ARE ANY SAVED THROUGH IGNORANCE? GOD'S PROMISE ASSURES HOPE. JESUS' RANSOM SACRIFICE FOR ALL. REASONS FOR DELAY OF RANSOM BENEFITS. SINS TO BE FORGIVEN IN WORLD TO COME. GOD'S CHARACTER A BASIS FOR HOPE. ELECT SELECTED TO BLESS NON-ELECT. TWOFOLD EXPERIENCE OF THE NON-ELECT. FACTS PROVE OUR PROPOSITION. THE CHRIST'S OFFICIAL NAMES. EVERY PART OF AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL. CURSE TO BE REMOVED GRADUALLY. DOES "ALL" (1 TIM. 2:6) MEAN EVERYONE? UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION OR SALVATION? REV. 20:4, 5 EXAMINED. WILL THE "UNJUST" BE RESURRECTED? WILL THE SAME BODIES BE RAISED? OTHER PROOFS NOTED.
IN our study of the main purposes of our Lord's Return, or of the Millennium, we now wish to give details on the sixth purpose mentioned in Chapter I, viz., blessing the whole human family, living and dead, with opportunities of obtaining Restitution. In discussing this subject, we are not discussing the question of a second chance. The Bible does not teach a second chance for any of Adam's race; however, it teaches one chance for all of them—no more and no less. Some (a comparatively few) get that one chance in this life; and these must win out or be lost forever—they will have no other chance; for the reason that, having exhausted their share in the merit of Christ, and Christ dying no more, there is no more sacrifice to atone for their sins (Heb. 10:26). Hence we do not ask in the question that forms the subject of this article whether there is any hope for such persons. There is no hope for them. But how about those who did not in this life receive the benefit of the merit of Christ? Has Christ's death no blessing for them? There are admittedly many who died, not having in this life received the cancellation of their sins through Christ's death. Among such we might instance the heathen, the Mohammedans, the Jews, those dying in infancy, the imbeciles, those who died
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before Christ died for them, and those who were completely blinded (2 Cor. 4:4) by the Adversary and deceived by sectarianism, and thus could not understand the Lord's Word, without an understanding of which it is impossible to be saved (Rom. 10:13, 14). Are these hopelessly lost forever, or does the Bible hold out hope for them? Some will ask, may it not be possible that they will be saved by their ignorance?
We believe not; for there is no power or anything else good in ignorance to save anyone. Instead of ignorance being Scripturally a ground of salvation, it is Scripturally set forth as a reason for alienation from God and for perdition (Eph. 4:18; Hos. 4:6; Rom. 2:12). Furthermore, the Scriptures show that knowledge is essential to faith and salvation (Rom. 10:14-17; Acts 4:12). This is likewise implied in the fact that obtaining salvation presupposes personal acts by the intellect, sensibilities and will, i.e., a matter pertaining to the domain of character, requiring, as it does, on our part the steps of repentance, faith and consecration. It is for this reason that the Church was commanded to teach, i.e., make others know, that those taught might by their knowledge gain salvation (Matt. 28:18-20; 2 Pet. 1:2, 3; 2:20, 21).
Indeed the theory that the heathen and others are saved by their ignorance is a patent absurdity. Why send them missionaries to teach them salvation, if they are saved by ignorance? According to this theory, to teach them would cause most of them—those who will not believe—to be lost who otherwise would have been saved by their ignorance. So all through the generations of the Gospel Age to preach to them would have been the cause of perdition to almost all who heard the message. Does one say that we must preach to them, because God commands it? We answer yes; but evidently that thereby they might gain what otherwise they would not gain—salvation. This theory makes God defeat His own good wishes—the desire to bless everybody. Are we to believe that God who
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desires that the people may gain life (Ezek. 18:32) is so lacking in common sense and practicability as to institute the office of teaching the Word of God as the means of saving people—through which at most a comparatively few are saved now—when leaving them in ignorance would have resulted in the salvation of all of them? Why institute the office of preaching and teaching at all, if ignorance will save all? Manifestly the idea that the unsaved dead are saved by ignorance is unbiblical, unreasonable and unfactual. For many reasons we believe the Bible holds out hope for these—not a second chance, but their first chance, since they had no chance in this life; for there is no chance for salvation without a saving knowledge of Christ (Acts 4:12), which of course such did not have. We will now discuss some of the more important reasons that prove a Biblical hope for such of the unsaved dead as did not have a chance in this life.
GOD'S PROMISE ASSURES HOPE
(1) First of all, we set forth God's Promise (bound with an oath) that there is such a chance for those who died without it. This Promise was first made to Abraham, in the great Abrahamic Covenant, "In thee shall all the families and nations of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3; 18:18). St. Paul calls this Promise the Gospel (Gal. 3:8). Manifestly all the families and nations of the earth have not been blessed in this life. Consequently, those that were not blessed by the Gospel in this life will have to be blessed after this life, or the Gospel, as expressed in the Abrahamic Covenant, would be untrue. Later God added to the original Promise the statement, binding it by an oath, that in the Seed of Abraham all the nations of earth shall be blessed (Gen. 22:16-18). Who is this Seed of Abraham that is to bless all the families, kindreds and nations of the earth? By Divine inspiration St. Paul assures us that the Seed consists of Jesus and all who faithfully follow Him in this life (Gal. 3:16, 29). So, then, the Oath-bound
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Promise is to this effect, that, sometime, through Jesus and His faithful followers, all the families, kindreds and nations of the earth will be blessed. Since the only ones so far blessed are those who became followers of Christ, some of whom, however, made shipwreck of all by committing the sin unto death, the others, having died unblessed, must get their blessing at the hands of Jesus and His followers after this life, in the resurrection; therefore there is hope for those of the unsaved dead who did not receive the Oath-promised blessings in this life.
In many Scriptures the Lord elaborates this Promise, showing that the opportunity of obtaining salvation will yet come to those who departed this life without having had such an opportunity. Thus Is. 60:14, 15 assures us that all of those whom Satan so blinded as to move them to hate and persecute the true people of God (Zion) would acknowledge them during the Millennium and be greatly gladdened, blessed, by them. Again, Is. 29:18, 24 assures us that those whose eyes and ears of understanding Satan has closed in this life will, in the Millennium, be caused to understand the Lord's Word, by which an opportunity of being saved will be given them. Is. 35:5, 6 gives the same line of thought; while verse 10 tells us that they will return, i.e., from the tomb, and come to Zion (Christ and the Church, their Blessers as the Seed) and be greatly blessed by this Zion class. Luke 2:10 assures us that the great joy of the Gospel shall be to all people; but we know that as yet all people have not gotten this great joy; yea, rather, that the great majority died without that joy; hence these must get it after this life. 1 Tim. 2:4 assures us that God is determined that all be saved (from the Adamic sentence) and come unto a knowledge of the Truth, which, of course, implies that those who departed this life without being delivered from the Adamic sentence will some day be delivered therefrom; and that those who departed this life without the knowledge of the
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Truth will some day receive it. Hence God's giving the great Oath-bound Promise, which He elaborated by numerous other promises, proves that there is hope for those of the unsaved dead who did not have their opportunity for salvation in this life. This Oathbound Promise is the strongest Biblical proof of hope for such of the unsaved dead.
JESUS' RANSOM SACRIFICE FOR ALL
(2) The second reason for such a hope is the Ransom sacrifice of Jesus, laid down for every human being. That Christ Jesus died for the sins of the whole human family is very apparent from the following passages: John 1:29, 36; 3:14-17; 11:51, 52; Rom. 5:18, 19; 1 Cor. 15:3; 2 Cor. 5:14, 15, 19; Gal. 4:5; Col. 1:20; 1 Tim. 2:6; Heb. 2:9; 1 John 2:2. The Bible speaks of His death as His giving Himself a Ransom for all men (Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:6). The word ransom is the translation of the Greek word antilutron, which is compounded of the two words lutron, price, and anti, instead. It means a price instead of, i.e., a corresponding price. The figure is that of a business transaction. In the figure God is the Creditor, Adam and the race in his loins the debtor, and Jesus the Purchaser. The Creditor requires the payment of the full debt, no more and no less. The debt is the human all of the perfect man Adam. The purchase price to redeem the debtor must be the exact equivalent. Jesus became a man and laid down this exactly equivalent price by His death, when in offset of Adam's debt He gave the all of His perfect humanity. Thus as the perfect Adam's human all involved his right to life, as well as all his perfect human life-rights, which when he sinned had to be surrendered in death in payment of his debt, so Jesus as the corresponding price had to lay down His human life and all His perfect human life-rights. Both being perfect human beings, of exactly equivalent rights, the life and life-rights of Jesus are a corresponding price for those of Adam. Hence, as the Ransom, they
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are an offset before the Creditor to the complete debt of Adam, which by heredity involved Adam's entire race, yet in his loins at the time of his sin. The Ransom, therefore, implies in God's "due time" (1 Tim. 2:5, 6) the complete deliverance of the entire human race from the Adamic sentence. Now, by an imputation, this corresponding price cancels the sins of Jesus' followers (Heb. 9:23; 10:14; 1 John 4:10), and thus gives them an opportunity to gain everlasting life. By and by, through an application, as a gift, it will cancel the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). Hence the world, then free from the Adamic sentence, will be given an opportunity to gain salvation from all the effects of that sentence; for if it was just that through the forfeiture of the human life and liferights of Adam they by heredity became involved in his ruin, it is just that through the substitution of an equivalent of Adam's debt they be freed from the sentence, in order to deliverance from every vestige of the ruin. Accordingly, the Ransom guarantees an opportunity for everybody to be saved. Therefore those who did not enjoy that opportunity in this life will have it in the future life. Thus we see there is hope for the unsaved dead who did not have such an opportunity in this life.
This is exactly the way the Scriptures set forth the matter. In John 12:32, our Lord Jesus declares: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." The "manner of death that He would die" was His Ransom, His sacrificial death, which was completed when He was lifted up on the cross; and Jesus said that this would result in all men being drawn to Him, i.e., in being delivered from the sentence and in being favorably influenced toward Him. But the vast majority were not so delivered and influenced toward Him in this life. Therefore this will occur with them in the next life. In Rom. 5:12-19 St. Paul reasons to the same effect. In vs. 12-14 he shows how Adam's sin brought the death sentence
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(not the eternal torment sentence) upon the entire human family. Then by comparisons and contrasts he shows Adam's sin and its effect for the whole race, and the contrasted righteousness of Jesus unto death and its effects for the whole race. And whereas the one brought sin, wrath and death upon all, so the other brings righteousness and release from wrath and death to all, to the end that all may obtain the right to life, "justification of life." We are witnesses to the fact that "the free gift" "unto justification of life" has come only to the minority in this life; hence its coming to most of the all must be future. We would remark that the italicized word "came" in v. 18 should have been made to read "shall come." Two facts prove this: (1) the fact that the free gift, which v. 16 shows is the forgiveness of sins, did not in this life come to all men, and therefore it must refer to a future event; and (2) the fact that v. 19 gives the reason and explanation for the statement, "The free gift shall come upon all men unto justification of life," by using the future tense, "shall be made righteous," in respect to the Adamic sin. Thus this passage, Rom. 5:12-19, most strongly proves that the Ransom guarantees an opportunity for life to every son and daughter of Adam, and therefore proves that those who did not receive the opportunity in this life will have it in the next life.
