Chattel Slavery (3) - Equal under the Law

The references to servants in Exodus 21 are really important, because they give servants the same protection as other citizens. This is quite unique, as in most other jurisdictions, servants were not protected by the law. The point of Exodus 21:20- 21 is that a master who kills his servant must receive the same punishment as he would if he had killed any other person, as specified in Exodus 21:12-13. Servants were not excluded from the law.

If the servant gets up after a couple of days, the master does not receive the penalty for murder, because the servant will receive financial restitution to compensate him for his injuries. The master must pay silver to the servant as restitution, so he should not receive any physical punishment.

A clearer expression of Exodus 21:20-21 would be the following.

If a man beats his male or female servant with a rod and the servant dies as a direct result, he should receive the penalty for murder, but he if the slave gets up after a day or two, he must not be punished for murder, but the slave should receive financial compensation from him.

Chattel Slavery (2) - Property

The problem with most translations of Exodus 21:20-21 is the last clause: “the slave is his property”. A literal rendering of the Hebrew text is,

He his silver

It is not clear who the “he” refers to. It could be the master and it could be the servant. The same applies to the possessive pronoun “his”.

The Hebrew word used for silver is “keseph”. It is sometime used for coins, but can also refer to silver metal. The same word is used in later in the same chapter to describe the penalty for a man who leaves a dangerous pit open.

And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his (Ex 21:33-34).

The word translated money is “keseph”. In this example, it refers to the money paid to make restitution for harm done to another person. It follows that in Exodus 21:20- 21, the word “keseph” also refers to restitution and not to chattel slavery. The passage is just a further amplification of the law of financial restitution that is described in Exodus 22.

The man does not need any other punishment, because he must make restitution for the damage he has done.

A better translation of the last clause would be,

He must receive some of his silver.

Chattel Slavery (1)

A seriously misunderstood passage is Exodus 21:20-21.

If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.

The passage is often cited as proof that the Bible supported chattel slavery. This is not true, but this idea has been encouraged by bad translation.

The first problem is with the word “slave”. This is a serious mistranslation of the Hebrew. The word translated male slave is “Ebed”. The word translated female slave is “Amah”. The NIV translates these words in different ways in different parts of Exodus 21; as slave in verses 20 and 32, and as servant in verses 26 and 27. There is no reason for the difference, and servant is a better translation.

They boy Samuel called himself the Ebed of God. Gehazzi was the Ebed of Elijah. The suffering servant of Isaiah was an “ebed”. An Ebed might be bonded to his master for a time, because he has fallen into debt, but he would not be a slave in the modern sense of the word. The NIV is quite mischievous in the way it sometimes uses the word slave for this word. The NKJV is more consistent and always uses the word servant. The Israelites were not allowed to enslave their countrymen (Lev 25:39).

The passage refers to servants, not slaves.

Better Economic System (5) - Wealth

Many Christians get upset about disparity in wealth in a modern economy. The blame the economic system.

I have never met a Christian who is upset about their own wealth. I have never met a Christian who says that their income is too large.

If you are upset about your own wealth, the problem is easy to solve. Just give some of it away to someone who is poorer than you. If your income is greater than you need, give it away. Too much wealth is a problem that is easy to solve. Giving is the solution.

Christians who are upset about the unequal distribution of wealth are not upset about their own wealth. They are actually upset about the wealth of other people. They can see people that they think have too much wealth. This is a harder problem to solve. There are only two solutions:

1. Persuade the wealthy person to freely give some of their wealth away.

2. Force the wealthy person to hand over their wealth, so it can be given to those with greater need.

The first solution is not very popular, because it will not have much impact.

The simplest way to implement the second solution would be to get a gun, point in the back of too-wealthy people and force them to hand over some of their wealth, but that does not sound very nice. People who want a better economic system are really looking for a way to forcibly take wealth form the people that they think have to much, but without getting their hands dirty. Unfortunately, force is force, whether it comes out of the barrel of a gun, or a larger mob.

