Today many self styled prophets and end times preachers with fancy charts and books for sale . that lead many astray. One of them on the world wide television network (TBN) recently claimed that Jesus was not the Jewish Messiah, and was promoting one of his recent books, that he claimed had the proof of his claim. Christians are very gullible for they often get lead astray by claims of this nature. They often trust every word they hear as if they were hypnotised.

Modern Day Christian cults provide a group identity for lonely people that goes with the emotional hype of the entertainment provided by the stage show preachers and the musicians that prepare the setting. Traditional protestant denominations often lose some of their flock to the modern day evangelist’s art of swaying their mindsets. Soon they are exposed to miraculous claims of a breakthrough into a life of ease and comfort with lots of cash by funding the evangelist or pastors visions of a modern day auditorium or some other project.

Sometimes even the leadership of a growing cult are unaware of what they have become involved in, as they are indoctrinated by the cults bible school teachers who provide unsound material to them. It becomes very difficult to sway their opinions once they have been indoctrinated. There are many today who have left a growing cult after some or other bad experience.

Attached is one example of this in an adobe pdf format. LYING FOR GOD

Here is another common problem you may encounter. 2005_davis_stephen_left_behind

If there were but a spark of reason or understanding in them, they would surely say to themselves: “O Lord God, something has gone wrong with us. Our misery is too great, too long, too severe; God has forgotten us!” etc. To be sure, I am not a Jew, but I really do not like to contemplate God’s awful wrath toward this people. It sends a shudder of fear through body and soul, for I ask, What will the eternal wrath of God in hell be like toward false Christians and all unbelievers? Well, let the Jews regard our Lord Jesus as they will. We behold the fulfillment of the words spoken by him in Luke 21:20: “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near … for these are days of vengeance. For great distress shall be upon the earth and wrath upon this people.

In short, as has already been said, do not engage much in debate with Jews about the articles of our faith. From their youth they have been so nurtured with venom and rancor against our Lord that there is no hope until they reach the point where their misery finally makes them pliable and they are forced to confess that the Messiah has come, and that he is our Jesus. Until such a time it is much too early, yes, it is useless to argue with them about how God is triune, how he became man, and how Mary is the mother of God. No human reason nor any human heart will ever grant these things, much less the embittered, venomous, blind heart of the Jews. As has already been said, what God cannot reform with such cruel blows, we will be unable to change with words and works. Moses was unable to reform the Pharaoh by means of plagues, miracles, pleas, or threats; he had to let him drown in the sea.

Now, in order to strengthen our faith, we want to deal with a few crass follies of the Jews in their belief and their exegesis of the Scriptures, since they so maliciously revile our faith. If this should move any Jew to reform and repent, so much the better. We are now not talking with the Jews but about the Jews and their dealings, so that our Germans, too, might be informed.

Martin Luther the Father of the Reformation who was instrumental in giving the world the scriptures, that were once only the domain of the clergy, adresses the challenge to the veracity of Jesus’s claim to be the promised messiah of the Children Israel. Many today are still blinded to this truth by religious leaders who twist the scriptures to suit their own purposes. Dispensationalists who place Gaps in the seventy weeks of Daniel should read this, and understand that when they place gaps where there are none they undermine the truth.

The Link below is to Luthers writings in Adobe Pdf Format.
Martin Luther-the Jews

 Dating And Interpreting The Contents of  the Gospels and The Apocalypse (Revelation)

Second, overlooking its original author and audience. In a quest for “relevance,” commentators of the historicist and futurist schools seem to forget that John addressed Revelation to real, historical churches (Rev. 1:4, 11) about pressing and dire problems that he and they faced in the first century (Rev. 1:9 and chapters 2-3). In doing so a most fundamental rule of hermeneutics is breached. Two hermeneutics texts may be cited to illustrate the importance of this principle 

Berkhof’s helpful study, Principles of Biblical Interpretation, teaches that hermeneutics “is properly accomplished only by the readers’transposing themselves into the time and spirit of the author.”

Mickelsen’s widely used Interpreting the Bible notes: “Simply stated,the task of interpreters of the bible is to find out the meaning of a statement (command, question) for the author and for the first hearers or readers, and thereupon to transmit that meaning to modernreaders.”

Needless to say, removing the setting of the book twenty or more centuries into the future is not conducive to a correct apprehension of its interpretation.

Third, misconstrual of its original intent. Revelation has two fundamental purposes relative to ‘its original hearers. In the first place, it was designed to steel the first century Church against the gathering storm of persecution, which was reaching an unnerving crescendo of theretofore unknown proportions and intensity. A new and major feature of that persecution- was the entrance of imperial Rome onto the scene. The first historical persecution of the Church by imperial Rome was by Nero Caesar from A.D. 64 to A.D. 68.

In the second place, it was to brace the Church for a major and fimdamental re-orientation in the course of redemptive history, are-orientation necessitating the destruction of Jerusalem (the center not only of Old Covenant Israel, but of Apostolic Christianity [cp.Acts 1 :8; 2: lK; 15:2] and the Temple [cp. Matt. 24:1-34 with Rev.11]).

This matter of intent necessitates a corollary hermeneutical principle to that in point 2 above: “One of the basic principles of sound interpretation is that a later interpreter must find out what the author of an earlier writing was trying to convey to those who first read his words.”GG Both the recognition of the parties (author and recipients of the letter) and the purpose of a written document are essential tothe proper grasp of the message. BeckWith has well-stated the matter:

“For the understanding of the Revelation of John it is essential to put one’s self as far as possible, into the world of its author and of those to whom it was first addressed. Its meaning must be sought for in the light thrown upon it by the condition and circumstances of its readers,by the author’s inspired purpose, and those current beliefs and traditions that . . . influenced the fashion which his visions themselves took.”.

Below is a link to the source of the excerpt  above.

http://www.entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/a_pdfs/kgbj.pdf

Another link below to the reference

1987_chilton_days-of-vengeance

Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, was martyred around 180 A.D. He was a student of Polycarp, the long-lived disciple of St. John himself. Extant quotes of Irenaeus’ writings include quotes from Matthew, Mark, Luke, Acts, I Corinthians, I Peter, Hebrews and Titus (By the time of Irenaeus the Gospels had clearly been around a good while, and all four were well known and recognized among Christians.).

Ignatius (70-110 A.D.) quoted from Matthew, John, Acts, Romans, I Corinthians, Ephesians, Phillipians, Galatians, Colossians, James, I and II Thessalonians, I and II Timothy, and I Peter.

Barnabas quoted from the N.T. around 70 A.D., Hermas 95 A.D., and Tatian 170 A.D.

Clement of Alexandria, who lived 150-212 A.D., quoted from all but three books of the NT.

Justin Martyr, in 133 A.D., quoted from the Gospels, Acts, Revelation, and both Pauline and the other epistles. (McDowell, pp. 51-52). (History and the Bible

All the New Testament books were written before A.D. 100 (About 70 years after the death of Jesus)
”…. in letters written between A.D. 95 and 110, three early church fathers – Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp – quoted passages out of 25 of the 27 books in the New Testament.{00} Only the short books of Jude and 2 John were not referenced, but they certainly had been written.  (Jude had written his short letter by this time, because, being Jesus’ half brother, he was almost certainly dead by A.D. 100; and 2 John had been written because it came before 3 John, which was one of the 25 books quoted.)Since Clement was in Rome and Ignatius and Polycarp were hundreds of miles away in Smyrna, the original New Testament documents had to have been written significantly earlier; otherwise they could not have circulated across the ancient world by that time.  Therefore, it is safe to say that all of the New Testament was written by A.D. 100.

But that’s just the latest that they could have been written.  Most were written much earlier. How much earlier? Most, if not all, before 70.
 

Most if not all of these books were written before A.D. 70 (about 40 years after the death of Jesus)
Imagine this.  You are devout Jew in the 1st Century.  The center of your national, economic, and religious life is Jerusalem, and especially the temple.  It has been that way in your nation, your family, and almost every Jews family for a thousand years, ever since Solomon built the first temple. Most of the newest temple, constructed by King Herod, was completed when you were a child, but portions of it are still under construction and have been since 19 B.C. For your entire life you have attended services and brought sacrifices there to atone for the sins you’ve committed against God. Why? Because you and your country men consider this temple the earthly dwelling place of the God of ^{the universe, the maker of Heaven and Earth, the very Deity, whose name is so holy you dare not utter it.} 

As a young man you begin following a Jew named Jesus who claims to be the long awaited Messiah predicted in your Scriptures.  He performs miracles, teaches profound truths, and scolds and befuddles the priests in charge of the temple. Incredibly, he predicts his own death and resurrection.  He also predicts that the temple itself will be destroyed before your generation passes away (Mark 13:2, 30).

