STUDY 12: SCRIPTURES PROVE THERE IS HOPE FOR THE UNSAVED DEAD

THE Bible teaches that every member of Adam’s race is to receive one full opportunity to obtain eternal salvation. The Church had their chance in this life. They either won out, or were lost forever. But what about those who have not in this life received their opportunity? Will they be saved by their ignorance?

The Scriptures answer, no, that knowledge is essential to faith and salvation (Romans 10: 14-17) (Acts 4: 12). Let us discuss ten Bible proofs showing that there is hope for such of the unsaved dead as did not have a chance in this life.

God’s Promise

(1.) God’s Promise, bound with an oath. This promise was first made to Abraham, in the great Abrahamic Covenant: “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12: 3) (Genesis 18: 18). St. Paul calls this Promise the Gospel (Galatians 3: 8). Obviously all the families and nations of the earth have not been blessed in this life, consequently, those who were not blessed by the Gospel in this life will be blessed after this life.

God later bound the original Promise by an oath, stating that in the Seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 22: 16-18). So, who is this Seed of Abraham that is to bless all the families, kindred and nations of the earth? St. Paul answers, the Seed consists of Jesus and His faithful followers (Galatians 3: 16, 29).

Jesus’ Ransom Sacrifice

(2.) The Ransom sacrifice of Jesus. By His death, He gave Himself a Ransom for all men (Matthew 20: 28) (1 Timothy 2: 6). The word ransom is the translation of the Greek compound word antilutron – lutron meaning “price,” and anti meaning “instead of.” In other words, a price instead of, or a corresponding price.

The term “ransom” pictures a business transaction:

• God is the Creditor.
• Adam and his race is the debtor.
• Jesus is the Purchaser.
• The Creditor requires the payment of the full debt, no more and no less.
• The debt is the perfect man Adam’s human all.
• The purchase price to redeem the debtor must be the exact equivalent. Jesus became a perfect man and laid down this exact equivalent price by His death – He gave His perfect humanity in offset of Adam’s debt. The Ransom is an offset before the Creditor as a satisfaction of the complete debt of Adam, which by heredity involved Adam’s entire race.

The Ransom requires that in God’s “due time” (1 Timothy 2: 5, 6) the entire human race will be delivered from the Adamic sentence. Freed from that sentence, they will be given an opportunity to gain salvation from all its effects, and the faithful will gain eternal life.

Sins to be Forgiven in the World to come

(3.) Jesus says that that all sins except the sin against the holy spirit will be forgiven the children of men. Mark 3: 28, 29: “All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost [Spirit] hath never forgiveness.” This passage teaches that every other sin except the sin against the holy spirit will be forgiven mankind; but the vast majority of mankind has not sinned against the holy spirit (sinned willfully against clear light), yet nevertheless died without having their sins forgiven. Therefore, the sins of such persons will be forgiven in the next life.

God’s Character

(4.) God’s character, combined with the fact that most unsaved people die with characters that are reformable under easier conditions than those now prevailing, proves that under the easier conditions of the Millennial Age, an opportunity for reformation will be given to those whose characters are reformable under those easier conditions. Only a few, those who can trust God where they cannot trace Him, can gain everlasting life under present evil conditions (Hebrews 11: 6) (Galatians 3: 9). The majority, unable to exercise such faith, cannot gain everlasting life under present evil conditions, because Satan blinds and misleads them through their ignorance and weaknesses (2 Corinthians 4: 4).

God delights to use His Wisdom, Power, Justice and Love in ways to help people reform (Revelation 15: 3, 4). These qualities moved Him to send His Son to be a Ransom for all, the greatest sacrifice He could make. Because His Holy Character is strong enough to do this hardest thing for them, surely it will not fail to give mankind an opportunity to recover from the curse by placing them amid conditions in which they could reform and gain eternal life.

Elect selected to bless Non-elect

(5.) God’s object in electing the Church from among mankind is to use them as His Agent in the next life, to bless the non-elect with opportunities of salvation. The human family consists of two classes: (1) a faith class (Galatians 3: 7-9) (2 Corinthians 5: 7), and (2) an unbelieving class (2 Thessalonians 3: 2) (Romans 11: 30-32). God foreknew that the faith class could overcome under conditions that require strong faith, but that the unbelieving class could not. He therefore predetermined to give only the faith class the opportunity to gain salvation while those conditions prevail.

