Why Suffering?

Well, good morning to everyone. I think we have had absolutely outstanding music here at the festival. Every time it just seems to excel before and really deeply appreciate what we had here this morning, the octet and the choir. Both of them were very beautiful, and I'm sure that God is very pleased with the worship of Him through music. This afternoon, we don't have a sermon at, and traditionally the festival coordinator gets up and thanks everybody who's here helping. But seldom does the coordinator get thanked for what he has done. I'd just like to draw the attention to Jerry and Marianne Ost that they have put in countless hours and days in organizing a feast like this. Having done it for 12 years, I know that there's just a lot of details that you've got to go through. A lot of planning, it doesn't just happen because you sit down and say, okay, they're coming, and you hope everybody does his job. It gets down to tremendous planning. So I'd like to just acknowledge their service, and I think it'd be appropriate to acknowledge that by applause. Jerry and Marianne have been dear friends of ours for, should I say, decades, and we really appreciate all of their work and their service. Brethren, why has God not offered salvation to all mankind during the first 6,000 years? Why hasn't God just said, okay, here it is, you choose and give everybody the opportunity that we have right now. Is God partial? In other words, he looked down, he picked you out, he picked me out, he selected us. Is God partial? When you look around, you see, for the last 6,000 years, all the warfares, suffering, pain, agony that people have gone through, sickness, misery, throughout history, why has God allowed that? Why didn't he just start right out and say, okay, no wars, no fighting? Have you ever heard an atheist, when a catastrophe takes place, stand up and say, how could God be a loving God if he allowed this type of thing to happen?

And then, you know, they'll go on saying, I could never worship God because he's not a loving God, and they have their own definition, an idea about what and how God could do something.

Presently, there are 45 to 50 million people who are displaced in this world. We have no homes, no regular life. What if you had to pick up, leave your country, leave the United States, whatever you could carry on your back, and flee either to Canada, Mexico, you know, some other country to try to live? Well, that's the way many are today around the world. It's estimated, one figure I've read, that in the last century, 20th century, 160 million people were killed in warfare by World War II, World War I, Korean War, all of the wars that took place. In the book, Europe, a British historian, Norman Davies, counted that Stalin had killed over 50 million of his own citizens in the USSR between 1924 and 1953. And this is not talking about warfare casualties.

Now, why has God allowed all of this to go on? You go back and you read the history of mankind, and you will find that the history is basically a history of man's warfare, violence, fighting, taking from others. Well, to fully understand, I think you've got to go back to the Garden of Eden.

And that's where we're going to go. Or start with here, back in the Garden of Eden. God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and He told them to increase and multiply. That means to have babies, have children, have families. Now, would they or their children never had sinned if they had partaken of the Tree of Life? Or instead of taking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Eden, they had taken of the Tree of Life. Would they have sinned? The answer is yes, they would have sinned.

They would not have been placed in a cocoon or a bubble where God said, okay, you know, now you chose the right tree, but I'm not going to allow you to sin.

Well, how would they develop character? How would they be able to grow and grace and acknowledge?

Sure, they would have sinned. What was the big mistake that Adam and Eve made? If you ever ask yourself that question, we know they sinned. Romans the fifth chapter tells us, you know, at some point you probably ought to go back and read that and tie it in with this day. Romans chapter 5 shows that they introduced sin into the world.

But sin passed upon all men because all have sinned. Or death, I should say, has passed upon all men because all have sinned. What decision did they make that affected mankind for the last 6,000 years?

Well, God set two ways of life before mankind. One was the way to life, eternal life.

The other was the tree of the knowledge, good and evil.

Notice it's called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

So there's some good, but doing good under the wrong tree, doing good with the wrong motivation, doing good in that way is a hybrid way of doing good.

Good, according to that standard, is not what God is looking for.

Good must flow from the tree of life. It must come from God.

Guess who explains what is good and what is evil?

Is it up to mankind to decide what is good and what is evil, or is it up to God to decide?

Give you just some examples of godly goodness, His law.

