The Gathering of the elect

The Gathering of the elect

The term "gathering of the elect" is found in Matthew 24:31.

Mat 24:31  And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

Jesus had spoken of the gathering of His people before Matthew 24. In Mat 23:37-38, we read of how Jesus lamented over Jerusalem because He was trying to gather His people together like a hen gathering her chicks, but they were not willing to be gathered. And because of that, their house i.e. their Temple will be left desolate, thus prophesying about the imminent coming destruction of the Temple by the Roman armies in AD70.

Mat 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 

Mat 23:38  See, your house is left to you desolate. 

Jesus gathering was a spiritual gathering. The Temple will be destroyed but the Temple that He is building in us will live forever. God had this intention of living inside of us by His Holy Spirit, like what Paul would say "God in us, the hope of glory" and "You are the Temple of the Holy Spirit". Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, that a time is coming where the worship of God is not a locality like Jerusalem or a mountain, but will be within us as long as it is in spirit and truth. But alas to say, the Jews rejected Jesus, and rejected His gathering, and so God had to bring down the entire system of Jewish religion (Judaism) centred around the Temple, so that He can execute His gathering of the elect.

Some futurists have said that Mat 24:31 refers to a future event called the rapture where "angels" and spiritual beings will gather His people from the world. This is not true, and has been taken out of the context of the entire chapter of Matthew 24 which is not speaking of our future event but of their soon coming event of the destruction of Jerusalem.

In a parallel passage to Matthew 24, we read in Mark 14:61-62, where Jesus is talking to the high priest and the Sanhedrin that they will physically see Jesus coming in power and with the clouds of heaven.

Mar 14:61  But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 

Mar 14:62  And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 

This is not our future event called the rapture!. This happened 2000 years ago when the high priest and the Pharisees and the Jewish people actually saw the coming of Jesus to gather His elect. Those that did not believe in Jesus and His message were not gathered because they did not acknowledge Him as their Messiah. They did not see this Jesus as their Savior and they only wanted to see what they had envisioned in their minds. For that they crucified Jesus to get rid of Him who was an stumbling block to their plans. They refused to be counted as part of God's elect and when Jesus came again for the salvation of His people, they missed out the gathering.

The English word "angel" in Matthew 24:31 came from the original Greek word called "aggelos". "Aggelos" does NOT mean a spiritual being or angel. In fact, the Greek word "aggelos" actually mean "messenger" and that's all. A pastor can be called an "aggelos". An evangelist can be called an "aggelos". Anyone who carries a message is called an "aggelos". In fact John the Baptist was called "aggelos" several times in the bible, and John was never a spiritual being but a human.

Luk 7:24  When John's messengers (aggelos) had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 

Luk 9:52  And Jesus sent messengers (aggelos) ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. 

Mat 11:10  This is he (John) of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger (aggelos) before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 

Mark 1:2  As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger (aggelos) before your face, who will prepare your way"

Luke 7:27  This is he (John) of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger (aggelos) before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 

2Co 12:7  So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger (aggelos) of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 

Jas 2:25  And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers (aggelos) and sent them out by another way? 

Of course, angels can be messengers but messengers need not be angels.

The translators of Matthew 24:31 felt that the word "aggelos" should be translated as angels, but a proper word should be just "messengers".

Q: Why should "aggelos" in Matthew 24:31 be translated as "messengers" and not "angels"?

A: After Jesus died and was resurrected, there was a huge gathering of people believing in Jesus due to the working of the Holy Spirit, and particularly the work of spreading the gospel by His disciples (human messengers). The apostles took the message of Jesus to all the 4 corners of the land from the east to the west, and from the north to the south (thus the term "four winds").

So you can see that it was human messengers who took the gospel and took up the task of the spiritual gathering of believers in Jesus and not angels. In fact, angels or spiritual beings had never been given the task of presenting the gospel of Jesus. It was the task of Jesus disciples like you and me. We now are the "aggelos" - human messengers of Jesus taking the gospel to the whole world, to bring about a continuous gathering of the elect.

