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

/> understood none of these things, and this saying was hidden from them, and they
did not comprehend the things that were said" [Luke 18:34; also Luke 19:11;
24:21-27; John 16:16-18; 20:9]. When the Disciples asked these two questions
they did not know or believe Christ would die and be resurrected from the dead or
know or believe anything about the second coming of Christ or the judgment day.
• On the day of His resurrection the Disciples did not know it was the resurrected
Christ they were talking to and said to Him, "But we hoped (past tense) that it
was he who should REDEEM ISRAEL" [Luke 24:21].
• Forty days after He was raised from the dead the Disciples still did not understand
therefore, they still did not expect Christ to go away and return to earth a second
time at the end of the world; they expected Him to restore the kingdom to Israel
"They therefore, when they were come together, asked him, saying, Lord, do you
at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" [Acts 1:6]. EVEN AFTER HIS
RESURRECTION THEY WERE LOOKING FOR THE EARTHLY
KINGDOM OF ISRAEL TO BE RESTORED AND CHRIST TO BE IT'S
KING.
If this thief was not speaking of an earthly kingdom of Israel he would have had to
know that Christ was going to be resurrected from the dead and then set up His kingdom
when no one, not even the twelve know.
THE MOCKERY OF JESUS
MOCKERY AT HIS TRIAL BEFORE PILATE "Then the soldiers of the governor
took Jesus into the palace, and gathered unto him the whole band. And they stripped him,
and put on him a scarlet robe, and they platted a crown of thorns and put it upon his
head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him,
saying, Hail, King of the Jews! And they spat upon him, and took the reed and smote him
on the head. And when they had mocked him, they took off from him the robe, and put
on him his garments, and led him away to crucify him" [Matthew 27:27-30]. "And the
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soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple
garment; and they came unto him, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they struck him
with their hands" [John 19:2-3].
• They stripped Him
• Put on Him a scarlet robe
• They platted a crown of thorns and put it upon His head
• A reed in His right hand
• They kneeled down before Him, and mocked Him, saying, Hail, King of the
Jews!
• They spat upon Him
• Took the reed and smote Him on the head.
The scarlet robe, crown of thorns, a reed in His hand and kneeling down before Him
was mockery of His claim to be a king.
"Now it was the Preparation of the Passover: it was about the sixth hour. And he said
unto the Jews, Behold your King! They therefore cried out, Away with him, away with
him, crucify him! Pilate said unto them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests
answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar’" [John 18:14-15]. Jesus was the king the Jews
were looking for but He said, "My kingdom is not of this world" and He did not restore
the earthly kingdom to Israel as they thought their savior was going to do, they rejected
Him and mocked Him.
MOCKERY BY PILATE WHEN CHRIST WAS ON THE CROSS "And Pilate
wrote a title also, and put it on the cross. And there was written, JESUS OF NAZARETH,
THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title therefore read many of the Jews, for the place
where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, and in
Latin, and in Greek. The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not, The
King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews. Pilate answered, ‘What I have
written I have written’" [John 19:19-22]. When Pilate put this on the cross of a man he
did not think was a king or who would ever be a king, it was nothing but mockery by
Pilate.
MOCKERY BY THOSE THAT PASSED BY, THE CHIEF PRIESTS AND THE
ROBBERS
Matthew 27:39-48 "And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and
saying, You that destroyed the temple, and builds it in three days, save yourself: if you
are the Son of God, come down from the cross. In like manner also the chief priests
mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
He is the King of Israel; let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe on
him. He trusted on God; let him deliver him now, if he desires him: for he said, I am the
Son of God. AND THE ROBBERS ALSO THAT WERE CRUCIFIED WITH HIM
CAST UPON HIM THE SAME REPROACH. Now from the sixth hour there was
darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with
a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? And some of them stood there, when they heard it, said, ‘This man calls
Elijah’. And straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar,
and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. And the rest said, Let be; let us see whether
Elijah cometh to save him."
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Mark 15:29-32: "And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and
saying, ha! You that destroys the temple, and builds it in three days, save yourself, and
come down from the cross. In like manner also the chief priests mocking him among
themselves with the scribes said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let the Christ,
the King of Israel, now come down from the cross that we may see and believe. AND
THEY THAT WERE CRUCIFIED WITH HIM REPROACHED HIM. And when the
sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at
the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? Which is,
being interpreted, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of them that
stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calls Elijah. And one ran, and filling a
sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let be; let us see
whether Elijah cometh to take him down."