That's good. But when you keep God's law, you're blessed.

God's Sabbath day, these annual holy days that we observe.

Christ-like service, humility, cooperation, submission, those are all good.

What about examples of man's good or goodness?

Well, man thinks it's good to tolerate all lifestyles.

It doesn't matter what kind of lifestyle you have, as long as you tolerate it, that's good.

Man thinks.

Man, when he talks about goodness, it's up to him, he thinks, to determine right or wrong. So therefore, as the Bible says, every man does what seems right in his own eyes.

Man determines what is good and evil.

Isaiah chapter 5 states this about man.

What about man? What about man? What about man? What are those who call evil good and good evil? And that's the way society, culture is. When you have three moral agencies involved, which God has offered to mankind, you have to choose. You have to make a choice. You have to be responsible for your choice. It's called cause and effect. The word cause simply means there's a reason for everything happening.

And the effect is the consequences.

So you choose.

And mankind wants to do his own thing, but he wants to call it good. He wants to call it righteousness.

And yet, it doesn't work. Galatians 6 and verse 7 tells us simply that what you sow, you reap.

What you sow, you reap.

Adam and Eve made a wrong decision.

They decided for mankind which way the world was going to go.

If they had taken of the tree of life, guess what?

God would have honored that. They would have sinned, but they would be just like us.

You and I today have the opportunity to eat of the tree of life.

God is offering us eternal life.

Do we sin?

Of course we do. We all know that. We make mistakes. So we have to ask God for forgiveness.

And so they would have said that as the way mankind would have gone.

Instead, they made a wrong decision, a wrong choice, and they went in the wrong way. And mankind has gone that way ever since.

Following the way of the knowledge of good and evil, and not following the way leading to eternal life.

Now, even the way the Garden of Eden was laid out, Eden and the land beyond indicated the plan of salvation. I don't know if you've ever stopped to think about that.

Based... Actually, you'll find that whole area is based upon the structure of the tabernacle.

What do I mean by that? Well, the Garden of Eden was like the Holy of Holies.

God and man communicated.

Man was not cut off from God. He had free access to God. Could talk to him at any time he wanted to.

And he could communicate with him any time he desired.

The land of Eden was like the Holy Place.

Complete and full access to God was not available.

God was cut off in this sense.

Was not totally cut off.

He would still communicate with his people, those that he wanted to.

He talked to Cain and Abel. He gave them instructions.

But they were living not in the Garden of Eden, but in Eden himself.

Once Cain rejected God's guidance, he was driven out of Eden to the land of Nod.

From Cain and his descendants, then, arose a false culture, a false way of life. After the flood, Nimrod reestablished the way of Cain.

And that way has been practiced all the way down to our day today.

It's called Babylonian, or Babylon.

It's interesting, in Genesis 4 and verse 14, that when Cain sent, killed his brother Abel, he made this statement, I shall be hidden from your face.

He realized that he was going to be cut off from God and that he would be hidden from his face.

And verse 16 of Genesis 4 says, he went out from the presence of God.

The further away you got from the Garden of Eden, the further away mankind got from God, from his instruction, his way.

So what did God do when Adam and Eve sinned? They were driven out of the Garden. They went to the land of Eden and God set a carob there, so that they would not go back and partake of the tree of life.

So mankind has been cut off from that tree, except for the handful of people, the firstfruits, that God is called now and given access to that tree.

God knew that man would sin, he'd need his Savior.

And Jesus Christ, as has already been mentioned several times during the feast, was ordained before the foundation of the world to die.

I want you to notice in 1 Peter 1 and verse 20, 1 Peter 1.20, I'd like to quote the NIV, translation, the NIV, 1 Peter 1.20, says, He was chosen before the creation.

So before there ever was an earth, before the physical creation, the heavens, Genesis 1.1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. But before that time, Jesus Christ was chosen to die for the sins of mankind.

Because verse 19 explains that we are redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

But he was revealed in the last times.

So God has a plan, and that plan is going according to his schedule.