When Caiaphas prophesied that Jesus will cause the  nation of Israel to be in trouble because Rome is  going to destroy them in John 11:49-52, the author John added that Caiaphas was not just prophesying about this Jesus but also about the great gathering of all the children of God because of the work of this Jesus. This gathering of God's children had always been in the eternal plan of God.

Milton Terry in his book "Biblical Hermeneutics" 1898 wrote about this gathering of the elect:

[  This verse has been understood figuratively of the sending forth of the messengers of the gospel to gather unto Christ an elect church in place of the outcast Israel. In that sense, it was a procedure which followed the Parousia and still continues ]

Q: Why is this procedure still continues?

A: It is because we are still seeing the gathering of the people of God through the presentation of the gospel. This is the mandate to take the kingdom and spread it all over the earth. We are part of that gathering and  we are part of the messengers who gathers. It is not angels  that are presenting the gospel. We are the messengers that are the presenters of the gospel.

Jesus also prophesied earlier before this Matthew 24 passage about this gathering in Matthew 8:11-12.

Mat 8:11  I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 

Mat 8:12  while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. 

Those that were outside of Judaism will be gathered from the east to the west, while those that had the kingdom will be left out, even those who claimed to have the blood line of Israel and the 12 tribes.

Q: How did the early church viewed this gathering spoken of by Jesus?

A: In Acts 15, we read of the great gathering even affecting the Gentiles, those that were outside of the Jewish community. Peter had a vision in Acts 10 to prepare him to accept Cornelius (a Gentile of Italian origin) to be part of the gathering of the elect. Paul and Barnabas also testify of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles in their ministry. Because this phenomena was a new happening, the council in the church in Jerusalem called a meeting to discuss this issue of Gentiles coming to believe in Jesus.

James the leader of the council made a decision and quoted Amos 9:11-12, saying that this gathering of the Jews and Gentiles was in agreement to the prophecy by Amos about the gathering of the elect of God, and the rebuilding the tabernacle of David.

Side note: The tabernacle of David had no walls and God met with His people and vice versa regularly. James is saying that Jesus is fulfilling the building of the tabernacle of David so that all the people can come to know God. And for that to happen, the tabernacle of Jerusalem must fall down then only can the tabernacle be rebuilt.

Paul told the Galatian church in Gal 4:22-26, to give up on Hagar and Ishmael (the old Jerusalem) and to go for Sarah (the new Jerusalem). The old Jerusalem is the earthly Jerusalem that was destroyed in AD70. The new Jerusalem lives forever in the Temple of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

We are  now the new Jerusalem that is  gathered into Jesus Christ. Paul tells us in Eph 1:10,

Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 

Jesus is still in the process of gathering all things unto Himself.

Exra Palmer Gould in his book "Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Mark's gospel" 1896, wrote regarding to Matthew 24:31

[  All the processes by which men are brought to the acknowledgement of Christ and the obedience of the kingdom belong to the gathering of the elect. The angels represent the invisible heavenly agencies in an earthly event. The introduction of them means that there is that invisible divine side to a human transaction, back of all that men are doing for the conversion of the world is the Lord Jesus Christ with the hosts of heaven.

As for the time, it begins then at the  time of the consummation of the Jewish age because Judaism was  the great obstacle at that time to the universal spread of the kingdom. Under its influence, Christianity threatened to become a mere appendage of Judaism to have the particularism, formalism and legalism of that religion grated up it in such a way that it could never become a universal religion. With the removal of this obstacle, could begin not the gathering of the elect but the gathering of them from the four quarters of the world, the universal gathering.   ]

God would find it fit to break outside of the borders of Judaism and Jerusalem to go get the rest of the world. He removed the great obstacle.

Q: Someone asked that could it be that the "gathering of the elect" meant the physical gathering of the believers just before the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple?

A: Yes, it can mean that as well. If we consider the Context of the passage in Matthew 24, the "gathering of the elect" can refer to the gathering of the believers outside of Jerusalem while the city was being destroyed by the Roman armies as described in the parallel passage of Luke 21:20-21.

