Jesus' Apocalyptic Teaching Gobbet Flashcards
Which main scholars believed Jesus was an Apocalypticist?
Bart Ehrman (main guy)
Saunders (to some degree)
The Destruction of the Temple Foretold (likely the Gobbet)
Mark 13:1-8
“As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down. When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”
The Coming of the Son of Man
Mark 13:24-28
- “But in those days, after that suffering, 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. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.*
- 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.”*
6 Themes in the Coming of the Son of Man
- Supernatural end - “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”
- Dualism (heaven and hell separate) but one will soon end.
- Violence (the coming of the apocalypse will be violent)
- Very physical description - suffering. We may want to say it is metaphorical but normally in parables it says “the KoG is like…” but it doesn’t here.
- Defiance - (13:8 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom”) Morna Hooker - it’s not just going to be the supernatural end of the world but also a secular, societal conflict. The end of the world will be preceded with violent fighting.
- Persecution - we have two distinct timelines of persecution. 1. The people who Jesus is speaking to (Jews racing Roman persecution) and 2. The people reading the gospel (Early church facing Roman Persecution.)
4 Specific themes in the Destruction of the temple foretold
- Very Accurate prediction of the future destruction of the temple. Either because he really is a prophet, or the Gospel writers added it or he humanly rationally predicted it. We can never say what it acc is
- They kept trying to put up photos of Jupiter and Caesar in the temple when Jesus was there and did finally before the destruction so this may indicate that Jesus would not have to stretch far to predict the destruction.
- Possibly Preterism? a Christian eschatological view, interprets some or all prophecies of the Bible as events which have already happened when Jerusalem fell in 70AD. All prophecy has already been fulfilled
- Possibly Futurism? is the belief that the future Jesus predicted is the unfolding of events from trends that are already at work in contemporary human society.
4 Links between these passages and OT
The statements about the sun and moon turning dark sound quite apocalyptic, as it appears to be a quote from the Book of Isaiah. [Isaiah 13:10] “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.”
The description of the sun, moon and stars going dark is also used elsewhere in the Old Testament. Joel wrote that this would be a sign before the great and dreadful Day of the Lord. [Joel 2:30–31] “The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.”
The Book of Revelation also mentions the sun and moon turning dark during the sixth seal of the seven seals, but the passage adds more detail than the previous verses mentioned. [Rev. 6:12–17]
Most scholars see this as a quotation “gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.” (Mark 13:28) from the Book of Zechariah in which God (and the contents of heaven in general) are predicted to come to Earth and live among the elect, who by necessity are gathered together for this purpose
4 General points from the Bart Ehrman article “The Apocalyptic teachings of Jesus”
- He believes Jesus was an apocalypticist himself
- The KoG will come with the imminent, disruptive, forceful apocalypse.
- Not everyone will listen – he says that some are in and some are out of future KoG.
- KoG is a physical, real thing – it is not metaphorical, it’s not just heaven – earth will go and God will rule a physical space.
Bart Ehman:
Reversal of Fortunes
What does it mean and 3 pieces of evidence?
If this is true… What should people do, 1 piece of evidence.
Those in positions of power will have to suffer in KoG and those who suffer will now rejoice.
The present age is being ruled by forces of evil and therefore those who succeed under this rule are empowered by forces of evil. During the coming of the Kingdom evil will be overthrown and God will reassert himself.
Luke 13:29-30 “Those who are last will be first and the first will be last”
(Luke 14:15) The Parable of the Great Dinner. The poor and the crippled are invited to a dinner that the rich have refused. The dinner is the KoG, the people at the bottom get their first.
(Mark 10:43-45) “But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Reward ethic Therefore, the future reversal should affect the way people currently live their lives – one should give up their lives in service of others.
“whoever wants to save his life will completely destroy it and whoever will destroy his life for my sake and the sake of the good news will save it.” Mark 8:35
Bart Ehrman:
Serving Others
3 pieces of evidence
Jesus repeatedly insists that his followers become slaves of others, living lives in service – rather than asserting themselves like domineering masters who constantly seek power and control.
(Mark 10:43-45) “But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Luke 9:48 “For whoever is least among you, this one is great.”
From Q source, “for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:14 & Matt 23:12) Exalted = have power.
Bart Erhman
Salvation for sinners
teachings that show that traditionally sinful people being rpomised salvation
3 examples
Jesus affirmed that it was the sinners and the tax collectors who would enter the KoG before any devout religious folk.
Sinners is not just a term for prostitutes or non-pharisees. According to the Hebrew bible Sinners were people who actively disobeyed God’s law, the law of Moses.
Mark 2:17 “When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
(Parable of the Lost Sheep)“there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
(Parable of the Lost Coin) “Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
Bart Erhman
Salvation for sinners
Teachings that show traditionally righteous people not receiving salvation
2 scripture examples
Matt 21:31-32 “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you; the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.”
Luke 18:9-14 – Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector – the tax collector who is merciful and ashamed of being a sinner is praised more than the Pharisee that is proud and gloats about his righteousness.
The sinners inheriting the KoG makes perfect sense in an apocalyptic sense, there will be a reversal of fate.
Bart Erhman
The Lowly who get lifted
Jesus Beatitudes
The beatitudes are sayings attributed to Jesus where he pronounces ‘blessings’ on certain groups of people.
Matt 5:3-6 (The Sermon on the Mount) “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Verb tenses - the kingdom will come to those who are suffering currently.
Matthew describes the “poor in spirit” while Luke says “you who are poor” he is talking to those who are actually economically poor.
Interestingly in Luke, the beatitudes are followed by the counterparts ‘the woes’ that criticise those in comfort. “Woe to you who are wealthy.” Luke 6:24-26
Bart Erhman
The Coming Destruction
3 scripture refs describing how it wil be
The coming of the Kingdom is often described in a violent and brutal way. The people who do not listen to Jesus are in line for a torturous future.
Matt 18:9 “And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life (also translated as ‘the Kingdom’) with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell of fire.”
Luke 13:28 “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out.”
Matt 25:41 “Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels”
· As well as individual judgement, institutions and governments would be destroyed in order to make space for the kingdom. Eg the temple
· This is why he was so unpopular amongst Jewish leaders, because he stated that the temple would be destroyed.
Bart Erhman
brief outline of the Temple in Jerusalem
The Jerusalem temple was built on instruction from God in the Hebrew bible.
For Jews, it was the only place on earth that they could come to perform animal sacrifices and foodstuffs.
This special reverence came from a belief that God actually dwelt there. In a special room called the Holy of Holies, only the High Priest could enter once a year on Yom Kippur.
It was destroyed at the climax of the Jewish war against Rome in 70CE, never to be built again.
Claims that the temple would be destroyed in the gospels
For Jesus to predict the destruction of this sacred special place, obviously upset a lot of people.
Mark 13:2 “Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”
It was even claimed in the trial that Jesus said he would destroy it himself
“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.’” Mark 14:58
John 2:19 “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days”