The New Testament model for dealing with surplus wealth is generosity and sharing. Forced giving is never part of the solution. The transformation of the gospel and the spirit makes the first option possible. The Spirit will lead some wealthy people into giving to people with insufficient means to prosper. This is the best way to eliminate the problem of inequality that everyone hates.

Better Economic System (4) - America

The American economy is not capitalism.

The American economy is made up of many of many people. Some are good, but many are influenced by a culture that enshrines selfishness, dishonesty, greed and pride.

America is governed by two parties that are almost the same. The real power rests with a coalition of political leaders, big business and military manufacturers. These groups look after their own interests. The largest political donations come from business leaders. In return for this support, the political leaders look after big business and military equipment manufacturers.

American laws protects big business and gives huge powers to large corporations. Limited liability laws foster the growth of big business. Banks are given monopoly powers that enable them to make enormous profits. American values justify the payment of huge bonuses to bankers.

America does not need a new economic system. It needs a new culture renewed by the influence of the Spirit of God. It needs Gods laws. The gospel and the law of God would transform the American economy. The huge businesses that have done so much harm would quickly wither away.

Strangely enough, America does need a new political system. The American political system maintains a façade of liberty, but destroys freedom and distorts the economy.

Better Economic System (3) - Communist Russia

The Communist Russian economy was not really a different system. It was really just a very different human morality and a different set of laws.

These laws prevented people from owning property. The political committee in a village could confiscate land and form it into a collective farm.
Laws prevented people from buying and selling freely, because the prices of most goods and services were set by political authorities.

The revolution crushed human values and turn the Russian people into selfish lazy people.

The Russian economy did not need a new system. It needs the gospel and the spirit to change human values. It needs God’s law to restrain greed and selfishness. If those two things were accepted, good business would emerge and evil practices would wither away.

Better Economic System (2) - Law

An economy is shaped by two things: human nature and law.

Law constrains human nature by putting boundaries on what sin and evil can do, but there are limits to what law can do. The only real solution to sin is the cross and the renewal of the spirit.

The best law is God’s law. Under God’s law people are free to buy and sell when they choose, which allows markets to emerge. The law prevents theft, which prevents greedy and selfish people from expropriating things that belong to other (Ex 20:15).

The law recognise land as productive an asset and prevents people from losing their land unjustly (Lev 25:14-17). It recognises the value of working livestock as productive capital that needed greater protection (Ex 22:1). Productive tools and equipment receive extra protection (Deut 14:6).

The laws on weights and measures prevent manipulation and inflation of the currency (Deut 14:13-16).

These laws are all that is needed for an economy function. We do not need an economic system. God’s law is all we need. It allows people to improve their situation by buying and sell. It allows them to accumulate capital, so they can be more productive. Freedom to trade and freedom to accumulate capital is all that is needed for an economy to function.

God’s law does not guarantee that a perfect, fair and abundant economy emerge. Greed, selfishness, dishonesty, pride and foolishness all conspire against that happening. The law explains this clearly (Deut 28:15-68).

When Christians say that they do not like this or that economic system, they are really saying that they do no like God’s decision to make humans free. They are also saying that they do not like God’s law. They assume that we can install some mysterious system that will be better than what God has given us.

What many Christians seem to want is for the state to come in and impose a perfect state of peace, harmony and prosperity. As long as people are free to choose between good and evil, this is impossible. Any solution that state imposes just becomes another vehicle for sin and evil.

God’s law is the best restraint on sin and evil. The gospel and the Spirit are the only cure for sin and evil. Once they have done their work, Christians can create prosperity and plenty by generosity and sharing.

Better Economic System (1)

Many people believe that the world needs a better economic system. Some Christians say that capitalism is a bad system. Others say that capitalism is deficient, but is the best system that exists.

This sort of thinking is confused. An economic system is not something that can be pulled off a shelf and imposed on society. The idea that an economic system can be replaced by another, in the same way that problems with the way an operating system like Microsoft Vista can be resolved by purchasing Windows 7 and installing it over the top is misleading.

