Temporarily Dead?

 Have you ever wondered what will become of the billions who lived and died without ever hearing the name of Jesus or seeing a Bible? The miscarried and the stillborn? The young children who died of smallpox, starvation, or abuse? Eskimos, Chinese, Pacific islanders, Australian aborigines, Africans, and South American tribes who lived and died long before anyone could tell them about Jesus?

Only those who believe in and accept Jesus Christ can be saved. No exceptions. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). No one of any other belief can enter into God’s Kingdom. “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

So how could old-time Pacific islanders accept Jesus Christ when they’d never heard of Him? How could the stillborn child of unbelieving parents accept Jesus Christ? This is a point that the apostle Paul also made in Rom. 10:14: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”

How indeed!

Few in the First Resurrection

Before we can answer this question, let’s first consider that during the 6,000-odd years God has given man on this earth, few will be saved. Very few indeed. That doesn’t mean the others are lost; more on that in a moment. But very few will be saved initially. The apostle Paul reminded Roman believers that “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Rom. 8:9). Most people throughout history haven’t had God’s Spirit. The Old Testament mentions few people who had God’s Spirit.

Jesus Himself told us that few find the path to eternal life: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Mat. 7:13-14). Again, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Mat. 22:14).

These FEW whom God chooses will rise in the First Resurrection. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:16-17).

“And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, from east to west, making a very large valley.... Thus the LORD my God will come, and all the saints with You” (Zech. 14:4, 5). And so, when Jesus Christ returns “in power and great glory” (Mat. 24:30), He will be accompanied by the saints clothed in white and riding on white horses (Rev. 14:1; 19:7-8, 11-16)!

These saints are those in the First Resurrection, which we read about above and can also read in Rev. 20:4-6. They are those who rise first to meet the Lord in the air. Of those in the First Resurrection, we read, “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power…” (Rev. 20:6). In other words, those in the first resurrection have attained eternal life; nothing can hurt them!

But again, these are very few people, only 144,000 according to Rev. 7:1-8 & 14:1 and “tens of thousands” according to Jude 1:14. Whether these are literal or symbolic numbers, it’s a tiny fraction of the billions of people who have ever lived! The apostle Peter told us that even the righteous would scarcely make it: “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Pet. 4:18; quoting Prov. 11:31).

Is the rest of humanity doomed? Let’s continue.

The Resurrection of All

Remember, there is NO salvation without belief in Jesus Christ! Those in the Old Testament who walked with God and had His Spirit will be saved through Jesus Christ. Though they never saw Him in the flesh, they believed in the long-awaited Messiah. As Jesus told the Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). Again, He told them, “Many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it” (Luke 10:24). All of God’s servants in the Old Testament “died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them” (Heb. 11:13).

There will be no Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, unbelieving Jews, or disobedient Christians in God’s Kingdom. There will be no pagans of any kind. They will either repent, or they will perish. There’s only one path to salvation, and that’s through Jesus Christ.

However, as covered in a previous blog post, every human being who has ever lived will one day be resurrected and come face to face with his or her Creator. Acts 24:15 tells us that God will resurrect both “the just and the unjust.”

Rev. 20:11-15 describes a second resurrection a thousand years after the first: “But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished” (Rev. 20:5). In this resurrection, ALL the dead will rise. Here’s the account:

11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them.

12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Whereas the first resurrection involves only a select few, this second resurrection involves the great mass of humanity — nearly everyone who’s ever lived and died!

Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:28-29). It’s worth noting that the Greek phaulos (Strong’s # G5337), translated here as “evil,” also means “ordinary or base.” “Condemnation” is mistranslated; the Greek word krisis (Strong's # G2920) simply means “judgment, separation, selection, trial.”

In other words, those who have been ordinary (unholy) will be raised in the resurrection of judgment or separation. Again, Jesus spoke of this resurrection of separation — this Great White Throne Judgment — in the Gospels:

31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

33 “And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.” (Mat. 25:31-33.)

Notice that this judgment happens AFTER the First Resurrection, for it happens after Jesus’ return. Furthermore, the First Resurrection includes only the righteous; it isn’t a resurrection of judgment and separation. Over all those in the First Resurrection, “the second death has no power” (Rev. 20:6). No, Jesus spoke here of the Second Resurrection — the resurrection of judgment and separation!

