DID HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS
AWAY?
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Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was
no more sea.
It would seem appropriate in light of the above passage to find another
passage that would seem to pinpoint the timing of this passing of heaven
and earth. How do we interpret Matthew 5:17,18 if we believe the Old Covenant
has passed away? What is the heaven and earth?
Matthew 5:17-18 Think not that I am come to destroy the law,
or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. {18} 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.
First, as with all passages, we should try to use some sort of a consistent
hermeneutic. One of the questions that always comes to mind when reading
such an obviously leading statement is, what would they (first-century
observers) have thought? I.e. first, were they familiar with this type
of language?
Well, obviously they were familiar with the law, but what about the
phrase "heaven and earth?" Here are just a few important observations:
Consider how the law is described here and its implications upon those
underneath its curse:
Deuteronomy 8:19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD
thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I
testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
The command of not worshiping other gods was a command that God would use
"against them."
Again, this same idolatry is mentioned with similar language:
Deuteronomy 31:18-19 And I will surely hide my face in that
day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned
unto other gods. {19} Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach
it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be
a witness for me against the children of Israel.
The song would be a "witness...against the children of Israel."
Likewise here:
Deuteronomy 31:21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles
are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness;
for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know
their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought
them into the land which I sware. With even more clarity, we see this "witness
against" them:
Deuteronomy 31:26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side
of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for
a witness against thee.
In the above passage it is far more evident that that which is a witness
against them is that which is in the ark of the covenant-namely the two
tables of stone or the ministration of death. Of course we remember this
ministration of death as that which was in the process of fading at the
time of the writing of the 2 epistle to the Corinthians. It was contrasted
with the excelling glory of the New Covenant:
2 Corinthians 3:11 For if that which is passing away was glorious,
much more that which remaineth is glorious.
So we see that the ministration of death was in the process of passing
away. This of course was consummated at the destruction of the Jewish Temple
in ad 70.
But returning to our observation, it was the law that was a witness
against the Israelites. It was a witness against them. They could not escape
this witness regardless of their efforts. It showed them guilty before
God. It was His witness against them.
Specifically, the command to abstain from idolatry was the "witness
against" them. Consider this passage:
Deuteronomy 4:25-26 When thou shalt beget children, and children's
children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt
yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and
shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:
{26} I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall
soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess
it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
Notice the witness against them-heaven and earth. The law was their heaven
and earth. It was their world and surroundings. The passage says that heaven
and earth would be there as a witness against them..."that ye shall soon
utterly perish..."
This reminds us of a previous passage:
Deuteronomy 8:19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD
thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I
testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
How did God testify against them? With the heaven and earth of the law:
Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day
against
you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore
choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
What records against them? Certainly not the physical heavens and earth,
but rather the law:
Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was
against
us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to
his cross;
Through the law, all of their transgressions were recorded against them.
Finally, the most convincing passage of all includes everything we have
just mentioned:
Deuteronomy 31:26-28 Take this book of the law, and put it
in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it
(the law) may be there for a witness against thee. 27 For
I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive
with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much
more after my death? 28 Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and
your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven
and earth to record against them.
With this in mind, I think we could answer the problem in Matthew 5:
Matthew 5:17-18 Think not that I am come to destroy the law,
or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. {18} 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.
Any Israelites who were remotely familiar with the law were probably well
aware of the fact that heaven and earth was synonymous with the law or
the Old Covenant.
The big question is, when did heaven and earth pass, or has it passed
at all. Hebrews 12 gives some excellent insight concerning this issue:
(Hebrews 12:18-27 KJV) For ye are not come unto the mount that might
be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness,
and tempest, {19} And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which
voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them
any more: {20} (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And
if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust
through with a dart: {21} And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said,
I exceedingly fear and quake:) {22} But ye are come unto mount Sion, and
unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels, {23} To the general assembly and church of the firstborn,
which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits
of just men made perfect, {24} And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of
Abel. {25} See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped
not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape,
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: {26} Whose voice then
shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake
not the earth only, but also heaven. {27} And this word, Yet once more,
signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that
are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Notice the words heaven and earth. Also notice the use of the present tense
to describe what was taking place at this time:
"... And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing
of those things that are being shaken (OC), as of things that are made,
that those things which cannot be shaken (NC) may remain."
