HERE NOW IN CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA, WE ARE INTO THE FIRST FEW HOURS OF THE WONDERFUL LAST GREAT FEAST.
THIS IS A WONDERFUL FEAST INDEED, FOR IT SHOWS THE MAGNITUDE OF GOD'S LOVE TO ALL HUMANS WHO HAVE BEEN CONCEIVED AND LIVED AS HUMAN BEINGS FOR WHATEVER LENGTH OF TIME, BE IT SHORT OR LONG.
ONE EASY TO UNDERSTAND TEACHING FOR .... UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE, IS TO FIND ALL THE EASY VERSES, THAT SAY WHAT THEY MEAN AND MEAN WHAT THEY SAY.... AND JUST BELIEVE THEM.
SO LET'S GO TO ACTS 4:12.
PRETTY SIMPLE; YOU BET!
IT SAYS WHAT IT MEANS AND MEANS WHAT IT SAYS.
GOD INSPIRED ISAIAH TO WRITE THE SAME KIND OF THING:
"Look unto me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.....to whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? (Isa. 45:22; 46:5).
IT IS THROUGHOUT THE SCRIPTURES OF THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE; THERE IS NO SALVATION, NO LIVING INTO ETERNITY, EXCEPT THROUGH THE GOD OF THIS BIBLE AND HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.
IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE HOW YOU HAVE LIVED, WHAT GOOD DEEDS YOU HAVE DONE; IT MAKE NO DIFFERENCE HOW FAMOUS YOU WERE OR ARE; IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE IF YOU ARE A KING OR QUEEN OR JUST SAM OR SALLY LIVING DOWN THE STREET. IT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE IF YOU HAVE ALL KINDS OF GIFTS, OR HARDLY ANY AT ALL [AS THE WORLD WOULD EQUATE GIFTS]. WHOEVER YOU ARE, THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO GET TO LIVE FOREVER, FOR ETERNITY; AND THAT WAY IS THROUGH ACCEPTING JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR PERSONAL SAVIOR.
YES IT MEANS YOU COME TO THE BASIC TRUTHS OF THE BIBLE..... YOU SEE WHAT SIN IS, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE YOU ARE A SINNER, YOU REPENT, BECOME CONVERTED TO GOD'S WAY OF THINKING AND LIVING; YOU ACCEPT JESUS AS YOUR SAVIOR, THE ONE WHO DIED FOR YOUR SINS. YOU COME TO KNOW IT IS ONLY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST THAT YOU CAN BE SAVED INTO ETERNAL LIFE.
WHATEVER ELSE THE BIBLE SAYS, IT IS ABSOLUTELY CLEAR AS A CLOUDLESS DAY IN THE SUN, ON THIS POINT OF TEACHING; ONLY THROUGH CHRIST IS THERE SALVATION.
SO NOW, STOP AND USE SOME PLAIN COMMON LOGIC; IF THIS IS SO, AS IT INDEED IS, THEN FROM THE TIME OF ADAM AND EVE, BILLIONS OF PEOPLE HAVE NEVER EVEN HAD AN OPPORTUNITY FOR SALVATION; BILLIONS HAVE LIVED AND DIED NEVER EVEN HEARING ABOUT JESUS OR THE BIBLE. THINK OF ALL THE BABIES THAT HAVE DIED IN HUMAN HISTORY; THINK ABOUT ALL THE CHILDREN WHO NEVER REACHED THE AGE TO BE A TEENAGER, BUT DIED NEVER KNOWING ABOUT CHRIST AND THE BIBLE. THINK OF ALL THOSE SOCIETIES IN FAR OFF LANDS DURING HUMAN HISTORY, THAT GOD WAS NOT DEALING WITH, JUST WAS NOT THERE TO REVEAL HIS TRUTHS AND WAY OF SALVATION TO THEM.
ARE YOU SEEING THE PICTURE? DO YOU BEGIN TO GET IT? THERE IS NO SALVATION BUT THROUGH JESUS CHRIST, AND THE GOD OF THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE.
