JOEL KORYTKO: ARE THE COSMIC DISTURBANCES METAPHORS?

Did Jesus' Prophecy Fail? It's Not Conditional or a Failure @InspiringPhilosophy @maklelan (youtube.com)

Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. (Mark 13:30).

Question: Did Jesus' prophecy fail or was it conditional?  

I like Joel Korytko's answer to this conundrum i.e. "these things" refer to the destruction of the temple in 70AD and not the coming of Jesus Christ.

And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” (Mark 13:1-4)

But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand.. “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things (the destruction of the temple) taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (Mark 13:23,28-31).

Another interpretation is "this generation" does not refer to the current generation, rather it applies to the future generation that will experience the things previously mentioned; "all these things" seem to indicate the imminent return of the Son of Man. ..no one knows the day or the hour etc. (Mark 13:32-37). 

According to Joel Korytko, Jesus' use of Old Testament language regarding cosmic disturbances does not refer to Jesus coming because of their limited geographical context. He sees Jesus' language as metaphoric descriptions of tumult and chaos in society. Korytko's understanding of these OT passages does not factor in their near/far fulfillment.

“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven. (Mark 13:24-27).

The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil,and the wicked for their iniquity; (Isaiah 13:1,9-11).

My understanding is that the OT passages regarding the cosmic disturbances represent "the day of the Lord" (the day of His wrath). The language expands beyond the local situation in Babylon into a global context. 

Keil and Delitsch: "The day of Jehovah's wrath is coming - a starless night - a nightlike, sunless day. "Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, a cruel one, and wrath and fierce anger, to turn the earth into a wilderness: and its sinners He destroys out of it. For the stars of heaven, and its Orions, will not let their light shine: the sun darkens itself at its rising, and the moon does not let its light shine." The day of Jehovah cometh as one cruelly severe ('aczâri, an adj. rel. from 'aczâr, chosh, kosh, to be dry, hard, unfelling), as purely an overflowing of inward excitement, and as burning anger; lâsūm is carried on by the finite verb, according to a well-known alteration of style ( equals ūlehashmı̄d). It is not indeed the general judgment which the prophet is depicting here, but a certain historical catastrophe falling upon the nations, which draws the whole world into sympathetic suffering. 'Eretz, therefore (inasmuch as the notions of land generally, and some particular land or portion of the earth, are blended together - a very elastic term, with vanishing boundaries), is not merely the land of Babylon here, as Knobel supposes, but the earth. Verse 10 shows in what way the day of Jehovah is a day of wrath. Even nature clothes itself in the colour of wrath, which is the very opposite to light. The heavenly lights above the earth go out; the moon does not shine; and the sun, which is about to rise, alters its mind. "The Orions" are Orion itself and other constellations like it, just as the morning stars in Job 38:7 are Hesperus and other similar stars. It is more probable that the term cesiil is used for Orion in the sense of "the fool" ( equals foolhardy).."1

Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations..  

The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome; who can endure it? (Joel 2:1-2,10-11).

"And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. (Joel 2:30-31).

Gods judgement on the nations

Draw near, O nations, to hear, and give attention, O peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
the world, and all that comes from it. For the Lord is enraged against all the nations, and furious against all their host; he has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter. Their slain shall be cast out, and the stench of their corpses shall rise; the mountains shall flow with their blood. All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree. (Isaiah 34:1-4)

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slaved and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:12-17).

Can the Lord's return happen at any time? 

This is the erroneous "imminence" doctrine of the pretrib rapture camp. The man of lawlessness (the Antichrist) will be revealed and the great tribulation must occur before the coming of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 24:21; Daniel 7:25). All three synoptic gospels affirm the Son of Man will return immediately after the cosmic disturbances. (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-25; Luke 21:25-28). 

Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Matthew 24:29-31)

Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

1. Isaiah 13 Keil and Delitzsch OT Commentary (biblehub.com)

Further Links

Celestial Disturbances Archives | ESCHATOS MINISTRIES (alankurschner.com)
7 Pretrib Problems and the Prewrath Rapture (Full Movie) (youtube.com)