Unfinished Lives

Ten years ago, 2005, there was a movie that came out and let me save the title of the movie a little later. Some of you may have seen it. I enjoyed the movie. There's a little language, but you run into that. There's a couple of objectionable things said about God in it, but at any rate, it still was a pretty good movie. It starred Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman, and Jennifer Lopez. I should give credit to Bart the Bear, Grizzly Bear, and a couple others. I forget the names. But at any rate, those are the main characters. Robert Redford played Einar Gilkerson, who is a disgruntled rancher in Wyoming. He has spent the last more than a decade grieving the death of his only son, who was killed in an automobile accident or a truck accident. He went into alcoholism, became impossible to live with. His wife left him. So he lived on his ranch alone. Then Morgan Freeman played a cowboy who worked for him. They were dear friends, and he lived in a little house nearby. His character had been mauled by a bear a year earlier, so he was in a lot of pain and suffering. And then one day, out of the blue, comes his daughter-in-law, who had disappeared after the son's funeral. The daughter-in-law is played by Jennifer Lopez, only she has with her an 11-year-old little girl. That is when the rancher finds out that his daughter-in-law had been pregnant at the time of the funeral of their son, and that he was a grandfather. He had a little 11-year-old granddaughter. So there's a lot of tension between father-in-law and daughter-in-law, but through the course of the story, there's a healing that takes place in their relationship. Because it doesn't matter how much of an old curmudgeon a man becomes. When you have a little 11-year-old granddaughter, it comes along.

It began to change him. Different times through the course of the movie, it would take us out away from the ranch house and the barn, out under a large tree, and there is a rough stone, and that is the gravestone. And at the bottom, it has the boy's name, Griff Gilkeson, and then the dates that let you know that he died when he was 21.

But in larger letters above, it says, An Unfinished Life. An Unfinished Life. And it made the point in the movie that we're not supposed to outlive our kids. And you know, there's a lot of truth to that, and yet in a congregation, sadly, we often have people who know what that feels like. I thank God I don't know. Some of you do know. And it's just outside the natural order of things. But the story was built around the fact that this rancher's son had died when he was just coming into his peak, an accident took his life, and his life wasn't finished.

Well, I'm going to use part of the movie title for my sermon title, and it is Unfinished Lives. Because when we get to the last day of the feast, or excuse me, the last great day, the eighth day, when we get to that point, we're looking at the fact that one of the greatest family reunion of all time is just about to happen. And that is when God is going to open the graves so that, as Revelation says, the dead stood before him, small and great, and were judged out of the books. And we'll look at that scripture a bit later. I was trying to research while we were gone. Internet access was usually at least fair. Sometimes it was quite good. Trying to research because once in a while there will be someone who will try to determine how many people have lived in 6,000 years now of humanity here on the Earth.

I found two sources on the Internet. One came up with the estimate of 106 billion people have lived this Earth. The other one was quite close. It was 107 billion. But I found estimates from as low as around 80 to as high as 120 something billion. That's a lot of lives.

And as we know, the vast, vast majority have lived their life and they have never heard, as Acts 4 verse 12 says, they have never heard that name of Jesus Christ, the only name under heaven whereby we may be saved. Look at our country. We say that we are a Christian country and it was founded on Christian principles. And the Bible was the basic text used in schools for the longest time. But there were peoples here before the mainly European settlers first, and then of course the African slaves, and then you have peoples from various areas that came in.

