Immortality or Resurrection, William West [best romance books of all time txt] 📗

warring bands of Jews in Jerusalem, and Josephus says the Jews suffered far more from one another inside the walls of the city than from the Romans outside. Thousand more were killed by bands of robbers.
• "When Christ was born, there was a universal peace in the empire...From the time that the Jews rejected Christ, and he left their house desolate, the sword did never depart from their house, the sword of the Lord was never quiet, because he had given it a charge against a hypocritical nation and the people of his wrath, and by it brought ruin upon them." Matthew Henry, Matthew 24:6. Zondervan Publishing House, 1721.
(b) FAMINES IN DIVERS PLACES [Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11]: In the years between the death of Christ and the destruction of Jerusalem there were severe famines especially in the area of Jerusalem. Paul took up a contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem [Romans 15:25; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4] which many churches took part in. Agabus signified by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world, which came to pass in the days of Claudius, and the disciples sent relief unto the disciples in Judea [Acts 11:28-29].
(c) PESTILENCES [Matthew 24:7 King James Version]: Pestilences tend to come with famine. There was a great one in AD 40 in Babylon when many Jews died and many more fled because of it. Another one in AD 65 in Rome when many died. I have seen no history that tells how many died by wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes in the years before the destruction of Jerusalem, but no doubt it was hundreds of thousands. During the siege of Jerusalem but before the fall, the dead from famines and pestilences filled all the room for burial within the walls of the city and Josephus claims 600,000 more bodies were thrown out of the gates of Jerusalem and left unburialed.
(d) EARTHQUAKES IN DIVERS PLACES [Matthew 24:7]: The earthquakes are spoken of as a dreadful judgment against the nation of Israel, "But all these things are the beginning of travail" [Matthew 24:8].
"Of these significant emblems of political commotions, there occurred several within the scene of this prophecy, and, as our Savior predicted, in divers places in the reign of Claudius there was one at Rome, and another at Apamea in Syria, where many Jews resided. The earthquake at the latter place was so destructive, that the emperor, in order to relieve the distresses of the inhabitants, remitted its tribute for five years. Both these earthquakes are recorded by Tacitus. There was one also, in the same reign in Crete that is mentioned by Philostratus, in his Life of Apollonius, who says, that 'there were others at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, and Samos; IN ALL WHICH PLACES JEWS HAD SETTLED.' In the reign of Nero there was an earthquake at Laodicea. Tacitus records this also. It is likewise mentioned by Eusebius and Orosius, who add that Hieropolis and Colose, as well as Laodicea, were overthrown by an earthquake. There was also one in Campania in this reign (of this both Tacitus and Seneca speak) and another at Rome in the reign of Galba, recorded by Suetonius." George P. Holford, "The Destruction Of Jerusalem," 1805.
Some cities of Israel were totaled destroyed by earthquakes before the destruction of Jerusalem. I have not found an estimate of how many Jews died by earthquakes but like both the famines and the pestilences, without doubt many more thousands died in the earthquakes before A. D. 70. Dr. Philip Schaff says there is scarcely another period in history so full of corruption, vice, and disaster as the six years between Neronian persecution in A. D. 64 and the destruction of Jerusalem in A. D. 70, History Of the Christian Church, New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge.
FOR MANY YEARS EARTHQUAKES, FAMINES, WARS, PESTILENCES HAVE REPEATEDLY BEEN MADE INTO A SURE SIGN THAT THE END IS AT HAND BY MANY WRITERS OF FICTION.
[3] PERSECUTION FIRST FROM JEWS
AND THEN ROME, AND THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL
(a) "BUT ALL THESE THINGS ARE THE BEGINNING OF TRAVAIL" [Matthew 24:9].
(b) CHRISTIANS WOULD BE DELIVER UP, KILLED AND HATED BY ALL THE NATIONS [Matthew 24:9]. The persecution of believers came first from the Jews. Acts 4:3; 4:18; 4:21; 5:18; 5:28; 6:12-14; 7:58-60; 8:1; 8:3; 9:1-2; 13:44-51; 14:2; 14:19; 17:5-8; 17:13; 26:9-10; Paul was one of the persecutors and then one of the persecuted. "Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned...I have been in...dangers from my countrymen" [2 Corinthians 11:24-26]. "For you also suffer the same things of your own countrymen, even as they did of the Jews; who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophet, and drove out us" [1 Thessalonians 2:14-15]. It was soon followed by the persecution of Nero of believers, which began about A. D. 64. After the fire in Rome Nero attempted to clear himself by blaming it on the Christians. He then persecuted the Christians with such cruelty that even many of his fellow Romans were taken back by his cruelty "But before all these things, they shall lay their hands on you, and shall persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prison, bringing you before kings and governors for my name's sake" [Luke 21:12]. See Hebrews 10:32-34. Both the persecution from the Jews and the persecution from Rome were severe. I have just touched the hem of the garment.
