The Generation of Jesus Christ - What It Means

[Anthony Pritchard]

"The Sea as a Figurative Symbol of Nations in the Bible

In the Bible, the sea is a recurring metaphor for peoples, nations, multitudes, and tongues, often used to convey the vastness, diversity, and sometimes the chaotic or destructive nature of human societies.

Old Testament Usage​

In the Old Testament, the sea is frequently linked to nations in prophetic imagery:

• Isaiah 17:12–13 describes the nations as “roaring seas” and “great waters,” symbolizing their tumultuous and rebellious nature. When God rebukes them, they flee like chaff before the wind Bible Hub.
• Jeremiah 47:2 uses “waters rising from the north” to depict invading nations as a flood, overwhelming the land and its inhabitants Bible Hub.
• Other passages (e.g., Isaiah 57:20, Jeremiah 49:23, 51:42) liken the nations’ voices and actions to the sea’s roar, emphasizing their power and unpredictability Online Bible.

New Testament Usage​

In the New Testament, especially in Revelation, the sea’s symbolism is explicit:

• Revelation 17:1, 15 identifies the “waters” where the “great prostitute” sits as “peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues,” showing the sea as a representation of the diverse, widespread influence of nations Bible Hub+1.
• Revelation 13:1 describes a beast “rising out of the sea,” symbolizing oppressive political or religious powers emerging from the chaotic realm of nations Bible Hub+1.

Theological Implications​

The sea as a symbol of nations underscores:

• God’s sovereignty over human affairs — just as He controls the physical sea, He governs the nations Bible Hub.
• The diversity and reach of human societies — the sea’s vastness mirrors the spread of peoples and cultures Bible Tools.
• The potential for both blessing and judgment — the sea can be a source of life (e.g., sustenance, trade) or destruction (e.g., floods, invasions), reflecting how nations can serve God or oppose Him.

Summary​

In biblical thought, the sea is not just a body of water but a metaphor for the totality of human nations — their unity, diversity, and the often turbulent forces they represent. This imagery is used to teach about God’s authority, the consequences of human actions, and the ultimate destiny of nations in His plan."

Revelation 18:21
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying,
Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

Revelation 20:8
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

Revelation 18:19
And they cast dust on their heads,
and cried, weeping and wailing, saying,
Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness!
for in one hour is she made desolate.

Revelation 18:17
For in one hour so great riches is come to nought.
And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships,
and sailors, and as many as trade by sea,
stood afar off,


Revelation 16:3
And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.

Revelation 12:12
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

Revelation 7:3
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

Revelation 5:13
And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

James 3:7
For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:

2 Corinthians 11:26
In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;


It’s actually amazing how much it makes sense when you takes the word sea and understand that when it symbolizes water, it literally makes so much sense. Similes lose so much of what is supposed to be simile when you say that it is no longer a simile, rather, it really is the other thing.
You also create your own interpretation of it that is not in the plain text. Scripture is meant to reveal, not conceal. But if sea doesn’t mean water, are you sure that the Saviour actually saves? Is eternal life actually eternal or is it just hyperbole? Was Jacob a real person or a personification of whatever you want him to be.

I am satisfied to know that God tells us that sin is buried in the Sea, and that in eternity you will not be able to find the place where it was buried.

I find that to be a perfectly acceptable, literal interpretation.

A literal interpretation does not rule out the use of pictorial speech, "behold the Lamb of God", or the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Literal interpretation means taking the text as it is written, including its metaphors, symbols, and figures of speech.

And I’m perfectly content to believe that God buries sin in the depths of the sea, both literally in the picture, and spiritually in the reality.

 

[Ascetic X]

A literal interpretation does not rule out the use of pictorial speech, "behold the Lamb of God", or the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Literal interpretation means taking the text as it is written, including its metaphors, symbols, and figures of speech.

And I’m perfectly content to believe that God buries sin in the depths of the sea, both literally in the picture, and spiritually in the reality.

I have never heard of literal interpretation as inclusive of non-literal metaphor, symbol, and figures of speech.

Technically there is literal vs. figurative interpretation. A text means exactly what it says (walked on the sea) or it refers to a symbol, which has similar attributes but is imaginatively conceptual (“lion” of Judah).