But the Native Americans, they had no concept of God. And again, is God love? Yes, that's what the Bible teaches us. But is God just? If God would then take all of those peoples who have lived and died and never heard the name of Christ, never had any access and just consigned them to a lake of fire, that would not be a loving and unjust God. But we know that God is. And so He has a plan. He has a purpose. And it is right on time. It is right on time. We live in a country that, yes, professes Christianity, and in the greater Christian world around us, they tend to view human beings as being in one of two categories. On the one hand as being saved, or on the other hand as being lost. Lost or saved. Saved or lost. That's all they see. And there are those who are going around and they frantically want to save people. Now only God can do that. We understand that. But they want, and maybe we could say at least their motive is right, but they only see this little window of time right now as being the only day of salvation. And I'll come back to that a bit later on. The eighth day of the feast reassures us that all of those who have lived will, in God's plan, be offered salvation. Now, let's focus on... A little later we'll get to the place. There's 2 Corinthians 6, verses 1 and 2. It's really the Banner Scripture. And again, we won't go there now, but a little later. But that's where it talks about a day of salvation, and it says the day of salvation. And they'll pull that phrase to prove their case, to make their case that this is the day that you accept Christ now or you're consigned to hellfire as they see it for eternity. Well, today, for those of us in the body of Christ, those of us who have been enlightened, for those who have been called, chosen, and made a part of the very elect of God, this is our day. This is our day. We are being judged now. When Peter wrote his was a general epistle that was written to the church scattered. And in 1 Peter 4, verse 17, he said, the time is now that judgment is on the house of God. So this is our day. We are being judged. We have been called. We have access to the truth of God. This is our day. But for the remainder around us, even those with great biblical knowledge who still have this veil over their eyes, they're simply not being judged now. They are not having their day. But there is a day that's left that is waiting ahead for them.

A lot of times we have to go back to the beginning. And of course, in the beginning we find the book of Genesis. And we know the story of Genesis 3, of the temptation, and of the beguiling, and of the sin, where Adam and Eve took of the fruit and ate of it. And the penalty, the punishment, God gave what he said first to the serpent, and then to the woman, and then to Adam.

And as chapter 3 ends, he placed carobim, so more than one carob, with a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life. Humanity from the outset was cut off from access to that which represented the road to eternal life, the road to salvation.

And here we are 6,000 years later, and human beings are still, for the most part, cut off. Unless God determines that it is that person's time now. Let's go to John 6. A very familiar Scripture here. John chapter 6.

And notice verse 44.

John 6, verse 44. Jesus said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. See, even in that statement, there is a promise that there is a time of being raised up at the last day. Now, the vast majority are not lost. We shouldn't think in terms of lost or saved as the world does. I think in reality we need to look at it as far as three categories.

There is the category saved. Yes. We don't know how many names God has added to the Book of Life. But Jesus, during his ministry, he mentioned from the blood of righteous Abel. So probably Abel, because he obeyed God, and then it cost him his life.

The first martyr. The first martyr for God. From Abel, and then we have the righteous preachers like Enoch and others down to Noah who are mentioned. We have Abraham. Abraham and Sarah are written of as being among the faithful. We have different ones who are mentioned here and there specifically as having been called by God.

David, even when he committed great sins, as you recall from Psalm 51, he cried out, Don't take your Holy Spirit from me. So God had given him his spirit. His eyes were open. He knew what he was doing when he sinned, and thankfully he turned around. He'll be king of Israel in the millennium. But we have then, we come all the way to the church age. And from Acts 2 to present, we have the Spirit-filled, Spirit-led Church of God. And sometimes there have been, like that first day, 3,000 were added to the original, about 120. And then more. And then it says later in Acts, the numbers of the disciples were multiplied. So it could easily have hit 50,000 or 100,000 in those early years as the Gospel went far and wide, and the apostles were on fire with the message that they had been given. And we've seen great numbers in the 20th century added to the church. So we do have that category of the saved. The saved, whose names have been written in the Book of Life. And all of us here probably know those who have been faithful, genuine servants, who have gone to the grave. They're sleeping the sleep of death until the voice of Christ raises them up. I have the deepest reason to believe that my parents are among that great body. And many of you have family members as well. So we have that category saved. And yes, in one sense, there's that category lost. But you and I don't know who may be in that category. We have to leave that to God. Some want to say, well, Judas is carried. You know, what Judas did had been prophesied long before. How much is he held accountable for that? And do we really know what was in his heart of hearts? As he was so over-wrought with what he had done that he took his own life. So like John 8 where we just read, let's not be those who would cast stones at him. And I know some have written Solomon off. And yes, 1 Kings 11 sounds pretty bleak. But then if Ecclesiastes was written late in life, we've got the writings of a man whose eyes kind of snap back open. And he went through that great experiment of everything life has to offer. And he came down to that conclusion, fear God, keep his commandments. This is what is important. So there is a category for those, I say lost, that's the world's term, but it would be those who have, as Hebrews 6 talks about, tasted of the heavenly gift. They have been enlightened and they turn from it. I don't know one name to put in that category, but I'm sure that God knows some that are already in that case.

