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The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God – Part two

The Sequence of Events

“Before chronos aionios” God the Father developed a plan to create “the… family of God”.

Eph 3:1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
Eph 3:2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
Eph 3:3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Eph 3:4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)
Eph 3:5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
Eph 3:6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
Eph 3:7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
Eph 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
Eph 3:12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
Eph 3:13 Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
Eph 3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 3:15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

The first thing God the Father created was a wife, through whom and “by whom”, [He created] the rest of His creation. Then through His ‘wife’ He birthed all the rest of His creation, all of which He called ‘earth’. It would be through the ‘earth’ and all that is in the earth that He would reveal Himself to those who would become sons in His family.

Jer 22:29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Everything Christ does, He does because of what His Father has “shown Him” and commissioned of Him. Just as we are in our relationship to Christ, Christ can do nothing of Himself:

Joh 5:19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
Joh 5:20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

Joh 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Exactly which “things that are made [make] the invisible things of Him… even His eternal power and Godhead… clearly seen [and] understood”? Anything other than “that which is written” is mere speculation. Here is what is written which makes the Godhead to be “clearly seen [and] understood”:

1Co 11:3 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

There it is. Just as “the head of the woman is the man”, so also is the Godhead, “the head of Christ is God”. In other words, just as we are all called “sons of God” and at the same time Christ is called our “husband”, so also is Christ both the wife of God and the Son of God. “The head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God”.

The scriptures also tell us all this:

Joh 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

To which is added:

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

We are “as He is… in this world” [G2889: kosmos, not aion]. 1 John 4:17 is just reiterating the Truth of John 20:21 “… as My Father has sent me, even so send I you”. If indeed we are “as He is… in this world”, then we need to know what the Father sent Christ to do, and since we are ‘as He is in this world’, we need to know exactly how the Father intended to use Christ to accomplish the purpose for which He created Christ as His wife and His Son.

Christ said: “As My Father has sent me, even so send I you”. So what exactly did God send Christ to do? Here is Christ’s commission from His Father:

Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

God sent… His Son into the world… that the world through Him might be saved. That is what Christ’s Head has commissioned Him to accomplish, and that is what Christ as our head has commissioned us to accomplish.

The function of God’s wife is to be the channel through whom He would create His entire family, just as we see “by the things that are made”. Here is how it is being done:

1Co 11:12 For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God.

Again, we “understand… the invisible things of God… by the things that are made”. “The things that are made” is referring particularly to the marriage union, of which we are told that just as “the head of Christ is God” (1Co 11:3), so also “the head of the woman is the man”, and this is given a second witness in 1 Corinthians 8 where we read:

1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

And again in Colossians:

Col 1:15 Who [Christ] is the image of the invisible God [“the head of Christ”], the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him [Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

So the woman is of the man, just as Christ is of the Father, and all things are by Christ, just as all men are by the woman.

This is how our heavenly Father has planned to carry our His plan for creating His family , “before the world began”.

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

It was all planned to be accomplished through His wife, whom He heads, just as Christ is doing all His Father sent Him to do through His Christ whom He heads:

Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

“The eternal purpose” is the eternal, or aionian, plan of God “which He purposed in Christ”, which plan included us “before the world began”, if we are really “as He is… Jesus of Nazareth”.

Act 22:8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutes.

God’s wife was the very “beginning of God’s creation”. Then God informed His wife of His entire plan and how it was to be carried out.

Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Rev 3:13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

Christ knows who He is whether we do or not. He knows His Father is also His Husband, just as Christ is also our Father, and we are at the same time His wife:

Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.

Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

It was through His wife that He created the “aions”, and through those aions He would create a spiritual family of lesser gods to be with Him and to think and act in accord with Himself and to be a happy functional family, where the entire family would have “the same mind” as their Creator God, “that there should be no schism” in His family.

Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; [Greek, aions, ages]

Rom 12:16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

1Co 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

1Co 12:25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

Php 4:2 I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.

1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

But this family of spiritual gods would first be created of the clay of this earth, and it would intentionally be “marred in The Potter’s hand”.

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Then that vessel of clay would live a life of great trial and be put through spiritual flames of spiritual fire, which would judge and destroy that marred, carnal, rebellious mind. It is all an integral part of the plan of God, that through the judgment of the flames of the destruction and death of that marred, carnal, rebellious mind, a new man would be born to “be of the same mind in the Lord“. All of this is the “one event” and the “all things come alike to all men” spoken of in this verse:

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

This fiery judgment is what produces the new birth of which Christ told Nicodemus:

Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Joh 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

This second birth was an integral part of the plan of God, “before the world began”.

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Our ‘new man’ is new only in down payment form at this time. Our “inheritance of the purchased possession” bodies will indeed be like “the wind” which will be invisible to the natural eye.

But this is the plan that must be lived out by “every man” of all time to attain that new “as the wind” spiritual body:

1Co 3:13 Every man‘s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man‘s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

The “in the Lord” part of these family members, “the spirit of God dwell[ing] in you”, is the part that has been kept “hidden”, kept secret, through the spiritual meaning of the Words of God. It is the spirit of God’s Words which has kept the masses of mankind from seeing or hearing these spiritual truths. In other words, the deception of the masses of mankind is a deliberate, integral, yet vital part of the plan of God:

Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

Those who argue that Christ would not deceive us and then punish us for what He caused us to do, do not know the Christ of scripture who does just exactly that in the life of every one of us. We all experience “one event… all things come alike to all”. We all experience His deception, and then we all experience His punishment for that deception before we come to know Christ and His Father. That is the doctrine of God from Genesis to Revelation:

Gen 4:6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto [Hebrew, against] thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him [sin].

