Posted on 08/28/2020 10:06:47 AM PDT by Cronos
• Basil of Seleucia, Oratio 25:
'You are Christ, Son of the living God.'...Now Christ called this confession a rock, and he named the one who confessed it 'Peter,' perceiving the appellation which was suitable to the author of this confession. For this is the solemn rock of religion, this the basis of salvation, this the wall of faith and the foundation of truth: 'For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.' To whom be glory and power forever. — Oratio XXV.4, M.P.G., Vol. 85, Col. 296-297.
• Bede, Matthaei Evangelium Expositio, 3:
You are Peter and on this rock from which you have taken your name, that is, on myself, I will build my Church, upon that perfection of faith which you confessed I will build my Church by whose society of confession should anyone deviate although in himself he seems to do great things he does not belong to the building of my Church...Metaphorically it is said to him on this rock, that is, the Saviour which you confessed, the Church is to be built, who granted participation to the faithful confessor of his name. — 80Homily 23, M.P.L., Vol. 94, Col. 260. Cited by Karlfried Froehlich, Formen, Footnote #204, p. 156 [unable to verify by me].
• Cassiodorus, Psalm 45.5:
'It will not be moved' is said about the Church to which alone that promise has been given: 'You are Peter and upon this rock I shall build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.' For the Church cannot be moved because it is known to have been founded on that most solid rock, namely, Christ the Lord. — Expositions in the Psalms, Volume 1; Volume 51, Psalm 45.5, p. 455
• Chrysostom (John) [who affirmed Peter was a rock, but here not the rock in Mt. 16:18]:
Therefore He added this, 'And I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; that is, on the faith of his confession. — Chrysostom, Homilies on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, Homily LIIl; Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf110.iii.LII.html)
• Cyril of Alexandria:
When [Peter] wisely and blamelessly confessed his faith to Jesus saying, 'You are Christ, Son of the living God,' Jesus said to divine Peter: 'You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church.' Now by the word 'rock', Jesus indicated, I think, the immoveable faith of the disciple.”. — Cyril Commentary on Isaiah 4.2.
• Origen, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Book XII):
“For a rock is every disciple of Christ of whom those drank who drank of the spiritual rock which followed them, 1 Corinthians 10:4 and upon every such rock is built every word of the church, and the polity in accordance with it; for in each of the perfect, who have the combination of words and deeds and thoughts which fill up the blessedness, is the church built by God.'
“For all bear the surname ‘rock’ who are the imitators of Christ, that is, of the spiritual rock which followed those who are being saved, that they may drink from it the spiritual draught. But these bear the surname of rock just as Christ does. But also as members of Christ deriving their surname from Him they are called Christians, and from the rock, Peters.” — Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Book XII), sect. 10,11 ( http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/101612.htm)
• Hilary of Potier, On the Trinity (Book II):
Thus our one immovable foundation, our one blissful rock of faith, is the confession from Peter's mouth, Thou art the Son of the living God. On it we can base an answer to every objection with which perverted ingenuity or embittered treachery may assail the truth."-- (Hilary of Potier, On the Trinity (Book II), para 23; Philip Schaff, editor, The Nicene & Post Nicene Fathers Series 2, Vol 9.
I don't think you can make this claim. If the Kingdom of heaven and the Kingdom of God is one in the same, one cannot say that the Kingdom of heaven is the Catholic Church. That is absolutely absurd, especially if you substitute the Catholic Church for the Kingdom of heaven in Matthew. For example, some of the text would read:
Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven Catholic Church.
Matthew 8:11 I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven Catholic Church
Christ is reigning on His throne right now. The Kingdom of God/heaven is made up of all faithful believers throughout the age. Anyone who has been born of God (repented and accepted Christ for their salvation), is a new creature in Him. We become slaves to Christ for we have been bought with a price. We have passed from death to life because of His righteous work and God's grace and mercy to open our eyes and ears to the truth of the gospel.
Phil 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
BTW-Israel once thought as many in the Catholic Church. They had the temple. Things were handed down to them. They had their traditions, their laws, their sacrifices. They were also entirely wrong and killed the Messiah that they professed to long for.
‘And no, Satan is unable to prevail against Christ’s Church - not for lack of trying. But he constantly fails and has failed and will fail’
Cronos, Satan has created a false Christ.
The false Christ’s name is Jesus.
The Jesus born on December 25 is false
The Jesus killed on Good Friday is false
The Jesus raised on Easter Sunday is false
The Jesus born when the sun clothed the woman, and the moon was under her feet, is true
The Jesus killed on Passover is true
The Jesus raised on First Fruits is true
Satan can overcome the saints.
