God knew before man’s creation—
That Man Would Need Redemption

"…you have been ransomed…with the precious blood of Christ…foreknown before the foundation of the world." 1 Peter 1:18-20 (ISV)

What are the implications of this scripture? To understand death and redemption in God’s plan for humankind, we must go back to Eden. God "created man [Adam] in his image." Genesis 1:27. Like his creator, Man was intelligent. He possessed moral discernment and had free will to choose between right and wrong. God warned Adam in Genesis 2:17 that if he obeyed God’s law, he would live—but if he disobeyed, he would die. The Hebrew text says, "dying thou shalt die." Death would be a process of sickness, suffering and finally death itself. Remember 1 Peter 1:18-20, God in his foreknowledge knew Adam would disobey and need a redeemer.

Adam, with the human race yet within his loins, by his own free will chose to disobey so he suffered the death process. Consequently, the Psalmist said all of Adam’s posterity were born in sin worthy of death. Psalm 51:5. Thus, we read in 1 Corinthians 15:22, "As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive."

But God knows the end from the beginning. God knew Adam would sin, and therefore need a redeemer. Thus, 1 Peter 1:18-20 speaks of our being redeemed with the blood of Christ "before the foundation of the world." Yes, God in his foreknowledge knew Adam would sin, so he planned humankind’s redemption through Jesus’ death long before the foundation of the earth.

An interesting side point—the Whirlpool galaxy is light years older than planet earth. NASA took a picture down its black hole. The Wikipedia, Encyclopedia called the picture "The cross within the nucleus" formulated by "two dust rings circling the nucleus." Many Christians view this picture as a man on a cross and feel it is a scientific confirmation of 1 Peter 1:18-20.

Why Did Adam Disobey God?

Parents who have a wood-burning stove worry that their baby crawling on the floor might touch the hot stove. So they warn the baby, "The stove is hot…you’ll be burned…it will hurt." Hot, burned, pain, hurt—these are theoretic words that the baby never experienced. The parent might lightly and quickly touch the baby’s fingers on a less heated part of the stove. Why? To give the baby a controlled experience with the consequences of heat.

God told Adam, "Dying thou shalt die"—a process of sickness, suffering, and death. These were theoretic words never observed or experienced by Adam, so Adam disobeyed and died. All his children (mankind) were born in sin and consequently also disobeyed, suffered and died because of Adam’s disobedience.

Remember how the baby was given a controlled experience with the consequences of heat? So God is giving man a controlled experience with the consequences of evil. All mankind is learning the consequences of sin. Thus we read in Ecclesiastes 1:13 and 3:10 of the "travail" God gave to man to be exercised thereby.

How Comprehensive Is Redemption Through Christ’s Death?

Hebrews 2:9 states that "by the grace of God he [Jesus] should taste of death" not for some or just a few but, "for every man."(ASV) 1 Timothy 2:3-6 states: "God…will have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." (In the Greek it is "epignosis" or "accurate knowledge" of the truth.) Apostle Paul did not mean that all men will be saved eternally, but all men will be saved from Adamic death. That is, they will come forth from the grave and receive an "accurate knowledge of the truth."

Paul continues, "For there is…one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all." The Greek word here translated ransom means "corresponding price." Yes, Jesus was a corresponding price. As a perfect man he corresponded to the perfect man Adam. Therefore, he died to ransom all who were lost in Adam. "As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive."

Now we come to John 5:28-29 that in the Greek text is one of the most thrilling and most enlightening scriptures describing the climax of God’s plan for mankind. The ASV agrees with most translations.

John 5:28-29:

"Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. [Greek krisis]."

Notice, all who are in their graves shall hear Jesus voice and come forth. Then the "all" class is divided into two parts. "They that have done good" shall come forth to "a resurrection of life." This refers to those Jesus spoke of as a "little flock" and the Apostle Paul identified as the "Church of Christ." Revelation 20:4 (ISV) projects fast-forward and says, "They came back to life and ruled with Christ for a 1,000 years."

The "evil" class, the vast majority, is also resurrected. But the King James Version unfortunately says to "damnation." What a Satanic distortion! Most translations say to "a resurrection of judgment." The Greek word used here for "judgment" is "krisis." And "krisis" has been incorporated into most languages of the world.

The Chinese do not have an alphabet, but they use symbols to describe words. Two symbols define "krisis." One symbol denotes danger and the other denotes opportunity. A doctor might be examining a patient and he says the patient will reach his crisis tomorrow morning. It doesn’t mean tomorrow morning the patient will definitely get better or the patient will definitely die. But that will be the crisis time, the turning time, when the patient will turn for the better or turn for the worse and die.

How can we be certain that the Biblical meaning of krisis refers to a decision following a future trial for life and not a decision concerning man’s past life before he died. This crucial question will determine the eternal destiny of tens of millions of humankind.

