Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Read Chapter 24
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Ep. 199, 22: That now from the Evangelic and Prophetic signs that we see cometo pass, we ought to look that the Lord’s coming should be nigh, who is there that denies? For daily it draws ever more and more near, but of the exact time it is said, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons.” What he spoke was not false, and yet how many years have elapsed, how much more may we not say that the Lord’s coming is at hand now, that so great an accession of time has been made?
Heaven and earth, &c, shall pass away, i.e, shall be changed, shall cease to be, shall perish, as regards their present state and condition, that they may pass into one which is better, and be glorified with the Saints.
Some are of opinion that at the end of the world the heavens will be changed as regards their form and substance. Of this question I have treated at length on2Peter and Isaiah 34:4.
Lastly, this sentence may be understood comparatively, thus, "The heavens shall pass away and perish, sooner than My words shall come to naught."
But of that day (namely, of My glorious coming to judgment) and hour, &c. As if He had said, "Do not, 0 My apostles, ask Me when I shall come again as Judges , or what shall be the day of the general Judgment, for no one except God knoweth this: and He willeth not any other being to know it." "He held them back," says Chrysostom, "from wishing to learn that which the angels are ignorant of." As to the time when the world shall come to an end, t...
Mystically; The Synagogue is likened to the fig tree; its branch is Antichrist, the son of the Devil, the portion of sin, the maintainer of the law; when this shall begin to swell and to put forth leaves, then summer is nigh, i.e. the approach of the day of judgment shall be perceived.
To give sure credit to the things which should come to pass He adds, “Verily Isay unto you, this generation shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled.” By saying “Verily,” He gives asseveration to the truth.
For heaven and earth have in their constitution no necessity of existence, but Christ's words derived from eternity have in them such virtue that they must needs abide.
Or, by “generation” here He means the whole human race, and the Jews in particular. And He adds, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shallnot pass away,” to confirm their faith in what has gone before; as though Hehad said, it is easier to destroy things solid and immovable, than that aught should fail of my words.
The heaven and the earth shall pass away by a change, not by annihilation; for how should the “sun be darkened, and the moon not give her light,” if earth and heaven in which these are should be no more?
Hom. lxxvii: Because He had said that these things should come to pass "immediately after the tribulation of those days,” they might ask, How longtime hence, He therefore gives them an instance in the fig.
He shows that the interval of time shall not be great, but that the coming of Christ will be presently. By the comparison of the tree He signifies the spiritual summer and peace that the just shall enjoy after their winter, while sinners on the other hand shall have a winter after summer.
This analogy also adds credit to His foregoing discourse; for wherever He speaks of what must by all means come to pass, Christ ever brings forward parallel physical laws.
All these things therefore mean what was said of the end of Jerusalem, of the false prophets, and the false Christs, and all the rest which shall happen downto the time of Christ’s coming, That He said, “This generation,” He meant not of the men then living, but of the generation of the faithful; for so Scripture uses to speak of ...
Then to lead them on more in faith, He says, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away; Matthew 24:35 that is, it were more easy for these firm, fixed, and immoveable bodies to be blotted out, than for ought of my words to fall to the ground. And he who gainsays these things, let him test His sayings, and when he has found them true (for so he surely will find them) from what is past, let him believe also the things to come, and let him search out all things with diligence, and he will see the actual events bearing witness to the truth of the prophecy. And the elements He has brought forward, at once to declare, that the church is of more honor than Heaven and earth, and at the same time to indicate Himself by this also to be maker of all. For since He was speaking of the end, a thing disbelieved by many, He brought forward Heaven and earth, indicating His unspeakable power, and showing with great authority, that He is Lord of all, and by these things rendering...
Or, when this fig shall again bud, that is, when the synagogue shall receive the word of holy preaching, as the preaching of Enoch and Elias, then we ought to understand that the day of the consummation is at hand.
. "Generation" here means, not that which was then, but the generation of all believers. It is as if He were saying, "The generation of believers shall not pass away till all these things have occurred.’’ But when you hear of famines and plagues, do not understand that the generation of believers shall perish from these evil things, but it will remain, and no terrible thing will prevail over it. Some have understood "all these things" to refer only to the captivity of Jerusalem, and not to the second coming as well, and so they have interpreted it as follows: "This generation shall not pass away," that is, the generation of you apostles shall see the calamities that will befall Jerusalem. Confirming what has been said, He says that it would be easier for heaven and earth, those fixed and immoveable elements, to be destroyed than for My words to be proven false.
