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"It's raining cats and dogs."
Today, we know this phrase is not to be taken literally. But, if one were to bury these words, and they were dug up thousands of years later, what would they think? Would they believe that, in their past, it literally rained cats and dogs?
Idioms for Idiots
Let's take a close look at how the Bible uses the same terminology used by Jesus in Matthew 24, by Paul, and other New Testament teachers.
Celestial Bodies
To Israel , the words Sun, Moon and Stars did not always refer to the literal Sun, Moon, Stars and the Earth – any more than these words are always literal for us today.
What happens when to someone when they are hit on the head really hard? (They see stars.) We all know there are places where the sun doesn't shine, and that mooning someone does not mean we should open a window at night. We eat Moon Pies. We can have stars in our eyes.
 Celestial Bodies Were Sentient
To an ancient Israelite, the Sun, Moon, Stars could be something different than what we see in the sky at various times during the celestial cycles. They were representative of power and authority:
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. (Psalms 19:1)
What's often missed are the verses following this well-known passage:
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. [There is] no speech nor language, [where] their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (Psalms 19:2-4)
If King David is referring to the literal celestial bodies, how can they sing, show knowledge, and speak in many languages everywhere in the land (eretz) and inhabitable world (tebel)?
In Genesis 37, Joseph had a dream:
…and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. (Verse 9)
Years later, the sun (Jacob/Israel, his father) and the moon (Rachael, his mother) and the eleven stars (his eleven brothers) would bow to him in Egypt during the famine. This is the correct way to interpret the language of the dream, because Jacob/Israel responded:
Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? (Verse 10)
Any reference Bible will tie Genesis 37:9 to Revelation 12:1:
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:..
The symbology of the Sun, Moon an Stars as being Israel is acknowledged by virtually every dispensational teacher. Why, then, is this symbology not applied to Matthew 24:29?
The Sun and the Moon represented the Father and the Mother, who begat and ruled over the Stars. Israel had a tendency to worship the heavens:
And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun , and the moon, and the stars, [even] all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. (Deut 4:19 )
And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun , or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded… (Duet 17:3)
The Sun and the Moon were figures of power, set up by Yahweh God:
Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun , stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. (Joshua 10:12)
The present and expectant heavenly bodies did not move – but stayed present – while the Covenant people fought their enemies:
And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. [Is] not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. (Joshua 10:13)
This happened while the Amorites were delivered up to the Children of Israel (Joshua 10:12.) They sang praises:
Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. (Psalms 148:3)
Celestial Bodies Were Enduring
The use of the Sun and the Moon were used to represent something eternal:
They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. (Psalms 72:5)
His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun … (Psalms 72:17)
The thing that hath been, it [is that] which shall be; and that which is done [is] that which shall be done: and [there is] no new [thing] under the sun . (Ecc 1:9)
This eternalness was used covenantally, to signify the “foreverness” of His love for His Covenant People:
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and [as] a faithful witness in heaven. Selah. (Psalms 89:37)
To him that made great lights: for his mercy [endureth] for ever: The sun to rule by day: for his mercy [endureth] for ever: The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy [endureth] for ever…. [Even] an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy [endureth] for ever….O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy [endureth] for ever. (Psalms 136 pertinent portions)
Celestial Bodies Could be Pleased
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun , and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound. (Isaiah 30:26)
Celestial Bodies Could be Angry
When the Covenant people were outside his will, the Sun, Moon and Stars were described variously:
While the sun , or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: (Ecc 12:2)
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. (Isa 13:10)
Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion , and in Jerusalem , and before his ancients gloriously. (Isaiah 24:23)
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. (Eze 32:7)
The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: (Joel 2:10 )
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come. (Joel 2:31)
The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. (Joel 3:15)
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon , and I will darken the earth in the clear day: (Amos 8:9)
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: (Matt 24:29)
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light (Mark 13:24 )
And there shall be signs in the sun , and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring… (Luke 21:25)
And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. (Luke 23:45)
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come (Acts 2:20 )
And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance [was] as the sun shineth in his strength. ( Rev 1:16 )
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; ( Rev 6:12 )
And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. ( Rev 8:12 )
And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. ( Rev 9:12 )
Note: There are several times in last days events where the sun is darkened.
