2, 3, 4--Two Deaths, Three Resurrections, Four Judgments Part 2

Good afternoon to all of you. I was sitting and listening to the choir after listening to Mr. Reeves' announcements and pondering the fact that in the 18 years that Diane and I have been here in the Portland area, there's been a steady evolution in the members that make up the choir, as you would expect over nearly two decades. But over that entire period of time, it has been an absolute pleasure to hear the quality of harmony and the quality of music that has been performed by each generation of the Portland choir. So again, another lovely special music for which I think all of us are grateful. Last week I mentioned that I had the rare opportunity since the sextants were going to Israel, and Mr. Sexton was working on filling vacancies in the speaking schedule. I told him that it was ideal. It would give me an opportunity to cover a subject that was really too large for one subject or for one sermon. Actually, it's the kind of subject that you can stretch out over a considerable period of time, but in terms of a survey format sermon, two sermons would cover the topic. And so we introduced last week Hebrews chapter 6, the last two of the basic doctrines, or the elementary principles of Christ, as they are called in Hebrews 6, and that the last two of those are simply labeled as resurrection and judgment. And I said that period of time that is covered by resurrection and judgment contains two deaths, three resurrections, and four judgment periods. And we covered the two deaths and the first of the three resurrections last week, and we would like to cover the remaining two resurrections and the judgment periods this Sabbath. As we continue from the first resurrection, we need to answer the question, how do you know there is more than one resurrection? I went online recently just to look up the term resurrection on Google, look at various denominational representations, and I was telling my wife as we were driving to services that there was one representative of a denomination who had found a particular scripture that became his be-all end-all, and standing on that one particular scripture, he pronounced that there is one resurrection. And regardless of what anyone would show him anywhere else in scripture, there was one, only one, and never be more than one. And I sort of chuckled as I was reading and thinking it takes a pretty good set of blinders to take that stance and to hold it. Revelation chapter 20, as it begins chronologically moving from the time of Jesus Christ's return and the binding of Satan, makes the comment, and we'll go back and read it. We're all familiar with it. We'll read it just the same.

As he is looking at the picture that exists at the beginning of Christ's millennial rule, he says in verse 4, that I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus, and for the word of God, who had not worshipped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads, on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.

You know, the whole meaning of resurrection, that is to be erect again, re-standing. The whole meaning of resurrection is to stand up once more, or to live again. And he said, the rest of the dead will not stand again. They will not be resurrected again until the thousand years are finished. He then ended with a statement, parenthetical, that what has been described in verse 4 is the first resurrection. You know, there's an interesting thing about ordinal and cardinal numbers. Any time you say first, your listener understands that there has to be at least a second. It may not be more than that, but if there is only one, you simply use the article, the. If you're going to go into firsts, then there is going to be a second. And so when the author said, this is the first resurrection, if he meant there was only one resurrection, he would simply have said, this is the resurrection. End of subject, end of discussion. And so Revelation chapter 20 and verse 5 contains two important elements. The statement that the rest of the dead will not live again until after the thousand years, which means a second resurrection. And the implication of using the term first resurrection, which implies that there has to be at least one more. First Corinthians chapter 15, called the resurrection chapter, makes a statement that contains an understanding to the people of that day and time that is not afforded to us unless we study the original language and the intent of words. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verses 22 and 23, Paul makes a statement that, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive, each one in his own order. Christ the firstfruits, afterwards those who are Christ's at his coming. A couple of valuable components in these two verses. He makes a statement that's an equation. As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will live.

If we couple that with what we've already read in Revelation 20, there is a distinct group that are raised at the time Christ returns. They're not all of humanity. In fact, they are, in reality, a very, very tiny percentage of humanity.

If all die and all are going to live again, there are a huge number of people waiting after Revelation 20 verse 5 to live again. But there's a statement that Paul made when he said in verse 23, each one in his own order. The word order would have been understood by Paul's readers for what it was at that day and time. I don't have a local equivalent that I can work with, so let me go back to my teenage years in Pasadena watching the Rose Parade. We'll serve as an equivalent because it's on television every New Year's Day, and I would be surprised if there's anyone in the congregation who hasn't seen at least one Rose Parade on television. Everybody comes by, whether it happens to be a high school band, whether it happens to be a college band, whether it happens to be a military unit, everybody comes by, and they come by in their orders. Now, if you see a full military parade, it serves as the best example because this is a military term. And it's a military term that describes an army marching by unit, each one with its own standard, each one marching as a unit to its particular unit's flag, whether it be a company flag, a battalion flag, a division flag. It doesn't matter what size the army was that Paul was talking about. It was talking about the ability to identify each unit as distinct and separate because it was marching as a unit under its banner. Those who lived at that day and time understood that term. It gets lost in the translation from Greek to English, and so we need to understand what they understood. When he said everyone was going to live, but everyone was going to be resurrected in his own order, Paul understood the division of peoples who would rise again.