Why has God allowed man to suffer?

Why has God allowed man to try governments, politics, education, religion, economic systems?

You know, you can look at all of those. Can you tell me one government that has ever worked, that has ever solved man's problems? One economic system that provides for and provides a wonderful standard of living for everyone in that country. Any religion that man has devised, that has solved man's problems, that has the answer to the right way of life, man doesn't know.

Let's go back to Romans 3 and verse 10. We're all familiar with this section, but Romans 3 and verse 10 is sort of a quick summary of the six thousand years of man's history. And let's notice what it says here. Beginning in verse 10, we read this, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There's none who understands. There's none who seeks after God. This is describing the world, society around us. They've all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none that does good, no, not one. And then it goes on to talk about it. But let's notice in verse 16, destruction and misery are in their ways and the way of peace they've not known.

And there is no fear of God before their eyes. This is a description, a summary of the society in the world that we see around us. The man does not know the right way to live.

Man does not know how to solve his own problems, how to bring peace to the earth. Now, Romans 9, let's go over to Romans 9. Romans 9, 10, 11, shed a tremendous amount of understanding in life on how God is dealing with mankind and all of the decisions that man has made. Let's notice beginning here in chapter 9, verse 6, it says, but it is not that the Word of God has taken no effect, for they are not all of Israel who are of Israel, nor are all the children, are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham. But in Isaac, your seed will be called. That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God, for the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

The children of the promise are counted for the seed. The promise was made to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. The Messiah would come from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not through Ishmael or Uthol. Now, God chose the one that He wanted the promise to come through, the promise of the Messiah, the blessings that would come upon the nation, physical blessings on the nation of Israel, and the spiritual blessing. Pick it up again in verse 9, let's notice.

For this is the word of the promise that at that time I will come and share shall have a son.

So God made that promise to Abraham. And not only this, but when Rebekah also is conceived by one man, even by her father Isaac. For the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election.

What does the word election mean? Choice, chosen, the chosen ones.

That it would be according to God's choosing, not because somebody was born first.

According to the election might stand not of works, but Him who calls. Then we find it was said to her, the older shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved? Esau have I hated? So God chose Jacob, not Esau, to be the recipient of the promise. That the promise would be carried on through Him. Now notice verse 14, what shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Is God unrighteous because He chose Isaac and He chose Jacob and didn't choose Ishmael or Esau? Well, notice what Paul says. Certainly not, absolutely not that God is not unrighteous. Verse 15 says, where he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion. All of us are sitting here today as the elect of God, the chosen ones of God today.

7.3 billion people on earth and God did not choose them, He chose us. Is God evil because He chose us and He didn't choose them? Was God evil because He chose Isaac and Jacob and didn't choose Esau, Ishmael, or others? Notice God says, I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy.

God will extend mercy and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.

So according to God's mercy or grace, God calls and God begins to deal with the people.

Is God to be condemned because He extended mercy to some now and not to others?

That's what Paul is saying in this chapter. Is God evil because He hasn't called everybody now? That was the question I posed to start with. Why has God allowed mankind as the whole to go through the suffering, the pain, and everything that man has gone through? Well, notice beginning in verse 19.

It says, You will say to me then, why does he find fault? Why does God find fault for nations with people if they haven't been called now? For who has resisted His will? But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the same form say to Him who formed it, Why do you make me like this? Does not the potter have power over the clay, and from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured which much long suffering, the vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction?

Why did God choose Israel, not Egypt? God brought Israel out of Egypt and destroyed Egypt.

Why did He do it that way? Well, He wanted to show His grace and His mercy on one and His power on the other so that the nations would fear, would know that He was God, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He is prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. So Paul clearly shows here, and what he's driving at in chapters 9, 10, and 11, is that those who are the elect today are not of one race. God chose one nation, one people, the Israelites, in the Old Testament. They were His nation. Today, God is choosing people out of all nations, all people. So we have Germans and Italians, and we have Africans, and we have Chinese, we've got Americans and British, Germans, and so on. People out of all nations have been called by God for salvation. And I think everyone I was sitting here today is extremely thankful that God has extended His mercy and His grace to us, that we could be among those who are the firstfruits who would be called now. We now have the opportunity to partake the tree of life. God will give everybody that opportunity eventually, but everybody in His own order, when God determines that they will. Now, the big question is, why has God done it this way?