They've set their will. They will not bend a knee to God. But I think our largest category is number 3, and that is simply what I call the waiting. The waiting. They've died. They're sleeping.

The biblical metaphor for death is they sleep. They sleep, waiting the time. And let's look here at chapter 5, John 5.

And let's just notice verses 28 and 29.

And come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life. Now, let's pause right there. I think on the Feast of Trumpets, we looked at a number of scriptures that refer to that resurrection at the sounding of the Great Trumpet, the final trumpet. The dead in Christ, Paul said, will rise first. We who are alive will be changed.

So that one. Now, by the way, it's worded here. We know from other places we're not talking about the same resurrection. But some to life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation, and some translations render that judgment. That there is a time of a resurrection. They've done evil, but did they know what they were doing?

Or did they have a veil over their eyes? Did they have blindness from Satan? And there's a time of coming to life so that they can be judged based upon what they do from the point of having their eyes open. So, loss saved waiting. We have a problem. There is a problem.

We probably read about him on the Day of Atonement. Ezekiel 28. You know what's there. You were perfect in your ways till iniquity was found in you. Isaiah 14, those I statements of Satan, culminating with the one, I will be like the Most High, which I think, by interpretation, he wanted to be the Most High. He wanted to take God's job. We have a problem because, let's look at 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4. This still is His age. He is the King over this world right now. He continues to be until God removes him. But Revelation, excuse me, Revelation. That's the next scripture. 2 Corinthians 4, verse 4. Whose mind? In fact, let's back up to verse 3. Let's add verse 3. But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. Here he introduces, and we'll see a little bit more, about this veil, this blindness, this covering that God will destroy. But is very much intact for the vast majority right now. Whose mind is the God of this age has blinded. Now, if God is a God who is just and God is a God of love, will God destroy? Will God throw in a lake of fire those who have been blinded and have never seen? Of course He won't. Who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. Let's look also at Revelation 12, verse 9. Revelation 12, verse 9. And this is breaking in on the story, but war in heaven and the dragon, his angels being cast back down. Once again, Revelation 12, verse 9. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old. So here in the last book of the Bible, it ties it back in with the first book of the Bible, where the serpent came and beguiled Eve. That serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. It's not just part of the world, it's the whole world is under this blindness, this deception, this veil, this covering. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. Now, let's go to Isaiah 25 and let's notice a prophetic statement about a coming time when this covering, this blindness, as Paul called it, is going to be destroyed. Isaiah 25, and let's read verses 6 through 9. This is a millennial prophecy, and yet looks on beyond as well. Isaiah 25 verse 6, The Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the leaves of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the leaves. Notice verse 7, And he will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. Verse 8, He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, the rebuke of His people. He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said in that day, Behold, this is our God. We have waited for Him, and He will save us.

And then it repeats that. But Christ is coming in part to destroy this covering, this veil, this blindness that has been cast over the people. And some of the very phrases that we read right there are quoted in Revelation 21. No more tears. Death itself will be cast into the lake of fire. Because, you see, the God of the Old Testament, who inspired what Isaiah wrote, is the same being as the revelation of Jesus Christ. And what he said in Revelation 21 that John just simply wrote down.

