For example, do you perceive a figure of speech in Jesus’ words, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away”? (Matthew 24:35) Many do not. They feel that Jesus was here indicating that one day the earth would be destroyed. But would his listeners have got that impression?

Hardly. They already knew from their reading of the Hebrew Scriptures that the earth would last forever. (Psalm 104:5; Ecclesiastes 1:4; Isaiah 45:18) Thus they would realize that Jesus was vividly emphasizing the permanence of his words. If Jesus’ words are even more permanent than heaven and earth​—and heaven and earth are eternal—​they are permanent indeed! Even if the impossible happened, and heaven and earth did pass away, Jesus’ words would still be there. A striking hyperbole!​—Compare Matthew 5:18.

“Not a Hair of Your Heads”

Another figure of speech is the hyperbole. This is an exaggeration that is so obvious that it makes an unforgettable image. When a mother tells her child, “I’ve told you a million times not to do that!” she is using hyperbole.

Jesus used a startling hyperbole when he warned: “Why, then, do you look at the straw in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the rafter in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3) Do you not instinctively blink when you read that? What a forceful way to tell us not to criticize the small faults of others when we have so many big faults of our own! And what about the Pharisees that “strain out the gnat but gulp down the camel”?​—Matthew 23:24.

Remember, too, the unforgettable way Jesus described how Jehovah would watch over his servants: “Not a hair of your heads will by any means perish.” (Luke 21:18) No, a Christian’s hair is not somehow sacrosanct. Rather, by this hyperbolic statement, Jesus left no doubt that his followers would be protected in spite of their being “objects of hatred by all people.”​—Luke 21:17.