Luk 21:20  But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. 

Luk 21:21  Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it.

What did Luke meant by "Jerusalem surrounded by armies"?

Acccording to history, the First Jewish–Roman War began in the year AD66. It started with religious tensions between the Greeks (of Roman citizenship) and the Jews. The tension increased when the Jewish rebels attacked the Romans due to their taxation policies.

In response to the Jewish uprising, the Romans plundered the Jewish Temple and executed about 6,000 Jews in Jerusalem leading to a huge rebellion against Rome.

The small Roman military garrison of Judea was then easily defeated by the Jewish rebels and the pro-Roman king Agrippa II fled Jerusalem together with his Roman officials.

When the rebellion was growing, Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, brought the Syrian army together with auxiliary forces to try to restore order and quench the rebellion.

See:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/history-of-the-jewish-war/neros-war-i-the-blunder-of-cestius-gallus/96D313480094F1FE648A41266B60CCA4

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cestius_Gallus

However, despite making several attempts, the Syrian and Roman armies were ambushed and defeated by the Jewish rebels at the Battle of Beth Horon and 6,000 Romans were killed. This shocked the leadership at Rome.

When these events were happening, the Christian believers, especially the Jews who remembered the many warnings of Jesus about Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, began to flee Jerusalem for the hills of Judea.

That was the physical meaning of the "gathering of the elect".

See a similar description about the war in my previous post:

https://advancingtruth.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-great-tribulation.html

Flee to the Mountains

Flee to the Mountains

This phrase "flee to the mountains" is found in Mat 24:16; Mark 13:14; Luk 21:21

Let's look at Matthew:

Mat 24:16  Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 

Mat 24:17  Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 

Mat 24:18  Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.

 

Mat 24:19  And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 

Mat 24:20  But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day.

The Jewish historian Josephus tells us that the general Caius Cestius Gallus of the Roman armies, was the 1st of all the generals to initiate an attack on the city of Jerusalem. He attacked the surrounding walls (which was acting as a protection wall) for 5 days and after that he stopped. He didn't continue his attack for certain reasons. It was during this period of non-attack mode, that the Jews came out and killed 5300 Roman soldiers and chased the armies away.

See a write up on the general:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cestius_Gallus

From the account, it seems that the Jewish army was winning against the Romans. However, Josephus noticed a rather peculiar happening, and that is many of the eminent Jews ran away from the city, like those fleeing from a ship about to sink. Josephus couldn't understand why the Jews left the city after a short victory over the Romans.

Josephus was a Jew who became a Roman citizen. He was not a Christian and so he did not write from a spiritual perspective but wrote everything as he saw.

Eusebius, who is a Christian and one of the earliest church historian, was a 3rd Century church leader and writer. In fact, he has the only surviving written accounts of the church history in the 1st 300 years. There were very few written accounts and whatever was written by other church leaders could have been lost or destroyed in the war.

See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eusebius

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus

In Eusebius book "History of the Church: page 111" he wrote:

[  Furthermore the members of the Jerusalem church, by means of an oracle given by revelation to acceptable persons there, were ordered to leave the city before the War began, and settled in a town in Perea called Pella. To Pella, those who believed in Christ migrated from Jerusalem, and as if holy men had utterly abandoned the royal metropolis of the Jews and the entire Jewish land. The judgement of God at last overtook them for the abominable crimes against Christ and His apostles, completely blotting out that wicked generation from among men.. ]

Q: What was that oracle given by revelation?

A: It was Matthew 24:16 (see above).

This was the common knowledge among Christians even from the 1st Century. When they saw Caius start the assault they just fled, even though the Jewish army enjoyed a short victory over the Romans. For the Christians, they did not see it as a victory for Jerusalem. They took it as a fulfillment of Jesus warning according to Mat 24:16. Jesus ask them to leave, so they left.

John Gill, a respected bible scholar and theologian, said in his book "Exposition of the New Testament (1852)" with regard to Mat 24:16.

