JESUS AND THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM, NOT “RAPTURE”
To be clear, because I can anticipate some of the feedback that will come in: I affirm a future second coming. I believe the ultimate reason for Christ’s return is to: resurrect, purge, heal, and eternally reign in the renewed creation (as I’ve already said).
The “rapture” is simply not part of the biblical picture. And, it often leads to problems today like a desire for escapism, and sometimes a lack of concern for this planet (especially if we think it is going to be left to its devices and eventually destroyed).
The problem I have then, is not with the second coming.
My issue is with attributing Mark 13 (and parallels) to pointing to anything other than something that already happened in history: the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE.
In a longer article on Jesus and Mark 13, I plan to get “heavy” into this topic (so join the
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All of Mark 13 describes how Jesus acted as an apocalyptic prophet to declare that God’s judgment on unfaithful Israel was coming within “this generation” (v. 30). “
This generation” doesn’t mean “now”—it means
the generation of
the disciples who sat and listened to Jesus’ answer to their questions about:
- When will these things happen?
- What will be the sign that they are about to be fulfilled?[4]
These questions follow Jesus’ prophetic statement that “not one stone [of the Temple] will be left unturned.” If those are the questions to be answered in the whole of Mark 13, then what ramifications for interpretation does the text leave us with?
After the questions, the chapter continues by answering with the kind of things that will take place leading up to the destruction of the Temple:
- false messiahs (several were present in the first century)
- wars (the Jewish War of 66-70 AD)
- food shortages (imagine Jerusalem were surrounded, where would food come from?)
- earthquakes (happened)
- persecution (by the Jews and Rome)
- the need to flee to the mountains (smart thing to do if your city is going to be burned to the ground soon, don’t you think?!)
- the gospel being preached throughout the nations (Paul’s missionary journeys, etc.).
Then, there will be cosmic signs (sun darkened, moon dimmed, stars falling, earthquakes), which is a Jewish way to describe cataclysmic political disaster and change. There are several examples of this language in the Old Testament that always point to a political reality, not the literal convulsion of the cosmos. We, too, do this with language.
Imagine if you were to read the headline: “9-11 was an Earth Shattering Event.”[5]
Such a description wouldn’t make you think that an “earth shattering” earthquake caused the towers to fall, but is a way of saying that what happened shook up history as we know it. Same is true here. Jesus is simply using a Hebraic prophetic rhetorical devise to explain the coming doom of Jerusalem.
JESUS WEPT OVER HIS PREDICTION OF DESTRUCTION
Jesus weeps over this city in another place, because its zealous impulses will lead to the destruction of God’s holy city and Temple. This isn’t something Jesus wants to happen. It is, however, something he knows will happen.
And soon.
Jumping back into the passage, Jesus keeps moving. The great “Son of Man” statement comes in verse 26. This points to Daniel 7 where the “son of man” comes up to the throne of God to be victoriously vindicated to a position of authority after a time of suffering (remember, Paul evoked this passage as well, applying it slightly differently, but the basic point remains the same).
For Jesus, this will ultimately happen when the Temple is destroyed, for it will be a moment where Jesus becomes the only Temple of God that is left in the cosmos.
Again, we keep in mind that Jesus weeps over this point: he doesn’t want the Temple to be destroyed. He simply sees the writing on the soon-to-be bloodstained and torn down walls.
Jesus is claiming to be the fulfillment of Daniel’s apocalyptic vision, and people will see this to be true once the Lord’s prophecy is fulfilled.
This happened in 70 CE. It already did. His “coming” in this passage is about his enthronement, the vindication of his suffering. It will serve as a sign to his hearers, beyond the resurrection, that he truly was the suffering one of God who overcomes his enemies by God’s loving verdict: not the sword.
Jesus seals the deal by following this up in verse 30 by saying: “…this generation will certainly not pass away until
all these things have happened.”
And indeed, all these things
did happen. Jesus was right.
But notice, this passage is full of Hebrew metaphors, hyperbole, and prediction about what would soon take place among his hearers.
Jesus had nothing in mind like a Rapture.
Even if we look at the other accounts, where Jesus says that, “One will be taken and the other left” (Matthew 24.40), we don’t get a “Left Behind” scenario here.
A great disaster is coming! In this generation. The message is urgent.
A war is coming. The Romans will come to arrest you. Run for this hills. Get out of dodge!
Good advice. Don’t you think?
RAPTURE OR RESURRECTION?
The vision of the future that Jesus, Paul and the rest of the New Testament share is resurrection. This is an embodied future, not a ghostly one in some other place called heaven. Sure, those who are in Christ are kept safe in God’s heavenly sphere of the cosmos after they die. But that isn’t the end. They too will rise, just as Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4.
But it isn’t just humans who will get to embody the good news of the Christian hope. So will all of the created order. God will not destroy the world, rather “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8.21)!
The Bible teaches that when Christ comes back, it will not be Tribulation or chaos. The “tribulation” did happen.
Jesus predicted it.
Rome destroyed their sacred city and Temple!
That is the only future tribulation Jesus had in mind: one that is decisively in our past.
And perhaps you are curious about Revelation. Well, when it is read in its historical setting (the 90s of the first century) with its rhetorical devices and image-soaked style, it too fits the picture of Jesus and Paul (by the way, this site will have tons of resources coming out about Revelation, so sign up for the
newsletter to stay informed!).
The end of the book of Revelation says it best:
“‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’” (Revelation 21.4).
Surely we cannot erase judgment from the picture, but the hope is that those in Christ will be raised to eternal life and everything that is wrong with this world will be made right.
This world renewed is going to be our home for eternity, and we have the opportunity to reflect that future in our present. Rapture invites us to escape this world: the last thing that Jesus would have ever taught! “On earth as in heaven” is what he said, not “in heaven away from the earth!” Our world’s future is hopeful.
Why?
Because neither Paul nor Jesus believed in the rapture. Neither did any other New Testament author or figure.
Neither should you.