Which Jesus is worshipped in the end times?
Satan’s version or Paul’s?
The harlot church’s version or the first disciples version?
Who even has eyes to see the difference?
Satan has succeeded in creating another Jesus and another gospel.
And the world wanders after it.
When it is written, Satan deceives the whole world, that includes the church,since the church hasn’t left yet.
By the way,Satan isn’t prevailing against the church but Satan is in the church.
Predicted in the scriptures.
The church ,at the start, and the church at the end,don’t have the same Jesus.
That’s Satan’s work within the church.
Most won’t accept this either,but
Today isn’t Moon Day to the Father
Today is Moon Day to Satan
Which does the world ,including the church, follow?
Yesterday wasn’t Sun Day to the Father
Yesterday was Sun Day to Satan
Which does the world,including the church, follow?
A false Jesus has been created by Satan.
Prove to me the world doesn’t follow what Satan sells and I will admit the church is not being used by Satan to do his bidding..
Why would he want to destroy what he has been allowed to co-op?
Satan and his lies lose in the end. The church has co-opted those lies.
Through testing and proving all things, the church has a false Jesus and a false gospel.
Or as Paul stated it, another Jesus and another gospel.
The church has morphed into ‘leavened’ doctrines and teachings.
Two leavened loaves was an offering at Pentecost for a reason.
They differ from the Unleavened loaves (no false teachings/doctrines) at Passover
The church is the Saul reign.
The church is 2 leavened loaves.
The church may find itself a day late on the temple cleansing like Mark details.
The church is a part of His plan,but it morphed into a breach period between the Light.
You can see that in the birth of twins Zerah and Peres.
The church is most assuredly corrupted.
Look up what Zerah and Peres means in Hebrew.
You will see His pattern , and where the church stands in it.
And it isn’t ‘Zerah’.
The Zerah was here for a little time, and left.
The Zerah is to come back and restore.
The time between the Zerah is the ‘church’ age.
And most of the last about 2,000 years,is a ‘breach,’.
A period of darkness.
About 2,000 cubits from the ark.
Allowed to be corrupted.
Just like the garden was corrupted.
Man in the flesh can’t help but corrupt His Holy.
The man needs glorified, immortal flesh ,before man can inherit the Kingdom.
The church doesn’t have that yet.
The church in the wilderness has died for the last 2,000 years without receiving the inheritance.
Most may not see it, but maybe some trapped in Babylon will start to get eyes to see and ears to hear.
And come out.
Or stay in.
The church will eventually cease to be the serpent and will return to be a shepherd/priesthood staff.
That will be the first sign Israel needs to believe.
Then there is another sign that causes Israel to fully believe.
The ‘when’ does the serpent change back into a staff is a question.
That has to happen at some point.
And that helps Israel to believe.
It doesn’t happen by buying and selling what the serpent sells.
Especially in the ‘church’.
The staff does return to a staff. But it was always going to turn into a serpent.
Most won’t see the ‘church’ in that story.
People are free not to see.
I was one who was blind, but now I see..
“Notice that Jesus didn’t tell His Apostles to wait 2000 years to begin the Kingdom!”
Look around, does this appear like our Lord Jesus Christ is ruling with a rod of iron to you, Rev 2:27 & 12:5, Psalm 2:9? In case you missed it the world will be at peace when King Jesus takes His throne upon the earth, Isaiah 2:4 & 9:7, Joel 3:10, Micah 4:3.
“Jesus says that whatever this Church binds on earth shall be bound in heaven, where Jesus reigns now.”
Wrong, Christ is giving the keys in a past tense, but note that the “shall have been bound in heaven” is past tense. In plain English it was bound long before the foundation of the earth or in other words before Peter ever existed.
Therefore, Peter nor the other Apostles are going to rewrite what sin is or write Holy Scripture from their own words but the Word of God will be given by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God and put on paper by them.
“In Matthew 16:19, Jesus gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom, and then establishes His Church on Peter the Rock.
The Rock can’t be Peter because his confession wasn’t of himself but was spoken through him by the Father. The accurate parallel would be our faith which isn’t of ourselves but from Christ Jesus and manifested through us.
Thou art Peter,’ i.e. thou art a lively stone, hewn out of and built upon me, the living Rock. Thou art a genuine Petros of me, the Divine Petra. And whosoever would be a lively stone, a Peter, must imitate thee in this thy true confession of me, the living Rock; for upon this Rock, that is, on myself, believed and confessed to be both God and Man, I will build my Church.”