Why didn't He do it this way? Why didn't He just call everybody to start with? Why did He do it this way? Well, chapter 11, in verse 25 of the book of Romans, chapter 11, and verse 25, says, For I do not desire, or I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant.

So as Paul says, he doesn't want us to be ignorant of this mystery, of this hidden truth, lest you be wise in your own opinion that blindness, in part, has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Then what does God say?

And so all Israel will be saved as it is written. All Israel will be saved. God did it this way because this gives, and I'm going to show you, we're going to see it today, that this is the way for the vast majority of people to be converted and the fewest to be lost when it comes to salvation. That God in His ultimate wisdom and knowledge and understanding has been dealing with mankind in a way where everyone will have an opportunity, and the vast majority will be saved and will be in the family of God. As verse 29 tells us, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. That word means without change of mind or heart. God has a plan. He has a purpose, and He is not going to change that plan and that purpose. He's going to carry it out. There is no power in the universe that can prevent God from doing what He said He will do, what He wants to do, which is to offer salvation to all mankind. And now verse 32, for God has committed them all in disobedience. Notice. Why? That He might have mercy on all. That's why. Everyone has been committed in disobedience so that God would have mercy upon everyone. Rather than God wants to extend mercy to everyone, we are only the first ones to be the beneficiaries of God's mercy. Eventually, God will give that mercy and extend it to everyone. And He's doing it in a way that will give everyone the ultimate opportunity to be a part of His family. Now, God wants every human being who's ever lived to have the greatest chance at salvation. Now, God tells us very clearly in 1 Timothy 2, beginning in verse 3. I want you to notice what God's desire, what God's will is.

And He clearly states it, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.

Who desires what? He desires that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

One of the definitions you'll find here from Strong's Concordance of the word desire means the will to intend, to resolve, to determine, or to purpose.

So God has purpose that all men be saved. That's just ultimate purpose, ultimate desire.

So all human beings God wants to grant salvation to, not everyone will accept. We know because the Bible indicates that, but the vast majority will. And to come to the knowledge of the truth, that's not happened yet. Does everybody know the truth? John 17, 17, the word is truth.

Does everybody in the world understand the truth? Know the Bible? The Scriptures? Obviously they do not, but there's going to come a time when everyone will have the opportunity to know the truth and to respond to that truth. Now, God is not a respecter of persons, and He would be if He did not give everybody a chance, an opportunity. Let's notice in 2 Peter 3 and verse 9, we find what God promises us. 2 Peter 3, 9, 9, 9. The Lord is not black concerning his promise, as some count blackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing, notice, He's not willing that any should perish.

He doesn't want anybody to perish, but that all should come to repentance.

So God wants everyone. Has everybody had a chance to repent yet?

Do people even know what to repent of? What God's law is? They have not had that opportunity.

What about all the past civilizations that have come and gone?

Did they have an opportunity for salvation? What about the Babylonians, the Romans, the Greeks, the Persians, all of those people? What about the African tribes that have lived over the centuries? Did they have the opportunity for salvation? That hasn't happened yet. When will it occur?

Well, brethren, that's what this day is all about. It shows us when that time truly will occur.

You see, for 6,000 years, God has allowed man to try every form of government, every religion, every economic system, every educational system, every philosophy. Now, why has God done that?

Because mankind as a whole would not choose to go God's way unless they had already tried every other way and see that it doesn't work.

And so God says, go to it. Try your own government. Try to solve your own problems.

Try to have happy marriages without living by my law. Try to bring peace to the earth, and you don't do it my way. And so man has gone his own way. And for 6,000 years, history has been one of warfare, violence, sickness, starvation, collapse of governments, civilization, man's inhumanity to mankind. That has gone on and on and on for centuries.

