Chapter Eight, Nine, Ten

From

UNCONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY

RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD

ISBN 0-7414-4620-0

William Robert West

Author of _The Rapture And Israel_

Chapter Eight

The Interpretation Of Figurative Language

Metaphors And Symbolical Passage

Chapter Nine

Universalist: The "Age Lasting" Hell

Chapter Ten

The Results Of Attributing

Evil Pagan Teachings To God By Religious People

Is "The Wages Of Sin Death"

"Eternal Life With Torment In Hell"

"The wages of sin is death" reinterpreted to be

_The wages of sin is an eternal life of torment

For an immoral soul that is not subject to death_

An Immortal Soul and the Doctrine of Hell

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CHAPTER EIGHT

First Resurrection And Second Death

An Immortal Soul or Resurrection of the Dead

The interpretation of figurative language, metaphors and symbolic passages

1. PART ONE: Israel's destruction, her weeping, gnashing of teeth, outer darkness, Matthew 24

o Preterist Eschatology - Realized Eschatology - The A. D. 70 Doctrine

o The day of the Lord

o 2 Peter 3

2. PART TWO: The intermediate bosom: The rich man and Lazarus

3. PART THREE: The symbolical pictures of Revelation versus a literal interpretation

Those who believe in the Pagan doctrine of an immortal soul from birth and Hell have no plain statements. That they must reinterpret figurative language, metaphors and symbolic passages into literal statements SHOWS THE WEAKNESS OF THEIR BELIEF, that it is from man and not from God. Parables and figurative language are made to be superior over plain statements. The clear language must be made to agree with what is thought to be said in the symbolic language, therefore, THE LITERAL PASSAGES MUST BE MADE FIGURATIVE TO KEEP THEM FROM BEING IN CONFLICT. Many of the metaphors about the destruction of Israel have been discussed in the first seven chapters. This chapter is a close look at some of the other symbolic passages that must be made into literal statements.

Back to: INDEX AND CHAPTER ONE html –Or go to: INDEX AND ALL TEN CHAPTERS pdf

JUDGMENT OF ISRAEL Matthew 21-25

Cleaning of the Temple Matthew 21:12-16
The fig tree Matthew 21:18-22
Israel's rulers question Christ's authority. Parable of the two sons Matthew 21:23-32
Parable of the wicked husbandman who Christ will destroy and give the vineyard to another Matthew 21:33-41
The stone Israel rejected made head of the corner; the stone will scatter as dust. The kingdom taken from Israel and gave to another Matthew 21:42-46
Parable of the marriage feast. His armies destroyed those invited and invited others Matthew 22:1-14
Seven woes on Israel leaders, how can they escape the judgment of Gehenna; all these things shall come upon this generation. Matthew 23:13-36
Their house left desolate Matthew 23:37-39
The questions and His answer Matthew 24:1-51

Parable of the fig tree. This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished Matthew 24:32-34
Israel the unfaithful servant Matthew 24:45-51

Unprofitable servant cast into outer darkness Matthew 25:30

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PART ONE

SCRIPTURES ABOUT THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL

THAT ARE MISAPPLIED TO HELL

Israel's destruction, her weeping, gnashing of teeth, outer darkness

Many of the passages spoken by John the Baptist and by Jesus about Israel's rejection of Christ and its destruction are misapplied to Hell. Matthew 24 is often misused to prove Israel will be restored, and Christ will return to earth and rule the world forever from Jerusalem and that the saved will forever live on this earth, not in Heaven.

THE JEWS THAT CAME TO JOHN THE BAPTIST

"But when he saw the PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES coming to his baptism, HE SAID UNTO THEM, YOU offspring of vipers, WHO WARNED YOU TO FLEE FROM THE WRATH TO COME? Bring forth; therefore, fruit worthy of repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, WE HAVE ABRAHAM TO OUR FATHER: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to rise up children unto Abraham. AND EVEN NOW THE AXE LIES AT THE ROOT OF THE TREES: every tree; therefore, that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you in water unto repentance; but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor; and he will gather his wheat into the garner, BUT THE CHAFF HE WILL BURN UP WITH UNQUENCHABLE FIRE" [Matthew 3:7-12]. John was the Elijah that was to come [Matthew 17:11; 11:10]. Cutting down a tree or forest is a common symbol of judgment and destruction of cities and nations in the Old Testament [Isaiah 10:34; Jeremiah 46:22-23; 22:7-8; Ezekiel 31:3-14]. If a tree is cut down, there is hope that it will sprout again from the stump [Job 14:7-8; Isaiah 11:1], but when the axe is put to the root there is no hope that the tree will ever sprout again.

Adam Clarke says this is "the desolation which was about to fall on the Jewish nation."

Lightfoot: "By the axe being now laid to the root of the tree, may fitly be understood, first, the certainty of their desolation; and second, the nearness, in that the instrument of their destruction as already prepared, and brought close to them; the Romans that should ruin their city and nation, being already master and rulers over them."

B. W. Johnson: "Think not to say...we have Abraham to our father. They believed that Abraham's race was to be saved, if all else was destroyed...'The axe is laid at the root of the tree' a sign that the tree is to be cut down. The tree meant is the Jewish nation. Every tree. A fruitless fig tree was afterward made by our Lord to representative of the whole Jewish nation (Luke 13:6)." Also, Matthew 3:10-12 "And with fire. The term fire is used in verse 10, and there means a destroying agency; it is used again in verse 12 in the same sense; it is used in verse 11, also, the intervening verse, and must be used in exactly the same sense as in the other two verses. It cannot mean a curse in verses 10 and 12, and a blessing in verse 11, without a word of explanation. It is strange, therefore, that all commentators should not agree that the baptism of fire is a baptism of trial and suffering. THERE WERE TWO CLASSES BEFORE JOHN. SOME WOULD REPENT AND BE BAPTIZED FINALLY IN THE HOLY SPIRIT; THERE WERE OTHERS WHO WOULD REMAIN IMPENITENT, AND BE BAPTIZED IN THE AWFUL TRIALS THAT WOULD COME UPON ISRAEL" B. W. Johnson, "The People New Testament With Notes," 1889, Gospel Light Publishing Company.

OUTER DARKNESS, WEEPING

AND THE GNASHING OF TEETH

"But the SONS OF THE KINGDOM shall be cast forth into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth" [Matthew 8:12]. Even according to those who believe in Hell, no one is cast out of Heaven, BUT WHEN THIS "WEEPING AND THE GNASHING OF TEETH" IS MADE TO BE AFTER THE JUDGMENT IN HELL, IT IS THE "SONS OF THE KINGDOM" THAT ARE CAST INTO THE OUTER DARKNESS. IN TRYING TO PROVE THE OUTER DARKNESS IS HELL, SOME THAT ARE IN HEAVEN ARE MADE TO BE CAST OUT OF HEAVEN INTO HELL AFTER THE JUDGMENT. If "and yourselves cast forth without" is cast into Hell where those who believe in Hell say the "weeping and gnashing of tenth" will be, THEN THIS MAKES THOSE FROM THE EAST AND WEST GO TO HEAVEN AFTER THE JUDGMENT DAY. THEY HAVE SOME GOING INTO HEAVEN, AND SOME BEING CAST OUT OF HEAVEN AFTER THE KINGDOM HAS BEEN DELIVERED UP TO GOD, THEREFORE, AFTER THE JUDGMENT. This is more than those trying to prove Hell want to prove, for they do not think any will be cast out of Heaven after the judgment and no one who is in Heaven after the judgment will go to Hell so why is this passage used in a way that makes it prove there will be some cast out of Heaven after the judgment?

J. W. McGarvey, Matthew 8:11: "AND I SAY UNTO YOU, THAT MANY SHALL COME FROM THE EAST AND THE WEST, AND SHALL SIT DOWN WITH ABRAHAM, AND ISAAC, AND JACOB, IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN [Jesus here predicts the conversion of the Gentiles, since that fact is suggested to him by the faith of this centurion. The east and the west represent the extreme points of the compass in the directions in which the world was most thickly inhabited. But Jesus refers rather to spiritual separation than to geographical distances--Mal. i. 11; Isa. xlix. 19; Jer. xvi. 19; Zech. viii. 22.] 12 But The Sons Of The Kingdom [The child of anything in Hebrew phraseology expressed the idea of special property which one has in the thing specified, as, for instance, children of disobedience (Eph. ii. 2). Jesus here means, then, the Jews, to whom the kingdom belonged by hereditary descent--Rom. ix. 4] SHALL BE CAST FORTH INTO THE OUTER DARKNESS: THERE SHALL BE THE WEEPING AND THE GNASHING OF TEETH. [In this paragraph Christ's kingdom is set forth under the simile of a great feast, a familiar simile with Jesus (Matt. xxvi. 29; Luke xxii. 30). The Jews were accustomed to speak of the delights of the Messianic kingdom as a feast with the patriarchs (Luke xiv. 15), but lost sight of the fact that Gentiles should share in its cheer and fellowship (Isa. xxv. 6). Marriage feasts and other great feasts of the Jews were usually held in the evening. Inside, therefore, there would be joy and light and gladness, but outside there would be darkness and disappointment, tears and bitter self-reproach (Matt. xxv. 10-13). The despised outcasts should be brought in and placed at the festal board, while the long-invited guests-the natural and fleshly heirs of Abraham's invitation-would be excluded (Matt. xxi. 43)" The Fourfold Gospel, Page 272, 1914, Standard Publishing Company.

J. W. McGarvey, Luke 13:28 28: "There shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, when you shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, AND YOURSELVES CAST FORTH without. 29 And they shall come from the east and west, and from the north and south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold [little as you may think it], they are last who shall be first, and they are first who shall be last. [A familiar proverb of Christ's (Matt. xix. 30; xx. 10), to be interpreted by such passages as Matt. xxi. 31 and Rom. ix. 30, 31. The Jew who thought the Gentile had no hope at all, and that he himself was sure of salvation, would be surprised to find that his opinion was the very reverse of the real fact as time developed it]." The Fourfold Gospel, 1914, Standard Publishing Company. The Jews were cast forth OUT OF THE KINGDOM, but nothing is said about CASTING INTO "HELL."

B. W. Johnson, Matthew 8:12: "BUT THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM. The Jews, the natural children of Abraham, the 'Father of the faithful,' heirs of the promises made to him. CAST OUT because they rejected the Messiah, in whom all the promises center. INTO OUTER DARKNESS" The People's New Testament With Notes, Gospel Light Publishing Company.

THE THREE TIMES "OUTER DARKNESS" IS USED BY CHRIST [Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30], ARE IN THREE PARABLES, WHICH REFER TO GOD'S DEALING WITH THE JEWS BEING CAST OUT AS GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE AND THEIR DESTRUCTION AS A NATION, BUT HAS BEEN CHANGED TO BE THE LOST IN HELL ARE IN OUTER DARKNESS.

THE SEVEN TIMES "WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH" ARE USED BY CHRIST [Matthew 8:12; 13:42; 13:50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28] ARE ABOUT THE JEWS BEING CAST OUT AS GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE, BUT HAS ALSO BEEN CHANGED TO BE THE LOST IN HELL THAT ARE WEEPING AND GNASHING THEIR TEETH.

Although many of the wisest preachers and writers whose writings have stood the test of time like B. W. Johnson, J. W. McGarvey, Adam Clarke, Lightfoot, H. Leo Boles, Barnes, R. C. H. Lenski and many others say the "weeping and gnashing of teeth" is speaking of the Jews being rejected as God's chosen people, some still misuse this as did Stephen Wiggins in the Firm Foundation, 2006, Page 6. Gehenna is not even in any of the same passages. If he did any study, it would be difficult to believe he did not know the weeping and gnashing of teeth has no reference to "Hell." Is this not just a desperate attempt to find a passage that teaches eternal torment?

SIX PARABLES CONDEMNING ISRAEL

[1] ISRAEL, THE FRUITLESS FIG TREE [Luke 13:6-9]: "And he spoke this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit thereon, and found none. And he said unto the vinedresser, behold, these three years I came seeking fruit on this fig tree, and found none: cut it down; why does it also cumber the ground? And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: and if it bear fruit thenceforth, well; BUT IF NOT, YOU SHALL CUT IT DOWN." Barren national Israel would be cut down. "And seeing a fig tree by the way side, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only; and he said unto it, Let there be no fruit from you hence forward forever" [Matthew 21:18-19].

[2] THE RICH MAN AND LAZARUS [Luke 16:19-31]: See "Part two" of this chapter.

[3] THE TWO SONS [Matthew 21:28-32]: "But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, Son, go work today in the vineyard. And he answered and said, I will, sir; and he did not go. And he came to the second and said the same thing. But, he answered and said, I will not; yet he afterward regretted it and went. Which of the two did the will of his father? They said, the latter. Jesus said to them, Truly I say to YOU the tax-gatherers and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before YOU. For John came to YOU in the way of righteousness and YOU did not believe him; but the tax-gatherers and harlots did believe him; and YOU, seeing this, did not ever feel remorse afterward so as to believe him."

[4] ISRAEL, THE HUSBANDMAN [Matthew 21:33-45]: "Hear another parable: there was a man that was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandman, and went into another country. And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandman, to receive his fruits. And the husbandman took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them in like manner. But, afterward he sent unto them his son, saying, they will reverence my son. But the husbandman, when they saw the son, said among themselves, this is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance. And they took him, and cast him forth out to the vineyard, and killed him. When; therefore, the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto these husbandman? They say unto him, HE WILL MISERABLY DESTROY THOSE MISERABLE MEN, AND WILL LET OUT THE VINEYARD UNTO OTHER HUSBANDMEN, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons, Jesus said unto them, did you never read in the scriptures, the stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner: this was from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes? THEREFORE SAY I UNTO YOU, THE KINGDOM OF GOD SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU, AND SHALL BE GIVEN TO A NATION BRINGING FORTH THE FRUITS THEREOF. And he that falls on this stone shall be broken to pieces: BUT, ON WHOMSOEVER IT SHALL FALL, IT WILL SCATTER HIM AS DUST. And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, THEY PERCEIVED THAT HE SPOKE OF THEM" Israel was scattered as dust in A. D. 70 when no Jews were left in Jerusalem or the country around it. Most millennialists admit that this refers to the Jewish rejection of Christ. THE KINGDOM WAS TAKEN FROM THE JEWS AND GIVEN TO THE GENTILES AT THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS. Millennialists say it will be taken from the Gentiles and given back to the Jews.

[5] THE MARRIAGE FEAST Matthew 22:1-14: "And Jesus answered and spoke to them again in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king, who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Again, he sent out other slaves saying, Tell those who have been invited, Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast. But, they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them. BUT, THE KING WAS ENRAGED AND SENT HIS ARMIES, AND DESTROYED THOSE MURDERS, AND SET THEIR CITY ON FIRE. Then he said to his slaves, the wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast. And those slaves went out into the streets, and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. But, when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw there a man not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen." The Jews killed the prophets God send to them, and they and their city were destroyed and the Gentiles were brought into the kingdom.

[6] THE NARROW DOOR Luke 13:24-30: "Strive to enter in by the narrow door: for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and has shut the door, and begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us; and he shall answer and say to you, I know you not where you are; then shall you begin to say, we did eat and drink in your presence, and you did teach in our streets; and he shall say, I tell you, I know not were you are; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. There shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth, WHEN YOU SHALL SEE ABRAHAM, ISAAC, JACOB AND ALL THE PROPHETS IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND YOURSELVES CAST FORTH WITHOUT. AND THERE SHALL COME FROM THE EAST AND THE WEST, AND FROM THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH, AND SHALL SIT DOWN IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD. AND BEHOLD, THERE ARE LAST WHO SHALL BE THE FIRST, AND THERE ARE FIRST WHO SHALL BE LAST" This is about the coming rejection of Israel and the Gentiles being accepted into the kingdom of Heaven, which is the church. Not about some being cast out of Heaven, which is what it would be if the weeping and gnashing of teeth were in Hell. ISRAEL WAS THE "SONS OF THE KINGDOM" ["children of the kingdom" King James Version] THAT WAS CAST INTO OUTER DARKNESS, NOT THOSE WHO NEVER BELIEVED. THE JEWS, WHO WERE THEN THE CHILDREN OF THE KINGDOM, WERE CAST OUT OF THE LIGHT AND ARE NO LONGER GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE, INTO THE DARKNESS OF THE WORLD WITHOUT THE LIGHT OF GOD'S REVELATION. "O JERUSALEM...BEHOLD YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT UNTO YOU DESOLATE" [Luke 13:34-35]. Those who believe in Hell leave out the rest of what Christ said in the next two versus when He says the Gentiles will come into the kingdom, and verse 30 the Gentles who were last become first. If this were after the judgment, the Gentiles would be coming into the kingdom in Heaven after the judgment.

"Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you [the Jews], and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" [Matthew 21:43].

WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH are both used in the Old and New Testament.

1]. WEEPING for miseries and grief, both for personal miseries and as a nation [too often to list them: use any good concordance]. It is used in the New Testament the same way it was in the Old Testament. See Matthew 2:18; Mark 5:28; Luke 7:38; 8:52: John 11:33; 20:11 Acts 9:39; 21:13; Philippians 3:18 and James 5:1. The weeping is the Jews when they see Israel being cast out as God's chosen people, and Jerusalem and the Temple being destroyed, and the end of their national identity See Matthew 24, Daniel 9 and 10.

