5. The Ransom and the World

Introduction - The Little Children

At one time or another throughout history, most countries have felt the wrath of poverty or famine--when the rain didn’t fall and the land became parched and dry from the sun. The ones who suffer the most during times like these are the little children. Under such conditions, they are born hungry and then grow up hungry. Most of them don’t even learn how to read and write. One reason is that the time needed to spend in school is more often used in hunting food for sur-vival.

It has often been the case that children raised in such dire poverty never even know of a lov-ing God who could comfort them or give their lives purpose and meaning. Actually, in most cas-es many of them have never even heard the name of JESUS, the only name given under heaven by which one might receive everlasting life. No sooner do many of them grow up to become adults than they die and are buried by a few weeping relatives and friends.

Does it not really matter that these children ever lived on this earth? Mankind is very sensi-tive to and mourns the loss of men of renown. The world weeps when such wise men die. But who remembers a little boy or girl who dies in poverty, not having been endowed with either wisdom or wealth? Is our God so cruel that He has no place in His future plans for such as these? Would our God let such a child come into this life merely to later deny it a chance in the better world to come?

If a religion is founded on doctrine that does not offer a future hope to children such as these--that they can benefit from the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus without yet having become be-lievers before death--then that religion is shallow and cruel. A religion that concerns itself with a few choice people, without regard to all those who have lived or died and have not heard the name of Jesus, worships a very small god indeed. Such a small god would have a very small amount of love for his creation.

Many are the excuses of such religions to try and cover up for the apparent lack of love on the part of their god. Some of them claim that since God knows the heart, all those who have ever lived without a knowledge of our Lord will be judged by their heart condition. Others claim that since God implants something in the hearts of people at birth, they should be able to know right from wrong.

The teachings of the Bible, however, directly contradict these false teachings of man. It was religious leaders in the time of Jesus who so greatly opposed what he taught us. There are times when we need to free ourselves from a religion in the same way we would free ourselves from drugs or anything else that would tend to separate us from God and His Holy Word! It is our hope that in this study, as well as from the entire course, you will learn how God indeed DOES have a loving plan that covers the future of those little children who die without having the chance to become believers. That plan also includes everyone else who has ever lived on this planet.

Lesson 5a - A Hope For All

1. Through the ages, billions of people have lived and died who have never heard the name of Jesus. Yet the Bible states very clearly in Acts 4:12, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (NIV).

2. In John 14:6, Jesus declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (NIV).

3. Only a small fraction of all the people who have ever lived on this earth have been given the opportunity of going to God through His Son, in order to gain everlasting life. The number of those who have even heard the name of Jesus is also very small.

4. Are we to believe that God has not made provisions in His plans for all those people who had died in ignorance? If so, it cannot be said that our God is a God of love. Had God only sent Christ to a small elite group of people who would be the only ones to be saved, while the vast majority of mankind who are left are damned, then he would indeed be a cruel, small-minded god who cared very little for his creation.

5. In our previous study, you learned about God’s plan for the Church, those called out by God to one day reign with Jesus over the earth. The purpose of this study you are now reading is to prove that God does not only offer hope to the Church but ALSO to the WHOLE WORLD.

6. 1 John 2:2 states, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (NIV). Since Jesus did die for the sins of the whole world, then everyone who has ever lived or will live in the world must be given the opportunity of bene-fiting from his death. Otherwise, we could not believe this verse is true.

7. Hebrews 2:9 tells us that Jesus tasted death “for every man.” In our previous study, we elaborated on 1 Timothy 2:6, which declares that Jesus “gave him-self a ransom for all.” (Also see Mark 10:45.) These are more scriptures that we would have to discard as false were we not to believe that there remains a hope for all who have ever lived or will live on this planet.

8. A long time ago God promised Abraham that through his seed (which is Christ) all nations of the earth would one day be blessed. (Compare Gal. 3:8 with Gen. 12:3 & 18:18.) Certain-ly all nations of the earth have not yet been blessed by Christ. Very few of the billions who have lived have even heard about Jesus Christ. Even now, many people are dying without ever having heard the message of our Lord. God’s promise that all the nations of the world will one day be blessed is still to be fulfilled. At that time, people of all nations will know Christ and understand exactly why he came to this earth.

