An Interpretation of Matthew 24-25 (Part 23)
Dr. Thomas Ice
"Butimmediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, andthe moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and thepowers of the heavens will be shaken." -Matthew 24:29
As I continuewith an exposition of verse 29, it is important to note that we have alreadyseen the great impossibility that this passage could have been fulfilled about2,000 years ago in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem. So to what does the darkening of thesun and moon and other astronomical events refer? Is Christ's description that of a real, physical event, oris He merely using symbolic language in which He describes something else?
We must take noteof the fact that Christ's statement in this passage contains four descriptivephrases. First, the darkening ofthe sun; second, the moon not reflecting its light; third, stars falling fromthe sky; fourth, a shaking of heaven powers.
Darkening of the Sun
We saw earlierthat preterists like Dr. Kenneth Gentry believe that the reference to the sunin this passage is not to the literal, physical sun, but merely a symbol forsomething that occurred in the first century. He believes that "this portrays historical divine judgmentunder the dramatic imagery of a universal catastrophe."[1] To what does he contend that thisimagery is? "I will argue thatthis passage speaks of the a.d. 70collapse of geo-political Israel. . . . of national catastrophe in terms ofcosmic destruction."[2] Of course, I contend that sun, in thiscontext has to refer to the physical sphere that shines in the sky. If that is the case, then clearly theevents being described in verse 29 have not yet happened in history and mustrefer to a future time.
Before we go anyfurther, lets examine how many of the 164 times that the word "sun" is used inthe Bible as a symbol or figure of speech and not a reference to the physicalsun. There are five possible usesof "sun" as a symbol in the Bible (Gen. 37:9; Psalm 84:11; Jer. 15:9; Mal. 4:2;Rev. 12:1). In Genesis 37:9 andRevelation 12:1 the sun is a symbol for Jacob, the father of Israel. Psalm 84:11 says, "the Lord God is a sun and shield," comparingan attribute of God to the sun. Jeremiah refers to the death of a mother with seven sons by an invadingarmy as, "Her sun has set while it was yet day" (15:9). Malachi describes the coming Messiah asOne Who is "the sun of righteousness," Who "will rise with healing in itswings" (4:2). As anyone can see,about 97% of the time "sun" refers to the physical sphere that shinesfaithfully in the sky. In fiveinstances of symbolic use, none refer to "a universal catastrophe," assuggested by Dr. Gentry. Dr.Gentry and preterists like him must transform Matthew 24:29, Isaiah 13:10 andJoel 2 and 3 into non-physical symbols since clearly such catastrophic eventsdid not occur in God's creation during the a.d.70 event. There are no textualfactors in Matthew 24 that support understanding the sun, moon, and stars asmere symbols of some other natural event. Instead, context supports the role of the sun, moon, and stars asphysical phenomena accompanying our Lord's return.
It makes sensethat the heavens and earth are physically affected by man's sin at the end ofhistory, just as nature underwent physical change when man fell at thebeginning of history. With theliteral view, Genesis and Revelation recount the beginning and ending ofhistory. Revelation notes themagnitude of the shaking of the heavens and the earth in judgment. Noah's flood had physical effects, andso too will the judgment of the tribulation prior to Christ's return. Franz Delitzsch aptly puts it thisway: "Even nature clothes itselfin the colour of wrath, which is the very opposite to light."
I believe thatDr. Gentry understands a number of similar, yet smaller in scale, incidents ofbiblical history to be literal. These other events do not put his preterism at risk. The question must be raised: Did the sun literally not shine overthe land of Egypt while at the same time shine in the land of Goshen during theninth plague (Exodus 10:21-29)? Ofcourse it did! Did the sunliterally stand still for half a day in Joshua 10? You bet it did! Did the Lord cause the sun to go backward 10 degrees in the days of KingHezekiah (2 Kings 20)? It most surely did! Similarly, during the crucifixion of our Lord, did darkness really fallover the whole land of Israel about the sixth hour until the ninth hour (Luke23:44-45)? Sure it did! It was a pattern of the final darknessthat will accompany the final judgment at the end of the world. "When He died, the sun refused to shine(Lk. 23:45). When He comes againit will not shine (Mt. 24:29)."[4] Why shouldn't grandiose, supernaturalphenomenon accompany the glorious return of our Lord? Only a naturalist mentality would say that a literaloccurrence of Matthew 24:29 is impossible. After all, God said in Genesis 1:14 that one of His purposesfor the sun, moon, and stars is to serve as "signs" in the heavens. It would be absurd to think that thesereferences to the sun, moon, and stars are to be taken merely as symbols withno physical referent. Why shouldnot the One who created the heaven and earth have the heavens reflect Hisglobal judgment upon a sinful world? Our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrates His actual rule over all His creationupon His return to planet earth, including over the sun, moon, and stars. Delitzsch says, "when god is angry, theprinciple of anger is set in motion even in the natural world, and primarily inthe stars that were created 'for signs' (compare Gen. i. 14 with Jer. x. 2)."
Isaiah 13:10
Since necessityis the mother of invention, Gentry and other preterists must manufacture newmeanings to words and phrases that cannot be sustained by any of thecontexts. Dr. Gentrydeclares: "Isaiah 13 speaks ofremarkably similar events accompanying Babylon's collapse in the Old Testamentera."[6] He is correct that Matthew 24:29 refersto Isaiah 13:10, something recognized by all commentators. He is also correct that Isaiah'sprophecy speaks of Babylon's collapse. However, as is typically the case with preterists, he is wrong about when this prophesied event will occur inhistory. He believes it occurredduring Old Testament times, while I, and most futurists, believe it will unfoldwithin the context of future tribulation events.
Twice, in theimmediate context, Isaiah warns that "the day of the Lord is near" (13:6) and that "the day of the Lord is coming" (13:9). The timing of the events in verse 10relate to when the day of the Lordoccurs in history. I believeScripture indicates that the day of the Lordwill occur in conjunction with the 70th-week of Daniel, also knownas the seven-year tribulation.[7] One's overall understanding of the dayof the Lord will impact theirunderstanding of the timing of the fulfillment of this and many otherpassages. Jesus refers to Isaiah13:10 in Matthew 24:29 (also in Mark 13:24) and thus places it in very closeproximity to the tribulation ("immediately after"). However, Dr. Gentry places the events of Isaiah
There are furtherproblems with Dr. Gentry's understanding of Isaiah 13. Isaiah 13:10-11 says, "For the stars of heaven and their constellations willnot flash forth their light; the sun will be darkwhen it rises, and the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punishthe world for its evil, and the wicked for theiriniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud, and abase thehaughtiness of the ruthless." Thephrase "the sun will be dark when it rises,"in verse 10 demands a literal, instead of a symbolic understanding in thiscontext. If this text is supposedto be symbolic about the fall of nation, then why would the prophet speak ofthe sun rising, although darkened. No, this is the language of real, solar movement and events.
Theglobal events described in verse 10 make sense because verse 11 says that theLord is punishing "the world for its evil." The Hebrew word for "world" is tebel and "conveys the cosmic or global sense . . .i.e., the whole earth or world considered as a single entity."
Verse 13 is aclear denotative statement supporting a non-symbolic intent for verse 10. "Therefore I shall make the heavens tremble,and the earth will be shaken from its place at the fury of the Lord of hosts in the day of His burninganger." "I shall make the heavenstremble" looks back to our Lord's acts described in verse 10, which are in turnreferred to by Jesus in Matthew 24:29. Grogan explains it as follows:
Verse 13 seems to go even beyond v. 10in depicting the effects of divine judgment on the natural universe. There is to be a general convulsion ofthe whole created order (cf. 34:4). In this way the instability of the order of things since the Fall willbe disclosed (as it is seen in so many of the signs of Christ's coming in Mark13), thus revealing the need for the eternally stable order of the kingdom ofGod that Christ's coming will establish.[11]
Conclusion
As we haveexamined the first of four statements in Matthew 24:29 concerning the Lord'sreturn, we see that the overwhelming evidence comes down on the side of thefuturist view of the passage. Frankly, preterists like Dr. Gentry do not have a leg to stand on. Not only does Matthew 24 not mean whatthey say it does, neither does Isaiah 13 to which they appeal. Dr. Gentry and others like him mustfabricate from Isaiah 13 an alleged Old Testament genre, which is supported bynothing in the actual text. It isclear that if both Matthew 24 and Isaiah 13 are taken the way the authorintended then futurism, and not preterism, is the teaching of the text. Maranatha!
(To BeContinued . . .)
Endnotes
[1] Kenneth Gentry in Thomas Ice and Kenneth L.Gentry, Jr., The Great Tribulation: Past or Future? Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999), p. 55.
[2] Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., Perilous Times: A Study in Eschatological Evil (Texarkana, AR: Covenant Media Press, 1999), p. 77.
[3] F. Delitzsch, "Isaiah," vol. VII in C. F. Keiland F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), pp. 299-300.
[4] Randolph O. Yeager, TheRenaissance New Testament (Bowling Green: Renaissance Press, 1978), Vol. 3, p. 312.
[5] Delitzsch, "Isaiah," p. 300.
[6] Gentry, Perilous Times, p. 77.
[7] For an excellent explanation and defense of myview see J. Randall Price, "Old Testament Tribulation Terms," in Thomas Ice andTimothy Demy, editors, When the Trumpet Sounds (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1995), pp. 57-83. Trumpet isout of print, but Return is still in print. The same article is also found in Thomas Ice and TimothyDemy, editors, The Return: Understanding Christ's Second Coming and The End Times (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1999), pp. 2753.
[8] Willem A. VanGemeren, Gen. Ed., NewInternational Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, 5 vols. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan 1997), vol. 4, pp. 272-73.
[9] Delitzsch, "Isaiah," pp. 300-01.
[10] G. W. Grogan, "Isaiah", TheExpositor's Bible Commentary,Vol. 6 (Grand Rapids: ZondervanPublishing House, 1986), p. 101.
[11] Grogan, "Isaiah," p. 102.