For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. (Matt. 5:18)
“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” (Matt. 24:34-35)
Oh, how the present-day church system has been infected! They are increasingly more willing these days, to look right passed the obvious, in hope of finding the minutest of scripture to back the erroneous teachings of their beloved Francisco Ribera: The founder of Futurism! Before we dive into this for a short study, let us just ponder the above two passages for a moment. First, in Matthew 24:34-35, our second passage above, to what generation was this verse addressed, my friends, ours, or the First Century? Right you are! It was addressed to the people whom he was talking to: THE FIRST CENTURY CHURCH! It was to these people he wrote, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” It was to these people he wrote, “Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away”! Isn’t’ that what the book says here, my friends? So, if that is the case, and it most certainly is, then that which is in question here, can no longer be whether Heaven and Earth have passed away, but “WHAT IS HEAVEN AND EARTH REFERRING TO HERE?”
Now let us look at the first passage above, Matthew 5:18. As with the previous passage, I now have another question for you? Are we as believers still under the Law? If so, then why are we preaching the Gospel? However, if we are no longer under the law, and we most certainly are not, then once again, the question here needs to be, “WHAT IS HEAVEN AND EARTH REFERRING TO HERE?” BECAUSE we are clearly told in this verse, that the Law will not pass away UNTIL HEAVEN AND EARTH HAVE PASSED! You see, my friends, the minds of the church have been so indoctrinated with the teachings of FUTURISM, that we are completely missing some MAJOR TRUTHS here! The HEAVENS AND THE EARTH which are spoken of in the above passages HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT WHICH ARE PHYSICAL! Let’s move on.
Let me ask you a couple of questions if I may. First, in the Book of Revelation, the central figure is the “LAMB OF GOD.” Now, does that refer to a four-legged barnyard creature that goes “Baaaaa!,” or to JESUS, THE LAMB OF GOD? Whether you are willing to admit it or not, I am quite confident that we BOTH know the answer to that question. So, here’s another. When Jesus called the Pharisees of His day a “BROOD OF VIPERS”, did he literally mean that they were physical reptiles attacking with poisonous venom, or CRAFTY, RELIGIOUS FOLK ATTACKING WITH DECEPTIVE, SUBTLE TRADITIONS? Again, I am quite certain that we both know the answer here. So why is it, my friends, that when it comes to our opening passages above, that we want to completely ignore the prophetic, figurative language, which is found all through both the Old and New Testaments, and say that the Heavens and the Earth spoken of here, refer to the physical sphere on which we live, and the star-filled skies above? Anybody? I will tell you. Because of Larkin, Darby, Scofield, and Ribera! The Heavens and Earth above, my friends, are not literal, they are prophetic, figurative language! The only question here should be, “To what do they represent?”
“4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.
5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their reviling.” (Isaiah 51)
Wow! What a prophecy here that we must unfold, a prophecy which promises “LIGHT” to those that “GIVE EAR TO” (Understand), and “JUDGEMENT” to those who do not (verse 7). To what could this be referring to my friends? For those who took the time to read the article which I posted last week on Daniel Chapter 9, entitled, “Just what do they mean, a Covenant with the Antichrist?”, you are about to see some striking similarities here. First, in verses 4 and 7 above, notice that the “LAW WHICH SHALL PROCEED FROM ME” (verse 4), is one which would be in the “HEART” of His people (verse 7). Ahh, Beloved, the EXACT SAME MESSAGE OF DANIEL 9! How do we know that? Because we discovered last week that Daniel had been studying the writings of Jeremiah, and in Jeremiah 31:33, he stated that the Covenant of which he was writing about, was a Law which would be written into the HEARTS of God’s people: THE NEW COVENANT!
So now we know what the prophecy above in Isaiah 51, is referring to, the establishing of the New Covenant, which would be written into the HEARTS of them that believed, and the subsequent JUDGEMENT which would occur to the Jews who rejected it. Look at verse 5 now, for those of you who need verification:
“MY RIGHTEOUSNESS is near; my SALVATION IS GONE FORTH, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. (Is. 51:5)
Last week we discovered that one of the six objectives, which Daniel’s prophecy in chapter 9 was about, was the establishing of “EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS”, the same objective here in Isaiah 51! We also see here in verse 5, that the “SALVATION” of the NEW COVENANT would go forth, the same thing that BOTH Daniel and Jeremiah spoke about. So, let’s move on down to verse 6 of Isaiah’s prophecy, for this is where the rubber meets the road!
