The Gospel of The Restoration of All Things. Tim Hodge

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ 8 v 10)

      The power of death was in Adam’s body and as a dead man walking he was already cut off from God because God is a spirit (John 4 v 24).

      So why does God say to Adam that on the day he eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he will die? Because on that day the process of physical death began in his body with the result that 930 years later his death was complete and he returned back to being a spirit again.

      But the reason he disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit was because he was already fallen and was already dead spiritually from the moment he entered into a physical body.

      So each one of us died spiritually when we first entered into a physical body and shared in the fall of Adam and developed a sinful (or carnal) nature which is one with the body on the very day we entered into our mother’s womb.

      The second death, which is described in Revelation chapter 20, undoes the work of the first death and frees each person from the body of death and the carnal nature and purifies them to return to the kingdom of the spirit.

       ‘We shall be saved as one passing through the flames.’

      (1 Cor 3 v 15 NIV)

      But neither the first death nor the second death are permanent because the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

      Once the second death has done its work, it is no longer needed.

      Many Evangelicals teach that the second death is to be tormented forever in hell fire and they say that this is permanent. If that is true, then death is eternal, but the Bible clearly teaches that death is destroyed.

       ‘The last enemy to be destroyed is death’

      (1 Cor 15 v 26)

       ‘He will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces’

      (Isaiah 25 v 8)

       ‘There shall be no more death nor sorrow, nor crying’

      (Rev 21 v 4)

      The only way that death can be destroyed is if all are brought to newness of life and this is what will happen when all are made alive in Christ. And Paul concludes the 1 Cor 15 passage by saying that:

       ‘God may be all in all’

      (1 Cor 15 v 28)

      Not ‘all in some’ that Evangelicals would have us believe.

      It is important, at this stage, to point out that some Calvinist Christians make a distinction between different uses of the word ‘all’.

      They say that there is a difference between ‘all without distinction’ and ‘all without exception’. They would say that when the Bible says that Christ died for all, it means ‘all without distinction’, meaning ‘all kinds of people’, not just Jews but Gentiles as well, but that does not mean ‘all without exception’, meaning every single individual.

      So they would say ‘all mankind’ means some French, some British, some Russians and so on, but not every individual in those nations, as with the phrase ‘all nations’.

      The problem with this view is that there are many passages in scripture where the word ‘all’ is used, and even the Calvinists agree that the word ‘all’ in one part of the verse means ‘all without exception’ meaning every individual, it’s very rare in scripture for a word to change its meaning in the middle of a verse.

      For example, the passage we’ve just been looking at says:

       ‘As in Adam all die.’

      Does that mean ‘all without exception’ or ‘all without distinction’?

      Does Paul mean that ‘some of mankind’ have died in Adam or every single individual? Even Calvinists believe that every individual died in Adam.

      So clearly ‘all’ here means ‘all without exception’ so ‘in Christ shall all be made alive’ also means ‘all without exception’.

      Paul does not mean:

       ‘As in Adam all die even so in Christ shall some be made alive.’

      All means all, and God being ‘all in all’ means all will be saved.

      In Isaiah 53 v 6, it says:

       ‘All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’

      (Isaiah 53 v 6)

      Here again, the word all is used twice. Does ‘all we like sheep have gone astray’ mean ‘all without exception’ or ‘all without distinction’?

      Does Isaiah mean some of us have gone astray or every single individual of mankind?

      Similarly:

       ‘The Lord has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.’

      Also means the same as at the beginning of the verse: ‘all without exception.’

      To show that the second part of the verse applies to all without exception, meaning every individual of mankind, including all unbelievers, let us look at 2 Cor 5 v 19:

       ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not counting their sins against them and has committed to us the message of reconciliation.’

      (2 Cor 5 v 19 NIV)

      Notice the difference between ‘them’ and ‘us’. ‘Not counting their sins against them’ meaning non-Christians because he calls Christians ‘us’ to whom is committed the message of reconciliation.

      In the King James Version it says that ‘God is not imputing their trespasses to them’ and why not? Because in 1 John 2 v 2 it says that:

       ‘Christ is the propitiation for our sins (Christian’s sins) and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.’

      (1 John 2 v 2)

      So whenever the word ‘all’ is used and means ‘all without exception’ if the word is repeated in the same passage or verse it still means all without exception, so:

      ‘As in Adam all die (means every single individual) even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ (Also means every single individual.)

      Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians about the resurrection of the dead, that the body is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption, it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory, it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body and this is the destiny of all who die in Adam, when they are made alive in Christ!

      In Ephesians chapter 1, Paul describes the blessedness of being ‘in Christ’ and from verse 3 to verse 9 he talks about those in the church and all the blessings СКАЧАТЬ