Jesus is convicted of blasphemy by your temple priests and is crucified on the eve of the Passover, one of your holiest holidays. He’s buried in a Jewish tomb, but three days later you and his other followers see Jesus alive just as he predicted.  You touch him, eat with him, and he continues to perform miracles, the last being his ascension into heaven.  Forty years later your temple is destroyed just as Jesus had predicted along with the entire city and thousands of your countrymen.

Question: If you and your fellow followers write accounts of Jesus after the temple and city were destroyed in A.D. 70, aren’t you at least going to mention that unprecedented national, human, economic, and religious tragedy somewhere in your writings, especially this risen Jesus had predicted it?  Of course!  Well, here’s the problem for those who say the New Testament was written after 70. There’s absolutely no mention of the fulfillment of this predicted tragedy anywhere in the New Testament documents.  This means most, if not all, of the documents must have been written prior to 70.

Some may object, “That’s an argument from silence, and that doesn’t prove anything.” But in fact it is not an argument from silence, for the New Testament documents speak of Jerusalem and the temple, or activities associated with them, as if they were still intact at the time of the writings.{0} But even if this were an argument from silence that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Consider these modern parallels. If a former aboard the USS Arizona wrote a book related to the history of that ship, and the book ends with no mention of the ship  being sunk and 1177 of it’s sailors being killed at Pearl Harbour, do you have any doubt that the book must have been written prior to December 7^{th 1941? Or, if a former tenant of the World Trade Center wrote a book related to the history of those buildings, and the book ends with the towers still standing, there’s absolutely no mention of the Towers being destroyed and nearly three thousand people being murdered by Muslim terrorists, do you have any doubt that the book must have been written prior to September 11th 2001? Of course not.}

Well, the disaster in A.D. 70 in terms of lives, property, and national scope, was many magnitudes greater than Pearl Harbour and 9/11. It marked the end of such terrible war that Josephus, who himself surrendered to the Romans in 67, called it the “greatest” war of all time.{1} The Jews didn’t lose just one ship or a couple of prominent buildings; they lost their entire country, their capital city, and their temple, which had been the center of their religious, political, and economic life for the last thousand years. In addition, tens of thousands of their country men were dead and hundreds of the villages burned to the ground.

So if we could expect tragedy such as Pearl Harbour to be mentioned in the relevant writings of today, we certainly should expect the events of A.D. 70 to be cited somewhere in the New Testament (especially since the events were predicted by Jesus). But since the New Testament does not mention these events anywhere and suggests that Jerusalem and the temple are still intact, we can conclude reasonably that most, if not all, of the New Testament documents must have been written prior to 70

How much earlier?
 

Many New Testament books were composed before A.D. 62 (about 30 years after the death of Jesus)  

Imagine this: You’re a first century medical doctor who was embarked on a research project to record the events of the early church. This research will require you to interview eye witnesses of the early church and to travel with the Apostle Paul as he visits new churches across the ancient world. You record prominent events in the life of the church such as the early work of John and Peter, as well as the martyrdom of Stephen and James (the brother of John). IN Paul’s life you record everything from sermons, beatings, and trials to shipwrecks and imprisonments. You also record his theological summit with Peter and James, who is Jesus’ brother and the leader of the church in Jerusalem.

As you described many of these events, your narrative is so filled with details that every informed reader will know that either you must have access to eyewitness, testimony or you are an eyewitness yourself. For e.g., as you follow Paul on his travels you shift from using the pronoun “they” to “we”, and you correctly record their names of local politicians, local slang, local weather patterns, local topography, local business practices; you even record the right depth of water about a quarter mile off Malta as your ship is about to run aground in a storm! In fact, you record at least 84 such details in the last half of your narrative.

Question: Since you obviously find it important to record all of the minor details, if your main subject, the apostle Paul, was executed at the hands of the Roman emperor Nero, do you think you would record it? Or, If Jesus’ brother, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, was killed at the hands of the Sanhedrin, the same Jewish body that sentenced Jesus to die, do you think you would record it? Of Course! And if you failed to record such momentous events, we would rightly assume that you wrote your narrative before their deaths. 

This is the situation we find in the New Testament. Luke, the medical doctor, meticulously records all kinds of details in Acts, which chronicles the early church (a listing of 84 historically confirmed details in the next chapter). Luke records the deaths of two Christian martyrs (Stephen and James the brother of John), but his account ends with two of its primary leaders (Paul, and James the brother of Jesus) still living.  Acts ends abruptly with Paul under house arrest in Rome, and there’s no mention of James having died. We know from Clement of Rome, writing in the late first century, and from other early church fathers, that Paul was executed during the reign of Neo, which ended in A.D. 68.{2} And we know from Josephus that James was killed in 62. So we can conclude, beyond reasonable doubt that the book of Acts was written before 62.

If you’re still not convinced, consider this modern parallel: suppose someone wrote a book recording the events surrounding the main figures of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. The book begins with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and includes the Civil Rights legislation of 1964, the marches and protests of Martin Luther King Jr, including his arrest and imprisonment, and his great “I have a dream” speech on the mall in Washington D.C. 

Question: If the book ends with of Martin Luther King Jr , the very leader of the movement, still alive, when would you conclude the book was written? Obviously before his assassination in April of 1968. This is the same situation we have with Luke’s narrative. His book ends with the main leaders still alive, which means it was written no later than 62. (Classical scholar and historian Colin Hemer gives thirteen additional reasons why Acts was written by 62.) {3}.

If Acts was written by 62, then the Gospel of Luke was written before that. How do we know? Because Luke reminds the original recipient of Acts, Theophilus (who was probably an important Roman official), that he had written to him earlier. The first verse of Acts says, “in my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began t do and to teach..” The ‘former book” must be the Gospel of Luke, because Luke addresses that to Theophilus as well (Luke 1:1-4, see citation below).

How much earlier is Luke? It would seem reasonable to place Luke at or before A.D. 60. Why? Because 62 is the latest Acts was written, and there had to be some time between Luke’s first writing to Theophilus and his second. If Acts is no later than 62 (and quite possibly earlier), then Luke is realistically 60 or before.

This date also makes sense in light of Paul’s quotation of Luke’s gospel. Writing sometime between A.D. 62-65. Paul quotes from Luke 10:7 and calls it ‘scripture’ (1Timothy 5:18). Therefore, Luke’s gospel must have been in circulation long enough before that time in order for both Paul and Timothy to know its contents & regard it as scripture. (By the way, this was no minor claim for Paul to make. In effect, he was making the bold assertion that Luke’s gospel was just as inspired as the Holy Jewish Bible. The Old Testament he treasured so much!)

If Luke was written by A.D. 60, then Mark must have been written in the mid-to-late 50’s if not earlier. Why question because Luke says that he got his facts by checking with eyewitness sources:

Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seems also good to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things that you have been taught. (Luke 1-4)

Most scholars believe Mark’s gospel was one of those eye witness sources. And if those Dead Sea Scrolls fragments we mentioned above are really from A.D. 50-70, then certainly Mark is earlier. But even if Mark isn’t before Luke, the very fact that we know beyond reasonable doubt that Luke is before 62 and probably before 60 means that we have meticulously recorded eye witness testimony written between 25 or 30 years of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection. This is far too early to be legendary. It also means that the eyewitness sources go back even earlier. How much earlier?

Some New Testament Book’s Were Penned In The 40s And 50s A.D., With Sources From The 30s (Only The A Few Years  After The Death Of Jesus)  

As certain as we are about the date of Luke’s records, there is no doubt from anyone, including the most liberal of scholars, that Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth (which is in modern day Greece) sometime between 55 and 56. In this letter, Paul speaks about moral problems in the church, and then proceeds to discuss controversies about tongues, prophecies, and the Lord Supper. This, of course, demonstrates that the church in Corinth was experiencing some kind of miraculous activity and was already observing the Lord’s Supper with in 25 years of the Resurrection.

But the most significant aspect of this letter is that it contains the earliest and most authenticated testimony of the Resurrection itself. In the fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes down testimony he received from others and the testimony that was authenticated when Christ appeared to him:

For I delivered to you what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas (Peter), then the twelve. After that He appeared to more that five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remand until now, but some have fallen asleep; then He appeared to James, then to all of the apostles; and last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also (1 Cor. 15:3-8, NASB).