THEN YOU HAVE RIGHT IN YOUR OWN NATION WHERE YOU ARE, PEOPLE WHO ARE SPIRITUALLY BLINDED; JUST NOT INTERESTED IN THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE; THEY WANT TO GO THEIR OWN WAY, DO THEIR OWN THING; TALKING TO THEM ABOUT GOD, JESUS CHRIST, THE BIBLE, IS LIKE TALKING TO A BRICK WALL.
OH YES THE BIBLE TALKS ABOUT SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS; READ ROMANS 9 THROUGH 11. READ IT SLOWLY, MEDITATE ON IT. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE PRETTY EASY WHAT IT TEACHES. PEOPLE, ALL PEOPLE, ARE SPIRITUALLY BLIND, AND IT IS ONLY THOSE CALLED TO GRACE, THAT HAVE THE SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS REMOVED.
IT ACTUALLY TAKES THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE TO LIFT AWAY YOUR SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS FOR YOU TO SEE HIS TRUTHS. THE NEW TESTAMENT PUTS IT LIKE "YOU SEE YOUR CALLING BRETHREN .... THAT NOT MANY ARE CALLED."
YES NOT MANY YESTERDAY, TODAY, OR TOMORROW, ARE CALLED TO HAVE SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS REMOVED; BUT SOME ARE. THEN WHEN CALLED THE INDIVIDUAL IS STILL A FREE AGENT; GOD HAS NOT CREATED ROBOTS IN CREATING MALE AND FEMALE OF THE HUMAN SPECIES. BEING CALLED STILL MEANS YOU HAVE TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE AND ACCEPT THE BAT SO TO SPEAK. THEN ACCEPTING THE BAT YOU ARE THEN "CHOSEN."
BUT FOR BILLIONS OF PEOPLE DOWN THROUGH HUMAN HISTORY, THEY WERE NEVER EVEN CALLED, LET ALONE CHOSEN. THEY COULDN'T BE CHOSEN FOR THEY WERE NEVER CALLED.
YOU WANT A VERSE THAT BLOWS YOUR MIND? OKAY HERE IT IS: EPHESIANS 2:11-12.
NOW READ THAT SLOWLY..... AGAIN LET IT SINK INTO YOUR MIND. IT SAYS WHAT IT MEANS AND MEANS WHAT IT SAYS!
MANY IN THE PAST [AND TODAY] ARE WITHOUT GOD; WITHOUT CHRIST, AND SO HAVE NO HOPE..... WELL NOT IN THIS LIFETIME!
BUT IT DOES NOT MEAN THEY WILL NEVER HAVE HOPE. WHAT KIND OF A GOD WOULD NOT GIVE SOMEONE A CHANCE OF SALVATION, AND THEN CONSIGN THEM TO ETERNAL DEATH? FRANKLY NOT THE GOD I WOULD WANT TO FOLLOW; THAT WOULD NOT BE A GOD OF LOVE, BUT A GOD OF SILLY MEANNESS.
BUT GOD IS LOVE !
AND HE HAS A WONDERFUL PLAN OF SALVATION FOR EVERYONE!
THE LAST VERSES OF REVELATION 20 IS NOTHING TO DO WITH MILLIONS BEING RAISED UP TO THE JUDGMENT OF DAMNATION AND THE FIRES OF HELL, AS SOME OR MOST CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT CHURCHES WANT TO TEACH.
IT IS IN THE CONTEXT THE SECOND RESURRECTION!
THERE ARE SMALL AND GREAT [AS THE WORLD WOULD LOOK AT IT - FAMOUS, UNKNOWN, GIFTED, NOT SO GIFTED]. THE "BOOKS" WERE OPENED. THE GREEK IS "BIBLOS" FROM WHERE COMES OUR ENGLISH WORD "BIBLE." AND THE BIBLE IS MADE UP OF BOOKS - PLURAL.
THERE IS ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT BOOK OPENED - THE BOOK OF LIFE !