Of course this should bring to mind Hebrews 8:
(Hebrews 8:10-13 KJV) For this is the covenant that I will make with
the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws
into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them
a God, and they shall be to me a people: {11} And they shall not teach
every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:
for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. {12} For I will
be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. {13} In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath
made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to
vanish away.
We see that the Old Covenant that was decaying (present tense) and waxing
old (present tense) was ready to vanish away. With the destruction
of their Temple (the centerpiece of the Jewish Old Covenant system), the
Old Covenant had completely waxed old and vanished away. The Heaven and
Earth had passed away. This would explain Isaiah 51, a passage that compares
the temporal quality of the law versus the eternal quality of the New Covenant
salvation:
Isaiah 51:6 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 for ever, and my righteousness
shall not be abolished.
Again, compare with:
Hebrews 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first
old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish
away.
Even Psalms speaks of this:
Psalms 102:25-26 Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the
earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. {26} They shall perish,
but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as
a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
Some may ask whether this affects Revelation 21:
Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Also, 2 Peter 3 may be considered:
2 Peter 3:10-13 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. {11} Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation
and godliness, {12} Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day
of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat? {13} Nevertheless we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
As we have already proved, heaven and earth refers to the Old Covenant
and the conscience underneath that Old Covenant. As far as the passage
in Peter is concerned, the term "works" is clearly referring to those works
done underneath the OC law by which men attempted to justify themselves.
Those works, however, that were done in faith would not be burned up:
1 Corinthians 3:9-15 For we are labourers together with God: ye are
God's husbandry, ye are God's building. {10} According to the grace of
God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation,
and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth
thereupon. {11} For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid,
which is Jesus Christ. {12} Now if any man build upon this foundation gold,
silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; {13} Every man's work shall
be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed
by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. {14}
If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive
a reward. {15} If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss:
but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
The term "elements" (stoicheion) is also referring to those principles
or rudiments under the law. It is used seven times in the New Testament
and each time it is used it refers to those principles of the OC law:
Galatians 4:1-10 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child,
differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; {2} But is
under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. {3}
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements (stoicheion)
of the world: {4} But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth
his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, {5} To redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. {6} And because
ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. {7} Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son;
and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. {8} Howbeit then, when
ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
{9} But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God,
how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements (stoicheion), whereunto
ye desire again to be in bondage? {10} Ye observe days, and months, and
times, and years.
Colossians 2:8-22 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and
vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments (stoicheion)
of the world, and not after Christ. {9} For in him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily. {10} And ye are complete in him, which is the head
of all principality and power: {11} In whom also ye are circumcised with
the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins
of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: {12} Buried with him in baptism,
wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead. {13} And you, being dead in your
sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with
him, having forgiven you all trespasses; {14} Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances (law) that was against us, which was contrary to us, and
took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; {15} And having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over
them in it. {16} Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or
in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days (law):
{17} Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. {18}
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping
of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed
up by his fleshly mind, {19} And not holding the Head, from which all the
body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together,
increaseth with the increase of God. {20} Wherefore if ye be dead with
Christ from the rudiments (stoicheion) of the world, why, as though living
in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, {21} (Touch not; taste not;
handle not; {22} Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments
and doctrines of men (law)?
Hebrews, directed to Israelites, says:
Hebrews 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have
need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles
of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Now, concerning oracles we read:
Romans 3:1-2 What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there
of circumcision? {2} Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were
committed the oracles of God.
Therefore, the two times the word is used in 2 Peter would seem to be referring to the OC system and order. Also, the fact that
Peter tells his audience to look for the coming day of God clearly implies
that they were expecting an imminent dissolution of the OC order.
As far as Revelation 21 is concerned, the question may be raised: What
about the fact that the passage says there was no more sea? First, I think
we should realize how the Bible uses sea. Of course John drew many of his
metaphors and apocalyptic language from the rest of the Bible. It would
seem inconsistent to suddenly literalize the first verse of Revelation
21. Consider these uses of sea and those to whom it refers:
Isaiah 60:1-5 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of
the LORD is risen upon thee. {2} For, behold, the darkness shall cover
the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon
thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. {3} And the Gentiles shall
come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. {4} Lift
up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together,
they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall
be nursed at thy side. {5} Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and
thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea
shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto
thee.