And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun ; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire… (Rev 16:8)
Celestial Bodies and Covenants
The brightness of the sun and the moon and the starts were used to guide Israel at various points in their history. Without the light from these celestial bodies, Israel would once again wander:
The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. (Isaiah 60:9)
Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. (Isaiah 60:20)
Therefore night [shall be] unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. (Micah 3:6)
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Mal 4:2)
In the fulfillment of the New Covenant, these celestial bodies – covenantally speaking – were no longer needed to direct the paths of the covenant people:
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. ( Rev 7:16 )
And the city had no need of the sun , neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light thereof… ( Rev 21:23 )
And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun ; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever… (Rev 22:5)
Celestial Bodies and Resurrection
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. (Matthew 13:43)
And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun , and his raiment was white as the light. (Matthew 17:2)
[There are] also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial [is] one, and the [glory] of the terrestrial [is] another. [There is] one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for [one] star differeth from [another] star in glory. So also [is] the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: (1 Cor 15:40 -42)
And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow [was] upon his head, and his face [was] as it were the sun , and his feet as pillars of fire… (Rev 10:1)
And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun , and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars… (Rev 12:1)
Celestial Bodies as Witnesses
Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, [and] the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts [is] his name: (Jer 31:35)
The Sun
Israel did things (or didn't do them) according to the cycles of the sun, such as sleeping in their rainment (Deut 24), washing and returning to camp (Duet 23:11 ). The sun was not to set until the workman was paid his wages (24:15) or while one is angry (Eph 4:26 ).
The Earth
The earth was viewed in relation to the Sun, Moon and Stars (the heavens). When the earth was in Yahweh's will, its relationship to the Sun, Moon and Stars was stable:
When the earth was out of His Will, the earth would become volatile and unstable:
I beheld the earth, and, lo, [it was] without form, and void… (Jer 4:23)
For this shall the earth mourn… (Jer 4:28)
In the Old covenant, the earth held the dead:
Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. (Isaiah 26:19)
For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. (Isaiah 26:21)
Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it. (Isaiah 45:8)
The earth shook when He spoke:
Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken [Old Covenant Elements], as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12:26-27)
This, by the way, is a reference to Haggai:
For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth , and the sea, and the dry land.. (Haggai 2:6)
The Clouds
Paul assured the Thessalonians that they would be caught up with the saints who had gone on before "in the clouds." Paul was talking to living, breathing Thessalonians:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
Letting the Bible interpret itself, what was the Hebrew writer, Paul, meaning when he spoke concerning gathering in the clouds? Did he mean literal, physical clouds in the sky, as premillinealism teaches?
Yahweh Dwells in the Clouds
And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: (Exe 13:21 )
And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians… (Exe 14:24)
And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. (Exe 19:9)
And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. (Exe 20:21)
And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. (Exe 24:15)
Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. (1 Kings 8:12 )
The Day of the Lord Concerns Clouds
For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. (Eze 30:3)
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. (Joel 2:1-1)
The Prophets described Jesus Returning in the Clouds (as His Father before!)
Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots [shall be] as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled. (Jer 4:13)
Mountains
The Holy City was referred to as in the Holy Mountain (Daniel 9:16 , Isaiah 56:7, Zech 8:3) which is His Government (Isaiah 65:11) administered by His Covenant People , Israel (Eze 20:40 ).
The prophets prophesied that the Holy Mountain would face a Day of the Lord:
Blow ye the trumpet in Zion , and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand… (Joel 2:1)
They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? (Joel 2:9-11)
The LORD also shall roar out of Zion , and utter his voice from Jerusalem ; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel . So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion , my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. (Joel 3:17-18)
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. (Jer 4:24)
The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs….Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs? (Chapter 114:4-6)
So, what did Jesus mean when He said:
Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith , and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain , Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. (Matthew 21:21)
Jesus did not mean a literal mountain, but the temple, the city, the chief priests, and the elders that were about to ask him:
…By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority? (Matthew 21:23)
Jesus, in talking to them, said:
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. (Matthew 21:43)
Have these things not happened?
Conclusion
Letting the Bible interpret itself, the Hebrew people used hyperbole, like we do today. These were a people with their language and culture, that must be understood in its context. Today, in our Greek/Western mindset, this language - used by the prophets and repeated by the Inspired writers - should not always be taken literally.
Here, now, is a challenge. Demonstrate – using the Word of God alone – that the following terms must be describing horrible, earthly or cosmos-destroying events rather than hyperbole:
- Sun will be darkened
- Moon will be turned to blood
- Lightenings, voices and thunderings (Rev 11)
- Earthquakes
- Great hail
- Stars falling from the sky
- Islands disappearing
- Mountains skipping like lambs
- Moon abashed, sun ashamed
- Sky rolling back as a scroll
- The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard
- Returning in the clouds
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