At this resurrection, Yeshua/Jesus will spare some and cast others into the lake of fire. The sheep will go on His right hand, and the goats on His left. Rev. 20:15 told us that “anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” — implying that others will be written in the Book of Life! Hence, the resurrection of judgment and separation.

The First Resurrection is only for a select few; the Second Resurrection is for everyone else who’s ever lived and died. Those in the First Resurrection will automatically have eternal life; those in the Second Resurrection will be judged and separated, one from another.

It’s apparent, then, that all those who never heard of Jesus Christ, those who had no chance to believe and accept Him, cannot be in the First Resurrection. They must be in the Second Resurrection. But what becomes of them then? Will they be on Jesus’ right hand or His left?

Let’s consider a few more facts.

God’s Desire For Man

Now, we’ve already seen that very few people will be in the First Resurrection. Remember, “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Mat. 22:14). But it isn’t God’s plan to save only a handful of people and destroy the rest. It isn’t God’s desire that there be few people in His Kingdom. Far from it!

God wishes for no one to perish. “‘Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?’ says the Lord GOD, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live?’” (Ezek. 18:23). Again, we read, “Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezek. 33:11).

And again, the apostle Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).

Many WILL perish, of course. Those who simply refuse to repent will perish in the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8). Nevertheless, God didn’t create human beings just to destroy most of them. If God’s plan is to save human beings, and if He desires to save all of them, then destroying most of them would hardly be a mark of success!

God’s Word shows that many will be in His Kingdom, not just the few firstfruits in the First Resurrection. Jesus proclaimed, “And I say to you that MANY will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Mat. 8:11). Furthermore, Heb. 2:10 tells us that God’s plan involves “bringing many sons to glory.”

In addition to the 144,000 of the First Resurrection, the chosen few who are “firstfruits to God and to the Lamb” (Rev. 14:4), God’s Word speaks of an innumerable multitude who will also be in His Kingdom. Here’s Rev. 7:9-17:

9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

11 All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

12 saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?”

14 And I said to him, “Sir, you know.” So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.

16 “They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat;

17 “for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Now this passage isn’t speaking of those in the Second Resurrection, but rather of those “who come out of the great tribulation” at the end of this age. Nevertheless, it illustrates that many people will be in God’s Kingdom. God’s purpose is to save as many human beings as possible, as many as are willing to forsake their sins and choose Him.

So what does this mean for the Second Resurrection?

The Fate of the Blind and Ignorant

Jesus Christ said that when He returns, those who deliberately disobeyed Him will be chastised far more severely than those who ignorantly disobeyed. “And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:47-48).

The apostle Peter wrote that it’s better to be ignorant of God’s way than to deliberately forsake it: “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them” (2 Pet. 2:20-21).

As He died on the cross, Jesus asked His Father for mercy on His murderers: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34). Acts 3:17 affirms that those who crucified Jesus “did it in ignorance.” Likewise, the martyr Stephen, as he was being stoned, “knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not charge them with this sin’” (Acts 7:60).

In fact, throughout history, God has shown great mercy and patience toward all mankind and has overlooked many sins committed in ignorance. The apostle Paul declared that God “in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways” (Acts 14:16). He later proclaimed, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained” (Acts 17:30-31).

Not only has God, in His mercy, overlooked many sins, but no one can even come to Him unless God calls him. Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44).

Has God called everyone in this life? All of humanity? By no means! On the contrary, God has purposefully allowed many to be blinded.

Moses said to the Israelites, “Yet the LORD has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day” (Deut. 29:4). The prophet Isaiah echoed this statement, writing to his people, “For the LORD has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; and He has covered your heads, namely, the seers. The whole vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed” (Isa. 29:10-11).

The apostle John wrote that many “could not believe, because Isaiah said again: ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them’” (John 12:39-40; quoting Isa. 6:10).

The apostle Paul testified the same, writing of the Jews that “their minds were blinded” (2 Cor. 3:14). He further wrote, “Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded” (Rom. 11:7). He then proceeded to quote Deut. 29:4 and Isa. 29:10, just as we’ve done here.

Now if God desires that no one should perish, but that everyone should come to repentance, then why has He not called everyone in this life? Why has He instead permitted, even caused, many to be blinded?

Simply because it isn’t their time yet. God knows what’s best for all people, and when He’s ready to call them and open their eyes, He will. For those who died in ignorance, this will be at the Second Resurrection.