Now, once upon a time, we had God and the Word. That's the way John won. If you go chronologically to the first beginning of the story of God from the Bible, you'd have to go to John 1. Mr. Herbert Armstrong used to teach us that so much. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. The Word was God. And you know what it goes on and follows. In Him was light. And then later, the Word came and dwelt among men. And so it's obviously Christ. But that Word comes from the Greek logos. The speaker, the spokesperson. He is the being who was back in the re-creation story in Genesis 1, who said, let there be light. He's the one who said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. And then the Word, we know better today as Jesus Christ. The one called God, we know better as the Father. Jesus came and taught us to pray to our Father in Heaven. But once upon a time, you had these two beings who decided to build a great family. And they decided they wanted to share the way that they are, the way that they live, the way of love by which they operate. That it was too wonderful to just keep between the two of them. They wanted to build a family. And that led to, you know, there were different stages. The physical universe, excuse me, first the angelic sons of God were created, the physical universe, the sin of the one-third of the angels, as we know. But it came to the time when Adam and Eve were created, the human family were created in the very image and likeness of God.

And their intent was that all humanity would become a part of this great eternal family. And we know the rest of the story. We've been sidetracked for six thousand years. But once again, God foreknew this. He foresaw this. That's why Revelation tells us the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. They knew one of those beings would have to come down and dwell among flesh and die so that all can be saved. Now, we read of their intention in a number of places.

Now, let's go to 1 Timothy 2 and read verse 4. 1 Timothy 2 verse 4.

The previous verse speaks of God our Savior. Verse 4.

1 Timothy 2 verse 4.

So, out of 107 billion and maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less, God wants every last one of them in his family. He wants the maximum success.

Reality is some will not bend their knee to God.

Some will be thrown in a lake of fire. And we can only hope and pray that it's very few.

But they desire all men to be saved.

Now, another one. Let's add in there. 2 Peter 3 verse 9.

And we were just verse 2 beyond that a while ago.

2 Peter 3 verse 9.

And it says, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So, this underscores the fact that God's intention, God's purpose was that everyone would come to take steps down this path that leads to eternal life and the family of God. He wants all to be a part of his family. Now, let's back up to John 3 verse 16.

But we'll also read verse 17, because this further reveals God's intention for even creating humanity.

And most of us learned John 3.16 a long time ago. I learned it in Sunday school when I was about 6 or 7 years old. And I learned the books of the Bible in order back then. And at least that much has stuck with me.

And I learned Psalm 23. But I've lived long enough that even though I know the order of the books of the Bible, I will oftentimes catch myself now. I'm going to go to Matthew and I turned the wrong way. So, it's the aging process.

The connection is just...there's so many of them. We have so much intelligence, right? As we age, it's harder to access that. John 3 verse 16, And that's what God wants for everyone. To have eternal life. But let's read on. Now, the way the world, the Christian world, looks at this concept of you're either lost or saved, it seems like they're thinking that the vast majority are going to perish. But God doesn't want that. God wants all to have eternal life. Now, let's go to 1 Corinthians 15, where we can add a little bit more.

1 Corinthians 15, and let's begin in verse 22. This, of course, is the resurrection chapter, and he begins addressing that topic from verse 12 on. But let's just pick it up in verse 22. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 22, For as in Adam all die. Now, we're told in Hebrews that it is appointed to men once to die. We, flesh and blood, won't enter the kingdom of God. We're not going to live forever. We're told that. We go into life that way. Somewhere, probably in our 40s, certainly by our 50s, we begin to realize, you know, I peeked out, and I'm on my way down, and it's getting faster and faster.

Or am I the only one that that's happening to? I'm the one having a birthday later this week. And it was kind of sobering three years ago when all of a sudden my age started with the big number six. And some of you laugh at that, that I'm a young thing. Because yours is with a seven or an eight or whatever. Let's continue there. Even so in Christ, all shall be made alive. And this too speaks of the fact that those who are in the grave, and again, we have other places that teach us.

