In this study we will look to Scripture for "heaven and earth" We will let the bible tell us what it means, rather than a dictionary or encyclopedia. Since the Old Testament is often quoted in the New Testament, we should understand the expressions as to what it meant in both. If a word used from the Old Testament was quoted in the New Testament would it's meaning be the same. The point I'm making here is we must get the meaning for "heaven and earth" from the Old Testament.
Let's look at Deuteronomy 31:30; 32:1 God is talking to Israel He calls them, "O heavens," and, "O earth." He is clearly not speaking to the physical heavens and earth. He's talking to Israel. He then warns Israel in Deuteronomy 32:22 of the judgment that He will bring upon them. God is not talking about burning up the physical earth. The point being is, when Israel is finally destroyed, it seem as though heaven and earth are burned up. God is using symbolic language here. and anyone talking this literally doesn't want to study truth.
In Isaiah, the symbolic language of "heavens" refers to governments and rulers.
"earth" refers to the nation of people. Let's take a look at it.
In Isaiah 1:1-2 God is talking to Israel, and in Isaiah 1:10 He calls them
"Sodom and Gomorrah." we see "rulers" used for "heavens" in verse 2, and
"people" used for "earth." We see "heaven and earth" are used to
speak of rulers and people of a nation.
This idea is seen more clearly as we look at other passages where mention is
made of the destruction of a state and government using language which seems to
set forth "the end of the world" as the collapse of heaven and earth.
In Isaiah 13:1 Every Bible scholar out there admits this is doom to Babylon.
The Hebrew word fro "burden" is "massa" It's prophetic utterances, bearing
upon the future of Babylon. In Isaiah 13 God is talking about
judgment that is to fall upon Babylon. Many use Isaiah 13 to back up there
doctrine of the universe ending. And If we don't see the context of this
chapter our future studies will be distorted. If we forget the context, we
will loose the meaning of "heaven and earth". Again, this is not doctrine
to prove the end of the world its against the nation of Babylon. Isaiah 13:6
Isaiah 13:9-13 - What are we talking about here? God is speaking about the destruction of Babylon and nothing else. The symbolic language cannot go outside the land of Babylon. Babylon was destroyed and no more reading into false teachings as some do.
Isaiah 13:17 This is a historical event that took place in 539 BC. When the Medes destroyed Babylon, the Babylonian world came to an end. This destruction is said, in verse 6, to be from the Almighty, and the Medes constitute the means that God uses to accomplish this task. The physical heaven and earth were still in tact, but for Babylon, they had collapsed. This is symbolic language. This is the way the Bible discusses the fall of a nation. This is obviously figurative language.
In the following verses, God refers to Israel as the earth.
He says, "The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the
earth is moved exceedingly. The earth fades away "Notice how many times God referred to Israel as the
"earth." This symbolic language is speaking of the destruction of the people
of Israel.
Isaiah 24:3-6
Isaiah 24:19-20
The earth is Israel and the old covenant, we will soon see.
Again
In Isaiah 34, The fall of Edom. Notice the language that is used
Isaiah 34:4-5
This is describing the fall of Edom. And not to be taken literally!. God says, "His sword will be bathed in
heaven," then explains what He means by saying, "It shall come down on Edom."
His sword being bathed in heaven, means the nation Edom, not the literal heaven.
This is not a literal sword coming down out of Heaven crushing Edom.
In Nahum 1:1-5 Notice the word "burden" as we discussed earlier. Doom is about to take place. This is the judgment of Nineveh, not the physical world. This is the way God describes the fall of a nation. If we know this to be true why do some make it out to be the destruction of the world? It's because they pull a verse or two out of it's meaning and they don't understand the symbolic language. If the destruction of heaven and earth were to be taken literally in all of the Old Testament, that would mean, heaven and earth were destroyed many of times. This language is not literal!
Now we are getting to the good part, I love it
when I can prove my past beliefs wrong only to prove and make today's beliefs
even stronger.
Here it is, Get ready.
The passing away of heaven and earth is another way to speak of the end of the
Old Covenant. And we will prove it from Scripture.
Hebrews 1:10-12 And: "You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of
the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 11 They will perish, but
You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment; 12 Like a cloak You will
fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years
will not fail." Verses 10-12 are quoted from Psalm 102. If we
were a new Christian, one would think that was referring to the physical earth.
The question is So, how is the world, (heavens and earth) of old going to
perish? Let's look at Psalm 102:26 "They shall grow old like a garment,"
and then they would be "changed." The Bible speaks of the passing away of
the old covenant using the same language. Let's look at Hebrews 8:13
He clearly says the old covenant will be obsolete! NOT in addition to a new
covenant. So in reality, what is becoming obsolete and growing old is
ready to vanish away? Well, the writer of Hebrews teaches us that the "Old
Covenant" and the "Heavens and earth" are the same. The Greek word palaioo means
"to make worn out, or declare obsolete" It's use in Hebrews 1:11 of the
heavens and earth and 8:13 of the Old Covenant.
Again, If we don't understand the use of "heaven
and earth", we will not understand Matthew 5:18 and end up in confusion.
The Old Covenant has NO place in the New Covenant! Why is that so hard to
understand? The New Covenant replaced the Old. And believers today live under
the New, not the Old Covenant. Jesus lived in what the Bible calls
"this age". Today we live in what the Bible calls the "age to come". "Matthew
5:17, 18, means the whole Old Testament is authoritative between the two advents
of Christ." The second advent took place in AD 70 at the end of the Jewish age.
So, when the Jewish age ended with the destruction of the temple, so did the
law.
Hebrews 8:13
In AD 65, when this epistle was written, the old covenant was "ready to vanish
away". The Greek word for "vanish" is aphanismos which means: "disappearance or
abrogation".
Matthew 5:18 "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass
away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is
fulfilled.
The law remains in tack, every bit of it, until it is all fulfilled and heaven
and earth pass away. That's what Jesus said, isn't it? Now compare that to what
Jesus says in
Matthew 24:35 (NKJV) "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no
means pass away.
Jesus uses the same Greek word (parerchomai) here for "pass away" as he did in
Matthew 5:18. So, in Matthew 5:18 he says that heaven and earth will pass away
when the law is fulfilled, and in 24:35 he says that heaven and earth will pass
away, but His words will not pass away. So, Jesus' words would last forever, but
the "Law" and the "heavens and earth" would pass away.
We must live by the words of Christ Jesus, which will never pass
away. Jesus brought in the New Covenant, which is an everlasting covenant. The
old is passed away, and we live in the New Covenant age.