The apostle Paul wrote of the Israelites, “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not!” (Rom. 11:11). On the contrary, God will one day open their eyes. Quoting Isaiah again, Paul asserted, “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins’” (Rom. 11:26-27; quoting Isa. 59:20, 21).

God calls whomever He wishes when He wishes; He chooses those who please Him; and He allows the rest to remain blinded. All this is part of His greater plan. Again speaking of the Israelites, Paul explained, “For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all” (Rom. 11:32).

One day, when they rise in the Second Resurrection, those who crucified Jesus Christ will understand what they did and be stricken with grief: “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn” (Zech. 12:10).

Ezek. 37, the famous “dry bones passage,” speaks of a day when all Israelites will rise from the dead, both the house of Israel and the house of Judah. This isn’t the First Resurrection, but the Second. God will make Himself known to them and, for the first time, pour out His Spirit on them: “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,’ says the LORD” (Ezek. 37:12-14).

But, as we’ve already seen, the Second Resurrection isn’t just for Israel, but for all nations. It’s for everyone who ever lived and died, and who didn’t make it into the First Resurrection.

Jesus told us that the men of Nineveh and the queen of Sheba will rise in the same resurrection (the second) and the same judgment (the Great White Throne Judgment) as those who rejected Him during His earthly life. “The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here” (Mat. 12:41-42).

Remember that, though the people of Nineveh humbled themselves, they remained largely ignorant of God’s ways, for, as the apostle Paul wrote, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14).

Rebuking the people of Galilee, Jesus told them that Sodom and other sinful cities would have repented had they seen His mighty works:

21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

22 “But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.

23 “And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

24 “But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.” (Mat. 11:21-24.)

Yet, though Jesus said they would have repented, we know that God destroyed those cities without giving them such an opportunity for repentance at that time.

Why? Does God have different standards for different people? Does He show partiality in judgment? No! “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality’” (Acts 10:34). God’s standards do not vary: “Diverse weights and diverse measures, they are both alike, an abomination to the LORD” (Prov. 20:10).

God destroyed those cities for the same reason He blinded the Israelites: it wasn’t their time yet. Again, this is simply part of His greater plan and purpose. God said of the people of Sodom, “They were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit” (Ezek. 16:50). Elsewhere, we’re told that God made them “an example to those who afterward would live ungodly” (2 Pet. 2:6).

But God told Judah that when He restores Judah and Israel, He will also restore Sodom! “When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state” (Ezek. 16:55). Reading on, we find, “Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your older and your younger sisters [Samaria and Sodom]; for I will give them to you for daughters” (Ezek. 16:61).

Just as God will make Himself known to Israel, so He will do for all nations. God doesn’t say He will destroy those who never heard of Him, but instead that He will teach them. Here’s Isa. 66:19: “I will set a sign among them; and those among them who escape I will send to the nations: to Tarshish and Pul and Lud, who draw the bow, and Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off who have not heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles.”

Again, God says, “I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them. They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, who trust in carved images, who say to the molded images, ‘You are our gods’” (Isa. 42:16-17).

Everyone who has ever lived and died without knowing our great Creator will get a chance to know Him and choose Him! Those who have not known God’s ways, He will teach. All those who never had His Spirit will have it: “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions” (Joel 2:28).

So how will God teach all these people? Why does He save people in different stages? And what about the final judgment?

Teaching, Trial, and Judgment

Jesus Christ is our great High Priest: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession” (Heb. 4:14). Those in the First Resurrection, the firstfruits, will be priests under Jesus Christ: “Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:16).

What’s the job of a priest? To teach people God’s ways: “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” (Mal. 2:7).

It will be the job of the firstfruits to help teach, not only those whom they rule over in the Millennium, but also those in the Second Resurrection. Remember, firstfruits are only a small portion of any harvest! The greatest harvest is yet to come, and the rest of humanity is that harvest.

When God resurrects the whole house of Israel and makes Himself known to them, He says, “And though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore, but your eyes shall see your teachers. Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it,’ whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left” (Isa. 30:20-21). Those teachers are His priests, those from the First Resurrection!

God doesn’t have differing weights and measures. Everyone who’s ever lived will have the same chance to choose Him and His ways. Everyone will be judged by the same standard. They will be “judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books” (Rev. 20:12). What books are these? The books of the Bible, God's Word!