There's a first resurrection, and by using that term back in Revelation 20, that implies there is at least a second and maybe more. All shall be made alive. Verse 23, but each in his own order. Christ the first fruit. See what happened approaching 2,000 years ago. Christ fulfilled the wave sheaf. He is the first of the first.

The first one to be cut free from dependence of this earth. The first one to be resurrected, not as flesh and blood, but back, as it says in one place, with the glory that he had with the Father before. He said that to them that pass overnight. As he prayed to his Father, he knew he'd have that glory once again. Christ the first fruit afterward those who are Christ's at his coming.

So we see there is an order. This was a part of the teaching of the day of trumpets, the Feast of Trumpets. The final trumpet introduces the first resurrection. Then comes the end. When he delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when he puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. So we have skipping vast amounts of time. Christ was first, then those who are Christ's at his coming. Then there's the end when he's put down all resistance. Now that would even look beyond the millennium.

Because at the end of the millennium, remember what it said, Satan's released a little while. He rises up the forces like Gog and Magog, who rise up in rebellion. It's after that point that we have the Father ultimately. Revelation 21 and 22, the Father himself comes here. So continuing, verse 25, For he Christ must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.

Notice the name of this one enemy that we all surely hate. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. The final enemy to be destroyed is death itself. Now all the way back in Genesis, remember when the God of the Old Testament went to Abraham and Sarah? They were not spring chickens any longer. And God explained that about this set time next year, Sarah, you're going to give birth to that son of promise. She laughed. She laughed. And in that story, it mentions, is anything too hard for the Lord? Or Romans 8, 31, where it says, if God or with God, all things are possible. Let's look at Revelation 1.

We just read that death itself will be destroyed. And I think we need to remind ourselves in this description of Jesus Christ that He holds keys. Now let's see what they are. A key. I usually have a key in my pocket. I don't right now. My driver, bodyguard. My point man, he's got the keys in his pocket. But if I had those keys, I could go out to a red pickup, and it allows access. You can fire off the engine. At least so far, it's always started. There's another key with it. And when I get back to the house, it'll unlock locks to gain access to. But here it says, just notice Revelation 1, verse 18, I am He who lives and was dead. And these are in red letters. We know it anyhow. These are the words of Christ. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades. Okay, Hades, the Greek word that refers to the grave, the abode of the dead, the tombs. So he has control over. He has power over. He can use those as he pleases. He has the keys of Hades and of death.

Now, when we get to the last day, the eighth day, Leviticus 23 doesn't say much, two verses in passing. It's talking, it seems more so, about the Feast of Tabernacles, seven days you'll have the celebration, you'll celebrate before God, you'll keep this Feast to God. And then in verse 36 and 39, it just adds, and the eighth day shall be a holy convocation for you. So it's left for us to do a lot of connecting of the dots. There's not much said back in Leviticus about the eighth day.

It helps us, and in a little bit we'll go a bit later, a little further into Revelation, because there we can line up one holy day after another after another. Christ returns, Satan's removal, a thousand years, and then what happens afterward. And we have enough dots, enough dots that we can connect it and draw those lines between it. But let's first go to the Scripture I mentioned earlier, and that's 2 Corinthians 6.

This is a foundational passage for those who teach that there's one and only day of salvation, and it's right now. So in their teaching, you either accept Christ right here, right now, or it's a lake of fire for you. Or, not lake of fire, it's hell fire. The concept of most is burning forever. Punishing as a process. 2 Corinthians 6, verse 1, We then, as workers together with him, also plead with you, not to receive the grace of God in vain, for he says, In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.

Now, you can pull that phrase out and proof text, and you can prove your lost and saved teaching, that this is the day. But we have to be responsible and do better than that. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Now, the earlier part, at least in my Bible, is in italics, and it's indented a little. It stands separate, which is the way the New King James will often do it, when it is denoting this as a quotation from the Old Testament. It is interesting if we go back to the Old Testament, and you may have a marginal note there, Isaiah 49, verse 8.

