CHAPTER EIGHT
First
Resurrection And Second Death
An Immortal
Soul or Resurrection of the Dead
The interpretation of figurative language,
metaphors and symbolic passages
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Preterits Eschatology - Realized Eschatology - The A. D. 70
Doctrine
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The day of the Lord
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2 Peter 3
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Souls under the altar
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The smoke
of their torment goes up forever and ever
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The Lake of Fire
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.
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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.
JUDGMENT
OF ISRAEL Matthew 21-25
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 WILL 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. None of these passages mention Hell although they are
often used to prove there is a place called ÒHell.Ó In Matthew 13:39 and 13:50
the Greek is the end of the ÒageÓ not the end of the world, the end of the age
that then was, the Jewish age when they were cast out as GodÕs chosen people.
To those who thought they were and would always be GodÕs chosen people, being
told that they would be cast out was no small thing.
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 foreverÓ [Matthew 21:18-19; see
John 1:11].
[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."
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, ÔIf 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 visitationÕ"
[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.
"THIS
GENERATION" The generation of Jews in the time of Christ.
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:
[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.
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?"
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?"
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.
á
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.
(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. ÒBut 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 comesÓ
[Matthew10:23].
ÒIt 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 nationalityÓ J W McGarvey, New
Testament Commentary, Matthew and Mark, page 92.
ÒIt would take place
before all the cities of Israel should be evangelized, hence it would mean the
coming of Christ to destroy the Jewish nationalityÓ 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. ÒThe word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you;
even as it is also in all the worldÓ [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.
[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.
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].
(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.
(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.
"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.
(c) Not in the
winter. Travel would be hard then but not today with today's ways of travel.
(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.
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.
[5] 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.
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 were 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.
[6]
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.
[7]
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.
[8] 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.
[9] 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.
[10]
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.
[11]
"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.
"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
"But of that day and hour ƒÖƒìƒ¿, 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:
THE
A. D. 70 DOCTRINES
FOUR POINTS THAT MUST
BE PROVEN FOR THE A. D. 70 DOCTRINES TO BE TRUE.
[1] That
the Law and the Jewish age did not end unto 40 years after the death of Christ.
That the Old Covenant and the New Covenant over lapped for 40
years.
[2] That
anyone was resurrected from the dead in A. D. 70.
[3] That
the resurrection is passed and all the saved go to Heaven at the moment of
death.
[4] That
there will be no judgment day for the lost after the judgment they say took
place in A. D. 70.
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:
What the early non-inspired writers said
about Òthe last daysÓ and the second coming of Christ a few years after A. D.
70; from Florida College Annual Lectures, Almon L.
Williams, 1986, page 217.
á
Isnatius: "These
are the last times"
á
Barnabas: "Wherefore let us take heed in
these last days"
á
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"
á
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"
á
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"
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.
ÒFor we will all
stand before the judgment seat of GodÓ (Romans 14:10).
ÒFor
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 badÓ (2 Corinthians 5:10).
ÒHe 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 salvationÓ (Hebrews
9:26-28).
ÒFor 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 adversariesÓ
(Hebrews 10:26-27).
ÒBut 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 menÓ (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 IMMEDIATELY
AFTER 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.
ÒDeath is
swallowed up in victoryÓ [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?
á
Christ
died and was buried and raised on the third day and appeared to many [1
Corinthians 15:3-6]
á
Death had
taken some of the many [1 Corinthians 15:6]
á
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]
á
The
Corinthians that had died (fallen asleep in Christ) had perished [1 Corinthians
15:18-19]
á
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]
á
All
AdamÕs descendants die (all mankind), the resurrection of all (all shall be
made alive) will come by Christ [1 Corinthians 15:21-22]
á
Christ
was raised (the first fruits) them at His coming all that belong to Christ [1
Corinthians 15:23]
á
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]
á
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]
á
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)
á
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. THE A. D. 70 DOCTRINE HAS NO PLACE FOR
LIVING CHRISTIANS BEING ÒCHANGEDÓ AT THE COMING OF CHRIST.
Christ Òbrought life
and immortality to light through the gospelÓ [2 Timothy 1:10].
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.
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 Galatians
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 Ôall thingsÕ 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.
This was written before A. D. 70 and the elect had obtained before when the A.
D. 70 doctrine says Christ was to come; this passage is not speaking of a
coming of Christ at any time.
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 ÒLast Thing and Covenant EschatologyÓ
in his answer to a question, ÒWhat is your understanding of Òno marring and
giving in marriageÕÓ Samuel says this is only speaking of the command given by
Moses that a bother is to Òperform the duty of a husbandÕs brotherÓ that Òthe
name of his dead brother may not be blotted our from IsraelÓ [Deuteronomy 25:5-10].
The brother of the dead husband did not marry his brotherÕs wife; THERE WAS NO
ÒMARRYING AND GIVING IN MARRIAGE.Ó Moses did not command the brother who may
have had a wife to take a second wife; if the brother had had 10 or more
brothers that died, according to Samuel he would have had many wives. ÒIn the resurrectionÓ he changed to
Òafter A. D. 70,Ó and says that in the resurrection marriage is optional, not
mandatory. Christ did not say it will be optional after the resurrection but
that there will be no marriage. ÒBut they that are accounted worthy to attain
to they age, and the resurrection from the dead, NEITHER MARRY, NOT ARE
GIVEN IN MARRIAE: FOR NEITHER CAN THE DIE ANY MORE: FOR THEY ARE
EQUAL TO THE ANGELS; AND ARE SONS OF GOD, BEING SONS OF THE RESURRECTINÓ [Luke
20:2740]. Now we both marry and die. After the coming of Christ and the
resurrection the saved will not marry or die; marriage will not be Òoptional.Ó
Where did he find that marriage would be ÒoptionalÓ after the resurrection when
Christ says there would be no marriage or death?
He used Mark 10:19-20 to prove that in
Òthe age to comeÓ we will have house, etc. Christ said, ÒThere is no man that
has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or mother, or father, or children, or
lands, for my sake, and the gospelÕs sake, but he shall receive a hundredfold,
NOW IN THIS TIME, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children,
and lands, with persecutions; AND IN THE AGE TO COME ETERNAL LIFEÓ [Mark
10:29-30]. He changes having ÒlandÓ etc. Ònow in this timeÓ to having them in
the Òage to comeÓ in an attempt to prove the saved will have them after the
resurrection which he says is now passed.
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. If
it were true that there is no real death, that death is only a separation from
God, then there could not be a resurrection of the dead for no one could be
really dead. The pagan doctrine of the immortality of the soul makes the Bible
doctrine of the resurrection of the dead both impossible and useless. Any life
after death depends wholly on the resurrection of the dead at the coming of
Christ (Luke 14:13-14; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 15:51-55).
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.
[1] ON THE DAY OF THE
LORD - THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
[2] ON THE DAY OF THE
LORD - THE RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT OF
THE RIGHTEOUS IN THE LAST DAY
[3] ON THE DAY OF THE
LORD - THE RESURRECTION AND JUDGMENT OF
THE WICKED IN THE LAST DAY
[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.
[5] ON THE DAY OF THE
LORD - THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF THE LOST
[2 Peter 2:12; 3:7]
"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].
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]. ÒHaving been buried with Him in baptism, in which
you were also RAISED up with Him through faith in the working of God, who RAISED
Him from the dead When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, HE MADE YOU ALIVE together
with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressionÕ [Colossians 2:12-13].
á
"There are
only two alternatives, the crown of life--eternal life--or the second death" Homer Hailey, Page
128, Revelation, Baker Book House. THE ALL THAT ÒOVERCOMES SHALL NOT BE HURT OF
THE SECOND DEATHÓ IS ALL THAT ARE THAT HAS BEEN SAVED AND ALL THAT WILL BE
SAVED AND REMAINS FAITHFUL, NOT JUST SOME OF THE SAVED IN A LITERAL 1,000
YEARS. The second death will be for all that does not Òhave part in the first
resurrection (buried in baptism and raised up with Christ) [Revelation 20:6; 20:15;
21:8].
á
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].
á
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].
á
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 immediately after 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.
á
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.
á
"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.
á
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.
á
"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
[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].
[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:
"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
2 Peter 3:3-4: The mockers was saying, ÒWhere is the promise of his
coming, for from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as
they were from the beginning of the
creation?Ó The creation is the creation of the world, not Israel. PeterÕs
reply to them was the they willfully forget that the earth that was that was
created out of water was destroyed by water and is now being reserved against
the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men, it will be Òburned up,Ó it
is to Òbe dissolved,Ó and Òthe elements shall melt with fervent heat.Ó BOTH THE
DESTROYING BY WATER AND BY FIRE ARE A DESTROYING OF THE WORLD, NOT JUST A PART
OF IT, NOT JUST THE NATION OF ISRAEL.
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.
Kesmos
is never translated "age." Peter is not speaking of "the end of
the age 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 in the King James 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
ALL THE WORLD UNLESS SOME PARTICULAR PART
OF THE EARTH IS NAMED