THIS MOCKERY WAS OVER CHRIST CLAIMING TO BE KING BY:
1. By the soldiers
2. By Pilate
3. By those that passed by
4. By the chief priests
5. By BOTH robbers
MOCKERY BY THE BOTH ROBBERS "And robbers also that were crucified
with him cast upon him the same reproach" [Matthew 27:44]. Matthew and Mark give
details of the mockery by all but the robbers saying only that they "cast upon him the
same reproach." Luke tells how they "cast upon him the same reproach." Just as Pilate
did not believe Jesus, who had never been king over any nation and was about to be put
to death, was "THE KING OF THE JEWS," this robber did not believe the person being
put to death with him would ever be a king and come into His kingdom. "And the people
stood beholding. And the rulers also scoffed at him, saying, He saved others; let him
save himself, if this is the Christ of God, his chosen. And the soldiers also mocked him,
coming to him, offering him vinegar, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save
thyself’. And there was also a superscription over him, ‘THIS IS THE KING OF THE
JEWS’. And one of the malefactors that were hanged railed on him, saying, ‘Are not
you the Christ? Save yourself and us’. But the other answered, and rebuking him said,
‘Do you not even fear God, seeing you are in the same condemnation? And we indeed
justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man has done nothing amiss’.
And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom’. And he said unto
him, ‘Truly I say unto you, to-day you shall be with me in Paradise’’" [Luke 23:33-38].
• One robber railed on Christ by saying, "Are not you the Christ? Save yourself and
us."
• The other robber by saying, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom."
What would “remember me when” mean to the Jews of that day; they understood
the kingdom to be an earthly kingdom of Israel, the Old Testament kingdom
restored. The thief know he was dying and was speaking to a person that he could
see was dying, mocking Him about coming into His kingdom when He was
dying. Neither of the robbers thought this dying man was the Christ or that He
would come into a kingdom. Saying to someone whom he knows would soon be
dead, "Remember me when you come into your kingdom" was nothing more than
mockery just as the sign the thief could see over His head saying "THIS IS THE
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KING OF THE JEWS" was mockery. Neither of the robbers would have
understood the messianic kingdom the Jews were looking for to be anything but a
physical kingdom of Israel with an earthly king.
CHRIST DID NOT GO TO PARADISE THAT DAY. When will anyone go to
paradise or Heaven? Not unto after the judgment. We must wait for the resurrection and
judgment before we will go to heaven. Did Christ tell the theft that he would be in
Heaven that day? Jesus did not go to paradise that day. He had said He would be in the
heart of the earth [grave] for three days [Matthew 12:40]; “For as Jonah was three
days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and
three nights in the heart of the earth.” It was on Friday evening just before the beginning
of the Sabbath day when Christ told the robber that he would be with Him in Paradise,
but on Sunday morning He said, "Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the
Father" [John 20:17]. Paul said Christ died, was buried, and was raised on the third
day [1 Corinthians 15:3-4; see Matthew 12:40]. He was dead and in the grave unto the
third day when the Father raised Him. IF CHRIST WERE ALIVE AND WENT TO
HEAVEN THE DAY HE DIED, WHAT WAS HIS RESURRECTION ON THE THIRD
DAY? IT WOULD BE NOTHING BUT MOCKERY TO SAY HE WAS RAISED
FROM THE DEAD WHEN HE WAS ALIVE IN HEAVEN. Christ said, "No one has
ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, even the Son of Man" [John
3:13]. If Moses did not ascend into Heaven at his death and had not ascended at the time
Christ spoke this how did the robber ascend to Heaven if Moses and David did not? In an
attempt to make a passage say someone went to Heaven at death the thief has been made
to be better than Moses and David? WHERE WAS CHRIST FROM HIS DEATH TO
HIS RESURRECTION? "He foreseeing this spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that
neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus did God raise
up" [Acts 2:31-32]. This is from Psalm 16:10, "Because you will not abandon me to the
grave (sheol)" New International Version.
WHICH WAY DO THEY SEND CHRIST? The advocates of an immortal soul say
Christ went both up and down at