The Book of John

[Allyn]

Verses worthy of reading that I will not cover in detail are as follows6:39-40, 6:44, 6:54, 11:24 (compare 6:44, 6:54, and 11:24 to Daniel 12:13), 12:48, 13:36, 14:2-3.



(John 5:25-29) 25 "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 "For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 27 and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28 "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.



Compare to Daniel 12:2



(Daniel 12:2) 2 " Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.



There is but one resurrection so the question is "when" did that resurrection take place? Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse that it would happen at the time of the great tribulation and destruction of Jerusalem when he sends forth his angels to gather his elect. In John 5:25-29 Christ says he has been given authority to execute judgment. Think about what Christ said in Matthew 16:27-28. He said he would come to establish his kingdom and reward (judge) in the lifetime of his disciples, or "this generation". The resurrection of the saints is a past event.



I know that when I say that the resurrection is a past event some people find me crazy. With that in mind I want to turn to scripture alone as my means for substantiating this position. In the Olivet Discourse, which I believe has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt to be related to the destruction of Jerusalem, Luke writes the following



(Luke 21:22) because these are days of vengeance, in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled.



What was written at that time Jesus spoke those words? The Old Testament was all. None of the New Testament books were written till at least 52-53 AD so when Christ says that the destruction of Jerusalem is the fulfillment of all things written this would include all prophetic literature, including the book of Daniel. If that is true then that would include Daniel 12:2



(Daniel 12:1-2) 1 "Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands {guard} over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. 2 "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace {and} everlasting contempt.



The fact is established that the distress spoken of in Daniel is almost identical in wording with the distress spoken of in Matthew 24. Both authors tie this distress to the gathering of the elect (or resurrection), therefore the resurrection is a past event that happened in conjunction with the fall of Jerusalem, just as Christ predicted in "this generation". Note also in Daniel it says, "and at that time your people" Who were Daniel's people? The Jews! Again, this helps us to know that the tribulation spoken of was God's judgment of the apostate Jewish nation, not the whole world.



(John 14:28-29) 28 "You heard that I said to you, `I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 "Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.



Who are the "you" in verse 29? Again, it is the disciples. As we have seen elsewhere in scripture, Jesus told his disciples that he would come in their generation, before all of them had died, and before they had evangelized all of Israel. Now he tells them, "I go away, and I will come to you". He then goes on to say "I have told you before it happens so that when it happens you may believe". The point is that he was telling them while they were still alive about an event that would happen while some of them were still alive to see it. In other words, and pointing back to Matthew 16:27-28, they would not all taste death.



(John 21:21-23) 21 So Peter seeing him (John) said to Jesus, "Lord, and what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!" 23 Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, "If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?"



This is simply another scripture that points toward the brevity of time regarding Christ's second coming. It would only be possible for John to remain alive if Christ' coming would be fulfilled in his lifetime. He has already told the disciples that not all of them would taste death before he returned. Why not John? John was alive in 70AD at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem.