The Shape of Matthew 24-25: Analysis – Part 2

Revelation presents the Gospel as four horsemen. The “Day 1” light of the message would lead to the “Day 2” conflict of spiritual war.

Read Part 1.

“And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.”
(Matthew 10:36)

The Coming of the Sword

The “ev-angels” bearing royal decrees rode out in swift succession from the court of the new world emperor—the ascended Christ. The white horse enlightened the Jews but some men loved the darkness. Each step in the cycle concerns an act of division through wise discrimination.

Thus, the red horse brought division between the “Jacobs” and the “Esaus” within Israel. The natural sons were of the “womb-waters” below, Hagar in bondage with her children (Galatians 4:1-31); the spiritual sons were of the “tomb-waters” above, Sarah as the crystal sea, raised up as the walls and gates (curses and blessings) of the true city of resurrection—not the “new Jerusalem” of Nehemiah but the city which it had prefigured.

The new era could not truly commence until the old order was swept away. The “Adam of sin” in the Garden-sanctuary would restrain, that is, suppress the work of God (the same word is used in Romans 1:18) until the self-styled temple-building champion of Judaism was publicly revealed, that is, exposed (apokalyphthēnai) and judged as the enemy of Yahweh (1 Thessalonians 2:3-12). The work of the red horse (Word) would enrage and thus expose the true nature of a Judaism infiltrated, compromised, governed, and now animated by the “red brother,” the Edomite Herods, as a “legal adversary” on the throne, a satanic red dragon.

HIERARCHY

Day 2 – Delegation – PASSOVER – Division
The coming of the sword (Matthew 24:10-20)

CREATION – Ark – Initiation

PRIEST		PEOPLE
I No false gods And then will be offended	TRANSCENDENCE	II No false oaths to God many
III Honor the Sabbath and one another	HIERARCHY	IV Honor parents they will betray
V No murder and hate	ETHICS	VI No adultery one another.
VII No theft – false blessings And many false prophets	OATH/SANCTIONS	VIII No perjury – false curses will arise
X No coveting house and lead astray	SUCCESSION	X No coveting household many.

• The Initiation stanza of the Exodus cycle subtly recapitulates the Ten Words by working through the same structure: five pairs of dyads based upon the biblical covenant pattern (according to the Jewish “scroll” numbering of the commandments). This implies that the rebellion of the first-century Jews against the Gospel was similar to the idolatry of Israel at Mount Sinai. The three thousand slain by the sword of the Levites and the three thousand saved by the preaching of Peter were the bookends of the history of the Law. The correspondence of false prophets with Adam’s theft of the kingdom in the original Sanctuary is telling. In legal terms, the prophets-in-residence were once again behaving like Pharaoh’s court magicians, calling evil good and good evil in order to flatter the king of Israel (Jeremiah 23:9-40).

DIVISION – Veil – Firmament

• The second stanza works through the sevenfold pattern but with a Delegation spin on each step. The lawlessness described here is the same as that which occurred prior to the flood: a rejection of the atoning blood provided in Christ (Yahweh the Provider, Genesis 22:14) always leads to the multiplication of vengeance and the shedding of innocent blood. As in Eden, the legalism of the Pharisees—who were filled with hatred—was the weaponisation of the Law of Love in order to entrap and destroy the people of God. The “blessed” Jews of Matthew 5 and the “cursed” Jews of Matthew 23 would be made apparent by their response to the Spirit of God. This process of discerning between true and false brothers is the primary purpose of John’s first epistle.¹See The Shape of 1-3 John and Jude: A Covenant-literary Analysis.

ASCENSION – Bronze Altar & Table – Land & Fruit Bearers

• The “pulpit” step (Ascension) brings to an end the “priestly head” of this cycle. The “world” is the oikoumene, the Jew-Gentile imperial “household” set up by God after the exile. This era of synagogues prefigured New Covenant churches, but the extended Abrahamic “tent” was ready to pass away.
• The new “all one in Christ Jesus” unity of faith necessarily divided the old households of Israel (Matthew 10:34-36). The filling of the house by the Spirit of God on the Day of Pentecost and the subsequent four household baptisms comprise a legal ratification of a New Covenant. These events were signs to the Jews that this old “cosmos” (order) was passing away. The covenant sign no longer described the sons of men (the fruit of the womb) but instead the Sons of God (the fruit of the tomb). Circumcision of heart finally superseded circumcision of flesh.
• In architectural terms, this fivefold pattern is a human Eden, the light of the Lamb on the mountain and four rivers—as blue tassels on the “wings” of the Jewish robe (Numbers 15:38; Deuteronomy 22:12)—washing away the sins atoned for by the four bloodied altar horns of the Gospels.