“Lift up your eyes to the HEAVENS and look upon the EARTH beneath: FOR THE HEAVENS SHALL VANISH AWAY LIKE SMOKE, AND THE EARTH SHALL WAX OLD LIKE A GARMENT, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.” (Is. 51:6)
Ahh, beloved! Now we are making some headway! Why? Because now that we know the time of which Isaiah 51 is referring, the period in which the NEW COVENANT was cut, and the subsequent judgement, which was to follow in 70AD, we can now ask a simple little question. DID THE PHYSICAL HEAVENS AND EARTH PASS AWAY DURING THAT TIME PERIOD? Of course not! But WHAT DID? Exactly, my friends! That which passed away during that period was the place where Heaven met Earth, The JEWISH TEMPLE where the spirit of God dwelt in the Holy of Holies during the time of the mosaic law – “HEAVEN”, and the place on “EARTH” where it rested “JERUSALEM”! The “HEAVENS AND THE EARTH” have already passed away, my friends! It was simple, figurative, prophetic symbolism which becomes completely obvious to those who have not been infected by the teachings of “FUTURISM”! Notice also in verse six, that it says that during the passing away of Heaven and Earth, that the people therein would die in like manner. That's exactly what happened in 70AD! EXACTLY!
Now that I’m smelling some blood in the water, and have your minds thinking in the proper direction, it is time to sacrifice a couple of other sacred cows of our day. Here is the first:
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which THE HEAVENS SHALL PASS AWAY with a great noise, and THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT, the EARTH ALSO AND THE WORKS THAT ARE THEREIN SHALL BE BURNED UP.” (2 Peter 3:10)
Here we go again, folks! Yet another verse that the fearmongers have been using for years now to scare the living-hell out of both believers and worldly men alike! Enough of this nonsense, they are not of God! Peter, the Apostle to the Jews, opened this chapter stating that he was bringing BACK TO REMEMBRANCE the writings of the Holy Prophets: Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.! In verses 3 and 4, he warned the Jews that in the “Last Days” (the Last Days of Judaism), there would come scoffers in the earth saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?” If Peter was bringing “BACK TO REMEMBRANCE” the writings of the Holy Prophets, to whom was he referring? No question, my friends. You see, as a Jew, Peter understood the prophecy of Daniel 9. He knew that the 70th week of that prophecy had come and gone! He knew, that according to the parenthetical statement of verse twenty-seven of that prophecy, that “PRINCE TITUS”, the PRINCE THAT SHALL COME, and the “PEOPLE OF THE PRINCE”, THE ROMAN ARMY, would soon be on their way! And yes, my friends, he knew that because his people (THE JEWS), had rejected Christ (MESSIAH THE PRINCE), as their savior, that there would be scoffers who would come along poking fun at them saying "Where's your Messiah?", and there would be others who would be calling themselves the Christ. These two verses have nothing to do with our day, they pertained to the day in which Daniel had predicted the Messiah to come! So, what do the ministers of our day do with this passage, they use it before their congregations to point to people like myself that are destroying their beloved traditions, to get their people to turn on us! It will not work, my friends. These verses spoke of the period of Daniels 70th week and the destruction of Jerusalem which was to follow, and that, my friends, has already gone down! Read Josephus, my friends, he personally witnessed these false Christ’s and scoffers! Do not let your ministers detour you in an attempt to save their traditions! I know of not one person in this day and hour who is identifying themselves to be the FIRST COMING OF THE MESSIAH to which Daniel’s prophecy, and Peter’s writings were referring to! Let us get back to 2 Peter 3:10 now.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which THE HEAVENS SHALL PASS AWAY with a great noise, and THE ELEMENTS SHALL MELT WITH FERVENT HEAT, the EARTH ALSO AND THE WORKS THAT ARE THEREIN SHALL BE BURNED UP.” (2 Peter 3:10)
Here we go again, THE PASSING AWAY OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH. Would you like to take a wild guess at what Peter was referring to, my friends? What was the time period of Peter’s writing? Most believe that the book was written between 62-64 AD, shortly before his martyrdom at the hands of Nero in Rome, which occurred sometime between 64-68 AD. Regardless of the exact day here, what is important to note is, it was written BEFORE the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD! Just as we discussed earlier, my friends, in 70AD, the HEAVENS passed away (JEWISH TEMPLE) with a “GREAT NOISE” (read Josephus), and the EARTH (JERUSALEM) and the works therein were burned up (read Josephus)!