An economy is not a machine or computer, but is created by people interacting together. The shape of the economy is determined by the way that people function and interact with each other. An economy is shaped by two things: human nature and law.

Most of what people do not like about an economy is the result of human nature. The fall of man means that greed, selfishness, violence, dishonesty, pride, foolishness have become natural. The recent economic crisis has revealed all these aspects of human nature.

Prophetic Distractions (6) - Jesus is Coming Soon

Most Christians believe that Jesus is coming soon.

The strange thing is that Christians in every age have believed that they were living near the end of the world. For example, Martin Luther thought that he was living near the end of the world. He assumed that Jesus would return during his life time. He was not alone in this view. It has been common since the days of the early church.

Looking at the whole of history, most people who have believed that Jesus was coming soon were wrong. That suggests that we should be careful assuming that Jesus is returning soon. It is easy to be wrong about this.

A belief that Jesus will return during the lifetime of my generation is quite arrogant. It assumes that I belong to a pivotal generation in the purposes of God. I doubt that this is true for me. Looking at the western church, I cannot see how it can be the peak of God’s work on earth.

Humans can only see their own time in history clearly. Even previous the generation seem quite dim. Earlier generations fade into irrelevance. Our limited perspective means that we get deceived about our own importance. In contrast, God sees all generation from the same perspective. I suspect that from his perspective, we are just not that important.

I believe that Jesus’ return is thousands of years away. I will be ready, if I am proved wrong, but I do not believe that Jesus is coming soon. When I study the scriptures, I see thousands of prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled. I cannot see how they can be fulfilled in one generation. One prophecy is that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jesus. If such a glorious season were to last only a few years, it would not really be glorious. I can imagine this glorious time lasting for thousands of years.

Does it matter? Yes it does. When Christians believe Jesus is coming soon, they fall into short-term thinking. Many in my generation gave up their university studies, because they believed that Jesus would return before they graduated. Short-term thinking prevents people from investing in activities that will only bring benefits in future generations. This lack of long term commitment has crippled the church and held back the Kingdom of God.

Cultures that lose hope for the future collapse inwards and die. That is what seems to be happening to the Western church, as belief in the imminent return of Jesus has become pervasive.

Of course, there is a sense in which all those who died believing that Jesus would come soon were correct. Jesus came for them on the day that they died. Given that death was never far away throughout their lives, it was true that Jesus was coming for them soon.

Prophetic Distractions (6) - The Big Gap

Looking for a gap in Daniel 9:24-27 is another prophetic distraction. This gap is used to twist Daniel's vision to justify the belief that there will be a seven year tribulation, just prior to Christ’s second coming. Those with this view see the passage as a description of the activities of the anti-christ. Careful study will show that it is really a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem.

The seventy "sevens" are seventy weeks of years. The expression describes a period lasting 490 years (70x7). The starting point is given in verse 25. Daniel is told that the seventy "sevens" will begin "from the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem". This decree was issued by Artaxerxes King of Persia in the time of Nehemiah (Neh 2:1-9), so it would have been issued in about 445 B.C.

Six events are decreed for the seventy "sevens". They were all fulfilled through the ministry of Jesus. It is generally believed that Jesus was crucified soon after A.D. 30, so his ministry falls at the end of the seventy "sevens". The six events decreed are:

1. "to finish the transgression". The Jews filled up their cup of iniquity by condemning Jesus to death. The transgressions of the nation were filled up.

2. "to put an end to sin". Jesus was the lamb of God who took away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

3. "to atone for wickedness". Jesus’ death on the cross was an atonement for wickedness.

4. "to bring in everlasting righteousness". Christ is our righteousness (1 Cor 1:30), so his people have an eternal righteousness in him.

5. "to seal up vision and prophecy". With the coming of Jesus the vision and prophecy of the Old Testament period was brought to completion. It was sealed up in Jesus.

6. "to annoint the most holy". The word Messiah means "annointed one", and Jesus was the Messiah who fulfilled this part of the vision.

The angel was promising Daniel that the Messiah would come within 500 years of the decree to restore Jerusalem. The birth and ministry of Jesus fulfilled the promise.