TRANSCENDENCE
The Day of Pentecost
The Babelic curse turned into a blessing

HIERARCHY: Exodus
The Household of Cornelius
The “Edenic” prohibitions made obsolete

ETHICS: Leviticus
The Household of Lydia
The Woman rescued, robed, and exalted as co-regent

OATH/SANCTIONS
The household of the Philippian jailer
The Man redeemed from vengeance

SUCCESSION
The household of Justus and Crispus (Gentile and Jew)
A house of prayer for all nations

TESTING – Lampstand – Governing Lights

• Once again, the Kingdom stanza calls for the wisdom of a Solomon in order to outsmart the den of fiery serpents in Jerusalem, a “cutting of flesh” in the discernment of hearts by the Spirit of the Word (Hebrews 4:12). Although Luke mentions Jerusalem being surrounded by armies at this point in his account of the discourse, it is clear that it adds to, rather than replaces, the “desolating sacrilege” mentioned by Matthew. The Temple could only be desolated by Gentiles if God’s glory departed from it, leaving it unprotected. So the preceding sacrilege was something that could only be committed by Jews. The word “standing” is a play on the “standing” or “continual” morning and evening sacrifices, hence the “standing” Lamb in Revelation whose sacrifice was once for all. As Jesus’ “evil twin” (Esau), this is the “ministry” of the “standing dragon” (Revelation 12:4) who stood not as an advocate for the protection of the people but as a counterfeit who waited to devour the true king. Daniel speaks of the “wing of abominations” (Daniel 9:24-27) which alludes to the corner (wing) of a priestly robe (Haggai 2:10-19) that can be corrupted but not made clean, a passage which also speaks of the “stone upon stone” construction of the Temple being hampered by the defiling unbelief of the people. Only the “wings” of Jesus’ robe can stop the flow of blood and heal the resulting barrenness of the Woman (Malachi 4:2; Luke 8:44).
• The first-century event was related to the rescinding of the Abrahamic promises of a fruitful land and a fruitful womb, so it is likely that Jesus was speaking of the massacre of the “144,000” faithful Jews as lambs fed for the slaughter by Peter, who himself was martyred (John 21:15-19).²For more discussion, see James B. Jordan, The Handwriting on the Wall: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel, 466. This “filling up” of the sins of Jerusalem in the “filling up” of the sufferings of Christ would bring about the days of vengeance upon the city. The irony is that the completion of the Temple led not only to numerous extravagant Passover celebrations requiring the slaughter of millions of lambs, but also the mass murder of Christians under a Jewish-Roman (Land-beast and Sea-beast) conspiracy against the Jew-Gentile Church.³For more discussion, see Altar of the Abyss.

MATURITY – Incense – Hosts

• Step 5 of the pattern relates to the “plunder and plagues” multiplication of one’s obedience or disobedience to the Law (Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28). While this stanza is a poetic exhortation against tarrying when the desolation of the city draws nigh, its details allude once again to the laws concerning purification of “leprosy.” The first mention of this condition is the sign given to Moses on the mountain of God. It describes a “serpentine” dusty, scaly appearance of the skin, a theme reprised in the scales that fell from the eyes of the once-draconian, fire-breathing Saul. ⁴For more discussion, see Scales of Justice. The same visual condition served as a ceremonial object lesson in houses and garments. The point is that Jesus had inspected the House of God and found it to be a den of liars and thieves, so He would visit it again to tear it down. Since the “tent” of God was defiled, all the houses of Jerusalem were also defiled. All covering “skins” would be removed in the “circumcision” of the city by the Romans. Those who, like Lot’s wife, looked back to this spiritual Sodom (Revelation 11:8) would be rendered a testimony to eternal barrenness (Luke 17:31-32).
• Note also that the mention of a man in the house and a man in the field alludes to the two sons of Isaac, the priestly and the kingly. The pattern also works architecturally through Exodus 20:4, from above, to beside, to below.

CONQUEST – Laver & Mediators – Animals & Man

• The Oath/Sanctions stanza speaks in veiled terms of a curse upon the womb and the Land, the Woman and the Man. It does so by working through the elements of the Tabernacle as they relate to the Creation Week. In this way, it describes a “de-creation” of the microcosmic “dry land” under the curses of the Law through a removal of the ministry of atonement. The ironic mention of a Sabbath without rest relates to the fact that a Jew was forbidden to travel (Exodus 16:29) which would not only raise the ire of their Jewish brethren but also aid the Jewish rulers in identifying the Christian “apostates.”
• The clever placement of “in those days” at the center (Day 4), alludes to the “sun, moon, and stars” of old Israel, those who thought they could change the times and the seasons (Daniel 7:24-25) but would soon be thrown down by God.

GLORIFICATION – Shekinah – Rest & Rule

• This tribulation was unique because “all nations” were of one mind against the Church. Satan was bound in AD70 that this might not occur again until the end of history, at which point all Christ’s enemies will be exposed and destroyed.
• A “time of trouble” also alludes to the judgment of Achan, for his theft from God, in the Valley of Achor (Joshua 7). The Hebrew`akhor means trouble (or taboo) which is serious and extreme. The Greek word used here means constriction, being hemmed in with no way of escape. Achan’s family ended under a pile of stones, another pointer to Jerusalem’s punishment (and expulsion from the Messianic lineage)⁵Achan was descended from Zerah, son of Tamar by Judah. The Messianic line continued via the lineage of Perez, into which Rahab the harlot married. for standing in the way of further Gospel conquest.

TO BE CONTINUED.

Art: Bayard Wu.

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