And man has tried every way to solve his own problems. Finally, God is going to say, look, there's one way you have not tried. That's my way. Go my way. And that's what Jesus Christ is going to do when he comes back. He will start out having to defeat the armies of the world. He will have to set up his government. And as mankind begins to go God's way, live his way, guess what? They'll begin to realize, this works. God's way works.

And they will begin to have happy marriages, no warfares, peace, sickness will disappear.

People will have an abundance of food to eat. And all through the millennium, there'll be a thousand years of mankind walking God's way, living his way. And it will be a living proof, one thousand years, that only God's way works. But man would not choose to go that way. If God had said, okay, everybody can have salvation from the get-go, what would man have done? Well, we haven't tried democracy. We haven't tried communism. We haven't tried fascism. We haven't tried this religion or that religion or this idea or that philosophy.

So God has allowed man to try it. And guess what? When men are resurrected, mankind, in the future, the earth will have had a thousand years of God's rule over it.

And we'll see the fruit of God's way. And those who will come up, the masters that will be resurrected, will be able to compare God's way. They'll see the world. They'll see the beauty. They'll see the productivity. They'll see the abundance. And then they will say, remember the way it used to be? And maybe the last thought somebody had was a bullet going through his brain and warfare. Or as we heard Mr. Burns talking, those who died in the sea are being eaten by a shark. You know, those type of things. And they're going to see God's way. And they're going to say, yes, this is the way I want to go. And God will have a living example for all mankind of his way.

So let's take a look at some of the scriptures quickly here that deal with that time, the second resurrection. And let's take a look at the wisdom, the knowledge, the righteousness, the depth of understanding that our God has and his plan that he's planned. God initiated a plan before creation of this third. In that plan, God prearranged that every human being who has ever lived would be given a chance of salvation. And God knew that man would reject him. In 1 Corinthians 15, you might remember in verses 22 and 23. 1 Corinthians 15, 22.

Bible says that all who have lived will be made alive. But verse 23 says, every man in his own order. So not everybody's resurrected at the same time. There's the first resurrection of the first fruits. Then comes the second resurrection, which we want to focus on here today. God, for the last 6,000 years, has been preparing the first fruits of people to help bring salvation to the vast majority of people who've ever lived. Those who never had a chance at salvation. That's why we're here today. You are being groomed, trained, prepared to be able to help those people. At the end of the millennium, we will have a thousand years of training. You ever stop to think about that? You and I are being trained today to be kings and priests. In the millennium, we will rule over nations and people, cities, for a thousand years. We will have a thousand years of being trained. And when somewhere around 50, perhaps to 100 billion people come up and stand on the earth, you and I are going to have to be ready for those people. And those who maybe came through the millennium will be there to assist us. We will have centuries to talk about and prepare for the resurrection of the ages, this great white throne judgment. We will also discuss with human beings at that time the resurrection, second resurrection. We will discuss with them about the devil being turned loose also. Imagine 500 years in the millennium. We're going to say, you know, 500 years from now, God's going to allow Satan to be free. Then 400 years from now, Satan's going to be loose. 300 years from now, 210 years from now, Satan's going to be loose. You better be ready.

And what kind of sermons will people be given at that time to prepare them?

And there will still be some who will be deceived and misled. Many nations and people have died without any hope for the future. In Ezekiel 37, in verse 11, after this clock over here is where I can see it, Ezekiel 37, in verse 11, I want you to notice, it describes the time of the second resurrection.

And 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.

So they say their hope is lost. They don't have hope. My wife's mother, I've cited this before, but I think it's a very interesting situation. My wife's mother is buried in Ollie Branch, Mississippi. In the graveyard where she's buried, there's a monument. It's a testimony to the life of one family who's lived on this earth.

Billions of others have lived and shared similar experiences. On the monument is a record of the death of a number of children. One child died of cholera.

Another child was born dead. A third child died of pneumonia.

