What is the Purpose For God’s Elect?

When Christ told Martha:

Joh 11:24  Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Joh 11:25  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

I’m sure that you, with Martha, would say “Yes, Lord, I believe.” But what is it one believes if one says:

 “ALL Adam don’t get to be made alive in Christ, just all the Church…?”

Do you believe that Christ was telling Martha ‘I am the first but not the second resurrection?’

I think we all know better than that. It is not worded ‘As in Adam all die even so all who are in Christ shall be made alive.’ Here is what we are told is the power behind all resurrected bodies of all time:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all [ same all who are in Adam. We are all, at one time ‘in Adam] be made alive.

The ‘all in Adam” is the same “all” who will be in Christ. If this is not so, then there would be no need for the next few verses:

1Co 15:23  But every man in his own orde r: 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.

The destruction of death necessitates the salvation of all men of all time. But Christ is both resurrections: “As in Adam… SO in Christ… I am the resurrection”

There is a “first fruit” which is regenerated now and there is “the lump” which will come in with Sodom and Samaria through the purifying lake of fire. When all is said and done God “will have all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the Truth.”

Rom 11:16  For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. ***** Christ and His Church (“I am the vine and you are the branches”)…

The “evil reward” for not doing the Lord’s will” is the second judgment, the white (not black) throne judgment which will chasten  and judge those who refused to “judge themselves” now while still in this “vessel of clay.”

Here are but a very few of the hundreds of verses of God’s word which tell us plainly what God is doing with mankind:

1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. ***** this is the little all or the Church only…

1Ti 4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all ***** this is ALL ADAM …   men, specially [ not exclusively] of those that believe ***** He is special to the Church here in time but ALL ADAM will be changed in the last resurrection…

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us- ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. ***** Again the Church

1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.  ***** Yes, this covers both resurrections…

And we also have this assurance from the book of Romans:

Rom 11:15  For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world [ Even Sodom and Samaria], what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

***** I pray almost daily “Bring them Home Lord bring them Home !!!

Rom 11:16  For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy : and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

All of the admonitions to avoid hell and the lake of fire are very urgent admonitions. However they have nothing whatsoever to do with avoiding eternal death or eternal punishment. what they are concerned with is “loss” of 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 [ the lake of] fire.

Some wonder if 1 Thess. 5:9 is the elect. Read Rom 9 and then read 1 Thess. chapters 4 and five together and you will see that mankind as a whole is not cast away and consigned to God’s wrath. Who is consigned to God’s wrath, be they elect or not are those who “know to do good and do it not:

I am at a loss to understand why some would have ‘all’ to mean anything less than all of God’s creatures who are in Adam. The advantage of being first is explained in Revelation and all the rest of the New Testament. The firstfruit overcomers are given rulership in the kingdom. All others are ruled over in the kingdom. But in the end God is all in all and not one soul is left out of Christ.

There are those who point to Joh 17 as if I would find there that

“ALL Adam don’t get to be made alive in Christ, just, all the Church…?”

Do you think that the fact that we enjoy eonian life necessitates that all others will not receive life? Do you believe that there is no life other than eonian life? Do you think that because “the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eonian life” that therefore those who receive eonian life can avoid death? This is not what Rom 6:23 is saying. Rom 6:23 says:

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This verse in Romans does not contradict these verses in Hebrews:

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
Heb 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Judgment cannot be administered until after death: “… After this the judgment.”

Now since judgment is NOW on the house of God:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:

… and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

… and yet we are told that it is appointed unto man once to die and after this [ death] the judgment,’ it is therefore needful that all who are being judged now have died or are dying daily to this flesh. Life comes only “through death:”

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;

So we see that the fact that the gift of God is eonian life, in no way excludes anyone from having to die first in order to obtain that life. We enjoy the kingdom now only in “earnest of the spirit” and not in “the fulness of the inheritance.” Is this joy we have now the kingdom? It certainly is. But is it the “redemption of the purchased possession?” Absolutely not! The best is yet to come.

2Co 1:22  Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
2Co 5:5  Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us

Here is how The Good News Bible words this:

(GNB)  “who has placed his mark of ownership upon us, and who has given us the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the guarantee of all that he has in store for us.”

And here is how the International Standard Version puts this:

(ISV)  “who has placed his seal on us and has given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.”

These verses are in sharp contrast to these verses:

Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

This is indeed a glorious promise for all who partake of that blessed and holy 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.

Being in that blessed and holy first resurrection is not an end in itself. The very purpose for being “priests of God and of Christ and reigning with Him” is to show mercy to all mankind who are not in the first resurrection. But that mercy is not shown to mankind during the thousand years. It is rather shown to mankind in the lake of fire after the second resurrection. It is then that we “shall judge angels” because the lake of fire is prepared for the devil and his angels. At that time there will be nothing but spirits to be judged:

Eze 16:55  When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

The dominance of an outward Jew during the millennium is not in the scriptures. It is those who are in that “blessed and holy first resurrection who will dominate at that time. It will be” He is a Jew who is one inwardly. He is NOT a Jew which is one outwardly.” All who have slain Christ and have not yet repented of doing so will be spirits in this lake of fire. They will be judged by those who are that fire:

Isa 33:14  The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15  He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

It is here that Satan himself will be judged and purged of his own carnal, rebellious mind. It is here that God will use his elect to judge angels:

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Without the “sum of God’s word” one would conclude that the sheep and the goats are all there standing before God and Christ to be judged at the same time. It is with what is later revealed in Paul’s and John’s writings in 1Co.15 and Rev 20 that we see that these are two separate judgments; one occurring now while we are in this flesh, the other occurring “after the thousand years are finished.”

It is then that the elect will be used by God to bring to God all who are yet in unbelief:

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

So those saints in that blessed and holy first resurrection will rule the world for 1000 years and then they “shall judge angels:” This is the reason for having a “blessed and holy first resurrection.” Here is how Paul summarizes this function of God’s elect:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

It is through those who are in the first resurrection that God will bring in all the rest of mankind – “through your mercy.”

This same message is repeated by Paul in Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians.

So Paul concludes this incredibly revealing revelation with these words:

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.

While the word ‘all’ is not always intended to mean virtually every human in Judea coming out to be baptized of John or coming to hear Christ preach, when it comes to salvation, it is all inclusive.

I hope that you see who is in view when Paul uses the words ‘in Adam, and in Christ’ and I hope you see that we are only in God’s kingdom now ” in earnest… until the redemption of the purchased possession.”

When God has accomplished what he has chosen his firstfruits to accomplish, He will then be all in all. That is the goal of the universe. And God’s channel to achieve that goal is those who are in that blessed and holy first resurrection.