracious presence that leads them (Exodus 13:21 & Numbers 9:17-22), instructs them (Exodus 19:9), dwells among them (Exodus 19:16; 33:9; & 40:34), and pours out His Spirit upon Israel's elders (Numbers 11:25). In a poetic sense, the clouds represent His awesome presence (2 Samuel 22), His righteousness (Psalm 97), and His sovereignty (Psalm 104). This is an important consideration when attempting to understand how and why Jesus is coming on the cloud in Matthew 24.
Further, the clouds can be seen as God’s presence in a wrathful sense, not only coming to bring blessing to the people of God, but chaos, plagues, and judgments upon the people who reject Him. For instance, God covers the world in clouds and wipes every creeping thing off the face of the earth in the global flood (Genesis 9). He throws the Egyptian armies into chaos and confusion by descending them into the fury of His cloud (Exodus 14:24). Many centuries later, He revisits pagan Egypt with calamities and destructions in Isaiah 19, by riding on a cloud, which mirrors the language Jesus is using in Matthew 24. And, He rains down awful plagues on those who reject Him, by coming in a cloud, such as He did to Miriam in Numbers 14:14.
The point is that clouds are a symbol of the glory and the presence of God. If you are on the right side of the covenant with God, then His cloud-like presence is a blessing to you and for your good. If you are on the wrong side of the covenantal bed, His clouds are menacing, chaos-inducing, and annihilating to His enemies. Take a few examples to drive the point home.
In Isaiah 66:15 God says:
For behold, the Lord will come in fire And His chariots like the whirlwind, To render His anger with fury, And His rebuke with flames of fire. - Isaiah 65:15
Jeremiah 4:13 expounds saying:
“Behold, he goes up like clouds, And his chariots like the whirlwind; His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!” - Jeremiah 4:13
Nahum 1:3 recounts
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, And clouds are the dust beneath His feet. - Nahum 1:3
And finally, Zephaniah 1:15 prophecies about the coming day of God’s fury, by saying:
A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, - Zephaniah 1:15
Given that this is the way the Old Testament pictures God’s cloud-like presence and how it describes His judgment coming on the clouds then is it any wonder that Jesus adopts this common image to describe His judgment coming against Judah? This is the first aspect of clouds we must consider. The second is to understand what Jesus is quoting.
EVIDENCE 7: THE SON OF MAN AND THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN
It is abundantly clear that Jesus is using a near word-for-word quotation from the book of Daniel chapter 7, verse 13, when speaking to His disciples. And, as we will see in a moment, He has a couple of reasons for doing so. First, He wanted His disciples to recognize that He is the one who is bringing the eternal Kingdom.
In that chapter, Daniel is interpreting an apocalyptic vision about world history that will culminate in the coming of the Messiah during the time of the Roman empire. As Daniel sees it, three successive world empires will arise after Babylon, including the Media-Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires that would each have a turn at ruling, building kingdoms, and establishing their dominion. Yet, the most beautiful aspect of this passage comes in what it promises for the future of the world.
During the time of the Roman empire, all creaturely authority and dominion of all the kings of men will be taken away and given to the Son of Man, the King of kings, who will usher in a new covenantal era with an everlasting Kingdom (Daniel 7:14). Once that messianic King has finished His work on earth, He will ascend bodily and UPWARD into heaven where He will appear before the Ancient of days in His throne room and receive a Kingdom without end (Daniel 7:13). He will then task His elect saints, that He purchased with His blood, to be His Kingdom overseers over His global empire (Daniel 7:17-18). According to Daniel 7, Jesus obtained all rule and authority for His own and He has installed His church to apply His sovereign dominion over all the earth (Daniel 7:27; see also Matthew 28:18-20).
We know this is the correct translation, because Jesus quotes from Daniel 7 in Matthew 24, showing that He is not “coming” downward, as if from heaven coming down to earth, but that His coming will be upward when He ascends into heaven. This is the event that all the tribes of Jerusalem and Judah will see and this will be the sign in the heavens that seals their doom!
We also know this is the correct translation because Jesus quotes from Daniel 7 again in Matthew 26 and leaves no room for any other interpretation. Look at how this Kangaroo court scene plays out:
62 The high priest stood up and said to Him, “Do You not answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?” 63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, “I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.” 64 Jesus said to him, “You have said it yourself; nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter YOU will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and COMING on the clouds of heaven.” - Matthew 26:62-64
Who does Jesus say will see His coming? What kind of coming will it be? He tells us that Caiaphas and the tribal people of Judah will see it. It will not be the kind of coming where God leaves heaven to come to the earth, it will be the kind of coming where the Messiah leaves the earth to come up and into the heavens. It will be a sign to them that their time had come to an end, Jesus was now in the heavenly temple, He had received His eternal Kingdom, and their rebellion would ensure their destruction. All of these things come together in perfect harmony when we take our time and rightly examine the text.
CONCLUSION
As we come to an end today, it seems that all the pieces from Matthew 24:29-30 are coming together. The sun, the moon, the stars, and the heavens were going to be declaring the coming judgment to overtake Judah. Jesus promised a sign would occur in the heavens, when He ascended there, sat on the throne to reign, and began the work of putting all His enemies under His feet. His Kingship is the sign!
For their part, Judah, saw this coming, and they endured terrible tribulations and pains for rejecting their covenant God. Sadly, as we have seen, they only mourned and gnashed their teeth at Christ instead of repenting and turning to Him. The fate they endured will be the fate assigned to all who are at odds with Jesus Christ.
Today, if you are not a Christian, I would appeal to you to repent and to turn to Him. You do not want to be found in opposition to the King who rules all things. Humble your heart, turn from your sin and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you are a Christian, I want you to remember that you are a citizen of the end-time everlasting Kingdom of Christ. He is your sovereign and your King. His judgment coming upon Judah ended the Old Testament era of priests, tabernacles, temples, and feasts and now you can know Him and experience His salvation through your election, adoption, and participation in His Kingdom! Do not sit on the sidelines of your faith. Participate with Christ, enjoy His Kingdom, and be a part of spreading His Kingdom message to the nations who are still lost in their rebellion.
Over the last 2000 years, Jesus’ Kingdom has been steadily growing and steadily coming to understand that Christ already has dominion over all the world. We are not waiting for Him to have dominion. He already has it and is growing the church to step into it. My final encouragement to you is not to fear what is happening or going on in the world. Be anxious for nothing. Do not be dismayed when pagan kings and faithless nations rage. The Lord, who is in the heavens laughs at them (Psalm 2:4). And if they do not repent and show allegiance to the Son (Psalm 2:12) they will end up just like Judah (Psalm 110).
Until next time, God bless you, and thank you for subscribing to the blog and listening to the PRODCAST.
