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Church of the first born

      4.God, the judge of all

      5.The spirits of just men made perfect

      6.Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant

      Most would believe that the general assembly and Church of the firstborn will be in heaven, but who is meant by ‘the spirits of just men made perfect’ who are listed separately from the general assembly and Church of the firstborn? These, I would argue, are the rest of mankind who will be gathered into Christ in the fullness of time, who are not yet believers but will one day bow the knee and confess Jesus is Lord.

      Notice they are ‘spirits’ and ‘just men’. A just man is one who is justified by faith and they have been ‘made perfect’, which means that God has baptised them in the lake of fire in order to purify them, but they are clearly not part of the church.

      We’ve seen already that the apostle Peter believed in the restoration of all things as he proclaimed in Acts 3 v 21, but in his first epistle he gives an amazing revelation, which is that there is an opportunity for salvation after the death of the body. In 1 Peter Chapter 3, he writes:

       ‘For Christ also suffered once for all sins, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the spirit by which he went and preached to the spirits in prison who formerly were disobedient when once the divine long suffering waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was being prepared, in which, a few, that is eight souls were saved through water.’

      (1 Peter 3 v 18-20)

      Here we see that human beings while alive on earth are called ‘souls’, yet after the death of the body are called ‘Spirits’, and Peter calls them ‘the spirits in prison’.

      I will be going into this in much more detail in another chapter, but Jesus describes Sheol/Hades, the place that unbelievers go after they’ve died, as a prison (Math 5 v 25) and it says here that Jesus goes and preaches to them, so what does he preach?

      The answer is found in the next chapter:

       ‘For this reason the Gospel was preached also to those who are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.’

      (1 Peter 4 v 6)

      To show that these people were actually dead when they had the Gospel preached to them, I quote the Living Bible version of this verse:

       ‘That is why the good news was preached even to those who were dead, killed by the flood, so that although their bodies were punished with death they could still live in their spirits as God lives.’

      (1 Peter 4 v 6, Living Bible)

      Notice these are human beings killed by the flood who are called ‘spirits’ after they died and could still live as God lives as a spirit.

      Please do not let anyone tell you that the Bible never calls humans ‘spirits’. As we saw in Hebrews 12, humans in heaven are called:

       ‘The spirits of just men made perfect’

      (Heb 12 v 33)

      And God is described in Numbers:

       ‘Oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh.’

      (Num 16 v 22)

      In 2 Peter 3, he writes:

       ‘The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.’

      (2 Peter 3 v 9)

      Again, Peter says that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

      If all do not come to repentance then God’s will will not be done.

      I don’t know why Christians pray the Lord’s Prayer every week when they say:

       ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

      (Math 6 v 10)

      when they don’t actually believe that God’s will shall be done.

      We now come onto the letters of John, and his writings in the book of revelation.

      In his first letter, he emphasised the universal aspect of Christ’s atonement.

       ‘And he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world.’

      (1 John 2 v 2)

      This verse shows the universal aspect of the death of Christ, that he not only died for believers sins but also for the sins of the whole world. The word ‘world’ here is much broader than just human beings because the word ‘world’ also means ‘the cosmos’, covering all beings in heaven as well as on the earth.

       ‘And by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of the cross.’

      (Col 1 v 20)

      In Revelation 5, John writes:

       ‘And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying ‘blessing and glory and honour and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever!’

      (Rev 5 v 13)

      Here John sees a time when ‘every creature’ worships God. The fact that he mentions those in heaven, on earth and under the earth shows that ‘all angels’ (including Satan himself), all humans, and every demon will one day worship God and the lamb for who they are and for being the saviour of the world.

      He asks:

       ‘Who shall not fear you oh Lord and glorify your name for you alone are holy for all nations shall come and worship before you for your judgements have been manifested.’

      (Rev 15 v 4)

      The answer is ‘all nations’. This reiterates the original gospel given to Abraham:

       ‘And in thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.’

      (Gen 28 v 14)

      Rev 19 shows that not only will the Church be saved, but also those outside the Church as well.

      We read this:

       ‘For the Lord God omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready.’

      (Rev 19 v 6-7)

      We know from other scriptures that the wife of the lamb is the Church, but then John goes on:

       ‘Then he said to me ‘write blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the lamb.’

      (Rev 19 v 9)

      Now these are the guests, not the bride. When the Church marries Christ there are going to be guests who are not part of the bride - who are these?

      This is ‘the rest of mankind’ mentioned in Acts 15 who will also be in heaven with Christ and his bride and ‘the spirits of just men made perfect’ of Hebrews 12, who are not part of ‘the church of the firstborn’.

      In Revelation 21, we get a description of the new heaven and new earth and the heavenly Jerusalem, and John writes:

       ‘And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying ‘behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, there

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