Sea here is obviously referring to the Gentiles. This passage speaks of
a uniting of Gentiles and Israelites. This is remarkably similar to Ephesians
2:
Ephesians 2:11-19 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles
in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the
Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; {12} That at that time ye were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
{13} But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh
by the blood of Christ. {14} For he is our peace, who hath made both one,
and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; {15} Having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained
in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
{16} And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby: {17} And came and preached peace to you
which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. {18} For through him we
both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. {19} Now therefore ye are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and
of the household of God;
The Psalmist speaks of the prophecy that God would gather the Israelites
that were scattered among the nations or the sea:
Psalms 68:22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will
bring my people again from the depths of the sea:
The Psalmist also makes a distinction between the sea versus those upon
the earth:
Psalms 65:5 By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us,
O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth,
and of them that are afar off upon the sea:
It is interesting here how the Psalmist describes those upon the sea as
"afar off." That is how Paul describes the Gentiles in Ephesians 2:
Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off
are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
Even Ezekiel prophesies of the time when the living waters would flow to
the Gentiles:
Ezekiel 48:8-10 And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto
the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty
thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from
the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst
of it. {9} The oblation that ye shall offer unto the LORD shall be of five
and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth. {10} And
for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy oblation; toward the
north five and twenty thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand
in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the
south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the LORD
shall be in the midst thereof.
Daniel describes the four beasts (Babylon, Greece, Medo-Persia, and Rome)
as the beasts of the sea:
Daniel 7:3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one
from another.
Zephaniah pronounces a woe against the nations:
Zephaniah 2:5 Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation
of the Cherethites! the word of the LORD is against you; O Canaan, the
land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be
no inhabitant.
Of course Zechariah predicts the reign of Messiah to cover the world:
Zechariah 9:9-10 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter
of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having
salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an
ass. {10} And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from
Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace
unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from
the river even to the ends of the earth.
Isaiah says:
Isaiah 24:14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the
majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
Israel was scattered among the nations, her enemies that were described
by the prophets as the sea or the seas. Throughout her physical existence
Israel was plagued by the seas, particularly after being taken captive
into Babylon. Israel began to trust in the nations for her protection rather
than God. She trusted in the very enemies that she hated. There was always
division between her and the nations, yet so often she feared the power
of the nations to take her into captivity and destroy her.
In Revelation Israel (i.e. Jerusalem) was that great harlot who trusted
nations rather than God. She forsook her Husband. The Bible describes Israel
as the harlot sitting upon many waters. These waters were the seas or the
nations in whom she trusted:
Revelation 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the
seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show
unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Revelation 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest,
where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and
tongues.
Once we are able to see the division that existed between Israel and the
nations and her constant fear of being destroyed by the nations, then we
will be able to appreciate the fact that God predicted a time when the
Gentiles would come to believe in the God of Israel and that as Isaiah
predicted, they would flow together:
Isaiah 60:4-5 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather
themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and
thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. {5} Then thou shalt see, and
flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the
abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles
shall come unto thee.
According to Paul, there would be no more distinction between Israel and
the nations:
Colossians 3:10-11 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him: {11} Where there is
neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian,
bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond
nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ
Jesus.
Because circumcision is that of the heart through faith in Jesus Christ,
the true citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem were all one through this same
faith. The Jew is one which is Jewish inwardly:
Romans 2:28-29 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither
is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: {29} But he is a Jew,
which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit,
and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Israel has always stood for the nation that rules as God, hence her name.
It was predicted that this heavenly Jerusalem would be the worship center
for the nations:
Jeremiah 3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of
the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of
the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination
of their evil heart.
The citizens of this nation would all be one in Christ Jesus. Indeed, they
would all rule as God-they would be the Israel of God. In this land there
would be no more Gentiles:
Zechariah 14:21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be
holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come
and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no
more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.
There would be no more strangers or Gentiles in this land. There would
be no more sea. It would be a New Heaven and a New Earth wherein would
dwell righteousness. The union would be those in Christ Jesus.
I believe this is a consistent explanation of the significance of the
terms heaven and earth and sea and their relationship with the Messianic
kingdom.
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