2]. GNASHING OF TEETH shows anger and rage of the persons gnashing their teeth not pain, and is used in both the Old and New Testament. "They hiss and gnash the teeth" Lamentations 2:16, See Psalms 35:16; Micah 3:5. Used the same way in the New Testament. "And they gnashed on him with their teeth" [Acts 7:54]. Those who stoned Stephen were angry with him, not in pain; they were not dead and in Hell, they were alive and on this earth. If gnashing of teeth were in Hell, as many teach it is, who are they going to gnash with their teeth? Does anyone believe some in Hell will be angry with others in Hell and gnash them with their teeth? The gnashing of teeth is their anger and rage towards those doing the destroying [the Roman army], and maybe even toward God for letting the destroying be happening. GNASHING OF TEETH IS BECAUSE OF ANGER OR RAGE. IT IS NOT BECAUSE OF THE PERSON DOING THE GNASHING OF HIS OR HER TEETH ARE BEING TORMENTED IN HELL. IN THE BIBLE GNASHING OF TEETH IS ALWAYS BECAUSE OF ANGER IN BOTH THE OLD AND THE NEW TESTAMENT. IT IS MISUSED TODAY TO SHOW TORMENT IN "HELL."

In the Old Testament: Gnashing of teeth is because of anger on the part of the one doing the gnashing.
In the New Testament: Gnashing of teeth must be changed to be a person in Hell gnashing his or her teeth because of pain.

Weeping and gnashing of teeth are two different things, which are sometimes both found together, but most often are not together. Neither one ever occurs in the same passages with hades or Gehenna. That either one or both will be in Hell is an assumption that is preached over and over. Could an immaterial, invisible part of a person gnash its teeth?

THE CENTURION GENTILE Matthew 8:5-13: "And when he was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant lying in the house sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. 7 And he said unto him, I will come and heal him. And the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having under myself soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my servant, Do this, and he does it. And when Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, NOT IN ISRAEL. And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: BUT THE SONS OF THE KINGDOM SHALL BE CAST FORTH INTO THE OUTER DARKNESS: THERE SHALL BE THE WEEPING AND THE GNASHING OF TEETH. And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go your way; as you have believed, [so] be it done unto you. And the servant was healed in that hour." After seeing the faith of this Gentile, Jesus says the Gentiles will sit in the kingdom and the sons [Jews] will be cast forth. The same as at the marriage feast (above), the Jews, because they rejected Christ as their king was cast out of the kingdom. The church, not Israel, is now God's kingdom. Those who teach Hell read the prophecies of Christ about the judgment of Israel in AD 70 and move the weeping and gnashing of teeth to Hell after the Judgment Day is over. They have not found one passage that says anything about the lost after the judgment. Nothing can happen to nothing. After the second death there could be nothing said, for there will be nothing to say anything about. There is a first death, a resurrection from the first death, then the second death, but nothing is said about a third life after the second death. They need something to prove their Hell, and try to make it look as if weeping and gnashing of teeth could only be in Hell; although both weeping and gnashing of teeth are used throughout the Old Testament and those who believe in Hell do not believe weeping and gnashing of teeth in the Old Testament have any reference to a time of punishment after the Judgment Day, but they assume that in the New Testament both are used in reference to punishment in Hell after the judgment day. Weeping and gnashing of teeth has a reference to Hell only when they want or need them to.

WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH: God says the "wages of sin is death," not an eternal life of weeping and gnashing of teeth in Hell and will go on forever, for there is no death for the soul that cannot die. We would never be able to know that this weeping will be in Hell unless:

FIRST: Many say that there is a Hell, but there is not one word about it in the Bible.

SECOND: Then they tell us that this weeping shall be in Hell. How could they know this when there is no passage that says it is in "Hell"?

Some of the words used by Christ to describe the Jews: blind guides, hypocrites, murderers, adulterous, transgressors, faithless, perverse, fools, generation of snakes. "O JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM...BEHOLD, YOUR HOUSE (the temple Christ had just left) IS LEFT UNTO YOU DESOLATE" [Matthew 23:38].

B. W. Johnson, Matthew 23:33-39. "The People's New Testament With Notes" Gospel Light Publishing Company, 1889.

33. You generations of vipers, how can you escape? Etc. Brood of vipers, full of venom, deadly as serpents, treacherous as the lurking serpent. So John had called them nearly four years before (Matt. 3:7).

34. Wherefore, I send unto you prophets and wise men. In Luke 11:49, is a passage much like this. The men sent were inspired apostles and evangelists. By giving the Jews still further opportunities after the sin of the cross, the guilt of those continued to reject the crucified Lord was aggravated. Prophets. Inspired teachers, like the apostles, Philip, Stephen, etc. Wise men. Faithful, devout and learned, but uninspired preachers. Scribes. Usually, those who copy and teach the wisdom of others, but I suppose also embracing those who wrote the New Testament Scriptures. Some of them you shall kill and crucify. Literally fulfilled in the next few years.

35. That upon you may come all the righteous blood. Thus would they fill the measure full and become guilty of all the righteous blood shed by the whole army of martyrs. Unto the blood of Zacharias. The reference is probably to 2 Chron. 24:20.

36. VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, ALL THESE THINGS SHALL COME UPON THIS GENERATION. As the Amorites were spared until "their iniquity was full" (Gen. 15:16), so the iniquity of Israel was allowed to accumulate from age to age, till in that generation it came to the full, and the collected vengeance of justice broke at once upon it. So it is often in the destruction of a nation. The French Revolution of 1793 is another example.

37. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kills the prophets. The intense feeling that spoke in this utterance comes out first in the redoubling of the word Jerusalem; next in the picture of the sins of the city which he draws--a city so wicked that it was not content with rejecting the messengers of God, but even slew them. I know of nothing more touching than this apostrophe. How often would I have gathered your children together. Not only had the city been warned again and again by the prophets, but the Lord had visited it at least six or seven times, and had for months taught in its streets. Nor did his solicitude end with the cross. His long suffering, patience and love are shown by his charge in the commission to the apostles: "To preach repentance and remission in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." You would not. "Would not" explains the cause of the rejection of the gospel. It is not because God in Christ is not ready: he would gather them. It is not because men cannot come, but because they will not come. Christ wished the salvation of Jerusalem; his will was for them to be saved: he sought to influence their wills to make a choice of salvation, but they would not. So God still "is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9), but there are many "who will not come to Christ that they might have life" (John 5:40). While God wills the salvation of men, he does not destroy free agency by coercing the human will, but says: "Whosoever will, let him come."

38. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. This was the consequence of refusing to come to Christ. The temple is the house meant. God will abandon it and leave it desolate. He will no longer accept its worship.

39. You shall not see me henceforth. This seems to imply that the temple shall be deserted when he leaves it. With his departure the presence of God departs. He was the Lord of the temple. Till you shall say. These were his last words in the temple precincts, but they do not shut out all hope. Even yet when the Jews shall join in the hosannas of those who, on the Sunday before, had sung his praises, and cry, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," they may be permitted to behold their Messiah...When Christ abandoned the temple in Jerusalem, it was only fit for the destroyer.

"That which Israel seeks for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened" [Romans 11:7]. Whatever Israel did not obtain, THE ELECT HAD OBTAINED IT AT THE TIME PAUL WROTE THIS. It is not something that will be obtained after the coming of Christ by Israel or anyone. How is anyone saved today, Jew or Gentile? Only by the Gospel. I was saved when I heard the Gospel and obeyed it. All that are saved are saved in the same way. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is THE POWER of God for salvation to EVERYONE who believes, TO THE JEW FIRST and also to the Greek" [Romans 1:16]. Neither a Jew nor a Greek can be saved without believing and obeying the gospel. Today a nation cannot be saved as a nation (Israel or any other nation). All the individuals must believe and obey the Gospel. There is no other way. "But if SOME OF THE BRANCHES were broken off, ["some of the branches," plural, are individuals Jews, not "some of the nations"] and you, being a wild olive, was grafted in among them [among some of the branches, the Jews that believed and were not broken off]...Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith...for if God spared not the natural branches [individuals Jews], neither will he spare you [individuals Gentiles, not nations]. Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell (individuals, not nations), severity; but toward you, God's goodness; otherwise, you also shall be cut off. And they [individuals Jews] also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in" [Romans 11:17-24]. Many of the believers in the early church were Jews. Paul was a Jew, and he said, "Even so than at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace [at the time Paul was writing this and today some Jews believed]" [Romans 11:4]. Salvation is always available to Jews or Gentiles if they will accept Christ. The law was only a shadow of that which was to come. Israel cannot be restored as a nation without restoring the shadow, including restoring animal sacrifice, etc.

There is individuality "about the Christian religion that cannot be dispensed with. Those who accept Christ must do it as individuals, not as a nation. Each one must come to Christ on his own individual faith. He can come in no other way. In this way he can come now; and this is the only way a Gentile, or anyone else can come. The Jews were broken off for unbelief, and they must come in faith. This opportunity they have now, and have always had--they need not expect, or wait for any thing more." Dr T. W. Brents, Gospel Sermons, Page 329, 1918, Gospel Advocate Publishing Co.

"Woe unto you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. So you are witnesses and consent unto the works of your fathers: for they kill them, and you build their tombs. Therefore, also said the wisdom of God, I will send unto them prophets and apostles; and some of them they shall kill and persecute; that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, MAY BE REQUIRED OF THIS GENERATION; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary: yea, I say unto you, IT SHALL BE REQUIRED OF THIS GENERATION" [Luke 11:47-51].

[1] THE LORD'S LAMENT OVER JERUSALEM WHEN HE WAS ON THE ROAD TO JERUSALEM Luke 19:41-44: When Jesus drew nigh Jerusalem He wept over the city and tells His disciples of the destruction of it in which His language is similar to Luke 21:5-33. "And when he drew nigh, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, If you had known in this day, even you, the things which belong unto peace! But, now they are hid from your eyes. FOR THE DAYS SHALL COME UPON YOU, WHEN YOUR ENEMIES WILL THROW UP A BANK ABOUT YOU, AND SURROUND YOU, AND HEM YOU IN ON EVERY SIDE, AND WILL LEVEL YOU TO THE GROUND AND YOUR CHILDREN WITHIN YOU; AND THEY SHALL NOT LEAVE IN YOU ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation" [Luke 19:41-44 New American Standard Version].

[2] IN AN ADDRESS TO THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEE AT JERUSALEM: In Matthew 23 Jesus gives seven woes to the scribes and Pharisees [Matthew 23:13, 15, 16, 23, 25, 27 29] and ends the address with "Verily I say unto you, ALL THESE THINGS SHALL COME UPON THIS GENERATION. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem that kills the prophets, and stones them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not! BEHOLD, YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT UNTO YOU DESOLATE" [Matthew 23:36-38]. In Matthew 24:34 He again says, "THIS GENERATION SHALL NOT PASS AWAY, TILL ALL THESE THINGS BE ACCOMPLISHED." All the woes in Matthew 23 and all the signs of Matthew 24 were to come upon that generation, before that generation passed away.

"ALL THESE THINGS SHALL COME UPON THIS GENERATION" Christ used "generation" twenty-five times IN REFERENCE TO THE JEWS OF HIS DAY, nine of the twenty-five are in Matthew [Matthew 11:16; 12:39; 12:41; 12:42; 12:45; 16:4; 17:17; 23:36; 24:24]. "But first he (Christ) must suffer many things and be rejected of THIS GENERATION" [Luke 17:25; also Mark 8:12; 8:12; 8:38; 9:19; 13:30; Luke 7:31; 9:41; 11:29; 11:30; 11:31; 11:32; 11:50; 11:51; 16:8; 17:25; 21:32]. "Genea," the Greek word from which "generation" is translated never means "race" as the millennialists contend that it does in Matthew 24:34.

"Verily I say unto you, THIS GENERATION shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" King James.
"I tell you this: THE PRESENT GENERATION will live to see it all." New English Bible.
"Remember this! All these things will happen before THE PEOPLE NOW LIVING have all died" Today's English Version.
"I tell you truly, THE PRESENT GENERATION will not pass away, till all this happens" Moffatt's Translation.
"I tell you in solemn truth that THE PRESENT GENERATION will certainly not pass away until all this has taken place" Weymouth's Translation.
"THIS GENERATION will not disappear till all this has taken place" Phillips Translation.
"All these things will take place before THIS PRESENT GENERATION passes on" Modern Language Bible.
"THE PRESENT GENERATION will not pass away until all this takes place" New American Bible.
"THE PRESENT GENERATION will not pass away, till all this happens" James Moffat.

"THIS GENERATION" The generation of Jews in the time of Christ.

John the Baptist: "O GENERATION OF VIPERS, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" [Luke 3:7].
Christ: "O GENERATION OF VIPERS, how can you, being evil, speak what is good?" [Matthew 12:34].
"But to what shall I liken THIS GENERATION? It is like children sitting in the market places, who call out to the other children, and say, We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we song a dirge, and you did not mourn" [Matthew 11:16-19; Luke 7:31-33].

Likened to Tyre and Sodom, which would have repented if they had seen the works did in Israel, but Israel would not repent [Matthew 11:20-24].
"The men of Nineveh shall stand up with THIS GENERATION at the judgment, AND SHALL CONDEMN IT because they repented at the preaching Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here" [Matthew 12:41].
"The Queen of the South shall rise up with THIS GENERATION at the judgment AND SHALL CONDEMN IT, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here" [Luke 12:42].
Likened to a man from which an unclean spirit went out but returned with seven other spirits that were more wicked. "This is the way it will also be with THIS EVIL GENERATION" [LUKE 1243-45].

"Why does THIS GENERATION seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign shall be to THIS GENERATION' [Mark 8:12]
"An EVIL AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION seeks after a sign; and no sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah" [Matthew 12:39; 16:4].
"O UNBELIEVING AND PERVERTED GENERATION, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?" [Matthew 17:17; Mark 9:19; Luke 9:41].
"Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send unto them prophets and apostles; and some of them they shall kill and persecute; the blood of all the prophets, which were shed from the foundation of the world, MAY BE REQUIRED OF THIS GENERATION; from the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary: yea, I say unto you, IT SHALL BE REQUIRED OF THIS GENERATION" [Luke 11:49-51].
"You serpents, you GENERATION OF VIPERS, how can you escape the judgment of Gehenna?" [Matthew 23:33].
"Truly I say to you, all these things shall come upon THIS GENERATION" [Matthew 23:36].
"Truly I say unto you, THIS GENERATION shall not pass away till all these things be accomplished" [Matthew 24:34].
"Truly I say to you, THIS GENERATION shall not pass away until all these things take place" [Mark 13:30]. That generation passed away long ago.
"But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by THIS GENERATION" [Luke 17:25].
"Be saved from THIS PERVERSE GENERATION" [Acts 3:40]. This was said before A. D. 70
"That you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of A CROOKED AND PERVERSE GENERATION" [Philippians 2:15].

If "this generation" means "this race" as some millennialists teach, are there forty-two "races" spoken of in Matthew 1:1-17?

The use of "YOU" clearly identified the "generation" Jesus was speaking to in Matthew 24. When speaking to His disciples Jesus said:

"Do YOU not see all these things? Truly I say to YOU, not one stone here shall be left upon another" Verse 2.
"See to it that no one misleads YOU" Verse 4.
"YOU will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars" Verse 6. Not someone today will hear of wars.
"See that YOU are not frightened" Verse 6.
"They will deliver YOU to tribulation and will kill YOU, and YOU will be hated by all nations" Verse 9.
"When YOU see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" Verse 15. "When YOU see Jerusalem compassed with armies" Luke 21:20. Not when someone today sees this. JERUSALEM COMPASSED WITH ARMIES, WHICH WERE SPOKEN OF BY DANIEL [Daniel 9:27] WAS TO BE IN THEIR TIME AND SEEN BY THEM.
"Even so YOU too, when YOU see all these things, know YOU that He is nigh, even at the door" Verse 33. Not when someone today sees all these things.
"Truly I say unto YOU, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place" Verse 34.
"For this reason YOU be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when YOU do not think He will" Verse 44.

[3] THEN AN ADDRESS TO HIS DISCIPLES ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES OVERLOOKING JERUSALEM: Matthew 24:1-51. There have been thousands of speculations made on Matthew 24 over the centuries, and it is perhaps been abused more than any other passage.

THE CONTEXT OF MATTHEW 24: It is in the midst of passages about Israel.

The Two Sons [Matthew 21:27-32] Israel believed not Christ
The Wicked Husbandman [Matthew 21:33-46]. (a) "He will miserably destroy those miserable men" (b) The stone, Christ, rejected by Israel and Israel scatted as dust
The Marriage Feast [Matthew 22:1-14] "They that were bidden (Israel) was not worthy"
The Seven Woes [Matthew 23:1-36] "All these things shall come upon this generation"
Their House (the Temple) left desolate [Matthew 23:27-39]
Not One Stone Upon Another [Matthew 24:1-2] The Temple to be destroyed

There question about what He had just said [Matthew 24:3]
His answer [Matthew 24:4-31]

The Fig Tree [Matthew 24;32-36] "This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished"
Israel The Unfaithful Servant [Matthew 24:45-25:30]

MATTHEW 24

Matthew 24:1-2 "And Jesus went out from the temple, and his disciples came to him TO SHOW HIM THE BUILDINGS OF THE TEMPLE, but he answered and said unto them, see you not all these things? Verily I say unto you, THERE SHALL NOT BE LEFT HERE ONE STONE UPON ANOTHER, THAT SHALL NOT BE THROWN DOWN." The stones were the "buildings of the temple." THESE WORDS ARE THE REASON FOR THE QUESTIONS BY HIS DISCIPLES AND THE REASON FOR THE DISCOURSE THAT FOLLOWED. The purpose of this discourse was not to give His disciples signs of His coming at the end of the world but signs of the destruction of Jerusalem, to warn believers in that generation of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and to give them a sign for them to flee from the destruction coming in their lifetime. "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is nigh" [Luke 21:20; Matthew 24:15].

Matthew 24:3 "And as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, tell us"

Matthew 24:3

Question one: "Tell us, when shall THESE THINGS be?"

Question two: "And what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?"

Except for the bad translation of the King James Version ("end of the world") no one would see the end of the world in these two questions. The Greek says, "end of the age" (aion); not "end of the world" (kosmos). Not even the New King James Version would go along with the King James Version on this bad translation.

Mark 13:4

Question one: "Tell us, when shall THESE THINGS be?"