THIS IS NOT THE RATHER SILLY IDEA OF A BUNCH OF BOOKS OPENED WITH NAMES IN THEM OF ALL WHO WILL BE CAST INTO HELL FIRE, AGAIN AS MANY CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT CHURCHES WANT TO TEACH.
THIS IS THE TRUTH HERE OF A WONDERFUL WHITE THRONE AGE, WHERE ALL THE BILLIONS OF HUMANS, THAT NEVER HAD A CHANCE TO FIND SALVATION, WILL BE RAISED UP IN A PHYSICAL RESURRECTION; THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE WILL BE OPENED TO THEM; SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS WILL BE REMOVED; THEY WILL HAVE THEIR CALLING TO SEE THE TRUTHS OF GOD; TO SEE WHAT SIN IS; TO HAVE A CHANCE TO REPENT OF BEING A SINNER; AND TO ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST AS PERSONAL SAVIOR. THEY WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE IN THE BOOK OF LIFE!
FINALLY, THOUGH WITHOUT GOD IN THEIR FIRST PHYSICAL LIFE, THEY WILL NOW BE ABLE TO FIND GOD AND CHRIST; THEY WILL BE ABLE TO MOVE FORWARD TO BE "CHOSEN."
THEY WILL BE ABLE TO LIVE A LIFE AS A CHRISTIAN; BABIES THAT DIED AS BABIES WILL BE GIVEN LIFE, THEY WILL LIVE TO BE ADULTS; BE EDUCATED AND TAUGHT THE TRUTHS OF GOD. ALL IN THAT AGE WILL LIVE ONCE MORE AS PHYSICAL HUMANS, AND BE ABLE TO FIND SALVATION IF THEY MOVE FORWARD TO BECOME "CHOSEN" BECAUSE THEY OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL WANT TO BE CHOSEN.
IT WILL BE EASIER YES, FOR HUMANS IN THAT AGE, TO FIND SALVATION; I MEAN THEY WILL SEE ANGELS AND OTHER ONCE-UPON-A-TIME HUMANS NOW ALREADY IN THE GLORIFIED STATE IN GOD'S KINGDOM; BUT THEIR REWARD WILL BE LESS PER SE. THOSE IN PAST AGES WHO HAD TO BATTLE SATANIC POWERS, THE EVIL OF THE WORLD, PERSECUTION, AND SOMETIMES DEATH, WILL RECEIVE THE GREAT REWARD. BUT IN GOD'S KINGDOM THERE IS NO VANITY, PRIDE, OR JEALOUSY. DAVID SAID HE WOULD RATHER BE A DOOR KEEPER IN THE HOUSE OF GOD, THAN THE HIGHEST POSITION HE COULD HAVE IN THE EARTHLY ZONE OF LIFE.
THIS LAST GREAT FEAST [THEY ARE ALL GREAT OF COURSE] IS TRULY WONDERFUL......
BILLIONS WILL HAVE THEIR OPPORTUNITY TO BE SAVED INTO THE VERY FAMILY AND KINGDOM OF GOD!
GOD IS LOVE..... AND HE WANTS TO SHARE THIS VAST UNIVERSE WITH HIS CHILDREN.
WHY IS THIS UNIVERSE SO MIND-BENDING SUPER-MEGA LARGE? WELL ONE REASON IS THAT THE ETERNAL WANTS LOTS OR ROOM FOR HIS CHILDREN TO EXPLORE, ENJOY, GO VISIT OUT THERE, WHEREVER. ETERNAL LIFE IS GOING TO BE FUN, EXCITING, ADVENTUROUS, PLAYFUL, AND GOD THE FATHER WANTS TO BE WITH HIS CHILDREN, JUST READ THE BEAUTIFUL WORDS OF REVELATION 21:1-7.
REJOICE IN THIS DAY; IT HAS THE PROMISE OF SALVATION IN IT FOR BILLIONS OF PEOPLE.
PRAISE BE TO OUR GOD!
..........
What about Rev. 20:15?
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