4. The Ransom for All

1. “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all have sinned” (Rom 5:12). In a previous study, we learned from this verse how we inherited sin from Adam. He was created perfect; and when he sinned, he lost not only his perfection, but also his right to everlasting life. Adam’s sin and the death penalty that resulted because of it were passed down to and through all his de-scendants. Everybody throughout history has died because of Adam’s sin.

2. “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Consequently, just as the result of one tres-pass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justifi-cation that brings life for all men (Rom. 5:17,18). “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22 KJV).

Once again, we ask you to notice the two great opposites that are contrasted in these two texts: DEATH through Adam and LIFE through Jesus Christ. You will find these two great opposites contrasted throughout the Bible. Death is the penalty that has been passed down from Adam ever since he lost his home in Eden. Christ, however, having conquered death, now offers us everlasting life.

3. Everybody who has lived and died since Adam has died because of his sin; but these state-ments by the Apostle Paul truly offer a real HOPE for all mankind. Because of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice, “the free gift (of righteousness) came upon all men unto justification of life” (Rom. 5:17,18 KJV).

4. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified (witnessed of) in due time” (1 Tim. 2:5,6 KJV).

In order to properly understand the Bible, we must not only read its verses, we must also know the meaning of the words found in the verses. Please read this text again, and think about the meaning of all the words found in it. What does the word ransom mean to you? It is a corresponding or equivalent price someone asks for, that must be paid before what was lost or taken away can be returned. Think for a moment what it was that our Lord’s life, of-fered as a sacrifice, corresponded to, or was equivalent to. It was the price required.by God’s justice.

5. Do you recall from an earlier study that after Adam and Eve sinned, they not only lost their human perfection, but they also died because of their sin? (See Gen. 3:1-4, 6-7, 19, 23-24) Do you also recall how sin and its penalty of death were passed down throughout all genera-tions? (See Rom. 5:12 & Ezek. 18:4.)

6. We also learned in previous studies how the sacrifices ancient Israel used to “cover” the sins of the people from year to year never took away (or removed) their sin. This was because the life of animals was not equal to the perfect human life of Adam that he lost in Eden. God’s just law required something of equal value to Adam’s perfection, in order to remove sin and death from humanity and bring back what was lost.

7. Only a perfect human being, free of sin, could pay the price as a sacrifice for the human per-fection that was lost in Eden. A ransom needed to be paid (a corresponding price)--a perfect human life for a perfect human life. After Jesus became a man, he WAS that corresponding price, and he was able to offer such a ransom. He gave up his perfect human life as a ran-som for the perfect human life that Adam had forfeited when he sinned. The sacrificed per-fect human life of Jesus was therefore acceptable to God. Where mankind once had death through Adam, he now has a chance for life through Christ.

8. It is our hope that you noticed the word ALL when you read 1 Tim. 2:5,6 earlier in this les-son, and that you realize Jesus DID INDEED give himself “a ransom for all.” What does the word all mean to you? As you proceed in this study, you will learn about many amazing promises in the Bible which include a hope for ALL the people now living, IN ADDITION TO ALL who have ever lived or will ever live on this planet. If we leave anyone out of these promises, it cannot be believed that Jesus die for “all.”

9. At the beginning of this lesson, we quoted Rom. 5:17,18. Please open your Bible and read those verses again to refresh your memory. Notice how they tell us that all mankind has been dying ever since Eden because of sin passed down through all generations. Verse 18 says, however, that because of Christ’s sacrifice, “the free gift came upon all men unto justi-fication of life.” (KJV) It should be clear from this statement that everybody everywhere must have the opportunity of accepting Christ. The Apostle Paul did NOT say this oppor-tunity was presented just to the people presently living. The promise was made by God him-self and is for every descendant of Adam who ever lived or will live on this earth. You should be able to understand this point more clearly when we deal with it in greater detail in a future study.

10. “....Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings (news) of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10 KJV). Who is included in the “all people” prophesied by the angel of the Lord in this verse? If Jesus did indeed die as a ransom for ALL, as stated in 1 Tim. 2;5,6, shouldn’t ALL PEOPLE have the opportunity of sharing in the great joy of our Lord’s birth and work? If so, shouldn’t they also have a chance to benefit from it?

11. “....Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Notice how John the Baptist said Jesus would TAKE AWAY, not merely cover, everyone’s sin. (See John 1:29.)

12. “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). Think for a moment how it would be possible for Jesus to draw EVERYONE, even those who had already died before he made that statement. When you get to our study on the res-urrection, this will be looked at again.

13. “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every-one” (Heb. 2:9). Do you, too, “see” that he died for EVERYONE?

14. “The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gos-pel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you’” (Gal. 3:8). (Compare this to Gen. 12:3 and 22:18.) Notice how even Gentiles can be justified by faith in Christ’s sacrifice!

15. In previous studies, we showed how Jesus Christ is the true “seed” of Abraham through whom all nations will be blessed (Gal. 3:16). He tasted death for every man and has taken away the sins of the world. To date, very few people who have ever lived have benefited from our Lord’s sacrifice. Even so, God’s promises as recorded in the preceding verses will one day be carried out. It is recorded in 1 John 2:2 that Jesus did not die only for the sins of his Church, but also for the sins of the whole world. In a future study, you will learn exactly how the world, for whom Jesus also died, will be blessed through him.

