The Lord Jesus says that there will be signs in the sun, moon and stars, and that, on earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and the tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming upon the world, for the Heavenly bodies will be shaken.1 Whereas scholars in past centuries supposed that the Universe was to be trusted, like a precision timepiece that just went on ticking away in an undisturbed state, modern scholars have discovered that the Universe is more unstable than was thought. Stars are capable of sudden, enormous expansion, with a huge increase in their size and heat radiation, before they suddenly shrink down to ‘dwarfs’. Storms of energy race through space. ‘Black holes’—enormous concentrations of gravity from ‘shrunken’ stars—are capable of drawing whole worlds to themselves and rolling them up. Even light disappears within them. According to some theories the universe is spreading out like a balloon and galaxies at the edge of the Universe appear to be fleeing away at great speed. Albert Einstein and other scholars discovered that matter which makes up the material world is actually a form of energy. Time, or what we experience as time, forms a continuum with space—with its dimensions of length, width and height—and acts as a fourth dimension. Time appears to be able to expand or to contract under certain circumstances—just as space, or parts thereof, can contract or expand. John apparently sees the sky being rolled up like a scroll.2
Tremendous changes take place on the earth’s surface. Everything that appears to be permanent, crumbles. God often uses those things that lead to worldwide catastrophes to bless Israel, however. The prophet Zechariah talks about the Mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem, splitting into two so that a great valley is created and Israel can flee. Zechariah 4:14-15 “In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the Holy Ones with Him!” So the last verse says: “Then the Lord my God will come, and all the Holy Ones with Him.”3 And verses 6-8 say: “In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. For it will be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light. And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter.” It will be a unique day—a day known only to the Lord—with no distinction between day and night. When evening comes, there will be light. Light, not darkness, has the final word.
• There is already an Egyptian hieroglyph for a papyrus scroll in the oldest pyramid texts. Papyrus (made from plants on the banks of the rivers) was later replaced by parchment, which is made from specially prepared animal hides. The Isaiah scroll found at Qum-ran, which is 7.20 metres in length, is a splendid example of this. Jeremiah 36 gives a detailed description of the making (and destruction) of a scroll, on which the text is written in columns.
• When you enter into a Jewish synagogue you will find that the scrolls of the Bible are kept in a kind of chest. The ‘aron kodesh’ (“holy Ark”), where the Torah Scrolls are kept, is situated in the front of the synagogue. In the Sephardic tradition, it is referred to as the heichal (“chamber”). The Ark is the holiest place in the synagogue.
• The Ark is opened only during special prayers and when removing the Torah to read during prayer services. It is customary (but not obligatory) to stand when the Ark is opened. While the Ark can be made of any material, the most common seems to be wood.
Bible References
1.Luke 21:25–26 2.Isaiah 34:4 3.Zechariah 14:4–7
