Mathew 24:29 Fulfilled

Note: This article was written in response to a good friend’s objection that Mathew 24:29 was fulfilled in the first century. May it serve as a response to all who would take his position.

In a recent discussion with a good friend, I shared my conviction that Mathew 24:29 was fulfilled in the first century, (just like Jesus said it would be – Mathew 24:34). I made note of the fact that the language of “cosmic destruction” in Mathew 24:29 was nothing more than old testament metaphoric language which Jesus used to indicate that the Lord would soon execute judgment on the nation of Israel. The friend with whom I was discussing this disagreed. In fact, he believes that Mathew 24:29 will be literally fulfilled at the end of time.

Here are Jesus’ words in Mathew 24:29.
“But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

My friend insisted that these words of Jesus refer to a future time when the heavenly lights will literally cease to shine, and all the stars will literally fall from heaven.

My point to my friend was that just like the old testament prophets had used this language to predict impending judgment on nations in their day, Jesus was using this same language to predict the impending national judgment on Israel in his day. Jesus was not predicting the literal extinguishing of the luminary lights or the fallings of literal stars from heaven, he was using old testament Hebraic language to predict the destruction of Israel as a covenant nation. (This is the context of Mathew 23-25)

To prove my point to my friend, I used the following two texts as examples of “cosmic destruction language” which the old testament prophets used to predict God’s judgment on nations in their days. The first text was Ezekiel 32.

Ezekiel 32:2,7-11
Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him, ‘You compared yourself to a young lion of the nations, yet you are like the monster in the seas; and you burst forth in your rivers and muddied the waters with your feet and fouled their rivers.… And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not give its light… All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you and will set darkness on your land,” declares the Lord God. I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples when I bring your destruction among the nations, into lands which you have not known. I will make many peoples appalled at you, and their kings will be horribly afraid of you when I brandish My sword before them; and they will tremble every moment, every man for his own life, on the day of your fall. For thus says the Lord God “The sword of the king of Babylon will come upon you.

The prophet Ezekiel prophesied that Egypt would be judged and destroyed by the superpower Babylon and notice the language ….” when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not give its light… All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you and will set darkness on your land…”.

I told my friend that this judgment has been historically fulfilled, but obviously, the sun moon and “all the stars” were not literally darkened by the Lord when this prophecy was fulfilled. I told him that this was common prophetic “deconstruction” language which indicated that the power and authority of the nation being judged would cease to exist. Then we looked at Isaiah 13.

Isaiah 13:1,6,9-10,13,17-19
The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw… Wail, for the day of the Lord is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty… Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it for the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light…. Therefore, I will 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 burning anger… Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver or take pleasure in gold. And their bows will mow down the young men, they will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, nor will their eye pity children. And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

The prophet Isaiah prophesied of the destruction and judgment of the kingdom of Babylon at the hands of the Medes, and once again notice the language…. “the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light…. Therefore, I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place…”

I told my friend that we know according to the book of Daniel that this judgment historically took place (Daniel 5), but it is obvious that the stars did not stop shining, nor was the earth “shaken from its place”. Once again, we have the prophets using highly metaphoric “cosmic destruction language” to indicate the judgment and destruction of a nation. As my friend considered these things, I told him that I was far from being alone in my interpretation of Mathew 24:29. Here are a couple quotes from two notable modern scholars which I presented to him.

William Kimball summarizes:
“When Israel was judged, or when Babylon was subdued by the Medes, or when Idumea and Egypt were destroyed, it was not the literal sun, moon, and stars that were darkened. The literal stars of heaven did not fall from the skies, and the literal constellations were not dissolved or rolled up as a scroll. These figurative expressions were clearly presented in a purely symbolic manner to characterize the destruction befalling nations and earthly powers” (166).