So, let's go back. If Paul is quoting from the Old Testament, it would service well to go back and read it where it was written. Isaiah 49, and it is verse 8. Again, I'm reading from the New King James, and we're going to look at it from the King James. Thus says the Lord, in an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.

I think that was the end of the quote that Paul used. Now, if we go to the Old King James, it says on this verse, Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee. Again, that's as far as we read. Now, the challenge that we have in translating from one language to the next is that Greek, where we read from in 2 Corinthians, and Isaiah, written in Hebrew, neither language has what English has that is known as articles.

There are definite and there are indefinite articles. Indefinite articles would be A or N. A day of the week. Well, that doesn't tell us. That's kind of open-ended. Is it Monday or is it Thursday or is it Sunday? A month in the year. Well, it narrows it down. It's an indefinite article. A or N. Then, if you use the or sometimes we say thee, or in these verses, the day of salvation, it is a definite article.

And it's saying this right here, right now is the day. Now, again, our problem is Hebrew and Greek do not have these definite or indefinite articles. And when the translators are translating into another language, there are a lot of challenges. The King James, originally, and again, this is 400 years ago, King James gathered together 54 of the greatest Greek and Hebrew and Calvi scholars of the day, grouped them in groups of nine scholars to work on different parts of the Bible, and then all of this cross-checking of each other's works.

And then the final nine of that group would then check everything that was done. Is it possible that they did not have the preconceptions that has come into Protestantism and Catholicism in our day and age to where there is this thinking? This is the day. And the King James translators said, An acceptable time and a day of salvation, leaving it open because there is more than one.

I mean, there's no other conclusion you can come to if you are a student of the Scriptures. Jesus Christ had His day. He was the first of the first who was raised to spirit. Afterward, those who are His at His coming will be raised into spirit. They have had their judgment today. Judgment, Peter said, is on the house of God.

The house of God is defined when Paul wrote to Timothy. It was 1 Timothy 3.15. In case he was going to be delayed in coming, he wrote to Timothy, So you know how to behave yourself in the house of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and stay of the truth.

The house of God is the church of God. This is our day of salvation now. But then Paul said, then comes the end. When he delivers the kingdom, all authority, all power has been put down, he delivers it to the Father. And as we look at Revelation, we see, yes, there are different times. Paul said in the resurrection chapter, each in his own order. There are different times when God spiritually judges.

You know, with the modern day teaching that this is the day of salvation, isn't it interesting? I mean, how would Jesus Christ feel about that when at the end of his ministry in Acts 1, you have a group gathered together, and he spoke to multiple thousands, maybe tens of thousands in his lifetime, the Master himself, and about 120 people were there. That would be downright depressing. If that was what he was trying to do, is run around saving as many souls as they say, as he possibly could. Well, today is a day of salvation. Today is our day. I know. You know. You know when God called you.

You know when the truth has a way of getting a hold of you. You have to do it. You know when it's your day, and this is our day. But the world, that vast category that I call the waiting, are awaiting a time when they will have their opportunity. Acts 17. Acts 17. And let's begin in verse 29. This marvelous message of Paul as he speaks to the Greek philosophers. Those who wanted to hear something new, there at Athens, at Mars Hill.

Verse 29. Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art or man's devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands, see, now that the church has been established and sent to the ends of the earth, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has appointed, what? A day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained.

And of course, Jesus said that the Father had committed all judgment to him. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead. And of course, then they thought he was one who was crazy. God promises a time when Jesus will judge the world in righteousness. Some have been judged. Some are being judged. The vast majority will yet be judged in righteousness.

1 Peter 2, verse 12. 1 Peter 12, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak evil against you as evildoers, again he's writing the church scattered abroad, and he's talking to them about the way you live your life, the example that you set, they may, by your good works, which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Those of the nations aren't having their day right now, but there will be a time when they, by your good example, by the life of Christ that lives in you, they will be able to glorify God whenever their time, when the day of visitation comes upon them. Now, we're familiar with Ezekiel 37. You probably on the last great day heard that gone too.