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Mat 13:9 Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mat 13:12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

This is all by God’s design. It is all part of His predestined plan for the salvation of all men. The creature has nothing to contribute to its own salvation. The entire history of mankind in clay vessels is all a work of God to bring mankind from that marred condition to a perfected spiritual body, as a perfected son in the family of God with the mind of His spiritual heavenly Father. Nothing about the plan of God depends upon mankind. It is all “of Him, through Him and to Him”:

Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.
Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

But there is a question that few dare to ask, and that question is provoked by these verses in 1Cor 15:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

Here we have, in very plain language, the fact that God will, in Christ, save for Himself “all in Adam”. But we are told that it will be accomplished in a certain, God-ordained order which will culminate with God being “all in all”. But before that goal of God being in all of His sons, we are told that “the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death”. Add to these verses this fact:

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Adam, and Adam in all of us, has demonstrated that flesh and blood are not fit to be in the incorruptible kingdom of God, simply because flesh and blood are dying corruption. But we are told clearly that death must be destroyed before God can be all in all. If that is the case and if flesh is dying in every generation of mankind, how is it even possible for death to be destroyed since little Adams are being born every day by the millions?

The answer to this dilemma is solved for us in the story of Samson in Judges 14:

Jdg 14:1 And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines.
Jdg 14:2 And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.
Jdg 14:3 Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well.
Jdg 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

The Philistines were a very religious people whose God was named Dagon. These Philistines are the Biblical type of all who are in the land of promise, but they are there without the benefit of circumcision, and are more than willing to put the teachings of their god, Dagon, ahead of the doctrines of Christ. They see their preeminence over God’s elect as proof that their God is the true God.

Jdg 16:23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.

Dagon typifies the god of Babylon who is none other than the “great Red Dragon” who empowers the beast within all men:

Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

The entire story of Samson is a type of God’s elect whose service to God is first in the strength of our own flesh. This brings us to our wits’ end, where we are finally aware that we are blind as a bat and totally useless to God or mankind in a life of their own making. Samson typifies God’s elect who are more than willing to die to everything in this life to gain Christ:

Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

Samson is the type of this same mind. Here are Samson’s own words:

Jdg 16:30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

Dying “with the Philistines” is the dying of our flesh, and just as Samson delivered his people through his death, so are we delivered from our own sinful flesh through our dying daily to the power of our flesh over the new man who is being born within us.

Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Christ’s doctrine and His own example demonstrates for us that life comes only through death:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Col 1:22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

It is only “through death”, the death of our old man, that our new man can be born. So it is for all men of all time, and so it is with death itself. Until death itself is destroyed, there will be no victory over death. But as long as little Adams are being born, death cannot be destroyed, and that is the real reason for putting “the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan” in prison for a thousand years, just to release him again for “a little season” afterward.

Rev 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Why, after placing Satan in prison for a thousand years, would a loving heavenly Father release him upon an unsuspecting world? The answer is that God is seeking an occasion against the Philistines of that time. When Satan is loosed upon the world after it has been ruled with a rod of iron for a thousand years, mankind’s carnal mind will be ripe for the deception he is sent to bring upon all nations at that time. After being ruled with a rod of iron for a thousand years, mankind will be convinced by Satan that he is capable of overcoming the saints of the “blessed and holy first resurrection”, who have been their rulers for the past one thousand years. We are told that Satan is given to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth to “encompass the camp of the saints”, and at that very moment, just like the fall of Jericho and just like the sudden destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, fire will come down from God out of heaven and will destroy all flesh of all men “in the four quarters of the earth so that it can truthfully be said that death is destroyed, and there will be no one left on this earth who can beget another Adam in a vessel of clay.

That is why it is right after being told that fire comes down from God out of heaven, that we then have the “great white throne” revealed to us for the first time. This great white throne is also revealed at the same time as “the lake of fire” is revealed to us:

Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

“Death [is] cast into… the second death”. This is the death of death, and it is through this death that life is given to all men of all time.

We have this time of grace, when God is preparing a few faithful elect out of the many called multitudes. But Judas was an elect who did not leave Christ when the multitudes left Him.

Joh 6:64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
Joh 6:66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
Joh 6:67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Joh 6:68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.

Christ knew who would betray Him, and yet the twelve remained faithful even after “many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him”. Still Judas was found not to have a proper wedding garment, and he was predestined to be God’s rejected elect who, like God’s anointed, King Saul, sought to kill God’s faithful elect. Neither King Saul nor Judas was granted to be faithful to the end. Being called and being elect are not enough to be given a wedding garment and to be in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”.

Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Those who are with Christ in the armies of heaven will have one more necessary qualification, and that qualification is to be faithful to the end:

Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful [“to the end”].

Next week we will begin to see what are the blessings of being in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, and in time we will see what is the function of those blessed few.

This is but a taste of what is in store for all who are given that blessed calling:

Isa 49:6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.

Joh 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

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