Question two: "And what shall be the sign when THESE THINGS are all about to be accomplished?"

Luke 21:6-7

Question one: "When therefore shall THESE THINGS be?"

Question two: "And what shall be the sign when THESE THINGS are about to come to pass?"

Question two as given in the three parallel accounts. All are the same question.

1. Matthew "And what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?"

2. Mark "And what shall be the sign when THESE THINGS are all about to be accomplished?"

3. Luke "And what shall be the sign when THESE THINGS are about to come to pass?"

"THESE THINGS" were the things Christ had just said, "And Jesus said unto him, _Do you see these great buildings? There shall not be left here one stone upon another, which shall not be thrown down._ And as he seat on the Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, _Tell us, when shall THESE THINGS be?_" [Mark 13:2-3].

1. The disciples, thinking of what the Lord had said, asked two questions, which they supposed both would be at the same time. (1) When shall THESE THINGS You speak of be (2) and what shall be the sign that THESE THINGS are about to come to pass? NEITHER IN WHAT CHRIST SAID OR IN THE QUESTIONS THE DISCIPLES ASKED IS THERE ANY REFERENCE TO THE SECOND COMING OR TO A GREAT TRIBULATON THOUSANDS OF YEARS AFTER "THESE THING." AT THE TIME THEY ASKED THESE QUESTIONS THEY DID NOT BELIEVE OR KNOW THAT JESUS WOULD BE PUT TO DEATH OR THAT HE WOULD BE GOING BACK TO HEAVEN AND COMING A SECOND TIME. THE DISCIPLES STILL THOUGHT THE CHRIST WOULD RESTORE THE EARTHY KINGDOM OF ISRAEL JUST AS ALL THE JEWS DID.

1. "And they understood none of these things, and this saying was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said" [Luke 18:34; also Luke 19:11; 24:21-27; John 16:16-18; 20:9].

2. When that asked these two questions they did not know or believe Christ would die and be resurrected from the dead or know or believe anything about the second coming of Christ or the judgment day.

3. On the day of His resurrection they did not know it was the resurrected Christ they were talking to and said to Him, "But we hoped (past tense) that it was he who should REDEEM ISRAEL" [Luke 24:21].

4. Forty days after He was raised from the dead they still did not understand therefore, they still did not expect Christ to go away and return to earth a second time at the end of the world; they expected Him to restore the kingdom to Israel "They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, do you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" [Acts 1:6].

· AT THE TIME THEY ASKED THIS, THEY DID NOT BELIEVE JUST AS THE JEWS DID NOT BELIEVE THAT THEIR MESSIAH WOULD BE KILLED, BUT THAT HE WOULD SET UP AN EARTHLY KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. HOW COULD THEY BE ASKING ABOUT HIS SECOND COMING WHEY THEY DID NOT KNOW THERE WOULD BE A SECOND COMING? MILLENNIALISTS MUST MAKE THE DISCIPLES BE ASKING A QUESTION ABOUT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST THAT THE DISCIPLES DID NOT UNDERSTAND ABOUT OR BELIEVE AT THAT TIME, BUT THEY MUST HAVE THE DISCIPLES ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MILLENNIAL AND THE RAPTURE TO MAKE THIS CHAPTER TEACH THEIR VIEW. I have never seen where any Premillennialists say how these disciples that did not knew that Christ was to die and be raised from the dead and forty days later ascend to Heaven explain how the same disciples could know anything about the rapture and the thousand years. From where do they think these disciples had this knowledge? Lindsay says, "The 'coming' referred to in the question above is commonly referred to as the second advent of Christ. It was only natural that they wanted to know what signs would indicate his return to set up God's promised kingdom." "The Late Great Planet Earth" page 52, Zoudervan Publishing House, 1970.

[1] SIGNS OF THE THINGS THAT WERE TO COME TO PAST

THAT CHRISTIANS WERE TO WATCH FOR

Matthew 24:4-15: "And Jesus answered (His answer was to the questions they had asked about the destruction of the temple, not about His second coming) and said unto them, Take heed that no man lead you astray. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray. And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not troubled: for these things must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. But, all these things are the beginning of travail. Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all the nations for my name's sake. And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray. And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of many shall wax cold. But, he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come. When; therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that reads understand)."

[2] NATURAL DISASTERS TO ISRAEL AND ROME

When Christ was born, there was a universal peace in the empire...From the time that the Jews rejected Christ, and he left their house desolate, the sword did never depart from their house, the sword of the Lord was never quiet, because he had given it a charge against a hypocritical nation and the people of his wrath, and by it brought ruin upon them." Matthew Henry, Matthew 24:6. Zondervan Publishing House, 1721.

(a) WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS [Matthew 24:6; Mark 13:7-8; Luke 21:9-10] with nations and kingdoms rising against each other [Matthew 24:7]. There were many conflicts and battles before A. D. 70 in which thousands of Jews were killed. In one battle with the Syrians about 5,000 Jews were killed. From A. D. 66 to 70 there were many wars and rumors of wars. Many thousands were killed in the many wars in the 5 years before the destruction of the temple and Israel in A. D. 70. "The Jewish war began in A. D. 66, and ended five years after. During this period all the Roman Empire was filled with commotion. Nero, the emperor, was overthrown by Galba; six months after, Galba was overthrown by Otho; a few months after, Otho was overthrown by Vitelius; a little later, he was overthrown by Vespasian. All of these but the last, who ascended the throne shortly before Jerusalem was destroyed, died violent deaths...Tacitus, the Roman historian, says of this period: 'It was full of calamities, horrible with battles, rent with seditions, savage in peace itself.'" B. W. Johnson, "The People's New Testament With Notes" Gospel Light Publishing Company, 1889. From the writing of Josephus we learn that the Jews were divided into parties fighting among themselves and Jews killed others Jews in numbers far greater then those killed by the Roman soldiers and villages of Syria and elsewhere were burnt to the ground in the five years of war before the Romans laid siege to Jerusalem. During the siege many more Jews were killed by warring bands of Jews in Jerusalem, and Josephus says the Jews suffered far more from one another inside the walls of the city than from the Romans outside. Thousand more were killed by bands of robbers.

"When Christ was born, there was a universal peace in the empire...From the time that the Jews rejected Christ, and he left their house desolate, the sword did never depart from their house, the sword of the Lord was never quiet, because he had given it a charge against a hypocritical nation and the people of his wrath, and by it brought ruin upon them." Matthew Henry, Matthew 24:6. Zondervan Publishing House, 1721.

(b) FAMINES IN DIVERS PLACES [Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11]: In the years between the death of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem there were severe famines especially in the area of Jerusalem. Paul took up a contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem [Romans 15:25; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4] which many churches took part in. Agabus signified by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius, and the disciples sent relief unto the disciples in Judea [Acts 11:28-29].

(c) PESTILENCES [Matthew 24:7 King James Version]: Pestilences tend to come with famine. There was a great one in AD 40 in Babylon when many Jews died and many more fled because of it. Another one in AD 65 in Rome when many died. I have seen no history that tells how many died by wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes in the years before the destruction of Jerusalem, but no doubt it was many thousands. During the siege of Jerusalem but before the fall, the dead from famines and pestilences filled all the room for burial within the walls of the city and Josephus claims 600,000 more bodies were thrown out of the gates of Jerusalem and left unburialed.

(d) EARTHQUAKES IN DIVERS PLACES [Matthew 24:7]: The earthquakes are spoken of as a dreadful judgment against the nation of Israel, "But all these things are the beginning of travail" [Matthew 24:8]. "Of these significant emblems of political commotions, there occurred several within the scene of this prophecy, and, as our Savior predicted, in divers places in the reign of Claudius there was one at Rome, and another at Apamea in Syria, where many Jews resided. The earthquake at the latter place was so destructive, that the emperor, in order to relieve the distresses of the inhabitants, remitted its tribute for five years. Both these earthquakes are recorded by Tacitus. There was one also, in the same reign in Crete that is mentioned by Philostratus, in his Life of Apollonius, who says, that 'there were others at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, and Samos; IN ALL WHICH PLACES JEWS HAD SETTLED.' In the reign of Nero there was an earthquake at Laodicea. Tacitus records this also. It is likewise mentioned by Eusebius and Orosius, who add that Hieropolis and Colose, as well as Laodicea, were overthrown by an earthquake. There was also one in Campania in this reign (of this both Tacitus and Seneca speak) and another at Rome in the reign of Galba, recorded by Suetonius." George P. Holford, "The Destruction Of Jerusalem," 1805. Some cities of Israel were totaled destroyed by earthquakes before the destruction of Jerusalem. I have not found an estimate of how many Jews died by earthquakes but like both the famines and the pestilences, without doubt many more thousands died in the earthquakes before A. D. 70.

Dr. Philip Schaff says there is scarcely another period in history so full of corruption, vice, and disaster as the six years between Neronian persecution in A. D. 64 and the destruction of Jerusalem in A. D. 70, History Of the Christian Church, New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge.

FOR MANY YEARS EARTHQUAKES, FAMINES, WARS, PESTILENCES HAVE REPEATEDLY BEEN MAKE INTO A SURE SIGN THAT THE END IS AT HAND BY MANY WRITERS OF FICTION.

[3] PERSECUTION FIRST FROM JEWS

AND THEN ROME, AND THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL

(a) "BUT ALL THESE THINGS ARE THE BEGINNING OF TRAVAIL" [Matthew 24:9].

(b) CHRISTIANS WOULD BE DELIVER UP, KILLED AND HATED BY ALL THE NATIONS [Matthew 24:9]. The persecution of believers came first from the Jews. Acts 4:3; 4:18; 4:21; 5:18; 5:28; 6:12-14; 7:58-60; 8:1; 8:3; 9:1-2; 13:44-51; 14:2; 14:19; 17:5-8; 17:13; 26:9-10; Paul was one of the persecutors and then one of the persecuted. "Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned...I have been in...dangers from my countrymen" [2 Corinthians 11:24-26]. "For you also suffer the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews; who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophet, and drove out us" [1 Thessalonians 2:14-15]. It was soon followed by the persecution of Nero of believers, which began about A. D. 64. After the fire in Rome Nero attempted to clear himself by blaming it on the Christians. He then persecuted the Christians with such cruelty that even many of his fellow Romans were taken back by his cruelty "But before all these things, they shall lay their hands on you, and shall persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prison, bringing you before kings and governors for my name's sake" [Luke 21:12]. See Hebrews 10:32-34. Both the persecution from the Jews and the persecution from Rome were severe. I have just touched the hem of the garment.

(c) MANY SHALL STUMBLE, DELIVER UP ONE ANOTHER, AND HATE ONE ANOTHER [Matthew 24:10]. As a result of the persecutions the weak stumbled. "And brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all on account of My name...and a man's enemies will be the members of his household" [Matthew 10:22-36].

(d) MANY FALSE PROPHETS [Matthew 24:11]. See 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1; 2:18; Galatians 1:7. Many false teachers saying they were the Christ [Matthew 24:5]. Josephus says that they did come about the time of the end of Jerusalem.

(e) LIGHTNING "For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be" [Matthew 24:27]. For the use of "lightning" in the Old Testament for God's angry and judgment see Exodus 19:16; 2 Samuel 22:7-15; Isaiah 30:27. It is also used symbolically in Revelation of judgments. Revelation 4:5; 11:19; 16:18. The false prophets saying they were the Christ were only seen by some. The coming of Christ in judgment on Israel with the total destruction of Israel as a country was seen in the entire known world just as lightning in the east is seen in the west. _But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes_ [Matthew10:23].

_It is a coming, which was to take place before all the cities of Israel should be evangelized, and hence the reference must be, we think, to the providential coming to destroy the Jewish nationality_ J W McGarvey, New Testament Commentary, Matthew and Mark, page 92.

_It would take place before all the cities of Israel should be evangelized, hence it would mean the coming of Christ to destroy the Jewish nationality_ H Leo Boles, The Gospel According To Matthew, page 230, Gospel Advocate, 1954.

(f) MANY DISCIPLES WILL FALL AWAY, BUT THOSE WHO REMAIN FAITHFUL SHALL BE SAVED [Matthew 24:13-14].

(g) THE GOSPEL SHALL BE PREACHED TO THE WHOLE WORLD [Matthew 24:14]. The persecution against the church in Jerusalem scattered the saints abroad, and they went about preaching the word everywhere. [Acts 8:1-4]. The gospel was preached throughout the world, as it was known before A. D. 70. _The word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you; even as it is also in all the world_ [Colossians 1:6]; and "The hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven" [Colossians 1:23]. Paul says to the Romans, "Your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world" [Romans 1:8]. In Romans 10:18 he says, "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." "World" as it is used in the New Testament is all the civilized world of that day, the entire known world. See Luke 2:1; Acts 11:28.

"Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven" [Acts 2:5]. The devout Jews came from all over the world to Jerusalem for Pentecost and when Pentecost was over, they returned to all nations under heaven and some that believed the preaching of Peter and others took the Gospel with them.
"The mystery...has been made known to all the nations" [Romans 16:25-26].

[4] THEN COMES THE END OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL

(a) THEN COMES THE END WHEN THEY SEE THE ROMANS IN JERUSALEM. "When; therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet [Daniel 9:27], standing in the holy place" [Matthew 24:14-15]. The parallel passage in Luke 21:20 says, "But when you see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand." There will be no armies in Jerusalem to see at the second coming of Jesus. In the Old Testament the worship of other gods is an "abomination" [Deuteronomy 7:25; 12:31; 17:3]. The Romans worshiped many gods. The idolatrous army of Rome in Jerusalem was an "abomination of desolation" to them. Daniel speaks of this "abomination of desolation" at the time when the regular sacrifice is abolished [Daniel 12:11; 9:27].

(b) "THEN LET THEM THAT ARE IN JUDAEA FLEE UNTO THE MOUNTAINS" [Matthew 24:16]. The last signs the disciples were to look for was the Roman army in Jerusalem. After going through the country around about Jerusalem and destroying the cities and killing many thousand of the Jews, Cestius Gallus came to within one mile of Jerusalem, then after about four days entered the city but fled with many Jews pursuing him. THE DISCIPLES WERE TO FLEE UNTO THE MOUNTAINS WHEN THEY SAW ALL THE ABOVE SIGNS. If this passage were speaking of the second coming of Christ, as many Premillennialists say it is, why were Christians told to flee to the mountains? In Luke Christ is speaking of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and tells the disciples, "But watch at every season, making supplication, that you may prevail TO ESCAPE all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" [Luke 21:36]. They did watch and escape by fleeing to the mountains beyond the cities of Israel.

"After this disaster had befallen Cestius, the more opulent of the Jews (says Josephus) forsook Jerusalem as men do a sinking ship. And it is with reason supposed that on this occasion many Christians, or converted Jews, who dwelt there, recollecting the warnings of their divine Master, retired to Pella, a place beyond Jordan, situated in a mountainous country, whither (according to Eusebius, who resided near the spot) they came from Jerusalem, and settled, before the war (under Vespasian) began. Other providential opportunities for escaping afterwards occurred, of which, it is probable, those who were now left behind availed themselves; for it is a striking act, and such as cannot be contemplated by the pious mind without sentiments of devout admiration, THAT HISTORY DOES NOT RECORD THAT EVEN ONE CHRISTIAN PERISHED IN THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM. Enduring to the end faithful to their blessed master, they, gave credit to his predictions, and escaped the calamity. Thus were fulfilled the words of our Lord, Matt. 24. 13. 'He that shall endure unto the end (i. e. of the scene of this prophecy) shall be saved,' i. e. from the calamities which will involve all those who shall continue obstinate in unbelief" George P. Holford, "The Destruction of Jerusalem."
"It is very remarkable that not a single Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though there were many there when Cestis Gallus invested the city; and, had he persevered in the siege, he would soon have rendered himself master of it; but, when he unexpectedly and unaccountably raised the siege, the Christians took that opportunity to escape." Adam Clarke, Commentary on Matthew.
At the second coming of Jesus no one will see the Roman army and flee to the mountains. Premillennialists believe and teach that the rapture will be at the time of this great tribulation, therefore, the saints could not flee to the mountains for they would be "up in the sky with Christ" in the rapture; but Jesus clearly told them to flee to the mountains when the tribulation begins. Christians were to (and did) flee from Jerusalem; from the very place where Premillennialists say Christ will come to and set up His kingdom, and if this passage were about a millennial coming, they were told to flee from Jerusalem at the very time when many Millennialists say He will be coming to Jerusalem to set up His kingdom. If this chapter were about Christ coming to set up His kingdom in Jerusalem, as many Premillennialists teach it is and Christ just happens to leave some Christians behind in Jerusalem at the rapture, why would those left behind be told to flee from the very place Premillennialists teach Christ is to come to set up His kingdom at the time when He is to come?

That this is not the second coming of Christ is shown by the fact that both living and dead believers did not meet the Lord in the air, but that only the living believers were to flee to the mountains.

INSTRUCTIONS AND WARNING TO THE DISCIPLES

Matthew 24:17-20: "Let him that is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house: (18) and let him that is in the field not return back to take his cloak. (19) But woe unto them that give suck in those days! (20) And pray you that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a Sabbath; for then shall be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world (aion-age) until now, no, not ever shall be. (22) And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. (23) Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or, Here; believe it not. (24) For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. (25) Behold, I have told you beforehand. (26) If; therefore, they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the wilderness; go not forth: Behold, he is in the inner chambers; believe it not. (27) For as the lightning comes forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. (28) Where so ever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together."

"For then shall be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world (aion-age) until now, no, not ever shall be." Some believe this is speaking of the Jewish age, not all time. Not of the destruction of the flood before the Jewish age and not speaking of any war after the end of the Jewish age. Daniel 12:1 says, "And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time." They believe Daniel vision was about Israel and Michael was speaking only of Israel and should be understood as "since there was a nation of Israel." It is believed to be speaking only of the wars and captivities of Israel. I am not persuaded this is the right view, but it may be something that needs be looked into for the Greek says "from the beginning of the age" not "the world."