N.T. Wright says this:
“It is crass literalism,” “in view of the many prophetic passages in which this language denotes socio-political and military catastrophe, to insist that this time (Mathew 24:29) the words must refer to the physical collapse of the space-time world. This is simply the way regular Jewish imagery is able to refer to major socio-political events and bring out their full significance” (Victory, 361). Again, “the dramatic and (to us) bizarre language of much ‘apocalyptic’ writing is evidence, not of paranoia or a dualistic worldview, as is sometimes anachronistically suggested, but of a creative reuse of Israel’s scriptural, and particularly prophetic, heritage” (Victory, 513). In summary, Mt. 24:29 is stock-in-trade old testament prophetic language for national disaster. “Jesus is not predicting that strange astronomical events will occur; he is predicting the judgment of God on the Jewish nation” (234).

After hearing how these two scholars interpreted the words of Jesus and the prophets, and after we briefly discussed the language in both Ezekiel 32 and Isaiah 13 a bit further, what my friend said next was an absolute shock to me.

My friend said that the judgment of Egypt by Babylon in Ezekiel 32 and the judgment of Babylon by the Medes in Isaiah 13 WERE NOT FULFILLED HISTORICALLY AND HAVE NOT YET BEEN FULFILLED EVEN TODAY!!

I honestly couldn’t believe my ears. I asked him why he would take that position, and these were his answers:

1. He said the Ezekiel 32 text was not fulfilled because “he couldn’t recall it from history”. Meaning, he wasn’t sure that biblical or secular history mentioned it. So according to my friend, sometime in the future, Babylon needs to conquer Egypt for this prophecy to be fulfilled.
2. He said the Isaiah 13 text was not fulfilled because “Babylon was not conquered by the Medes alone, but by the Medes and the Persians (he was referring to Daniel 5). So according to my friend, sometime in the future the Medes (alone) need to conquer Babylon for Isaiah to be fulfilled.

Now, to say it kindly, these are rather desperate arguments, not the sort of thing I was expecting from this particular gentleman who loves the study of God’s word. So, without putting words into his mouth, below is why I believe my friend took the position that he did on these two texts.

My friend understands that if Ezekiel 32 and Isaiah 13 have been fulfilled, then their language of “cosmic destruction” was not literal, but was in fact “metaphorical language” used to refer to the judgment and destruction of Egypt and Babylon at the hand of Yahweh by a foreign nation. This means that the same language of “cosmic destruction” that Jesus used in Mathew 24:29 can be (and should be) interpreted the same way…. as the destruction of Israel by the Roman armies as the judgment of Yahweh.

But for my friend to admit this, he must abandon his futuristic beliefs about Mathew 24:29 which I’m quite sure he is unwilling to do. So instead, he takes the position that Ezekiel 32 and Isaiah 13 have not been fulfilled.

You see, in my friend’s theology, if the “cosmic destruction language” of both Ezekiel 32 and Isaiah 13 has still not been fulfilled, then there is no need to interpret the same language in Mathew 24:29 as the destruction of Israel as the judgment of God. By taking this position, my friend can maintain his futuristic theology of Mathew 24:29 – that one day in the future, at the end of time, the sun and moon will literally stop shining and billions of stars will literally fall from heaven. (Again, I’m not putting words into his mouth but this could have been his motive).

However, if it can be demonstrated that both the judgment in Ezekiel 32 and Isaiah 13 have in fact been historically fulfilled, then the “cosmic destruction language” used in both those texts, as well as Mathew 24:29 is proved to be nothing more than metaphoric language which was used by the prophets to warn of impending national judgment at the hand of the Lord.

We will now establish from the scriptures that both the judgment of Egypt in Ezekiel 32 and the judgment of Babylon in Isaiah 13 have been historically fulfilled. We will look first at the Ezekiel text, here it is again.

Before we get to our biblical evidence, here is the historical record of the destruction of Egypt by the Babylonians in fulfilment of Ezekiel 32, taken from an article on Wikipedia.

“The Egyptians met the full might of the Babylonian and Median army led by Nebuchadnezzar II at Carchemish where the combined Egyptian and Assyrian forces were destroyed. Assyria ceased to exist as an independent power, and Egypt retreated and was no longer a significant force in the Ancient Near East. Babylonia reached its economic peak after 605 BC….. The Nebuchadnezzar Chronicle, now housed in the British Museum, claims that Nebuchadnezzar “crossed the river to go against the Egyptian army which lay in Karchemiš. They fought with each other and the Egyptian army withdrew before him. He accomplished their defeat, decisively. As for the rest of the Egyptian army which had escaped from the defeat so quickly that no weapon had reached them, in the district of Hamath the Babylonian troops overtook and defeated them so that not a single man escaped to his own country. At that time Nebuchadnezzar conquered the whole area of Hamath.”

