In Matthew 24:29, Jesus employs “cosmic language,” signs in the sun, moon and stars, to predict the imminent end of the Old Covenant. His first-century audience would have recognized His allusion to the prophecy against Babylon in Isaiah 13 and understood His discourse as a condemnation of Jerusalem as a contemporary Babel.
So, this “cosmic” language is clearly poetic, but why would the prophets—including Jesus and His apostles—deliberately cause so much confusion by using such language to describe non-cosmic events? The answer is found in the mercy of God.
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