By Yelibenwork Ayele
The Late Great Planet Earth is one of the most popular and one of the most misleading books on end time prophecy.
Lindsey thinks Matt 24 is about the end of the world but that is not the case.
It begins by assuming that Jesus prophesied about the last days of this world when he spoke at length in response to the disciples’ questions in Matthew 24.
Hal Lindsey’s inattention to the context of Matthew 24 is responsible for the errors he has sown on the pages of his bestseller. In Matt 24 Jesus had just pronounced the destruction of the temple when his disciples asked him, “Tell us, when will these things happen?”
The key to understanding the meaning of what follows throughout the whole chapter is in this question. The phrase, “these things” in the question is about the destruction of the temple. Now the temple in Jerusalem had been the center of Jewish religion and identity for God had sanctified the temple and promised to live in their midst and to put his name on the temple. It is so important for them. Yet Jesus said the temple would be no more. So they wanted to know when it would be destroyed and what events would accompany its destruction.
But Hal Lindsay in his book quotes the disciples’ question and jumps to the most unlikely conclusion that they were asking about the end of the world.
Of course there are words in their question which appear to be concerning the end of the world and the second coming. “When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world?”
A careful study of the context and of a couple of Greek words in the question reveals that the disciples were not asking about the whole world nor about the end of the world. Moreover, in the way Jesus answered their question, we can see that
1. He was not speaking about the whole world about his prophecy concerned a limited geographical area in Palestine. He sai, “Those who are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains.” He never said a word about those who are in Africa, in Asia, or in Europe and what they should do.
2. He was not speaking about the distant future or what should happen in our days. Addressing those who were listening to him then and there, he said, “This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled” (verse 34)
Some have disputed that “this generation” might refer to a future generation which will live to see the great tribulation and and the final days of our world. But that cannot be true. He was not ignoring his audience and addressing a generation removed from them by thousands of years. He was telling them of events that would take place in their life time for he had also said to them in the 16 chapter, “There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom”.
Greek words
In the question that the disciples asked, we find a couple of phrases which, in English, appear to support the author’s conclusion that the disciples were interested in the end of the world and that Jesus spoke about the same. But the fact, as revealed by a study of those two words in the original language, is far different from what Lindsey would have us believe.
1. “…the sign of your COMING”
The King James bible puts it as “the sign of thy COMING,” but the word translated as “coming” actually means presence. That is the presence of Jesus Christ by the Spirit in and among his followers after the resurrection. When Saul, who later became the apostle Paul, was persecuting the believers, Jesus confronted him on the road to Damascus and and said to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute ME?” Notice that Jesus did not say, “Why do you persecute my followers?” He was in them and inseparable from them. Therefore whatever happened to them happened to him.
2. “…the end of the WORLD”
This is the other misleading translation. Most English translations other than the King James version have revised the rendering of the Greek word “aion” in this question. The NKJV, NIV, NASB and quite a few others have put it as the “end of the AGE”. That makes more sense that the end of the WORLD because the entirety of Jesus’ speech was in answer to a question regarding the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. And surely the destruction of the temple would not be a sign of the end of the world. The destruction of the temple was the sign of an age that was associated with then temple. That means the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem marked the end of the Old Testament period or the age of the Law or an age during which the Jews or Israel had been the peculiar of God on earth.
If Hal Lindsey considered all of these Biblical facts, his “Late Great Planet Earth” would have been significantly different or would never have been written at all. Several other scriptures have been ignored or misinterpreted in the book.
Anyone interested in teachings about the end of the world might want to read this book as one of many different views regarding that event. Otherwise, weighed on the balance of the Bible’s teaching, “The Late Great Planet Earth” is found wanting.
Our Inheritance 