Here is another quote from David Guzik’s Commentary on Ezekiel 32 saying the same thing.

“The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you: Since the image of the sword usually stands for war, this was one more statement making it clear that God would bring judgment upon Egypt through war brought upon them by the king of Babylon. The Babylonians would plunder the pomp of Egypt, and destroy a multitude….. Some skeptics argue that this was a false prophecy because there is little secular historical confirmation that the king of Babylon conquered Egypt. Feinberg answers these objections well: “As already stated, Egypt was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar. The silence of the Greek Herodotus is far from decisive in this matter, for he was unable to read the Egyptian sources and received his information through secondary sources. Furthermore, the Egyptians were adept at covering their disasters. For example, Herodotus did not even mention the important Battle of Carchemish. Some consider the prophecy as completely fulfilled.”

Now aside from historical facts and scholarly opinion, we also have the biblical evidence which of course is the absolute authority. Had my friend simply considered or been aware of the context of Ezekiel’s prophecy, he would not have made such a reckless position on the text. Ezekiel begins his lament against Egypt back in chapter 29, notice….

Ezekiel 29:2-3,18-19
Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. Speak and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers, that has said, ‘My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it. …. Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre; every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare. But he and his army had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it.” Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry off her wealth and capture her spoil and seize her plunder; and it will be wages for his army.

Jehovah specifically says that it would be “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon” that would accomplish the judgment of Egypt. Ezekiel continues….

Ezekiel 30:4,10-11,24
A sword will come upon Egypt, and anguish will be in Ethiopia; when the slain fall in Egypt, they take away her wealth, and her foundations are torn down…. Thus says the Lord God, “I will also make the hordes of Egypt cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He and his people with him, the most ruthless of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land; and they will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain…. For I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put My sword in his hand; and I will break the arms of Pharaoh, so that he will groan before him with the groanings of a wounded man.

It is this context that judgment of Egypt in Ezekiel 32:7-8 was spoken….

“Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt…. And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not give its light… All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you and will set darkness on your land,” declares the Lord God.”

The context of Ezekiel 32 definitively establishes ‘Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, as his people” as the instrument of Jehovah to judge and destroy Egypt. Similarly, the prophet Jeremiah who was a contemporary of Ezekiel sheds some light on the fulfilment of our Ezekiel 32 text.

In the context of Jeremiah 43, King Nebuchadnezzar had already taken many of the Jews as captives to Babylon, but some of them were allowed to remain in their homeland under the vassal leader Gedaliah whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed. But, because of the murder of Gedaliah and some Babylonians who were in Jerusalem by a scoundrel named Ishmael, the remnant of the Jews who remained in Judea were tempted to run to Egypt for protection from the retaliation of king Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah by the word of the Lord warned against it.

Jeremiah 43:1-7
But as soon as Jeremiah, whom the LORD their God had sent, had finished telling all the people all the words of the LORD their God, that is, all these words, Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You are not to enter Egypt to reside there’; but Baruch the son of Neriah is inciting you against us to give us over into the hand of the Chaldeans, so they will put us to death or exile us to Babylon.” So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces, and all the people, did not obey the voice of the Lord to stay in the land of Judah… and they entered the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord and went in as far as Tahpanhes…

Despite the warning of Jeremiah by the word of the Lord not to go to Egypt but to remain in their own land, the Jews did not obey the voice of the prophet but went down into Egypt for protection. They had only just entered Egypt when the world of the Lord once again came to Jeremiah. The Jews were told that the king of Egypt would not protect them from king Nebuchadnezzar. Their punishment at the hand of the Babylonian king was inevitable, as they were now told that the king of Babylon would destroy and conquer the kingdom of Egypt, they very place where they had run to.