How many distinct companies march in that parade? We've already covered the fact that the first company is comprised of all those who could be termed as the elect or the saints or the faithful. There are multiple terms that are used to describe those who have been called by God and have lived that life to the point that life ended. That first company will come to life again as we discussed at the latter part of Last Sabbath's sermon at the sound of the seventh trumpet. We walk through all the scriptures that describe the Trump of God, the Great Trump, the Last Trump, the Seventh Trump, all of them describing the point in time where the saints are resurrected, and also that particular signal marks the return of Jesus Christ. The second company is the vast majority of humanity who have never been called or have ever had a chance for salvation, raised to be given not a second chance, raised to be given a first chance, as Revelation 20 says, after the thousand years are finished. You know, it doesn't matter how a person argues the point about a chance. There is no time in human history where any sensible human being can look at a time in history and say the people of that century have had a chance. For all of those who believe that Jesus Christ was the one who introduced and brought salvation, and that's their platform, that's where they stand, then they're going to have to conclude that everyone prior to Christ didn't have a chance. To anyone who has ever been a part of a church that has a mission field and sends missionaries out into that field, the only reason they have that passion and that service is because they have identified portions of the world where there are individuals, communities, cities, states, even nations that are ignorant of Jesus Christ, of His Word, of His plan. It doesn't matter what age you go into. Our age is no different. We are becoming a shrinking world, and it can be argued that we may arrive or are moving toward a place where there is no place on the face of this earth where people are ignorant of Christ. But that would be the product of mass communication and of the last 50 years or the last century if we were generous. A third company is a company that is commented on with caution periodically throughout Scripture. It is those who reject salvation, those who defy the way of God, those who refuse an opportunity for salvation, those who fail. There will be a time that God has set aside that all of those will rise.

These are three distinct companies which will each come up in the parade of resurrections, each in their own order. We covered the first last week. Let's go on to the second. What makes the second resurrection unique we have already discussed? It is a first chance for literally billions who have had no previous chance. You know, it's interesting when you understand the philosophies within the Bible. When I say the philosophies, I mean the philosophical positions, anyone who has read his or her Bible well can bring to mind multiple places within the Bible where two philosophical positions are diametrically opposed to one another. That they are literally North Pole, South Pole. Those philosophies are these. God has stated very, very clearly that if we can use a human term, and I can only put it as a human term, if he had his way, whether you realize it or not, God cannot have his way and have human beings have freedom of choice. You either have to go one way or the other way. And when God built man to have freedom of choice, then it validates my statement. If he had his way, every single solitary human being who has ever lived would be saved. He has stated that very clearly. 1 Timothy chapter 2. Let's look at three classic examples of what God would wish for if he would get the cooperation of mankind. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 through 4. Paul says to the younger elder Timothy, he said, We referenced John 3.16 last week. I want to read it and the verses that surround it. John 3.15 through 17.

John 3.15 says, Whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

Profound philosophical statement. Now, this is philosophically where God is. Let's add one more simply to round out the threesome. 2 Peter chapter 3. We read the following in verse 9.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some count slackness, but is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. This is one philosophical position, very clearly stated by these three verses, and stated over and over and over and over again throughout the New Testament, and indeed also within the Old Testament. Warring the world of the world, and the world of the world, and the world of the world of the world, and indeed also within the Old Testament.

Warring against that philosophical position is another philosophical position.