Lesson 5b - A World Now Lost In Darkness

Call Upon The Name Of The Lord:

1. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:13 KJV). Yes, indeed, there is NO other way of being saved except by calling on the blessed name of Jesus our Lord.

2. In order to know properly how to call upon the name of the Lord, one must acquire knowledge about him. Jesus stated in John 17:3 that we must acquire this knowledge of him and his Father and act upon it in order to gain everlasting life. “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).

They Cannot Hear Without A Preacher:

3. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news’” (Rom. 10:14,15)! In order to believe in the name of Jesus, a person must first hear about him. In order to hear, one must be told or taught by one who preaches the good news.

4. Accordingly, every person who has ever lived on this planet MUST have this same oppor-tunity of HEARING about our Lord, so they can BELIEVE and call on him, thereby giving them an opportunity to gain everlasting life.

5. Since Jesus died to raise all mankind from the grave, ALL will have this opportunity of hear-ing in order to believe. If even ONE person fails to have it, then it cannot be true that Jesus tasted death for everyone or that he gave his life as a ransom for all mankind.

6. But praise God always for His love toward humanity, because His Son DID die for the sins of the whole world. Everybody who has ever lived or will live on this planet will, in fact, one day have the opportunity of hearing about the Son of God and what he accomplished for them.

Satan Has Blinded The Unbeliever:

7. According to 2 Cor. 4:4, “the god of this world” (age), who is Satan, has blinded the minds of those who do not believe in Jesus, so they might not believe.

8. It is not the fault of the unbelievers that they do not believe but rather the fault of Satan who has blinded them. Should an evil man happen to take away another man’s sight to make him blind, would we blame that blind person because of the fact he could no longer see? May God forgive us, should we ever be so unjust! We could no more blame that man for being blind than we can blame those who do not believe the glorious message of Jesus Christ, hav-ing been blinded by Satan.

World Now In Darkness:

9. The world has been blinded to the truth of God ever since the beginning in Eden, after Adam and Eve sinned and died because of their sin. The effects of that sin, together with its penal-ty of death, still remain until this day, having been passed down from generation to genera-tion. It is written in Rom. 5:19 that because of Adam’s sin, many were made sinners. His descendants did not choose to become sinners--they were “made” sinners. Psa. 51:5 some-what likens this inherited sin to a birth defect: “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”

10. Yes, dear student, we should realize what hopeless creatures we are without our Lord Jesus Christ! By relying strictly on our own merit, we have absolutely no chance of ever obtaining God’s favor. Sin has been in us since birth, like a dreadful disease. Had it not been for Je-sus, there would be no hope for either the Church OR the world!

11. In Isa. 60:2 it is written of this present age that darkness covers the people of earth. This darkness is the result of the blindness from Satan. In Eden, before sin entered into the affairs of men, there was no darkness or veil upon man’s mind. At that time the light of God radi-ated over all the world. But ever since sin and death came forth, the world has been blanket-ed by a deep mental darkness regarding God’s plan for man. Praise God, this shall not al-ways be the case, because the Bible predicts a coming day when the darkness will be lifted from the world, and Satan’s blindness will be removed from the people!

Lesson 5c - The Darkness Lifted

When The Kingdom Is Established:

1. “On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine--the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples (‘face of the covering cast over all people’ in the KJV), the sheet (vail) that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sover-eign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his peo-ple from all the earth. The LORD has spoken” (Isa. 25:6-8). This “shroud-covering, sheet-vail” that God will destroy at that time is the darkness mentioned in Isa. 60:2 that now co-vers the people of earth. We referred to this scripture in our previous lesson. God presented a picture to us in the preceding verses by way of the prophet Isaiah, of the time when this earth will have been made new to become the new earth prophesied in Isa. 65:17 and Rev. 21:1, the time when “there will be no more death” (Rev. 21:4). This death is the Adamic death that has come on all descendants of Adam, passed down through the generations ever since Eden, by inheritance.

2. Please note the words “all people” and “all nations” in that text. It is the nations of earth (all the people) who will be blessed in fulfillment of the promises of God which we have re-lated throughout this course. When these verses are fulfilled, those of the Church who have finished their course in victory will be reigning with Jesus at that time and will take part with him to carry out the blessing of all the people of earth.

