Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Matthew 24:35
Matthew 24:35 mentions the passing away of heaven and earth in the context of the Olivet discourse. It has been generally believed that this refers to the literal, physical destruction of the cosmos. As such, it is often understood as a transition in the discourse that demarcates the details of 70 AD and the details of the second coming. GK Beale and NT Wright among others have shed new light on the Biblical understanding of the temple. Beale and Wright have shown that “heaven and earth” was a common metaphor referring to the meeting place of heaven and earth – the temple. This phrase was often used in OT prophecy and is almost certainly what Jesus had in mind when he used the phrase in the midst of the Olivet Discourse. Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:35 are best understood as a reference to the coming 70 AD destruction of the temple. Sam Storms explains, “Matthew 24:35 (Mk. 13:31) records Jesus’ words: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” Most commentators have given scant attention to the significance of this statement in its context, simply assuming that our Lord had in mind the destruction/collapse of the space-time cosmos at the close of history. However, Crispin H. T. Fletcher-Louis has put forth a compelling argument “that ‘by heaven and earth’ is meant the Jerusalem temple and the Torah constitution at the center of which the former stands. . . . [Thus the phrase ‘heaven and earth shall pass away’ refers] to the imminent end to the social, religious and economic structure of Israel’s covenant relationship with God with the attendant destruction of the temple.” This understanding clarifies the design and meaning of the temple, accounts for the OT temple references, harmonizes Luke 17 and Matt 24, and affirms the connection between Isiah 65 and 2 Peter 3.
Heaven and Earth Temple Design
According to GK Beale (among others), Israel built its Temple as a miniature version of heaven and earth. He describes the temple as designed with three primary parts, the outer court, the holy place, and the holy of holies. These three parts are mapped to distinct aspects of the cosmos. The outer court represented the world in which ordinary humans lived, the holy place represented the visible heavens, stars, and planets and the holy of holies represented the invisible realm of the cosmos occupied by God and His heavenly hosts. This understanding comports with details given by Josephus and Tacitus. Psalm 78:69 affirms this understanding: “He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.” The temple had been designed and built as a microcosm of the universe. The holy place and the most holy place were presented as earth and heaven with the outer courts representing the sea. The temple veil which was torn in two was embroidered with the starry heavens. As NT Wright points out, “The symbolism of the Temple was designed to express the belief that it formed the center not only of the physical world but also of the entire cosmos, so that, in being YHWH’s dwelling-place, it was the spot where heaven and earth met.” Intertestamental Jewish literature also corroborates this understanding of the temple as the meeting place of Heaven and earth. Jub 8:19 and 1 Enoch 26:1 refer to it as the “navel of the earth” and the “gateway to heaven”. Ordinary first-century Jews were well aware of the temple’s significance as the gateway between heaven and earth. As Brian Godawa points out “Because their notion of “heavens and earth” was primarily covenantal. That is, the concept of heavens and earth was a cultural meme that expressed God’s covenantal order through cosmic language.” The Jewish hearers of the Olivet discourse would most certainly have understood “Heaven and earth will pass away” as the passing away of the temple and the associated Old Covenant sacrificial system – especially given the context of Jesus’ prophetic discourse describing the destruction of the temple. As NT Wright notes, “The Temple in conception was a dwelling place on earth for the deity of ancient Israel … The symbolic nature of the Jerusalem Temple … depended upon a series of features that, taken together, established the sacred precinct as being located at the cosmic center of the universe, at the place where heaven and earth converge and thus from where God’s control over the universe is effected.” The temple represented the union of heaven and earth, so its destruction is depicted by Jesus in Matthew 24:35 as the dissolution of the old heavens and earth: “Heaven and earth will pass away.”
The New Temple
As a result of Christ’s resurrection, the Holy Spirit is now in the process of growing the new temple with the living stones of God’s people. This burgeoning new temple is simultaneously defined as Christ Himself (Mark 14:58), believers individually (1 Corinthians 6:19) and collectively as the church (2 Corinthians 6:16). This temple-building process will culminate in the eternal state with resurrected believers dwelling in the paradisiacal city-temple of the completed new heavens and new earth. Jesus’ resurrection launched a new heavens and new earth in which creation is being renewed until the earth is filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. The point at which God’s presence in heaven was linked to earth has shifted from the Jerusalem temple to the person of Jesus Christ who is the true temple. As Beale notes, “The entire new creation is what the localized temple pointed to and symbolized all along…The physical (and spiritual) curses of the fall are beginning to be removed by Jesus, as he is reestablishing the new creation, temple, and kingdom that Adam should have established. Seen within the framework of the new creation, Christ’s miracles of healing not only inaugurated the end-time kingdom but signaled the beginning of the new creation, reversing the curse of the old fallen world….Just as the old temple and even old cosmos began to be destroyed in Jesus’ death, so His resurrection was the beginning of a new temple and new cosmos, a new creation.” The passing away of the old creation, the old heavens and earth was completed with the AD 70 destruction of the old temple as the Lord predicted in Matthew 24:35. The new creation, the new heavens and new earth (NHNE) began at His resurrection.