When Jesus Christ began in his ministry to speak to the audiences in parables, the disciples were astute enough to realize that this was not being done for clarifications purposes, and so they were curious, if not perplexed, about why he was doing what he was doing. And so they came to Jesus Christ in verse 10 after he uttered his first parable, and they said to him, Why do you speak to them in parables? Why are you doing this? I don't know the number of radio messages I've heard over my lifetime, where someone on the air then went on to explain the answer to that question, and take a position that was absolutely the opposite of Jesus Christ's. To take the old worn-out position that, well, he used these as stories and illustrations to make it simple and plain for people who were not literate to understand. Well, it isn't what Christ said. He said, I'm speaking to them in parables because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whoever has to him more will be given, and he will have abundance, and whoever does not have even what he has will be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. Christ is speaking about entire audiences looking like Mr. Slocum's classroom individual with the glassy eyes. He said, and in this, in this, I don't hear it, I don't get it, I don't understand it, I'm really not tuned into it, a prophecy from Isaiah is fulfilled which says, hearing they will hear and not understand, and seeing they will not see, they will see and not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown dull. Their eyes, excuse me, their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn. And at this point in time, in the last phrase, the King James has done us the most pathetic damage that could be done. Are any of you reading from the old King James? A couple of you. The old King James finishes this by saying, lest they be converted.

This is one of those places in your new King James where you need to go back, add in your margin the real meaning of this verse. And if you have any doubt at that time, even go to Strong's and look up the word. I can't explain to you why the new King James translators did what they did in butchering this verse. But the statement has to do with, I have done all of this so they will not be converted. John chapter 12.

And you know when people go back and forth arguing about whether something really means what it says, whether it's really valid, in the hierarchy of biblical statements, it's hard to argue with the statements of Jesus Christ. It's hard to argue with anyone that got inspired, but in the hierarchy of evidence, a word from God or Christ is at the pinnacle of the hierarchy. In John chapter 12, verse 37, speaking of all the miracles Christ had done, John records that although he had done – this is verse 37 – although he had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled which he spoke. Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Therefore, they could not believe, because Isaiah said again, he has blinded their eyes, hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, lest they should turn, so that I should heal them.

Again, the same philosophical position.

Romans chapter 11, just to give you one additional one. You know, it would be instructional to sometime find out all the places in the New Testament that Isaiah's statement is quoted, because it's a lot more than what I've just read to you. It goes back to a pivotal statement. I've blinded their eyes, I've stopped their ears, and I've canceled their understanding so that they will not be converted. Romans chapter 11, the Apostle Paul speaking of his own people.

He said in verse 7 of Romans 11, what then? He has been on a dissertation that has already covered all of chapter 10, is now into chapter 11, talking about the blindness of his people. He says, what then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks. So, Israel has said of itself, we're the people of God, we're the nation of God. And he says, they haven't received, they haven't grasped, they haven't got a hold of what they're seeking for. The elect have obtained, and the rest were hardened. So, who has obtained? As I said, you can use terms interchangeably, the elect, the saints, the called. They're terms that are used for the same body of people. So, why have the elect received and the rest been hardened? Well, we're right back to the same old place, aren't we? Just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, ears that they should not hear to this very day. There are two huge warring philosophies within the New Testament.

How can you have a God on one hand who wishes that everyone would be saved, and a God on the other hand that says, I blinded everybody?

It's important to understand that the only way to reconcile those two philosophies is through a yet future resurrection. They have been concluded in unbelief, and the only way to cancel out the one the blindness and the hardness. And to allow the movement of the passion of God toward their salvation is to lift the blindness and to offer salvation. This is what the second resurrection is all about. The second resurrection is about removing blindness and offering salvation.

Ezekiel 37 is a picture of that time following the thousand years when all the elements will come together to allow salvation to be offered to a people who were, to use the biblical term, concluded in unbelief.

I think we're all familiar with the fact that it's a vision, and Ezekiel is taken by God to see a vision of a valley that is completely covered with dry bones.

And God asks Ezekiel, who are these? He's asking Ezekiel to be a crime scene investigator. Give me the forensic evidence. To Ezekiel's credit, he said, in essence, you tell me, which was a statement of, I have no idea who they are. I know that you do know who they are, and I'm attentive and listening. And he says, I'm going to cause all these bones to come back to life. So we see in this depiction a reassembly. It's like taking a movie and running it backwards. When you take a video, you decide to play it in reverse. You have bones that have been there forever. We move back to the place where they're fresh. We then begin to put back on them all the trappings that go on there, the sinews, the flesh, the muscles, the exterior skin. And when it's all finished, Ezekiel says, I see this vast army of bodies that are standing but lifeless. It's like a human version a million times over of that group of Chinese warriors that have been discovered and dug up and now under a large museum canopy all stand in their units and in their uniforms. Verse 9, he said to me, prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live. And so I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

And then he said to me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.

They indeed say, our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off.