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

I have never heard of literal interpretation as inclusive of non-literal metaphor, symbol, and figures of speech.

Technically there is literal vs. figurative interpretation. A text means exactly what it says (walked on the sea) or it refers to a symbol, which has similar attributes but is imaginatively conceptual (“lion” of Judah).

Literal interpretation has always included the recognition of figures of speech.

Cooper’s Golden Rule itself requires us to take words in their ordinary sense unless the context indicates a figure.

So when the text intends a literal event (Jesus walking on the sea), we take it literally. When the text intends a symbol (the Lion of Judah), we take it symbolically.

That’s not figurative interpretation, that’s literal interpretation applied consistently.

Every literalist, Scofield, Chafer, Ryrie, Walvoord, Pentecost, Cooper, from the old Princeton men to the Dallas Seminary giants, explicitly teaches that literal interpretation includes figures of speech.

 

[kyredneck]

Revelation 18:21
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying,
Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

Revelation 18:19
And they cast dust on their heads,
and cried, weeping and wailing, saying,
Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness!
for in one hour is she made desolate.

Revelation Chapter 11

8​	And their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

"One eighth of the entire book of Revelation, some fifty verses, is devoted to the subject of judgement upon Babylon (14:8-10; 16:17- 19:5)." See post #55,

You like literal? Why don't you take these literally?:

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show unto his servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John;
3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein: for the time is at hand. Rev 1
11 I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown. Rev 3
7 And behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.
10 And he saith unto me, Seal not up the words of the prophecy of this book; for the time is at hand.
12 Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to render to each man according as his work is.
20 He who testifieth these things saith, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: come, Lord Jesus. Rev 22

I am satisfied to know that God tells us that sin is buried in the Sea, and that in eternity you will not be able to find the place where it was buried.

And I’m perfectly content to believe that God buries sin in the depths of the sea, both literally in the picture, and spiritually in the reality.

...and I'm also satisfied/content with 'my take' on the passage.

 

[JD731]

God likens Israel to three different trees in scriptures and employs these metaphors in a consistent manner for the prophetic application and to teach us how history will develop until finally Israel is perfected and purified totally and becomes the chief nation on earth for all eternity.
1 The fig tree - national Israel
2 the vine tree -Ethnic Israel
3 The Olive Tree - spiritual Israel

Someone will say a vine is not a tree. I say that we must think like God thinks when reading his book and he thinks a vine is a tree. See here:

Numbers 6:4 All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.
Ezekiel 15:2 Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
Ezekiel 15:6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Notice this OT parable:

Isa 5:1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

This is a prophecy. Judah is the pleasant plant in the vineyard because of the time this prophecy comes to pass and the book of Isaiah is addressed to Jerusalem and Judah.


Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Isa 2:1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

The thrust of this prophecy is the last days as God counts days, a thousand years as one day and one day as a thousand years. So then, it is days 5,6,7 or the three days after the cross of Jesus Christ. In some cases it is the last days of the last days that is the focus of the prophecy. For instance, verse 2 above is about day 7 after all the bad things recorded about the drying up of the vine and olive tree and the restoration of the broken off branches of the Olive tree has been grafted back into the tree and now it is a glorious tree. Everyone should know that three is the trinitarian signature on God's good creation. Isaiah does not see this church age break and there is no direct prophecy about it. So, from 70 AD until 1948 AD

A very important providential transition at the time in history when both Isaiah and Hosea were written that essentially is a death knell for the northern kingdom of Ephraim for the next 700 years.

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Ho 1:1 The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Ho 1:6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.

8 Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

Northern Israel lost her national identity in 722 and was dispersed and the covenant promises were honored by God through Judah. From that time when God used the term my people he was speaking of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

But, at the same time God cursed Israel he in the same breath gave a promise to them. Here it is in plain language.

10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

If anyone will read the NT letters of Peter and James and also Paul's letters to Colosse and Ephesus and Galatians they could see that the promise of V10 was al least partially fulfilled and in those letters these people were called sons of God. To be a son of God requires and new birth and the believers in Jesus Christ from among this population were born again. How do I know these people were the same people? Because Paul said in Gal 2 when speaking to the apostles that they should go to the circumcision and he and Barnabas would go to the gentiles.