Heaven and Earth OT Temple references
Old Testament “heaven and earth” cosmic decreation language provides the context through which the disciples would have understood the Olivet discourse and in Matthew 24:35 in particular. Likewise, the Old Testament cosmic decreation passages provide the interpretive antecedent that guides our understanding of similar language in the New Testament. In Isaiah 51:15–16, we read “I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the Lord of hosts is his name. And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’” Here, God likens his covenantal relationship with His people to the creation of the heavens and the earth. If the institution of God’s covenant with his people is likened to the creation of the heavens and the earth then it follows that the dissolution of this covenant is likened to heaven and earth passing away. That is, the dissolution of the Old Covenant and the AD 70 destruction of the temple is likened to heaven and earth passing away. In short, the establishment and the destruction are described with the heaven and earth phraseology. In reference to the impending destruction of the First Temple and burning down of the city of Jerusalem (587 BC). Jeremiah 4:23 says, “I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.” Here, Jeremiah portrays this judgment as a reversal of the creation process. Jerusalem and the temple cease to exist and this is likened to the earth being once again without form and void. The literal earth is not predicted to pass away. In fact, it never passes away. In Psalm 104:5 David said that God “laid the foundation of the earth, that it shall not be removed forever.” And in Ecclesiastes 1:4 Solomon said, “A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.” In Matthew 24:35 Jesus is not speaking of a literal passing away of the heavens and earth, but of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and all of the associated rituals and ceremonies.
Harmonizing Matthew 24 and Luke 17
A temple destruction understanding of Matthew 24:35 provides a corrective to some strange Matthew-Luke anomalies induced by alternate approaches. For example, an Olivet discourse understanding that postulates Matt:24:34-35 as the pivotal transition point between AD 70 and the second coming is shared by Marcellus Kik, RT France, Kenneth Gentry, and Greg Bahnsen among others. This approach introduces an artificial discrepancy between Luke 17 and Matthew 34 that requires some theological elasticity to explain. Matt 24:17 18 warns the disciples regarding how and when to flee. Matt 24:26-27 warns the disciple not to chase after false messiahs and explains where and what to look for. Matt 24:28 describes the gathering of vultures surrounding the corpse. Others who place all or parts of Luke 17 at the second coming create an ordering problem. If Matt 24:35-36 is the transition, then the “days of Noah” prophecy point to the second coming. However, Luke places the “days of Noah” prophecy before Matt 24:17-18 AD 70 warning to flee which creates an unsolvable ordering discrepancy. Forcing Matt 24:35 to be a transitional pivotal point in the discourse makes the events order-dependent. Bahnsen and Gentry circumvent this problem by applying all of Luke 17 to the second coming. Placing all of Luke 17 at the second coming leads to the rather dubious assumption that the Lord applies these events to BOTH the destruction of Jerusalem and the second coming. By viewing the passing away of heavens and earth in 24:35 as the destruction of the temple and the end of the old covenant, these discrepancies are eliminated. In this scenario, the AD 70 dialog carries on all the way until Matt 25:31 which begins the discussion of the end of the age and the second coming. The end of the age is the last part of the disciples’ question and the last part of the answer in 25:31. This brackets the answer regarding the 70 AD destruction. The answer leading up to and including the destruction of the temple continues through Matt 25:30. Understood in this way, the ordering of the events in Matthew and Luke no longer matter as they ALL refer to 70 AD. As such, viewing Matt 24:35 as temple/OC destruction preserves a high view of Biblical inerrancy by affirming consistency between Matthew and Luke without relying on dubious assumptions to smooth over the unnecessary problems induced by the “transition verse” understanding.