A number of events are specified for the last "seven" (Dan 9:26,27). A number of commentators say that a seven year tribulation just before the second coming is being described. To support this view, they put in a gap between sixty-ninth and the seventieth "week", which coincides with the church age. This allows them to place the events of the last week thousands of years after the events of the earlier "weeks". There is no justification for this. Daniel makes no mention of a gap, and there is no precedent for one in any other part of the Bible. An examination of the events described shows that they all occurred within about 500 years of the decree for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. This is what we would expect from the statement that seventy "sevens" were decreed.

Four events are decreed for the last "seven" (vv.26,27)

1. "The Annointed one will be cut off and will have nothing". This is a description of the death of Jesus. His life was "cut off". At his death he was deserted by all his disciples, and left with nothing.

2. "The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: war will continue to the end and desolations have been decreed". This very vividly describes the destruction of Jerusalem. The people of the ruler was the Roman army. They destroyed the city and the temple. There was war to the end, which came like a flood of terrible desolation.

3. "He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven’, but in the middle of that ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering". The person referred to here is not the coming ruler, who would destroy the city, but the Messiah mentioned in verse 26. Jesus established a covenant which has brought salvation to great numbers of people. During the last "seven" which covered his whole life, from birth to ascension, Jesus confirmed a covenant which would last for ever. The effect of the new covenant is to put an end to sacrifices and offerings. The perfect sacrifice of Jesus makes them unnecessary.

4. "and one who causes desolation will come on the wings of abominations until the end that is decreed is poured out on the desolate". This is a more literal translation than is usually given. Misleading translations have caused a lot of misunderstanding about this verse. The subject of this verse, the one who makes desolate, is not the one who made the covenant, but the Roman ruler, who would destroy Jerusalem. His coming was an abomination for the Jewish people. The desolation is not poured out on a person, but on those who are desolate. The Jews were a desolate people once they had rejected the Messiah. Jesus was referring to this when he told them that their house would be left desolate (Matt 23:38).

The vision given to Daniel is a description of the events surrounding the life of Jesus. He was told of the salvation that Jesus would bring. And although he may not have understood it, he was also told that his people would reject the Messiah and be destroyed. If the Jews had understood this passage, they would have known the time when the Messiah would come and what would happen to them. Perhaps Simeon and Anna did understand this passage and realise that they lived in the time when the seventy sevens would be complete.

The vision is not a description of the manoeuvrings of the anti-christ or a tribulation that is yet to come. It is a description of the ministry of Jesus, his rejection by the Jews, and their consequent destruction.

Prophetic Distractions (5) - This Generation

Another prophetic distraction has been the word "generation" in Matthew 24:35.

I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

The confusion about this statement is strange, because Jesus words are precise and clear. The events Jesus described in the previous verses were close and would take place with in the lifetimes of most of his listeners.

I have watched with amusement as the length of a generation has expanded from 25 years to 40 years, and now to 51 years, and the starting point shifted from 1948 to 1967. I can imagine that Christians will soon be quoting Psalm 90:10 to prove that a generation is 70 or 80 years, or perhaps they will choose another "prophetic marker" to extend the time frame into the future.

I cannot understand why Christians refuse accept the straightforward meaning of Jesus's words. Going through verbal gymnastics to squeeze out a different meaning is a distraction.

Prophetic Distractions (4) - Prophetic Markers

Many Christians see the emergence of Israel is a marker for biblical prophecy.

The reality is that it was just one event that had to happen. At some point God will open the eyes of the Jews and they will acknowledge Jesus as saviour and Lord. This event, often referred to as the Calling of the Jews, is the next epochal event in history. Before it can happen, at least some of the Jews had to return to the land of Palestine.

However the process by which this happened was probably not God’s perfect plan. There are many prophecies about this event in the Old Testament, but most speak of people returning in faith and in peace and blessing. These have not been fulfilled yet. We have not yet seen the real miracle that God promised.

Ezekiel 38:8 seems to speak of God’s second best.