I've spoken on this many times in the context of the annual feast. I have no trouble. I have no trouble understanding. I think most of you have no trouble understanding why this is being said. You know, if you've been indoctrinated and your belief is that upon death, my next instance of life will be in whatever your version of eternal bliss is, and you blink, and you're still human, I don't know any theology that says that's a good sign. I don't have wings. I don't have halos. I'm not on a cloud. I'm in the wrong place, and that does not bode well for me. So I have no trouble understanding why they said, our bones are dry, our hope is lost. We've had it. We ourselves are cut off. We have had it. Therefore, prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, cause you to come out from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. So they live again, which is the definition of resurrection, to stand once more.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people. So now we've added to living again knowledge.

I'm at the end of my page, so I'll read from the start of verse 13, because the third element is sitting for me on the next page as I turn. Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I've opened your graves, O my people, and brought you from your graves. I will put my spirit in you.

And you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. And then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord. The doctrines of the New Testament, if we wish to focus on that area, those of Hebrews chapter 6, as they walk through faith, they walk through repentance, they walk through baptism, they walk through the laying on of hands, they walk through resurrection and judgment. They walk through a progression. The laying on of hands as a doctrine is not understood unless people go back and realize that it is through the instrumentation of the laying on of hands that God gives the Holy Spirit. And He gives the Holy Spirit only to those whom He has called. When He says, I will put my spirit within you, He has done the one thing most critical to assuring a chance for salvation. You can have all the head knowledge you want, but without God's Spirit, you're going nowhere. When God uses the procreative terms of begettle and birth, they are not simply fanciful words. We will be born into a spirit family. No one will be born into that family unless He is begotten of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, you're going nowhere. And so critical to the discussion is that statement that I've given you life again. You're standing once more. I'll take you to a land, which means I give you time and a place to demonstrate sincerity and conviction, and I give you my Holy Spirit.

As I said earlier, the reconciliation of two huge, warring, philosophical positions in the New Testament are resolved totally and completely by the Second Resurrection. Paul, though he didn't use the term, back in Romans chapter 10, spoke of the component parts and the elements.

Because what the Second Resurrection is for billions of people is a resurrection to opportunity, an opportunity not yet experienced.

Romans chapter 10, as Paul talks about his people and the passion he has for them, he said, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. He said, that's what my hope and desire is for Israel, that they may be saved.

He says, I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God. So he said they were ignorant. It's a proper term. When God says they're blind, they can't understand, then they don't have the knowledge. He passionately speaks of them in chapter 10, and in chapter 11 he starts the next chapter by saying, I say then, I've already told you my passion is for them and that they're ignorant. Now he said, okay, now I say, has God then cast them away? His people. So they're blind, they're ignorant, they don't know, they can't see. Does that mean then he's cast them away? And he said, absolutely not, or certainly not. And he spends his whole chapter walking through the reality that blind though they are, they are not lost or rejected. He makes it common in verse 11, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Meaning, are they done? Have they had it?

He said, absolutely not, certainly not. He said, their fall provoked another body of people that opened the door for them, but their fall did not seal it as a done deal and it's over.

As he talks about this subject with his audience in Rome, he then says to them in verse 25, I don't want you, brethren, to be ignorant.

He says, I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion. That hardening, in part, has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come. They have been hardened. They have been blinded. And they have been blinded for a purpose and for a time. He says, but in the grand scheme of things, there is and a soul. He says, and so all Israel will be saved as it is written. The deliverer will come out of Zion, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob, for this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins. This is a millennial statement. If you go back to Isaiah, read the basis of these statements. These are millennial. These are after the return of Christ. What Paul is saying is, my people have been blinded from day one, and they have been blinded for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds. In fact, they have been blinded for thousands of years, and they are not lost. That is only possible through the Second Resurrection. These are the elements that comprise the Second Resurrection. Life again in the flesh, standing again. Offer and availability of the Holy Spirit. And as has always been the case, brethren, time to prove one's heart and mind.