(a) They were to flee without taking time to take things from their house, and those in field were not to take the time to return to their house for things [Matthew 24:18-19]. "But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of the city depart, and let not those who are in the country enter the city" [Luke 20:20-21].

No one, saved or lost, will be able to flee to the mountains to escape at the second coming of Jesus. The saved will not want to and the lost will not be able to. Neither will armies surround Jerusalem at the second coming of Christ. Nevertheless, Millennialists attempt to make this be an army of Satan surrounding Christ and His saints in the Millennial Kingdom. Would those who were with Christ in Jerusalem be told to flee to the mountains to escape the army of Satan? If they were, it would give Satan more power than Christ has for He would not be able to protect them from Satan.
The saints that were to flee to the mountains would be in the mountains at the time of rapture, not ruptured to Heaven where the Millennialists say they will be. Although this is a key passage to the Millennia theory it is an undeniable contradiction to the rapture theory.

(b) Woe unto them that have a small child [Matthew 24:29]. Those with a child would have hardships in fleeing to the mountains, but at the end of the world this will be no problem, no woe to those who will be caught up to meet Jesus in the air.

(c) They were to pray that it not be in the winter or on a Sabbath for the gates of Jerusalem were closed, and no one could depart from the city [Matthew 24:20]. Because the streams were then impassable from the heavy rains, the cold wet weather would be hard on those who were fleeing. The gates of Jerusalem have never been closed after A. D. 70 and it will be no problem if the gates of Jerusalem, or any city was closed at the second coming nor will impassable streams or cold weather be a problem at the second coming.

Hindrances to flight from Jerusalem in A. D. 70 that would be no hindrances at second coming.

Having a small child [Matthew 24:19]
In the winter [Matthew 24:20]
On a Sabbath day [Matthew 24:20]

(d) There would be a greater tribulation than had ever been [Matthew 24:20-22].

(e) There would be many false Christs and prophets that would show great signs [Matthew 24:23-27]. But, when Christ came in judgment on Israel, He through His judgment was seen by all. False Christs and prophets will not be a sign of His second coming at the end of the world.

(f) Where so ever the dead body of Israel was (the carcass) the eagles would gather [Matthew 24:28]. The Jewish nation was a dead and rotting carcass with its birds of prey.

First: many false Chrsits.
Second: Christ coming seen by all.
Third: Then the dead carcass of Israel. That Christ being seen by all is the coming of Christ in judgment on Israel and not His second coming is shown by it being between the false Christs and the dead carcass of Jerusalem.

"For these are days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled" [Luke 21:22]. Jeremiah ends his prophecy made in Gehenna [valley of Topheth] outside of Jerusalem with, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I am about to bring on this city and all its towns the entire calamity that I have declared against it because they have stiffened their necks so as not to heed My words'" [Jeremiah 19:15].

FIRST CENTURY OR TODAY?

(a) "Let him that is on the housetop not go down." Most first century houses in Jerusalem had flat roofs, and a person could travel from one housetop to the next. Today there are almost none with flat roofs and what few there may be would not be useful as a roadway to the gate of the city.

(b) Not on the Sabbath. The gates would be closed, and no one would be able to leave the city. Today there are no gates. The Law forbids going more than a Sabbath day journey, which is less than a mile, and others Jews might have stopped them for breaking the Law.

(d) "For the days shall come upon you when your enemies shall cast up a bank about you, and compass you round, and keep you on in on every side" [Luke 19:43-44]. Then the common way that was used by the Romans to take a walled city was to build an embankment next to the wall for the army to walk up to the top of the wall. Today's cities, not even Jerusalem, do not have walls as they would be useless with modern planes and explosives.

(f) "And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." After Jerusalem was completely destroyed, the cities of Israel that had not been destroyed before Jerusalem was also destroyed. If the Roman army had kept going, the fateful Jews beyond the mountains where Christians had fled to would have also been destroyed. This would make no sense when it is applied to the second coming of Christ as it is by many millennialists.

Luke 21:24 "And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led captive into all the nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." In A. D. 70 all the Jews that were in Israel that was not killed were led captive into all the nations. The siege of Jerusalem was at the time of the Passover when millions were within the walls of the city.

"Of the Jews destroyed during the siege, Josephus reckons not less than ONE MILLION AND ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND, to which must be added, above TWO-HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SEVEN THOUSAND who perished in other places, AND INNUMERABLE MULTITUDES WHO WERE SWEPT AWAY BY FAMINE, AND PESTILENCE, AND OF WHICH NO CALCULATION COULD BE MADE. Not less than two thousand laid violent hands upon themselves. Of the captives the whole was about NINETY-SEVEN THOUSAND." George P. Holford, "The Destruction of Jerusalem." He also says that at this time bands of robbers and murderers plundered the other towns and slew the resistance of many of the towns.

"No history can furnish us with a parallel to the calamities and miseries of the Jews:-rape, murder, famine, and pestilence within: fire and sword, and all the horrors of war, without. Our Lord wept at the foresight of these calamities; and it is almost impossible for any humane person to read the relation of them in Josephus without weeping also." Adam Clarke, Commentary on Matthew.

"The destruction of Jerusalem was more terrible than anything that the world has ever witnessed, either before or since. Even Titus seemed to see in his cruel work the hand of an avenging God." C.H. Spurgeon, Commentary on Matthew, Page 412.

"And indeed the multitude of carcasses that lay in heaps one upon another was a horrible sight, and produced a pestilential stench, which was a hindrance to those that would make sallies out of the city, and fight the enemy: but as those were to go in battle-array, who had been already use to ten thousand murders, and must tread upon those dead bodies as they marched along, so they were not terrified, nor did they pity men as they marched over them." Josephus, The Wars Of The Jews Or The History Of The Destruction Of Jerusalem, Book VI, Page 1. This is only a small sample of the pages in Josephus's history of the destruction of the Jews as a nation, of the wars of the Jews with the Romans before, during, and after the destruction of Jerusalem, of the famines, pestilence and earthquakes through out all Israel unto the entire nation was destroyed. It is not for those with a weak stomach.

"The Roman leaders endeavored to strike terror to the Jews and thus, cause them to surrender. Those prisoners, who resisted when taken, were scourged, tortured, and crucified before the wall of the city. Hundreds were daily put to death in this manner, and the dreadful work continued until, along the Valley Jehoshaphat and at Calvary, crosses were erected in so great numbers that there was scarcely room to move among them. So terrible was the visited that awful imprecation uttered before the judgment seat of Pilate: 'His blood be on us, and on our children Matthew 27:25'" The Great Controversy. The nation of Israel sowed a cross and reaped thousands of crosses.

"Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another" [Matthew 24:2]. Titus wanted to save the temple and give command that it be not destroyed, but Christ had said it would be. It was set on fire against the command of Titus, and the gold melted and ran down into the foundation stones, and the soldiers dug up the foundation stones looking for the gold. Not one stone was left. In Luke's account of this [Luke 19:41-44] he says the temple would be even with the ground. After the destruction of Jerusalem one could not know by looking at the spot that the temple had been on it. A Moslem Mosque, called the Dome of the Rock, is now on the spot where the temple was.

"Daniel also wrote concerning the Roman government, and that our country should be made desolate by them." Josephus, "Antiquities of the Jews" 10.11.7.

IN THEIR BOOKS OF FICTION THE MILLENNIUM TRIBULATION IS OFTEN BASED ON MATTHEW 24 WHICH DID COME IN A. D. 70 BEFORE THAT GENERATION PASSED AWAY [MATTHEW 24:34]. "For then shall be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world (aion-age)." The purpose of this discourse was not to give his disciples signs of His coming at the end of the world but signs of the destruction of Jerusalem, to warn believers in that generation of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and to give them a sign for them to flee from the destruction coming in their lifetime. [Matthew 24:21]. Millennialists say, "Not so Christ, the great tribulation in the Millennium will be much greater then the tribulation at the destruction of Jerusalem and Israel.

THE CARCASS OF ISRAEL

"Where so ever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together" Matthew 24:28.

"I wonder and can any understand these words of pious men flying to Christ, [in the rapture] when the discourse here is of quite a different thing: they are thus connected to the forgoing: Christ shall be revealed with a sudden vengeance; for when God shall cast of the city and people, grown ripe for destruction, like a carcass thrown out, the Roman soldiers, like eagles, shall straight fly to it with their eagles (ensigns) to tear and devout it." John Lightfoot, Matthew 24:28 "A Commentary on Matthew."

NOT JERUSALEM ONLY BUT ALL THE NATION OF ISRAEL WAS DESTROYED, AND ALL THE LAND THAT WAS THE NATION OF ISRAEL WAS TAKEN OVER BY OTHER PEOPLE. THE NATION OF ISRAEL CAME TO AN END. The Jewish religion was centered round and totally dependence on the sacrifices which could only be performed at the Temple and only by the Levitical priesthood. Both came to an end and have not been restored to this day.

IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE DESTRUCTION

OF JERUSALEM AND ALL ISRAEL

Matthew 24:29-31: "But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: (30) and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (31) And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

Matthew 24:1-28 is speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem. Then in the next verse Christ says, "But immediately after the tribulation of those days" and gives a list in verses 29-31 of things that are to happen then, immediately after the destruction, not at His second coming. Then in verses 32-44 He gives us the parable of Israel the fig tree in which His coming was "nigh, even at the doors." These verses are highly symbolic of something that took place immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem. In symbolic language the sun is a great ruler on this earth, and the stars are lesser rulers. There were no rulers or teachers in Israel immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem and all the cities of Israel. All was darkness for Israel. "And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn" (see Matthew 10:23 where the coming of Christ is in judgment on Israel). In the next parable, Christ is "nigh, even at the doors" and "this generation shall not pass away till all these things be accomplished." Though not literally, Christ did come in judgment in the destruction of Jerusalem. If this were at the judgment when all will be raised from the dead for judgment by Christ, I find it difficult to see how any could think that He will not give forth His light at the Judgment, and what then are the stars that shall fall from Heaven? If verses 30 and 31 were speaking of the second coming, they would be out of place for the second coming was not "immediately after the tribulation of those days" (verse 29) and not in the "generation that shall not pass away till all these things be accomplished" (verse 34). Many teach that the things in Matthew 24 are events that are happening today, but if so, there would some very old people be living today.

The "great tribulation" of Matthew 24:21 is now past history, not something still to come. "But IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION OF THESE DAY the sun shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken" [Matthew 24:29]. Jesus used the same symbolic language to describe the fall of Israel that Isaiah used to describe the fall of Babylon [Ezekiel 32:7-9] and is commonly used in the Old Testament. "For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light" [Isaiah 13:10]. Luke added, "And upon the earth distress of nations" [Luke 21:21]. There is no way to get around the sun being darkened was immediately after the tribulation Christ was speaking of, which was in A. D. 70; not a tribulation yet to come after the second coming of Christ. MOST MILLENNISLISTS MAKE THE SUN BEING DARKENED BE THE GREAT TRIBULATION; THEY MOVE THEM BEING DARKEN FROM IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION AND MAKE THEM BEING DARKEN BE THE TRIBULATION.

1. The same figurative language of the sun, moon and stars being darken or falling from heaven is also used of the fall of Judea [a national judgment] in Jeremiah 4:1-28.

2. Of the fall of Israel [Amos 8:6-9; 8:18-20].

3. Of the fall of Israel [Zephaniah 1:14-18].

4. Of the fall of the Nations [Joel 3:15-16; 2:31].

5. Of the fall of Egypt [Ezekiel 30:3-4; 32:7-8; Isaiah 19:1].

6. Of the fall of Babylon [Isaiah 13:10-20].

7. Of the fall of Edom [Isaiah 34:4-6].

8. Of the city of Arier in Israel [Isaiah 29:5-6].

9. Of the fall of "My people" [Isaiah 51:5-6].

10. Also see Joel 2:1-31; 30:31; Haggai 2:6-7; Amos 8:9; Jeremiah 15:9 46:7; 49:23-24; Isaiah 17:12-13; 19:1; 47:20; 64:3; Daniel 7:2-17; Exodus 19:16; 13:21-22; 14:19-31; Psalm 18:13; 104:3; Ezekiel 34:4; Nahum 1:3. THIS WAS FAMILIAR LANGUAGE TO THOSE JESUS WAS SPEAKING TO AND THEY WOULD HAVE UNDERSTOOD HIM TO BE SPEAKING OF THE FALL OF A NATION, NOT OF THE END OF THE WORLD. It is similar to that in Deuteronomy 23:22-28 and both are a judgment on Israel.

11. Compare Matthew 24:29-30 to the fall of Egypt. "And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens, and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you and will set darkness on your land, declares the Lord God. I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the nations" [Ezekiel 32:7-9]. As far as these nations were concerned the lights went out.

Matthew 24:30: "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven." "In Heaven" is where the Son of Man is, not where the sign would appear. What did appear was the destruction of Israel. The sign proves that the man Israel rejected is the Lord and is the ruler over all nations, and He has the power to destroy the nations that reject Him.

In speaking of God's coming in judgment on Egypt Isaiah says, "The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud, and is about to come to Egypt" [Isaiah 19:1; also Jeremiah 4:13; Ezekiel 30:3-4]. This is not God literally riding a cloud into Egypt, but is figurative language of His coming in judgment on Egypt. When they saw Jerusalem destroyed, they were seeing Jesus coming in judgment on that city. Jesus told the high priest, "YOU SHALL SEE THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWER, AND COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN" [Mark 14:62]. The high priest did not literally see Jesus in Heaven, but he and all Israel did see the coming of Jesus in judgment on Israel.

"The signs in the heavens, the darkening sun and falling stars, refer to the falling of Jewish dignitaries, casting down of authorities and powers, long established, and signified the darkness that settled upon the Jewish state, the sun of the Hebrew temple was darkened, the moon of the Jewish commonwealth was as blood, the stars of Sanhendrin fell from their high seats of authority...The sign of the Son of man in the heaven was a signal, the evidence of divine visitation and intervention in the downfall of the Jewish authorities and in all the transpiring events. The mourning of all the tribes of the earth refers to the lamentation of the Jewish families all over the world because of the destruction of their city and their temple and their state. The coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven is not a reference to the second coming of Christ but to the coming foretold by Jesus to Caiaphas in Matthew 26:64: 'Hereafter shall you see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of Heaven.' Jesus told Caiaphas that he would see it, he would be living witness to these event" Foy E. Wallace Jr., "The Book of Revelation" Page 354.

"And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn." When their country was destroyed, the Jews that were in other parts of the earth would mourn. The word translated "earth" is "gee" and in the King James Version is translated "land" forty-one times, "ground" eighteen times and "country" two times. "Gee" is translated land in Matthew 2:6; 2:20; 2:21; 4:15; 9:26; 11:24; 14:34; 27:45; Mark 4:1; 6:47; 6:53; 15:33; Luke 4:25; 5:3; 5:11; 5:24; 8:27; 14:35; 21:23; John 3:22; 6:21; 21:8; 21:9; 21:11; Acts 7:3; 7:4; 7:4; 7:6; 7:11; 7:29; 7:33; 7:36; 7:4013:17; 13:19; 13:19; Hebrews 8:9; 11:9; Jude 5. "Gee" is translated "ground" in Matthew 9:29; 13:8; 13:23; 15:35; Mark 4:8; 4:20; 4:26; 8:6; 9:20; 24:35; Luke 8:8; 8:15; 22:44; John 8:6; 8:8; 12:24; Acts 7:33. "Gee" is translated "country" in Matthew 9:31 and Acts 7:3. Had it been translated "land" in Matthew 24:30, "And then shall all the tribes of the land [gee] mourn" most of the confusion would not have existed. See Zechariah 12:11-12.

"And he will send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other" [Matthew 24:31]. Still speaking in figurative language Jesus is saying He will send His messengers into all the world with His Gospel and gather them to Him in His kingdom, the church. Just as there was not literally a "great trumpet" that was heard in Egypt and Assyria [Isaiah 27:13], there was not literally a "great trumpet" after the fall of Jerusalem. "And they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other," is figurative language meaning from all over the earth, just as is "from east and west, and from north and south" [Luke 13:29 also see Matthew 24:14]. All the saved "His elect" are now gathered together in His kingdom, the church.

Those in the first century would understand "blood, fire, vapor and smoke" to be used as it was in the Old Testament [Acts 2:19; Joel 2:28-32], but would never have understood it to be referring to a nuclear war as many millennialists apply it. Christ used the symbolic language of the Old Testament as it was used in the Old Testament, as those hearing Him would have understood, not something in today's newspapers.

Literally, that day was an ordinary day. The moon was not literally turned into blood, but spiritually it was an earth shaking day. Even the Millennialists who say all scripture must be interpreted literally do not believe the moon will ever literally be turned to blood.

THE SON OF MAN SEEN COMING IN HIS KINGDOM "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING in His kingdom" [Matthew 16:28]. The parallel passage in Mark says, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power" [Mark 9:1]. His kingdom came in Acts 2; therefore, Christ was seen coming in His kingdom in power and glory in A. D. 30. Christ came both in the coming of His kingdom and in judgment on Israel, but neither one was a visible coming as the second coming will be that all, both the living and the dead will see. The problem many have when they read Matthew 24 is that they see only His second coming and therefore must interpret much of Matthew 24 to be speaking of the end of time. Neither His coming in His kingdom in A. D. 30, nor His coming in judgment on Israel in A. D. 70 was the second coming when the saved will put on immortality and forever be with Him.

COMING OF CHRIST BEFORE HIS DISCIPLES HAD GONE THROUGH THE CITIES OF ISRAEL. Matthew 10:16-23 "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in theirs synagogues they will scourge you; and before governors and kings shall you be brought for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given you in that hour what you shall speak. For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you. And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father his child: and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. And you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endures to the end, the same shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next: for verily I say unto you, You shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come."