Bishop Wordsworth
Isaiah 44:8
Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”
Romans 8:33
just as it is written, “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.”
1 Corinthians 10:4
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock (4073 [e], Petras) that accompanied them, and that rock (4073 [e], Petra) was Christ.
1 Peter 2:8
and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock (4073 [e], Petra) that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
Matthew 14:28
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter (4074 [e], Petros) replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
Deuteronomy 32:4
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.
Deuteronomy 32:15
Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, they became heavy and sleek. They abandoned the God who made them and rejected the Rock their Savior.
Deuteronomy 32:18
You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.
Deuteronomy 32:30
How could one man chase a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
Deuteronomy 32:31
For their rock is not like our Rock, as even our enemies concede.
Deuteronomy 32:37
He will say: “Now where are their gods, the rock they took refuge in,
1 Samuel 2:2
“There is no one holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
2 Samuel 22:2
He said: “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
2 Samuel 22:3
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent people you save me.
2 Samuel 22:32
For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?
2 Samuel 22:47
“The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior!
2 Samuel 23:3
The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God,
Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:31
For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?
Psalm 18:46
The LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!
Psalm 19:14
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 28:1
Of David. To you, LORD, I call; you are my Rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me. For if you remain silent, I will be like those who go down to the pit.
Psalm 31:2
Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.
Psalm 31:3
Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.
Psalm 42:9
I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?”
Psalm 62:2
Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
Psalm 62:6
Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
Psalm 62:7
My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Psalm 71:3
Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.
Psalm 78:35
They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.
Psalm 89:26
He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.’
Psalm 92:15
proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.”
Psalm 94:22
But the LORD has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge.
Psalm 95:1
Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Psalm 144:1
Of David. Praise be to the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle.
Isaiah 8:14
He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.
Isaiah 17:10
You have forgotten God your Savior; you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress. Therefore, though you set out the finest plants and plant imported vines,
Isaiah 26:4
Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.
Isaiah 30:29
And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people playing pipes go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.
Isaiah 44:8
Do not tremble, do not be afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”
Isaiah 51:1
“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the LORD: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
Habakkuk 1:12
LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, LORD, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
Look around, does this appear like our Lord Jesus Christ is ruling with a rod of iron to you, Rev 2:27 & 12:5, Psalm 2:9? In case you missed it the world will be at peace when King Jesus takes His throne upon the earth, Isaiah 2:4 & 9:7, Joel 3:10, Micah 4:3.
As expressed before, the propagandist ignores the manifest fact that "the kingdom" is a spiritual one (Jn. 18:36) into which all believers are in when they become born again (Col 1:13) - though relatively very few Catholics are therein - and a future physical realization when the Lord reigns for a 1,000 years (Rv. 5; 20) until all His enemies are put under His feet. (1 Corinthians 15:23-15) But which millennial reigns Catholicism erroneously rejects.
“Jesus says that whatever this Church binds on earth shall be bound in heaven, where Jesus reigns now.”
Wrong, Christ is giving the keys in a past tense, but note that the “shall have been bound in heaven” is past tense. In plain English it was bound long before the foundation of the earth or in other words before Peter ever existed.
Actually binding and loosing is not new but flows from the OT, in which a father had the power of binding or loosing a daughter under his roof from a vow as did a husband regarding his wife.
If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth;...But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, shall stand: and the Lord shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her. (Numbers 30:3,5) But if her husband altogether hold his peace at her from day to day; then he establisheth all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her: he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them. (Numbers 30:14)
Also, Elijah bound the heaven from raining for 3.5 years until he loosed them again. (James 5:17,18 cf. 1 Kings 17:1; 18:36-41) In which context is the only NT verse exhorting confession of sin, and which is toward each other:
Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16)
Note that in the case of the infirm man of James 5:14,15 whose sins are forgiven - released from chastisement cf. Mk. 2:1-12 - due to the intercession of Godly presbyters (not Cath priests) then no confession is commanded.
And on the magisterial level both ecclesiastical and civil authrities are given a power of binding and loosing one in guit or innocence, flowing from the OT:
If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment: And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall shew thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee: (Deuteronomy 17:8-10)
This correlates to Matthew 18:15-18
Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. ()
However, this is expanded in proceeding verses to two or more believers who are truly gathered together in the Lord's name (and asking according to His will):
Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:19-20)
Thus taken together there is a judicial magisterial binding and loosing as well as intercessory spiritual binding and loosing by righteous believers of fervent prayer truly in the name of the Lord, contrary to the attempt by Catholicism to assign this to herself, whose priesthood is not even that of the presbyterous of the NT.
