How To Read Biblical Prophecy
Calvinist Jeff Durbin is an elder of Apologia Church and the founder of Apologia Studios.1
Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (Revelation 1:7-8).
Durbin: "'Jesus is coming with the clouds' ..that throws people because they expect to see something that scripture speaks differently about." Durbin's argument that Jesus' return "with the clouds" should be interpreted symbolically is extremely problematic and has significant implications for the rest of Scripture, particularly in the context of eschatology. Usually, it is not difficult to discern which parts of the scriptures are symbolic and which parts are literal. Over symbolism destroys historical Christianity and leads believers into error and liberalism. As a result, we might begin to misinterpret the literal ascension of Jesus into heaven, the existence of the star of Bethlehem, the virgin birth, Jesus' miracles, or any number of literal events.
Jesus' ascension affirms His literal return from heaven.
After He had said this, they watched as He was taken up, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11).
Various passages refer to Jesus' literal return "with the clouds" or "from heaven". (Matthew 24:30,26:64; Luke 21:27; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Cosmic Disturbances
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 heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His [elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31).
The above passage refers to events preceding the gathering together (ἐπισυνάξουσιν) of the elect. In other passages, this event is referred to as harpazo > caught up. (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Incidentally, Matthew 24:29-31 utterly debunks the pretrib rapture theory since these events happen "after the tribulation". Further passages clarify that the cosmic disturbances and rapture occur between the sixth and seventh seal of Revelation.
Durbin: "When God uses dramatic prophetic hyperbole throughout the Bible to talk about his coming judgment, when he uses cosmic deconstruction language like the stars are going to fall from the heavens, the sun's not going to give its the sun's going to be dark and the moon's not going to give its light, we look up with western eyes and we say, 'Where's the stars and meteors? When's it coming When's that going to happen?' But if you read this with biblical eyes, with a different kind of lens in terms of the lens of scripture, you can see that when God used that language of cosmic deconstruction, it was judgment language about Babylon or Egypt. In Isaiah 13, for example, he used that exact language. Jesus was quoting from it, by the way. He used that exact language about the historic judgment of a pagan nation. And was it literal? Did the stars literally fall from the earth to the earth? No. No. It was cosmic deconstruction language.."
The phrase "the Day of the Lord" is an identifier for eschatological passages in both the Old and New Testaments. This phrase is found in Zephaniah 1:14-2:3; Isaiah 2:10-21; Isaiah 13:6-13; Amos 5:18-20; Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1-2, 10-11; Joel 3:14-16; Zechariah 14:1-4; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11; 2 Peter 3:1-14.
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).
Interestingly, the cosmic disturbances are accompanied by
"a great earthquake". Does Durbin interpret
the great earthquake as hyperbole as well?
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, slave 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).
Durbin's eschatology is compromised by entrenched preconceived ideas from his tradition. The consequence of this baggage is that he misinterprets the scriptures grievously. Durbin and others have made themselves the final arbiters of which parts of the bible are to be taken literally, and in doing so, they elevate themselves above God. The scriptures compel us to correctly interpret the word of truth! (1 Timothy 2:15).
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