Jeremiah 43:8-13
….Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, “Take some large stones in your hands and hide them in the mortar in the brick terrace which is at the entrance of Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight of some of the Jews; and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am going to send and get Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and I am going to set his throne right over these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his canopy over them. He will also come and strike the land of Egypt; those who are meant for death will be given over to death, and those for captivity to captivity, and those for the sword to the sword. And I shall set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt, and he will burn them and take them captive. So, he will wrap himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself with his garment, and he will depart from there safely. He will also shatter the obelisks of Heliopolis, which is in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.”

Now this is the point that my friend needs to see. Ezekiel and Jeremiah were contemporary prophets to Judah and both lived in the days when Egypt and Babylon were “world powers”. They also both prophesied of the same judgment and destruction of the weakening Egypt by the more powerful Babylonians.

However, Jeremiah tells us specifically that it was “king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon” who was to “strike the land of Egypt”. It was king Nebuchadnezzar who would set his throne at the entrance of Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes (in Egypt). This limits the time for the fulfilment of the judgment of Egypt by Babylon in Ezekiel 32 to the days when Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon. To set this judgment in the future as my friend does, violates the “time context” of the prophecy.

Therefore, since the destruction of Egypt by Babylon in Ezekiel 32 was the same destruction of Egypt by Babylon in Jeremiah 43 when king Nebuchadnezzar was king, this means that the judgment of Egypt by Babylon in Ezekiel 32 can’t be in our future, but must have been fulfilled historically while Nebuchadnezzar was King of Babylon.

This also means that when Ezekiel said, “I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not give its light… all the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you and will set darkness on your land,” he was not prophesying the literal destruction of the cosmos, but rather, the destruction of the nation of Egypt. Egypt’s “world” would come to an end. As N.T. Wright aptly says, this language is “stock-in-trade old testament prophetic language for national disaster”.

Having established beyond refute that the judgment of Egypt by Babylon in Ezekiel 32 has been fulfilled, let’s look at the Isaiah 13 text, here it is again.

First notice an important fact from the text itself. In Isaiah’s vision, Babylon was the “beauty of kingdoms”, the “glory of the Chaldeans pride”. But, historically this was not yet the case when Isaiah spoke these words. Babylon was not yet a world superpower, much less the Medes or the Persians. Babylon was growing in strength for sure, but it was the Assyrian empire which still ruled the “world” at that time. However, when the Medes and the Persians conquered Babylon in the days of Belshazzar (Daniel 5), Babylon had become sovereign over all the known world, they were as Isaiah puts it, “the beauty of kingdoms”.

Therefore, if my friend is correct, and this prophecy was not fulfilled when the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon in the days of Belshazzar, then Babylon once again must become the “beauty of kingdoms” and the “glory of the Chaldeans pride” in our future. In other words, Babylon must again become the “world superpower” for this prophecy to be fulfilled in our future. This detail alone crushes the idea of a future destruction of Babylon by the Medes.

Years after Isaiah’s vision, the prophet Daniel records the conquest of Babylon by the Medes and the Persians as the fulfilment of Isaiah prophesy.

Daniel 5:1,5,25-31
Belshazzar the king held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the thousand… Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing… Now this is the inscription that was written out: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. This is the interpretation of the message: ‘MENE’—God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. TEKEL’—you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. PERES’—your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.” Then Belshazzar gave orders, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck, and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had authority as the third ruler in the kingdom. That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. So, Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.

At this point, let’s remember why my friend says that the judgment of Isaiah 13 has not been fulfilled. In his words, it’s “because Babylon was not conquered by the Medes alone, but by the Medes and the Persians, as in Daniel 5.

So according to my friend, because the Medes alone are prophesied as the conquerors of Babylon in Isaiah 13, but in Daniel 5 it is the Medes and the Persians that are said to have conquered Babylon, therefore Isaiah 13 and Daniel 5 must refer to different judgments of Babylon.