The Rock can’t be Peter because his confession wasn’t of himself but was spoken through him by the Father.
Yet Rome uses this to support her novel and unScriptural premise of ensured perpetual magisterial infallibility as per Rome, which she has "infallibly" defined herself as having, yet her popes and ecumenical councils are not inspired by God as Peter and NT writers were.
The verse at issue, v.18, cannot be divorced from that which preceded it, in which the identity of Jesus Christ is the main subject. In the next verse (17) that is what Jesus refers to in telling blessed Peter that “flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,” and in v. 18 that truth is what the “this rock” refers to, with a distinction being made between the person of Peter and this rock. This is the only interpretation that is confirmed, as it must be, in the rest of the New Testament.
For in contrast to Peter, that the LORD Jesus is the Rock (“petra”) or "stone" (“lithos,” and which denotes a large rock in Mk. 16:4) upon which the church is built is one of the most abundantly confirmed doctrines in the Bible (petra: Rm. 9:33; 1Cor. 10:4; 1Pet. 2:8; cf. Lk. 6:48; 1Cor. 3:11; lithos: Mat. 21:42; Mk.12:10-11; Lk. 20:17-18; Act. 4:11; Rm. 9:33; Eph. 2:20; cf. Dt. 32:4, Is. 28:16) including by Peter himself. (1Pt. 2:4-8) Rome's current catechism attempts to have Peter himself as the rock as well, but also affirms: “On the rock of this faith confessed by St Peter, Christ build his Church,” (pt. 1, sec. 2, cp. 2, para. 424) which understanding some of the so-called “church fathers” concur with.)
Apologies for the delayed response and a second apology for the length of the response to you
Let's look at the entire passage of the Olivet discourse
[1] And Jesus being come out of the temple, went away. And his disciples came to shew him the buildings of the temple. [2] And he answering, said to them: Do you see all these things? Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed. [3] And when he was sitting on mount Olivet, the disciples came to him privately, saying: Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world? [4] And Jesus answering, said to them: Take heed that no man seduce you: [5] For many will come in my name saying, I am Christ: and they will seduce many.In this Jesus answers two questions "When will the 2nd temple be destroyed"[6] And you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. [7] For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places: [8] Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows. [9] Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake. [10] And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another.
[11] And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many. [12] And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold. [13] But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved. [14] And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come. [15] When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place: he that readeth let him understand.
[16] Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains: [17] And he that is on the housetop, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house: [18] And he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat. [19] And woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days. [20] But pray that your flight be not in the winter, or on the sabbath.
[21] For there shall be then great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, neither shall be. [22] And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened. [23] Then if any man shall say to you: Lo here is Christ, or there, do not believe him. [24] For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders, insomuch as to deceive (if possible) even the elect. [25] Behold I have told it to you, beforehand.
[26] If therefore they shall say to you: Behold he is in the desert, go ye not out: Behold he is in the closets, believe it not. [27] For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall the coming of the Son of man be. [28] Wheresoever the body shall be, there shall the eagles also be gathered together. [29] And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved: [30] And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty.
[31] And he shall send his angels with a trumpet, and a great voice: and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the utmost bounds of them. [32] And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh. [33] So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors. [34] Amen I say to you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. [35] Heaven and earth shall pass, but my words shall not pass.
The opening verses of the Olivet discourse set the scene for this - they left the temple and His disciples ask him about the temple
Jesus answer Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down - this was done by the Roman legions under Titus and is the final fulfilment of Micha 3:12
The Olivet discourse then talks about the 8 signs that Jesus said would lead to the Temple's destruction that were important for the Apostles to recognizeTherefore, because of you,
Zion shall be plowed like a field,
and Jerusalem reduced to rubble,
And the mount of the temple
to a forest ridge.
Jesus then mentions in 24:21 the Great Tribulation - which is for the Jesus-movement Jews.