1 Tim. 2:4-6 is another passage to the point. In v. 4 two glorious promises are made as an outflow of the Divine good will: (1) that all men will be saved, not eternally, but from the Adamic sentence; and (2) that all men will come into an exact knowledge of the Truth. Three reasons are given in vs. 5 and 6 for these two blessings: (1) the unity of God, which implies that He has all the Wisdom, Power, Justice and Love to effect these two blessings; (2) the Ransom sacrifice and consequent Mediatorial office of Christ Jesus on behalf of all men; and (3) the due seasons of God's Plan, when the blessings of the Ransom will be savingly
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testified—[1] now for the followers of Jesus, the Church, and [2] in the Millennium for the entire world. Thus this passage gives, among other things, the Ransom as the reason for an opportunity for all. Hence there will be an opportunity in the next life for all who did not have such an opportunity in this life.
REASONS FOR DELAY OF RANSOM BENEFITS
A question which may come up to many earnest, thinking students is: If Christ died for the benefit of all mankind, why have the benefits of His death been so long delayed in coming to all mankind? Why did they not flow out to all as soon as He died and was resurrected or at the latest at Pentecost?
In reality we have in one question asked two, which we will answer from the standpoint of their implications in the reverse order of their presentation. Christ's death-benefits could not flow out to all as soon as He died and was resurrected, because the merit of His death was not yet appropriated on behalf of anyone. This was not done until after His ascension, i.e., until Pentecost. While at Calvary our Lord completed the laying down of His human life-rights and His human right to life—His merit—for us, He thereby did not appropriate them to us; He thereby merely made them available for such an appropriation, which was later to be made. In other words, justice was not yet satisfied for our sins at Calvary; for there only the right to life with its corresponding life-rights was separated from Himself in so far as His use of them for Himself was concerned; and thus they were put into a condition in which He could use them for others. Nor by His resurrection did He appropriate them to us; for from the standpoint of God's justice, Christ's resurrection was not the rendering of satisfaction to it, but was the evidence that He had faithfully done the Father's will unto death, and that His righteousness was available for making atonement, which as a matter of fact He had not yet made. In other words; by His death He had set aside a ransom-price sufficient
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to purchase the world, and by His resurrection the proof of this fact was given; but by neither of these Acts did He actually purchase the world. He was by these two Acts in the position of a man who has made the purchase price of a certain property available for buying that property, but who has not yet bought it, though he is fully intending to buy it. What must a person do who has the money to buy a house that is for sale, in order to acquire it for himself? He must pay for it, and obtain the necessary papers, before he is the purchaser and owner of the property in question. And when he does these things the property is his purchased possession. So Christ, making the purchase price available by His death, and by His resurrection being assured that the purchase price was acceptable for the redemption of the race, had to appropriate it for purchasing the possession. And this He did after His ascension only for the Church, not for the world, even as we read in Heb. 9:24 (compare 1 John 2:2): "Christ hath now appeared in the presence of God for us," i.e., as our Advocate at the bar of justice He appeared with the price that satisfies justice for the debt of the Church—those of the culprits for whom He now Acts as Advocate before the bar of Divine justice. It is for this reason that the Holy Spirit could not be given until after He appeared in the presence of God—at Pentecost. St. Paul in Heb. 9:24 traces the matter from the standpoint of type and antitype thus: As Aaron had first to offer the sacrifice in the court so as to make the blood available for sprinkling on the mercy seat for atonement, and thereafter made the atonement by such sprinkling (Lev. 16:11-17) in the Holy of Holies; so Christ, by His death in the justified condition (the antitypical Court) had to make His merit available for atonement, and thereafter, at Pentecost, in heaven (the antitypical Holy of Holies) actually did make the atonement for the Church only. Hence the blessing of His death could not operate on anyone's behalf until
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Pentecost, fifty days after His resurrection. Thus we have answered part of the implications in the first question.
Now for the answer to the rest of the implications in the first and the whole of the second question: Why have the benefits of Christ's death been so long delayed in coming to all mankind? and why did they not come to all at Pentecost? It undoubtedly is a fact that the vast majority of mankind have died without getting the benefits of Christ's death, yea, without even having an opportunity of obtaining them, having never heard of them. It is a further fact that comparatively few have as yet obtained these benefits, and these facts raise in the sincere, thinking student's mind the queries that we are considering. We would give several reasons for this long delay in applying Christ's merit for the whole race: (1) The main reason is that God for the wisest and most benevolent purposes has not willed that during the Gospel Age these benefits should come to everybody, but rather that they be restricted to the faith class—the Elect; for they are the only ones who could be saved under the strenuous conditions of a faith Age, since they are the only ones capable of exercising the necessary faith required by the conditions of such an Age. Therefore God mercifully leaves the others shut up in their unbelief until He has completed the Elect class, who need the schooling of present faith-testing conditions for their proper training for the office of blessing the non-elect with favorable opportunities of obtaining the restitution salvation of the Millennial Age (Rom. 11:30-32). (2) If the benefits of Christ's death were in this faith Age applied for the unbelief-class, every one of them would be eternally lost, because they lack the faith essential to overcoming amid the strenuous conditions of the faith Age (2 Thes. 3:2; Heb. 11:6). (3) Jehovah benevolently designs permitting the unbelief-class now to undergo an experience with evil, which when contrasted with the experience with good, designed by
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Him for them in the next Age, will better than anything else that we can think of turn them into hating and forsaking sin and loving and adhering to righteousness, because experience is the best of all teachers to such characters as the unbelief class. (4) The nearly 2000 years since Calvary have been needed in order that there be enough human beings propagated for replenishing the earth in the Millennium. (5) And, finally, Jehovah has set aside the Millennial Age for the very purpose of instituting a fit time and proper conditions for extending the benefits of Christ's death with best results to the whole non-elect world—conditions which will not require a sightless faith, now required of the Elect. It is for this reason that Christ during the Gospel Age imputes His merit only on behalf of the Elect (Heb. 9:24; 10:14), and reserves the application of His merit on behalf of the world for the Millennial Age, even as Aaron made the first atonement for the Priesthood and Levites only, and then made the second atonement for the people (Lev. 16:6, 11, 14, 9, 15, 17; Heb. 7:27).
SINS TO BE FORGIVEN IN WORLD TO COME
(3) A third Scriptural line of thought proves the proposition that all who had no opportunity for salvation in this life will be given their chance in the next life: Jesus says that all sins except the sin against the Holy Spirit (all other sins are Adamic sins) will be forgiven the children of men. Mark 3:28, 29 is to the point: "All sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness." This passage very clearly teaches that every other sin except the sin against the Holy Spirit will be forgiven the human family. But all experience proves that the vast majority of the human family has not sinned against the Holy Spirit (sinned willfully against clear light) but nevertheless died without the forgiveness of their sins. Therefore the sins of such persons will be forgiven
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in the next life. Hence there is hope for such of the unsaved dead. In the parallel passage of Matt. 12:31, 32, which we will quote from the Revised Version, because it translates the passage better than the A.V., Jesus shows that there are two periods of time for forgiveness of sin: (1) in this world (Age) and (2) in that which is to come; but in neither of them will the sin against the Holy Spirit be forgiven. Hence this passage implies that those sins that are not against the Holy Spirit, and that were not forgiven in this world, will be forgiven in the next: "Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but blasphemy against the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come."
GOD'S CHARACTER A BASIS FOR HOPE
(4) The Character of God, combined with the fact that most unsaved people die with characters reformable under easier conditions than those now prevailing, proves that in the next life, under the easier conditions of the Millennium, an opportunity for reformation will be given to those whose characters are reformable under those easier conditions. Experience and the Scriptures teach that only those who can trust God where they cannot trace Him can under the present evil conditions develop characters fitted for everlasting life (Heb. 11:6; Gal. 3:9). Experience and the Scriptures teach that the unbelieving class, unable to exercise such faith, cannot under present evil conditions develop characters fitted for everlasting life, because through their ignorance and weaknesses Satan blinds and misleads them (2 Cor. 4:4); and that therefore God gives them up to their unbelieving condition, that later, under easier conditions, He may show them mercy through which they can reform (Rom. 11:30-32). Thus we see that some pass out of this life with characters which can be reformed, if
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they are given a chance for reformation amid conditions conductive to their reformation such as the Bible assures us the Millennial conditions will be. Death does not fix character either in good or in evil any more than natural sleep fixes character in good or evil. Therefore there is nothing about death that can estop the Almighty's willingness to help people to reform; for the only thing that estops Him from reformatory efforts is irreformability in the wilfully wicked.
The Bible shows us that God delights to use His Wisdom, Power, Justice and Love (the chief qualities of His Character) in ways to help people to reform (Rev. 15:3, 4). These qualities moved Him to send His Son to be a Ransom for all. To have given His Son unto death for all was the greatest sacrifice that He could make to save man. And if His Almighty Wisdom, Power, Justice and Love were displayed in giving His Son to die for all mankind's blessing, with an opportunity of recovery from the curse and of gaining eternal life, would His Wisdom, Power, Justice and Love stop short of doing easier things—such as putting the race under conditions that would be conducive to the reformation of even the weakest of the race for whom He did the hardest thing—gave His Son unto death for them (Rom. 8:32)? Verily His Holy Character, being strong enough to do the hardest thing for them, will not stop short of doing the easier thing, i.e., giving them a chance for recovery amid conditions in which they could reform, as the unbelieving class cannot now reform. This therefore implies that later on God will arrange to help those to reformation whom in this life He did not so help.
ELECT SELECTED TO BLESS NON-ELECT
(5) The Bible gives a fifth fact that proves an opportunity for those of the unsaved dead who in this life were denied the opportunity of gaining salvation: God's object in electing the Church now from
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among mankind is that in the next life He may use this elect Church as His Agent to bless with opportunities of salvation all the non-elect, i.e., those passed by during the present life, in which only the Elect, the faith class, are dealt with. The Bible teaches that the human family consists of two classes: (1) a faith class (Gal. 3:7-9; 2 Cor. 5:7), and (2) an unbelieving class (2 Thes. 3:2; Rom. 11:30-32). God, foreknowing that under conditions that require a strong faith in order for one to overcome, the faith class could, but the unbelieving class could not gain salvation, predetermined to give only the faith class the opportunity to gain salvation while those conditions would prevail.