(c) MANY SHALL STUMBLE, DELIVER UP ONE ANOTHER, AND HATE ONE ANOTHER [Matthew 24:10]. As a result of the persecutions the weak stumbled. "And brother will deliver up brother to death, and a 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...and a man's enemies will be the members of his household" [Matthew 10:22-36].
(d) MANY FALSE PROPHETS [Matthew 24:11]. See 2 Peter 2:1; 1 John 4:1; 2:18; Galatians 1:7. Many false teachers saying they were the Christ [Matthew 24:5]. Josephus says that they did come about the time of the end of Jerusalem.
“But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes” [Matthew10:23].
“It is a coming, which was to take place before all the cities of Israel should be evangelized, and hence the reference must be, we think, to the providential coming to destroy the Jewish nationality” J. W. McGarvey, New Testament Commentary, Matthew and Mark, page 92.
“It would take place before all the cities of Israel should be evangelized, hence it would mean the coming of Christ to destroy the Jewish nationality” H. Leo Boles, The Gospel According To Matthew, page 230, Gospel Advocate, 1954.
(e) LIGHTNING "For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be" [Matthew 24:27]. For the use of "lightning" in the Old Testament for God's angry and judgment see Exodus 19:16; 2 Samuel 22:7-15; Isaiah 30:27. It is also used symbolically in Revelation of judgments. Revelation 4:5; 11:19; 16:18. The false prophets saying they were the Christ were only seen by some. The coming of Christ in judgment on Israel with the total destruction of Israel as a country was seen in the entire known world just as lightning in the east is seen in the west.
(f) MANY DISCIPLES WILL FALL AWAY, BUT THOSE WHO REMAIN FAITHFUL SHALL BE SAVED [Matthew 24:13-14].
(g) THE GOSPEL SHALL BE PREACHED TO THE WHOLE WORLD [Matthew 24:14]. The persecution against the church in Jerusalem scattered the saints abroad, and they went about preaching the word everywhere. [Acts 8:1-4]. The gospel was preached throughout the world, as it was known before A. D. 70. “The word of the truth of the gospel, which is come unto you; even as it is also in all the world” [Colossians 1:6]; and "The hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven" [Colossians 1:23]. Paul says to the Romans, "Your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world" [Romans 1:8]. In Romans 10:18 he says, "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." "World" as it is used in the New Testament is all the civilized world of that day, the entire known world. See Luke 2:1; Acts 11:28. "Now there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven" [Acts 2:5]. The devout Jews came from all over the world to Jerusalem for Pentecost and when Pentecost was over, they returned to all nations under heaven and some that believed the preaching of Peter and others took the Gospel with them. "The mystery...has been made known to all the nations" [Romans 16:25-26].
[4] THEN COMES THE END OF THE NATION OF ISRAEL
(a) THEN COMES THE END WHEN THEY SEE THE ROMANS IN JERUSALEM. "When; therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet [Daniel 9:27], standing in the holy place" [Matthew 24:14-15]. The parallel passage in Luke 21:20 says, "But when you see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand." There will be no armies compassing around Jerusalem to see at the second coming of Jesus. In the Old Testament the worship of other gods is an "abomination" [Deuteronomy 7:25; 12:31; 17:3]. The Romans worshiped many gods. The idolatrous army of Rome in Jerusalem was an "abomination of desolation" to them. Daniel speaks of an "abomination of desolation" at a time when the regular sacrifice were abolished because of Israel going into captivity [Daniel 12:11; 9:27].
(b) "THEN LET THEM THAT ARE IN JUDAEA FLEE UNTO THE MOUNTAINS" [Matthew 24:16]. The last signs the disciples were to look for was the Roman army around Jerusalem. After going through the country around about Jerusalem and destroying the cities and killing many thousand of the Jews, Cestius Gallus came to within one mile of Jerusalem, then after about four days entered the city but fled with many Jews pursuing him. THE DISCIPLES WERE TO FLEE UNTO THE MOUNTAINS WHEN THEY SAW ALL THE ABOVE SIGNS. If this passage were speaking of the second coming of Christ, as many Premillennialists say it is, why were Christians told to flee to the mountains? In Luke Christ is speaking of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and tells the disciples, "But watch at every season, making supplication, that you may prevail TO ESCAPE all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" [Luke 21:36]. They did watch and escape by fleeing to the mountains beyond the cities of Israel.
"After this disaster had befallen Cestius, the more opulent of the Jews (says Josephus) forsook Jerusalem as men do a sinking ship. And it is with reason supposed that on this occasion many Christians, or converted Jews, who dwelt there, recollecting the warnings of their divine Master, retired to Pella, a place beyond Jordan, situated in a mountainous country, whither (according to Eusebius, who resided near