Where did Paul get what he ‘received’? He probably received from Peter and James when he visited them in Jerusalem three years after his conversion (Gal. 1:18). Why is this important? Because, as Gary Habermas points out, most scholars (even liberals) believe that this testimony was part of an early creed that dates right back to the Resurrection itself, eighteen months to eight years after, but some say even earlier. {4} There is no possible way that such testimony could describe a legend, because it goes right back to the time and place of the event itself. {5} If there was ever a place that a legendary Resurrection could not occur it was Jerusalem, because the Jews and the Romans were all too eager to squash Christianity and could have easily done so by parading Jesus’ body around the city.

More over, notice that Paul cites fourteen eyewitnesses whose names are known: the twelve apostles, James, and Peter himself (“Cephas” is the Aramaic for Peter), and then references an appearance to more than 500 others at one time. Included in those groups was one skeptic, James, and one outright enemy, Paul himself. By naming so many people who could verify what Paul was saying, he was, in effect, challenging his Corinthian readers to check him out. Bible scholar William Lillie puts it this way:

What gives a special authority to the list as historical evidence is the reference to most of the five hundred brethren being still alive. St. Paul says, in effect: “If you don’t believe me, you can ask them.” Such a statement in an admittedly genuine letter written within 30 years of the event is almost as strong evidence as one could hope to get for something that happened nearly two thousand years ago. {6}

If the Resurrection had not occurred, why would Paul give such a list of supposed eyewitnesses? He would have immediately lost all credibility with his Corinthian readers by lying so blatantly.

In addition to 1 Corinthians, there are numerous other New Testament documents that were written in the 50s or earlier. Galatians (A.D. 48), 1 Thessalonians (50-54), and Romans (57-58) are all in this category. In fact (and we know we may be going out on a limb here!) all of Paul’s works had to have been written before he died, which was sometime in the mid-60s.

But it’s not just conservative scholars who believe these early dates. Even some radical critics, such as atheist John A. T. Robinson, admit the New Testament documents were written early. Known for his role in launching the “Death of God” movement, Robinson wrote a revolutionary book titled Redating the New Testament, in which he posited that most New Testament books, including all four Gospels, were written sometime between A.D. 40 and 65.

The great and once-liberal archaeologist William F. Albright, after seeing how well the New Testament fit with the archaeological and historical data, wrote, “We can already say emphatically that there is no longer any solid basis for dating any book of the New Testament after about A.D. 80.” {7} Elsewhere Albright said, “In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written by a baptized Jew between the 40s and the 80s of the first century (very probably sometime between about A.D. 50 and 75).” {8}

So we know beyond a reasonable doubt that most if not all the New Testament documents are early. But skeptics have a couple of objections.
 

SKEPTIC’S ADVOCATE

The Documents Are Not Early Enough

Some skeptics may think that a 15- to 40-year gap between the life of Christ and the writings about him is too wide for the testimony to be reliable. But they are mistaken.

Think about events that occurred 15 to 40 years ago. When historians write about those events, we don’t say, “Oh, that’s impossible! No one can remember events from that long ago! Such skepticism is clearly unwarranted. Historians today write accurately about events in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s by consulting their own memories, those of other eyewitnesses, and any written sources from the time.

This process is the same one the New Testament writers used to record their documents. Like a good reporter, Luke interviewed eyewitnesses.{9} And as we’ll see in the next chapter, some New Testament writers were eyewitnesses themselves. They could remember 15- to 40-year-old events quite easily, just as you can. Why can you remember certain events vividly from 15 to 40 years ago and (if you’re old enough) even further back? You may be able to remember certain events because they made a great emotional impact on you. (In fact, those of us who are “over the hill” can remember some events from 30 years ago better than those from 30 minutes ago!)

Where were you and what were you doing when President Kennedy was assassinated? When the Challenger exploded? When the second plane hit the tower? Why can you remember those events so well? Because they made a deep emotional impact on you. Since an event like the Resurrection certainly would have made a deep emotional impact on the New Testament writers and the other eyewitnesses they may have consulted, it’s easy to see why the history of Jesus could be easily recalled many years later, especially in a culture with an established reliance on oral testimony (more on this below).

Furthermore, if the major works of the New Testament are eyewitness accounts written within two generations of the events, then they are not likely to be legend. Why? Because historical research indicates that a myth cannot begin to crowd out historical facts while the eyewitnesses are still alive. For this reason, Roman historian A. N. Sherwin-White calls the mythological view of the New Testament “unbelievable”. {10} William Lane Craig writes, “The tests show that even two generations is too short to allow legendary tendencies to wipe out the hard core of historical fact.” {11} Inside of those two generation, eyewitnesses are still around to correct the errors of historical revisionists.

We are seeing this tendency right now with regard to the Holocaust. In early twenty-first century, we’ve begun to see some people claim that the Holocaust never happened. Why are the revisionists trying this now? Because most of the eyewitnesses have now died. Fortunately, since we have written eyewitness testimony from the Holocaust, the revisionists are not successful in passing off their lies as the truth. The same holds true for the New Testament. If the New Testament was written within 60 years of the events it records, it is highly unlikely those events could be legendary. And as we have seen, all of the New Testament documents were written within 60 years of the events, and many much earlier.
 

Why Not Earlier?

At this point the skeptic may say, “Okay, fine. The New Testament is early, but it’s not as early as I would expect. Why didn’t they write down their testimony earlier? If I saw what they said they saw, I wouldn’t wait 15 or 20 years to write it down.” There are a number of possible reasons for the wait.

First, since the New Testament writers were living in a culture where the vast majority of people were illiterate, there was no initial need or utility in writing it down. A first-century people in Palestine, by necessity, developed strong memories in order to remember and pass on information. Craig writes,

•  
  In an oral culture like that of first-century Palestine the ability to memorize and retain large tracts of oral tradition was a highly prized and highly developed skill. From the earliest age children in the home, elementary school, and the synagogue were taught to memorize faithfully sacred traditions. The disciples would have exercised similar care with the teachings of Jesus.{12} 

In such an oral culture, facts about Jesus may have been put into a memorable form. There’s good evidence for this. Gary Habermas has identified forty one short sections of the New Testament that appear to be creeds, compact sayings that could easily be remembered and that were probably passed along orally before they were put into writing (one of these creeds we’ve already mentioned. I Cor. 15: 3-8.) {13}

Second, since some of the New Testament writers may have had high hopes that Jesus was going to come backing their lifetime, they saw no immediate need to write it down. But as they aged, perhaps they thought it wise to put their observations down on Papyrus.

Third, as Christianity spread all over the ancient world, writing became the most efficient means to communicate with the rapidly expanding church. In other words, time and distance forced the New Testament writers to write it down.

On the other hand, there may not have been a gap for at least one Gospel. If those fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls are really from Mark (and they most likely are), then that Gospel might have been written in the 30s. Why? Because the fragments are of copies, not of the original. If we have copies from the 50s, then the original must have been earlier.{14}

Moreover, many scholars believe there actually were written sources that predate the Gospels. In fact, Luke, in the first four verses of his Gospel, says that he checked with other sources, though some of these may have been earlier Gospels (e.g., Matthew and Mark).{15} Was one of his sources Mark’s Gospel? We don’t know for sure. It certainly seems like Luke is speaking of several other written sources, because he says, “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us…” (Luke 1:1). Luke may have referenced Mark’s Gospel and other written testimonies including public court records from Jesus’ trial.

In the end, it doesn’t really matter whether or not there were written sources that predate the New Testament. Nor does it matter if Mark was written in the 30s A.D. Why? Because the documents we do know about are early enough and contain early source material. As we’ll see in the next chapter, many if not all of the New Testament documents were written by eyewitnesses or their contemporaries within 15 to 40 years of Jesus, and some contain oral or other written testimony that goes back to the Resurrection itself. In other words, the real issue isn’t so much the date of writings, but the date of the sources used in the writings. 

Why Not More?

Skeptics may ask, “If Jesus actually did rise from the dead, shouldn’t there be more written about Him than there is?” In response, we actually have more testimony that we might expect, and certainly more than enough to establish beyond a reasonable doubt what happened. As we have seen, Jesus is referenced by far more authors than the Roman emperor at the time (Jesus’ 43 authors to Tiberius’s 10 to 150 years of their lives). Nine of those authors were eyewitnesses or contemporaries of the events, and they wrote 27 documents, the majority of which mention or imply the Resurrection. That’s more than enough to establish historicity.