Isiah 65 and 2 Peter 3 Connection
Understanding Matt 24:35 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” as referring to the destruction of the temple and the OC brings clarity to Isaiah 65:17-25. As Dough Wilson comments, “New heavens and a new earth would seem to suggest the eternal state (because of Rev. 21: 1). On the other hand, the mention of people dying, even at an advanced age, as well as the presence of the sinner (Isa. 65: 20), seem to suggest this is not the eternal state.” Thus, the NHNE is both now (already) and the eternal state (not yet). The NHNE is inaugurated at the resurrection and is consummated in the eternal state. The passing away of heaven and earth in Matt 24:35 that gives way to the NHNE launched at the resurrection provides the impetus for this already/not yet understanding of Isaiah 65:17-25. The NHNE is something that is experienced in part now, preparing the way for its complete realization in the future. As the ESV study bible notes, “God has effected cosmic reconciliation in Christ. The work of Christ on the cross is the central axis for the history of creation.” Recognizing Matt 24:35 passing away of heaven and earth as a reference to the first-century destruction of the temple strengthens the linkage of 2 Peter 3:10 -13 with this event. John Owen, John Lightfoot, John Brown, Milton Terry, and others advocate the view that Peter was speaking about the destruction of the temple and the end of the OC sacrificial system in this passage. In particular, the reference in v13 to the new heavens and earth describes the New Covenant era and is symbolic of a new spiritual creation. Owen says, “On this foundation, I affirm that the heavens and earth here intended in this prophecy of Peter, the coming of the Lord, the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, mentioned in the destruction of that heaven and earth, do all of them relate, not to the last and final judgment of the world, but to that utter desolation and destruction that was to be made of the Judaical church and state. Lightfoot corroborates, “(2 Peter 3:10 -13) sets forth the destruction of that cursed nation and their city in those terms that Christ had done, Matt. 24. and that the Scripture doth elsewhere, Deut. 32.22,23.24. Jer. 4.23. namely as the destruction of the whole world, The heavens passing away, the elements melting, and the earth burning up… And accordingly speaks of a new heaven and a new earth, from Isa. 65.17. a new state of the Church under the Gospel among the Gentiles, when this old world of the Jews state should be dissolved.” Kim Riddlebarger affirms the inauguration of the NHNE at the resurrection: “Paul speaks of a “new creation” in Galatians 6:15 and 2 Corinthians 5:17, both times in connection with entrance into eternal life (via regeneration through the power of the Holy Spirit) associated with union with Christ. According to Paul, the new creation is inaugurated by Christ’s resurrection, ushers in the age to come (provisionally), and points ahead to the final consummation when death itself is swallowed up in victory at Christ’s return (1 Corinthians 15:50-56).” Ken Gentry furthers the point, “These spiritual realities are advance notices of the final, consummate, physical realities which we who are redeemed will enjoy in the eternal realm. Theologians call this relationship between current spiritual realities and future final realities a “now but not yet” theology. Eternity is intruding into history and beginning to impact it.” As the living stones of God’s people continue to grow the new temple, the NHNE is intruding into history and beginning to impact it. For believers, the NHNE is both a future reality of resurrected life in the eternal state but also progressively takes root now in an already/not fashion. The participants in the new covenant who are citizens of the new Jerusalem and the building stones of the new temple experience the NHNE in part now, and will experience it in full later in the eternal state after the second coming and bodily resurrection.
Conclusion
Storms notes, “More important still “was the belief that the temple was regarded as the ‘epitome of the world, a concentrated form of its essence, a miniature of the cosmos’. The temple was far more than the point at which heaven and earth met. Rather, it was thought to correspond to, represent, or, in some sense, to be ‘heaven and earth’ in its totality. The idea is readily grasped if its three-fold structure, the sanctuary (supremely the Holy of Holies), the inner and outer courts, are allowed to correspond to heaven, earth and sea respectively” (157; see Ps. 78:69; Isa. 65:17-18 “where the new heavens and earth are related to the restoration of Jerusalem”).” Pairing an already/not yet understanding of the new heavens and new earth with a 70 AD temple destruction of the (old) heaven and earth in Matthew 24:35 yields biblically satisfying results. In particular, this clarifies the design and meaning of the temple, accounts for the OT temple references, harmonizes Luke 17 and Matt 24, and affirms the connection between Isiah 65 and 2 Peter 3. This opens the floodgates to a clear understanding of Matthew 24 through Matthew 25:31. This results in the application of the “days of Noah” and “thief in the night” prophecies to the 70 AD destruction in all cases. As such this cleans up the postmillennial understanding of these verses and alleviates the tension created by applying these prophecies to the second coming within a postmillennial framework.