Had God placed the unbelieving class on trial for life amid present conditions, none of them could have been saved, something that God’s Wisdom, Justice and Love would not permit. Instead, God defers the trial of the unbelieving class until conditions prevail amid which they can overcome. How like the good God that He is, to select and prepare the faith class to help the unbelieving class to reform when their trial time comes! St. James teaches (Acts 15: 14-17) that during the Gospel Age God has been visiting the nations to select an Elect people for His name; and following this the Lord will return and establish the Kingdom, so that the residue (that which is left after a part is taken from it) of men, the non-elect, might seek after the Lord, seek salvation. God deals with the Elect’s salvation first; then, in the next Age, the non-elect’s salvation.

Twofold Experience of the Non-elect

(6.) God arranged for the non-elect to receive a twofold experience. They are first given an experience with evil in this life. With this experience as a teacher, they learn about the terrible nature and effects of sin. They will then be given an experience with good in the next life, and again, with experience as a teacher, they will learn about the good nature and effects of righteousness.

Romans 8: 19-22 shows these two experiences. Verse 19 shows that the human race (“the creature”) is now, while under the curse (v. 22), earnestly longing for, and is kept waiting for a better time, when the Sons of God (Jesus and His faithful followers) will be manifested in the glories of the Kingdom (Daniel 7: 13, 14, 18, 22, 27). Verse 20 shows that the human family, through Adam’s sin, was subject to the curse (“vanity”), but is not to be left hopelessly under the curse; for verse 21 shows that it is to be delivered from the curse, so that they may obtain the liberty that will be the portion of all who become sons of God, a liberty that Jesus and the Church will minister to the obedient in the Kingdom. Verse 22 shows that the experience of evil under the curse is universal in the human family.

Facts

(7.) Facts demonstrate it as the following examples show: the people who were destroyed by fire and brimstone in Sodom, Gomorrah and the other cities of the plains, together with the Jews of the northern ten-tribed kingdom and of the southern two-tribed kingdom, in spite of their wickedness in this life (Ezekiel 16: 44-52), will come back and live again (Ezekiel 16: 53); the Jews will repent of their sins (Ezekiel 16: 54, 57-59, 61, 63); God will make a New Covenant with them (Ezekiel 16: 60, 62); and He will give the people of Sodom, etc., and the people of Samaria, etc., to the Jews for daughters, who they will convert to the Lord. 

In Ezekiel 16: 55 the work of restoring Sodom and her daughters (people subject to her), Samaria and her daughters, and Jerusalem and her daughters, is called their “return to their former estate” – Restitution (Acts 3: 21) – a return to the original condition of perfection, the image and likeness of God, which the race had in Adam, before sin entered the world. Our Lord corroborates this thought regarding the people subject to Sodom (Matthew 11: 23, 24), and adds hope for the Phoenicians, the people of Tyre and Sidon (Matthew 11: 21, 22), showing that they were all less guilty than were the Israelites, who the Scriptures declare will have this opportunity. Furthermore, these will have an easier time than will the unbelieving Jews of His day (when He shall reign over the earth in the Day of Judgment – Luke 22: 29, 30). Surely if these will have an opportunity, all the rest of the unsaved dead who in this life were excluded from the opportunity of salvation will have it “in that Day.”

The Christ’s Official Names

(8.) The official names that the Bible gives to Jesus and His Church proves such an opportunity for those who will be the objects of the official acts implied in these names. In their future official relations to the world of mankind they are called:

Saviors: “Saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s” (Obadiah 21). Jacob types the Elect, and Esau types the non-elect (Romans 9: 10-13). Mount Zion here stands for the Millennial Kingdom that brings salvation. The Saviors are Jesus and His Church (the Elect), who shall judge the Mount of Esau (the non-elect), by delivering them from their enemies – Sin, Death and the Grave. The result will be glorious, because “the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.”

Priests: This official name applies to Jesus and the Church (Hebrews 3: 1) (1 Peter 2: 5, 9) (Revelation 1: 6) (Revelation 5: 10) (Revelation 20: 6). A Priest is one who, on the basis of a sacrifice which he offers to God on behalf of others, acts as a reconciler between God and man. Jesus and His fellow Priests offer sacrifices to God in this life, and Christ has during this Age appeared in the presence of God on behalf of the Elect. But sometime after the sacrifice of the Church is complete, Christ will appear in God’s presence for the world, and then He and the Church will bless the non-elect world during the Millennial Age.