For those who still think there should have been even more written about Jesus, New Testament scholar Craig Blomberg offers four reasons why that’s not a reasonable expectation: 1) the humble beginnings of Christianity; 2) the remote location of Palestine on the eastern frontiers of the Roman Empire; 3) the small percentage of the works of ancient Graeco-Roman historian that have survived (this could be due to loss, decay, destruction, or all of the above); and 4) the lack of attention paid by surviving historical documents to Jewish figures in general.{16}

Nevertheless, some skeptics still think there should be testimony from some of the 500 people who allegedly saw the risen Christ. Skeptic Farrell Till is one of them. During a debate on the Resurrection that I (Norm) had with him in 1994, Till demanded, “Trot out one of those 500 witnesses or give us something that they wrote, and we will accept that as reliable proof or evidence.”{17}

This is an unreasonable expectation, for a number of reasons.

 First, as we have already pointed out, first-century Palestine was an oral culture. Most people were illiterate and remembered and passed on information orally.Second, how many of those predominately illiterate eyewitnesses would have written something even if they could write? Even today, with a much higher literacy rate and all the conveniences of modern writing and research tools, how many people do you know who have written a book or even an article on any subject? How many do you know who have written a book or article on a contemporary historical event, even a significant event like 9/11? Probably not many, and certainly fewer than one out of 500. (Has Farrell Till ever written an article on a major historical event he witnessed?)Third, even if some of those 500 average people did write down what they saw, why would skeptics expect their testimony to survive for 2,000 years? The New Testament survives intact because of the thousands of manuscripts copied by scribes for a growing church over the centuries. Historical works from the major ancient historians such as Josephus, Tacitus, and Pliny survive in just a handful of copies, and those copies are hundreds of years from the originals. Why do the skeptics think anything is going to be written, much less survive, from an ancient group of illiterate Galilean peasants?{18}Finally, we do know the names of many of the 500, and their testimony is written down in the New Testament. They include Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, and James – plus nine who are named elsewhere as apostles (Matthew 10 and Acts 1).

So we shouldn’t expect more testimony than what we have about Jesus. And what we do have is more than enough to establish historicity.

Below is A Pdf link of  the original with the References

http___www.inplainsite.org_html_dating_the_nt

Fear mongering is often found today in Christan circles, fear of a one world Religion, fear of the Illuminati, fear of the secret socities and the supposed power they hold over the common man. Fear of a modernised electronic banking system using implanted silicon chips in their clients. These fears extend to being left behind when the imminent rapture finally arives and the great tribulation of the dispensational quacks leaves them at the mercy of a global antichrist’s meglomania. The latest is the 2012 scenario based upon a supposed translation of an ancient mayan stone calendar. Some Christians spend their lives on studying cults, prophecies,secret socities as a claim to knowing their common enemies.

My question to them is “Why dont you find out who you are first“?

Ephesians 1:18/19 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us–ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

The Apostle Paul wants your mind to be renewed into grasping  your postion in Christ and the Authority and  Power you hold in the victory of Christ.

4 ¶ Ephesians 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

The first point he wants to establish in the readers mind is that God Absolutely Loves you.

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

The second point Paul wants you to grasp is the power you wield:

Joh 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

The Third Point is whre you should be operating From;

Heb 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

The Book of Revelation is laid out in exactly the same manner, First the letters to the seven churches followed by John the Apostle being Caught up into the Throne Room Of God.

Re 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches

Re 4:1  After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter

Paul wants us to occupy our position in Christ , In that we were raised up with Christ and endured with the power of God.
!. Christ is sitting in The Throne Room of God with your Spirit alongside him.
2. You Should be exercising your Authority from and in the Throne Room.

Mt 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Christs assertion of his Authority is that it extends to him , firstly from Heaven, secondly it is exercised and demonstrated on earth.

Paul insists that we put on Christ.    Ro 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,

Paul wrote these letters after Christ’s Ascension into Heaven, It is the Risen, Ascended, Enthroned and  Glorified Christ that you should be clothing yourself with.

1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

Today we have a New Song of Eternal Victory and Glory  to Sing :

I am sitting in the Glory ,sitting in the Glory, sitting in the Glory of the Lord

I am singing in the Glory, singing in the Glory .Singing in the Glory of the Lord

I am Standing in the Glory, Standing in the Glory, Standing in the Glory of the Lord

I am Living in the Glory ,Living in the Glory, Living in the Glory of the Lord

Eph 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Now 30 years later I have abandoned them because all of their half truths never came to pass. It is no different today as many modern television evangelists continue fleece the ignorant by painting imminent end time scenarios , by quoting the newspapers etc and using the scriptures as support for their conclusions.

Mr 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:

This verse above is often interpreted by them as the Anti Christ sitting in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem.

Yet if we take note of who Christ was speaking to in this discourse, we will discover it was those who were seated around him at the time. It is patentently obvious that it is not the TV evangelsits congregation in the 21st century. It was a message to ensure the followers of Christ in the first century survived the destruction of Judea by the Romans in Ad66-70.

Lu 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. 21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. 22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

Lukes Gospel compliments Mathews Gospel and illucidates the event Christ was warning the infant church of .

Below is an excerpt from a Pdf File called Armegeddon Now. It is a critique on these who have made merchandise of Christs flock.

Opportunism.
The premillenarians’ credibility is at a low ebb because they succumbed to the temptation to exploit every conceivably possible prophetic fulfillment for the sake of their prime objective: evangelism. The doomsaying cry of “Armageddon Now!” was an effective evangelistic tool of terror to scare people into making decisions for Christ and to stimulate believers to “witness for Christ” to add stars to their heavenly crowns before it was everlastingly too late. Voices of moderation were less likely to find mass appeal.

 Times of crisis tend to produce feelings of insecurity in the general populace as a matter of course. The evangelistic message was found to be most effective when couched in terms of confident, dogmatic overstatements, rather than in a carefully reasoned, moderate theology that offered indefinite conclusions.

 The success of such evangelistic approaches was to the premillenarians well worth the risk of false identifications in the interpretation of prophecy.

 It would be unfair to accuse any one preacher or writer of such insincerity; they were True Believers (sometimes caught up in the snare of their overly zealous rhetoric),but, nevertheless, the result as a whole has been gross opportunism.

It is not likely that the situation will change greatly. Although within the movement there are many moderate voices that will continue to speak out against this irresponsibility, these voices will go unheeded since they do not offer any hope of greater success in the primary goal of evangelism.

As a matter of fact, these voices that in the name of truth and integrity cry aloud against opportunism will find their message muted by their own realization that their principal thrust must continue to be evangelism, not the reform of their brothers’ methods. The premillenarians see evangelism as the means to save the world and will continue to use this means as a justification to misuse the end.

Below is a link to the document the excerpt above was taken from.
dwan Armageddon Now

Christian theology has tended to focus on the birth and the death of Jesus,
and in so doing has defaulted in explaining the significance of the resurrection.

©2001 by James A. Fowler. All rights reserved.
You are free to download this article provided it remains intact without alteration.
You are also free to transmit this article and quote this article
provided that proper citation of authorship is included.

A CALL FOR RESURRECTION THEOLOGY

The church throughout the centuries has often failed to recognize the significance of the resurrection of Jesus. Despite the fact that the Easter celebration has been regarded as the culmination of the Christian year of worship, the full meaning of the resurrection has often been undeveloped or diluted in Christian teaching and preaching. Christian theology has emphasized numerous legitimate Biblical themes, but has seldom made the resurrection the focal point or fulcrum on which all other Christian subjects depend. Roman Catholic theologian, Claude Geffré, laments,

“As strange as it may seem, the resurrection of Christ, which sums up all of Christianity, has still not been the object of any exhaustive reflection within dogmatic theology. The remark has often been made that the theology manuals devote little space to the resurrection compared to the long elaborations dealing with the divinity of Christ or with his redeeming mission. And even today, rare are the theologians who choose the resurrection of Christ as the organizing principle of Christology.” 1

Because of this neglect and the common misemphases of Christian theology, I am compelled to write this article and to make “a call for resurrection theology.”

Historical emphases of Christian religion

As we evaluate Christian thought through the centuries, we note that different segments of the church have tended to emphasize different historical events in the life of Jesus. The two primary events thus emphasized are the birth of Jesus and the death of Jesus.

Roman Catholic theology has tended to emphasize the birth of Jesus in the theology of the incarnation. Emphasis is placed on Mary, the birth mother of Jesus, and upon the virgin birth of Jesus. This is not to say that Roman Catholic theology has neglected the death of Jesus in crucifixion, as is obviated by the crucifix symbol that is found in all Catholic churches and in many Catholic homes, but the primary emphasis to explain Jesus as the God-man has seemingly been on the incarnational birth of Jesus.