Here is my friend’s argument in syllogistic form:
-In Isaiah 13 only the Medes are prophesied to conquer Babylon.
-But, in Daniel 5 it was the Medes and the Persians who conquered Babylon.
-Therefore, the conquering of Babylon by the Medes and the Persians of Daniel 5, was not the conquering of Babylon by the Medes as prophesied in Isaiah 13, and therefore Isaiah 13 is not fulfilled.

In my opinion, this is a weak argument which cannot stand being tested by the scriptures. So, let’s put it to the test.

First, prophecies are often reiterated and expanded upon by several prophets over a period of years. To say that additional details can’t be added to a prophecy “later”, even by a different prophet, without making it a “new prophecy”, is at best a misguided hermeneutic. The fact is all the details of a prophecy are not always given at the initial giving of the prophecy. In other words, prophecy may be revealed gradually and progressively over time, and through more than one voice.

Next, let’s allow the prophet Jeremiah once again to shed light on our Isaiah text.

Jeremiah 50:1-2,17-18,41-43
The word which the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet. Declare and proclaim among the nations. Proclaim it and lift up a standard. Do not conceal it but say, ‘Babylon has been captured, Bel has been put to shame, Marduk has been shattered; Her images have been put to shame, her idols have been shattered.’… Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria…. Behold, a people is coming from the north, and a great nation and many kings will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth. They seize their bow and javelin; they are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, marshalled like a man for the battle against you, O daughter of Babylon. The king of Babylon has heard the report about them, and, his hands hang limp; distress has gripped him, agony like a woman in childbirth…”

The prophet Jeremiah reiterates the vision-prophecy and of Isaiah which Isaiah had spoken years earlier. Notice the “contemporary context” of Jeremiah’s words and the reason that Babylon was going to be destroyed.

“…. Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Therefore…. I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria….

Just as Assyria was punished by Babylon for “scattering” Israel, Babylon would be punished for the same reason. And notice, it was “king Nebuchadnezzar” who had “broken Israel’s bones” and it was king Nebuchadnezzar who would be punished for that. This places the judgment of Babylon in the days of king Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom (ruled by His grandson Belteshezzar at the time), and not in our future as my friend believes. But Jeremiah gets even clearer….

Jeremiah 51:6,11,28-29,34,45
Flee from the midst of Babylon, and each of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, for this is the Lord’s time of vengeance; He is going to render recompense to her. Sharpen the arrows, fill the quivers! The Lord has aroused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because His purpose is against Babylon to destroy it; for it is the vengeance of the Lord, vengeance for His temple…. Consecrate the nations against her, the kings of the Medes, their governors and all their prefects, and every land of their dominion. So, the land quakes and writhes, for the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitants…. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and crushed me, he has set me down like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster, he has filled his stomach with my delicacies; he has washed me away…. Come forth from her midst, my people, and each of you save yourselves from the fierce anger of the Lord.

Once again, here is the point that my friend must catch. In chapter 51, Jeremiah tells us that the destruction of Babylon was the executing of the “Lord’s vengeance” for His Temple. In other words, king Nebuchadnezzar would be punished for desecrating the temple in Jerusalem in 586BC. Now, although Nebuchadnezzar was not alive when Babylon was destroyed his kingdom still existed, and as stated above, was ruled by his grandson Belteshezzar. Thus, through the destruction of his kingdom in the reign of his heir, Nebuchadnezzar was judged in what we might call a “representative judgment”. (For an example of the offspring/seed to be judged for the “sins of their fathers”, see Mathew 23:29f). In biblical literature, this makes perfect sense. What wouldn’t make sense is for a future-to-us king of Babylon (if that were possible) to be considered and judged guilty of the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 586BC. Yet that is exactly what my friend must believe if the judgment of Babylon in Isaiah 13 is yet in our future.

And notice, this destruction was at the hands of “the kings of the Medes”. There is no mention of the Persian empire here. This is exactly what Isaiah said in chapter 13 concerning the destruction of Babylon…” Behold, I am going to stir up the Medes against them”.

Based on the above, consider the following:
In Jeremiah 50-51, Babylon would be destroyed by the Medes while it was a world power and considered Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom (“Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon…. I am going to punish the king of Babylon”). And, in Isaiah 13, Babylon would be destroyed by the Medes was while it was a world power – “the beauty of kingdoms” – clearly the era of Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. Yet, this was exactly the political situation of Daniel 5, when Babylon was historically conquered by the Medes and the Persians – it was a world power, and considered Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom (ruled by his grandson).

Therefore, the destruction of Babylon as prophesied in Isaiah 13, Jeremiah 50-51 and Daniel 5 are all prophesies concerning the same time, when Babylon was a world power and considered Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom. But, since the destruction of Babylon in Daniel 5 has been fulfilled, this means that the destruction of Babylon in Isaiah 13 has likewise been fulfilled.

One last point. In Jeremiah 51, Israel is warned to “Come forth from her midst…and each of you save yourselves from the fierce anger of the Lord”. This indicates that Israel was “in the midst” of Babylon at the time when this judgment was near. This detail establishes that the judgment of king Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian kingdom at the hands of the Medes, was when Judah was dwelling “in the midst” of Babylon. This of course referred to times of the deportations of the Jews in the days of the Babylonian conquest over Judea – they were at that time “in her midst”.

Let’s summarize what we have seen:

Jeremiah 43 as well as the context of Ezekiel’s prophecy (chapters 29-32) placed the fulfilment of the prophecy of Egypt’s judgment and destruction by Babylon in Ezekiel 32 at the time when King Nebuchadnezzar would set his throne at the entrance of Pharoah’s palace in Tahpanhes and strike the land of Egypt.

Therefore, the judgment of Egypt in Ezekiel 32 must have been fulfilled in the days of king Nebuchadnezzar. This means that the language of “cosmic destruction” in Ezekiel 32 was not fulfilled literally, but was in fact metaphoric language which was used by the prophets to warn of impending national judgment of Egypt by Babylon at the hand of the Lord.

Jeremiah 50-51, Isaiah 13 and Daniel 5 are all parallel texts concerning Babylon’s judgment and destruction by the Medes at the time when King Nebuchadnezzar would be punished (through the judgment of his seed – Belteshezzar) for scattering Israel, and defiling the Temple.

Therefore, the judgment of Babylon in Isaiah 13 must have been fulfilled in the days when the Babylonian kingdom – Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom – was a world power, and Israel “dwelt in its midst”.
This means that the language of “cosmic destruction” in Isaiah 13 was not fulfilled literally, but was in fact metaphoric language which was used by the prophets to warn of impending national judgment on Babylon by the Medes (and the Persians) at the hand of the Lord.

Therefore, since the language of “cosmic destruction” in both Ezekiel 32 and Isaiah 13 was not fulfilled literally in those judgments, but was simply metaphoric and symbolic language which was used by the prophets to warn of impending national judgment at the hand of the Lord, THEN THERE IS NO BIBLICAL REASON FOR MY FRIEND TO INTERPRET JESUS’ USE OF THE SAME METAPHORIC LANGUAGE, IN THE SAME “JUDGMENT CONTEXT” IN MATHEW 24:29, AS A LITERAL AND FUTURE “END OF THE WORLD” EVENT.

To quote Wright again “”It is crass literalism,” “in view of the many prophetic passages in which this language denotes socio-political and military catastrophe, to insist that this time (Mathew 24:29) the words must refer to the physical collapse of the space-time world”.

Mathew 24:29
But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Jesus Christ, who was the greatest of the old testament prophets, simply used the prophetic “cosmic destruction language” of his prophetic heritage to let his generation know that the judgment of Yahweh would soon come on the nation of Israel as the curse for breaking covenant, and as the avenging of all the righteous blood shed on the earth (Mathew 23:29f). His disciples who were well aware of this type of old testament prophetic and metaphoric language would have understood him loud and clear…. Israel was being judged by Yahweh!

Mathew 24:29 was fulfilled in the first century generation, just like Jesus said (Mathew 24:34). I pray that this response is a blessing to my friend, may he find the humility and the courage to believe the words of our Lord even if it means abandoning some cherished doctrinal traditions.

But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.…. This generation will not pass away until all these things are fulfilled” (Mathew 24:29,34).

Dan Dery
Titus 1:7

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