"HEAVEN AND EARTH SHALL PASS AWAY"
By Evangelist John L. Braybut my words shall not pass away." (Matthew 24:35).
It has been generally believed that Jesus here meant that even though these physical heavens and earth will pass away some day, that is not true about His word which will never pass away. Whether this physical earth and solar system ever passes away is not the point in this chapter. There is more to this statement of Jesus than meets the eye. Jesus has been talking in apocalyptic language, and heaven and earth passing away could mean here just what He has been talking about - that the heaven and earth of the old Jewish order will pass away, and that His word concerning all this is sure to come to pass.
At first glance, it looks as though Jesus was simply saying in this verse, "My words will be here when the world has passed away" But is the physical world or universe what Jesus had in mind? Was a literal heaven and earth in His thoughts? Remember now, what Jesus had been talking about - what He had already said in this chapter would pass away. We have been discussing the passing away of the Jewish nation, and the old religious order of things.
Go back to Matthew 5:18 and see where Jesus said, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" Here He said that the law would not pass away until what? Until two other things passed away. What were they? First, "Till heaven and earth pass;" and, secondly, "till all (the law) be fulfilled." We know the law was fulfilled in Christ, and all prophecies relating to Israel fulfilled by 70 A.D. We all realize that because of this all the law was now over. But how could this be, when "heaven and earth" had not passed away, for Jesus said "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law"? Maybe we can understand this better if we realize He was not talking about the literal heaven and earth, but something else. Something else would have to pass away before it could be said that the law was not still in effect.
In the New Testament especially, the destruction of heaven and earth refers not to the physical universe, but rather it relates to the final passing of the disobedient nation of Israel. All would be fulfilled, every jot and tittle, when heaven and earth passed away. (Matt. 5:18).
We have to go to the Old Testament to see what "heaven and earth" means in prophetic language.
In Deuteronomy 32:1, in the song of Moses, God is talking to Israel when He says: "Give ear, 0 ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, 0 earth, the words of my mouth"
In the song of Moses, God is depicting the fate of Israel when He says: "For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains" (vs. 22).
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