Protestant theology, on the other hand, has for almost five hundred years tended to emphasize the death of Jesus in crucifixion, focusing on the cross and the sacrificial blood of Jesus. The Reformation emphasis was on the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ as an expiatory action that propitiated God’s judgment on man and reconciles sinners to God so that they may be declared justified.

Australian author, Robert D. Brinsmead, comments that, “It is well known that Catholicism made the Incarnation central to its theology, while Protestantism made the atonement of the cross the central thing.”2 The Scottish preacher and New Testament scholar, James S. Stewart, wrote similarly, “Protestant theology, concentrating on the atoning sacrifice of the cross, has not always done justice to the apostolic emphasis on the risen life.”3 Stewart followed up by noting that, “Protestant theology, in some of its phases, has unconsciously altered the apostolic accent by almost isolating the cross, and failing to see Calvary with the Resurrection light breaking behind it.”4

It is important to understand that the objective, historical events of incarnation and crucifixion, the birth and the death of the historical, physical Christ, were remedial measures enacted by God to remedy the problem of man’s sin; to provide the solution to the fall of humanity into sin in Adam.

If the incarnation and crucifixion were the only historical acts of God on man’s behalf, then the gospel would cease to be “good news”. If the gospel narrative was only that “Jesus was born. Jesus died. God said to man: ‘There is the remedy! I came. I fixed the problem. Now you are fixed. The slate is wiped clean. Now, go and do a better job next time.’” That is not good news! That is damnable doctrine. That is tragic teaching!

The incarnation and crucifixion alone serve only to condemn man all the more. The story would go like this: “A man came who was God-man. He did not share the spiritual depravity of the rest of mankind. He did not develop the “flesh” patterning of selfish desires like other men. He lived life as God intended, allowing God in him to manifest His desire and character at every moment in time for thirty-three years. He was the perfect man! He did not deserve to die, but He was put to death unjustly. In dying undeservedly, He died in our place, as our substitute, and paid the price of death to satisfy God’s justice, and forgive mankind of their sins.” Is that the whole of the story? If so, He lived and died perfectly which we cannot do. If the incarnation and crucifixion were the whole of the story, then we would have been better off without Him! Why? Because He could live and die as He did; we cannot. And the fact that He did only condemns us all the more by His matchless example, for we do not have what it takes to live like that.

Only in the resurrection do we have the message that God has given us the provision of His life in order that we might be man as God intended man to be; in order that the resurrection life of the risen Lord Jesus might become the essence of spiritual life in the Christian; in order that we might live by His life and the expression of His character. The resurrection is the positive provision of life in Christ Jesus, around which all other theological topics must be oriented.

As Walter Kunneth concludes,

“The raising of the Christ is the act of God, whose significance is not to be compared with with any event before or after. It is the primal datum of theology, from which there can be no abstracting, and the normative presupposition for every valid dogmatic judgment and for the meaningful construction of a Christian theology. Thus the resurrection of Jesus becomes the Archimedean point for theology. All theological statements are oriented in one way or another toward this focal point. There is no Christian knowledge of God which does not acquire its ultimate fullness and depth from a revelation of God in the Risen One.” 5

Christian theology, in both its Catholic and Protestant forms, has failed to recognize the resurrection as the central feature of its theology, and has often thereby abdicated and defaulted in explaining the significance of the resurrection of Jesus.

Emphases of resurrection in Christian religion.

When Christian religion has attempted to address the resurrection in its theological considerations, it has done so in a way that continues to short-change the significance of the resurrection. The resurrection in Christian theology has been relegated to apologetic arguments of historicity, defense of Jesus’ deity, and futuristic expectations of bodily resurrection.

Christian religion has emphasized the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus, employing a variety of sources to document, authenticate, and validate the historical resurrection of Jesus. Apologists like Frank Morison (Who Moved the Stone?6) and Josh McDowell (The Resurrection Factor 7) have sought to provide Christians with historical “proofs” for the resurrection of Jesus.

Having “proven” the historical veracity of the resurrection by their chronological and logical evidences, Christian religion has then emphasized that the resurrection of Jesus was a supernatural miracle that verifies the divinity or deity of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus has been used as a tool for apologetic defense, as a leverage to authorize and “prove” Christ’s divinity and the church’s teaching.

As Robert D. Brinsmead explains, “The so-called ‘historical proofs’ of the resurrection have been marshalled, not to explore the meaning of the mystery itself, but to validate the church’s claims about the divinity of Jesus, the authority of the church, and its possession of an exclusive and absolute truth.”8 Claude Geffré likewise comments that,

“since the end of the nineteenth century the resurrection of Christ has become the favorite object of Christian apologetics. It was a matter of establishing the historicity of the resurrection in order to furnish a proof for the divinity of Christ and thereby accredit his message and its legitimacy. And when apologetics had defended the historical character of the miracle of the resurrection, it seemed dogmatic theology had no more to say about the mystery of the resurrection.” 9

On the basis of the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection and the theological establishment of His deity, Christian religion has proceeded to emphasize that the primary theological import of the historical resurrection of Jesus is to validate the assurance of the eventual resurrection of Christians’ bodies in the future. The historical, physical resurrection of Jesus is used as the foundational basis for authenticating the expected bodily resurrection of the Christian after death.

Is this not the argument that Paul uses in I Corinthians 15 in the “Resurrection chapter”? Yes it is, but this is not the entirety of what Paul had to say about the subject of resurrection. Though it is the most extended passage that he seems to have written on the subject, it is not the predominant or primary emphasis that Paul makes concerning the resurrection. The historical sitz im leben context of I Corinthians was that the Corinthians were so enamored with their present “spirituality” that they were eschewing or denying anything beyond the present. To counter this triumphalistic diminishment of hope, and to correct Hellenic concepts that deprecated embodiment, Paul ties the bodily resurrection of Jesus with the expected bodily resurrection of Christians.

In so doing, Paul does not necessarily imply that the resurrected physical body of Jesus is prototypical of the resurrected body of the Christian after death. The physicality of the resurrected body is not the issue Paul was addressing.

Secondly, it must be noted that the predominance of Paul’s references to the resurrection of Jesus do not relate to the future bodily resurrection of Christians. Paul’s primary inference from the resurrection of Jesus is that anyone who is receptive in faith to the living Lord Jesus can be spiritually raised to newness of life (cf. Rom. 6:4,5) by the resurrection life of the living Jesus. Paul emphasized the present availability of life in Christ, and avoided lapsing back into the Jewish framework of theology that he had espoused in the past.

Jewish theology was always a theology of future expectation. As can be noted throughout the Old Testament (the old covenant literature), the Jewish people were always looking for fulfillment in the future; the prophetic promise of that which was yet to come. Regrettably, Christian theology has often fallen prey to just such future expectations in a reversion to a Jewish paradigm of theological expectations.

New covenant Christian theology, as expressed in the New Testament, emphasizes that God’s promises and man’s expectations are realized in Jesus Christ. Christian theology looks back to the “finished work” of Jesus Christ (cf. John 17:4; 19:30). Christians are “complete in Christ” (Col. 3:10). Christian theology is a realized theology (cf. I Cor 3:21-23; II Pet. 1:3). The emphasis is not on “it is coming,” but on “it is done!” for the whole of God’s intent is in the risen and living Lord Jesus.

The emphases of Christian religion on resurrection have traditionally been on proving the historical accuracy of Jesus’ resurrection in order to authenticate His divinity, which in turn has been used to convince and assure Christians of an eventual bodily resurrection after physical death.

If Christian theology does not get beyond the cradle and the cross, the birth and the death of Jesus, then all we have to offer is a static history lesson with no contemporary consequence. If Christian theology does not get beyond apologetic defense for what “was”, and longing expectation for what “will be,” then it becomes an irrelevancy of temporalized “bookends” that fails to address what “is” and “should be” presently.

H.A. Williams explains that,

“Resurrection, at least in Western Christendom, has invariably been described as belonging to another time and place. The typical emphasis has been upon the past and future ­ a past and future with which our connection can only be theoretical… So, for example, a book about the resurrection is naturally assumed to be a discussion either about what can be held to have happened in the environs of Jerusalem and Galilee on the third day after Jesus was crucified or about what can be held to be in store for us after our own death.
When resurrection is considered in terms of past and future, it is robbed of its impact on the present. That is why for most of the time resurrection means little to us. It is remote and isolated.”
It is a neat trick…this banishing of resurrection to past and future. It saves us from a lot of reality and delivers us from a great deal of fear. It has, in short, the advantage of safeguarding us from life.”10

What a tragedy that the Christian religion has itself blockaded people from life in Christ by projecting the implications of the resurrection to an historical event of the past or to an anticipated expectation of the future. These are not the predominant emphases of resurrection in the new covenant literature of the New Testament as we shall proceed to note.