In the latter years you will come into the land that is restored by the sword, whose inhabitants have been gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel which had been a continual waste.

This is not a return in peace and blessing, but a return “by the sword”. The birth of the nation was accomplished by secular men and women by political and military power. It was the work of a well organised nationalism rather than an act of God. The expansion of Israel has been accomplished by political alliances and military power. God allowed this to happen, because he can use all things for good, but that does not mean that this was his perfect plan.

The emergency of Israel had to happen so that God’s greater purposes can be achieved, but we cannot be sure that the timing of these events happened exactly according to his plan. They may have happened before God intended. Therefore, it is risky to turn the years 1948 or 1967 into markers for prophetic history.

Prophetic Distractions (3) - Israel Determines History

In recent years a strange doctrine has emerged. A belief has emerged that what happens in the church is determined by what happens in the nation of Israel. Some Bible teachers urge Christians to watch what is happening in Israel to understand what is happening in the church. This is a false teaching.

Firstly, what happens in the church is determined by the Holy Spirit. He is not constrained by political or national leaders in any nation. The only thing that constrains his work is the unwillingness of Christians to go with him. We can hold back his activity by refusing to trust and obey him.

Secondly, the leaders of the nation of Israel are not Christians. They have refused to acknowledge that Jesus is their messiah. They do not walk in the Spirit, so they do not hear his voice. Many are totally secular. They do not acknowledge God. They do not honour his law. The leaders of Israel continue to disobey the law, so they are living outside the blessing of the covenant. A nation in this state cannot be the determiner of the Holy Spirit’s work on earth.

There truth is the reverse. What happens on earth is largely determined by the church. When the church is weak and lost, the world goes down hill. When the church is in touch with the Holy Spirit and walks in his power, the world is changed.

Prophetic Distractions (2) - Bible Codes

The Bible codes is another prophetic distraction. It is a series of messages supposedly contained within the Bible text, that when decoded into words and phrases demonstrate demonstrating foreknowledge and prophecy. The primary method for extracting messages is the Equidistant Letter Sequence. A starting point (in principle, any letter) and a skip number are chosen. Beginning at the starting point, letters are selected form the text at equal spacing, according to skip number. For example, if the skip number is ten, then every tenth number is taken. Most people using this method work with the Hebrew text of the Torah.

This method has a couple of problems.

1. The most serious problem is that we do not have a completely accurate version of the Hebrew Bible. Even the Masoretic text, which is generally considered to be the most reliable, is fully of minor errors. In places words are missing, and in other places words appear to have been added. This is the natural consequence of copying by hand over many centuries. This does not matter for understanding the meaning, as most of these glosses do not affect the meaning at all. However, it becomes a serious problem for counting sequences of characters, as just one character missing, will change the rest of the sequence.

2. If we had the original Hebrew text, the equidistant letter sequence would give a totally different set of words and phrases. The fact that we do not have the original text, means that even if God had put words into the original Hebrew Text, we cannot get at them, because we do not have that text.

3. There are a huge number of starting characters and a huge number of skip numbers that can be chosen. What comes out of the process will determined by the original choices. I am suspicious of any method that relies on trawling many options to get something meaningful. You can only find what you already know.

4. I came across an article in a statistical journal that used the equidistant letter sequence method in Tolstoy’ War and Peace. The authors found a whole lot of predictive words and phrases. War and Peace is a wonderful novel, but I do no believe that Tolstoy was so inspired that God used him to hide a prophetic message.

The Bible Code is a bit of a distraction. Even if Hitler’s name is hidden somewhere in the Hebrew Torah, it does not help me to be a better Christian. I would prefer ten clear words spoken by the Holy Spirit to a thousand words from a Bible code.

Prophetic Distractions (1) - Hebrew Calendar

A prophetic distraction that has emerged among Christians in recent years is to take the Hebrew calendar and look at the meaning of the number for a year and use that to explain what God is going to do. I have several problems with this practice.