[  It is remarked by certain interpreters, that which Josephus took noticed off with surprise, that Caius having advanced to Jerusalem and besieged it, all of a sudden without any cause, raised the siege and withdraw his army when the city might have easily been taken. By which means, a signal was made and an opportunity given to the Christians to make their escape. Which they accordingly did, and went over to Jordan, as Eusebius said to a place called Pella. So when Titus came a few months later to destroy the city, there was not a Christian in Jerusalem anymore.  ]

It looks like the Christians took Jesus warnings very seriously in that generation. It was a life and death decision. When they saw the armies start to surround Jerusalem, they fled.

In Mat 24:17-20 Jesus gave very specific and detailed instructions to His disciples.

v17 - make haste, and don't waste any time. If you are on the housetop, don't go back into the house. Don't return to take anything. The flat roof of those days has access to the outside of the building. They also have walkways leading from one housetop to another. The Jews spent lots of time on the housetops. It was like another room to them, maybe to escape the heat or for greater fresh air. With the warning, they can easily jump down from housetop to housetop and run away. They were to leave the city immediately by going to the city gates and flee to the mountains. It was a very serious situation. This was the window of opportunity for them to flee, when the Roman armies are retreating.

v18 - when they are in the fields, don't go back to the city. There is no time to gather anything but to flee away from the city into the mountains.

v17 and v18 is very similar to another historical incident in Jewish history when God rained judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah as recorded in book of Genesis. In the story, Lot and his wife and family were to flee the city.

Gen 19:17 tells us that they were not even allowed to look back but to escape to the mountains. Jesus, being a Jew, knew about this history of Lot and his wife, and He used this story as an example to the Jews as to how to do it.

In a parallel account to Mat 24:17-20, we find in Luke 17:28-32.

Luk 17:28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 

Luk 17:29  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 

Luk 17:30  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. 

Luk 17:31  In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. 

Luk 17:32  Remember Lot's wife. 

Jesus didn't have to tell them what happened to Lot's wife. He just said "remember her". They all knew what happened to her when she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt ! (an Aramaic idiom).

Jesus showed the correct interpretation of Lot and his wife, to remind the Jews, of the coming judgement and not to go back to Jerusalem, if not they will die.

Mat 24:19 if they are pregnant with a child or are carrying a baby, it is going to be difficult for them in fleeing. The journey will be difficult. The  terrain will be difficult. The running and walking will be difficult.

v20 - pray that it will not be in winter or on sabbath. This verse showed us that even Jesus did not know the exact time or exact day when the Day of Vengeance is going to happen. All that the Father God has shown to Jesus was that it is going to happen to that generation and it is very soon. He did not know whether it will happen in winter or summer, or on a Thursday or Friday. If it is in winter, it will be tougher on them, as the days will be short and the nights will be long.

As for the sabbath day, Christians are no longer bound under the Old Covenant of observing the sabbath day. That's why in Acts, we see the disciples did not observe the Sabbath day. For the Christians, Jesus is our sabbath. Jesus said that only the Father  knows the day or the hour.

Why did Jesus mentioned about praying that the Day will not be on sabbath day?

It could be that the Jews in Jerusalem are still very traditional Jews in practices. They were in a transition of following after Jesus Christ, and so some of their traditions have  not been completely dealt with. The rest of the Jews almost 99% of the population in the city still observe the sabbath very strictly but not the disciples of Jesus.

Another reason could be that on a sabbath day, the Jews have travel restrictions. Their previous rabbi only gave them 2000 steps to walk on a sabbath day, that is less than half a mile. If they truly observe this ritual, then they cannot reach the mountains. Also to enforce this rule, the city gate keepers actually close the gates on the sabbath day, and make it compulsory for Jews not to travel outside the  city.

Q: What will happen to them if they do not take heed to these warnings of Jesus to flee away to the mountains?

A: Luke 19:43-44 tells us that the enemy is  going to dig a trench around them and encompassed them, and they cannot get in or get out anymore. They will be surrounded by the invading armies.

That was the reason Josephus observed that the Christian Jews were fleeing the city of Jerusalem like people swimming away from a sinking ship.