Did Jesus mean that heaven and earth would actually pass away in Matthew 24:25?

score:3

Accepted answer

Heaven can mean several things:

  1. The abode of God/angels/righteous
  2. The firmament (sky)
  3. State of utmost happiness

These are related concepts, and even in ancient languages, these meanings are conflated.

When heaven and hell are used together, #1 or #3 make the most sense.

When heaven and earth are used together, #2 probably makes the most sense.

So

The sky and the earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

or

The universe will pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

This isn't hypothetical; this event will happen, on the "day of the Lord",

the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up

2 Peter 3:10

Now, maybe God lives in a new place too -- I don't know any reason why that couldn't be true -- but the point isn't that God gets a new house, so much as it is that all creation will pass away, but not God's word.

Upvote:-1

Yes he did. Revelation and an epistle by Peter confirm this:

Revelation 21:1

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

2 Peter 3:10

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

This is reported in those locations as a literal event, not figurative.

Upvote:0

"Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away" - (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33). The Bible records it three times for double emphasis. It simply means that all created matter may pass away (because the heaven and earth were created by God (Genesis 1:1), but the Word of The Omnipotent God (Revelation 19:6), The Only Potentate (1 Timothy 6:15) - which shares of His most essential attribute - is pure, powerful, totally effectual potentiality in itself, has no capacity to pass away and is eternal in essence.

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