The word" "then" means afterward and this verse of scripture has not been fulfilled though it was given some 2800 years ago.

Peter wrote this:

1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1 Pe 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Written to:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, (HOW) through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Colosse, Ephesus, were in the province of Asia.

The OT is the preparation work of God for our salvation. We must know it to be strong in the faith, I believe.

I have more to say in my next post.

 

[Anthony Pritchard]

God likens Israel to three different trees in scriptures and employs these metaphors in a consistent manner for the prophetic application and to teach us how history will develop until finally Israel is perfected and purified totally and becomes the chief nation on earth for all eternity.
1 The fig tree - national Israel
2 the vine tree -Ethnic Israel
3 The Olive Tree - spiritual Israel

Someone will say a vine is not a tree. I say that we must think like God thinks when reading his book and he thinks a vine is a tree. See here:

Numbers 6:4 All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk.
Ezekiel 15:2 Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
Ezekiel 15:6 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Notice this OT parable:

Isa 5:1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

This is a prophecy. Judah is the pleasant plant in the vineyard because of the time this prophecy comes to pass and the book of Isaiah is addressed to Jerusalem and Judah.


Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Isa 2:1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

The thrust of this prophecy is the last days as God counts days, a thousand years as one day and one day as a thousand years. So then, it is days 5,6,7 or the three days after the cross of Jesus Christ. In some cases it is the last days of the last days that is the focus of the prophecy. For instance, verse 2 above is about day 7 after all the bad things recorded about the drying up of the vine and olive tree and the restoration of the broken off branches of the Olive tree has been grafted back into the tree and now it is a glorious tree. Everyone should know that three is the trinitarian signature on God's good creation. Isaiah does not see this church age break and there is no direct prophecy about it. So, from 70 AD until 1948 AD

A very important providential transition at the time in history when both Isaiah and Hosea were written that essentially is a death knell for the northern kingdom of Ephraim for the next 700 years.

Isa 1:1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Ho 1:1 The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

Ho 1:6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.

8 Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

Northern Israel lost her national identity in 722 and was dispersed and the covenant promises were honored by God through Judah. From that time when God used the term my people he was speaking of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

But, at the same time God cursed Israel he in the same breath gave a promise to them. Here it is in plain language.

10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

If anyone will read the NT letters of Peter and James and also Paul's letters to Colosse and Ephesus and Galatians they could see that the promise of V10 was al least partially fulfilled and in those letters these people were called sons of God. To be a son of God requires and new birth and the believers in Jesus Christ from among this population were born again. How do I know these people were the same people? Because Paul said in Gal 2 when speaking to the apostles that they should go to the circumcision and he and Barnabas would go to the gentiles.

The word" "then" means afterward and this verse of scripture has not been fulfilled though it was given some 2800 years ago.

Peter wrote this:

1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1 Pe 2:2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Written to:
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, (HOW) through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

Colosse, Ephesus, were in the province of Asia.

The OT is the preparation work of God for our salvation. We must know it to be strong in the faith, I believe.

I have more to say in my next post.

JD, the fig, vine, and olive imagery does not divide Israel into three Israels. Scripture uses several metaphors to describe different aspects of the same covenant people.

The fig tree pictures Israel’s national fruitfulness. The vine pictures Israel’s covenant responsibility and failure. The olive tree pictures the Abrahamic root and the place of blessing in Romans 11.

These are functional metaphors, not separate identities.

Isaiah 5 defines its own symbols. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. That is the northern and southern kingdoms in the eighth century before Christ. It is not ethnic Israel versus national Israel.

Your reading of Hosea 1 merges two different fulfillments. Paul applies Hosea 1 verse 10 to Gentile salvation in Romans 9. Hosea 1 verse 11 remains future, and Romans 11 confirms that Israel’s national restoration is still ahead.

Romans 11 gives the inspired interpretation of the olive tree. There is one root and one tree. Natural branches are broken off. Wild branches are grafted in. Natural branches are grafted back in again. Paul does not divide Israel into three Israels.

Multiple metaphors do not create multiple Israels. They illuminate different aspects of the same covenant people in different prophetic settings.