The Bible Answer

The answer is found in Matthew 10:15 where Jesus said, "…it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment [Greek, krisis], than for that city [in Israel that rejected the message about Jesus]." Note this well: Sodom and Gomorrah were the two most wicked cities in history. But Jesus said it would be tolerable for these two wicked cities in the day of judgment/Greek, krisis.

This is startling! God had already totally destroyed these two cities for their wickedness. Yet, they will have a future trial for life in the Day of Judgment. A krisis-time or trial in which the verdict will be tolerable. How tolerable?

In Ezekiel 16:48, the Lord tells Israel, "…your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you [Israel] and your daughters have done." (ESV) The sins of Israel, though not as vile as Sodom’s, were more serious because Israel rejected Jesus. Therefore, Israel was more responsible than Sodom. Verse 59 reveals God punished Israel severely. But forget Dark Age theology. Israel will get a future opportunity when they recognize their sin of rejecting Jesus and "mourn for him"… "whom they have pierced." Zechariah 12:10.

Consequently, God says in Ezekiel 16:60-62 [ESV]:

"Yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed [that you killed Jesus] when you take your sisters, both your elder and your younger [Gentile nations], and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the [Old] Covenant with you. I will establish my [New] Covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD." See also Jeremiah 31:31.

In the Day of Judgment, Israel will receive the Gentile Nations as her "daughters" to nurture them. This is devastating to Dark Age theology that lingers to our day. The Jews who rejected Jesus will on the Day of Judgment (Matthew 10:15) be raised from the dead. Then Ezekiel 16 shows that both evil Israel and the other evil nations of Ezekiel 16, along with Sodom will also come forth from the dead on the Day of Judgment and have a further opportunity for salvation. Therefore, in "the day of judgment/krisis," the verdict will not be solely based on past actions of mankind in this life, but on a future trial.

How Marvelous and Merciful is Our God!

When evil Israel and the evil nations of Ezekiel 16 come forth from the dead, they actually will be a part of the "evil" class of John 5:28, 29 that we saw earlier "will come forth in the "resurrection of judgment/krisis" time-period.

Therefore, the "day of judgmen/krisis" in Matthew 10:15, when it will be more tolerable for Sodom, is the same time-period as the "resurrection of judgment/krisis" in John 5:28,29. This will be the Bible Day of Judgment. Shorn of Dark-Age theology, it will be a favorable time.

The "Good" Class of John 5

The "good" class of John 5 referred to by Jesus as a "little flock" and by Paul as the "church of God," as we already saw, are spoken of in Revelation 20:4 as coming to life to be kings and priests with Christ for a 1,000 years. What was the function of a priest in ancient Israel? Priests instructed and counseled the people. Hebrews 4:15 and 5:2 speaks of the priests as being touched with the infirmities of the people and having compassion on the "ignorant" (those who do not know better) and those that are out of the way, that is, in the Greek, "those who are disobedient."

There is a true story about a missionary in the 17th century that illustrates the principle of the work of the Church of Christ when they are reigning with Jesus as priests. He went to a leper colony on an island to counsel, encourage and give spiritual direction to the lepers. He wrote letters back to his family, "I am the loneliest man on the earth. These lepers won’t have anything to do with me." They say, "How can you help us? How can you understand the drives and mental anguish we are going through because of leprosy? You’re not a leper. You can’t understand us."

The missionary was boiling a cauldron of water and accidentally spilled some on his leg. He was dumbfounded. Boiling hot water, and he didn’t feel any pain! Then a surge of joy came into his heart. He was a leper! He ran to the village center and rang the village bell. When that bell rang, all the lepers of the colony were to come as soon as possible. Some came running in, some walking, some crawling on all fours and some crawling on all threes. As they gathered around, he jumped on a rock, stretched out his arms and cried out, "Fellow lepers, fellow lepers!" He was now one of them. He could understand them.

When the "evil" class of John 5 comes forth from the grave to their "crisis" time during the Day of Judgment, the Church of Christ will be living and reigning with Jesus as priests and kings. They will symbolically stretch out their arms and say, fellow sinners, fellow sinners, we were once sinners just like you.

The "evil" class of John 5, the vast majority of mankind, will have confidence that the members of the Church of Christ as their priests and counselors will understand their past sinful way of life and will nurture them and instruct them. Those of mankind who submit fully will be brought up the "Highway of Holiness" (Isaiah 35:8) to perfect life. They will have passed their krisis trial and will receive eternal life. Those who fail in this favorable krisis trial will go into "second death." Revelation 21:8.

The Bible’s Day of Judgment is not the Dark Ages doomsday teaching in which billions down through history, who have never even had the opportunity to hear the name of Jesus, will all be dammed. The Day of Judgment is a 1,000-year period of time (2 Peter 3:8) in which the Church of Christ will reign with Jesus as priests teaching and counseling the remainder of mankind. "…the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea." Isaiah 11:9. The desert shall "blossom as the rose." Isaiah 35:1. The earth will be an Edenic paradise.

Many have a wife, husband or children who never accepted Jesus. Like the Sodomites they will have an opportune krisis trial in this favorable Day of Judgment described above.

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