16. Our God is not just the God of one small group of people who happen to live on one small section of this planet. Our God is the God of the WHOLE WORLD and the creator of eve-ryone who lives on it. When God deals with the people of earth, He deals with everyone. All humanity was lost through sin and suffered the same penalty of death, regardless of what country they lived in or who they believed in. Therefore, all humanity must have the oppor-tunity to become free from sin and death.

17. GOD IS LOVE (1 John 4:8,16), and because of His love for all mankind, He has a plan whereby everyone who has ever lived, is now living, or will live in the future, will have the opportunity of gaining everlasting life. In the next lesson, we will show the present hope for the Church; in another study you will learn about the future hope for the world. It is our hope that after finishing these studies, you will realize what you possibly may never have re-alized before--the MAGNITUDE of God’s love for the human race.

18. Far too often, the motto of people in some religions is poetically expressed like this: “God bless me and my wife, my son John and his wife, us four and no more.” Thank God for His assurance that His coming blessings will exceed just small families! Yes, indeed, God’s coming blessings will exceed the boundaries of nations, religions and races! They will spread to every part of the earth! Please continue with these studies, dear student, and learn about the depth and fullness of God’s great love for ALL.

19. The next two lessons of this study will concern the ransom for all as it pertains to the Church. In the following study, the lessons will show how the ransom for all also benefits the world. Jesus died for all humanity, and all humanity will ultimately be blessed by Christ who is the “seed” of Abraham.

1. As you have already learned, Jesus offered his perfect life, not only for the sins of the Church, but also for the sins of the whole world(1 John 2:2). Yes, the people of the world will have their opportunity of being blessed through our Lord Jesus Christ. However, at this time in human history, not all of earth’s billions now living or who have ever lived have been called by God to understand the true gospel message. In fact, throughout history, only a small number of people have even heard the name of Jesus Christ, the ONLY name under heaven by which we might be saved (Acts 4:12).

2. “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39). This verse bears out the point we have just made. Not eve-ryone is now being called. The Lord is doing the calling.

3. Are you aware that nowhere in the Bible is the Church referred to as being a building? “Church” is translated from the Greek word ekklesia, which means “a calling out,” or those called out.

4. The Church is composed of members of Christ’s body who have been called out of the world by God. Romans 16:5 speaks of the Church (those called out) meeting in a house. Jesus used the word church three times in his ministry, as recorded in Matt. 16:18 and 18:17. In each case he was speaking about a group of people, the Church, who were called out of the world. Neither did the Apostles ever refer to the Church as being a building.

5. According to 2 Peter 1:4, individual members of the Church have escaped the corruption that is in the world. Those who remain in the world have not escaped this corruption, but only as many as God has called and who have accepted the call. 2 Cor. 4:4 tells us how “the god of this world (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not” (KJV). Those who have been called by God and accepted the call, however, have been enlightened regarding God’s truth through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They have been made clean through the Word (John 15:3). They are told to keep themselves “unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). According to Eph. 5:27, they will be presented to the Lord “without spot or wrin-kle”--no blemishes.

6. “For we were all baptized with one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink” (1 Cor. 12:13). Yes, both the Jewish and Gentile believers shared in the one and same hope in which God is calling us.

7. We read in Ex. 19:4-6, Deut. 14:2, Deut. 26:18,19 and Psa. 135:4 how God promised ancient Israel that if they obeyed Him, they would become a “treasured possession . . . a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” By rejecting our Lord Jesus Christ, most of the Jews failed to ac-quire these promises from God.

8. Jesus stated in Matt. 21:43 that after the Jews rejected him, God’s promise to them would then be offered to the Gentiles. In Romans 11:17, Paul presented a picture of the Gentile converts as the “wild olive shoot” being “grafted in” among the Jews who had remained faithful. Those Gentiles replaced the “broken branches,” the Jews who had rejected Jesus. Gentiles who are grafted into the Israelite “tree” become as the tree itself, true spiritual Isra-elites in the full meaning of the word.

9. With this in mind, consider the following text from 1 Peter 2:9,10, which was written to the Gentiles: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Notice the similarity of the ti-tles given to the Gentiles with the titles previously given to ancient Israel.

10. Please notice also how Peter used the word called in this text, keeping in mind that the word church means “called out.” It was the Jews who were first called out by God; now the Gen-tiles are also being called out of the world. Eph. 4:4 declares that there is one body and one spirit, and that those who are being called are called in one hope.

11. Are you beginning to understand the hope in which the Church is called? It is not the desti-ny of the Church that they merely become an inactive group of believers, after they are joined with Christ. Rather, their future purpose is to be a “royal priesthood.”

12. “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases” (1 Cor. 6:2)? Do you see the magnitude of God’s promise to the Church in this verse? From it will come the overcoming body of saints (believers), both Jew and Gentile, who will one day judge the whole world with Jesus.

