📢 You will never understand Matthew or Revelation …
… properly if you don’t understand how the Jews spoke of their covenants and temples.
Once you realize the following, the Bible, especially prophecy, will make MUCH more sense to you:
Holies of Holies = heaven
Outer Courts = earth
Covenant = heaven (God’s guarantee) and earth (people’s guarantee)
Sea = temple’s court of gentiles = court of women
Land = temple’s court of Jews = court of men
Sun, moon, and stars = people of Israel
Here is one example of the temple as heaven and earth:
Psalm 78:69
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
Here is one example of the covenant as heaven and earth:
Isaiah 51:16
And I have put my words in your mouth
and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
establishing the heavens
and laying the foundations of the earth,
and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’
This is why Jesus made statements like “it’s easier for heaven and earth to pass away …” and “not one not or tittle will pass away before heaven and earth pass away” and “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words won’t pass away.”
Jesus was contrasting His New Covenant (His words) with the old (heaven and earth/ mosaic)
You see, the disciples never asked Jesus about the “end of time.” They asked him about the “time of the end.” Specifically, the Greek says “consumation of the age,” which they knew related to the destruction of the temple. That’s why when Jesus spoke of the Temple’s destruction, they brought up the end of the age.
Hebrews makes it abundantly clear, labeling the age within which he wrote to be awaiting the “time of reformation.”
Hebrews 9
8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing 9 (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, 10 but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
Hebrews was written shortly before AD 70. The writer opens the book by saying he was in the “last days” and that he and his audience had sought refuge. They were about to experience the complete end of the old covenant, the shattering of the power of the holy people, and the destruction of both Jerusalem and the physical temple.