Several others have listed almost every child that was born in that family died prematurely, very early. Finally, there's the record of the mother, the wife, who died early.

The husband expresses his love for his wife. She obviously had gone through a lot of anguish to bear children and to see them die early. Her husband-father pays tribute to his beloved wife as he calls her. Finally, at the bottom of the monument is something that every time I see it, I choke up. Here lies all my hopes, my dreams, and my reason for living.

Can you imagine the anguish that man had? His wife died prematurely. All of his children died.

They're buried there in that graveyard, and all he has is the monument in which he can express.

Here lies my hopes and my dreams and my reason for living. How many people have lived, have experienced similar things? Whole families wiped out in war. People dying from sickness and disease. I'm sure that he had worked hard for his family. He had toiled for them. He had hopes for them. He had hopes for his little daughter growing up and having her own family or his sons. How futile and full of anguish are these statements? He probably died never thinking he'd ever have an opportunity to see his children again or his family. Can you imagine when the second resurrection takes place and he stands up, his wife rises, his children all come to life, and there they are. I don't think our minds can comprehend you. The anguish and suffering and misery some of the people have gone through. This one day in God's plan is the most significant day that mankind will ever experience in that sense. That God is like God has a freezer, and he opens the door and he takes them out at different times. And this is the time that God reaches in and he grabs all humanity and he says, come up, live. This is your opportunity, and they're going to come up at that time. As I stated, it'll probably affect 50 billion plus individuals at that time. I thought what Paul Burns said was very significant.

Notice in Isaiah 49 and verse 14. Isaiah 49.14. I'll read the net translation, verses 14 and 15.

Zion said, The LORD has abandoned me. The sovereign master has forgotten me.

Can a woman forget her baby? Her nurse is at her breast. Can she withhold compassion from the child she's born? Even if mothers were to forget, I will never forget you, God says.

Now, in context, this is talking about the beginning of the millennium. Israel thinks God has forgotten about them because of the tribulation that they're going through, but it's a principle, and it's the principle that will apply at all times.

God will not forget to resurrect any human being. What if God forgot your parents?

You know, here the resurrection takes place. You're looking around for your parents, or a mate, or children. You ask, where are they? And he says, well, you can't expect me to remember everything. Is that the way God is? How will God resurrect everybody with their memories, their thoughts intact? Remember Ecclesiastes 12.7, Ecclesiastes 12.7, it says, then the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the Spirit returns to God who gave it.

Human beings have what is called the Spirit-Man dwelling in us. It combines with our brain to give us a mind to think. The human spirit imparts to the brain the cognitive power to think, to reason, to know, to make decisions. The Spirit in man is like a DVD recording.

You get your cameras out. It's amazing to get your phone, and you can punch the right button, and you can start a video play. You can record it. It's like a DVD recording. Not only does it give us the ability to think and reason, but it also stores everything. It's the record of our mind, our character, our thoughts, our actions, our activities. At depth, the Spirit in man is like a tape or a DVD that is completed. It contains everything, every nuance of life, every thought, every personality, the character, just exactly as it was for that singular human being. And then the DVD can be filed until needed again for reactivation. And reactivation is another word for resurrection. God will reactivate us. And probably that Spirit in man also contains our DNA, so that when God says, okay, he's going to create a human being, that he will recreate you.

And he'll put the Spirit in man back into your mind, and you will have your memory, your thoughts, your personality, who you were. I'm talking about those who come up in that second resurrection.

There is a great need for this final holy day. Billions have died, never knowing Jesus Christ, never knowing the true God, never even heard of the Bible, known nothing about the God of Israel, and they're going to come up and learn the right way. This day pictures the great white throne judgment, the time of the second resurrection, when God will extend salvation to all mankind. It'll be their first chance, not a second chance, but their first opportunity for salvation.

It'll be their second chance to live. Let's go back to Revelation 20, beginning in Revelation 20, verse 4.

It says, "'I saw all thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded, for the witness to Jesus.'" What happens when you have your head cut off? You're dead. So these are dead people.