This procedure is wise, just and loving, and is in the interests of all concerned. In other words, the loving heart of God desires ardently to help all His fallen creatures, and therefore He arranged His Plan in such a way as will be to the best interests of all concerned. If He should put the unbelieving class on trial for life amid present conditions, in which it would be impossible for any of them to be saved, since these conditions require faith, which they do not have, He would be acting against His Wisdom, Justice and Love, a thing that He will not do. How much more like the good God that He is, to defer the trial of the unbelieving class until conditions prevail amid which they can overcome, and now give only those a trial who amid conditions that make the exercise of faith necessary can exercise the required faith and thus win out. How much more like Him to select this very faith class for the purpose of preparing them to help the unbelieving class to reformation when their trial time comes! And because of the faith class being faithful under the harder conditions, He, of course, gives them a greater reward. It is even so according to the Scriptures. St. James teaches (Acts 15:14-17) that during the Gospel Age God has been visiting the nations to take, select, out of them a people for His name, the Elect. He likewise shows that after
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this is done the Lord will return and establish the Kingdom, in order that the residue (Webster defines the word residue to mean that which is left after a part is taken from it) of men might seek after the Lord, i.e., seek salvation. The Elect are the part taken out and the non-elect are the residue of men, those that are left after the Elect are taken out from among men. Hence we see that God first, in this Age, deals with the Elect for salvation; then, in the next Age, will deal with the non-elect for their salvation.
In Rom., Chaps. 9, 10 and 11, St. Paul shows that because of unbelief Israel as a nation failed to gain a place among the Elect, and that God has gathered the faith class from among both Jews and Gentiles, making them the Elect. In Chapter 11 he shows God's loving design in this matter. Particularly in vs. 25-33 does he show that God permitted Israel to stumble and wander about in their unbelief, while He during the Gospel Age would gather the Elect out of all nations, in order to use them after the Gospel Age, i.e., during the Millennium, to show mercy toward the unbelieving class in Israel. V. 25 shows that they would have to remain in their blindness until the full number of the Elect from among the Gentiles, "the fullness of the Gentiles," would come into their trial period. Vs. 26 and 27 show that after this the Lord would recover them from their blindness, forgive them and make the New Covenant with them. Vs. 28, 29 show that it was to effect the operation of the elective features of the Gospel that God permitted Israel to fall in their unbelief into enmity with the Lord and His elect people; yet because of their relations to the promises given the fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Lord still loves them, and will not change His purpose to bless them and make them a blessing in the Millennium.
Vs. 30, 31 show that while Israel because of unbelief during the Gospel Age has not had the kindness that the Gospel Church because of faith has had, i.e., the privilege of trial for the elective salvation, yet the
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Gospel Church is having this trial for the very purpose of showing during the Millennium the kindness of granting a trial for life to the unbelieving class in Israel, i.e., that class that throughout the Gospel Age has been dying in unbelief. V. 32 shows that this has been all along the loving design of God in leaving the unbelieving class in Israel in their unbelieving condition in one generation after another throughout the Gospel Age. How clear this makes the language of the aged Simeon (Luke 2:34), who said of the child Jesus: "This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel." The unbelieving class in Israel throughout the Age stumbled and fell over Jesus and died in that condition; but thanks be to God the very ones who fell will "rise again." And as they did not "rise again" in this life, it must be that they will "rise again" in the next, "that through your mercy," the mercy that the Elect in the Millennium will show them, "they also may obtain mercy; for God hath concluded them all [left them all unhelped] in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all! O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable [to the natural man, but understood by the spiritual man (1 Cor. 2:7-16)] are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" Let us praise our God for the understanding of this glorious mystery! It surely reveals a future opportunity for those who had none in this life. Other passages also give the thought that the Elect are now given their trial in order later to bless the non-elect with a trial for life, e.g., Rom. 8:16-23; Gal. 3:8, 13-16, 29; John 17:20-23; Rev. 22:17. How beautifully clear, harmonious and lovable is the teaching of the Bible as just shown on the subject of the Elect and the Non-elect! Surely we may well love and worship a God who has arranged so benevolent and practical a Plan as this!
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TWOFOLD EXPERIENCE OF THE NON—ELECT
(6) The Bible teaches a twofold experience for the Non-elect, those who in this life were not given the opportunity of gaining the elective salvation. It teaches that in this life they will have an experience with evil amid which, with experience as a teacher, they will learn just what sin is and just what its effects are. It further teaches that to those who have in this life undergone the experience with evil there will in the next life be given an experience with good amid which, with experience as a teacher, they will learn what righteousness is and what are its effects. The Bible also teaches that the experience with evil, which has come to all by Father Adam's sin, is given the race while the curse prevails among men. And it teaches that the experience with good, effected for all by Christ's Ransom sacrifice laid down in righteousness, will come after the Adamic sentence is lifted from the race, i.e., during the Millennium, the thousand years of Christ's reign on the earth. The Bible further teaches that exactly opposite conditions accompany the two experiences; and thus God will most effectively teach the race to hate sin, from an experimental knowledge of its nature and effects, and all the more thoroughly, because of the contrast, to love righteousness, from an experimental knowledge of its nature and effects.
The human family's experience with evil is accompanied by the following bad things: sin, error, Satan's controllership in human affairs, the earth under the curse (having earthquakes, volcanoes, tidal waves, tornadoes, droughts and extremes of climate), mankind having pain, sickness, sorrow, disappointments, losses, hardships, necessities, enmities, calamities, hard labor, accidents, false religions, oppressive governments, predatory aristocracies, lawlessness, wars, famine, pestilences, persecution of the righteous, exaltation of the wicked, selfishness, cruelty, dying and death. The experience with good will be accompanied by the
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following good things, the reverse of the present evils: righteousness, truth, Christ's controllership in human affairs, a Paradisiac earth with no convulsions of nature, pleasure, joy, prosperity, gains, comforts, abundance, friendships, semi-tropical climate, a reasonable amount of work with no labor, no accidents, no calamities, the true religion, a fostering government, a benevolent equality and fraternity, lawful conduct, peace, plenty, public weal, reward of the righteous, correction of wrong-doers, brotherly love, kindness, convalescence, health and life. The Bible clearly teaches that the Non-elect will have both of these experiences. If this can be proven, it would of course follow that there will be an opportunity for all the non-elect dead in the next life.
Rom. 8:19-22 is a passage that shows these two experiences. V. 19 shows that the human race, the creature, literally, as the same word is translated in v. 22, the (human) creation, is now, while under the curse (v. 22), earnestly longing for and is kept waiting for a better time, a time when the Sons of God, Jesus and His faithful followers, will be manifested in the glories of the Kingdom (Col. 3:4; Dan. 7:13, 14, 18, 22, 27; Rom. 8:17; Jude 14). V. 20 shows that the human family, without fault of its own, but through Adam's sin, was subject to the curse, "vanity," but is not to be left hopelessly under the curse; for v. 21 shows that it is to be delivered from the curse, in order that it may obtain the liberty that will be the portion of all who become sons of God, a liberty that Jesus and the Church will minister to the obedient in the Kingdom. Then v. 22 shows the experience of evil to be universal in the human family. Thus vs. 19, 20 and 22 show the experience of evil and then we find verse 21 shows the deliverance from the curse of evil, i.e., the experience of righteousness, for all who were all their life-time subject to the curse ("vanity"), and this in order that they may gain life on condition of obedience. Rom. 11:30-32 contains
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the same thought, an experience of woe meted out to Israel throughout the Gospel Age, in which they were excluded from mercy, the favor of God, to be followed by an experience of bliss, in which the very ones who experienced the woe throughout this life will experience the mercy, the favor, of God through the glorious blessings that the Gospel Church, glorified with Jesus, will in mercy minister to them.
Psalm 90 contains the same thought. In vs. 1 and 2 Jehovah in His eternity is set forth. V. 3 in its first clause refers to the experience of evil as a turning of man into destruction; while the experiences of good are referred to in its last clause as a returning from destruction. V. 4 refers to a thousand-year period (the Millennium) as the time of the return from destruction, and the turning to the experience with good. Vs. 5-10 describe various features (fifteen in all) of the curse, amid which the experience with evil is had; while v. 11 asks as to the power (meaning) of the experience of evil, and answers that it is designed to work reverence for God, which v. 12 teaches will be accomplished, if its lessons are taken to heart. V. 13 prays for the return from the experience of evil, i.e., for a change of procedure ("Let it repent Thee") from the experiences of evil so far undergone. V. 14 shows that the very ones who suffered sorrows (the experiences of evil) all their days (v. 9), therefore until the time of their death, are praying that in another set of all their days, in the next life, the time of the experience with good, they may be full of joy and happiness. V. 15 contains the prayer that, as in all the days of the first life they were afflicted and saw (experienced) evil, they may in the second life be glad, and thus realize the purpose that God had in permitting evil to fill their first life. V. 16 contains a prayer that Jesus and the Church as God's servants may carry forward the work of blessing mankind, i.e., giving them the experience with good, and that the world of mankind, the children of Jesus and the
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Church, who are the Second Adam and Eve, may carry forward God's glory; while v. 17 prays for the renewal of God's image (the beauty of the Lord) and His likeness (the work of ruling the earth, as God has the work of ruling the Universe) to be given to those who in the "all days" of this life experienced evil, and who will in the "all days" of the next life experience good. Thus this Psalm and the other Scriptures previously quoted prove from the standpoint of the two experiences (one with evil, the other with good) that there is hope for those of the unsaved dead who in this life did not experience the mercy, the favor, of Jehovah, our God.
