Immortality or Resurrection (Updated) - William West (top ten ebook reader .TXT) 📗

rises, and the
moon will not shed its light" [Isaiah 13:10]. Luke added, "And upon the earth distress of
nations" [Luke 21:21]. 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 MILLENNIALISTS MOVE THE SUN BEING
DARKEN FROM “IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE TRIBULATION” AND MAKE IT
BEING DARKEN BE THE TRIBULATION, not something that comes “after the
tribulation.”
• Darken “immediately after the tribulation.”
• Not darken during the tribulation as Premillennialists teach.
1. The same figurative language of the sun, moon and stars being darken or falling
from heaven is also used of the fall of Judea [a national judgment] in Jeremiah
4:1-28.
2. Of the fall of Israel [Amos 8:6-9; 8:18-20].
3. Of the fall of Israel [Zephaniah 1:14-18].
4. Of the fall of the Nations [Joel 3:15-16; 2:31].
5. Of the fall of Egypt [Ezekiel 30:3-4; 32:7-8; Isaiah 19:1].
6. Of the fall of Babylon [Isaiah 13:10-20].
7. Of the fall of Edom [Isaiah 34:4-6].
8. Of the city of Arier in Israel [Isaiah 29:5-6].
9. Of the fall of "My people" [Isaiah 51:5-6].
10. Also see Joel 2:1-31; 30:31; Haggai 2:6-7; Amos 8:9; Jeremiah 15:9 46:7; 49:23-
24; Isaiah 17:12-13; 19:1; 47:20; 64:3; Daniel 7:2-17; Exodus 19:16; 13:21-22;
14:19-31; Psalm 18:13; 104:3; Ezekiel 34:4; Nahum 1:3. THIS WAS FAMILIAR
LANGUAGE TO THOSE JESUS WAS SPEAKING TO AND THEY WOULD
HAVE UNDERSTOOD HIM TO BE SPEAKING OF THE FALL OF A
NATION, NOT OF THE END OF THE WORLD. It is similar to that in
Deuteronomy 23:22-28 and both are a judgment on Israel.
11. Compare Matthew 24:29-30 to the fall of Egypt. "And when I extinguish you, I
will cover the heavens, and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud,
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and the moon shall not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will
darken over you and will set darkness on your land, declares the Lord God. I will
also trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your destruction among the
nations" [Ezekiel 32:7-9]. As far as these nations were concerned the lights went
out.
Matthew 24:30: "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in Heaven." "In
Heaven" is where the Son of Man is, not where the sign would appear. What did appear
was the destruction of Israel. The sign proves that the man Israel rejected is the Lord and
is the ruler over all nations, and He has the power to destroy the nations that reject Him.
In speaking of God's coming in judgment on Egypt Isaiah says, "The oracle
concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud, and is about to come to
Egypt" [Isaiah 19:1; also Jeremiah 4:13; Ezekiel 30:3-4]. This is not God literally riding a
cloud into Egypt, but is figurative language of His coming in judgment on Egypt. When
they saw Jerusalem destroyed, they were seeing Jesus coming in judgment on that city.
Jesus told the high priest, "YOU SHALL SEE THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE
RIGHT HAND OF POWER, AND COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN" [Mark
14:62]. The high priest did not literally see Jesus in Heaven, but he and all Israel did see
the coming of Jesus in judgment on Israel.
"The signs in the heavens, the darkening sun and falling stars, refer to the falling of Jewish
dignitaries, casting down of authorities and powers, long established, and signified the darkness
that settled upon the Jewish state, the sun of the Hebrew temple was darkened, the moon of the
Jewish commonwealth was as blood, the stars of Sanhendrin fell from their high seats of
authority...The sign of the Son of man in the heaven was a signal, the evidence of divine visitation
and intervention in the downfall of the Jewish authorities and in all the transpiring events. The
mourning of all the tribes of the earth refers to the lamentation of the Jewish families all over the
world because of the destruction of their city and their temple and their state. The coming of the
Son of man in the clouds of heaven is not a reference to the second coming of Christ but to the
coming foretold by Jesus to Caiaphas in Matthew 26:64: 'Hereafter shall you see the Son of man
sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of Heaven.' Jesus told Caiaphas that
he would see it, he would be living witness to these event" Foy E. Wallace Jr., "The Book of
Revelation" Page 354.
"And then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn." When their country was destroyed,
the Jews that were in other parts of the earth would mourn. The word translated "earth" is
"gee" and in the King James Version is translated "land" forty-one times, "ground"
eighteen times and "country" two times. "Gee" is translated land in Matthew 2:6; 2:20;
2:21; 4:15; 9:26; 11:24; 14:34; 27:45; Mark 4:1; 6:47; 6:53; 15:33; Luke 4:25; 5:3; 5:11;
5:24; 8:27; 14:35; 21:23; John 3:22; 6:21; 21:8; 21:9; 21:11; Acts 7:3; 7:4; 7:4; 7:6; 7:11;
7:29; 7:33; 7:36; 7:4013:17; 13:19; 13:19; Hebrews 8:9; 11:9; Jude 5. "Gee" is translated
"ground" in Matthew 9:29; 13:8; 13:23; 15:35; Mark 4:8; 4:20; 4:26; 8:6; 9:20; 24:35;
Luke 8:8; 8:15; 22:44; John 8:6; 8:8; 12:24; Acts 7:33. "Gee" is translated "country" in
Matthew 9:31 and Acts 7:3. Had it been translated "land" in Matthew 24:30, "And then
shall all the tribes of the land [gee] mourn" most of the confusion would not have
existed. See Zechariah 12:11-12.
"And he will send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together
His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other" [Matthew 24:31]. Still
speaking in figurative language Jesus is saying He will send His messengers into all the
world with His Gospel and gather them to Him in His kingdom, the church. Just as there
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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 that will be seen by
all, both all the living and all the dead will see Him. 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
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mutual combats, exceeded two thousand five hundred." G. Holford, The Destruction of
Jerusalem.
Adam Clarke lists some that were killed at other places. "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