There has never been, nor will there ever be anything rivaling it. The Church was close to being smothered in its cradle if Nero continued and the Jerusalem Christians had not escaped to Pella - this was a tiny community, primarily Jewish and was attacked by both the Roman authorities AND the Jewish authorities. That WAS the great tribulation
THEN, in Matt 24:29 And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved - This is apocalyptic language exactly referring to Isaiah 13:10-13 The stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light... I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place" - Jesus is foretelling the overthrow of nero and the Sanhedrin. He draws a parallel between the shaking of Babylon and the shaking of Jerusalem (and that's the basis of John's vision in the book of revelations)
This is also reflected in Haggai 2:6-7 Thus says that Lord of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts
This splendor is Christ and the house is the Church. The Sanhedrin was uprooted forever, never to be validly re-established again.
==================
I'm finally answering your question, apologies for the background lenght
=============================
Now to Matt 24:30-31 Then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds on heaven with power and great glory; and He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other -- and on reading this with Daniel we have
3. Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them. Thus there was a star 20 resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. Thus also before the Jews' rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus, 21 [Nisan,] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it. At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner 22 [court of the] temple, which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great difficulty was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness. But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage of their enemies. So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the desolation that was coming upon them. Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence." But, what is still more terrible, there was one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, who, four years before the war began, and at a time when the city was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our custom for every one to make tabernacles to God in the temple, 23 began on a sudden to cry aloud, "A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole people!" This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city. However, certain of the most eminent among the populace had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say any thing for himself, or any thing peculiar to those that chastised him, but still went on with the same words which he cried before. Hereupon our rulers, supposing, as the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought him to the Roman procurator, where he was whipped till his bones were laid bare; yet he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the whip his answer was, "Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" And when Albinus [for he was then our procurator] asked him, Who he was? and whence he came? and why he uttered such words? he made no manner of reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him. Now, during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow, "Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" Nor did he give ill words to any of those that beat him every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come. This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in our siege, when it ceased; for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force, "Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!" And just as he added at the last, "Woe, woe to myself also!" there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the very same presages he gave up the ghost.
================
Mara Bar Searpion, a pagan Syrian Gentile who wrote a letter to hsi son around 73 AD wrote "What advantage did the Jews gain from executing their wise King? It was just after that that their kingdom was abolished. God justly avenged"
Only God could make the type of prediction that Jesus made and have it come true. Consider how while Jerusalem was still standing,Jesus foretold what would befall it from the hand of hte empire. At that time there were no armies around Jerusalem encompassing and besieging it for the siege began three decades after His death
Finally the fig tree - "you know that He is near, at the very gates." - the generation of the fig tree was the people who lived to see the destruction in 70 AD
That is why the Gospel according to john does not include the Olivet discourse because revelations was written before 67 AD but the gospel according to john was written after 70 AD
2) The church is suffering tribulation until the Day of the Lord.
3) At some boiling point, Christ will return. The Day of the Lord will not be a very nice time.
There is no greater verse in scripture that sums this up than the following:
Revelation 1:9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
John told the churches that he was 1) a fellow partaker in the tribulation, 2) a fellow partaker in the kingdom, and 3) a fellow partaker of the perseverance that ONLY comes from God.
But one cannot say that John was a member of the Catholic Church.
the prophecies written as apocalyptic works are to be read as apocalyptic works
You call the Lord Jesus in English. Why aren't you using only Hebrew names or wait, aramaic? So you call Him Y'shua or Yehoshua? Or since He spoke Greek too, then Iesous?
The harlot was 1st century Jerusalem - just as Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hosiah call the city as the harlot city. Just as Revelation calls Jerusalem "Sodom and Gomorroh, the city where the Lord was crucified"
Quote-You call the Lord Jesus in English. ‘
Actually, the English name for the Passover Lamb is Joshua.
That’s the name Moses gave to the Israelite that led Israel into the Promised Land.
That’s the English name of the Savior of the World.
But you really don’t want to talk about names do you?
But, I would refer you to Acts 7:45 and Hebrew 4:8 and ask which name is located in your English translations.
Because my concordance and my 1599 Geneva Bible list those as ‘Jesus’. But the newer translations have deleted the Jesus name for the English Joshua.
If Jesus name can be replaced by the English Joshua in two verses, it seems every Jesus verse can be replaced with the English name Joshua in English translated Bibles.
And then there is no December 25 for English Joshua
There is no false goddess Frigg day for English Joshua
There is no false goddess astarte day for English Joshua.
But this really isn’t about names.
It’s about being shown how Satan deceives the whole world.
The Word Made Flesh wasn’t born when the beast says He was.
Scriptures and science can prove that.
The Word Made Flesh wasn’t slain when the beast says He was.
Scriptures can prove that.
Exposing Satan’s lies and deceit will gore an ox of two.
But that’s the sharpness of His Word.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.