FACTS PROVE THE PROPOSITION
(7) A seventh proof that the Bible holds out hope for those of the unsaved dead who did not have the opportunity of salvation in this life is, that the facts that it sets forth demonstrate it. The Bible teaches that the people who were destroyed by fire and brimstone at Sodom, Gomorrah and in the other cities of the plains, together with the Jews of the northern ten-tribed kingdom and the Jews of the southern two-tribed kingdom, in spite of their wickedness in this life (Ezek. 16:44-52), will come back to this earth and live here again (Ezek. 16:53); that the Jews will repent of their sins (Ezek. 16:54, 57-59, 61, 63); that God will make a New Covenant with them (Ezek. 16:60, 62); and that He will give the people of Sodom, etc., and the people of Samaria, etc., to the Jews for daughters, i.e., such as they will convert to the Lord; for those who are converted by others are Scripturally spoken of as the latters' children (Gal. 4:19; 1 Cor. 4:15; Is. 60:4). In Ezek. 16:55 the work of restoring Sodom and her daughters (people subject to her), Samaria and her daughters, and Jerusalem and her daughters, is called their return to their former estate, Restitution (Acts 3:21), a return to the original condition of perfection in which the race was in Adam, before sin entered the world, to God's image
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and likeness. Our Lord Jesus corroborates this thought with respect to the people subject to Sodom (Matt. 11:23, 24), and adds hope for the Phoenicians, the people of Tyre and Sidon (Matt. 11:21, 22), showing that they were all less guilty than were the Israelites, who the Scriptures declare will have this opportunity, and that these will have an easier time than will the unbelieving Jews of His day, when He shall reign over the earth in the Day of Judgment (Luke 22:29, 30). Surely if these will have an opportunity, all the rest of the unsaved dead who in this life were excluded from the opportunity of salvation will have it, "in that Day." Thus the declarations of the Bible prove a hope for many of the unsaved dead.
THE CHRIST'S OFFICIAL NAMES
(8) As an eighth proof that the Bible holds out hope for those of the unsaved dead who in this life did not have an opportunity of gaining salvation, we present the fact that the Bible gives to Jesus and His faithful Church official names that prove such an opportunity for those who will be the objects of the official Acts implied in these names. We find that in their future official relations to the world of mankind they are called, among other names, (1) Saviors, (2) Priests, (3) Kings, (4) Prophet, or Teacher, (5) Parents, (6) First-Fruits and (7) the Seed of Abraham who will bless the entire human family. Let us briefly consider these Scriptural names applied to Jesus and the Church, His Body, in their future official relations to mankind, and we will see how the Lord indicates through them a work of salvation performed on behalf of those who died without having an opportunity of gaining the elective salvation. Take, e.g., the name Saviors, which is applied to them in the Scripture: "Saviors shall come up on Mount Zion, to judge the Mount of Esau; and the Kingdom shall be the Lord's" (Obad. 21). We are familiar with the Biblical teaching that Jacob types the Elect, and Esau types the Non-elect (Rom. 9:10-13). As God loved Jacob more
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than He loved Esau, so this types how He loves the Elect more than He loves the Non-elect. And as God chose Jacob and rejected Esau, so God now chooses the Elect and rejects the Non-elect. However, while, as typed in Isaac's giving Jacob the chief blessing (Gen. 27:28, 29), God gives the Elect the chief blessing, yet as typed in Isaac's later giving Esau a minor, though a rich blessing (Gen. 27:36-39), God will in the next Age give a minor, though a rich blessing, to the Non-elect. This is the line of thought brought to our attention in Obad. 21. In this verse Mount Zion stands for the Kingdom that brings salvation, the Millennial Kingdom (Joel 2:32; Obad. 17). The Saviors that come up on it are Jesus and His Church, the Elect (Is. 2:2, 3; 60:14, 15, 18; Rom. 11:26, 30-32). As Saviors they will judge the Mount of Esau, the Non-elect, by delivering them from their enemies (Sin, Death and the Grave), even as the judges in Israel in judging Israel saved them from their enemies. And this glorious result will be attained, as the text assures us, because "the Kingdom shall be the Lord's." Thus the Elect as Saviors will repair the breach made by Adam, and will restore for the Non-elect the paths of righteousness forsaken by Adam and the Non-elect (Is. 58:12). This, of course, proves an opportunity for the Non-elect during the Kingdom, at the hands of the Saviors, Jesus and His Church, His Bride.
Again, the official name Priests applied to Jesus and the Church proves the same thing (Heb. 3:1; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 20:6). A Priest is one who, on the basis of a sacrifice which he offers to God on behalf of others, acts as a reconciler between God and man (Heb. 5:1; 2:17). Jesus and His fellow Priests offer sacrifices to God in this life (Heb. 5:1, 5; 9:11, 12; 13:15, 16:1 Pet. 2:5). Christ as a Priest has during this Age appeared in the presence of God on behalf of the Elect, but not on behalf of the Non-elect (Heb. 9:24; 10:14; John 17:9), even as Aaron in typing this matter appeared in the Holy of Holies first for the
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elect tribe of Levi alone with the bullock's blood (Lev. 16:11). But as afterward Aaron made reconciliation for the rest of Israel with the Goat's blood, and then blessed them (Lev. 16:15), so after the sacrifice of the Church is complete and Christ in the Millennium appears in God's presence for the world, He and the Church will bless the Non-elect world. The fact that the Church with Jesus will then be Priests (Rev. 20:6) proves that there will be others on whose behalf they will make reconciliation: the Non-elect. Thus the official name, Priests, proves that Christ and the Church will give an opportunity of salvation to the Non-elect dead.
The official name Kings applied to Jesus and the Church proves the same thing. Jesus and the Church are called Kings (Rev. 19:16; Rom. 5:17; 2 Tim. 2:12; 1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 20:4, 6). The Reign of Jesus and the Church, we are expressly told, is for the purpose of destroying all the works of Satan, prominent among which are sin, death and the grave (Rom. 8:19-21; 1 Cor. 15:24-26, 55-57). The contrasted picture from which to view the work of salvation from the standpoint of the Kings and Kingdom is the following: Satan, the usurper, is now the "prince of this world" (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11); he is now by sin ruling in the hearts of the children of disobedience (Eph. 2:2), blinding them by error (2 Cor. 4:4), tyrannizing over them by the woes accompanying the dying process, and landing them in the death state (Heb. 2:14). At the beginning of the Millennium the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (Rev. 11:15); Satan, the usurper, is seized, bound and imprisoned (Rev. 20:1-3); and Christ and the Church reigning (Rev. 20:4, 6; 1 Cor. 15:24-26, 55-57), free the race from the grave, from the woes of the dying process and from sin. This means the awakening of all the dead who die in Adam (Ps. 22:28, 29) and their being helped to reformation (Rom. 14:9). Therefore
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the official name, Kings, applied to Jesus and the Church implies an opportunity for the Non-elect dead.
The official name Prophet, or Teacher, given to Jesus and the Church, implies that they will teach mankind the way of Salvation. Jesus is called Prophet, or Teacher, in connection with the Times of Restitution, when as already shown the Non-elect dead will come forth for an opportunity of salvation (Acts 3:22, 23, 21; John 1:9). The Church is also spoken of as teaching the world in the Millennial Age (Is. 60:1-5, 14, 15; 2:2, 3; 62:1, 2, 10; Ps. 22:30, 31, 27-29; Is. 42:6, 7, 10-12; 49:6, 8-12, comp. 2 Cor. 6:1, 2). Therefore this official name of Jesus, and the Church also, especially as the connections of the passages above cited show, proves an opportunity for the Non-elect dead to gain salvation.
The names Father and Mother are likewise given to Christ and the Church with respect to the Non-elect of mankind who will during the Millennium become their children. Jesus is called the Everlasting Father (Is. 9:6) in view of His giving the obedient of the race everlasting life in the next Age. His name, Second Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), pictures Him as taking Adam's place and becoming the second Father of the race by regenerating it in righteousness and life. In the Scriptures the faithful Church is spoken of as the Bride, the Lamb's Wife (Rev. 19:7-9; 21:9, 10, comp. Is. 66:10-14, where she is described as a mother, nursing, caring for, loving and comforting her children. See also Is. 60:4, where a similar picture is presented of her). Just as Jesus is set forth as the antitype of Adam (Rom. 5:14; the Second Adam), so the Church is set forth as the antitype of Eve (the Second Eve; 2 Cor. 11:2, 3; Eph. 5:31, 32). Just as the first Adam and Eve by self-indulgence brought sin into the world, so the Second Adam and Eve by self-sacrifice suffer to take away sin from the world. And as the first Adam and Eve generated the race in sin and death, so the Second Adam and Eve will regenerate
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the race in righteousness and life. And as the very ones that were generated in sin and death are through the Ransom-merit to be given an opportunity of being regenerated in righteousness and life by the new Father and Mother of the race, the official names, Father and Mother, respectively applied in the Bible to Jesus and the Church, prove a chance of salvation for the Non-elect dead.
Another official name applied to Jesus and the Church, the First-fruits, proves the same thing. Jesus is called the First-fruits (1 Cor. 15:20). So, too, the Church is with Him called the First-fruits (Rom. 8:23; Jas. 1:18; Rev. 14:4). First-fruits logically imply after-fruits; and the obedient of the world of mankind during the Millennium will be the after-fruits. Thus we have another name applied to Jesus and the Church implying an opportunity for salvation that will come later to the Non-elect dead.
A seventh official name of Jesus and the Church implies an opportunity for salvation for the Non-elect dead: The Seed of Abraham, that would bless all the families, nations and kindreds of the earth (Gen. 22:18; 28:14; Acts 3:25). Jesus and the Church are this Seed (Gal. 3:16, 29; Rom. 9:7, 8; Gal. 4:28). Most of the individuals of the nations, kindreds and families of the earth died under the Adamic curse; hence they departed this life unblessed. Therefore they must be awakened from the dead in order to receive the blessing promised in the Oath-bound Covenant, a Promise that sets forth three glorious features: (1) that there would be a Seed of Abraham; (2) that this Seed would do a work of blessing; and (3) that this work of blessing would extend to all the Non-elect, dead or living. Hence the official name of Jesus and the Church, the Seed of Abraham, implies an opportunity for the Non-elect dead. Accordingly, we have proven from seven of the official names of Jesus and the Church that their official work in the Millennium will be, among other things, to give an opportunity for
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salvation to all who departed this life without having had such an opportunity. There are other official names Biblically applied to Jesus and the Church that prove the same thing, such as Mediator, Judge, City of God, Redeemer, Temple of God, Tree of Life, New Heavens, etc., etc.; but the seven briefly described above abundantly prove the point. In our book, "The Bible" (Chap. 3), we gave a list of 21 of these offices.
EVERY PART OF AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL
(9) As a ninth argument in proof of an opportunity for those of the unsaved dead who did not have the opportunity of gaining the salvation now operating, we set forth the fact that all of the things that constitute an opportunity of obtaining salvation will come to everybody who has ever lived; consequently, those who did not have these blessings in this life will get them after they are awakened from the dead. We will at once recognize that the following things constitute an opportunity of obtaining salvation: (1) removal of the Adamic sentence, (2) knowledge of Divine Truth, (3) conditions conducive to righteousness and inconducive to sin, (4) a favorable influence toward Christ, (5) submission to, and acknowledgment of, Christ, (6) the offer of consecration, and (7) the offer of the Holy Spirit. If we can prove that all of these seven things will be the experience of the whole human family who did not have the opportunity in this life, it will prove that they are to experience them in the next life, and that therefore there is hope for those of the unsaved dead who did not have the opportunity of obtaining salvation in this life. We now will proceed to prove from the Bible that these seven things will be experienced by all the Non-elect.