Present Dynamic of Life emphasis in Resurrection Theology

This is a call for a Resurrection Theology that emphasizes the present dynamic of life in the risen and living Lord Jesus. Such Resurrection theology will be a restoration of Biblical theology as previewed in the literature of the Old Testament and explained by the New Testament writers.

Everything in the old covenant (Old Testament) was but a pictorial prefiguring of what God was going to do in the resurrection of His Son, Jesus.

The resurrection was a replay of the Genesis account of “coming into being”, for the resurrection of the “last Adam” (I Cor. 15:45) allows for God’s breathing “the spirit of life” (cf. Gen. 2:7) into man again that he might once again become a spiritually alive soul. Mankind is re-genesised in spiritual regeneration, becoming a “new creature” (II Cor. 5:17) as part of a “new creation” (Gal. 6:15).

Resurrection is likewise the basis for the spiritual reportrayal of the Exodus story, bringing mankind out of the land of slavery into the promised land. Christ’s coming out of the grave can be seen to correspond to Moses and his people coming out of Egypt, wherein the resurrection becomes the liberating exodus of salvation history.

It is by the resurrection that we have the spiritual restructuring of the Torah as detailed in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The external codification of Law becomes an internal dynamic of “the law written in our hearts” (Jere. 31:33; Heb. 8:10; 10:16). Christ becomes “the end of the Law” (Rom. 10:4) as its completion and fulfillment, for the living Lord Jesus expresses the character of God in man as the Law required. The behavioral performance commitments of “we will do it”(Exod. 19:8; 24:3,7), are transformed by the dynamic provision of Christ’s resurrection life whereby “He will bring it to pass” (I Thess. 5:24).

The history of Israel becomes His-story as the resurrected Jesus establishes the Davidic Kingdom (Acts 13:34) of divine intent. Those in Christ become the “chosen race”, the “people of God” (I Peter 2:9,10), the spiritual Israel of God (Gal. 6:16; Rom. 9:6).

The resurrection is a transformation of the psalms and songs of God, as those participating in the resurrection sing a “new song”, singing “spiritual songs in their hearts to God” (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).

All of the prophetic promises of God for His people are affirmed by the “Yes” and “Amen” (II Cor. 1:20) of God’s completed action in the resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The entire Old Testament, (old covenant) was but a preliminary blueprint that pictorially pointed to the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Christ wraps up the physical prefiguring of the old covenant, and is the culminating and continuing action of God that makes all things new in the eternal new covenant.

The new covenant (New Testament) literature is obviously more directly focused on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, for the resurrection is the dynamic reality that is the essence of the new covenant.

All four gospel narratives (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) culminate and climax with the account of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. But even prior to the historical enactment of His physical resurrection, Jesus had revealed that His resurrection would have an extended and eternal impact. He declared to Martha, “I AM the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). To the Jews in the temple, Jesus foretold that the temple of His body would be destroyed, but raised in three days” (John 6:19-22), indicating that by His resurrection the new center of worship would be in Him. Later He told the Jews that He would “raise men up in the last day” (John 6:39-44), the finalization of the new covenant.

Luke’s account of the progressive advance of the early church in The Acts of the Apostles reveals that the kerygma, the preached message, of the apostles was centered in the resurrection of Jesus. Peter declares in the first sermon of the church that “God raised Him up, …because it was impossible for Him to be held in death’s power” (Acts 2:24), and “this Jesus God raised up, to which we are all witnesses” (Acts 2:32). In Peter’s second sermon he proclaimed that “God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning everyone from your wicked ways” (Acts 3:26, cf.15). The resurrection was the message, the theology, of the early church (cf. Acts 4:10,33; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30,34), as they were “preaching Jesus and the resurrection” (Acts 17:18).

The Apostle Paul, having met the risen Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:3-8; 22:6-11; 26:12-19), had no concept of a gospel apart from the dynamic implications of the resurrected Jesus who had become his life (Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21; Col. 3:4). In his brief recitation of the foundational historical events of the gospel, Paul explains that “Christ died for our sins, …was buried, …and was raised on the third day” (I Cor. 15:1-4), but whereas the verbs “died” and “buried” were Greek aorist tenses of the past, his verb choice for Jesus “having been raised” was the Greek perfect tense that conveys a past event with present consequences. The resurrection of Jesus was never mere history in the thinking of Paul; it was always the present dynamic life and power of the risen Lord within him.

To the Romans Paul noted that Jesus was “declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead,” being now “the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:4). Jesus became, by His resurrection, the “life-giving Spirit” (I Cor. 15:45), the “Spirit of life” (Rom. 8:2), the “Spirit of Christ” (Rom. 8:9) who invests His resurrection life in those individuals receptive to such by faith, and without which “they are none of His” (Rom. 8:9). “The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,” Paul asserts, and “He who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you” (Rom. 8:11).

Paul wanted Christians to understand that they had been subjectively and spiritually “united with Christ in His resurrection” (Rom. 6:5) and “raised to walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4) in the mastery of death (Rom. 6:9). Based on our being “raised up with Christ” (Eph. 2:6; Col. 2:12; 3:1), Paul was desirous that Christians know “the surpassing greatness of the power” (Eph. 1:19) that is functioning with us as Christians, the very “working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ when He raised Him from the dead” (Eph. 1:20). This is the “power of His resurrection” (Phil. 3:10) that Paul continually longed to know and experience in a deeper way.

The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews refers to “the better resurrection” (Heb. 11:35) that is in Christ alone, whereby “the God of peace who raised up…Jesus our Lord, equips us in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ” (Heb. 13:20,21).

Consistent with the other New Testament writers, Peter posits the resurrection as the prerequisite and personal reality of Christ’s life received in spiritual regeneration, when we are “born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1:3). This is the basis on which we are “saved…through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 3:21).

When the Apostle John refers to “passing out of death into life” (John 5:24; I John 3:14), it is the resurrection reality that is foundational to his thought, implemented “because He has given us of His Spirit” (I John 4:13).

Everything in the New Testament, the entirety of Christian preaching and theology, is predicated on the Resurrection of Jesus and the continuing dynamic of His life in those who receive Him by faith. That great Scottish preacher, James S. Stewart, expressed it so eloquently when he wrote,

“The resurrection was indeed the very core of the apostolic kerygma. …It was the theme of every Christian sermon; it was the master-motive of every act of Christian evangelism; and not one line of the New Testament was written ­ not one sentence, whether of Gospels, Epistles, Acts or Apocalypse, was penned apart from the conviction that He of whom these things were being written had conquered death and was alive for ever.
“Never did the apostles make the mistake, all too common today, of regarding the Resurrection as a mere epilogue to the Gospel, an addendum to the scheme of salvation, a providential afterthought of God, a codicil to the divine last will and testament. This is to falsify disastrously the whole emphasis of the Bible. Not as an appendix to the faith was the Resurrection ever preached in the apostolic Church. The one and only God the apostles worshipped was the God of the Resurrection. The one and only Gospel they were commissioned to preach was the overpowering, magnificent good news of the Resurrection.” 11

Can the emphasis be made any more evident than it is made throughout the New Testament that the Resurrection of Jesus is not just an historical event of yesteryear or just an anticipation of embodiment in the future, but is the essence of the vital restoration of humanity in the present? The misemphases in modern Christian religion necessitates a call for Resurrection Theology that returns to the Biblical emphasis.

We cannot do better than to allow the Scottish preacher to continue to drive home his point:

“It is immensely significant that those first Christians never preached the resurrection simply as Jesus’ escape from the grave, the reanimation of One who had died, the return of the Master to His friends. The always proclaimed it as the living God in omnipotent action. 12

“This is the conviction that makes the New Testament…the most exciting and the most relevant book in the world. The power that was strong enough to get Jesus out of the grave, and thus to set going the whole Christian movement across the centuries, mighty enough to shatter and confound the hideous demonic alliance of evil, creative enough to smite death with resurrection ­ this power is in action still. 13

“…preaching the Resurrection means telling men that the identical divine energy which at the first took Christ out of the grave is available still ­ available not only at journey’s end to save them in the hour of death, but available here and now to cause them to live.
It is an awful catastrophe for the Church when the proclamation of such a Gospel grows ­ pity us ­ dull and listless and mechanical. …the same power which on that day shattered death is now given us for life ­ to vitalize the most depressed and disillusioned and defeated son of man into a resurrected personality and a conquering soul.” 14

“How was it that a little group of men in an upper room ­ ordinary, fallible, blundering men ­ became the nucleus of a movement that was to turn the world upside down? This was the Church’s hidden secret. It was not that they were commanding personalities; most of them were not. It was not that they had official backing, impressive credentials, or illustrious patronage: of all that they had less than nothing. It was this ­ that the unearthly power which at the first had brought creation into being, which now at the last had inaugurated a new creation in the Resurrection of Christ, had laid hold upon them and refashioned their lives as with a second birth.” 15

“it is no mere interest in immortality which explains the apostolic concentration on the Resurrection. It was not as a dramatic verification of personal survival that they preached Christ risen from the dead. They were not really concerned with proofs and theories of survival as such.

