Nothing belongs to Caesar: The idea that Jesus believed anything else is preposterous

Tiberius

The earth is the Lord's.

-- Exodus 9:29

For all the earth is mine.

-- Exodus 19:5

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD'S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

-- Deuteronomy 10:14

The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

-- Psalm 24:1

For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.

-- I Corinthians 10:26, 28

For all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine.

-- I Chronicles 29:11

The day is thine, the night also is thine.

-- Psalm 74:16 

The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine. 

-- Psalm 89:11

Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

-- Isaiah 66:1

What Belongs To Caesar Belongs To God, Because Even Caesar Belongs To God

The earth is the Lord's . . . and they that dwell therein . . . whether they like it or not.

Who Rules The World, The Lord Or The Devil?

"He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD'S, and on them he has set the world."

-- 1 Samuel 2:8

"The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."

-- Psalm 24:1

"Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God. ... If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof."

-- Psalm 50:7, 12

"The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them."

-- Psalm 89:11

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out."

-- John 12:31

"I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me."

-- John 14:30

"[T]he ruler of this world is judged."

-- John 16:11

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

-- Ephesians 6:12

Jesus didn't teach a rapture of the just

Jesus Didn't Teach a 'Rapture' of the Just

Jesus simply taught an imminent end of the world and final judgment, at which time the Son of Man (himself) would appear in the heavens with the clouds of glory and with the holy angels, who would separate the wicked from the just, cleansing God's kingdom, the world, from all evil, casting the wicked into eternal fire, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus called for removing all evil from the world as a matter of first importance, then gathering the righteous together after that.

This is the plain meaning of the parable of the tares and of the wheat, which must grow up together until the end in order to preserve the just alive. We are told that the angels first bundle up the tares, and throw them into the flames. Otherwise their presence would complicate what comes next. The wheat left behind must be winnowed with a fork, and its kernel separated and gathered with the rest into God's barn.

This is also the plain meaning of Jesus' analogy to the days of Noah, when the earth was cleansed of evil by water. So of the two workers in the field and of the two women at the mill, the one removed in each instance is the wicked one, not the righteous one. They are gathered by the angels, yes even caught up in the air perhaps, and consigned immediately to the flames.

This is the plain meaning of Matthew 13, and even of Matthew 24 which is a later attempt to rationalize the teaching of Jesus from the point of view of the failure of his prediction of the end of the world during his lifetime. The evidence is conveniently assembled for you here.

 

It is the also the plain teaching of the Old Testament.

 

The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

 

-- Psalm 24:1

 

The righteous shall never be removed: but the wicked shall not inhabit the earth.

 

-- Proverbs 10:30  

Larry Norman in the early 1970s is an example of one who popularized (in his music-"the Son has come and you've been left behind") the misconception that the just would be "raptured" from the earth, leaving the damned behind to suffer the end of the world.

In truth, the idea goes back to J.N. Darby in the early 19th century, and before him into the 18th, in keeping with all the other bad ideas of modernity. We seem to get things exactly backwards.

So if you're still here at 7 PM tomorrow night, count it all joy my brethren! Old men dream dreams. It's just that they might not know what they mean.