Interplanner
Well-known member
Other than the 4 options for the return of Christ in Mk 13's parable of the servants, most of the NT sees the return right after the destruction of Israel in that generation.
The resurrection was the enthronement of Christ: God made him Lord and Christ; David foresaw the resurrection as the enthronement, Acts 2:30-31; Lk 24 reminded the disciples that Christ was to suffer and enter his glory; Eph 1 says he was enthroned and given a title above any name in this age and the next.
Mt25's 'sheep and goats' imagery starts with that enthronement, but that is not the purpose or attention. The attention is on what believers should be like. With two things going on at the same time, we can see why this was a vital piece: Christ was enthroned, but everything in Israel was going to pieces: revolutions, unthinkable Roman admins, famine, invasion and siege of the city, a police state by the rebels in areas they held, burnings of villages either by the revolt or by Romans in pursuit. The rich classes of Jerusalem didn't want to revolt, but also did not help those who were suffering.
All of which created the misery described in the needs that needed to be met: imprisonment, hunger, destitution.
Hebrews was familiar with all of this. The land was going to be burned, 6:8. The letter implores the believers to remember that the old covenant is over with, certainly not to be fought for, and to expect the suffering of the early days of the church (10:32). The loss of property was to be accepted because they would gain the NHNE. "Don't shrink back and be destroyed" ends ch 10. They may need to shed blood in resisting the evil of the times (12:4). They need to look out for those who were 'strangers' and those in prison (13:1-3). They would suffer like Christ did (12:2) outside the city, because that city (Jerusalem) was doomed and would not endure; they were part of a city that endures. That Jerusalem would not accept that Christ was king and would be overrun by rebels hopelessly trying to fight their way to freedom from Rome. They needed to practice the sacrifice of sharing 13:16.
Most moving of all is 11:33+ because believers at that time in Israel would experience most of that hardship, and 'none of the (previous believers) received what had been promised' v39, but those past and those current ones are now blessed in Christ. Blessed but suffering.
Both passages are written with the expectation that right after this horrible period they were in, they would be with Christ in the NHNE. 12:22. You have come to this new city, you are nearly there...
The resurrection was the enthronement of Christ: God made him Lord and Christ; David foresaw the resurrection as the enthronement, Acts 2:30-31; Lk 24 reminded the disciples that Christ was to suffer and enter his glory; Eph 1 says he was enthroned and given a title above any name in this age and the next.
Mt25's 'sheep and goats' imagery starts with that enthronement, but that is not the purpose or attention. The attention is on what believers should be like. With two things going on at the same time, we can see why this was a vital piece: Christ was enthroned, but everything in Israel was going to pieces: revolutions, unthinkable Roman admins, famine, invasion and siege of the city, a police state by the rebels in areas they held, burnings of villages either by the revolt or by Romans in pursuit. The rich classes of Jerusalem didn't want to revolt, but also did not help those who were suffering.
All of which created the misery described in the needs that needed to be met: imprisonment, hunger, destitution.
Hebrews was familiar with all of this. The land was going to be burned, 6:8. The letter implores the believers to remember that the old covenant is over with, certainly not to be fought for, and to expect the suffering of the early days of the church (10:32). The loss of property was to be accepted because they would gain the NHNE. "Don't shrink back and be destroyed" ends ch 10. They may need to shed blood in resisting the evil of the times (12:4). They need to look out for those who were 'strangers' and those in prison (13:1-3). They would suffer like Christ did (12:2) outside the city, because that city (Jerusalem) was doomed and would not endure; they were part of a city that endures. That Jerusalem would not accept that Christ was king and would be overrun by rebels hopelessly trying to fight their way to freedom from Rome. They needed to practice the sacrifice of sharing 13:16.
Most moving of all is 11:33+ because believers at that time in Israel would experience most of that hardship, and 'none of the (previous believers) received what had been promised' v39, but those past and those current ones are now blessed in Christ. Blessed but suffering.
Both passages are written with the expectation that right after this horrible period they were in, they would be with Christ in the NHNE. 12:22. You have come to this new city, you are nearly there...