"'For the word of God had not worshipped the beast, their image, had not received this mark on their forehead and their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.'" This is talking about us, those who partake in the first resurrection at the beginning of the thousand-year period. But notice verse 5, "'But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished.'" So very clearly, there are two resurrections being spoken of here. The rest of the dead do not live again until after the thousand years. First fruits are resurrected at the beginning of the millennium.

This second resurrection is at the end of the millennium. The Feast of Tabernacles that we just got through celebrating, pictures the millennium, this eighth day, pictures the white throne judgment. Now, notice verses 11 and 12.

Revelation 20 verse 11, Okay? If you stand up before God, guess what? You've been resurrected.

If you're dead and now you're standing, they're resurrected.

AndStream.

And another book was opened, which is the book of life.

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

They're going to be judged at that time. Now, notice the books are open. Their eyes are going to be open to understand the Bible. The word biblos just refers to the books. The Bible is made up, we say, 66 books. They're counted a little differently in the Old Testament, according to Jewish calculation. But you find that you have the books being open. Today, the Bible is a closed book. People read it and have a 200 IQ, understand every type of language on the face of the earth, be totally ignorant of the Bible. Your children will have more understanding of the plan of God and purpose of God. People have died without the truth, not knowing.

I'll just refer to this back in Genesis 3, verses 6 and 7, that the Bible says that Adam and Eve had their eyes open when they partook of the tree of a knowledge of good and evil. And what were they open to? Verse 22 says, to know good and evil, knowledge influenced and swayed by Satan the devil. Christ spoke in parables, Matthew 13, He said. You might remember, He said, they have eyes to see, but they don't see.

They have ears to hear, but they don't hear. They're blinded spiritually. The veil has been cast over the nations. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9 says, The eyes not seen are ear heard. Neither is entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for him. God has to reveal them to us. The book of life is open. Why is it open? To write their names in it. They'll have a chance to have their names written in it.

Now, when it says they're going to be judged out of the books, people, many think that that simply means that God has been taking and keeping the big log up in heaven. Everything you do that He writes it down. And then He says, okay, you've been good, you've been bad, you've been good better than you've been bad. You can go to heaven.

I mean, that's the way the world looks at it. But when it says we're going to be judged from the books, we're talking about the books of the Bible. Remember James 2, 12? Turn to James 2, verse 12. It says, so speak and so do as those who will be judged by what? By the law of liberty. It is the law of God contained in the Word of God, the Scriptures, whereby we will be judged. John 12, 47 and 48. Christ said in John 12, 47, if anyone hears my words, does not believe.

I do not judge Him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects me and does not receive my words, has that which judges Him. The words that I have spoken will judge Him when? In the last day. People in the last day, that eighth day, this is the last of the feast, will judge Him in the last day. Judgment comes to a person when God calls you, opens your mind, extends to you the opportunity for salvation, and you're judged by how you respond to it.

How you respond to it? Judgment does not refer to final condemnation, but a period of time when a person has the opportunity to know God, period of evaluation. Do you realize, brethren, that you and I are being judged right now? The fact that we are here, God is looking down, He's judging.

1 Peter 4, 17, says, For the time has come, 1 Peter 4, verse 17, the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. So you and I, as first-roots today, are being judged. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel?

So it's very clear that you and I are being judged today. The vast majority of people are not. Acts 4, verse 12, gives a very interesting principle. It says, There is no salvation in any other, referring to Jesus Christ, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

The idea that you can believe, and you fill in the name of the religion, or a God, that man has concocted, and that you will have salvation in that way. It doesn't matter what religion you have, it's that everybody believes they think everybody is going to the same place. That's not what the Bible says. The Bible clearly says, There is no other name given under heaven, whereby man may be saved. You must know who Jesus Christ is and believe in Him. So how will God deal with people from all ages, all cultures, all times, all religion, all languages, pre-flood, post-flood, down to the ages?

How is God going to deal with all those people? Over here in Ezekiel 16, verse 53, we find an interesting Scripture. Actually, it's a head-scratcher. Notice, it says, When I bring back their captivity, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, Ezekiel 16, 53, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back the captives of your captivity among them. Verse 55, When your sister Sodom and her daughters return to their former estate.

Now, remember, Genesis 19 describes the destruction of Sodom-Gomorrah. They're going to be resurrected and they will be resettled according to their former estate. Now, guess what? There have been people who've lived there since.

Where are they going to live? Well, God's going to have to figure out where to resettle everybody. As Samaria and her daughters return to their former estate, then you and your daughter will return to your former estate. Notice the New Living Translation of this. But someday, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and Samaria, and I will restore you too. Verse 54, Then you will truly be ashamed of everything you've done, for your sins make them feel good in comparison.

God says, looking at our nation today, that Sodom and Gomorrah would feel good compared to us and to our sins and what's going on. Yes, your sisters Sodom and Samaria and all of their people will be restored, and at that time, you will be restored. There is going to come a time of judgment when God will judge the nations, and all people, both Jew, Gentile, Israelite, will come up and be resettled. This is mentioned in the New Testament also.

Notice Matthew 11 and verse 20. Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they had not repented. Vote you, Chorazin. Vote you, Bethsaida. For the mighty works have been done, and you had been done in Tyre and Sidon. They would have repented long ago in sackcloth. But I say to you to be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. Verse 24 talks about the day of judgment. So there is coming a day of judgment when they are going to be judged.

See, most people think judging means they're going to be condemned. Judging is a process, and at the end of that process comes a sentence statement. So when the Bible says they will be judged, they'll be resurrected, given a chance to salvation, learn the truth, and if they live and respond to it, then they will have the opportunity to be in God's kingdom. There is the sentencing that comes at the end of the judgment period.

So, brethren, let's stop and think about it as we begin to wind up here. There's going to come a time when all these people come up. Different civilizations, different times, different people, different cultures, different religions, different languages, ideas. Many of these people will come up, and they'll hate each other. They'll come up with their old attitudes and ideas, and they won't know the right way. And we will be there to help them.

Will God begin to work ahead of time with His family, with you and me in the kingdom? Will He begin to say, look, I'm going to resurrect this generation. I want you to work with this generation. Now, let me show you what went on during that generation. And maybe we begin to see. Would God allow us to see the spirits in man and begin to see the human beings who we will be dealing with at that time? What they went through, how they lived, so that we will have an insight and be able to deal with them?

I have no idea. But it's intriguing to think about that God will be working with us to get us ready so that we will be able to help those people. So God has signed different time periods, different cultures to different ones, so that we can begin to work with those people. And they will have their chance. Ezekiel 37, and we won't read this, but it talks about the valley of dry bones.

And all of Israelites are pictured there being resurrected. The physical life, breath, skin, sinew, flesh, that's all physical life. They come up and as verse 6 says, They will know that God is God at that time. And then God will give to them His Spirit. Verse 14. So it's obvious it's a physical resurrection. They'll come to know God. They didn't know God before. Now they will know God. And they will be given God's Spirit. With that in mind, let's turn back to Romans 11 again. Read one final scripture here. Romans 11.

God said in verse 32, Even so, these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you, they may also obtain mercy. And as it goes on to say last verse 31, verse 32, God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy, as it says here, on all, on all of them. But verse 33, O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things to whom the glory forever. Rather than this day pictures a wonderful time that we're all looking forward to, the time of the second resurrection to physical life, when all humanity have never had a chance to salvation, will be given that chance. And they will see the world after a thousand years. They will have lived during this lifetime, and God will say, Remember the way you used to live. See what it's like now. Choose. And what do you think the vast majority will do? The vast majority will go God's way. And so God's plan is designed to bring the most humans into the kingdom that possibly could be there. And as we read, O the depth and the wisdom, the love and the mercy and the grace of God. Rather than let's be thankful that we've been called today, and we will be there to help them in the world tomorrow.