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

to) to "it" (Israel), changes the “we” to a nation. Can
anyone tell me how he get the nation of Israel out of “we”?
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'" Is 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 alive and 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
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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 or any place in the Bible about Adam
being the Old Testament 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;
THERE WAS NO NATION OF ISRAEL WHEN ADAM “BECAME A LIVING SOUL,”
NOT FOR HUNDARDS OF YEARS AFTER. Adam was the natural man made "of the
earth," he was 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) he
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
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was right. Just as Ezekiel's valley of bones coming to life is a vision of a physical
resurrection in Ezekiel 37 is figuratively language of the nation of Israel being restored to
life as a nation, Isaiah 26:19 of a physical resurrection of the dead who had turned to dust
is figuratively language of Israel 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, neither one is teaching the resurrection of
individuals to eternal life. Nevertheless, he attempts to somehow use a resurrection of
Isaiah as a nation that took place long before Christ to prove Paul was not speaking of the
resurrection of the dead at the coming of Christ but Paul was only speaking of the
resurrection of the Old Testament faithful in A. D. 70.
“Death is swallowed up in victory” [1 Corinthians 15:54]
Throughout 1 Corinthians 15, Paul speaks of death and resurrection from the dead.
What is the death and resurrection he is speaking of? The A. D. 70 doctrine says this is
speaking of the death and restorations of Old Testament Israel and the Law of Moses, not
our death and resurrection. How did Paul use death and resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15?
• Christ died and was buried and raised on the third day and appeared to many [1
Corinthians 15:3-6].
• Death had taken some of the above five hundred that Christ appeared to [1
Corinthians 15:6].
• Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, but if there is no
resurrection Christ has not been raised, therefore, Christ is dead and their faith in
Christ is useless [1 Corinthians 15:12-16].
• The Corinthians that had died (fallen asleep in Christ) had perished [1 Corinthians
15:18-19].
• Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of them that are dead (are
asleep). Just as Christ was dead and resurrected, those who are asleep in Christ
will be resurrected [1 Corinthians 15:20; 15:23].
• All Adam’s descendant’s die (all mankind), the resurrection of all (all shall be
made alive) will come by Christ [1 Corinthians 15:21-22].
• Christ was raised the first fruits, them all that belong to Christ at His coming [1
Corinthians 15:23].
• Then comes the end when Christ shall deliver up the kingdom, the church, to God
and the last enemy, death, will be abolished [1 Corinthians 15:24-26].
• If the dead (those who are asleep in Christ) are not to be raised then living Godly
is of no use, do anything you want to for death will soon bring you to an end [1
Corinthians 15:29-34].
• How are the dead raised, with what kind of body? [1 Corinthians 15:35-49].
o The earthly body of corruption is put in the ground; an incorruption body
is raised.
o The earthly body is put in the ground in dishonor; it will be raised in glory.
o The earthly body is put in the ground in weakness; a body is raised in
power.
o The earthly body is put in the ground a natural body; it is raised a spiritual
body. The earthly body (natural body) is first, then the spiritual body at the
resurrection of the dead. As we have borne the image of the earthly
(Adam) we shall bear the image of the heavenly (Christ).
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• Not all Christians will die but all, those who are living when Christ returns and
those who are asleep will both be changed in the same moment, in the twinkling
of an eye 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.