1. The Holy Spirit inspired the scriptures. He has not inspired a calendar.

2. There is no guarantee that the Hebrew calendar has numbered the number of years since Adam’s birth correctly. Biblical scholars have considerable disagreement about how a Biblical chronology should be calculated, so the number of years that elapsed during certain parts of history uncertain. Estimates of the year of Adam’s birth by serious biblical scholars vary by a couple of hundred years. Jewish scholars disagree about the date of the first temple and the exile. All this means that we cannot be absolutely certain that the year we have currently started is actually 5770 years from the birth of Adam. If several years were missed in a couple of places, we might be only in the year 5760 and the connection between current events and the meaning of 5770 breaks down.

3. Over a long period of history calendars can easily go wrong. According to our Gregorian calendar, which was maintained during the dark ages by careful Christian monks, we are supposedly in the 2009th year since the birth of Jesus. We now know that was probably wrong. Mathew says he was born under during the reign of Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC. Luke describes dates his birth against first census of the Roman provinces of Syria and Iudaea, which probably took place in 6 BC. If these dates are correct, we are actually living in the year 2014 or thereabouts. That is why I did not get excited about the year 2000. I knew it was not actually the year 2000, but probably about the year 2005.

4. The truth is that we cannot be absolutely certain about the exact number of years that have elapsed, either since the creation of Adam, or from the birth of Jesus. That does not matter. We can get on and do God’s work, with out having an exact answer to that question. However, it does become a serious problem, if we want to use dates in either the Gregorian or Hebrew calendar to predict the future. The dates are just too uncertain for much significance to be placed on them.

5. God works out his plans in history. His plans are not determined by planets or by numbers, but come from his heart. The idea that events on earth are shaped by the numbers on a calendar is only one step away from the view of the astrologers that events are on earth are determined by the movements of the planets. It is an insult to the character and power of God.

6. The Holy Spirit loves to speak. He can speak clearly. He said to Agabus, “A severe famine is going to spread throughout the Roman Empire” (Act 11:28). That is just example of what he is capable of doing. Christian prophets should focus on learning to hear the Holy Spirit speak. Looking for signs in dates and shadows is a pointless distraction.

Polticians and Glory

Why is that when there is any glory going down, the political leaders turn up flies round a cow pat. The fall of the Berlin wall is a case in point.

Gordon Brown the British Prime Minister was clear that political leaders had nothing to do with the fall of the wall. He said,

This wall was torn down not by the demands of political leaders, not by dictat from on high, not by the force of military might but by the greatest force of all - the unbreakable spirit of the men and women of Berlin.

Despite having nothing to do with fall, when the time came to celebrate the fall of the wall, all the political leaders were there in the front row.

Even Hillary Clinton was there basking in the glory of the wall. I am not sure why. The wall was only there because the Russians won the Second World War.

Capitalism and Big Business

Capitalism does not create big business. The State created big business. Large corporations are the result of limited liability laws and other laws that protect big business. Banks that are too big to fail are the result financial regulation.

The American system is not capitalism. It is a system of collusion between political power, business power and military power. (The technical name for this system is fascism, but most Americans are not ready to accept that yet.) This collusion between politicians, big business and the military system has produced the problems that America is now facing. Further regulation will not resolve these problems, but will give more protection to business, which will eventually leader to a new crisis.

Capitalism needs very few laws to function effectively: a law against theft; a law providing for contracts to be enforced; and not much more.

Capitalism and Socialism

Capitalism is system that allows people to pool their resources to be more productive and earn more income. People are free to use that income as they choose. They can choose to give it to others.

Socialism is system of distribution, in which political power is used to compulsorily take the stuff that one group of people have produced and give to others. That does not sound like the gospel to me.

Matthew 24 (11) - Clear and Precise

Jesus' message in Matthew 24 is a wonderful example of a clear precise prophecy.

Jesus was very clear about what would happen. The walls of the temple would be smashed and destroyed. This prophecy was fulfilled.

Jesus explained clearly why these events would happen. They would be the consequence of the stuff described in the previous chapter.

When asked when these things would happen, he gave a very precise answer. They would not happen immediately, but they would come in the lifetime of most of the people listening.