And it makes it very clear that those are the bones of the whole house of Israel. Is it just Israel that's going to be raised up? Well, obviously no. We have a number of places in the New Testament where Paul, excuse me, where Christ, during his earthly ministry, he referred to, he would look at different of the cities, Bethsaida, Chorizan, some of the cities of his day, and he made statements that it would be easier for those of Sodom and Gomorrah, or of those of Nineveh, or of the Queen of the South, the Queen of Sheba, as she's referred to in the Old Testament.

Well, those are peoples that are not Israelites. Ninevites, those of Assyria from Asher, yes, they're of the line of Shem, but they're not Israelites. But you've got the others, Canaanite peoples, who probably were the ones there at Sodom and Gomorrah. He mentioned Tyre and Zidin also, but those of Sodom and Gomorrah were probably Canaanite peoples, and Canaan was a descendant of Ham. Sheba was a grandson of Ham, and so, understandably, the peoples were the Queen of Sheba, the Queen of the South came from. These are not Israelite peoples, but he mentions it'll be more tolerable for them than for you, the Jewish cities of his day.

Now, vast tens of billions will come out of the graves, and you think of Aboriginal peoples, think of the Aborigines in Australia, there were Native American peoples. A lot of peoples, islands around the world, and oftentimes they worshipped the creation, frankly. They were taken by rocks and animals and stars and planets, and they worshipped the things that they could see, and they fashioned their image of God around that. Let's go on over to Revelation 20.

We'll skip Revelation 19, which tells the story of the return of Christ. He returns as a conquering king. He returns as a great warrior. He returns with the angelic host to do battle, to put down the resistance of mankind. That's a fulfillment of what is pictured on the Day of Trumpets. Then, as we get to Revelation 20, one of the first orders of the day is this one who has blinded, this one who is allowed to place this covering veil over the minds of humanity, has to be gotten out of the way.

Satan is laid hold of in verse 2, and he's bound a thousand years, and he's put into the bottomless pit, and shut up, as we know, released a little bit later. Let's look at verse 4. So if that's then the Day of Atonement is fulfilled, then we go on to the Feast of Tabernacles. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them, because Christ is going to share. They're going to live and reign with Christ as kings and priests.

Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus, and for the Word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Now in verse 5, think of this first longer sentence as being in parentheses.

John says, but the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. So that's kind of a parenthetical thought. Here, in verse 4, you have thrones, they sat on, these who had given their life for Christ are now resurrected. They're living, they're reigning as kings and priests with Christ. And he says, the rest of the dead aren't going to come up for a thousand years. But then he says, this is the first resurrection. That's referring back up to verse 4. The saints who had died now live and reign with Christ.

The rest are going to come up a thousand years later. He talks about the job they have in verse 6. Verse 7, after the thousand years Satan is released from his prison, you have these peoples. Here it says, Gog and Magog, whether it's the same peoples, or whether it's referring to that earlier rebellion at the beginning of the millennium that Ezekiel writes about. Maybe it's just referring to them as a type of, just in general, the rebellious, incorrigible, who quickly rise up in rebellion and are destroyed. Well, let's go to verse 11. Because as we get through the thousand years, then we come.

This is where we have to connect dots back to Leviticus 23, 36, and 39, where there's this eighth day, a separate one-day festival. Here, as we follow the fulfillments from the return of Christ, to the removal of Satan, to the thousand years, and the next thing that we read here is verse 11, Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was no place, there was found no place for them.

So a tremendous number! If these estimates are right, 80, 90, 120-some billion people, for the most part, because the elect of God have only been a little tiny drop in the bucket, the vast majority are going to stand up. There will be so many, there won't be any more room. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened.

Now it's interesting that that Greek word translated books is biblia, or biblion, is another form of it, and from that we get our word Bible. The books of the Bible are opened, because you and I are being judged by the words written right here, now.

