Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article

To: grumpa

Consider the following biblical references

Isaiah 55:8-9. New International Version. 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,”.

Matthew 24:36-44 No One Knows That Day and Hour

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Those two pasages clearly state that no one can know when except the Father.

Jesus was concerned about fulfilling the prophecies of the Old Testament.


58 posted on 04/10/2024 7:24:42 PM PDT by chuckr (Barack Hussein Obama - A Legend In His Own Mind)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies ]


To: chuckr

NO ONE KNOWS THE DAY OR THE HOUR. This passage is in Matthew’s version of the Olivet Discourse. The context is the end of the age (Matthew 24:3) in which Jesus promised to return in judgment to punish Old Covenant Israel (Matthew 23:29-39; 24:29-34) and destroy the temple (Matthew 24:2). In Luke’s version of the Olivet Discourse we see Jesus telling his disciples that this was imminent when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies (Luke 21:20-24). Then it would be “about to happen” (Luke 21:36, Young’s Literal Translation). These prophecies were fulfilled in AD 70.

Most Christians don’t know their Old Testament well enough to know that Jesus’ is alluding to a similar statement in Zechariah 14:7 prophesying a day known only to the Lord when Jerusalem would be destroyed (Zechariah 14:2).

Just prior to the “no one knows the day or the hour” in Matthew 24:36, Jesus said “Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (verse 34). Does verse 36 completely negate verse 34? Some Christians say that Jesus begins speaking about something different in verse 36, but that view is completely untenable for several reasons. But very simply, there is no discernible break in the content, especially when you compare Matthew 24 with Luke 17 which covers the same material but in a different order. But notice that in verse 36 Jesus refers back to what he just said with the reference “But concerning that day. . . .” This phrase clearly tells us that the flow is continuous.

We should reconcile verses 34 and 36 rather than separate them. Here’s an analogy. When a woman is pregnant, we do not know the day or the hour she will give birth, but we do know the window of time. So, what Jesus was teaching can be summarized thusly: “I cannot tell you the day or the hour when all these things will take place, but I assure you that they will happen in this generation, before some now living have died.”

Of course, that brings up the question, what does “this generation” mean. It clearly means what it says—the generation of those then living in the first century. No serious reader can doubt this as Jesus just prior specifically laid the object of his wrath upon the scribes and Pharisees to whom he was speaking in Matthew 23, where we also see the phrase “this generation” (Mathew 23:36). The phrase “this generation” is used several times in the New Testament and it clearly ALWAYS means the contemporaries of Jesus (Matthew 11:16; 12:38-45; Mark 8:12; 8:38-9:1; 13:30; Luke 7:31; 11:29-32, 49-51; 17:25). In addition, using Scripture to interpret Scripture, Jesus said the same thing in other ways, such as “some standing here will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (Matthew 16:28; see also Matthew 10:23; 26:64; Revelation 1:1-3; 22:6-20).

No doubt your next objection will be this: “Well, we know that Jesus has not returned, so some of this is yet to be fulfilled.” ANSWER: You have just violated a law of logic called “begging the question” or “circular reasoning,” which is assuming something to be true that one is trying to prove to be true. More importantly, you have misunderstood what Jesus was predicting. He was predicting a divine presence in judgment, just like Yahweh did numerous times in the Old Testament. He was not, at least in these passages, predicting a bodily return to earth, but rather a divine coming in judgment.


60 posted on 04/10/2024 7:28:41 PM PDT by grumpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Religion
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson