Day of the Lord/Parousia
Notes
Transcript
Why is this chapter so difficult for us to decipher?
Why is this chapter so difficult for us to decipher?
A mix of imminence of some events and unknowableness of parousia.
Disciples could not conceive destruction of the Temple not signifying the end of this present age.
Signs on earth prelude to fall of Jerusalem; signs in heaven precede parousia. (?)
How much should we make of v 14?
How much should we make of v 14?
VV 27-31 make up the meat of this discussion.
VV 27-31 make up the meat of this discussion.
The warning of v 26 is to not seek the messiah in secret places.
The end is not by signs requiring interpretation but by unmistakable cosmic events.
The point of the lightning and the vultures is the very public nature of the parousia.
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will keep back when it comes out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.
4 and all the host of heaven shall rot. And the skies shall roll up like a scroll, and all their host shall wither like the withering of a leaf from a vine, or like the withering from a fig tree.
Immediately [29] means the following events occur after/with the parousia.
The church took over images of the day of the Lord for the parousia.
These are pictures, images to describe the indescribable.
The sign of the Son of Man [30] different from signs of v 29.
4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in half, from east to west, by a very great valley; and half of the mountain will withdraw toward the north, and the other half toward the south. 5 And you will flee by the valley of my mountains, because the valley of the mountains will reach to Azal, and you will flee like you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. And Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.
The sign of the Son of Man is the Son of man.
The nations (not Gentiles here but spiritual Gentiles) will mourn (from the root word meaning cut).
Gathering of the diaspora is an example of Day of the Lord language being borrowed by the church.
So is trumpet language.
13 And this shall happen: on that day, a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria will come, and those who were scattered in the land of Egypt, and they will bow down to Yahweh on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
52 in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
Matthew doesn’t support multiple parousias.
Three truths (Barclay):
Three truths (Barclay):
God has not abandoned the world.
Ever-increasing evil must not discourage us.
Both judgment and new creation are certain.
