Immortality or Resurrection (Updated) by William West (reading strategies book .TXT) 📖

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
• Cleaning of the Temple Matthew 21:12-16
• The fig tree Matthew 21:18-22
• Israel's rulers question Christ's authority. Parable of the two sons Matthew 21:23-
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• Parable of the wicked husbandman who Christ will destroy and give the vineyard
to another Matthew 21:33-41
• The stone Israel rejected made head of the corner; the stone will scatter as dust.
The kingdom taken from Israel and gave to another Matthew 21:42-46
• Parable of the marriage feast. His armies destroyed those invited and invited
others Matthew 22:1-14
• Seven woes on Israel leaders, how can they escape the judgment of Gehenna; all
these things shall come upon this generation. Matthew 23:13-36
• Their house left desolate Matthew 23:37-39
• The questions and His answer Matthew 24:1-51
o Parable of the fig tree. This generation shall not pass away, till all these
things be accomplished Matthew 24:32-34
o Israel the unfaithful servant Matthew 24:45-51
• Unprofitable servant cast into outer darkness Matthew 25:30
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 said this is "the desolation which was about to fall on the Jewish nation."
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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 USING THIS PASSAGE TO PROVE THE OUTER DARKNESS IS
HELL IT MAKES SOME THAT BE IN HEAVEN BUT THEY 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 into Hell 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
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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 selfreproach
(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" IS USED BY
CHRIST [Matthew 8:12; 13:42; 13:50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28] ARE ALL
SEVEN 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 “Hell.” In Matthew 13:39 and 13:50 the
Greek is the end of the “age” not the end of the world, the end of the age that then was,
the Jewish age when they were cast out as God’s chosen people. To those who thought
they were and would always be God’s 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?
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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