Matthew Chapter 24 Before we proceed on to Verse 45 in our Matthew study we should first like to present a bit more insight in regards to the “watches” mentioned in Luke 12:38, which we hope might aid some to a better appreciation of what is being referred to. We should also like to take another look at the time similarity between the 120 years of Noah prior to the flood, and the passing away of “the world that then…
Matthew Chapter 24 Once again we return to the parable of “The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant” as taken from Luke Chapter 12. Verse 38 “And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.” A THOUSAND YEARS…ARE AS A WATCH IN THE NIGHT According to the ancient Jewish method of reckoning the night time, the second watch would be from ten to two o’clock and…
Symbolic Meaning of Matthew 24:30-31 Heaven and heavens are often symbolic of corrupt religious systems (2 Pet. 3:5-10; Isa. 34:5-4; Joel 2:9-11). See can denote mental perception (Luke 3:6; John 1:51; Rev. 19:10; Matt. 27:4, 24). Clouds often represent trouble as in Joel 2:1-2, a parallel text of Matt 24:30-31. The word “angels” is translated from the Greek word aggelos which literally means messenger and often refers to any messenger of God (Rev. 2 and 3, the seven angels or…
Mental Perception Now let us consider more thoroughly Rev 7: 1 and Matt 24:30, which speak of all mankind seeing the returned Lord. Are they literal or symbolic? “Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.” “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth…
“Having established scripturally (See our last two studies, “Signs of Christ’s Presence” and “I will Come Again”) that the second advent of Christ begins with a secret invisible presence which is discernible only by the eye of faith, and only to those members of the Church who are awake and watching, the question logically arises, Will the future revealing to all mankind likewise involve mental perception or literal sight? Harmony must be sought between two sets of scriptures relative to…
Matthew Chapter 24 We continue once again with Luke Chapter 12 and the parable of “The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant”. Verse 37 “Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.” THE MASTER WILL SERVE HIS SERVANTS What will be the special reward of these servants? The parable states it: their…
Matthew Chapter 24 We continue once again with our look at the parable of “The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant”, as we believe it will greatly aid us when we continue with our Matthew study. Luke 12 Verse 36 “And you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.” Our Lord gave a parable to illustrate the alertness and…
Evangelical and Fundamentalist Consent to “Presence” The Emphasized Bible translated by Rotherham is published by Kregel, an evangelical publishing house. Rotherham relates his struggle with the word parousia in the third edition of his translation. Although contrary to his theology, he acknowledged that parousia means “presence” and so translated it in every occurrence. He states on Page 271 in the Appendix: “In this edition the word parousia is uniformly rendered ‘presence’ (‘coming,’ as a representative of this word, being set…
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:3) When this age-abiding promise was first uttered by Jesus to his apostles, it did not make sense. To the naturally minded men who followed Jesus, they assumed the logical move would be for Jesus to take charge as a King, throw off the yoke of Roman bondage, exalt the Jews…
Matthew Chapter 24 Before we proceed to the next verse, we should like first to take a closer look at the parable of “The Faithful Servant and the Evil Servant” (Luke 12:35-40) that we might gain further insight on the significance of the “watches” eluded to both there and in Matt 24:43. This study will aid us when we take up the last several verses of Matthew 24 (Verses 45-51). In our previous post it was noted that these “watches”…