Jesus gave good advice about what people should do when the troubles started. They should flee to the mountains. Those who heeded this warning were kept safe (Acts 4:36-37).

Jesus also gave a couple of signs that would show them when the time to action was close (Jerusalem surrounded by an army). This prophecy was fulfilled, too.

Jesus also warned them not to be deceived by wars, famines, earthquakes and false religions. These types of event are ubiquitous in every age, so they are not a sign of anything, except that a people have lost the blessing of God.

When asked about the second coming, Jesus said two things. First he did not know when it would happen. Second, there would be no signs of the second coming. It would occur when life was going on as normal on earth, so most people including Christians will not be expecting it.

Jesus also explained that this lack of signs does not matter. He told several parables, which explain what we should do. “Get on with doing the job you are called to do, so you will be ready when Jesus returns”.

This is all very clear and precise, and gave Jesus listeners everything that they needed to know. Nothing is missing. No unanswered questions. But many Christians cannot accept Jesus’ clear precise message and turn it into something confusing, with multiple fulfilments, so that they can get what they want.

They ignore Jesus’ statement that there will be no signs for the second coming and try to find signs.

They ignore Jesus’ statement that he does not know the day and the hour, and claim that they can know the month and the year and the season.

They ignore Jesus’ explanation that famines, earthquakes and wars are common in every unrighteous age, and turn them into the true signs of the second coming.

No wonder many Christians are confused.

Matthew 24 (10) - This Generation

Matthew 24:35 is one of the most “beaten up” texts in the New Testament. Jesus made an emphatic statement.

I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

The confusion about this statement is strange, because Jesus words are precise and clear. Some things will happen. The things that will happen are described in the phrase “all these things”. In the Greek text this is “tauta panta”. This alludes back to Matthew 23:36 and the judgements described earlier in that chapter.

I tell you the truth, all these things (tauta panta) will come upon this generation.

The phrase is used again in Matthew 23:34.

Even so, when you see all these things (tauta panta), you know that it is near, right at the door.

Jesus description of the the traumatic events are marked off a the beginning and the end by the phrase all these things (tauta panta).

The expression also alludes to the original question asked by the disciples. They asked when the temple stones would be cast down and smashed.

Tell us when will this (tauta) happen?

Matt 24:4-33 describes what will happen in precise detail. Therefore, the passage is a description of the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the collapse of the temple.

Jesus also explained exactly when these things would happen. They would not happen immediately and some other events must happen first. However the events are quite close and would take place with in the lifetimes of most of his listeners. People should be prepared and ready to take the appropriate action to escape.

All this is quite straightforward.

Unfortunately, during the 1960s, Hal Lindsay and his mates decided that the fig tree is a reference to the state of Israel. They decided that a whole series of so-called end-time events would take place within a generation of 1948. This interpretation did not come out of Matthews gospel, but was read into it.

They determined a generation as 25 years and that Jesus would return in about 1973 (1948 +25). This was fine during the 1960s when the western world was unstable and 1973 was a far off. However, 1973 came and went without anything untoward happening. The so-called prophets did not admit they were wrong, but started to scramble for a way out.

I have watched with amusement as the length of a generation has expanded from 25 years to 40 years, and now to 51 years, and the starting point shifted from 1948 to 1967. I can imagine that Christians will soon be quoting Psalm 90:10 to prove that a generation is 70 or 80 years, Will Isaiah 65:20 be used to prove that a generation is 100 years long, in an attempt to avoid admitting that their shonky predictions are wrong.

I cannot understand why Christians refuse accept the straightforward meaning of Jesus's words. These things that he described in Matthew 24:4-34 would happen during the lifetime of people present when he was speaking. I cannot see any point in going through verbal gymnastics to squeeze out a different meaning.

The problem is that Christians want to push the passage into the future. I cannot see why that is so important, as there are plenty of other biblical passages that describe the future for us. We do not need this passage for the future, unless we a stuck a particular version of eschatology. It would be more honest to let that failed doctrine go.