"After the destruction of Jerusalem seventeen hundred Jews who surrendered at Macherus were slain, and of fugitives not less than three thousand in the woods of Jardes. Titus having marched his army to Caesarea, he (Titus) there, with great splendor, celebrated the birthday of his brother Domitian; and according to the barbarous manner of those times, punished many Jews in honor of it. The number who was burnt, and who fell by fighting with wild beasts, and in mutual combats, exceeded two thousand five hundred." G. Holford, The Destruction of Jerusalem.

Adam Clarke lists some that were killed at other places. "By the inhabitants of Caesarea, above 20,000. At Scythopolis, above 13,000. At Ascalon, 2,500. At Ptolemais, 2,000. At Alexandria, 50,000. At Joppa, when taken by Cestius Gallus, 8,400. In a mountain called Asamon, near Sepporis, above 2,000. At Damascus, 10,000. In a battle with the Romans at Ascalon, 10,000. In an ambuscade near the same place, 8,000. At Japha, 15,000. Of the Samaritans, on Mount Gerizim, 11,600. At Jotapa, 40,000. At Joppa, when taken by Vespasian, 4,200. At Tarichea, 6,500. And after the city was taken, 1,200. At Gamala, 4,000, besides 5,000 who threw themselves down a precipice. Of those who fled with John, of Gischala, 6,000. Of the Gadarenes, 15,000 slain, besides countless multitudes drowned. In the village of Idumea, above 10,000 slain. At Gerasa, 1,000. At Machaerus, 1,700. In the wood of Jardes, 3,000. In the castle of Masada, 960. In Cyrene, by Catullus the governor, 3,000. Besides these, many of every age, sex, and condition, were slain in the war, who are not reckoned; but, of those who are reckoned, the number amounts to upwards of 1,357,660, which would have appeared incredible, if their own historian had not so particularly enumerated them." Clarke's Commentary on Matthew. The unknown number that was destroyed throughout the country by pestilence, famine, earthquakes and robbers throughout the reign both before the destruction of Jerusalem, during the destruction, and the years after it must be added to this. Also, Adam Clarke says most of those taken captive "above seventeen years old were distributed through the Roman provinces, to be destroyed in their theaters by the sword, and by the wild beasts."

AFTER TITUS CAME ADRIAN

"'In the reign of Adrian,' say Bishop Newton, 'nine hundred and eighty-five of their best towns were sacked and demolished, five hundred and eighty thousand men fell by the sword, in battle, besides, an infinite multitude who perished by, famine, and sickness, and fire; so that Judea was depopulated, and an almost incredible number of every age and of each sex, were sold like horses and dispersed over the face of the earth' - (Newton, vol. I, Page xviii.) The war which gave rise to these calamities happened about forty-four years after the destruction of Jerusalem" G. Holford, The Destruction of Jerusalem.

"Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it shall no more be called Topheth, not the Valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury. And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall frighten them away. THEN WILL I CAUSE TO CEASE FROM THE CITIES OF JUDAH, AND FROM THE STREETS OF JERUSALEM, THE VOICE OF MIRTH AND THE VOICE OF GLADNESS, THE VOICE OF THE BRIDEGROOM AND THE VOICE OF THE BRIDE; FOR THE LAND SHALL BECOME A WASTE" [Jeremiah 7:32-34].

John Calvin, "For within fifty years the city was destroyed and the temple ruined, THE WHOLE COUNTRY WAS REDUCED TO A HIDEOUS DESERT." "Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelist, Matthew, Mark, and Luke." All Israel, the whole nation, not just the temple was totally destroyed, "reduced to a hideous desert."

David Chilton, "'Let Him be Crucified! Let Him be Crucified! His blood be on us, and on our children!' the apostates had cried forty years earlier (Matthew 27:22-25); and when it was all over, more than a million Jews had been killed in the siege of Jerusalem; close to a million more were sold into slavery throughout the empire, and whole of Judea lay smoldering in ruins, virtually depopulate." "The Great Tribulation" 1987, Dominion Press.

Josephus says, "The countryside, life the city, was a pitiful sight, for where once there had been a multitude of trees and parks, there was now an utter wilderness stripped bare of timber; and no stranger who has seen the old Judea and the glorious suburbs of her capital, and now beheld utter desolation, could refrain from tears or suppress a groan at so terrible a change. the war had blotted out every trace of beauty, and no one who had known it in the past and came upon it suddenly would have recognized the place, for though he was already there, he would still have been looking for the city" The Jewish War.

"The Dead Sea too was filled with corpses which the river (the Jordan River) carried down to it by the thousands" Josephus.

"And except these days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" [Matthew 24:22]. If the war had gone on it would have reached beyond Israel unto Pella and other cities in the mountains where many Christians were that had left Israel; but it was stopped before it reached them. "No flesh" will be saved at the second coming. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" [1 Corinthians 15:50]. That the days were shortened and some flesh was saved proves this is not speaking of the second coming of Christ.

[4] HE (CHRIST) IS NIGH, EVEN AT THE DOORS: Matthew 24:32-44. "Now from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch is now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is nigh; (33) even so you also, WHEN YOU SEE ALL THESE THINGS, KNOW YOU THAT HE IS NIGH, EVEN AT THE DOORS. (34) VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, THIS GENERATION SHALL NOT PASS AWAY, TILL ALL THESE THINGS BE ACCOMPLISHED. (35) Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (36) But of that day and hour knows no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only. (37) And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. (38) For in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, (39) and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. (40) Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left; (41) two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left. (42) Watch; therefore: for you know not on what day your Lord comes. (43) But know this that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to broken through. (44) Therefore be you also ready; for in an hour that you think not the Son of man comes." This makes it clear that all Jesus had said before this applies to the destruction of Jerusalem and not to His second coming for "this generation" has long ago passed away. "ALL THESE THINGS" are the things He has just told them. When they saw the signs coming to pass, they know that the end of the temple and Israel was at hand. Although we are to watch and always be ready, we are not given any signs, as they were, that we can see and know that His coming is soon, not even that it will be in our lifetime or in the next thousand or ten thousand years. Commentaries on verses 35-44 are divided on whether this is speaking of the coming of Christ in judgment on Israel or His second coming. It seems unlikely to me that He would have changed from speaking of judgment on Israel in verse 34, then His second coming in verse 35, and back to judgment on Israel in verse 40 with nothing to show He changed. He was speaking to His disciples at this time [Matthew 24:1], and telling them they were to watch for the signs He gave them of His coming in judgment on Israel. We are given no signs to watch for but are always to be ready for His second coming.

"ALL THESE THINGS" Is things before 70 A. D., not at the second coming of Jesus. Luke says, "But when THESE THINGS begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads; because your redemption draws nigh" [Luke 21:38]. This redemption draws nigh to those of that generation. It was a redemption from the persecution of the Jews. "This generation shall not pass away, till ALL THINGS be accomplished" Luke 21:32. Not the redemption of the U. S. from Russia or any other redemption today.

"But before all THESE THINGS, they shall lay hands on you, and shall persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons" Luke 21:12.
"This generation shall not pass away, till ALL THINGS be accomplished" Luke 21:32, Matthew 24:34.
"As for THESE THINGS which you behold (The temple and how it was adorned) the days will come, in which there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down" Luke 21:5.
"When therefore shall THESE THINGS be?" (Not one stone upon another) Luke 21:7.
"And what shall be the sign when THESE THINGS are about to come to pass?" Luke 21:7.
"And when you shall hear of wars and tumults, be not terrified: for THESE THINGS must needs come to pass first; but the end is not immediately" Luke 21:9.
"But when THESE THINGS begin to come to pass" Luke 21:28.
"Even so you also, when you see THESE THINGS coming to pass" Luke 21:31.
"But watch you at every season, making supplication, that you may prevail to escape all THESE THINGS that shall come to pass" Luke 21:36.

Matthew 24:34 is a key to understanding all that came to pass before it, all that has been said up to this point must come before "this generation" would pass away. Not at the second coming of Jesus at the end of the world. A generation is about 40 years. It is the same "generation" spoken of in Matthew 23:36.

Matthew 24:35 "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." He had assured them that the end of Jerusalem was coming, now He assured them that His word would come to pass, that the heavens would end and the earth would pass away but not His word; the end of Jerusalem was sure. He may be speaking of the end of the Jewish heavens and earth, the end of their nation, not the end of the world. They did not know the season when the end would come but was told to pray that it be not in the winter season nor did they know the day but were told to pray that it not be on a Sabbath Day. "But watch you at every season, making supplication, THAT YOU MAY PREVAIL TO ESCAPE ALL THESE THINGS THAT SHALL COME TO PASS, and to stand before the Son of man" [Luke 21:36; Matthew 24:42-44; Mark 13:35-37]. The Christians did watch and did escape all these things, all the things He has just warned them about that were coming to Israel; but no one will escape the judgment to come.

Just as Noah warned of the destruction of the world but did not give the exact time and all went on with their lives and did not pay attention to the warning, the warning of Christ was not heeded by the Jews and the end came when they were not looking for it. As in the flood only the evil was destroyed and the righteous saved, the unbelieving Jews were destroyed and the believers were saved; "two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left." The righteous would be left.

JOSEPHUS, the Jewish first century historian, recorded concerning the year 70, "Thus were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God himself; while they did not attend, nor give credit to the signs that were so evident and did so plainly foretell their future desolation; but, like men infatuated, without either eyes to see, or minds to consider, did not regard the denunciations that God made to them." Josephus, who was not a Christian, understood these signs to be related to the soon-coming judgment. This coming in judgment was fulfilled in the destruction of the temple, the city of Jerusalem, and all the nation of Israel.

JOHN LIGHTFOOT (1859) "This generation shall not pass. Hence, it appears plain enough that the foregoing verses are not to be understood of the last judgment but, as we said, of the destruction of Jerusalem." (A Commentary of The New Testament, Volume 2, Page 320).

JOHN WESLEY (1754) "This generation of men now living shall not pass till all these things be done - The expression implies that great part of that generation would be passed away, but not the whole. Just so it was; for the city and temple were destroyed thirty-nine or forty years after."

MATTHEW HENRY "As to these things, the wars, seductions, and persecutions, here foretold, and especially of the ruin of the Jewish nation; 'This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled (Mt 24:34); there are those now alive that shall see Jerusalem destroyed, AND THE JEWISH CHURCH BROUGHT TO AN END." One Volume Commentary on the Whole Bible.

JAMES D. BALES "And the destruction of the whole Jewish economy was the fulfillment of the rest of it (Joel's prophecy of the last days Acts 2:16-21). If there was one thing the Jew felt sure of it was that Jerusalem was the favored city of God, that its future supremacy among the nations was as certain to come as the sunrise. Its sacrifices would always be acceptable offered on the altars by the sons of Levi. Now we see the national life of Israel forever ended; the temple forever closed; the sacrifices become useless; the priesthood forgotten; and Israel no more to God than any other nation...If you could think of a pious Jew having gone to sleep three years before Christ was crucified and then wakened in a few years after the destruction of Jerusalem, what an utter bewilderment he would have! All that he supposed to be permanent was gone, and in place of it a company of men preaching God's love to all men, worshiping in all places, and claiming earthly dominion in none. He would well say this in indeed what Joel said to us" The Hub Of The Bible Or Acts Two Analyzed, Page 70, 1960.

[5] ISRAEL THE UNFAITHFUL SERVANT: Matthew 24:45-51. "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? (46) Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. (47) Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he has. (48) But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord terries; (49) and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken; (50) the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expects not, and in an hour when he knows not, (51) and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Like all parables, all that are in them are not to be taken literally. They teach a lesson which is the main point of the parable. The point of this one is that Israel had been unfaithful and a judgment was coming.

[6] UNPROFITABLE SERVANT - OUTER DARKNESS: Matthew 25:30; 8:12; 22:13. IT WAS THE "UNPROFITABLE SERVANT" AND "SONS OF THE KINGDOM" THAT WERE CAST INTO OUTER DARKNESS, NOT THE ONES WHO NEVER BELIEVED, NOT THE LOST FOR THEY WERE NEVER IN THE KINGDOM. The Jews who rejected Christ were cast out of the light, no longer to be God's chosen people, into the darkness of the world without the light of God's revelation. Christ said many [the Gentiles] shall "came from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth." This says nothing about there being outer darkness in Hell. Fire and darkness do not go together. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones them that are sent unto her! How often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" [Luke 13:33-34]. Their house without God in it is darkness.

[7] THE WRATH IS COME UPON THEM TO THE UTTERMOST: "And all the people answered and said, His blood be on us and on our children!" [Matthew 27:25]. "For you also suffered the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews; who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove out us, and please not God, and are contrary to all men; forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always: BUT THE WRATH IS COME UPON THEM TO THE UTTERMOST" [1 Thessalonians 2:14-16]. This was written about A. D. 53, just a few years before the destruction of the nation of Israel in A. D. 70.

[8] MORE TOLERABLE: Christ spoke of the Day of Judgment for lands or cities. More tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for the cities that did not receive those He sent out [Matthew 10:14-15, Mark 6:11, Luke 10:10-12]. More tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum [Matthew 11:21-24, Luke 10:10-12]. WHEN ARE CITIES AND NATIONS JUDGED? WHEN IS THEIR DAY OF JUDGMENT TO BE? "And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades" [Matthew 11:23]. It was a great city but would go down to hades-the grave. Today, there are only a few ruins of Capernaum. They went from greatness (exalted to heaven) to non-existence (hades-the grave). Individuals, not nations and cities will be judged at the judgment at the second coming of Christ. Matthew 24 is of the judgment of Jerusalem [Matthew 23:36-38]. ALL THESE CITIES HAVE HAD A DAY OF JUDGMENT AND WERE BROUGHT DOWN TO THE GRAVE. THE DAY OF JUDGMENT FOR THEM IS PAST. The destruction of Sodom was quick and soon over. The destruction of Jerusalem, which saw and rejected Christ was long and drawn out with much more suffering, therefore, much less tolerable. The Day of Judgment for a city or a nation is the time when God will cause it to be destroyed. The Old Testament is full of God's judgment of cities and nations. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CITIES THAT REJECTED CHRIST AND HIS APOSTLES WERE WORSE (Matthew 24:21) THAN THE DESTRUCTION OF THOSE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. "These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them, saying, Do not go in the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; but rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand...And as you enter the house, give it your greeting. And if the house is worthy, let your greeting of peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your greeting of peace return to you. And whoever does not receive you, not heed your word, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust of your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment, than for that city. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves. But, beware of men; for they will deliver you up to the courts, and scourge you in their synagogues; and you shall even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But, when they deliver you up, do not become anxious about how or what you will speak; for it shall be given you in that hour what you are to speak; for it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. And brother will deliver up brother to death, and father his child; and children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. And you will be hated by all on account of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. But whenever they persecute you in this city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, YOU SHALL NOT FINISH GOING THROUGH THE CITES OF ISRAEL, UNTIL THE SON OF MAN COMES" [Matthew 10:5-23]. He did come in a judgment on these cities and though all were destroyed, the destruction of Old Testament cities was much less terrible than was the destruction of Israel and her cities. Christ coming in judgment on a city or nation in the Old Testament or the New Testament is not the second coming of Christ when the saved will put on immortality.

[9] DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM: Luke 23:27-31. When Jesus was being led to be crucified "there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of whom men who bewailed and lamented him. But, Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For behold, the days are coming, in which they shall say, blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the breasts that never give suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, fall on us; and the hills, Cover us. For if they do these things in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" Even at the time of His death the sufferings and the great tribulation that were coming to Israel was on His mind. See Hosea 19:7-8 where they cry to the mountains to cover them in the destruction of Samaria, which is an Old Testament expression of wanting to escape destruction.

[10] "YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT UNTO YOU DESOLATE" [Matthew 23:38; Luke 13:35] God left the temple. "And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom" [Matthew 27:51]. As it is sometimes said today when an entertainer has finished, "God has left the building." After they put to death their saver, God gives them forty years to repent, but the book of Acts is a history of the "generation of vipers" persecuting and putting to death those who God sent to save them. They brought upon themselves retribution of such severity that it was as if they had killed all the prophets God had sent to turn Israel from their sin [Matthew 23:34-35].

IS MATTHEW 24:36 A "TRANSITION TEXT?"

Many think Matthew 24:36 is the "time text" or "transition text" where Jesus changes from the destruction of Israel to the second coming at the end of the world. Luke gives this view a problem. In his discourse to the disciples a few days before His discourse at Jerusalem, Luke put both the "two women" [Luke 17:35-36] and "as it was in the days of Noah" [Luke 17:26-27] before this "time text" [Luke 17:37]. If this were the "transition text" Matthew put both after the "transition text" and Luke put both before Matthew 24:27, "Where the body is there will the eagles also be gathered together" [Luke 17:37]. "Where so ever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together" [Matthew 24:28].. Luke also used "that day" in reference to the destruction of Israel, not of the second coming [Luke 17:31, Matthew 24:17].

Luke 17:11 "On the way to Jerusalem." - Matthew 24:1 After they were leaving.

"Him that is on the housetop" [Matthew 24:17; Luke 17:31]
"Lo, here is the Christ" [Matthew 24:23; Luke 17:23]
"As the lightning comes from the east" [Matthew 24:17; Luke 17:24]
"Where the carcass is there will the eagles be" [Matthew 24:28; Luke 17:37]

The wrongly called "transition text" [Matthew 24:36; Not in Luke]

"The days of Noah" [Matthew 24:37; Luke 17:26]
"Two men be in the field" [Matthew 24:40; Luke 17:36]
"Two woman shall be grinding" [Matthew 24:41; Luke 17:35]
_For this reason YOU be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when YOU do not think he will_ [Matthew 24:44]

"The coming of the Son of man" both before and after the "Transition Text"

FIRST "So shall be the coming of the Son of man" Matthew 24:27

BETWEEN THEM - the falsely called "Transition Text" Matthew 24:36

SECOND "So shall be the coming of the Son of man" Matthew 24:37

1. BOTH are identical statements in the same discourse separated by only a few verses. How are we to understand one to be in A. D. 70 and the other one in the same discourse to be speaking of a event thousands of years later?

2. BOTH the lightning seen in the East and the West BEFORE the transition text and eating drinking, marrying and giving in marriage AFTER the transition text.

"But of that day and hour _փ샿, here, is translated season by many eminent critics, and is used in this sense by both sacred and profane authors. As the day was not known, in which Jerusalem should be invested by the Romans, therefore our Lord advised his disciples to pray that it might not be on a Sabbath; and as the season was not known, therefore they were to pray that it might not be in the winter; Matthew 24:20." Adam Clarke, Commentary on Matthew 25:36.

The A. D. 70 doctrine that all the passages, which speak of the second coming, were fulfilled in A. D. 70 is not true. It is not my intentions to go into this doctrine; therefore, I will give only two of many passages that could be used. "So Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation" [Hebrews 9:28] and "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also" [John 14:2-3]. No one went to the place Christ went to prepare for the saved in A. D. 70 and no one will go to it before the resurrection.

SUMMARY:

Christ came when He set up His kingdom [Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1] on the day of Pentecost [Acts 2].
Christ came in judgment on Israel in A. D. 70.
But, neither of these is His coming in person at the end of this age [1 Thessalonians 3:13-18].
The destruction of the temple put an end to the worship of Israel, the destruction of their genealogical records put an end to their identity and an end to their existence as a nation.

THE A. D. 70 DOCTRINES

WAS A. D. 70 THE SECOND AND FINAL COMING OF CHRIST? OR IS THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND THE JUDGMENT OF ALL YET TO COME?

Preterit Eschatology, also called Realized Eschatology, Fulfilled Eschatology, Covenant Eschatology, and the A. D. 70 doctrine is the doctrine that:

1. According to Realized Eschatology the second coming of Christ was an invisible coming in A. D. 70, and He will not come again. There will be no resurrection and judgment day to come for all at the coming of Christ.

2. According to Realized Eschatology the resurrection was when all the Old Testament saints were resurrected in A. D. 70. The "judgment day" was when the Jewish age ended in A. D. 70.

3. According to Realized Eschatology after A. D. 70 all that die in Christ go to their eternal reward at the moment of death.

4. According to Realized Eschatology the Great Commission given in Matthew 28:18-19 has been completely fulfilled therefore, it is not for us today.

5. According to Realized Eschatology the old heavens and earth have passed away, and the new heavens and earth are now here.

6. According to Realized Eschatology all the New Testament was written before A. D. 70, and there is no revelation about anything that will happen after A. D. 70; therefore, there is no revelation about when or even if the earth will ever end. They must deny the vast amount of evident that much of the New Testament (including Peter's letters and Revelation) was written after A. D. 70 for if just one book was written after that date the Preterit Eschatology could not be true. Early writers, Eusebius, Irenaeus, Clement, Origin, and others say Revelation was written in the reign of Domitian.

7. According to Realized Eschatology all New Testament writer believed that the coming of Christ was to be in their lifetime. This has been covered in detail in throughout this book; what did the early non-inspired writers said a few years after A. D. 70. From Florida College Annual Lectures, Almon L. Williams, 1986, page 217.

o Isnatius: "These are the last times"

o Barnabas: "Wherefore let us take heed in these last days"

o Clement: "Herein He speaks of the day of this appearing, when He shall come and redeem us, each man according to his works. And the unbelievers shall see His glory and His might: and they shall be amazed"

o Clement: "But you know that the day of judgment comes even now as a burning oven, and the powers of the heaven shall melt, and the earth as lead melting on the fire, and than shall appear the secret and open works of man"

o Polycarp: "Now He that raised Him from the dead will raise up also...Whoever shall pervert the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts and say there is neither resurrection nor judgment, that man is first-born of Satan"

8. According to Realized Eschatology the Great Tribulation and Armageddon are both past.

9. According to Realized Eschatology death and hades were thrown into the lake of fire in A. D. 70.

10. According to Realized Eschatology Satan has been put in the lake of fire. Max King, "The Spirit of Prophecy," Page 356, 1971.

o Their teaching is that in A. D. 70 Jesus moved all the righteous dead to Heaven and cast the Devil and his angels, and the wicked dead into the Lake of Fire. If Satin were cast into the Lake of Fire which is the second death, where does evil and temptations come from today?

11. According to Realized Eschatology all prophecy, including all of the Book of Revelation, has been fulfilled, therefore Satan has now been cast into the Lake of Fire [Revelation 20:10]. If Satan has been cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death [Revelation 20:14], where does evil now come from?

There was revelation given in the Old Testament on the establishment of the kingdom [Micah 4:1] and the resurrection of Christ was given in types and shadows as Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness [John 3:14]; which few if any understood, but the doctrine of the resurrection, life, and immortality, which Christ taught, were new. The words, resurrection, immortal, and immortality are not in the Old Testament in the King James Version or the American Standard Version. The resurrection was new to the heathen world, which believed in an immortal soul that had no need for a resurrection. The first coming of Christ, His suffering and rejection, His death and resurrection were told about in the Old Testament; but there is noting about His second coming in it. The second coming of Christ, the resurrection, the judgment of all at His second coming and the promise of life after death in Heaven was new to the New Testament.

THE NEW TESTAMENT CLEARLY TEACHES THAT THE SECOND COMING, THE RESURRECTION OF ALL, AND THE JUDGMENT OF ALL HAVE NOT CAME. All the lost will awake from the dead and the saved will awake to eternal life at the same time. IT WILL BE A RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD, NOT AS REALIZED ESCHATOLOGY TEACHES, DEATH IS ONLY A CHANGE FROM ONE KIND OF LIFE TO ANOTHER KIND OF LIFE, WHICH WOULD NOT BE A RESURRECTION AND WOULD MAKE A RESURRECTION IMPOSSIBLE.

_For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God_ (Romans 14:10).

_For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad_ (2 Corinthians 5:10).

_He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation_ (Hebrews 9:26-28).

_For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries_ (Hebrews 10:26-27).

_But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the DAY OF JUDGMENT and destruction of ungodly men_ (2 Peter 3:7).

John 5:28-29: "For an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment." ALL, both the good and the evil will BE RESURRECTED FROM THE DEAD IN THE SAME HOUR, NOT SOME OVER TWO THOUSAND YEARS APART FROM A. D. 70 TO NOW AND STILL COUNTING; AND NOT CHANGED FROM ONE FORM OF LIFE TO ANTHER FORM OF LIFE AT DEATH WITHOUT A RESURRECTION.

Philippians 3:20-21: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." Our body being transformed into conformity with His body is at His coming from Heaven, not at our death. Christ does not come from Heaven ever time a person dies. That there will be a resurrection and judgment of all at the second coming of Christ is discussed throughout this book and in the review below.

A REVIEW OF "THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD"

By Samuel Dawson

A web page in which he attempts to prove from 1 Corinthians 15 that the Old Testament does teach that the dead in Christ will be resurrected, and that this resurrection was in A. D. 70.

Dawson says, "I think West inadvertently gives the Old Testament's teaching of the subject short shrift. You can be a good guy and do that because I've done exactly the same thing." Below is an examination of how he thinks I give the Old Testament teaching of the resurrection short shrift.

Some point to restoring of the nation of Israel as a nation as being a resurrection, but the restoring or resurrection of Israel as a nation is not the resurrection of the New Testament. It is not the resurrecting of a person to eternal life or immortality. Not even the resurrection of a nation to immortality or to eternal life. IT IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO BEING THE RESURRECTION TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. "Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life" [Ezekiel 37:5] is speaking of a nation being restored as a nation, the people that were alive but in captivity being restored to their land and coming to life as a nation, this is not of the resurrection of a single person that was dead; there is nothing in it about anyone or any nation being given immortality. THE RESURRECTION TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT IS NOT THE RESURRECTION OF A NATION (RESTORING THAT NATION ONLY FOR A SHORT TIME) BUT IS THE RESURRECTION OF INDIVIDUALS TO ETERNAL LIFE AND THERE IS NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT. There is nothing in 1 Corinthians 15, or any of the New Testament about the resurrection of "fleshly bodies" at the coming of Christ. No one put on immortality in A. D. 70, and no one's corruptible (fleshly) bodies were changed to incorruption, and all that were living in A. D. 70 died; death was not "swallowed up in victory" [1 Corinthians 15:54], as it will be at the coming of Christ. IF PAUL WERE NOT SPEAKING OF A RESURRECTION THAT WILL COME AFTER THIS LIFETIME, THEN WHEN HE SAID, "THEN THEY ALSO THAT ARE FALLEN ASLEEP IN CHRIST HAVE PERISHED" THEY HAD PERISHED (depicting a process that had pass before Paul wrote this, not "an on going process." They had perished - died before he wrote, not were perishing - dying at the time he wrote) [1 Corinthians 15:18]; he was speaking of some that had died past tense that were dead present tense in about A. D. 57, but still would be raised, future tense, with a spiritual body at the coming of Christ. PAUL WAS NOT SPEAKING OF A RESURRECTION THAT HAD PASSED OR THAT WAS TAKING PLACE AT THAT TIME, BUT OF THE RESURRECTION TO LIFE AND IMMORTALITY THAT WILL NOT TAKE PLACE UNTO THE COMING OF CHRIST. At the coming of Christ, all the saved that have died ("fallen asleep") "the dead in Christ shall rise" and the living saints will be changed and both at the same time shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and shall "ever be with the Lord" [1 Thessalonians 3:14-17]; this did not happen in A. D. 70, and those who are fallen asleep are not yet with Christ. PAUL SAYS THE RESURRECTION OF THOSE WHO ARE ASLEEP IN CHRIST, AND PUTTING ON IMMORTALITY BY THOSE WHO ARE LIVING WILL BOTH BE AT THE SAME MOMENT, BOTH IN THE TWINKLING OF AN EYE. REALIZED ESCHATOLOGY SAYS, "NOT SO PAUL, THE RESURRECTION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SAINT WAS IN A. D. 70, BUT THERE WILL BE NO RESURRECTION FOR US AS WE WILL BE CHANGED AT THE MOMENT OF DEATH, BOTH ARE NOT IN THE SAME MOMENT." IF ALL WERE TRANSFORMED (RECEIVES A "SPIRITUAL BODY" IN WHICH THEY WILL DWELL IN IMMEDIATELY AND ETERNALLY AT THE MOMENT OF DEATH) NOTHING IS RESURRECTED; THERE WOULD BE NO RESURRECTION FOR ANYONE AFTER A. D. 70. ACCORDING TO THEM, THE ONLY RESURRECTION IN THE BIBLE WAS AT A. D. 70 AND IT IS PASSED. THERE WILL BE NO RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT DAY FOR ANYONE. "Faithful is the saying: For if we died with him, we shall also live with him...Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who concerning the truth have erred, saying the resurrection is past already" [2 Timothy 10-19]. ISRAEL WAS NOT DELIVERED IN A. D. 70, BUT WAS JUDGED AND DESTROYED. THERE IS NOTHING IN 1 CORINTHIANS 15, MATTHEW 24, OR ANY PASSAGE ABOUT ISRAEL BEING RESURRECTED OR RESTORED IN A. D. 70.

On page 6 he says, "Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life" Ezekiel 37 refers to the death of Israel, then says, "West is absolutely right that the word 'resurrection' isn't there, but what word should we call the process whereby Israel was dead, and God's purpose was to bring them to life." He needs to see that when the Old Testament speaks of restoring or resurrecting a nation to life as a nation that would die again, it is not speaking of the resurrection to eternal life of even one dead person. Not one dead person was restored to life and given immortality. There is no promise that anyone would ever be given immortality in the Old Testament. No nation, not even Israel, will ever be given immortality; but the saved individuals of all nations will at the resurrection. HOW CAN HE NOT SEE THAT THE RESURRECTION OR RESTORING OF ISRAEL AS A NATION FOR ONLY A SHORT TIME IN EZEKIEL 37 IS NOTHING LIKE THE RESURRECTION OF INDIVIDUALS TO IMMORTALITY PAUL WAS SPEAKING OF IN 1 CORINTHIANS 15? When Israel was restored as a nation after the seventy-year captivity in Daniel, it was not even the same individuals in "the resurrection" of the nation that was in Israel before the captivity from which the nation was resurrected. One group of Jews went into the captivity and Israel died as a nation, another group of Jews came out of the captivity and Israel were restored or resurrected as a nation; not one dead Jew was resurrected. The many restorations of Israel as a nation from captivity in the Old Testament, which was one hundred percent physical earthly restoring of a nation, is not the resurrection to eternal life for those who are in Christ, not the resurrection OF THE DEAD in 1 Corinthians 15. NOT ONE DEAD PERSON WAS RESURRECTED TO ETERNAL LIFE IN ANY OF THE RESURRECTIONS OR RESTORING OF ISRAEL AS A NATION; THERE IS NOTHING SAID IN ANY OF ISRAEL'S RESURRECTION AS A NATION ABOUT ANY PERSON EVER BEING GIVEN IMMORTALITY.

Page 89: "'We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed.' Here's a time statement. When Paul said, 'We shall not all sleep,' he affirmed that not all of those in Corinth were going to die physically before the resurrection happened" Samuel G. Dawson. IF PAUL WERE SAYING NOT ALL WOULD DIE PHYSICALLY BEFORE THE RESURRECTION HAPPENED IN A. D. 70, THEN HE WAS ALSO SAYING ALL THOSE IN CORINTH AND ALL LIVING CHRISTIANS WOULD BE CHANGED FROM PHYSICAL BODIES TO SPIRITUAL BODIES WHEN THE RESURRECTION DID HAPPEN IN A. D. 70. LIVING CHRISTIANS WAS NOT CHANGED AT THAT TIME, AND BOTH CHRISTIANS AND NON CHRISTIANS STILL HAD PHYSICAL BODIES AFTER A. D.70 JUST AS THEY DID BEFORE IT, AND ALL STILL HAVE PHYSICAL BODIES TODAY. THIS TEACHING WOULD HAVE MADE THE CHURCH ON EARTH GO OUT OF EXISTENCE ON EARTH IN A. D. 70. NO ONE WILL HAVE THE SPIRITUAL BODY BEFORE THE RESURRECTION. Read this "time statement" in the context, "Behold, I tell you a mystery: We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" [1 Corinthians 15:51-53]. The "time" is when "the trumpet shall sound." At the sound of the trumpet, "the dead shall be raised incorruptible" AND "we shall be changed," BOTH THE LIVING AND THE DEAD IN THE SAME MOMENT, BOTH THE LIVING AND THE DEAD IN THE SAME TWINKLING OF AN EYE, BOTH THE LIVING AND THE DEAD AT THE SOUND OF THE SAME TRUMPET. ALL LIVING CHRISTIANS WILL BE CHANGED FROM PHYSICAL BODIES TO SPIRITUAL BODIES IN THE SAME MOMENT THE DEAD ARE RESURRECTED WITH SPIRITUAL BODIES. If this had happened in A. D. 70, there would have been no Christians for the Romans to put to death. He changed, "and we shall all be changed" to "not all of those in Corinth were going to die physically before the resurrection happened" with nothing happing to them in A. D. 70, with nothing happing to them at the time of the resurrection, nothing "in the same moment." If I understand him, he says the living Christians in Corinth were not going to be changed "in the same moment" but each one changed in a different moment, the moment of their death, which for many of them would not be in A. D. 70; and each Christian is changed to a spiritual body at a different moment than all other Christians. On page 57 he again changed "we shall all be changed in a moment" to the Old Covenant faithful being taken from the unseen Hadean state into the presence of Christ in the twinkling of an eye. It seems that Paul's "we" must be changed to "them." "Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we (them?) shall all (only all of "them," not "we") be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" [1 Corinthians 15:51]. Does he think the first "we" is us but the second "we" them? If the first "we" is "them," some of the "them" did not all sleep, then some of the Old Covenant faithful was alive in when Paul was writing this in A. D. 67 or 68, alive before A. D. 70.

"We that are alive." It is believed that Paul was put to death in about A. D. 67 or 68. If Christ did come in A. D. 70, Paul is not in the "we that are alive" at His coming.

"But, some one will ask, how are the dead raised? And with what manner of body do they come" [1 Corinthians 15:35]. Paul was reassuring the Corinthians that the Corinthians that had "fallen asleep in Christ" had not perished, that their hope of the resurrection did not depend on them being alive at the time of the resurrection [1 Corinthians 15:18-19]. Dawson says, "Who were these 'dead ones?' They were the same Old Covenant dead ones Paul discussed throughout the chapter." HE SAYS, "WHEN WE CHANGE WHO THE 'WE' WAS, WE TOTALLY MISS THE TIME ELEMENT IN PAUL'S TEACHING." THEN HE CHANGED THE "WE" FROM "WE" TO "THEM"; HE CHANGES FROM THE ONES PAUL WAS WRITING TO AT CORINTH ABOUT THOSE IN CORINTH WHO HAD FALLEN ASLEEP "IN CHRIST" TO THOSE WHO HAD BEEN DEAD FOR MANY YEARS; HE CHANGED THE "WE" TO ABRAHAM AND ALL THE OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS. He "totally miss the time element in Paul's teaching" by changing the "we" from those who were alive at the time Paul was writing to "them," to those who had been dead for many years The "dead ones" are the Corinthians that had fallen asleep in Christ, not Old Testament saints who are not even mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15. On pages 85 -88 he attempts to make the "natural body" be Old Testament Israel and the "spiritual body" be the new Israel; when he makes Israel be the "natural body" and the church be the "spiritual body," he takes the resurrection of the dead out of I Corinthians 15. In about A. D. 57, 13 years before A. D. 70, he has the old Israel "being sown a natural body, it is being raised a spiritual body." Paul said, "And as WE HAVE borne the image of the earthly (Adam, 15:45 a natural or earthly corruptible body), WE SHALL also bear the image of the heavenly (Christ, a spiritual incorruptible body)" [1 Corinthians 15:49]. He changes the "we have borne" to "is being sown" and "we shall also bear the image" to "is being raised." Then changes "we" (us) to "it" (Israel).