[1] All will be freed from the Adamic sentence, which implies that all will be awakened from the dead; for the Adamic sentence is death (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:21, 22); hence to free them from the death sentence implies their being brought out of death, no longer under the Adamic condemnation. The following
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Scriptures prove that on the basis of Christ's death for everyone, all will be saved (freed) from the Adamic sentence (Rom. 5:18, 19; 11:26; 1 Tim. 2:4-6; 4:10; John 1:29; 3:17; Heb. 2:9; 1 John 2:2). When certain of these verses speak of all being saved, they do not refer to eternal salvation, but to salvation by Christ's death from the death sentence brought upon all by Adam's sin. Hence these passages prove that all who in this life were not delivered from the Adamic death sentence will, after death, through Christ's sacrifice, be delivered from it; and as this sentence produces death, deliverance from it implies one's being awakened from death, and that free from its sentence. Freedom from the death sentence is an experience necessary for an opportunity of salvation; for as long as one is under the death sentence he cannot gain everlasting life.
[2] All will be indoctrinated in the Word of God; for as people cannot be saved by ignorance, they must come into a knowledge of the Truth to be saved (Acts 4:12; 11:14). Both the Old and the New Testaments prove that those who in this life did not gain the knowledge of the Truth for salvation will obtain it later. The following are some of the Scriptures that teach this thought as true of the Millennial Age when the earth (Is. 11:9; Hab. 2:14) will be full of the knowledge of God, whereas now (Is. 60:2; 2 Cor. 4:4) darkness (error) covers the earth (Is. 29:18, 24; 35:4-6; 40:5; 42:6, 7; 49:6; 50:10; John 1:9; Acts 3:21, 22; 1 Tim. 2:4, 6; Rev. 20:3; 22:17). Such a knowledge, of course, will give them an opportunity to obtain life; for it is the second feature of an opportunity for salvation.
[3] The Bible teaches that all will be placed under conditions inconducive to sin and conducive to righteousness, and, of course, under such conditions reformation and everlasting life will be possible to even the weakest and most degraded.' The following are the conditions inconducive to sin and conducive to righteousness
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which will be made available for all during Messiah's reign: The curse will be taken from the earth (Is. 61:4), and the earth will become Paradise Restored (Ezek. 36:35; Is. 35:1, 2); Satan and his fallen angels will be restrained and will be unable to mislead the people (Rev. 20:1-3), and Christ and the Church will have control for their good (Ps. 72:8; Rev. 20:4, 6); error and sin will be destroyed (Is. 25:7; 1 Cor. 15:25, 55-57), and truth and righteousness will prevail (Is. 11:9; 62:12); the sentence will be removed from man (Rom. 5:19) and the opportunity of gaining restitution will be given to him (Acts 3:19-21); sorrow and sighing will flee away, and joy and gladness will take their place (Is. 35:10; Luke 2:10); war and strife shall cease (Is. 2:4), and peace and good-will will take their place (Is. 9:7; Luke 2:14); people will no more be persecuted and injured for righteousness (Is. 25:8); but they will greatly prosper for righteousness (Ps. 72:7); the wicked will be summarily punished for wrong (Ps. 37:35, 36), and will be striped for their reformation (Is. 26:9); false religious systems will be destroyed (Is. 65:15; Rev. 18:8-24), and the one true religion will be embraced by all (Is. 60:14, 15); oppressive governments will be destroyed (Is. 60:12), and the fostering government of Jesus and the Church will be in control (Ps. 72:12-14); people will no more be dispossessed of their homes, nor have to rent other people's property (Is. 65:22); but each will enjoy his own property unmolested (Mic. 4:4); they will no more engage in unproductive labor (Is. 65:23), but will greatly prosper in their undertakings (Is. 60:17). Certainly these conditions are inconducive to sin and conducive to righteousness; therefore they will furnish a most favorable opportunity for salvation for mankind. Conditions conducive to salvation are a third feature of an opportunity for salvation, and the foregoing Scriptures prove them to be purposed for the unsaved dead of the world.
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[4] Moreover, the Bible teaches that all who were not in this life favorably influenced toward Christ will in the next life be so influenced. Jesus says (John 12:32), "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth [in the next verse St. John explains this expression as referring to Jesus' Ransom-sacrificial death and His Millennial Reign, by which He will glorify God], will draw all men unto Me." All of us know that in this life comparatively few were drawn unto Christ (John 6:44; Matt. 7:14). Therefore all who were not in this life drawn (favorably influenced) to Him must be drawn to Him after this life, or John 12:32 would be untrue. But the passage is true; hence those not drawn to Him in this life will be drawn to Him in the next life, in the Millennium.
[5] The Bible teaches that all will yield submission to Jesus and acknowledge His right to reign over them (Phil. 2:10, 11; Is. 45:23; Ps. 22:29; Rom. 14:9). All have not in this life submitted to Him, nor have all in this life recognized His right to reign over them. Hence this must occur in the next life in the case of those who did not do these things in this life. Phil. 2:10 shows that this includes the dead, i.e., those under the earth; and so Ps. 22:29 and Rom. 14:9 directly state it of them. Such submission and recognition are a part of the experiences of those undergoing an opportunity for salvation.
[6] The Scriptures teach that the opportunity of consecration to the Lord will be given to everybody on earth during the Millennium; and this includes those who will then be brought back to this earth from the dead. Is. 35:8 is to the point. In v. 4 Christ's Second Advent, accomplishing the overthrow of Satan's empire and the punishment of its supporters, in the Great Tribulation, is set forth. Vs. 5, 6 teach how He will enlighten, reform and uplift sinful humanity, and the restoration of Paradise is taught in vs. 7, 1 and 2. V. 8 teaches the opening of the Highway of Holiness for the unclean (Adam's sin-defiled race), who, however,
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must cleanse themselves, if they would pass over its full length. A highway, in contrast with a narrow way (a private lane), is a public road thrown open to everybody. In the Highway everything will be made so plain and clear that the most simple shall not err therein. V. 9 shows that all harmful things will be taken away from it; but that the redeemed, those who will by the Ransom be delivered from the death sentence (1 Tim. 2:4, 5), will be privileged to walk there. V. 10 shows that the dead, whom Christ's Ransom also covers (Hos. 13:14), will return from the tomb and come to Zion, Jesus and the Church, in connection with that Highway of Holiness. Hence this Scripture proves that an opportunity of consecration will be open to those of the dead who in this life did not consecrate; and the opportunity to consecrate is the sixth constituent element of a chance for salvation.
[7] The final thing that belongs to an opportunity of salvation is the offer of the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that this offer will be open to everybody. In Joel 2:28, 29 a remarkable promise is made, reversing the expression of the thought from the time order of the fulfillment. In v. 29 Jehovah tells us that He would pour out His Spirit for His servants and handmaidens (the Elect), a thing that He has been doing during the Gospel Age, "in those days"; and in v. 28 He tells us that He would, "after those days," after the Gospel Age, hence during the Millennium, pour out His Spirit "for all flesh." Hence those for whom it was not poured out in this life will have it poured out for them in the next life; and those that obey will receive it (Acts 5:32), and will by it be lifted up to perfection, if they continue to obey. But according to Joel 2:28 all will be given the opportunity to receive it, though none will be forced to obey and thus receive it. Thus the opportunity of receiving the Holy Spirit will be offered to all. The offer of the opportunity of receiving the Holy Spirit is an indispensable part of a chance for salvation, being its seventh and last feature.
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Thus we have proven from the Scriptures that the seven things that constitute a full opportunity for salvation will come to every human being. But they did not come to everybody in this life. Therefore they will come to such after this life, in the Millennium.
CURSE TO BE REMOVED GRADUALLY
(10) We now continue this discussion with a tenth reason for hope on behalf of some of the unsaved dead. The Bible teaches that during the Millennium the curse that Adam brought upon the human family will be gradually removed, requiring the entire thousand years for its completion. Rev. 21:3-5 proves that this will come to pass through the presence of God's Tabernacle (Christ and the Church—"which temple ye are"; 1 Cor. 3:17; Eph. 2:19-22) on earth among men. Rev. 22:1-3 proves this through the presence among men of the Throne of God and of the Lamb (God's Royal authority exercised by Jesus and the Church), the River of Life (God's pure Word), and the Tree of Life (Jesus and the Church). 1 Cor. 15:24-26 shows that the Kingly power of Christ during His reign will extirpate every effect of Satan's usurpatory rule and activity among men, chief among which are sin, death and the grave. 1 Cor. 15:54-57 shows that the Church will share with Jesus in achieving this victory over sin, death and the grave on behalf of the race; and Hos. 13:14 shows that it will all flow from the Ransom-sacrifice of Christ. Glory be to God for such a glorious prospect! This consideration shows that an opportunity for salvation awaits those who did not have such opportunity in this life; for these all died under the curse, whose destruction implies that it will no longer extend over any one.
Before giving further proofs that there is hope for the unsaved dead, we take up some related questions.
DOES "ALL" (1 Tim. 2:6) MEAN EVERYONE?
First, is it right to say that the word "all" in such Scriptures as 1 Tim. 2:4, 6 means all, in view of the Scriptural use of this word in Matt. 3:5, etc., where
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apparently it does not mean all? It is true that sometimes the word "all" does not Scripturally mean everybody, i.e., is not universal in its application, as the case cited in the question proves. However, this fact does not contradict the thought that this word is almost always universal in its application. So generally is this the case that the burden of the proof always falls upon the one who asserts that in a given passage it does not include every one or every thing, as the case may be. In 1 Tim. 2:4, 6 the word "all," for three reasons, evidently means everybody: (1) The Scriptures clearly teach, in harmony with 1 Tim. 2:4, that God loves all men unto salvation from the Adamic sentence. We cite among others the following passages in proof of this statement: Gen. 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; John 3:16, 17; 1 Tim, 4:10; Tit. 2:11; 3:4; Heb. 2:9. (2) Again, the Scriptures clearly teach that Jesus Christ died to save all men from the Adamic sentence. Please see the following passages in proof of this thought: John 1:29; 3:15-17; 12:32, 33; Rom. 5:18, 19; 1 Cor. 15:21, 22; Heb. 2:9; 1 John 2:2. (3) Finally, as a result of the love of God and of the death of Jesus Christ for all men unto salvation from the Adamic sentence, the Bible teaches that all men will be invited and helped by the Holy Spirit to come into harmony with God. On this point please note the following passages, which by no means are an exhaustive list of pertinent Scriptures: Ps. 2:8; 22:27-29; 86:9; 98:2, 3; Is. 2:2; 11:9; 25:6; 29:18, 24; 35:5, 6, 10; 40:5; 45:22, 23; 52:10; Jer. 31:34; Joel 2:28; Luke 2:10, 31-34; John 1:9; 12:32; Tit. 2:11; 3:4; Rev. 22:17. If we attentively study 1 Tim. 2:4-6 we will note that these three lines of thought are clearly emphasized in that passage. Thus on the first point the Apostle, in v. 4, directly states that God's good will—love—is toward the whole human family, to the end that they may be saved from the Adamic sentence: "God will [literally, willeth to] have all men to be saved" [not
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everlastingly, but from the Adamic sentence]. The second point—Jesus' Ransom-sacrifice for all men—is directly taught in v. 6, where the Apostle says of Christ Jesus that He "gave Himself [unto death] a ransom [a corresponding price] for all" [Adam and the whole race in his loins]. So, too, the Spirit's proffered help for all men unto salvation—is taught in vs. 4 and 6 in the words, "God will [willeth to] have all men … come unto the knowledge of the Truth … to be testified in due time [during the Millennium]." These three considerations, therefore, prove that "all" in 1 Tim. 2:4, 6 means every one of Adam's race, including Adam himself.