Satan To Be Taken Out Of The Way:

3. “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time” (Rev. 20:1-3).

4. By going on in this text to verses 7 & 8, it can readily be seen how the nations of earth will one day be freed from Satan’s influence for one thousand years. All these verses show that the nations of earth are very much alive during the thousand-year period in which Satan is bound (restrained, removed).

God’s Knowledge To Cover The Earth:

5. It will be during this same one-thousand-year period that all people of the earth will have the privilege of acquiring knowledge about the true God and His Son Jesus and thus have an op-portunity to gain everlasting life. Isa. 11:6-9 also relates to that blessed time, stating that the knowledge of God will cover the whole earth.

When Christ Returns:

6. Please study carefully Acts 3:19-23 in your Bible. In these texts you should notice two dif-ferent subjects that are covered. One has to do with the coming restitution or restoration of all things spoken of by God’s prophets -- to bring back all that was lost because of Adam. (Since the subject of restoration will be covered in great detail in the next study, we will not dwell on it here.) The other subject in these texts which we wish to cover now has to do with how Christ will deal with the people of earth when he returns from heaven.

7. “For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people’” (Acts 3:22,23). According to these verses, every soul that does not listen to that “prophet,” speaking of Christ when he returns, will be removed (or as the KJV renders it, “destroyed”) from among his people. The fact that this could take place clearly shows that the people will have an opportunity to hear and obey Christ when he returns. Then, if they don’t listen and repent, the loss will be their own responsibility for passing up such a great opportunity. We already learned at the beginning of this lesson that Satan will have no influence on them at that time.

8. If you have any doubt about the accuracy of this point we are making, please read the whole text again, beginning at the l9th verse. Notice in the 21st verse how Christ “must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.” When you finish the next study, you will be able to see how that time has not yet come. He must remain in heaven until the second advent, and this has not taken place yet. It will only be after he returns that those who fail to listen will be “completely cut off” in death.

The Sour Grapes:

9. “In those days people will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the chil-dren’s teeth are set on edge.’ Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes--his own teeth will be set on edge” (Jer. 31:29,30). In this picture, sin is represented by “sour grapes.” That the teeth are “set on edge” is a symbol of the effect of sin.

10. In this text the fathers are said to have eaten the sour grapes, meaning it was father Adam who committed the sin that brought about the penalty of death. Then by inheritance, that sin and death were passed down to the son, and he suffered for something his father did. As you learned in previous studies that touched on this text, this cycle of sin and death continued on from generation to generation, all the way from Eden to this very day. Everyone who has ever lived, except for Jesus, was born into sin, and death has been the result.

11. Please notice the promise recorded by Jeremiah in 31:29,30. There is a day coming when the son will no longer have to suffer because of what his father did. Instead, he will only be punished for sin he himself commits. Only if he eats the “sour grapes” will his “teeth be set on edge.” He will no longer inherit the penalty of sin and death that has been passed down from generation to generation. Complete freedom from inherited sin and death can only be achieved after Jesus returns. It will be then that knowledge of the true God will cover the earth. Satan, who has blinded the minds of the unbeliever, will be removed, and all the peo-ple will then have an opportunity of getting the necessary knowledge of God and His Son. All who then hear and accept Christ will have that opportunity to gain everlasting life on this earth. But, as stated in #7, every soul that does not listen to that “prophet” will be “com-pletely cut off from among his people.”

Lesson 5d - The Water Of Life

1. In order to properly understand the wonderful blessings God has in store for the people of earth, it is necessary to learn about the “Bride” of Christ, as recorded by the Apostle John in the book of Revelation. We referred to that Bride at great length in our previous study on the benefit of the Ransom to the Church.

In Rev. 22:17, a “Bride” is mentioned who will say, “Come . . . take the water of life freely” (KJV). As we already learned, the Bride in this picture will be composed of those of the Church who are faithful unto death. The “water of life” at that time will be offered by the Spirit and the Bride to the world. You will learn in this lesson that fulfillment of this prophecy has not yet happened. The world will not receive that water of life until after this present evil age comes to an end. This will be after the completion of the full number of overcom-ing believers in the “Church” who will be united with the Lord as his Bride.