“It was the shattering of history by a creative act of God Almighty. God was doing something comparable only with what He had done at the first creation. This was the beginning of a new era for the universe, the decisive turning-point for the human race. …In the resurrection the new age had arrived, and this stupendous miracle signified the storming of history and the transforming of the world.”16

“The Resurrection was evidence that there had now appeared, in the midst of time, life of a new dimension and the baptism of eternity. The heralds of the Resurrection were not merely preaching it as a fact: they were living in it as in a new country. They had received a Kingdom which could not be shaken.”17

Preach on Dr. Stewart! The impact of the resurrection cannot be overstated or overrated. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is THE most stupendous act of God’s grace. It is the focal point of all human history. It is the transforming reality in light of which everything else must be interpreted. All meaningful human existence must be interpreted by the earth-shattering, death-defeating, history-defining reality of Jesus’ Resurrection.

Christianity is not a message of merely what “has been” (past) and “will be” (future); it is the message of what “is”, the vital dynamic of the resurrected “I AM” of God who restores the whole of creation. The Resurrection facilitates and is the personal dynamic of the restoration of humanity whereby God functions once again in man by the presence of His own divine life in the Christian.

Christian theology is not simply an ideological and epistemological construct concerning events and doctrines. The personal resurrection-presence of the living Lord Jesus is intrinsic to His teaching. They cannot be detached. Apart from His resurrection there is no validity to His teaching. This is why Thomas F. Torrance writes, “What Jesus Christ is in His resurrection, He is in Himself. The very life of Jesus is the content of the resurrection.” 18

Conclusion

Resurrection theology is necessarily Resurrection-living, the living manifestation of the life and character of the risen Lord Jesus in Christian behavior. As such, this is also a call for Resurrection-community, whereby the church functions as the Body of Christ by the interpersonal interaction of people living by the Resurrection-life of Jesus, loving one another and seeking the other’s highest good.

The Resurrection is the basis of everything that can legitimately be called “Christian.” It is only by the indwelling activity of the risen Lord Jesus that the dynamic life of Christ continues to effect Christianity.

Apart from the Resurrection there is no Christianity. Apart from the Resurrection there is no gospel. Apart from the Resurrection there is no spiritual life. Apart from the Resurrection there is no salvation. Apart from the Resurrection there is no righteousness, holiness or godliness. Apart from the Resurrection there is no Christian living. Apart from the Resurrection there is no hope. It is imperative that we articulate and proclaim Resurrection Theology.

FOOTNOTES

1 Geffré, Claude, A New Age in Theology. New York: Paulist Press. 1974. pg. 1.
2 Brinsmead, Robert D., Verdict Essay 1E, “The Resurrection”, April, 1999. pg. 20.
3 Stewart, James S., A Man in Christ: The Vital Elements of St. Paul’s Religion. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House. pg. 135.
4 Ibid., pg. 136.
5 Kunneth, Walter, The Theology of the Resurrection. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House. 1965. pg. 294.
6 Morison, Frank, Who Moved the Stone? London: Faber and Faber Limited. 1930.
7 McDowell, Josh, The Resurrection Factor. San Bernardino: Here’s Life Publishers. 1981.
8 Brinsmead, Robert D., op. cit., pg. 2.
9 Geffré, Claude, op. cit., pg. 1
10 Williams, H. A., True Resurrection. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1972. pgs 4,5.
11 Stewart, James S., A Faith to Proclaim. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1953. pgs. 104,105.
12 Stewart, James S. King For Ever. London: Hodder and Stoughton. pg. 142.
13 Ibid., pg. 143.
14 Stewart, James S., A Faith to Proclaim. pg. 126.
15 Ibid., pg. 127.
16 Ibid., pg. 106,107
17 Ibid., pg. 109.
18 Torrance, Thomas F., Space, Time and Resurrection. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1976

A Link  to the Document in Pdf  Frormat which you can save and use below:

A call for resurrection theology

When one is young in the Lord , and we set out to read the scriptures, our understanding is often clouded through a limited knowledge of the metaphors used by the scribes.

Sometimes others add to this confusion. 

Mt 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

The verse above at first glance can be quite perplexing to the modern man when reading the King James Version. I personally have heard many differing interpretations of it. What do you understand by this or have heard others tell you? 

1. What is meant by the use of an axe?

2. What is meant by the root?

3. What are the trees John the baptist is speaking of?

4. What is meant by good fruit?

5. What is meant by hewn down?

6. Finally what fire is John the Baptist speaking off?

 Prophetic use of language is found in the prophets who brought a message of impending judgement upon apostate Israel. It is always in a historical contextual setting, and these words were spoken to the populace in a specific time frame: circ. Ad 26. It’s relevance today is to teach us the fear of the Lord as they were fulfilled to the letter.  

Isaiah 10:5/15 ¶ O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.  I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.  For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?   Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus?   As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria;  Shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?   Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man:  And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

In the Above example in Isaiah we see the King of Assyria being called the Axe in the Hand of Lord.

Jeremiah 51:11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields: the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple.

Jer 51:20 Thou art my battle axe and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms;

In this Example above we find the Medes and Persians being declared as the Lords Battle Axe.

The Lord had used the Assyrians (as his Battle Axe) against against the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. After the Assyrians had taken Israel into captivity (the Lost 10 tribes) , he turned the Assyrians back when the King o f Judah ,Hezekiah repented.

Later in their History Nebuchadnezzar invaded the Kingdom of Judah and took the remaining descendants to Babylon (the seventy year Babylonian Captivity ). Babylon fell to Cyrus the Persian and Darius the Mede who became the Lords Battle Axe.

Da 5:30 /31 In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain, And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.

1. The Axe is an invasion by a foreign power . The Roman Empire was the invader in John the Baptist’s life. Mt 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees . John’s use of words places it in his generation.

Mal 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

 John was reiterating that what was spoken of him by Malachi. He was the Levite messenger spoken of. 

Mal 2:7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. 

Mal 3:1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

There is a reason for this digression , because some have made the claim that they are Elijah and have led many astray in my generation. Modern Dispensationalist’s are prone to this type of error. Single verse eschatology that ignores the contextual historical setting of the prophets leads to this type of error

Mal 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

 Firstly John was a Descendant of the Priestly family of Levi the Son of Jacob, born to Zacharias and Elisabeth.

Luke 1:5 ¶ There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.

 Christ confirms this by calling John Elijah(Hebrew). Elias (Greek equivalent)and the messenger of Malachi

 Mt 17:10/12 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.

 Mt 11:8 /11 But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

 There were two anointed ones in the scriptures namely the King and The High Priest. (Note: read Zechariah)

 John as the Levite Prophet/High Priest who would Anoint the true King of Judah and Israel.

 Christ’s descent through Mary the Cousin of Elisabeth the granddaughter of Aaron the first High Priest under the Law of Moses, unites these two offices in one person, when he was baptised by John.

 Mathew 3:14/17 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

 Heb 7:1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;

Heb 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

 With this understanding we have a historical backdrop to the events in the Gospels and the ability to refute any pretender to these titles. Also we begin to understand why Herod ordered the murder of the infants, and why John was beheaded.

 Mt 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

 John’s words of fire were an apocalyptic message to those who understood what he was saying. It is none other than the overthrow of status-quo in power at that time.

 Herod the Great who had obtained the Kingdom through his allegiance to Rome , as an Idumean he was a descendant of Esau and did not have the lineage to support his claims. Secondly the Herod’s gave the High Priest title to men of their own choosing, some even bought it. (see Josephus)

 Mal 1:2/3 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

 2. The Root is the source of the lineage contained in the family tree. No descendants and pretenders will be able to follow them.

Jer 49:10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

 Now we come to the trees themselves and how they are linked to these apocalyptic words of fire from John.

 Lu 13:18/19 Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.