UNIVERSAL REDEMPTION OR SALVATION?
A second question that may arise is: Do the Scriptures teach universal redemption or universal salvation, or do they teach both? We would answer that this is a matter that might be stated in different terms and yet stated correctly. We might say that we have universal redemption, in that the redemption is on behalf of all, and that the results of the death of Christ will be made efficacious to all of Adam's race. When it is made efficacious to all it will mean their salvation—either that they will be actually and fully saved out of sin and death conditions, or that they will have a full, complete opportunity for recovery out of sin and death, with only their wills to intervene. Through Christ the work of the first Adam will be entirely undone. Each member of the race will be privileged to come back to all that was lost, if he will. An everlasting salvation, a complete deliverance from sin and death, will require the individual's full co-operation. There is a Law of God which when broken leads to a sentence of death, as in the case of Father Adam. Broken by anyone who has been delivered from the sentence of Adam and fully restored, that Law would mean that individual's condemnation to death afresh. The Bible speaks of this condemnation as the Second Death, which it teaches
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some will undergo. The first death passed upon all because of one man's sin. The second death will pass upon none except for wilful, intelligent sin of the individual, which the Bible teaches some will commit. Such a sin could not be committed until first such ones had been delivered from the sentence previously upon them through Father Adam—the first death sentence. The world therefore, could not now die the Second Death, because the world is not yet released from the first death. No man could be judicially tried and condemned to death twice for the same offense. To have a second sentence he must have come, either actually or reckonedly, from under the first sentence, and then committed a second offense. The world—Adam and all his race—has been condemned once. Not until they shall be released from that condemnation could they come into a fresh condemnation.
Hence the Bible declares it to be God's purpose that there shall be a great Day, a thousand-year Day, in which Christ will give the world a judgment, or trial. The right to give them this trial our Lord Jesus has secured by His own death, having tasted death for Adam and all his posterity condemned in him (Heb. 2:9). The death of our Lord, a perfect man, would be the full offset of the sentence upon the first man. Thus the way is open for the great "Times of Restitution" spoken of by the Apostle Peter (Acts 3:19-21). So our Lord Jesus has become the Redeemer, the Purchaser, of Adam and all his race. He has not yet fully accomplished the work of purchase; for the application of the merit of His sacrifice for the world is to follow His Second Advent, when the Church shall have been completed. As soon as this purchase shall have been effected, the cancellation of the sin of the world will be made. The world will then be turned over to Christ, free from the penalty of original, or Adamic sin; and each individual will have a full opportunity, or trial, or judgment, to determine his real character, his real intention, his real attitude
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toward right and toward wrong, toward God and toward sin. This will affect first the living nations, and then, gradually, those who will be in the tomb, as they shall come forth. This will be universal redemption, or deliverance, from the Adamic death penalty, universal purchase from death; but not universal deliverance or salvation to eternal life, which will be conditional.
The Apostle Paul, in speaking about this great trial Day, or Judgment Day, of the world, says, "God hath appointed a Day [future] in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He path ordained" (Acts 17:31). The word "man" in this case is evidently used in a figurative way to represent Jesus the Head of The Christ and the Church His Body, who are to constitute the great Mediator between God and men for a thousand years, for the purpose of giving all mankind a full release from the Adamic penalty and a full opportunity to return to God. "Whosoever will" may have that full opportunity and may, by improving it, be found worthy of everlasting life. He may at the end of the thousand years, in mankind's final test, demonstrate that he is both able and willing—able because perfect, willing because of right heart-intentions—to keep the Divine Law. All such will be granted life eternal by the Father. All others will be destroyed.
Adam was on trial for his life eternal, but he failed at the outstart of his trial. The world of mankind at the opening of the Millennium will start in a different way. They will start imperfect; but, with an experience in the nature and effect of sin, and under the covering of Christ's work—not granted as an individual imputation, but through the operation of the Mediatorial Reign—they will be permitted to rise up, up, up, out of sin and death; and while having this privilege, they will be permitted to demonstrate their real character, whether determined for good or for evil. If they faithfully determine for good, they will
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gain eternal life; if for evil, they will lose eternal life and will die again and be dead forever—incur the Second Death. Thus the Bible teaches a universal redemption or salvation from the Adamic death penalty; but it does not teach a universal salvation in eternal life.
REV. 20:4, 5 EXAMINED
A third question which may be asked is: How can you harmonize the teaching that the non-elect dead, excluded in this life from the chance of gaining the elective salvation, will be awakened during the Millennium, with Rev. 20:4, 5, which, after speaking of the first resurrection, says, "The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished"? It will be noted that this passage does not say that the rest of the dead were not awakened until the thousand years were finished; but it says they lived not again until the thousand years were finished. One may ask, What is the difference? We reply, all the difference between harmony and contradiction in Biblical matters. A few remarks will make this clear. The race once lived—was perfect in Father Adam; but on account of the curse, God counts the whole human race as dead, regardless of whether it is in the death process or in the death state (Matt. 8:22; John 5:24, 25; 2 Cor. 5:14; Rom. 5:12, 15, 17; Eph. 2:1, 5; Rev. 20:12, 13). He does this because the death sentence is on all of them, and because, so far as those who are in the death process are concerned, this death sentence is being executed upon them; as we might say of a condemned murderer in the electric chair just as the electricity is turned on, "He is a dead man!" because he is under the death sentence, and it is being inflicted, though not yet completed upon him. From this standpoint we call the death process reckoned death, and the death state actual death. So, too, God calls all who are free from the death sentence alive, regardless of whether they are reckonedly perfect or actually perfect (John 3:36; 5:24, 25; 1 John 5:12;
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Rom. 5:15; John 1:4; Rev. 21:3-5). We call the former reckonedly alive and the latter actually alive.
These viewpoints will enable us to harmonize our teaching that the rest of the dead (the non-elect dead) will be awakened from the dead during the Millennium, with the statement that they will not be alive until its end. They will not be alive yet—actually perfect—immediately on being awakened from the dead. It will take restitution processes the thousand years to bring them to actual perfection—to make them alive as God from the actual standpoint looks upon life; for as long as there is any vestige of the Adamic imperfection in them, they will be dead from the Divine standpoint (1 Cor. 15:24-26). But as soon as they are actually perfect they will be alive, which will be at the end of, and which presupposes that they will be awakened during the Millennium. God now, through our faith justification, reckons us alive from the Divine standpoint; because our faith justification reckons to us the perfection that the completed restitution processes will have actually wrought in the obedient by the end of the thousand years. Thus we harmonize the apparent contradiction, and find both teachings to be Scriptural and reasonable; for it will take the whole thousand years to restore the imperfect to perfection—to make them alive as God views life, though early in the Millennium they will be awakened. Thus the rest of the dead lived not again—will not be fully resurrected, perfect again, as once they were in Adam, until the thousand years are finished.
WILL THE "UNJUST" BE RESURRECTED?
A fourth related question is, in view of the fact that some will never reach the condition of perfection, which the word resurrection means, how shall we understand the words of the Apostle Paul in Acts 24:15, that both the just and the unjust are to be resurrected? This Scripture seems very plain and simple if we give careful attention to what we read. Those Jews who stood by and heard the defense of the
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Apostle before Governor Felix, of which the words of Acts 24:15 are a part, believed that all of the just would have a resurrection, and that an opportunity of the resurrection would be given the unjust. That is what they had been taught from their forefathers. And now the Apostle Paul was reiterating this, their conviction. He says, "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust"; i.e., the resurrection for which God has provided, and which is yet to come, is not only for the good, but also for those who are now evil.
The thought is not that those who remain in an unjust condition will be granted a full resurrection. The text does not state that all the unjust will be resurrected, brought to perfection of life. There are some now justified who will have a share in the resurrection, even as there are others who are not now justified who will also have a share in the resurrection. And all mankind will have a share in God's provision for a resurrection. The just will have a special resurrection, which will be a reward for their special obedience. But the opportunity will, during the incoming Age, be thrown open for all to gain everlasting life through Christ. The justified ones of the Church class are "changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," from the earthly to the Heavenly condition—made perfect spirit beings. Those of the past dispensations, justified to God's favor through faith, are to be brought forth perfect men, instead of in the condition in which they died. This will be after the merit of Christ will have been applied for all the world.
So we have the resurrection of the highest class of the just—the Little Flock—on the Divine plane; that of the Great Company, on a lower spirit plane; that of the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, on the earthly plane—four classes who pass their trial, their testing, in the present life. But it has been provided in the Divine Plan that the remainder of men may gradually be raised fully up, out of every frailty, back to the
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original perfection that Adam had in the beginning. They are unjust now; they have never come into relationship with God.
The Divine purpose is that the death of Jesus shall effect the release of the whole race from the condemnation in Father Adam. Therefore the entire thousand years of the Millennial Reign of Christ has been set aside for the resurrection of the world. But how large a proportion will profit by this arrangement remains to be seen. The Scriptures state that during the next Age a sinner of a hundred years old—a wilful sinner—shall be cut off from life altogether. They declare that such a sinner will be but a lad, in comparison to what he might have become if he had availed himself of the opportunities provided at that time (Is. 65:20. See especially Leeser's translation). It will be entirely their own fault if they do not profit by the blessings of that Day. Only wilful, personal rejection of God and His merciful salvation through Christ will consign any one to the Second Death.
