Old and New Jerusalem

By JONATHAN MONTANEZ

This concise, clear, and winsome appeal to seriously consider the reality of fulfilled prophecy has my unhesitating endorsement. These are not new thoughts for me, but increasingly they move me to a deeper and stronger embracing of all that I have in Christnow!

Andy James, retired pastor, Three Hills, Alberta

Ive been listening from the pews for so many years now, and Ive never heard this perspective before. Quite frankly, it does make sense. Its a very interesting and liberating concept.

Arturo Tolentino, electrician, Calgary, Alberta

I wonder how can such an obvious truth blindside us ... have we let our guard down? Are denominations inadvertently commandeering us?

Jeremiah Montanez, sailor, Yokasuka, Japan

Realizing, let alone experiencing, the full breadth of the abundant life in Christ may be challenging until you come to terms with the message of this book.

David Oblima, firefighter, San Diego, California

When is the second coming of the Lord? This is the ageless question that Jonathan Montanezs book tackles head-on, peppered with pivotal biblical and historical references. Careful consideration is given to the various camps which prophesize the timing of this momentous occasion that led Jonathan to conclude with one logical answer.

Richard Hand, journalist, Halifax, Nova Scotia

The word imminence reclaimed its rightful meaning in this book; its rejuvenated time-sensitive denotation is a game changer. A must read!

Arnel Silva, handyman, Airdrie, Alberta

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490880792

JONATHAN MONTANEZ

Jonathan Montanez was born in Manila, Philippines and currently lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is happily married to his wife Erma, and they are blessed with four boys: Isaak, Isaiah, Ira, and Izehar.

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Copyright © 2015 Jonathan Montanez.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-8080-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-8081-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-8079-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015907534

WestBow Press rev. date: 05/20/2015

CONTENTS

Notice to the Reader

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 1   Futurism

Chapter 2   New Heaven and Earth

Chapter 3   Matthew 24

Chapter 4   Expected Time of Arrival

Chapter 5   AD 70 and Bible Prophecies

Chapter 6   Oliveth Discourse

Chapter 7   Extra Biblical Information

Conclusion

For the love of my life,

Erma,

our dearly beloved boys,

Isaak, Aiah, Ira, and Izy.

For my dear mother,

Connie,

whose love

knows no boundaries.

and

For my dear

Mama Mila,

whose selflessness

is beyond compare.

NOTICE TO THE READER

To get the most out of this book, I strongly suggest that you read the pages in the order that it was presented. It would be helpful to not skip the foreword and introduction as both sections set the tone and premises of the whole book. For the most part, the argumentations are based on earlier derived conclusions. As such, it won’t be beneficial to jump from one chapter to another. Take your time and enjoy the read.

I wish you all the best as you read this book. God bless!

Jonathan

FOREWORD

This piece of work proceeds from the presumption that the Word of God is His communication tool to mankind. This book logically postulates that He expects us to understand His Word fully so we can abide and be guided by it. With this premise comes the acknowledgment that there are indeed things in His Word that are definitely hard to grasp. But do not be bothered because these verses are not humanly impossible to understand.

The logical implication of this principle is that since He is revealing His thoughts to us through the written Word, He expects us to understand what He wants us to know. For sure, anybody (including God) who is communicating something wants and expects to be understood. Under normal circumstances, no one would intentionally obscure what he is saying so that the listener does not understand what is being conveyed. We can’t be using the extraordinary case of the parables as the standard operating procedure for our hermeneutics. In other words, since God is talking to us through His words, then He wants us to understand Him. I acknowledge though that in the larger picture of the revelation of Himself, some things about Him and how He operates were kept from mankind. Deuteronomy 29:29 says, The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. Whatever those (hidden) things may be, they are not our business to know or understand. That information belongs to Him and Him alone. Conversely, I also believe that the information that was revealed and was not kept secret is meant to be understood so we can rightly apply it to life.

Secondly this work proceeds from the presumption that opinions that are diametrically opposed to each other can both be wrong at the same time on a particular issue but cannot both be correct at the same time on the same issue.

The point of the matter is there are differences of opinions because at least one side is wrong. They can also both be wrong at the same time on a given issue, but they cannot both be correct at the same time on the same issue. It is true that the Word of God may have many possible applications in life’s situations, but it is certainly wrong to assume that it has many possible interpretations (understandings), including those that contradict each other. God is the God of order. He would not say yes and no at the same time on the same issue. The reason being is that yes is the opposite of no. They contradict each other. In God, there is no contradiction. If God meant to reveal that a particular object is shaped square, it is wrong to presume that it is acceptable to see it as triangle. If John sees it as oblong and Peter sees it as triangle, then they are both wrong. Only he who sees it as square is correct. Therefore, there is only one true and right comprehension for each and every thing that He wants us to understand.

In short, the Word of God is clear-cut and fathomable within the bounds of His limited but sufficient revelation.

