hey it’s the 12th of December 2024 – Perhaps Christmas is not such a happy time for you? Many people are remembering that their loved ones have gone and departed this life and so Christmas time brings back these memories. Can I remind you that there will be a resurrection of all the dead. A resurrection meaning that everyone who is in the graves will hear the voice of Jesus and rise from the dead… and you, Perhaps you think that is a terrible thing because they will go to their fate of Eternal damnation? Yet this is not the case if you understand the correct translation of the Greek and the Hebrew scriptures.
Because it is not Eternal punishment, it’s not even punishment, it’s correction. God corrects us for our good. The idea that those ones who have already departed, if they did not know the Lord Jesus during their Earthly existence, that they will go to a place where they will never never ever get out of… and they will eternally be tormented in Flames… such an idea is an abhorent idea… it’s an abominable idea… because God only corrects us that we might change.. repent… and come to the correct knowledge of God… come to repentance in other words. And so in the resurrection those who didn’t know the Lord Jesus and have perished. they’ll be raised to stand before the Lord Jesus and receive their correction.
So God doesn’t want us to sorrow as others who have no hope… but the gospel gives us hope… and that hope is centered around the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.. Jesus Christ Who was raised from the dead that we also might have hope.. because we also shall be raised from the dead… but it’s not only believers who will be raised, but all people, unbelievers as well.. all those who sleep in the dust of the Earth shall be raised from the dead…
And as I said that’s not the end for those who didn’t believe during their lifetime.. You are saying “Do you mean Dennis that there will be a second chance for people?” Absolutely there will be! In the resurrection after the Thousand Years of the Kingdom age all those in the grave shall be raised and in that Resurrection they will be put under the Overcomers– those who have already put on immortality and incorruption- and they will be discipled, having bowed the knee before the Lord Jesus Christ, making him their lord and savior..
I think Pentecostals get it terribly wrong when we think that ‘God will force people to confess Jesus as Lord before he throws them away forever.’ Such a view of God is a blasphemy really.. God loves all people that’s why he sent Jesus… and so if you have loved ones who never found the Lord Jesus or were never found by him don’t despair… in the resurrection, in the age to come, or after the age to come, they will be raised and they will come to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul in Philippians 2:10 said ‘Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.’ and he did not come up with that himself, that comes from Isaiah 45, a wonderful chapter of the sovereignty of God …in the last few verses of Isaiah 45 the prophet says.. that ‘every knee will bow and every tongue will take an oath and swear that in the Lord I have righteousness and strength.’ This is where Paul gets it from.
‘In the Lord’ they will swear that they have righteousness and strength.. It’s certainly not the declaration of someone who doesn’t know the Lord or who isn’t Born Again… these are people who will confess Jesus as Lord… Lord… and believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead… because they will see him… and they will bow the knee before him.. and all will be saved in the ages still to come…
This is the mystery kept secret and now revealed to His prophets and his Apostles… but most of the church today have gone into blindness concerning this… it’s hidden from most… because most Christians would prefer that the Lost stay lost! When it comes down to it they would prefer that they stay lost! But God on the other hand, being merciful and kind and compassionate is intent on saving all.. ‘God WILL have all men repent’… that’s not wishful thinking on God’s part… God WILL have it… and what he Wills… will be done.
But we don’t yet see all things put under the feet of Jesus… but rest assured that God will do it. You read about it in 1st Corinthians 15(v22-25) as well… We are the first fruits who have been saved and have been brought into Christ in this age, and in previous ages.. We are first fruits of the lamb. But there are ages yet to come…(Eph 2:7) when God will complete the work and bring all people into the knowledge of Jesus Christ -Hallelujah!!
And this can take a long time, thousands of years, but it’s certainly not Eternal or forever. And so the correction of the, of the wicked is not eternal, forever either… it has an end… when they submit and surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ… just as you and I have… and this should be good news… but instead the church doesn’t like that kind of a thing. That’s because they put too much weight on their own efforts to get saved.. They say “oh well I said the prayer to be born again but they never did– my dad never did– so he’s lost forever and ever..” It’s not true church, it’s not true.. God bless you because your loved ones will rise again!
https://youtu.be/WuhOcjKJRvk