Now, the Bible does not support a, I profess God, I know the Lord, and bam, it's over. Here I am. I opened my mouth. I mouthed a few words, and it's sealed, done, irreversible. No matter what I do, I'm going that direction. It doesn't work that way. That's the Second Resurrection. Now on to the third. There is a distinct class of people who will be in the Third Resurrection. They are a class of people that have no other place in which to be resurrected, and yet they are promised to be resurrected. They are the men and women of all ages and all times who have willfully rejected God and His way of life. They are those of all ages who have had a chance for salvation, but rejected that opportunity. Those in the First Resurrection are resurrected immediately to eternal life, and it is said of them, blessed and holy are they in the First Resurrection. Upon them, the Second Death has no effect. They are not affected by it. We have now looked at a group of people who are resurrected to physical life in an opportunity, and it is yet to be determined for them what they do with that opportunity. But there are people of ages past who have had that opportunity and have given it away. John chapter 5 says, there's more than one resurrection, both in terms of literal events, but there's more than one resurrection in terms of the objective for the resurrection. And Jesus Christ says in John chapter 5, beginning in verse 27 of John—no, excuse me, I'm in the wrong chapter. John chapter 5, verse 28. Christ said, Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in their graves will hear his voice. So again, we have another one of those scriptures that says, everyone, no one's left out.

Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come forth. So they're going to come out of those graves. And now he segments them. Those who have done good to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to a resurrection of condemnation. There will be not only the resurrection of people to eternal life, there will be resurrection of people to condemnation.

Daniel, this is not just a New Testament understanding. Even back 500 years or so before the time of Christ in Daniel chapter 12, as Daniel is being shown pictures of the end of the age, of the return of Christ, of the resurrection of the saints, the following is given to him. Daniel 12 and verse 1, At the time Michael shall stand up the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to this time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Different people are resurrected for different directions, whether it be Christ speaking in John 5 or Daniel being shown by revelation here, there will be a resurrection to condemnation.

Now it's interesting some commentators were astute enough in reading Daniel 12.2 to see and to comment on the fact that even what Daniel has described here has not covered everyone.

I forget whether it was Barnes or Gil or Cambridge or Jameson Fawcett and Brown, it may even been Kyle and DeLeach, but if you search through a number of Old Testament commentators you will get to one who says it is interesting that in verse 2 it says, many, not all, many of those who sleep on the dust of the earth shall awake.

And of those many, some will arise to everlasting life and some will arise to eternal condemnation. You know, many is exactly the precise term that belonged there, because we just finished talking about the second resurrection and the majority of humanity who will be resurrected to neither one of these. Their resurrection is not to the pronouncement that you have been given life, now it will be eternal, or you have been given life and now you are condemned. They are resurrected and said you have been brought to life and I will give you my spirit, place you in a land and be your God, and thereby give you an opportunity, first and only opportunity, to determine whether you wish to walk this way and follow this path.

We've now covered two deaths and three resurrections. Let's go on to four judgments. I said last week that though we had more to cover this week that we would start slow and end fast. The four judgments are easier to discuss because they simply accompany, in most cases, the resurrections.

I said to you earlier, as I read John 3, 15 through 17, that Christ's focus has never been on condemnation but on salvation. As God said, I did send my son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world. The first judgment will support that fact. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 4.

1 Peter chapter 4.

In introduction to the first judgment, 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 17 says, For the time has come for judgment to begin with the house of God.

If we look at judgment periods and judgment settings, the first judgment is now. Now, it has been now for everyone that God has called from the time that God began calling people. For those that God called, their day of salvation, their day of judgment, is their day when they are alive and called. Today is the first judgment for those of us that are sitting here. The first judgment day for those who lived a century ago was a century ago, and we can go all the way back as far as God has been calling people.

Here's the best place to resolve an issue. There are many people who, upon hearing the word judgment, immediately have a completely negative perspective. In doing so, they don't appreciate what judgment is really all about. If you truly understand judgment, judgment is neutral.

Condemnation is negative, and the two are not synonymous.

Let me say that again. Judgment is not a true judgment. Judgment is neutral.

Condemnation is negative, and the two are not identical.

Under the umbrella of the term judgment within your Bible is everything from assessment to evaluation to correction to condemnation, the entire range. All of them fit under the term judgment, and the circumstances must determine how the word is used.

Creno, the root for the term judgment, is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, and 1 Corinthians chapter 11 serves as an excellent illustration of the range of the use of the term. 1 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 31.

Paul said in verse 31, if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. Four different uses of the same root word. Creno, catacreno, I forget what the other prefix is on creno in one of the other places. But he said, look, and brethren, this is where we are right now. If you will judge yourself, there is no need to be judged further.

