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

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 and 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
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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. God and His light
is now in the Church.
[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 nonexistence
(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,
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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?"
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Many think Matthew 24:36 is the "time text" or "transition text" where Jesus changes
from the destruction of Israel to the second coming at the end of the world. Luke gives
this view a problem. In his discourse to the disciples a few days before His discourse at
Jerusalem, Luke put both the "two women" [Luke 17:35-36] and "as it was in the days of
Noah" [Luke 17:26-27] before this "time text" [Luke 17:37]. If this were the "transition
text" Matthew put both after the "transition text" and Luke put both before Matthew
24:27, "Where the body is there will the eagles also be gathered together" [Luke 17:37].
"Where so ever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together" [Matthew
24:28].. Luke also used "that day" in reference to the destruction of Israel, not of the
second coming [Luke 17:31, Matthew 24:17].
Luke 17:11 "On the way to Jerusalem." - Matthew 24:1 After they were leaving.
• "Him that is on the housetop" [Luke 17:31; Matthew 24:17]
• "Lo, here is the Christ" [Luke 17:23; Matthew 24:23]
• "As the lightning comes from the east" [Luke 17:24; Matthew 24:17]
• "The days of Noah" [Luke 17:26; Matthew 24:37]
• “Two men be in the field" [Luke 17:36; Matthew 24:40]
• "Where the carcass is there will the eagles be" [Luke 17:37; Matthew 24:28]
• "Two woman shall be grinding" [Luke 17:35; Matthew 24:41]
o The wrongly called "transition text" Matthew 24:36 not being in Luke
makes it clear that no transition from the destruction of Israel to the
second coming of Christ for Luke’s readers would have had no way to
know Christ made a transition.
• “For this reason YOU be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour
when YOU do not think he will” [Matthew 24:44]
"The coming of the Son of man" both before and after the "Transition Text"
1. BEFORE - "So shall be the coming of the Son of man" Matthew 24:27
2. BETWEEN THEM - the falsely called "Transition Text" Matthew 24:36
3. AFTER - "So shall be the coming of the Son of