On page 77 he says, "Literally, Paul asked, 'How are the dead ones being raised?'" 1 Corinthians 15 was written about 13 years before A. D. 70, - 13 years before he says Christ came, 13 years before he says the Old Covenant saints were raised he has Paul asking, "How are the dead ones being raised?" Did he forget that he had used " then they that are Christ's at His coming" and applied it to the resurrection of the Old Covenant faithful? Did he forget that he had applied, "Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we (them-Old Testament saints-Dawson) shall all (them-Old Testament saints-Dawson) be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump" [1 Corinthians 15:51]. Yet, he has them being raised 13 years before the moment, before the twinkling of an eye. On page 85 he says, "Literally, it is 'it is being sown a natural body, it is being raised a spiritual body'" If he is not saying Old Covenant saints were being sown with a natural body and being raised with a spiritual body about 13 years before he says Christ came a second time, about 13 years before he says the resurrection occurred. Does he really believe Old Covenant saints were being sown with a natural body in about A. D. 57 when Paul was writing this? "Presently 'is being raised'" is used on page 91 and throughout the 110 pages. He puts "is being raised" in quotation marks. Paul said, "Shall be raised incorruptible" [1 Corinthians 15:52]. "Presently 'is being raised'" is in no translation but his and then it puts the resurrection as taking place 13 years to soon for the Realized Eschatology view that the resurrection took place in A. D. 70.

On page 99 he quarts Christ saying 6 times of those who believe Him, "I will raise him up at the last day" [John 6:39; 640; 6:44; 6:54; 11:24; 12:48]. Which one does he believe? That the Old Testament faithful was being raised in A. D. 57 when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians or "at the last day" which he says was in A. D. 70? Christ is saying this to ALL THAT BELIEVED HIM, not just to the Jews that believe Him. Dawson says the Old Covenant had a last day but the New Covenant will not have a last day. Christ was not speaking of the last day of the Old or the New Covenant. He was speaking of the last day of the earth, "The day of the Lord" spoken of in 2 Peter 3:10 (see "The Day Of The Lord" below). Both John and Revelation (and other New Testament books) were written after A. D. 70.

1 Corinthians 15:45-49: On page 87 he changes the "natural" and "spiritual" to the Old Testament faithful being changed "from natural to spiritual as the result of the gospel" and this is in about A. D. 57 when Paul said this, before A. D. 70, which he says is when the second coming of Christ was, and before when he says the resurrection of the Old Testament faithful ones did take place. How he could think that "the first man Adam became a living soul" is speaking of the Old Testament faithful is beyond my understanding. There is nothing in this passage about Adam being Israel. "Then the Lord God formed man (Adam) of the dust from the ground, and breathed into his (Adam) nostrils the breath of life; and man (Adam) became a living soul" [Genesis 2:7]. Adam was the first man, not the nation of Israel. Adam was the natural man made "of the earth," not Israel. Both Adam and Christ (when He was on earth) were "a man," Israel was a nation. Christ is (present tense) "the second man is of heaven" [1 Corinthians 15:47]. By pointing out that this is present tense, he is saying that "the second man is of heaven" cannot be Christ, that the "second man" of heaven is the Old Testament faithful ones. If this is not what he is saying, then I cannot understand what he is saying; is he not saying that Christ is not of heaven, present tense in A. D. 57; is he not saying the Old Testament faithful ones was "the second man of heaven" 13 years before their resurrection in A. D. 70? This seems to me to be nothing more than a desperate attempt to make the resurrection be passed even if he has to use something that was, present tense, 13 years to soon for it to be speaking of something that was to be, future tense, in A. D. 70.

On page 92 and others pages, it seems to me that he basis his whole argument on all that believes the resurrection is yet to come must also believe the resurrection is to be "a physical resurrection out of the dust." He is taking what some men teach and making it into the teaching of the Bible for his argument depends on it. THERE IS NOTHING IN 1 CORINTHIANS 15 ABOUT "A PHYSICAL RESURRECTION OUT OF THE DUST." HE IS ATTEMPTING TO PROVE THIS IS SPEAKING OF THE RESURRECTION OF OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS JUST BECAUSE IT IS NOT SPEAKING OF THE RESURRECTION OF BODIES OUT OF THE DUST. TRY AS HARD AS I CAN, I CANNOT SEE HOW HE SEES THE RESURRECTION OF OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS JUST BECAUSE IT IS NOT SPEAKING OF EARTHLY BODIES WHEN THERE IS NOTHING IN THE CHAPTER THAT SAYS ANYTHING ABOUT OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS OR ISRAEL. It could not be said any clearer that it is "sown in corruption (a physical body of dust) it is raised in incorruption (NOT a physical body of dust)" [1 Corinthians 15:42]. HE MAKES A PHYSICAL RESURRECTION A MUST FOR HIS ARGUMENT, BUT THERE IS NOTHING IN THE NEW TESTAMENT THAT TEACHES A PHYSICAL BODY OF DUST IS TO BE RAISED AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. He repeatedly accused others of believing in "a physical resurrection out of the dirt, although we can't read that interpretation back into Isaiah," but then on the same page (page 92) quotes Isaiah, "Your dead shall arise. Your dead will live; their corpses will rise, you who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits" [Isaiah 26:19]. Then says the resurrection of those lying in the dust sounds identical to Daniel 12:2, which says, "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake." When he said no serious student of the prophets believes a physical resurrection of a physical body is depicted in Isaiah 25 he was right. Just as Ezekiel's valley of bones coming to life, a physical resurrection, in Ezekiel 37 is figuratively language of the nation being restored to life as a nation, Isaiah 26:19 is figuratively language of a physical resurrection of the dead who had turned to dust, Israel is the dead nation that is being restored to life from the dust and would live again as a nation. Neither one is teaching the resurrection to eternal life that is taught in the New Testament. Nevertheless, he attempts to somehow use Isaiah to prove Paul was not speaking of the resurrection of the dead at the coming of Christ but Paul was only speaking of the resurrection of the Old Testament faithful in A. D. 70.

_Death is swallowed up in victory_ [1 Corinthians 15:54]

Throughout 1 Corinthians 15, Paul speaks of death and resurrection from the dead. What is the death and resurrection he is speaking of? The A. D. 70 doctrine says this is speaking of the death and restorations of Old Testament Israel and the Law of Moses, not our death and resurrection. How did Paul use death and resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15?

· Christ died and was buried and raised on the third day and appeared to many [1 Corinthians 15:3-6]

· Death had taken some of the many [1 Corinthians 15:6]

· Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, but if there is no resurrection Christ has not been raised, therefore, Christ is dead and their faith in Christ is useless [1 Corinthians 15:12-16]

· The Corinthians that had died (fallen asleep in Christ) had perished [1 Corinthians 15:18-19]

· Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of them that are dead (are asleep). Just as Christ was dead and resurrected, those who are asleep in Christ will be resurrected [1 Corinthians 15:20; 15:23]

· All Adam_s descendants die (all mankind), the resurrection of all (all shall be made alive) will come by Christ [1 Corinthians 15:21-22]

· Christ was raised (the first fruits) them at His coming all that belong to Christ [1 Corinthians 15:23]

· Then comes the end when Christ shall deliver up the kingdom, the church, to God and the last enemy, death, will be abolished [1 Corinthians 15:24-26]

· If the dead (those who are asleep in Christ) are not to be raised then living Godly is of no use, do anything you want to for death will soon bring you to an end [1 Corinthians 15:29-34]

· How are the dead raised, with what kind of body? [1 Corinthians 15:35-49]

o The earthly body of corruption is put in the ground, an incorruption body is raised

o The earthly body is put in the ground in dishonor, it will be raised in glory

o The earthly body is put in the ground in weakness, a body is raised in power

o The earthly body is put in the ground a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. The earthly body (natural body) is first, then the spiritual body at the resurrection of the dead. As we have borne the image of the earthly (Adam) we shall bear the image of the heavenly (Christ)

· Not all Christians will die but all, those who are living when Christ returns and those who are asleep will be changed in a moment to an incorruptible, immortality body [1 Corinthians 15:50-54]

After the second coming of Christ and the resurrection and judgment and only then will there be no more death, it will be swallowed up in victory [1 Corinthians 15:54-58]

"But thanks be to God, who gives US the victory through OUR Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be YOU steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as YOU know that YOUR labor is not vain in the Lord" [1 Corinthians 15:57-58, American Standard Version]. Throughout chapter 15 Paul is speaking to the Corinthians about THEIR resurrection, not the resurrection of Israel.

"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord" [1 Thessalonians 4:13-17]. THE CHRISTIANS WHO WERE ALIVE IN A. D. 70 WERE NOT AT THAT TIME CHANGED FROM PHYSICAL TO SPIRITUAL BODIES. I do not believe Dawson believes they were. I believe he was not trying to prove anyone alive was changed to a spiritual body in A. D. 70, but was trying to prove the dead Old Testament saints were resurrected and changed in A. D. 70, and after that time all saints are changed at the time of their death; not "caught up TOGETHER with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." He is trying to prove there was one resurrection of all the Old Testament faithful in A. D. 70, then many resurrections, a resurrection at the time of death of each faithful. If this is not what he is trying to prove, them I cannot understand what he is saying.

Max King says, "The eternal kingdom was possessed (Heb. 12:28) and the new heaven and earth inherited." "The Spirit of Prophecy" page 239. The "new heavens and new earth" is not life on earth after the destruction of Jerusalem, for after Israel destruction Christians were still persecuted and the world is still full of evil today. It is the same world that existed before Israel was destroyed.

WHEN DID THE OLD COVENANT END, at the death of Christ or in A. D. 70.

"Having been buried with him in baptism, wherein you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, being dead through your trespasses and the un-circumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: AND HE HAS TAKEN IT OUT OF THE WAY, NAILING IT TO THE CROSS; having despoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day" [Colossians 2:12-15]. I know of no way anyone could say any clearer that the Law of Moses was blotted out and nailed to the cross AT THE DEATH OF CHRIST, not in A. D. 70. This was written by Paul when he was in prison at Rome, about A. D 62, was before Realized Eschatology says the Old Covenant Law ended. The message of Hebrews, which was written before A. D. 70, is that the New Covenant replaced the Old Covenant with a new and better sacrifice, a new priesthood, new sacraments, a new tabernacle or temple [John 1:14; John 2:19; Corinthians 3:16; Ephesians 2:21].

Preterits tell us that there was an over lapping of the two, that the Old Covenant was not nailed to the cross; and it did not end unto A. D. 70.

Dawson used "The abomination of desolation" [Matthew 14:15; Daniel 9:27] to prove the resurrection took place in A. D. 70. Christ came in judgment on Israel at that time just as He did in judgment on nations in the Old Testament. I cannot understand how he gets a resurrection out of "The abomination of desolation," or as Luke puts it, "When you see Jerusalem compassed with armies" [Luke 21:20]. Luke then adds, "Then know that her desolation is at hand." The "Abomination of desolation" was the armies that DESTROYED Jerusalem, not restored it. Christ came in judgment on Israel at that time just as He did in judgment on nations in the Old Testament.

Christ came in judgment on Israel at that time just as He did in judgment on nations in the Old Testament.

On Israel [Zephaniah 1:14-18].
On the Nations [Joel 3:16-16].
On Egypt [Ezekiel 30:3-4; 32:7-8; Isaiah 19:1].
On Babylon [Isaiah 13:10-20].
On Edom [Isaiah 34:4-6].
On Arier in Israel [Isaiah 29:5-6].

Israel was destroyed in the Jewish war with Rome, which last for years and ended in A. D. 70. JUDGMENT DID COME ON ISRAEL IN THAT GENERATION [Matthew 23:36], AND ISRAEL WAS DESTROYED IN THIS JUDGMENT, BUT THERE IS NOT ONE THING SAID ABOUT THE RESURRECTION OF ANYONE OR ANY NATION; NOTHING IS SAID ABOUT THE RESURRECTION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS WHEN THE NATION WAS DESTROYED. A resurrection in A. D. 70, the only resurrection there will ever be had to have been at that time for realized Eschatology to be true; it is based entirely on a resurrection that is not in the Bible.

"The Galatian letter is an indignant protest against and refutation of Judaizing teachers" B. W. Johnson, The People's New testament With Notes, Volume 2, Page 163. Speaking to Jews [Galatians 2:14-15] Paul said, "Even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law" and "You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you are fallen away from grace" [Galatians 2:16 and 5:4]. This was written in about A. D. 57 when the law would have been in effect, and keeping the law would have justified if there had been an over lapping of the two unto A. D. 70.

Sam and I have been in communication with each other a few times by e-mail, and I have thought of him as being a friend that I have not seen in person; I think the things he had written in the past are among the best books I have. He says on page 2, "I'm certainly not disparaging Robert, as he's only saying what most of us tacitly believe, that the subject of the resurrection is predominantly (or even exclusively) a New Testament subject. I believed the same thing until 2005 myself." My prayer is that he will see that Realized Eschatology is not the truth before it is too late.

The A. D 70 doctrine says _all things_ have been fulfilled: John speaks of 'all thing' (19:28); Luke speaks of 'all things' (Acts13:29); Mark speaks of 'all things' (13:20); Luke again speaks of 'all thing' (24:44); Peter speaks of 'all thing' (1 Peter 4:7). What you need to notice is, the 'all things' of these passages have different things in mind. Because Max claim the 'all thing' in Matthew 17:11 is the same as the 'all things' in Acts 3:21 he is forced to the absurd view he told us of in a former proposition, viz., The Baptist was Elijah if they accepted him to be, otherwise he wasn't! But look: In John 19:28 Jesus knew all things were fulfilled and so he asked for a drink and died. Now 'all things' were not literally completed but the passage says 'all thing.' Obviously the 'all things' of that passage has a specialized reference. In Acts 13:29 we are more explicitly told that when they had 'fulfilled all things that were written of him' they took him down from the cross. Now clearly the 'all thing' here has a specific standpoint for you know there were other things written of Jesus -- his resurrection for example. See how each writer will have his own standpoint? Jesus said John has already ('Elijah is come already' -- Matthew 17:21) come and had...'restored all things.' But if John had restored 'all things' it must have a specialized meaning there. Because Max refuses to admit that the same expression may mean different things be believe the Church was 'Elijah.' How dose that grab you? So what we do experience with Max? He gets a concordance and gathers together all the passages having the same phases and lists them and sits back smiling as if he had proved his point! The point I am making is abundantly clear CONTEMPORARIES MAY USE THE SAME EXPRESSIONS AND MEAN DIFFERENT THING. Jim McGuiggan, "The McGuiggan-King Debate" Pages 171-172, Parkman Road Church of Christ, 1975.

ISRAEL HAD NOT OBTAINED, BUT THE ELECT HAD [Romans 11:7]. Paul was put to death in Rome before A. D. 70, yet he said the elect had obtained what Israel had not. What had the elect obtained? Being grafted in the olive tree - being accepted by God as His chosen. In A. D. 70 Israel was not grafted in, it was totally destroyed.

If, as Max King clams, the A. D. 70 view was believed and taught by the New Testament writers, when was it lost? For many centuries no one believed it or know anything about it. Then came Max King and found it and the Bible was reinterpreted drastically to fit around his view.

In summery: According to Realized Eschatology there is no resurrection to come at the coming of Christ, no judgment day at His coming, no second death.

THE RESURRECTION ON THE LAST DAY

THE DAY OF THE LORD

All this in one day, the day Christ comes, the day of the Lord.

The second coming of Christ [2 Peter 3:10].
The resurrection and judgment of the righteous [Acts 24:15; John 5:28-29; 6:40-41].
The resurrection and judgment of the wicked [John 12:48].
The final judgment [Acts 17:31; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10].
The total destruction of the earth and the heavens that were made from nothing and will return to nothing [2 Peter 3:7-11].
The total destruction of the lost [2 Peter 2:12; 3:7].
The second death [Revelation 2:11].
Death will be abolished [1 Corinthians 15:24-16].
The saved forever with the Lord [1 Thessalonians 4:14-17].
The kingdom will be delivered up to God [1 Corinthians 15:24-26].
Christ will bring the lawless one to an end by the appearance of His coming [2 Thessalonians 2:1-9].
"Wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God" [2 Thessalonians 1:7-10].

[1] ON THE DAY OF THE LORD - THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief" [2 Peter 3:10]. No one knows when the "day of the Lord" will come, but when it comes, EVERYONE on earth, living or dead, will know it. Coming "as a thief" shows the unexpectedness of His coming; no one knows what day or year. No one will be resurrected before the day of the Lord comes, all will be resurrected when it comes.

[2] ON THE DAY OF THE LORD - THE RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT OF THE RIGHTEOUS IN THE LAST DAY

"There shall be a resurrection both of the just and unjust" [Acts 24:15]. Both the righteous and the wicked will be raised and judged at the same time on the same day, not a thousand years apart.
"Marvel not at this; for the hour comes in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment" [John 5:28-29]. All will be raised in the same "hour." Not the saved raised and then the lost raised a thousand years later.
"And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone that beholds the Son, and believes on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" [John 6:40-41]. Not a thousand years before the last day.

[3] ON THE DAY OF THE LORD - THE RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED IN THE LAST DAY

"He that rejects me, and receives not my sayings, has one that judges him: the word that I speak, the same shall judge him in the last day" [John 12:48].

[4] ON THE DAY OF THE LORD - THE FINAL JUDGMENT

Millennialists must divide the judgment into two parts. If it is shown that the judgment of both those in Christ and those who are not in Christ is one judgment of both at the same time and on the same day, not separated by a thousand years, it makes their view not be possible. In the passages above the judgment, it is not a broken judgment with the two parts a thousand years apart.