I don't think any of us is good enough at self-judgment to avoid some of God's evaluation and correction. That's what's implied in verse 32. So, if we have to ratchet it up a notch, and God also starts to do some evaluating and assessing, if we act upon it, do what He is pointing us to do, it will net us the same end result. If you judge yourself, you won't have to be judged, i.e. condemned. If you are judged by God and therefore chastened by it, and you act upon it, then you're still not going to have to be condemned. You know, it's interesting, we live in a carnal world that understands judging far better than churches do. This is one of those crazy worlds where those who are not religious understand judging way, way better than most people who go to church. You know why? Because most people who are involved in being judged in the world can see the process as one that is beneficial, helpful, and constructive. You watch the Olympics every four years. Somebody stands on a high-dive board. They jump off. Up come the signs. I can tell you that for every single person who sees a sign that isn't a 10, that with their coach, they're going home for the next year, the next year, the next year, and the next year, and they're going to be honing the skills that four years later at the Olympics will allow signs to be raised that have higher numbers on them. They don't see that sign as a condemnation. If it's a 10, there's great rejoicing. If it isn't, it's time to go home and work.

You watch a Westminster Kennel Club. You watch any competition that is juried, where jurors must give a vote on the quality of what has taken place. And those who participate are there to learn. They're there to be taught. They're there to take that evaluation so that they can go and do better. Too bad that religion can't see it in the same constructive, proactive, and positive way that those who are involved in sports and animal training and breeding arts and sciences see it on a regular basis.

This is a case where those of the world are smarter than the children of righteousness in that particular way. You and I are in the first judgment. It's a very positive time. It's a time of growing. It's a type of developing. When God says, no chastening for the moment is joyous, it's grievous, but it renders the peaceable fruits of righteousness. I thank God over and over and over again for my trials and my tests. What He has given me as a fruit of it, I couldn't have gotten any other way. I value it. I pray like one of the prophets, Lord, correct me, but not into your anger lest you bring me to nothing. I tell God, I want to know where I am still deficient. Please do so with mercy. But I don't want to just sit here and think and believe something that isn't consistent with what you see in me. That's where we should all be. First judgment. Second judgment is the millennium. A judgment is any period where people are called of God, given His Holy Spirit, and the time to do something about it. The millennium is probably, well, I shouldn't say that. The millennium is a huge period of judgment. I'm not going to read these to you. You've heard them many, many times over. Isaiah 11, verse 9. Jeremiah 31, 34. There are those scriptures that say that in the millennium the knowledge of God will fill the earth as the waters fill the sea. There are the statements that no more will man say, no, the Lord, for the knowledge of the Lord will be universal. And so there will come a day and time where the knowledge of God will cover the earth in a blanket like the sea covers the seafloor. That knowledge has not been there throughout time. There are still places in the world where there are people that don't know the God of your Bible. As I said, communication is such that that is shrinking. Fifty years ago there were portions of this planet where there were people who had never even seen in their lifetime someone who even knew there was a Bible. And as you go backward in time, that number proportionately by ratio is larger and larger and larger. Critical to this time as knowledge is universal is the ability to do something with it. Knowledge that parks here and never goes any further is not worth anything. What God says is, I will give you universal knowledge and I will also give you the tools to do something with it. Ezekiel 11. In fact, what's going to make it easy so we don't have to do a lot of thumbing back and forth is just go to Ezekiel and we'll read three separate places in Ezekiel that make this particular point.

What you will see in each of these cases, if you wish to read further, is all of these are coupled with a time of the restoration of the people of Israel. And for people who look at these and say, well, that's history. No, it isn't history. There has never been a time in history where what is stated here has happened. So either rip it out and throw it away or understand that this is future. This is a gathering of all of the people of Israel back to one place under God.

And he says in this particular place, well, let's start in verse 16. Therefore says the Lord God, although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I've scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they've gone. Therefore say, thus says the Lord God, I will gather you from the peoples, assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel, and they will go there, and they will take away all of its detestable things and all its abominations, and then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes, keep my judgments, and do them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

A return from captivity. He's equal to 36. Ezekiel 36, if you read the verses that lead up to it, it's the same situation of going everywhere in the world, gathering all of those who are scattered, bringing them all back. I don't have to say it to you, brethren, but you understand that if you got every single solitary Jew on this planet back in the state of Israel, you would only have three of 12 tribes gathered there.

He's not talking about, I will bring Judah back to the land of Judah. It is, I will bring Israel, all 12 tribes, back to the land of all 12 tribes. And so any of the misconceptions that from 1948 to the present, the moving of Jews into Israel is the fulfillment of this, is nonsense.