As for those who still refuse to follow God’s ways, “anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15). This is why it is the resurrection of judgment or separation (John 5:28-29; Mat. 25:31-33): when God has given all people their chance, the righteous and the wicked will be separated, and the wicked will perish.

As for those who choose God and His way of life, they will receive eternal life just like those in the First Resurrection. Jesus Christ made it clear that He will give eternal life to everyone who chooses Him and follows His way of life, no matter when they made that choice or what hardships they endured. At the end of His parable about the laborers in the vineyard, Jesus said,

9 “And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius.

10 “But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.

11 “And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner,

12 “saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’

13 “But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?

14 ‘Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.

15 ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’” (Mat. 20:9-15.)

Now some folks, upon hearing that God will ultimately bring many sons to glory and not just the few firstfruits, have the same reaction as those first laborers. They say, “Well why should I strive for the First Resurrection if many other people get saved, too? I could be out partying and enjoying my life right now!”

So what about it? Why should we strive for the First Resurrection?

Strive For the First Resurrection

First of all, it’s not up to us to decide who’s had a fair chance and who hasn’t. That’s God’s judgment. We aren’t here to pass judgment in this life. As the apostle Paul wrote, “In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts” (1 Cor. 4:3-5).

If God has called you, who’s to say that isn’t your only chance at eternal life? Why would anyone put his or her eternal life in jeopardy by refusing to heed the call? When God calls us, we’d better make the most of it!

The truth is, the “passing pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:25) are never worth what they cost. Though God forgave King David of his sin with Bathsheba, David had to pay for it many times over. He was beaten with many stripes. “And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:47-48).

So we could waste our lives pursuing the instant gratification of promiscuous sex, booze, and drugs. We could try to store up fickle riches here on earth instead of the riches in heaven that shall never pass away. 

And what would we have to show for it all? Nothing. Nothing but emptiness, pain, and despair! None of those things have any real value.

King Solomon had it all. A thousand women, the finest food and drink, the finest clothing, servants, riches beyond his wildest dreams, and the resources to pursue any project and hobby his heart desired. He had more wisdom than anyone else on earth. He had everything he wanted, everything this life can offer!

And yet, as he testified in the Book of Ecclesiastes, none of it fulfilled him. Instead, he felt emptiness and despair. One day, he would die, the same as all other men, and be buried in the same dirt. He would be just another man who lived, died, and was forgotten. With time, everything he did and built would fade away and be forgotten, rendering it all pointless. Here’s how he summed up everything this world can offer: “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind” (Eccl. 1:14).

As Solomon explained, here’s what gives meaning to life and makes it worth living: having a relationship with the Creator and the hope of eternal life. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Eccl. 12:13-14).

This world is passing away (1 Cor. 7:31; 1 John 2:17) and has nothing to offer us. Without God, this life has no point or meaning. So why would we choose the sins of this world over friendship with our Creator? If God has called us now, why risk that opportunity to “go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver” (1 Sam. 12:21)? Why be stupid and not wise?

Closing Thoughts

Let us strive, then, to be in the First Resurrection, to be among the firstfruits whom God chooses. “Give diligence to make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1:10). Let us strive to be among those whose privilege it will be to teach the rest of humanity, who lived and died without knowing the true God.

And let us be thankful that most of humanity is not lost or condemned to eternal destruction, but rather awaiting its opportunity. Let us give thanks that the billions who lived and died without ever hearing the name of Jesus or seeing a Bible; the miscarried and the stillborn; the young children who died of smallpox, starvation, or abuse; the Eskimos, Chinese, Pacific islanders, Australian aborigines, Africans, and South American tribes who lived and died long before anyone could tell them about Jesus Christ will have a genuine opportunity to know and choose Him. Let us give thanks that God will show mercy to the blind and ignorant. For all these people, the Second Resurrection and the Great White Throne Judgment will be their opportunity!

God is a just God who despises changing weights and measures (Prov. 20:10). As such, He will not give eternal life to someone who has never heard of Him or His ways alongside someone like Abraham or Job who served Him faithfully; neither will He condemn the same ignorant person alongside one who knowingly and deliberately rejected Him!

Brethren, we serve a just and merciful God who wants each of us to spend all eternity with Him! A God who knows what’s best for each person, who desires the death of no one and the salvation of all.