"He has appointed a day in which he will judge the world" [Acts 17:31].
"If so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted rest with us, AT THE REVELATION OF THE LORD JESUS FROM HEAVEN with the angels of his power in flaming fire, RENDERING VENGEANCE TO THEM THAT KNOW NOT GOD, AND TO THEM THAT OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS WHO SHALL SUFFER PUNISHMENT, EVEN ETERNAL DESTRUCTION from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, WHEN HE SHALL COME TO BE GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS, and marveled at in all them that believe (because our testimony unto you was believed) IN THAT DAY" [2 Thessalonians 1:6-10]. This passage tells:

WHAT is to be done to both

1. Them that know not God, "Shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction."

2. His saints: "Counted worthy of the kingdom of God" Verse 5.

WHEN it is to be done to both

1. "At the revelation of the Lord Jesus from Heaven...WHEN HE SHALL COME TO BE GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS...IN THAT DAY"

There is no way this passage can be broken apart and made to be speaking to things that will be a thousand years apart. It is speaking of what will happen to both "in that day," not a thousand years apart. If all the Bible is to be taken literally as the Millennialists say it is, could any passage say any clearer then this one that the resurrection and judgment are simultaneously on the same day?

"Do not marvel at this; for THE HOUR IS COMING, IN WHICH ALL WHO ARE IN THE TOMBS SHALL HEAR HIS VOICE AND SHALL COME FORTH; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment" [John 5:28-29].
"But after your hardness and unrepentant heart treasures up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his works: to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life: but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that works evil" [Romans 2:5-6]. This will be "in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ" [Romans 2:16].
"For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God" [Romans 14:10].
"For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he had done, whether it be good or bad" [2 Corinthians 5:10].

The Premillennialists time table has the judgment a thousand years after the day of the Lord.

Also Matthew 25:46; Hebrews 10:27; Romans 14:10; 2:5-16; 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3; 2 Peter 2:12; 3:7-11; 2:10; Revelation 2:11; 21:8

[5] ON THE DAY OF THE LORD - THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF THE LOST [2 Peter 2:12; 3:7]

"For yourselves know perfectly THAT THE DAY OF THE LORD so comes as a thief in the night. When they are saying, peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them...But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that THAT DAY should overtake you as a thief; for you are all sons of light" [1 Thessalonians 5:2-3, See 2 Peter 3:10]. Both are on the same day.
"At the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to then that know not God and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus; who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he shall come to be glorified in the saints" [2 Thessalonians 1:7-10]. There is no thousand year gap between the coming of Christ and the destruction of the wicked. Both are "in the day of the Lord."

"BUT WHEN THE SON OF MAN SHALL COME IN HIS GLORY, AND ALL THE ANGELS WITH HIM...HE SHALL SEPARATE THEM ONE FROM ANOTHER, AS THE SHEPHERD SEPARATES THE SHEEP FROM THE GOATS...AND THESE [the goats] SHALL GO AWAY INTO ETERNAL PUNISHMENT: BUT THE RIGHTEOUS [the sheep] INTO ETERNAL LIFE" [Matthew 25:46]. NO THOUSAND YEARS BETWEEN THE GOATS AND THE SHEEP. BOTH ARE AT THE SAME TIME. BOTH ARE, "WHEN THE SON OF MAN SHALL COME IN HIS GLORY." PREMILLENNIALISTS CANNOT EXPLAIN AWAY THIS PASSAGE AND MANY OTHERS THAT DO NOT FIT WITH THEIR VIEW.

[6] ON THE DAY OF THE LORD - THE SECOND DEATH - used four times only in Revelation. Another way of saying the total destruction of the lost. [See The Second Death in chapter two].

Those who are buried and raised with Christ [Romans 6] in the first resurrection, "Over these the second death has no power" [Revelation 20:6].
Death and hades, and any not found written in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire; which is the second death. [Revelation 20:14-15].
Lake of fire, which is the second death. He that overcomes shall inherit and be God's son. For all other, "Their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; which is the second death" [Revelation 21:8].
FIRST RESURRECTION - SECOND DEATH: "He that over comes shall not be hurt of the second death" [Revelation 2:11, 20:6]. The first resurrection is when a person is "born anew...born of the water and the Spirit" [John 3:3-5]. "And you did he make ALIVE when you were dead...made us ALIVE together with Christ [by grace have you been saved], and RAISED us up with him" [Ephesians 2:1-6; Galatians 2:18-19; 3:1]. The first resurrection is when, "We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was RAISED from the dead" [Romans 6:3-4]. "There are only two alternatives, the crown of life--eternal life--or the second death." Homer Hailey, Page 128, Revelation, Baker Book House.
If, as some teach, the first resurrection is the resurrection of the soul in paradise where the soul lives with Christ, then the first resurrection takes place at death and paradise would be in hades. They believe both the good and bad wake up in hades at death, therefore, all, both the saved and the lost, take part in the first resurrection. All that are raised in the first resurrection will not have a part in the second death. This is more then they want to teach, but they try to get around it by making hades have a good and a bad side.
All will die. "It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this comes judgment" [Hebrews 9:27]. All that are in the grave, both saved and lost, will hear His voice and come forth at the resurrection (John 5:28-29). All will be raised for the judgment that comes after the appointed death. All who are born again, made alive by being raised with Christ through Baptism; and live faithful shall not be hurt of the second death after the judgment. Christ paid the wages of sin for them. All others will pay their own wages of sin, which is death [Romans 6:23]. "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone; WHICH IS THE SECOND DEATH" [Revelation 21:8]. From this death there will never be a resurrection. The results will be eternal. The Dark Age doctrine of an endless life of torment is not a second death. It is eternal life with torment. IT BEARS NO RESEMBLANCE TO A DEATH. To feel pain, those in Hell would have to be just as alive as those in Heaven are. Eternal death is not life.
"As there is a second higher life, so there is also a second and deeper death. And as after that life there is no more death, SO AFTER THAT DEATH THERE IS NO MORE LIFE" Afford, quoted by Homer Hailey in "Revelation." The resurrection of all at the coming of Christ makes death be a sleep from which all will awake, but there will be no resurrection from the second death. It will be permanent and everlasting.
There is no room in "the day of the Lord" for one resurrection of a few when He comes and another resurrection of most of mankind after a thousand years as is taught by many.
"To him that overcomes, to him will I give to eat of the tree of life...He that overcomes shall not be hurt of the second death...He that overcome shall be arrayed in white garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life" [Revelation 2:7-3:5]. The first resurrection is when one is born again. These are the only ones that will not be hurt of the second death. The overcoming is in this lifetime, not as the Premillennialists teach that the first resurrection will be at the coming of Christ.

[7] ON THE DAY OF THE LORD - DEATH WILL BE ABOLISHED "Then comes the end, when he shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power, for he MUST REIGN, till he has put all his enemies under his feet. THE LAST ENEMY THAT SHALL BE ABOLISHED IS DEATH" [1 Corinthians 15:24-16]. For all that overcomes and "shall not be hurt of the second death" [Revelation 2:7] there will be no more death. Many Premillennialists believe Christ is not now reigning and will not reign unto the thousand years when He will reign on the throne of David in Jerusalem, at which time many of them believe all the saved will be in Heaven and will not return to earth unto after the thousand years. Is there anyway that death being abolished in the day of the Lord not be a problem for them?

[8] THE DAY OF THE LORD - THE SAVED FOREVER WITH THE LORD

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" [1 Thessalonians 4:14-17].
"When the Lord shall be revealed from heaven...when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all them that believed...in that day" [2 Thessalonians 1:7-10]. Both the "shall be punished" and "to be marveled at in all them that believed" are "when the Lord shall be revealed from heaven...in that day," not two difference days that are a thousand years apart.

[9] ON THE DAY OF THE LORD - THE KINGDOM WILL BE DELIVERED UP TO GOD "Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's AT HIS COMING, THEN COMES THE END, WHEN HE DELIVERS UP THE KINGDOM TO THE GOD AND FATHER, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For HE MUST REIGN until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death" [1 Corinthians 15:24-26].

1. When the Kingdom was established-- or-- When the Kingdom will be established has been made by Premillennialists into a key question as to where the saved will spend eternity.

2. The Kingdom has been established and will be delivered up to God in the day of the Lord-- or-- The Kingdom will be established on earth after the day of the Lord.

3. Will we have a "spiritual body" in Heaven with Christ-- or-- Will we have an earthly body on earth and Christ also an earthly body and rule the earth from Jerusalem for eternity?

[10] ON THE DAY OF THE LORD - CHRIST WILL BRING THE LAWLESS ONE TO AN END BY THE APPEARANCE OF HIS COMING. "Now we beseech you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ...as that the day of the Lord is just at hand...for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of lawlessness be revealed, the son of destruction...And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his coming; even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power" [2 Thessalonians 2:1-9]. Who or whatever the lawless one is; he will end on the day of the Lord. Some Premillennialists believe the lawless one to be the "Antichrist." If they were right, CHRIST WILL BRING TO AN END ON THE DAY OF THE LORD, ON THE DAY OF HIS SECOND COMING, NOT A THOUSAND YEARS AFTER THE DAY OF THE LORD. Some believe him to be the pope. If so, Christ will bring him to and end THAT DAY. Whatever "the lawless one" is, Christ will bring him or it to and end ON THE DAY He comes. If "the lawless one" is the "Antichrist" as many Premillennialists believe, the "Antichrist" will come to an end on the day of the second coming of Christ. WHAT EVER OR WHO EVER THE LAWLESS ONE IS, CHRIST WILL BRING IT TO AN END ON THE DAY OF HIS COMING. IT OR HE WILL NOT EXIST FOR A THOUSAND YEARS AFTER THE COMING OF CHRIST. IF THERE WERE A MILLENNIUM, THE LAWLESS ONE COULD NOT BE IN IT.

[11] ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT - WRATH OF GOD: A day of wrath, not seven years or a thousand years of wrath. "And to you that are afflicted rest with us, AT THE REVELATION OF THE LORD JESUS FORM HEAVEN with the angels of His power in flaming fire, RENDERING VENGEANCE TO THEM THAT KNOW NOT GOD, AND TO THEM THAT OBEY NOT THE GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS; WHO SHALL SUFFER PUNISHMENT EVEN ETERNAL DESTRUCTION from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His might, WHEN HE SHALL COME TO BE GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS, and to be marveled at in all them that believe...IN THAT DAY" [2 Thessalonians 1:7-10]. "Eternal destruction" for the lost is "in that day," is the same day "when he shall come to be marveled at by them that believed."

"Wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God...but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worked evil...in the day when God shall judge the secrets of man" [Romans 2:5-16 American Standard Version].

"For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries. A man that has set at naught Moses law died without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, think you, shall he be judged worthy, who has trodden underfoot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified and unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that said, vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense, and again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" [Hebrews 10:26-31].

"And inasmuch as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this comes judgment" [Hebrews 9:27].

"But I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that you sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no will precede them that are fallen asleep, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, and with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that anything be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes open them, as travail upon a woman with child: and they shall in no wise escape. But you brethren, are not in darkness, that day should overtake you as a thief" [1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:5].

IN THIS PASSAGE THE DAY OF THE LORD IS CALLED:

1. The day of the Lord coming

2. The day the living saints being caught up (called "rapture" by many),

3. The day of the resurrection of those that are fallen asleep,

4. The day the judgment all take place

5. The day of the Lord

6. The day when "the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven"

"Where is the promise of His coming...But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men...But the day of the Lord will come as a thief: in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up" [2 Peter 3:4-13].

All on the same day. There is no thousand years [365,000 days] or seven years after any of the above. They are all on "that day." "Inasmuch as he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained" [Acts 17:31]. Those who believe and teach Premillennial doctrines must deny the clear teaching on the Bible on the day of the Lord.

[12] ON THE DAY OF THE LORD - THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF THE EARTH AND THE HEAVENS WHICH WERE MADE FROM NOTHING AND WILL RETURN TO NOTHING: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away" [Matthew 24:35; Psalms 102:25-27]. "By which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief: in which the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men...But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; IN THE WHICH THE HEAVENS SHALL PASS AWAY WITH A GREAT NOISE, AND THE ELEMENTS SHALL BE DISSOLVED WITH FERVENT HEAT (The elements are all the things of which the earth is made, the air, the water, etc. These shall be dissolved, burned up), AND THE EARTH AND WORKS THAT ARE THEREIN SHALL BE BURNED UP. SEEING THAT THESE THINGS ARE THUS ALL TO BE DISSOLVED" [2 Peter 3:7-11].

2 PETER 3

WORLD - 2 Peter 3:6 is from "kesmos" Wigram page 430. Kesmos is in the Greek about 185 times and in the King James Version it is translated "world" all but one time in 1 Peter 3:6 where it is translated "adorning." It is used to mean this planet earth, never the Jewish age from Moses to A. D. 70.

"All the kingdoms of the world" [Matthew 4:8]
"Go you into all the world" [Matthew 14:9]
"For God so loved the world" [John 3:16]
"The savior of the world" [John 4:42]
"God that made the world and all things" [Acts 17:24]
"From the foundation of the world" [Hebrews 4:3]

Kesmos is never translated "age." Peter is not speaking of "the end of the age [arion]" as Matthew is in Matthew 24:3.

EARTH - 2 Peter 3:7; 3:10; 3:13 is from "gee" Wigram page 116. Gee is in the Greek about 242 times and is translated "earth" about 284 times, "land" 39 times, "ground" 18 times, "country" 2 times, and "world" 1 time. It is used to mean this planet earth or some particular part of this earth.

ALL THE WORLD

"I am come to send peace on earth [gee]" [Matthew 10:34]. Not just in Old Testament Israel.
"Call no man your father upon the earth [gee]" [Matthew 23:9].
"Went and dug in the earth [gee]" [Matthew 25:18]. He did not dig in Old Testament Israel.
" That you may live long on the earth [gee]" [Ephesians 5:6]. According to Realized Eschatology Old Testament Israel was about to end when Paul said this.

UNLESS SOME PARTICULAR PART OF THE EARTH IS NAMED

"The land [gee] of Sodom" [Matthew 11:24]
"Land [gee] of Gennesaret" [Matthew 14:34]
"Land [gee] of Judah" [Matthew 2:6]
"All the land [gee] of Egypt" [Acts 7:11]

IN 2 PETER 3, IT IS THE HEAVENS THAT SHALL PASS AWAY AND THE EARTH THAT SHALL BE BURNED UP IN THE DAY OF THE LORD, NOTHING IS SAID ABOUT IT BEING ONLY A PARTICULAR PART OF THE EARTH, NOTHING IS SAID ABOUT ISRAEL.

"By which means the world [kesmos] that then was" [2 Peter 3:6]. Israel did not exist at that time. It was the world [kesmos] that then was, not Old Testament Israel that perished.
"But the heavens that now are, and the earth [gee] [2 Peter 3:7]. The earth that has existed from the time the world perished by water, not just Old Testament Israel.
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief: in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth [gee] and the works that are therein shall be burned up" [2 Peter 3:10].
"But according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth [gee], wherein dwells righteousness" [2 Peter 3:13].

FATE OF THE UNGODLY IN 2 PETER

BURNED TO ASHES: Sodom was turned into ashes as example to those who live ungodly [2 Peter 2:6]. Sodom was _burned to ashes_ and the earth _shall be burned up_ and _have been stored up for fire_ [2 Peter 3:7, 10], _the heavens shall pass away,_ _the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat,_ _the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat_ [2Peter 3:10-12]. In the same passage Sodom was literally destroyed by fire and the earth and heavens will be literally destroyed by fire. One is not a literal destruction by fire and the other a figuratively destruction. The _water_ cannot be literal and the _fire_ made figuratively in the same sentence [2 Peter 3:6], just as the wicked were literally destroyed by water the wicked will literally be destroyed by fire.
DESTRUCTION of ungodly men [2 Peter 3:7; 2:1]
DESTROYED: _To be taken and destroyed_shall in their destroying also be destroyed_ [2 Peter 2:12]. _They are like brute beast (animals –Strong 2226), creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beast they too will perish_ New International Version
BLACKNESS OF DAKNESS has been reserved [2 Peter 2:17]
PERISHED [2 Peter 3:6]
DESTRUCTION: The day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men [2 Peter 3:7]
PERISH [2 Peter 3:9]
DESTRUCTION: Some _wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto the own destruction_ [2 Peter 3:16]

2 PETER 3:7 IN EIGHT TRANSLATIONS

1. "The heavens SHALL PASS AWAY with a great noise, and the elements SHALL MELT with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing than that all these things shall be dissolved" King James Version.

2. "The heavens SHALL PASS AWAY with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall BE BURNED UP. Seeing that these things are thus, all TO BE DISSOLVED" American Standard Version.

3. "The heavens WILL PASS AWAY with a roar, and the elements will BE DESTROYED with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are TO BE DESTROYED in this way" New American Standard Version.

4. "And then the heavens WILL PASS AWAY with a loud noise, AND THE ELEMENTS WILL BE DISSOLVED with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it WILL BE DISSOLVED. Since all these things are TO BE DISSOLVED in this way" New Revised Standard Version.

5. "THE HEAVENS WILL DISAPPEAR with a roar; THE ELEMENTS WILL BE DESTROYED by fire, and the earth and everything in it WILL BE LAIN BARE" New International Version.

6. "The heavens WILL PASS AWAY with a terrible noise and the heavenly bodies WILL DISAPPEAR in fire, and the earth and everything on it will BE BURNED UP. And so since EVERYTHING AROUND US IS GOING TO MELT AWAY" The Living Bible.

7. "The skies WILL DISAPPEAR with a loud noise, everything in them will BE DESTROYED by fire, and the earth and everything in it will BE BURNED UP. In that way everything WILL BE DESTROYED" New Century Version.

8. "In that day the heavens WILL VANISH in a tearing blast, the very elements WILL DISINTEGRATE in heat and the earth and all its works