 Eze 31:18 To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

3. Trees are the Kingdoms that rule over nations. They are the dynasties in power over the populace.

 Mt 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

 John has proclaimed the demise of the dynasty of Herod’s and the various leadership groups namely the priesthood, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and their scribes and teachers.

 Every time the kings of Israel and Judah went astray and became idolatrous , the Lord would send a prophet who would proclaim their demise.

 Jer 27:8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

 4. The bearing of good fruit is staying true to the Lord God of Abraham , Isaac and Jacob and obeying his commands. Apostasy leads to Judgment.

 Mt 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 

Mt 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

 To conclude it is evident that the words of Christ and of John were fulfilled during the lifespans of that apostate generation. The Herod’s lost their kingdom and the Pharisees and the Sadducees saw the words being fulfilled forty years after Christ ascended into Heaven . The Romans Invaded Judea and the Temple was burnt to the ground , the populace were scattered and many were sold into slavery. Today Israel has neither a King, a Temple or a High-priesthood. The Body of Christ has a high priest , the Heavenly Jerusalem and an Eternal King of Kings sitting at the Right hand of the Father.

Mr 8:38 Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Mt 23:36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

Lamentations 5:1/19 ¶ Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers are as widows. We have drunken our water for money; our wood is sold unto us. Our necks are under persecution: we labour, and have no rest. We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne their iniquities. Servants have ruled over us: there is none that doth deliver us out of their hand. We gat our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. They ravished the women in Zion, and the maids in the cities of Judah. Princes are hanged up by their hand: the faces of elders were not honoured. They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their musick. The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! ¶ For this our heart is faint; for these things our eyes are dim. Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it. Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne from generation to generation.

Luke 13:34/35 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Luke 19:41/44 ¶ And when he was come near, he beheld the city (jerusalem), and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

 5. The apocalyptic fall of Israel’s Capital city and it being demolished was the hewing down of the Nation.

Mt 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

The infant church fled to the mountains having heeded Christ’s words and those of John the Baptist. 

Lu 21:20 /24 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Mr 13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:etcetera

Mt 22:7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.

 Jerusalem was burnt to the ground by the Romans and was purged by fire.

 6. Fire is used of the purging and cleansing of the land.

 Mt 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

 Mt 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

 Verse 28. For wheresoever the carcass is , the dead carcass. The Jewish nation, which was morally and judicially dead.

 There will the eagles The Roman armies, called so partly from their strength and fierceness, and partly from the figure of these animals which was always wrought on their ensigns, or even in brass, placed on the tops of their ensign-staves. It is remarkable that the Roman fury pursued these wretched men wheresoever they were found. They were a dead carcass doomed to be devoured; and the Roman eagles were the commissioned devourers. See the pitiful account in Josephus, WAR, b. vii. c. 2, 3, 6, 9, 10, and 11. (from Adam Clarkes Comentary)

The Jewish War-Book VI

 CONTAINING THE INTERVAL OF ABOUT ONE MONTH. FROM THE GREAT EXTREMITY TO WHICH THE JEWS WERE REDUCED TO THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM BY TITUS.

 CHAPTER 1.

 The miseries of the Jews increase—The Romans make an assault on the tower of Antonia. 70 AD

(1) Thus did the miseries of Jerusalem grow worse and worse every day, and the seditious were still more irritated by the calamities they were under, even while the famine preyed upon themselves, after it had preyed upon the people. (2) And, indeed, the multitude of carcasses that lay in heaps one upon another was a horrible sight, and produced a pestilential stench, which was a hinderance to those who would make sallies out of the city and fight the enemy: but as those were to go in battle array who had been already used to ten thousand murders, and must tread upon those dead bodies as they marched along, (3) so were not they terrified, nor did they pity men as they marched over them; nor did they deem this affront offered to the deceased to be any ill omen to themselves; (4) but as they had their right hands already polluted with the murders of their own countrymen, and in that condition ran out to fight with foreigners, they seem to me to have cast a reproach upon God himself, as if he were too slow in punishing them; for the war was not now gone on with as if they had any hope of victory; for they gloried after a brutish manner in that despair of deliverance they were already in. (5) And now the Romans, although they were greatly distressed in getting together their materials, raised their banks in twenty-one days, after they had cut down all the trees that were in the country that adjoined to the city, and that for about twelve miles all around, as I have already related. (6) And truly, the very view itself of the country was a melancholy thing; for those places which were before adorned with trees and pleasant gardens, were now become a desolate country all over, and its trees were all cut down: (7) nor could any foreigner that had formerly seen Judea and the most beautiful suburbs of the city, and now saw it as a desert, but lament and mourn sadly at so great a change; (8) for the war had laid all the signs of beauty quite waste: nor, if anyone that had known the place before had come suddenly to it now, would he have known it again; but though he were at the city itself, yet would he have inquired for it notwithstanding.

Mt 3:10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 

Malachi 4:1 ¶ For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

 The proof a true prophet of God is the fulfillment of his message. Today so many false prophets who have no understanding of the historical and contextual setting of the gospels proclaim that these words of Christ and the prophets are still to be fulfilled.

 Mt 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Below   is  a link  to the   Document in  pdf  format  which you can save and distribute

 Figures of Speech found in the Scriptures.

I have undertaken this work, to promote the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Covenant with those of mankind who have placed their God given faith in him.

During my many sojourns amongst various denominations there were truths I learnt and falsehoods that were being propagated as divinely inspired. It is important for one to discern truth and hold to it, and equally important to be able to recognise error and refute it. Our only safeguard in this matter is the divinely inspired cannon of the scripture. But even that alone is not enough for there are many counterfeit Christian cults who use the scripture to ensnare the ignorant. Only God by the inspiration of Holy Spirit can guide us into the truth contained in the divine scriptures. Now in order to see that we are following the correct path and are not being deluded by a counterfeit spirit, we need to confirm our steps by reading the writings of those who have gone before us, and examine the truth’s they held to.

One of the problems we encounter on the way is that men can be extremely credible, and due to our limited knowledge of the scripture, they may earn our trust and acceptance, and yet still bring us into the bondage of plausible falsehoods. This they normally do by stringing isolated bits of scripture to produce a mosaic of uncorroborated myths. The pathway out of this is Context, and always and only Context. Every passage must be examined in the light of its setting and context. To do otherwise would be to misquote Christ and place another meaning upon his words. Some portions of scripture are extremely difficult to believe, and require the abandoning of your will and some of your cherished notions. In order to build knowledge of the scripture, one must focus on Christ for he is the only foundation of our faith. Secondly we must learn to recognise what God is doing in the passages, so often we look for what we must do, or think it is ourselves that the passage refers to. I have heard acclaimed preachers make such notorious mistakes like saying someone in the scripture made the wrong decision, when re-examining their assertion you discover that had they done so we would never have received the Gospel, for Israel would have perished had Joseph decided not to tell anyone about his dreams, as they recommend to their hearers. This is because they champion human sovereignty in matters of faith, instead of God’s sovereignty in saving the elect. They Champion mans will instead of God’s will. They Champion works instead of Grace.

So now we come to the contents of this book and its purpose. Its purpose is to discount some very popular preached notions of the seventieth week of Daniel, and the covenant in its midst. I once was under the sway of these notions and some of their falsehoods I cherished and was thoroughly deluded by them. You the reader may be in the same spot on your Journey with Christ and are still holding to these erroneous views. Please read my treatise for I am not condemning you but attempting to lead you into a greater understanding of this very important subject, for at its heart is priceless Gem that will establish you and ground you in the truth that is in Christ Jesus. It will also set you free of those who seek to make merchandise of you. I spent much money on books about the end times, which I later discovered to be mere myth because the foundational structure was erroneous. This has not happened overnight and it has taken twenty years on this journey of faith and looking behind I can now see through this specific delusion. I hope this work will help you to get there quicker than I did. If you begin reading this work please finish it, for if you do not finish plowing through it you will glean no harvest from it. Should you put it aside I trust that God will one day lead you back to it when you have sufficient grasp of the scriptures to stomach it.

This book is dedicated to the Elect of God to Glorify Christ and the Covenant he laid his life down to confirm.

Yours in Christ

David Harry Hume

21st Day of January 2002.

Note this is Excerpt from  a work I undertook a few years ago, Below is the Link to the complete document in Adobe pdf format .

Jerusalem and the Messiah

1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

I must add this comment  that during following years after writing this treatise , some of  my formely held views of Eschatology changed from a futurist position to a preterist position of  fullfilment in the first century AD. Their is a video on this site by Kenneth Gentry on audience relevance and one should view this to grasp the reason why!  Use the video tag to find it.