Lastly, this work proceeds from the presumption that truth is absolute. Truth is a no respecter of person, time, position, place and so forth. It cannot be watered down by who, when, what, where, why or how it was said. Conversely, false is false no matter who, what, when, where, why or how it was said.

The story of Copernicus is a case in point. He was scorned and maltreated for believing that the world was round. Many caricatures from those days depict that even dogs laugh at his belief system. Almost everyone around him believed otherwise, but did it change the fact that the world was not flat as most of them thought it was? The rest is history.

Back in 400 BC, Democritus correctly described matter as a combination of void and being (vacuum plus an infinity of atoms) until Aristotle came into the picture and messed up everything by saying that we don’t really need those elements which Democritus is talking about. And so, he decided he’d describe the essence of the material world as earth, water, fire and air. This idiocy dominated science for more than two thousand years until John Dalton in the early nineteenth century rediscovered what Democritus had already thought of two thousand three hundred years earlier. John Dalton started with just seven elements in the Periodic Table but that was a start in the right direction. Thankfully, we now correctly understand that the earth is an aggregate of minerals which are compounds. If science stuck to the Aristotelian Essences, we’d still be thinking that dry is a compound between fire and earth and cold is a compound between earth and water. We’d be most pitiful.

The point of the matter is it does not follow that a thing is correct because Aristotle or somebody else of the same stature said it. Again, truth is a no respecter of person. A wrong is a wrong no matter who said it or even if that has been held as an accepted truth for hundreds or thousands of years. The world followed suit on the Aristotelian Essences over Democritus’ raw Chemistry and science stalled for thousands of years.

Similarly, many faithful Christians unconsciously follow this kind of blind allegiance to denominational divines. Honestly, I find that to be a very effective ingredient in culturing cultism. In the field of philosophy, they call this logical fallacy as argumentum ad vericundiam (argument from authority).

In this work we will strive to eliminate as many possible negative hypotheses as we can think of and expose those inferences that create contradictions. We will test and peruse those assumptions against the perfect, absolute, and unchanging Word of God, and I will offer what I think is a more viable alternative.

INTRODUCTION

It’s a mess out there, and eschatology (the study of prophecies) is at the epicenter of it all. It is hard to conceive how so many theologians can be so brilliant in so many ways, things, issues, and doctrines and yet badly stumble when it comes to eschatology. John Calvin so humbly acknowledged his inadequacy when asked why he was not writing a commentary on the book of Revelation and replied, Nope! Not going there! (He originally said, "Non, pas y aller!") He somehow knew that he was not ready to deal with the subject at that time and so stood away from it. He must have deciphered that there must be something more to the principles of interpretation than what was commonly practiced during his days. For my part (basically out of a deep burden), I ventured into writing this book because I live in a time when the science of interpretation has matured or developed considerably. One key aspect in understanding the Bible that was overlooked through the ages is the audience relevance factor. In my opinion this is the missing link in truly understanding a so-called context. The Word of God (its stories, doctrines, narratives, teachings, and everything in it) has been and will always be the same. This work will revisit those same old verses, stories, teachings, and narratives with an updated viewpoint, one that factors in the original hearers’ perspective.

In this book we will go back in time and strive to understand how the original hearers understood what was originally said to them. So brace yourself. I hope that this won’t be a rough ride for you, but rather I hope that this study will gush into your personal theological belief system like pure water flowing from the springs of the living well, washing off all those denominational cataracts build up that can potentially blur your eyes of understanding.

We are actually so privileged to be living in this day and age when we as Christians are exposed to more of everything in life. Information from anywhere around the world is readily accessible. Comparing notes and exchanging observations and ideas with people from around the globe has never been easier. What would take months to access in the early days is now done in a snap. I guess that is the reason why we have become more open-minded than our counterparts of yesteryear. Today we can objectively criticize a preaching or a teaching without having to fear excommunication, be burned at the stake, or suffer some similar negative repercussion—a thing that was unheard of a few centuries ago. This is positive development for the church. This is good maturation. So as we take off from here and explore the troublesome world of eschatology, we will strive to be very honest, objective, gentle, and respectful in presenting constructive criticism.

Now let us get to business. Let me start by saying that eschatology could have been easier to comprehend had most theologians exercised restraint in rushing to interpreting the scriptures. They should have had the discipline of confining themselves with the basic use of semantics first before advancing into whatever type of interpretation principle they may have in their war chest. Many theologians, pastors and teachers proceed from a mindset that studying the Bible always involve or automatically means interpreting the Scriptures. Why? Does it follow that if you study the Bible then you’ll have to interpret it? Can we not understand the Bible without interpreting it? Do they always have to go hand-in-hand? We will see more of this as we progress in this study. For now, let’s lay it down plain and simple, semantics is the study of the meaning of words, phrases, and texts.