13. “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne” (Rev. 3:21). One who sits on a throne is reign-ing; this the glorified saints will be doing after they obtain their crowns.

14. “To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations--He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery--just as I have received authority from my Father” (Rev. 2:26,27). We can see here how they also will have authority and power.

15. “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:10). These texts given in 12 thru 15 show very clearly the future work of those of the Church who make their “calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:10). They will be-come “a kingdom of priests” who will “judge the world,” having “authority over the nations” (‘power’ in the KJV), and they will “reign on the earth.” This CERTAINLY does NOT sound like they will be inactive, does it?

16. In Rev. 7:4-8, God’s ruling family is pictured as coming from the 12 tribes of Israel. This picture, however, symbolizes BOTH Jew and Gentile believers, since the name Israel means “He will rule as God.” We become “Israelites” upon our acceptance of Christ Jesus. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:29 KJV). 1 Cor. 12:13 bears repeating here: “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.”

17. This lesson has presented a much different picture of what God’s purpose is for the saints than what most denominational churches believe and teach. The Bible teaches that the saints will reign with God’s Son on earth for l000 years.. So many people have no idea at all what they will be doing, if they are fortunate enough to “go to heaven,” except that they will be with Jesus. What God has called them for is SO MUCH MORE than that! Yes, the plans He has for those of the Church who will be united with their Lord are beyond the compre-hension of many! It is our hope that you also will be guided by God’s Holy Spirit to see the blessed truth we cherish so dearly.

1. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3). This verse might be mistaken to indicate that since Jesus has prepared a place in heaven for the Church, its overcoming members will one day reign with him from there. Later on in this course, you will see that the heavenly king-dom is coming to this earth.

2. “And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven” (1 Cor. 15:49). “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess” (Heb. 3:1). “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom . . .” (2 Tim. 4:18). Here, we see more scriptures showing that we can be with Je-sus in his heavenly kingdom, if we remain faithful until death.

Note: Please notice from John 14:3 (the opening text for this lesson) how it will only be AFTER our Lord Jesus returns that members of the Church will be united with him. This presents a very interesting question as to where the members of the Church remain after death, at the present time.

3. We will show how throughout the New Testament it teaches that all in the Church who have died ever since Jesus walked on this earth are now in their graves sleeping. There they will remain until the second advent of our Lord. The hope for those members of the Church who are chosen by God, not now asleep, is a hope of the resurrection of the dead when Jesus re-turns. We read in Acts 7:60 that after Stephen was murdered, “he fell asleep” in death. 1 Cor. 15:6 speaks of some of the disciples as having fallen asleep in death.

4. “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage each other with these words” (1 Thess. 4:16-18). This text shows beyond a doubt that the “dead in Christ” (the faithful believers of the Church) will not be united with Jesus until AFTER he returns, at which time both living and dead members of the Church who have remained faithful will be “caught up together” (KJV) to meet their Lord.

5. Notice the words trumpet call in the preceding text. This is referred to by the Apostle Paul as the ‘last trumpet” in 1 Cor. 15:51-53, definitely linking it to this companion text: “Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twin-kling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised im-perishable, and the mortal with immortality.” When Paul said that we “will not all sleep,” he was stating that not all believers will be dead when Jesus returns, once again proving that the “dead in Christ” have been asleep all these years.

6. Most of organized Churchianity teaches that the dead members of Christ’s body are caught up to heaven at a different time from when those who are alive when he returns will be caught up. It is further taught that believers who have died since Jesus first came are caught up to heaven immediately at death, and that only those who still remain alive at his return will be caught up or “raptured.” This theory is NOT taught in the Bible. The words of our Lord in John 3:13 reveal the error of this thinking: “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man.”

7. From reading the entire 24th chapter of Matthew, one can plainly see that the faithful mem-bers of the Church both living and dead are gathered up at the end of the last days rather than before: “And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matt. 24:31).

8. The “last trumpet” referred to in these verses, which will sound for the gathering of the saints, is called the “seventh trumpet” in Rev. 11:15. When it sounds, the kingdoms of this earth will come under

the rulership of Christ.

9. The Bible shows beyond a doubt that no member of the Church will get a reward until our Lord returns: “And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away” (1 Pet. 5:4). As we already learned, the dead in Christ will be resurrected when Jesus returns, and then together with the “changed” members of Christ’s body who are still alive at his coming, they will ascend TOGETHER to meet the Lord and receive a crown of glory.

10. The Apostle Peter tells us in 1 Pet. 1:4,5 that we will come “into an inheritance that can nev-er perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” Read this in your Bible and think about the question, “When does one receive such an inher-itance?” The answer is simple, according to this text, for it declares that it is “kept in heaven for you” and will “be revealed in the last time” (at the end of this age). Only then, after Je-sus returns, will the completed body of Christ (composed of faithful members of the Church who died or were changed) obtain its reward.

11. In this lesson we have learned that the living members of the Church are now called and must remain faithful until death to make their calling and election sure. They then will be resurrected when Jesus returns, to receive their reward and join him in his rulership over the earth. What a wonderful opportunity INDEED our gracious God has given us. (See Rev. 20:6.)