The clue of all clues in this passage, however, is found in the middle of verse ten, with the Greek word for “ELEMENTS” (STOICHEION). The J. H. Thayer Dictionary states that the meaning for STOICHEION means the following:
"the rudiments with which mankind . . . were indoctrinated (before the time of Christ).
There you have it my friends, with the passing away of both the Jewish Temple (the prophetical symbolism for HEAVEN during the Age of the Law), and the city of Jerusalem (the EARTH on which it set), we can now understand why we are no longer UNDER THE LAW, and why Jesus’ words to THAT GENERATION can now pass away! HEAVEN AND EARTH HAVE ALREADY PASSED! But I am not quite done yet, my friends, I’ve got one more heifer to put on the fire, and we’ll do it quickly!
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days SHALL THE SUN BE DARKENED, and THE MOON SHALL NOT GIVE HER LIGHT, and THE STARS SHALL FALL FROM HEAVEN, and THE POWERS OF THE HEAVENS SHALL BE SHAKEN:” (Matt. 24:29)
Doesn’t it only make sense, my friends, that if the HEAVENS were to “PASS AWAY,” that the LUMINARIES WITHIN THE HEAVENS must also pass? Again, beloved, once again we have prophetic symbology. Do you remember the story of Joseph, the favored son of Jacob (the one who ended up with the blessing over Esau)? It was ALL BECAUSE OF TWO, SIMPLE LITTLE DREAMS which he chose to reveal to his eleven older brothers, that they plotted and tried to kill him! In the FIRST DREAM, Joseph saw he and his brothers in the fields binding sheaves, when suddenly, his sheaf arose and stood up, while his brothers sheaves stood near, and bowed down to his! The brothers were infuriated! Not long after this, however, he had another dream which gave a bit more detail. In this dream, HE SAW THE SUN, MOON, AND 11 STARS BOW DOWN TO HIM as the eleven sheaves did in the first! Hang in their beloved, we are about to land this plane. Once again, THIS WAS ALL PROPHETICAL SYMBOLOGY, folks! Joseph, and his eleven brothers were to become the 12 TRIBES OF ISREAL. They were a picture of the leadership of the Jewish nation during the time of the OLD COVENANT. Joseph, the favored of the twelve by his Father, was a picture of Christ, who would ARISE IN HIS TIME as a savior from amongst the rest. According to the Dream, the leadership of the Jews’ OLD COVENANT (the SUN, MOON, and STARS), would one day bow down to the Leader of a GREATER COVENANT, the NEW COVENANT in Christ’s blood which Daniel and the other prophets spoke about! It was the exact representation in Joseph’s Day, which Jesus prophesied about in Matthew 24, in His day: IT WAS THE DAY WHEN THE OLD COVENANT LEADERS (SUN, MOON, and STARS) WOULD FALL FROM THE “HEAVENS” DURING THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE IN 70AD!
With that said, my friends, I must now conclude. When I sit back and listen to the absolute nonsense which is coming out from behind the pulpit these days, all because of the teachings of FUTURISM, I must graciously ask that you now excuse my English for a moment, because this stuff makes me fuss, cussing mad! It's destroying the destinies of millions of believers, and as a result, the world in which we live in is being negatively affected! HEAVEN AND EARTH HAVE ALREADY PASSED! God bless you until the next article.
In Him, Brother Don