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After having studied the WT lesson yesterday, Sunday, March 26, several questions arose in my mind.If the price of the ransom sacrifice of Jesus blood 'bought' the anointed, both in the initial sealing in 33 C.E. and now in the final sealing, then what 'price' is paid for the great crowd, who are also Christians? Are we 'grandfathered' in? Is our salvation through 'association' with the remnant?
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| Jesus’ sacrificial death bought all of Adam’s dying children. In a sense, Christ became the father of the human race by virtue of his purchase. He is the new Adam and empowered to give life to all of his offspring, provided that they have faith in him and obey him as Lord. The vast majority of Adam’s offspring will be resurrected onto earth after the war of Armageddon sweeps this present evil system into oblivion. Their future life prospects will be determined by their course of life after their resurrection. However, Revelation reveals that a “great crowd” of people will survive Armageddon due to their washing their robes in the blood of the Lamb – meaning, of course, that they are counted worthy of salvation because of having faith in Christ and acting upon that faith. As the study article brought out, though, there are two aspects to the ransom. It is Jehovah’s purpose to gather both a heavenly and earthly group. Since the ransom price that Christ paid bought the entire human race from sin and death, Jehovah also wills that a chosen few from among mankind should become spiritual sons in order to rule with Christ in heaven. In their case the ransom is applied in a different manner. Whereas, the surviving great crowd is considered righteous, they are not “declared righteous.” What's the difference? Being “declared righteous” means that God judges them to be sinless. God applies Christ’s sacrifice to them in a way that allows God to credit them with perfection – even though they are sinful. Being declared sinless allows God to transform sinful humans into immortal spirits upon their resurrection. On a side note: The reason Jehovah made the provision for a select few of mankind to become a new creation of incorruptible and immortal spirit beings is undoubtedly for the purpose of providing an unequivocal answer to the charge that Satan brought against Jehovah in Eden; namely, that God was selfish and would not allow any creature to be like him. The fact that God bestows immortality upon the 144,000 of the new creation means that they become as much like God as is possible. Essentially, the new creation is unanswerable to God but completely devoted to him. Christ’s ransom makes that possible in their case. So, while the salvation of the great crowd comes about because of their faith in Christ too, it is God’s purpose to use the anointed as ministers to his other sheep. |
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Does the great crowd experience two 'tests'? The first 'test' is surviving the G.T. and Armageddon and the second 'test' is at the end of the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ. Why? |
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| Yes. There are two tests. The reason that is so is because at the end of the 1,000 year reign all traces of Adam’s sin will have been removed. Both the great crowd and the multitudes of resurrected persons, plus any children born during the millennium, will have been rehabilitated to the point of becoming sinless. They will attain to the human perfection that Adam and Eve briefly enjoyed. However, in regards to the “things in the heavens” – the 144,000 kings and priests – Revelation 20:6 says that the second death has no authority over those who are privileged to experience “the first resurrection.” “The rest of the dead,” referred to in the previous verse, is in reference to those resurrected onto earth during Christ’s reign. But even though they “come to life” at the end of the 1,000 years in the sense of coming out from under the condemnation of death due to Adam's sin, they are still subject to the second death. The second death is the penalty for willful sin – such as Adam and Eve committed. Just as God tested Adam and Eve by prohibiting them from eating of a certain tree, so too, at the end of the 1,000 year reign, Satan is let loose from his dungeon for a brief period in order to test mankind in their perfect state. Those who fail that test experience the second death, which is permanent death from which there is no resurrection. |