2. Something else we should take into consideration is the fact that the “Church” is called a Bride at the time she is married. Since the “marriage of the Lamb” will precede the Millen-nial reign, we should realize that the Bride will say “Come” at the very beginning of the reign. This is in direct contrast to the false belief of many that unbelievers are not resurrect-ed until after the reign is over. We will cover this in greater detail in our study on the Resur-rection. The offer to unbelievers to “come” will, of course, continue throughout the Millen-nial reign.

3. The “water of life” just quoted from Rev. 22:17 is first mentioned in Rev. 22:1-3: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the riv-er stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.” Study this text very carefully, and notice all the prophecies given in it. Do you see in symbol how the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations at the same time that the water of life is offered to the people? Certainly the nations of earth are not being healed now. Never be-fore in the history of mankind have the nations of earth been so plagued by wars and other evils as they are in this day and time. It continues to get worse, and by the time our Lord re-turns to establish his Kingdom, the nations of earth will need healing more than ever!

4. These verses also tell us that during the same time period the nations are healed and Christ’s “Bride” offers the water of life, the “curse” will be lifted from humanity. The curse spoken of here includes the Adamic death that has been passed down to all of us.

5. “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7). The “Bride” will have “made herself ready” when the number of believers God wants in the Church is complete, and they have made their “calling and election sure.” Only after the completion of that number can the marriage take place. The “marriage of the Lamb,” of course, will be when the Bride is united with Je-sus.

6. Rev. 21:9,10 present a picture of what will occur after this marriage takes place: “. . . ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” Here we learn that after the bride is united with Jesus, together they will bring the kingdom (mountain) to this earth.

7. The bride of Christ is the “Holy City.” When it comes “down out of heaven,” the Millennial reign will begin. The heavenly realm will then prevail throughout the earth.

8. In Rev. 21:1-4 John also saw how the “tabernacle of God” (KJV) will be with mankind when the “Holy City” descends down out of heaven, and there will be no more death. This harmonizes with what we read earlier, how the curse of Adamic death will then be lifted. (Final death will not be done away with until the water of life offered by the Spirit and the Bride has completed its invigorating work.)

9. After a careful study of the book of Revelation, there should be no doubt that the water of life is not offered to the world by the Bride until AFTER our Lord’s return. It should be very clear that the world’s privilege to hear and accept Christ, thereby gaining an opportunity for everlasting life, is still FUTURE.

10. Following is an order of events we find from the scriptures referenced in this lesson:

A. The marriage of the “Bride” to the “Lamb” takes place after the number of believers in the Church is complete and they have faithfully finished their course (Rev. 19:7).

B. The Holy City, Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven from God (Rev. 21:2,10). That city is the Bride, the Lamb’s wife (faithful believers of the Church then glorified) (Rev. 21:9,l0).

C. A “pure river of water of life” appears, having the “tree of life” on each side, whose leaves are “for the healing of the nations,” and the curse of Adamic death is removed (Rev. 22:1-3).

D. The “water of life” is offered by the “Spirit and the Bride” to the people of earth (the subjects in the kingdom) (Rev. 22:17). Jesus and his Bride will do the blessing while it will be the subjects of the Kingdom who will be blessed.

Scripture Sequence In Brief:

A. Rev. 19:7 - Earthly course of Church ends with marriage of Jesus to his Bride.

B. Rev. 21:1-4,10 - The New Jerusalem descends from heaven, tabernacle of God is with men, and Adamic death penalty is lifted from the earth.

C. Rev. 22:1-3 - River of the water of life appears, nations are healed and curse of Adamic death is removed from the ` earth.

D. Rev. 22:17 - The Spirit and the Bride offer the water of life to the world of mankind.

11. After having considered all these wonderful prophecies, we trust you too, dear student, are rejoicing as much as we are in the gracious provisions God has made for EVERYONE! In closing, we wish to emphasize one point that bears repeating. Contrary to what many be-lieve, present day believers are not the only ones to receive blessings, but ALL who accept the water of life in the next age. Their blessings will be OFFERED by present day believers who make their “calling and election sure” through obedience now. They will as Christ’s bride offer the blessing of everlasting life to all in the next age who accept, believe and then obey Christ as their “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” (1 Tim. 6:15).

Praise be to God!

END OF STUDY

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5. The Ransom and the World

Introduction - The Little Children

Lesson 5a - A Hope For All