Kings: This official name also applies to Jesus and the Church (Revelation 19: 16) (Romans 5: 17) (2 Timothy 2: 12) (1 Peter 2: 9) (Revelation 1: 6) (Revelation 5: 10) (Revelation 20: 4, 6). The purpose for their Reign is to destroy all the works of Satan – mainly sin, death and the grave. They will first seize, bind and imprison Satan; next, they will free the race from the grave by awakening all the dead in Adam; and finally, they will free and help reform all the willing and obedient from the woes of the dying process and from sin.

Prophet, or Teacher: This official name given to Jesus and the Church implies that they will teach mankind the way of Salvation. Jesus is called the Prophet, or Teacher, in connection with the Times of Restitution, when the non-elect dead will come forth for an opportunity of salvation (Acts 3: 22, 23, 21) (John 1: 9). The Church is also spoken of as teaching the world in the Millennial Age (Isaiah 60: 1-5, 14, 15) (Isaiah 2: 2, 3) (Isaiah 62: 1, 2, 10, etc.).

Father and Mother: These names are given to Christ and the Church with respect to the non-elect of mankind who will become their children during the Millennial Age. Jesus is called the Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9: 6) in view of His giving the obedient of the race everlasting life in the next Age. His name, Second Adam (1 Corinthians 15: 45), pictures Him as taking Adam’s place and becoming the second Father of the race by regenerating it in righteousness and life. The faithful Church is spoken of as the Bride, the Lamb’s wife (Revelation 19: 7-9) (Revelation 21: 9, 10). The Church is also set forth as the Second Eve (2 Corinthians 11: 2, 3) (Ephesians 5: 31, 32). As the Mother of the race, she will nurse, care for, love and comfort Her children. 

First-Fruits: Jesus is called the First-fruits (1 Corinthians 15: 20). The Church is also with Him called the First-fruits (Romans 8: 23) (James 1: 18) (Revelation 14: 4). First-fruits imply after-fruits – the obedient of the world of mankind during the Millennial Age will be the after-fruits.

The Seed of Abraham: This official name of Jesus and the Church is spoken of as the blesser of all the families, nations and kindreds of the earth (Genesis 22: 18) (Genesis 28: 14) (Acts 3: 25). Jesus and the Church are this Seed (Galatians 3: 16, 29) (Romans 9: 7, 8) (Galatians 4: 28). Since most of the race died under the Adamic curse, and therefore departed this life unblessed, they must be awakened from the dead in order to receive the blessing promised in the Oath-bound Covenant, which consists of three features: (1) that there would be a Seed of Abraham; (2) that this Seed would do a work of blessing; and (3) that this work of blessing would extend to all the non-elect, dead or living.

Every Part of an Opportunity for All

(9.) Everyone who has ever lived is guaranteed the seven things that grant an opportunity to obtain salvation. They include:

Removal of the Adamic Sentence: All will be freed from the Adamic sentence, implying that all will be awakened from the dead, for the Adamic sentence is death (Romans 5: 12) (1 Corinthians 15: 21, 22); therefore, to free them from the death sentence implies their being brought out of death, no longer under the Adamic condemnation. Christ’s death is the basis upon which all will be saved (freed) from the Adamic sentence (Romans 5: 18, 19); although this does not imply eternal salvation, which can only be gained by faithfulness. Only the Gospel Age Elect have been delivered from the Adamic sentence, meaning that all others will be delivered from it in the Millennial Age.

Knowledge of Divine Truth: All will be given a knowledge of the Truth, for ignorance cannot save anyone (Acts 4: 12) (Acts 11: 14). Those who have not gained a knowledge of the Truth for salvation in this life will obtain it later, during the Millennial Age (Isaiah 11: 9) (Habakkuk 2: 14). Now darkness (error) covers the earth (Isaiah 60: 2) (2 Corinthians 4: 4).

Conditions Conducive to Righteousness and Inconducive to Sin: Messiah’s reign will create and enforce conditions conducive to righteousness and inconducive to sin – reformation and everlasting life will be possible to even the weakest and most degraded:

• The curse will be removed from the earth (Isaiah 61: 4), and the earth will become Paradise Restored (Ezekiel 36: 35).
• Satan and his fallen angels will be restrained and unable to mislead the people (Revelation 20: 1-3), and Christ and the Church will have control for their good (Psalm 72: 8).
• Error and sin will be destroyed (Isaiah 25: 7), and truth and righteousness will prevail (Isaiah 11: 9).
• The Adamic sentence will be removed from man (Romans 5: 19), and the opportunity of gaining restitution will be given (Acts 3: 19-21).
• Sorrow and sighing will flee away, and joy and gladness will take their place (Isaiah 35: 10).
• War and strife shall cease (Isaiah 2: 4), and peace and good-will will take their place (Isaiah 9: 7).
• People will no more be persecuted and injured for righteousness (Isaiah 25: 8), but they will greatly prosper for righteousness (Psalm 72: 7).
• The wicked will be punished for wrong (Psalm 37: 35, 36), and will be striped for their reformation (Isaiah 26: 9).
• False religious systems will be destroyed (Isaiah 65: 15), and the one true religion will be embraced by all (Isaiah 60: 14, 15).
• Oppressive governments will be destroyed (Isaiah 60: 12), and the fostering government of Jesus and the Church will be in control (Psalm 72: 12-14).
• People will no more lose their homes, nor have to rent other people’s property (Isaiah 65: 22), but each will enjoy his own property unmolested (Micah 4: 4).
• They will no more engage in unproductive labor (Isaiah 65: 23), but will greatly prosper in their undertakings (Isaiah 60: 17).

A Favorable Influence toward Christ: All who were not favorably influenced toward Christ in this life will be so influenced in the next life. Jesus says (John 12: 32), “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” In the next verse St. John explains this expression as referring to Jesus’ Ransom-sacrificial death and His Millennial Reign, by which He will glorify God. Comparatively few have been drawn to Christ in this life (John 6: 44) (Matthew 7: 14), therefore, all who were not drawn (favorably influenced) to Him must be drawn to Him after this life.

Submission to, and Acknowledgment of Christ: All will yield submission to Jesus and acknowledge His right to reign over them (Philippians 2: 10, 11) (Isaiah 45: 23) (Psalm 22: 29) (Romans 14: 9). All have not submitted to Him, nor have all recognized His right to reign over them in this life, therefore, this must occur in the next life. Philippians 2: 10 shows that this includes the dead by the expression “under the earth,” and Psalm 22: 29 and Romans 14: 9 directly state it of them.

Offer of Consecration: The opportunity of consecration to the Lord will be given to everybody on earth during the Millennial Age, including those who will then be brought back from the dead. Isaiah 35: 8 teaches the opening of the Highway of Holiness for the unclean (Adam’s sin-defiled race), who, however, must cleanse themselves if they would pass over its full length. A highway, in contrast with a narrow way (a private lane), is a public road thrown open to everybody. On the Highway everything will be made so plain and clear that the most simple shall not err therein.

Offer of the Holy Spirit: The offer of the holy spirit will be open to everyone. Joel 2: 28, 29 gives the fulfillment of this promise in reverse time order. Verse 29 says that God would pour out His spirit for His servants and handmaids (the Elect), something that He has been doing during the Gospel Age, “in those days”; and in verse 28 He tells us that “after those days,” after the Gospel Age, therefore during the Millennial Age, He would pour out His spirit “for all flesh.” Hence those for whom it was not poured out in this life will have it poured out for them in the next life; and those that obey will receive it (Acts 5: 32), and if they continue to obey, will by it be lifted up to perfection.

Curse to be removed gradually

(10.) The Bible teaches that during the Millennial Age, the curse that Adam brought upon the human family will be gradually removed, requiring the entire thousand years for its completion. Revelation 21: 3-5 proves that this will come to pass through the presence of God’s Tabernacle (Christ and the Church – (1 Corinthians 3: 17) (Ephesians 2: 19-22) on earth among men. Revelation 22: 1-3 proves this through the presence among men of the Throne of God and of the Lamb (God’s Royal authority exercised by Jesus and the Church), the River of Life (God’s pure Word), and the Tree of Life (Jesus and the Church). 1 Corinthians 15: 24-26 shows that the Kingly power of Christ during His reign will eradicate every effect of Satan’s usurpatory rule and activity among men, chief among which are sin, death and the grave. 1 Corinthians 15: 54-57 shows that the Church will share with Jesus in achieving this victory over sin, death and the grave on behalf of the race. Finally, Hosea 13: 14 shows that it will all flow from the Ransom-sacrifice of Christ.

These twelve studies have examined, from the Scriptures, the difference between mortal and immortal beings, the true wages of sin, what the soul is, where the dead are, the two hells, Satan and his empire, the fallen angels and the dangers they pose, the resurrection of the dead and the hope for the unsaved dead.  

Glory be to God for such a glorious prospect! He thus becomes loved by us with “love Divine all love excelling,” and with “joy of heaven to earth come down.” Let us worship, praise and adore Him, all whose works praise [reflect credit upon] Him. “Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy righteous acts [American Revised Version] are made manifest” (Revelation 15: 3, 4).

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