The Shape of Matthew 24-25: Analysis – Part 1

The first cycle of Matthew’s Olivet Discourse is the entire prophecy in miniature.

Read The Shape of Matthew 24-25: Overview first.

Just as the seven day week ending in Sabbath was a microcosm that set the pattern for the entire “sevenfold” harvest year, so also the seven stanzas of the first cycle of the Olivet Discourse are—thematically, at least—the entire prophecy in miniature. Most notably, this correspondence reveals to us the purpose and the time of fulfillment of the “sheep and goats” judgment in Matthew 25. This was a reckoning upon the first-century peoples for their treatment of Jesus’ disciples, those who were “hated by all the Gentiles.”

The Bible Matrix explains the arrangement of this “preamble”—the blessings of Israel’s calendar of harvest festivals would also shape the “liturgical” pouring out of the Mosaic curses as a process of decreation. The “repossession” of the fruit of the land and the womb would leave Jerusalem desolate and barren.

TRANSCENDENCE

Day 1 – Initiation – SABBATH – Creation
The beginning of sorrows (Matthew 24:1-9)

CREATION – Ark – Light

• The first stanza perfectly illustrates the subtle symmetry of the Bible’s “quantum” chiasms as well as the use of the repeated structure to make pointed jokes. Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, is the transcendent God in the first and last lines—Ark and Shekinah, word and image. However, He is leaving the Temple as though it were Egypt. Instead of ascending Zion he is departing for the Mount of Olives like the glory seen by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 10:4; 11:23). The disciples explain the stone buildings (Luke 21:5-6) like Moses teaching in Deuteronomy (or building twelve stone pillars in Exodus 24), but Jesus, as Shekinah, enlightens them.

DIVISION – Veil – Firmament

• As the light that came into the world, Jesus removes the veil from the disciples’ eyes. The Temple of Herod is a house of leprosy, so it must be torn down (Leviticus 14:45; Zechariah 5:4). The word “things” is a play on the Hebrew for the Ten Commandments (literally “ten things” or “ten words,” Deuteronomy 4:13). The stanza works through the Heptateuch but ends with the walls of Jericho being torn down. (It is interesting that step six of the pattern relates to the nakedness and investiture of Adam, and an archaic meaning of the English word “invest” is to encircle a city.) Notice that the stones implicit in line 5 of stanza 1 are now explicit in line 5 of stanza 2. The Division is the call to discern between the graven stones of the Law and the stones of Herod’s graven image (referred to as Aaron’s golden calf in Revelation 13:14).

ASCENSION – Bronze Altar & Table – Land & Fruit Bearers

• Now seated on the sixth mountain in Matthew’s Gospel (corresponding to Oath/Sanctions)¹See Seven Mountains in Matthew., Jesus is called to “open the book,” which He does at the Ascension step in Revelation as the Lamb-Lion on the Mountain of God. Notice that, as in stanza 2, the “pulpit” is once again at Ascension (which is the step of “a commandment with a promise”). The enlightenment the disciples desire is the wisdom of the ruling lights in line 4. In line 6, Jesus will come to Jerusalem as ga’al, that is, as both redeemer and avenger. The sixth section of the Revelation pictures this event as Jesus coming with the flaming sword of Eden in His mouth as the Sanctions of a Covenant Oath. Indeed, the Revelation, as an “open book,” follows the pattern of this stanza.

TESTING – Lampstand – Governing Lights

• In the fourth stanza, Jesus exhorts the disciples to develop the “serpent-king” wisdom which they desired in stanza 3. How would they achieve this level of discernment? In the same way that Adam was called to be faithful, that is, by heeding the words of God. Notice that the three Ethics lines correspond to the offices of Priest (hear God), King (obey God), and Prophet (speak for God).

MATURITY – Incense – Hosts

• The Trumpets/Hosts stanza describes the outcome of the spiritual warefare waged by the apostles against Jerusalem. This Garden battle against the serpentine Pharisees and their river of false doctrine would raise up a Herodian dragon in the Land (Jewish persecution, Esau the “red”) and ultimately a Neronic beast from the Sea (Roman persecution). Notice the phrase, “this must take place” at Oath/Sanctions. Jesus says the same thing concerning the imminent judgment of the city in Revelation 1:1.²See Revelation – Cycle 1. The reason these things “must” take place is that they fulfill the Law of Moses. Likewise, the harlot city must be burned with fire to fulfill Leviticus 21:9.

CONQUEST – Laver & Mediators – Animals & Man

• Just as Jericho was the “firstfruits” conquest of the Land, so Jerusalem would be the “firstfruits” conquest of the World. “All flesh” within it was under the ban. The warnings of the apostolic Trumpets and the rumors of unrest outside the “devoted” city would be accompanied by Mosaic curses upon the Promised Land. As Moses had warned, Yahweh would bring the Gentiles against the city once again, and the shedding of innocent (Christian) blood would bring famines in the Land as it did in the days of the judges and Naomi. Under the Old Covenant, Succession concerned physical offspring. But now that the Seed of the Woman had come, the focus of history had shifted to the Sons of God, and all of the genealogies, outside of Scripture, would be destroyed along with the Temple. The birth pains referred to here concern the rivalry between Jesus (a son of Jacob) and the Herods (sons of Esau), symbolized in the “battle of Armageddon,” Joshua versus Amalek.³For more discussion, see Everlasting Arms. The pain of the destruction of Jerusalem would ultimately give way to joy (John 16:21).

GLORIFICATION – Shekinah – Rest & Rule

• The true successor implicit in the previous stanza is now made explicit in the final line. But the Shekinah glory here is the sacrifice of the Firstfruits Church, whose “righteous members,” that is, as members of Jesus’ body, would be offered by the Jews to the Gentiles just as Jesus was. Those who drank His blood would themselves be poured out as an oblation on behalf of others (Colossians 1:24; 2 Timothy 4:6). As mentioned, this final stanza is expounded upon in the final cycle, where Jesus sits enthroned and cuts off all the rulers who conspired against the Gospel. Notice also that Jesus’ name appears in line 6 as our Covenant Oath, the one who kept the Law on our behalf.

Read Part 2.

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