This is about Israel. It is not just about the house of Judah. Ezekiel 36 and verse 24, I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. And then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean, and I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh, I mean out of your, yeah, out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you. Ezekiel 39, three chapters later, verse 25, Therefore, thus says the Lord God, now I will bring back the captives of Jacob. That one is interesting, brethren, because the Jews are not of Jacob. The Jews are of Judah. They are one-twelfth of Jacob, but Jacob had twelve sons. The Jews are only one of those sons. And if you go to the civil war that they had after Solomon and divide them by nation, then the best that you can give Judah is three sons, Levi, Judah, and Simeon.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, I will bring back the captives of Jacob, and I will have mercy on the whole house of Israel. And I will be jealous for my holy name, after they have borne their shame and all their unfaithfulness in which they have been unfaithful to me when they dwelt safely in their own land, and no one made them afraid. When I brought them back from the people and gathered them out of their enemy's lands, and I have hallowed in them the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their own land, and left none of them captive any longer.

And I will not hide my face from them any more, for I shall have poured out my spirit on the house of Israel, says the Lord God. Even more interesting there, because the Jews have always been the house of Judah. From the time that the nations were split by civil war, there were two houses, Judah and Israel. This is talking about people who are a part of that larger family, who are not resident even there at this time.

With the full knowledge of God and the availability of the Holy Spirit, all who live during the millennium will have an opportunity to participate in the Second Judgment Period.

As we move from the Second Judgment Period to the third, I should note that we have formalized into doctrine those elements that are clear, chosen not to take a formal position on elements which the Bible doesn't speak about clearly or address specifically. We know that since the millennium is a day of salvation, a verdict will have to be rendered on the lives of all those who live during this period. We just simply have not taken a formal, doctrinal position on the timing of that event. And that brings us to the Third Judgment. The Second Resurrection ushers in the Third Judgment Period. I've already read to you Ezekiel 37. All the components are there for a Judgment Period. Physical life, a domain, a place to be, and availability of the Holy Spirit.

Those that come up in what has been called the Great White Throne Judgment Period or the Second Resurrection, names have been attached to it to identify when it is. You know, the Bible simply says the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years are over. So if somebody wanted to be picky, they could say, well, this is the after the thousand-year group. This is a group that is given life, domain, and the availability of the Holy Spirit.

You know, Jesus Christ, as he chastised the cities where he did his miracles, in Matthew 11, verses 20-24, he upbraided Besseta and Corazin, two cities where he had done phenomenal miracles. And he said, you know, he said it is going to be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. I read in Gil's commentary, and if you want to look at that place in Matthew 11, verses 20-24 in Gil's, it is an interesting situation. Because Gil takes probably the oldest lying position you could possibly take, and that is, what does he mean by more tolerable? Well, some people are going to be closer to the furnace in hell, and others will be farther away from the furnace in hell, and it will be more tolerable if you are a thousand yards out than if you are a hundred yards out. I am putting that in my own terminology, but that is basically how Gil interprets it. Tolerability is you have less eternal pain and grief than someone else. It says the people of Sodom…well, let's go back there. This is important enough that this is one that we need to look at the nuances.

Matthew 11, verse 20.

And then he began to upgrade the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. So did he say, okay, you are damned. No, he said, woe to you, Corazin, woe to you, Bessada, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done entire and siddened, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.

No, brethren, more tolerable means opportunity.

You stand in front of a judge, he says, you're to heaven and you're to hell. Now, tolerability does not exist. You have gone where you're going. There is no debate. There's no appeal. There's no discussion. Tolerability requires opportunity. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah, the people of Tyre and Sidon, are going to come up in the same resurrection with the ancient Israelites, and even with the Israelites of Christ's time.

People have pondered at times, and why did you seem more tolerable? I can tell you from working with people part of the issue, you know there is nothing harder to get rid of than pride. You take a position, plant your feet, and say, this is where it is, and I'm not budging, and somebody comes along and shows you you're absolutely, totally, completely wrong. The majority of people will still hold the position. Not of nothing, but pure, stubborn pride.

Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom have nothing invested. They'll come up in the resurrection and say, I was wrong, I did wrong, I was nothing but wrong, and now you're offering me right. Their counterparts are going to say, I was chosen, I was good, I was right, and now you're tearing it all apart. They also are going to have to carry the reputation, and you know it's never pleasant to carry a reputation. As it says, these people are going to say, if I had had the opportunity you had, I would have repented. Well, Nineveh did. And so when Nineveh says it, it's not hypothetical, it's literal. Jonah came, preached to me, we changed. Christ came to you, did miracles, and you sat there on your self-righteous position and withstood him to the end.

Part of the tolerability is going to be internal. It's our teaching that when you go back to Revelation 20, verses 11 through 13, that we are dealing with two resurrections. One of them speaks of this dead, small, and great being raised. That's a resurrection. And then it describes the circumstances. And the circumstances are, I saw the dead, small and great standing before God, and the books were opened.

You know what the word Bible is in Greek? Biblos. And the word biblos means the books. I saw the dead, small and great standing before God, and the books were opened. So here's the books opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life.

Here's an opportunity for those who are resurrected following the millennium. Here are the books. Here's the truth that the sermonette was speaking about. Here's the truth that John 1717 says, "'Thy word is truth.'" This is the truth that David said in Psalm 119, 142. The truth, your law, is truth. It says, here are the books. This is truth. Now do something with it. Over here is a ledger, and we will keep track of everyone who did something about it. And so billions of people are going to come back to life to know and understand what truth is, and then have to determine what they're going to do with it. Those that do have an opportunity to be part of a book that's been opened.

It's a book that your name is written in unless you erase it.

They have the opportunity to have their names entered also.

That brings us finally to the fourth judgment.

What we are certain about the fourth judgment is that this is the time when all who have rejected the way of God will be in a judgment. It is the only place and the only time where all who have rejected salvation are gathered. Condemnation is not an element of any previous resurrection or an element of any previous judgment period.

Those in the first resurrection are in it because they were not condemned. Those in the second resurrection are neutral. They're raised to an opportunity, an opportunity that doesn't carry over them a cloud that you are condemned or will be condemned.

Condemnation is not an element of any previous resurrection or judgment period. And yet, Christ in John 5, as we read, and Daniel in Daniel 2 said, there will be a resurrection to eternal life and there will be a resurrection to condemnation.

As you take all the pieces and put them together, and I thought early as I was working on this sermon, those of you that have watched television detective shows, and they have different names for it, but one of the names that you could Google is crazy wall. You know, that's that wall in a police office with all the strings running from this photo to that photo to this piece of evidence that was found on the crime scene. And the strings are going all over the place as they are connecting the relevant pieces so that a final picture that is clear can be made. Studying the two deaths, the three resurrections, and the four judgment periods is very similar to that crazy wall. We've already covered John 5 and Daniel 2, but we're back to the place where it is valuable evidence once more, and that is, there will be resurrection to life, but there will also be resurrection to condemnation. There are two profound warnings in the book of Hebrews, one very well-positioned following immediately on the heels of the fundamental doctrines. It says, here they are, here are the fundamental doctrines, and as soon as those doctrines are given, this follows.

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the power of the age to come, if they fall away to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and put him to open shame. He walks meticulously through those elements that if all of these are there, your chance has been had, and there is none yet ahead. Hebrews 10 says it, verses 26 and 27, for if we sin willfully, and the nominative term is willfully, you know, there are sins of weakness, there are sins of foolishness, there are willing sins that are even different than willful sins. You know, willful sin is you plant your feet, set your jaw, you hunker down, and you say, try to change me. Give it your best shot. If we sin willfully after that we've received the knowledge of truth, there is no longer a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and this judgment is condemnation, and fire indignation which will devour the adversaries.

The fourth judgment period involves and includes all of those who have ever lived and have done as Hebrews 6 and 10 state, and there is only one direction that they may go, and that is into the lake of fire, which, if we come full circle around to where we started, is the second death. We're right back where we started this series. There are two deaths, there are no more than two deaths. The second death puts to death death.

And when the second death occurs, death is done. And you can go back to your first sermon notes, read how explicitly and clearly the Bible states that upon the second death, death is finished. It is no more. It's not a pleasant thought to think of the time when that fourth judgment takes place, and God knows how unpleasant even the thought of it is. But this ends human existence. This time in eternity, where God brought man into existence, gave him a period of time to come to sonship, it ends at that point in time.

The closure of the picture is a positive closure and an encouraging one.

After these things are stated at the end of Revelation chapter 20, Revelation 21 says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there is no more sea. And then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. They shall be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.

These are the two deaths, the three resurrections, and the four periods of judgment.