Note carefully that the Scriptures do not say that all will share in the resurrection. How about the vitalizedly justified? Will they all be resurrected? Oh, no! there will be some who have been justified who will go into the Second Death. And so with the world. After they shall have had a full opportunity, under clear light, whoever then sins wilfully against the light will receive the penalty of the Second Death. But nothing will be lacking, so far as God's provision is concerned. The Lord said, "The hour is coming when all in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto a resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28, 29, R. V. and Emphatic Diaglott).
Those who have pleased God in that they have exercised faith, have made consecration of themselves to the Lord, and have obeyed the leadings of His providences and His Word—these are the ones who
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have done good. God does not ask any more of them than that they shall show their loyalty by doing their best, that they shall seek to live in harmony with His will according to their ability, whether they lived during this Gospel Age or during the ages preceding. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets (and all others less prominent) who are mentioned by St. Paul in Hebrews 11—these died in faith. With these Ancient Worthies God declares He was pleased, and that they shall have a "better resurrection" (Heb. 11:35). The superiority of their resurrection will be that they will be awakened perfect human beings; while the world will have to go through the thousand years to attain perfection.
They that have done good will come forth to a resurrection of life. Some of these will receive a resurrection of life on the human plane, others on the spirit plane, still others on the highest order of the spirit plane—the plane of the Divine nature. Then Jesus tells us about the other general class—those who have done evil. This includes all whom God cannot approve and accept. Those who are not accepted are those who have not done good, according to God's standard; they have done evil; they are unjustified. Many of them have been respectable, moral people, but they are not worthy of the "better resurrection." These will come forth also that they may attain, if they will, complete raising up to life. They will be awakened from the tomb in order that they may have a resurrection. They will be resuscitated from hades, the grave, the death state; but their awakening from the tomb will be only the beginning of resurrection. Some will be awakened only to die again later, because of failure to accept God's terms of blessing.
The resurrection process will go on day by day, week by week and year by year during those thousand years—the great Resurrection Day, that Great Day, the Last Day, during which there will be an opportunity for all to gain life eternal. But whoever will not make
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the proper progress will be accounted unworthy of a full resurrection. Those only who will be adjudged worthy of everlasting life on God's terms will get in. Thus there will be a resurrection, a bringing up to perfect life, both of just and of unjust ones. All that are in the graves shall be brought forth, shall come to a knowledge of the Truth, to the intent that they may be restored, if they are willing and obedient, to all that was lost in Adam and redeemed by the world's Savior—Christ Jesus. The above presentation is entirely in harmony with the literal translation of the last clause of Acts 24:15: "There shall be a resurrection both of just and unjust ones"; for the article the is lacking before the Greek words translated just and unjust.
WILL THE SAME BODIES BE RAISED?
A fifth related question is, Do the same bodies that are laid away in the grave come forth in the resurrection? A very clear answer is given to a similar question in 1 Cor. 15:35-38, where we read, "But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool [foolish one], that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body [italics ours]." These verses very clearly show that the bodies that are laid away in burial do not come back again, and give as an illustration the fact that grains of wheat, etc., that are sown do not come back again; but that new grains are raised. Just so, he says, the bodies which are buried do not come back in the resurrection.
Sometimes John 2:19, 21 ("Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. But He spake of the temple of His body") is interpreted as teaching the raising of the same body that is buried. This interpretation not only contradicts the Apostle's words just quoted; but also the many Scriptures and Scriptural teachings that we gave in The Chart of God's Plan, p. 334, that prove that our Lord did not take back
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His body of flesh when He arose from the dead. Jesus' words are explained by St. John, against the misunderstanding of Jesus' hearers, as referring to the temple pictured forth by the Jewish temple, i.e., He referred to the antitypical temple, which is the Church (1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:19-22). We know also that the Church is called the body of Christ (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 1:23; 3:6; 4:4, 12, 16; 5:23, 30; Col. 1:18, 24). Jesus, therefore, here promised that even if His enemies should kill the various members of His Church, He would, nevertheless, on the third (1,000 year) day raise it (the Church) up. He uttered this language on the fifth 1,000-year day from Adam's fall into sin; and we have already proven that the Church will be reigning with Him, hence will be resurrected, on the seventh 1,000-year day, which is the third of such days from and including the fifth. So understood, the passage makes no reference to the raising of the bodies of the saints.
The Scriptures nowhere teach that the bodies that are laid way in death are raised again on the last day, but on the contrary deny such a thought. By accepting this Scriptural teaching, we are unaffected by infidel objections to the resurrection, based on the material elements of some bodies becoming parts of other bodies by assimilation through cannibalism or through eating fruits, vegetables, etc., into which elements of dead human bodies have been assimilated.
Is. 26:19 is sometimes quoted as allegedly proving that the same bodies which are laid away in the graves come forth. However, there are several questionable things, as the passage is translated in the Authorized Version. In the first place, the words printed in italics in this verse are inserted into the text without having any corresponding words in the original; for the translators resorted to the use of italics to inform the readers that the italicized words are interpolated. The interpolated words, "together with," make the verse liable to the interpretation that we have shown contradicts the Bible in many ways. Moreover, the Hebrew word
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translated in the A. V. as "body" has no plural form; but used collectively, as, e.g., in Is. 5:25, it has plural significance.
Thus the American and the English Revised versions, Moulton, Leeser, the Jewish Publication Society, etc., render the verse as follows: "Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise."
As we know (Luke 20:36; see also Life-Death-Hereafter, pp. 171-183), the resurrection has two parts: (1) the awakening of the dead, and (2) the lifting up of these awakened ones from the physical, mental, moral and religious imperfection of the Adamic fallen condition, back again into the physical, mental, moral and religious perfection from which Adam fell—a process that will require the entire Millennium to complete for mankind. As we understand the matter, these two things are taught by Is. 26:19: the clause, "Thy dead shall live," refers to the awakening of the dead—the first part of the resurrection process—and the clause, "My dead bodies shall arise," refers to the restanding from Adamic imperfection to perfection—the second part of the resurrection process. The expression, "dead bodies," refers to these bodies as being not actually in the death state, but as dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1, 5); for God regards everyone out of Christ and short of perfection as dead (2 Cor. 5:14). The reason for the use of the word, my, in the clause, "my dead bodies," is that Christ, the speaker in this verse, by virtue of His ransoming—purchasing—them, will be their Owner and Lord (Rom. 14:9), hence can properly call them His. So viewed, the passage does not refer in the least degree to the identical bodies that were buried as being raised again on the last day; but refers to the two parts of the resurrection process, (1) the awakening of the dead, and (2) their restanding to perfection.
So far in this chapter we have given ten Biblical reasons, supported by many Scriptures, proving that there will be an opportunity for obtaining salvation in the next life for those of Adam's fallen race who in this
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life were not favored with the opportunity of gaining the salvation now operating, the elective salvation. There are many other Biblical reasons for such a hope; and it is our desire to present some of these other proofs on this point; for such a doctrine should not be accepted unless there are full and satisfactory Biblical proofs of its truthfulness. And that our faith on this subject should not rest merely on the desirability of such a hope, but upon sure Biblical, reasonable and factual evidence of it, we will add other cogent arguments to the ten we have already advanced for it. Two of these have already been treated quite thoroughly, with supporting Scriptures, in the preceding pages. They are (11) the blessing of the whole human family, living and dead, with opportunities of obtaining Restitution, the sixth main purpose of our Lord's Return mentioned in Chapter I, and (12) the destruction from among men of every evil thing and influence, and the introduction among them of every good thing and influence, in order to restore them to perfection, which was treated in Chapter V under the purposes of the Kingdom.
NINE OTHER PROOFS OF AN OPPORTUNITY
We would here briefly give nine other reasons for the same truth. (13) The Bible teaches that not a few of those who had no chance of obtaining the elective salvation will make a favorable response in the Millennium to the offer of salvation then prevailing. This is directly taught in Is. 35:5, 9, 10; Ezek. 16:46-63. (14) The Bible teaches that many of the dead will submit themselves to the kingdom arrangements when these are established in the earth (Ps. 22:27-29; 1 Cor. 15:21-26; Rom. 14:9; Is. 45:22, 23; Phil. 2:8-11; Ps. 86:9). (15) The Bible teaching that the Millennial Age and the judgment day are identical proves the same thing; for it proves that in the Judgment Day only those things will be done which are to be done in the Millennium. The following passages prove the identity of the Millennium and
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the judgment Day: 2 Tim. 4:1; Luke 22:29, 30; Matt. 19:28; Ob. 21; Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:14-16; Is. 32:1; Ps. 72:1-4. All the dead, we know, will be raised early in the judgment Day. (John 5:28, 29; 11:24; Rev. 20:11, 12.) Consequently all the dead will be raised early in the Millennium. In the Millennium all will be helped unto salvation; therefore in the Judgment Day all will be helped unto salvation. (16) This truth is also evident from the Bible teaching that the word resurrection as applied to mankind means a restanding from the fallen condition unto the perfection of God's image (Acts 26:23, 24; Luke 20:27-37; Phil. 3:11, 7-10; Acts 24:15; 23:6; 26:6-8). This fact implies an opportunity of salvation for unjust ones in the Millennium, as St. Paul says that not only will the just be resurrected (perfected) but also unjust ones (Acts 24:15). (17) The Bible teaching of two ways of salvation—a private one for the Elect, called the narrow way (Matt. 7:13, 14) and a public one for the non-elect, called the highway (Is. 35:8), proves the same doctrine. The connection (Is. 35:5, 9, 10) shows that this highway will be for certain of the unsaved dead; and the whole chapter proves that it describes the Millennial Age. (18) The Bible also proves it by the teaching that the world is now having such an experience with the nature and effects of evil as will make sin abhorrent to them, when in contrast they learn by experience the nature and effects of righteousness (Rom. 8:19-22; 11:30-32; Ps. 90:11-17). (19) The doctrine of restitution—a return of mankind to Adam's original perfection—which is to operate in the Millennium, proves that the Millennium is for the blessing of the non-elect with opportunities of salvation (Acts 3:19-21; Rev. 21:3-5; 22:1-3). (20) The Bible further demonstrates it by the teaching that the free grace salvation will operate after the elective salvation is completed (Acts 15:14-16; 3:19-21; John 17:21-23; Rom. 8:19-23), even as the Millennium, the time for its operation,
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follows the Gospel Age, with its elective salvation now operating. (21) The Bible proves it finally by the teaching that ultimately all God's works will honor Him (Num. 14:21; Ps. 76:10; Rev. 5:13). This can only be when His glorious attributes operating in the outworking of His Plan will fully demonstrate His works and character to be and to have been harmonious—a fact that requires a full fair opportunity of salvation for everybody.
