No One Knows The Hour (part 18)

It is nearly beyond the pale of comprehension to hear Jesus make a reference to the Temple, saying “I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another.  All will be torn down” (Matthew 24:2b), and following that statement to have the disciples make a massive and dramatic shift away from that very Temple to which Jesus has clearly and obviously just referred, when they “come to Him privately” and say “Tell us, when will these things happen?  And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (24:3b)  As Matthew goes on to demonstrate, by their question it is clear that the disciples well-understood that Jesus was speaking about the coming desolation of the Temple in which He had acted and in and around which the previous events of the narrative had all occurred. 

Why this talk of the coming of Jesus and of the end of the age?  Well, seeing as how Jesus has just been reported to have said, “For I tell you, you will not see Me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (23:39), which is only to be found in Matthew’s account, the question about Jesus’ coming is reasonable.  That statement, of course, followed the statement concerning the house of Israel, that being the Temple (which was most assuredly understood to be the house of Israel), being left desolate.  The desolation of the Temple, combined with the insistence that “not one stone will be left on another” and “all will be torn down” would be an unimaginably catastrophic event for a Jewish hearer of Jesus, and this point must be under continual consideration as the words of Jesus are heard. 

In addition, there is no need to be hung up on “end of the age” language, because what inevitably happens is the importation of non-Jewish “end of the age” thinking, because this non-Jewish way of thinking about this concept has been long and unfortunately associated with the end of the physical world itself.  The idea of the physical world coming to an end---the demise of the created order---is foreign to the Jewish way of thinking, as the constant affirmation of Scripture is that of a good creation gone wrong and the Creator God’s activity in and for the world, through the agency of His divine image-bearers and then through the agency of Himself as the Messiah, to set things right and restore that which has fallen. 

In that light, it would be better to hear the words of Mark at this point (which are the basis for Matthew’s account), in which the disciples, in reference to Jesus speaking about the tearing down of the Temple, say “Tell us, when will these things happen?  And what will be the sign that all these things are about to take place?” (13:4)  Similarly, Luke reports the disciples asking, “Teacher, when will these things happen?  And what will be the sign that these things are about to take place?” (21:7)  Neither Mark nor Luke have the disciples asking about Jesus’ coming, which, as was seen before in regards to the devouring of the property of widows and the story of the widow making her offering to the Temple (found in Mark and Luke, but not in Matthew), is an indication of textual integrity, as they do not, as has just been said, have Jesus talking about His coming. 

So while the Jewish conception about “the end of the age” is a legitimate point of discussion and concern, it shall be sufficient for purposes of this study to say that it makes no reference to a supposed end of the world, and confirm that, regardless of the language used in Matthew, the question that is being asked by the disciples in Matthew is identical in content and context to the question that is being asked in Mark and Luke. 

Renewed (part 3 of 4)

Paul looks forward to a heavenly house, which, in his estimation (as that estimation is based upon his worldview that is now informed by the Resurrection), is a body that is suited for the kingdom of heaven that ultimately is the covenant God’s restored creation.  To that end he writes “after we have put on our heavenly house, we will not be found naked” (2 Corinthians 5:3).  Paul believes that he and other believers will not be without a body (no disembodied post-mortem experience in a faraway place as the final and ultimate hope and destination of those that believe on the Christ), but will rather have the experience of a renewed physicality, as did Christ upon His Resurrection, here in this re-constituted world where Jesus rules as Lord and where the Creator God dwells with His people.

Continuing with this theme, Paul goes on to write “For we groan while we are on this tent, since we are weighed down, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life” (5:4).  Once again, there is an ability to correlate the groaning of the believer with the groaning of creation (never forget the exodus undertones when Paul speaks of groaning), as well as the similar groaning that is so carefully detailed in the eighth chapter of Romans.  The believer groans in his tent--- in the perishable body that will run down and decay.  He groans because he looks forward to a body that will never run down and never decay and never die, because the power of sin and death was defeated at the cross and triumphed over in Jesus’ Resurrection.  He groans because of the anticipation of being fully clothed, of being fully human, of properly bearing the image of God as all were designed to do before the great rebellion in which man first realized that he was unclothed. 

Though man was first naked before God before the fall, he was truly clothed; but just as happened to Adam and Eve, there is eventually a realization of being unclothed, desirous of re-gaining, through God’s great victory in Christ, the good creation that existed before the fall.  Not only will that creation be re-gained, and not only will there be a re-gaining of true clothing, but that creation and clothing will be enhanced and made into something truly unknown and glorious, having been experienced by only one person in all of history, because of the awesome power of God that was put forth in the Resurrection.  The believer experiences that power through the preaching and living of the Gospel, by which it is at work in this world, though it is not yet experienced in the fullness of its power.  That day, however, will come.  In that day, what is mortal, what can and will die, will be, as Paul writes, completely “swallowed up by life.”       

     

As he continues his written contemplation of the renewal and restoration that is implied by the Gospel and the Resurrection, Paul writes, “Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God” (2 Corinthians 5:5a).  This purpose, by way of reiteration, is being clothed with a “heavenly dwelling,” a renewed body that is suited for an existence in the to-be-consummated kingdom of heaven on earth, not just attaining to heaven.  This purpose is to live beyond despair, and instead, living in the light of that “eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (4:17b). 

How has the Creator God prepared His people for this?  Paul says that those that live in allegiance to His kingdom through allegiance to the Christ are prepared because He “gave us the Spirit as a down payment” (5:5b).  That is, the activity of the Holy Spirit, apparently gifting faith and stirring belief in the Gospel and the renewed life to come, is the down payment, or guarantee, of that God accomplishing a final redemption through a thorough and complete rescue from the power of death (spiritually and physically).  In this state of belief, as one believes in the very thing that is the power of God unto salvation, one can trust and experience a foretaste of the power of the Resurrection to come.