THE RANSOM SACRIFICE BASIS OF WORLD'S HOPE
These Scriptures very clearly teach that the ransom sacrifice of the Man Christ Jesus fully offsets what the disobedience of Adam brought upon all men. The elect Church, the called out ones (the sanctified), receive the full benefit of that sacrifice in the present life, as by faith they receive Christ as their Savior and yield their wills to follow in His footsteps unto death.
That all mankind are at some future date to receive the benefit of that sacrifice is likewise taught in the Scriptures; and in full agreement with the entire testimony of the Bible. The apostle Paul declared, "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels ["made flesh," a man] for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor [of perfect manhood]; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Heb. 2:9) And again we read, that "He gave Himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time." (1 Tim. 2:6) If we would inquire,
When is the due time for all who have not in the present life had this testimony?
We answer in the language of the Apostle Paul: "For God hath appointed a day [1000 years in length], in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance to all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead."--Acts 17:31
'In the light therefore of the united testimony of the Scriptures all the various features mentioned in this Great White Throne Judgment are readily comprehended. In other words, a knowledge and an understanding of God's dealing in the Ages that precede the reign of Christ becomes the means by which we are permitted to unlock the secrets of the Divine Plan respecting this thousand years, and makes the words of the apostle Peter shine out in clearness, that "one day, with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Pet, 3:8)
Too such as have grasped this knowledge of the far reaching effects of the ransom sacrifice of the Man Christ Jesus, the expositions of this vision offered by many of the commentators are entirely unreasonable and inadequate, and come far short of the Scriptural ideal. These explanations ignore entirely the plain Scripture statements that Christ's sacrifice secured for ALL a release from Adamic condemnation. The great masses of mankind, who have never even heard of Christ, have according to these expositors no part or benefit in His sacrifice.
One of these commentators has thus explained the vision:
"The earth and heaven are here said to flee from the face of the judge, the locality, therefore, appears to be some point in space apart from our globe . . . All subjects of this judgment are raised from the dead for this purpose . . . The sea, death, hades, deliver up their dead, thus defining the fact of the body, though mortal and corrupt, having in it the seed of the resurrection body, and the spirit, though separate for a time, re-united to the body of shame and death."
Referring to the "books" that were opened, this writer says:
"A special carefulness is manifest in this scrutiny, the most solemn and awful ever witnessed in the universe . . . Such painstaking accuracy can never be questioned throughout eternity. Never will there be found a mistake in the books of God. The sentence marks this as a distinct and final judgment. There is no arraignment and no pleading. It is in fact an execution of the sentence before declared [at death] but now made public in presence of the whole universe. The confessions of the guilty by their speechlessness when confronted with all their misdeeds-not one forgotten--will be the most eloquent though silent vindication of the purity and holiness and eternal justice of God."
The punishment administered is stated to be to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire, which the writer explains to be eternal torment. He further goes on to say that the reason for this is because they were not among those who were foreordained to be saved from before the foundation of the world.
His words to this effect are:
"The book of life containing the names of all given in covenant before the foundation of the world, and therefore called the 'Lamb's book of life,' is searched for the name of every one condemned by his works to see if by any possibility that account can be found."
He adds that none were found.
What a vast difference between this expositor's view and the Scriptural hope held out for all the dead, whose redemption has been arranged for in the death of the Son of God. Yet the interpretation presented foregoing is a sample of nearly all who have attempted to expound this vision. It is a most remarkable illustration of the effects that Satan's lie, "Thou shalt not surely die," has had upon the reasoning faculties of the human mind! A search through all the writings of commentators for twelve centuries will discover none that is wholly reasonable and Scriptural. Some of these that we have quoted from in these series of articles evidently have seen the unreasonableness of their conclusions and, not seeing clearly the Plan of the Ages, have been compelled to remain silent making no attempt at an interpretation.
Continued with next post.