And it would only make sense, those at that time, when we judged out the same word, that is the very living, breathing mind of God. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And of course, it would be understood that this is for the purpose of adding names, with the intent, the hope of having the greatest success of adding the vast majority into that very Book of Life.

And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

Now, judgment, the world too, has this idea of God on His throne, and this endless line of humanity going up, and when you get there, in your chance, you just have a snap of the fingers, the rendering of a judgment. Heaven or hell. Man has that idea. But for judgment, you have to have a period of time. You and I were called, and we have had different amounts of time. The parable of the, what I call the parable of the eleventh hour, teaches us that. Some run their Christian calling a long time. Some for a little less. Some for half as much. And some just have a little window of time. I've known people who have been baptized, and days later died. But God judges them based on what they do with respect to the amount of time they were given. And we have to leave that in God's hands. But here, they're judged, and judgment takes time, because we have to have a basic level of understanding to be able to act on, and we have to have time to make choices, to make decisions, and to take action, where God can then read the intent of the heart. Let's go back to Romans 10. First of all, then we'll go to chapter 11. Here, Paul underscores so beautifully that God's intention is that he wants all to be saved. God wants to pour out his mercy upon everyone who has ever lived. God wants to welcome everyone into the eternal family. Romans 10, verse 1, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. Well, let's skip chapter 10 and go on to chapter 11 now. Verse 1, I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. So Paul was of the house of Judah, but specifically he was of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel, saying? Quotes were, Elijah thought he was the only one left. Well, let's skip on down to verse 5. Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Verse 7, what then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Hmm, the elect. And the elect came, yes, from the house of Israel, from the house of Judah, but also from many nations, as the gospel went far and wide. The rest were blinded. Just as it is written, God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not see, ears that they should not hear, to this very day. Well, let's drop on down to verse 25. Verse 25, for I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles have come in. And so all Israel will be saved. And again, we have to be reminded of the fact that God just simply, God's the one who told Moses so long ago, I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. He is the one who looked down, and we're introduced to Abraham at the end of Genesis 11, but then God deals with him in chapter 12 and on. God chose Abraham, worked through that line, and then Jacob, his grandson, the name was changed to Israel, and God chose this little people. I mean, they were a little tiny drop in the bucket as far as the rest of humanity at that time. A little people, it was God's intention that they would be the example nation.

God said that at the outset, that through you, Abraham, all peoples will be blessed, referring to that physical progeny, but also the fact that the Savior would come through that line, the line of Judah specifically. That was his intention. But boy, is Israel messed, dropped the ball, messed it up.

They never have been, and to this day, the end time descendants of Abraham are just for the most part exporting perversion and godlessness to all the world. There are people in the Philippines, again, I apologize. I am ashamed and embarrassed of what my country exports as far as perversion around the world.

But Israel will do their job in the millennium. But not because they were chosen, not because of their superior. God just decided to start somewhere. And we don't know why, but he chose Abraham and that line.

And then there was blindness, as Paul points out, blindness for Israel, till all of the nations represented by this word Gentiles have come in. And so in the process, Israel will be saved as well. Verse 32, for God has committed them all to disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.

Tens of billions, brethren, tens of billions who have lived, or who live now in blindness, or will live yet in blindness, tens of billions of unfinished lives will be awaiting in their graves until a time when the voice of Jesus Christ calls them back out of flesh and blood existence. But they'll then begin taking steps toward the family of God and eternal life.

And the book of Revelation ends, the Bible ends, with a statement just basically saying, Whosoever will let him come, come, drink of the water of life freely. And that's where God's plan leads. God wants every human being to have access, and God wants everyone to make a positive decision and to become a part of the very family of God. So to that we can just say, Godspeed the day. We look forward to that greatest family reunion of all time that is pictured by what is covered here in the White Throne Judgment and connecting that with the last great day. So wonderful Sabbath to all of you. See you, many of you, at the Bible study a week from Wednesday, and then see everybody in two weeks on the Sabbath here.