OTHER PROOF TEXTS EXAMINED
Thus we have presented 21 reasons in all, with Scriptural evidence for each one, in proof of the thought that there will be an opportunity for the non-elect dead who were not given the chance in this life to win the elective salvation, to attain deliverance during Christ's reign. These 21 reasons in every case imply that such non-elect dead will be awakened from the dead during the Millennium. We will here quote with some bracketed comments a few passages which we have not yet given, or else not explained fully, that directly teach or imply that such dead persons will be brought back to this earth from the dead during the Millennium. Ps. 22:27-29 is one of such passages: "All the ends of the earth [the entire human race] shall remember [be taught God's Word so thoroughly as not to forget it (Jer. 31:33, 34)], and turn [be converted] unto Jehovah; and all the kindreds [every family] of the nations shall worship [serve] before Thee [in Thy interests]; for the kingdom is Jehovah's, and He is [shall be] the ruler over the nations [this is surely a description of the Millennium; for until the Millennium the kingdoms of this world will hold sway, and only then will give way to the Kingdom of God (Rev. 11:15)]. And all the fat ones [those full of loving zeal] of the earth shall eat [appropriate the Millennial blessings] and worship [return service therefore to God]; and all they that go down to the dust [the dead] shall bow before Him [the verse now proceeds to define those who go
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down to the dust], even he that cannot [because of the Adamic sentence] keep his soul alive" (Amer. Rev. Ver.). This last verse shows that the non-elect dead are referred to: for they are the ones that cannot, because of the Adamic sentence, keep their souls alive. According to this passage, they are to bow down to the Lord as the Ruler of the nations, which must be during the Millennium, the time of His rulership.
Another passage: Ps. 86:9: "All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; and shall glorify Thy Name!" Many of the nations that God made, like the seven nations of Canaan, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, etc., no longer exist; yet they were made by God, but did not in this life worship and glorify Jehovah. Therefore, in order to do so, they must be awakened from the dead and be taught and enabled to worship and glorify God—a Millennial work. Is. 29:18, 24 is another passage to the point: "In that day [the Day of God, the Millennial Age] shall the deaf [those who in this life have their ears of understanding closed so that they cannot now understand the things of faith (Matt. 13:9-17)] hear [understand] the words [teachings] of the book [Bible; Is. 35:5, 6]; and the eyes of the blind [those who in this life could not perceive the things of faith] shall see out of obscurity [the mixture of truth and error in which they are in this life], and out of darkness [total error] … They also that erred in spirit [doctrine] (1 John 4:1-3) shall come to understanding, and they that murmured [because of the rigors of the curse under which they lived and died—hence the non-elect dead] shall learn doctrine." This passage teaches that in the Kingdom those who in this life could not perceive and understand the things of faith, who lived in error and, under the curse, murmuringly groaned unto the end (Rom. 8:22), will see and understand the Truth and be delivered from partial and total error. Rom. 14:9: "To this end [for this purpose] Christ died [as the ransom
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for all (1 Tim. 2:6)], and lived again, that He might be the Lord [Ruler in the Millennium] of both the dead [all Adam's lost race whether in the tomb or not] and the living" (Amer. Rev. Ver.). Phil. 2:10, 11: "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, [the knees] of things [persons, the Greek applies to persons or things, persons evidently being meant here] in heaven [the heavenly host bows to Him], and [the knees of] things [persons living] in earth [this is future—in the Kingdom; for all knees on earth do not now bow to Him], and [the knees of] things [persons] under the earth [the dead race who are in their graves, and who will be brought back from the unconscious state of death, and then, as having been under the earth, dead, will bow to Jesus]; and that every tongue [in heaven, on earth and under the earth, the living and the dead] should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God, the Father."
One other passage, which we will quote from the Amer. Rev. Ver., one of the best of all translations: 1 Cor. 15:21-26: "For since by man [Adam] came death [the death process as well as the death state], by man [Christ] came [shall come] also the resurrection of the dead [the awakening from the death state and the restanding out of the dying process—the reversal of what Adam brought upon us]; for as in Adam all die [come under the death of the curse], so also in Christ shall all be made alive [be brought out of the death of the curse into perfection—life]. But each in his own order [shall be made alive—perfect]: Christ the firstfruits [shall be made alive—perfect; this Christ cannot be Jesus, because He had been resurrected about 25 years before St. Paul penned these words, while he speaks of a future resurrection. The Church, which is also with Jesus called Christ—anointed—(1 Cor. 12:12, 13; Gal. 3:16, 29) is doubtless here meant; and thus the first resurrection (Rev. 20:4, 6) is meant]; then they that are Christ's, at [during] His coming [shall be made alive. The margin gives presence
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as the proper meaning of the Greek. He will be present 1000 years—the Millennium—when those who will become His by faith and obedience will be made alive—perfect—after they are awakened and brought forth from the tomb. This refers to the dead world coming back from the tomb, and arising unto perfection during the thousand years as they continue to obey]. Then cometh the end [the little season after the thousand years are over (Rev. 20:7-9)], when He shall deliver up [vacate the mediatorial throne of] the kingdom unto God, even the Father; when [after] He shall have abolished [destroyed] all [effects of Satan's] rule, all [expressions of Satan's] authority, and all [work of Satan's] power [Christ's reign is thus intended to destroy all the works of Satan—sin, error, sorrow, pain, sickness, death and the grave (1 John 3:8; Rev. 21:4, 5). To destroy the grave means to awaken all the dead; and to destroy death means to deliver all out of the dying process. The order of procedure would then be, first to destroy the grave by awakening the dead, and then gradually by restitution processes to undo every feature of the dying process: Adamic sin, sorrow, pain, sickness, the curse on the earth, etc.]. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet [the various features of the curse are these enemies; for Paul enumerates in the next verse death as one of Christ's enemies. To put them under His feet means to dominate them unto utter subjection—destruction]. The last enemy that shall be abolished [destroyed] is death [not the death state or the grave, which by the awakening of the dead will be destroyed before sin, pain, sorrow and sickness, but the dying process—the imperfection brought by the Adamic sentence upon all. The annihilation of its last vestiges will complete the work of the Millennial Kingdom. Hence, death will be the last enemy destroyed]." The death mentioned in v. 26 is thus seen to be the Adamic, not the Second Death, as some have supposed. As we have already seen, v. 24
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assures us that the end of this Mediatorial Reign will not come until He has overthrown every effect on the race of Satan's rule, authority and power through sin. V. 25 is a quotation given to prove that such is the purpose of Jesus' Reign. All the effects of Satan's rule, authority and power are spoken of in this verse as Jesus' enemies; and v. 26 naming death as one of these enemies, we are thus given the understanding of what all of them are. These enemies are thus shown to be the devastating effects of Satan's reign over the earth—sin, error, sorrow, pain, death, hades. These are the enemies of Jesus because they injure the race that He died to redeem. Hence we see that the enemies here referred to are all the effects of Adam's sin; and the Adamic death is the first, not the Second Death.
The thought of 1 Cor. 15:24-26 is given in other language in Rev. 21:3-5; 22:3; and the death and curse which are there spoken of as being no more are undoubtedly the Adamic death and curse. Moreover, the Second Death is not an enemy of Jesus or of the human family, but is rather a friend and servant, that will swallow up their enemies, even as the type of the Second Death—the Red Sea—was a friend and servant of Moses and Israel, when it afforded protection to the Israelites in their passage of it, but swallowed up Pharaoh and his pursuing hosts, leaving Israel safe and triumphant on its eastern shore. We see, therefore, that the expression, "the last enemy," in 1 Cor. 15:26, does not refer to the Second Death; it refers to the Adamic death—the First Death. The expression, Adamic death, includes every vestige of imperfection that Adam's sin has brought upon the race. Evidently the expression here does not mean the Adamic death state; for long after all will have returned from the tomb, from the Adamic death state, there will still be imperfection in the human family. The Adamic death process is therefore here meant by the term "the last enemy." When the last vestige of imperfection resulting from Adam's sin 'shall have been wiped out of existence by Christ's all-conquering restitution power
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and works, the "last enemy" will have been destroyed, which will end the restitution work.
Thus these passages likewise clearly demonstrate that the non-elect dead, who were excluded in this life from the opportunity of obtaining the elective salvation, will be awakened from the dead during the Millennium, and will be given the opportunity of gaining the restitution salvation.
This is the Gospel manward, as it was defined both by the Angel at Jesus' birth (Luke 2:10) and by the Apostle Paul (Gal. 3:8). Hence it is that the Scriptures are so full of it.
When this matter is understood it clarifies God's past and present dealings with the children of men. The Bible becomes in its light a book harmonious with itself, with God's character, Christ's Ransom, the Holy Spirit's work, man's needs and with facts. It indeed is thereby demonstrated to be the depository of God's marvelous Plan of the Ages, as well as the glorious expression of His adorable character. He thus becomes loved by us with "love Divine all love excelling," and with "joy of heaven to earth come down." Let us worship, praise and adore Him, all whose works praise [reflect credit upon] Him. "Great and marvelous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O, Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy righteous Acts [A. R. V.] have been made manifest!" (Rev. 15:3, 4).
MANKIND'S COMING BLESSING
Christ tasted death for every man, (Heb. 2:9)
And this but once—no more; (Rom. 6:9)
God willeth all men to be saved; (1 Tim. 2:4)
He will all things restore. (Acts 3:21)
Soon all the dead shall hear Christ's voice (John 5:28, 29)
To wake them from death's sleep; (Dan. 12:2)
And death and hell shall yield their dead (Rev. 20:13)
From earth and ocean deep. (Isa. 26:19)
And Abraham's Seed shall bless the earth (Acts 3:25)
And give to all the light, (John 1:9)
That they may know God's holy will (Jer. 31:34)
And learn that which is right. (Isa. 26:9)
But those who will not hear the voice (Acts 3:23)
Of the Spirit and the Bride (Rev. 22:17)
Will be destroyed in Second Death— (Rev. 21:8)
Eternal life denied. (1 John 5:12)
But they "who will" need never die, (John 11:26)
For plain will be the way (Isa. 35:8)
That leads to perfect human life (Joel 2:28)
And joys of endless day. (Isa. 35:10)
With Satan bound a thousand years, (Rev. 20:2, 3)
Beneath Christ's chastening rod (Psa. 89:32)
The ransomed race can seek and find (Hosea 13:14)
Full harmony with God. (Rev. 21:3)
A race redeemed, an earth made new, (Isa. 65:17)
Riches and wealth untold; (Num. 14:21)
A world where righteousness will dwell (2 Pet. 3:13)
And man God's grace behold! (Psa. 97:5, 6)
Where pain and sickness, grief and death, (Isa 33:22 24)
Are memories of the past; (Rev. 21:4)
Where loving faithfulness to God (Matt. 25:31-40)
Forevermore will last. (Rev. 21:22-26)