Major Turning Points in God’s Master Plan of Salvation

NOTE: All comments in brackets [ ] or in parentheses ( ) as well as highlighted text (bolded and/or in blue) are from the author of this study.
Bible quotations are in maroon.

All throughout the working out of God’s plan of salvation for mankind there are major events that make a break with the past and create a fresh, new environment that continues until the time comes for another break to be created between an existing civilization and a new one which is to follow it.

Among the major turning points leading to the establishment of God’s kingdom are the following:

The Deluge
Christ’s First Coming and the foundation of God’s New Testament Church
The Day of the Lord
Christ’s Second Coming
The Battle of Armageddon
The making of the New Covenant with end-time Israel or the foundation of God’s Millennial and Last Great Day Church
The destruction of physical Gog and Magog at the beginning of the Millennium
The destruction of spiritual Gog and Magog shortly after the end of the Millennium
The Third resurrection
The creation of a new heaven and of a new earth

I would like to demonstrate to the extent possible how major crises, a few of which have worldwide impacts, serve to create a break and a transition point from one phase of God’s plan to another and which generally, has for effect of changing conditions to be more favorable for those who are to live through the following phase by eliminating many of the bad elements and individuals existing at the end of the preceding phase. This is to allow the next phase to start off without the influence of the accumulated evil that existed at the close of the previous phase. In other words, at major turning points in God’s plan of salvation, God clears the table of bad elements and provides a sanitized social environment so-to-speak for those who are to live through the next phase of God’s plan of salvation.

As you will come to realize as you read through this study the plagues and catastrophes that come upon mankind and the earth are for a purpose related to salvation but are not in any way the means used by God to bring men to repentance as is commonly believed. Plagues and catastrophes are used by God to mark a major turning point and to make a break from the past that will provide a new social environment that will make it easier for those who are to be called to follow their calling if they choose to do so. Plagues and catastrophes are not used by God to force men, shock them , brutalize them or scare them into conversion as is thought by many but to provide a fresh social environment where it will be easier for men to follow their calling when God calls them through His Holy Spirit opening their minds to His spiritual truth.

The Deluge

After the banishment of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and the cutting off of mankind from God’s Holy Spirit there developed a human civilization which over time became so wicked that God became disappointed with mankind He had created and He decided to bring an end to His creation except for Noah and his family because the thoughts of men were evil continually. He decided to start over with Noah’s family and their descendants.

He drowned the whole of humanity in a great flood and made changes to the longevity of man as the longer he lived the more wicked he seemed to become. Man’s lifespan was limited to 120 years.

A clean break was created between the first 1,000 years of mankind’s existence and the civilization that developed over that time period. Noah and his physical descendants would be in a fresh material and social environment not influenced by nor surrounded by the evil practices and thoughts that had come to dominate the first 1,000 years of man’s existence.

Christ’s First Coming — Foundation of New Testament Church

Christ’s First Coming is one of the most momentous event in the history of mankind. Christ came to be the perfect sacrifice for sin and to train specially called disciples who were to be the foundation of God’s New Testament Church. God’s Church is an integral, essential and critical component of God’s master plan of salvation for mankind so much so that He sent the Logos as a man to teach those that would become the founding members of His Church which is to endure until the end of mankind. Christ said the gates of hell would never prevail against it (Matt 16:18); as long as there are men, God’s Church will be in existence.

Mat 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

God’s Church has existed without interruption since the day of Pentecost, is presently in existence and will exist during the Millennium and the Last Great Day (Matt 16:18) fulfilling its commission (see Eph 4:11-13 quoted below).

Christ during the time He spent on the earth as a flesh-and-blood man who was also fully God, introduced new knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures. The Jews to which He came needed to significantly change their thinking if they were to understand what He said. They had to become new wineskins (Matt 9:17) to be able to understand essential and critical new information about how God is effectively working out His great master plan of salvation. Contrarily to what they thought salvation was not just for Israel but also for the Gentiles.

Individuals from all over the world would now be able to become Israelites as Israel from now on would be a spiritual organism made up of individuals who have been called and chosen by God irrespective of their national origin,

Rom 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:

Rom 2:25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
Rom 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? [Keeping the law; obeying God is what matters not being circumcised.]
Rom 2:27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Circumcision would no longer be in the flesh but it would be of the heart (mind) i.e., being circumcised is not what is important or of significance; obeying God is what matters and is what has always mattered.

There are many other beliefs that the Jews and Old Testament Israel had which would not be requirements in New Testament times and as a long term member of God’s Church you should already know them very well. I cannot list them all here as to do so goes beyond the scope of this study and would make it overly long.

The New Testament nation of Israel would not be a physical nation but a spiritual nation made up of those who obey God whether Jews or Gentiles. Spiritual Israel would include believers who obey God from all nations.

Christ’s First Coming is the time when God’s plan of salvation for mankind was made sure by Christ being the perfect sacrifice for sin and the time of the creation of God’s New Testament Spirit-begotten church which is to be God’s instrument in teaching new converts from all nations.

Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

The Day of the Lord

The Day of the Lord is a period of time where God will intervene in the affairs of mankind; an intervention that will greatly disrupt the civilization men have built since the time of the great flood. At that time, only Noah and his family were saved; during the Day of the Lord more people will survive than during the deluge but it will be the greatest time of trouble to come upon the world to that time and which shall never be again (Matt 24:21). A very considerable number of individuals will die and there will be massive destruction of the environment and of the nations of the world.

Isa 13:11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
Isa 13:12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. [Men will be more precious than gold because there will be so few of them left alive.]
Isa 13:13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

This is one of many Scriptures where it is made clear that the Day of the Lord is God’s great anger and the time when the world will be punished for its evil.

Isa 13:4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. [God will use some of the great nations of the world as his instrument in punishing the modern end time nations constituting Israel.]
Isa 13:5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Isa 13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
Isa 13:7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:
Isa 13:8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
Isa 13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
Isa 13:10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

The Day of the Lord will result in massive loss of life and great material destruction all over the world. The 7 trumpet plagues and the 7 vial plagues will have caused considerable damage to the earth, nations will have suffered great losses of life and much material destruction and it will take some time for the environment and the nations to recover and return to their former states. It will be the time of the greatest loss of human and animal life, destruction of the natural environment and disruption of this world’s civilization that has ever occurred or will ever happen again since the great flood left only Noah and his family alive.

The 3 woes which are the 5th, 6th and 7th trumpets of the 7th seal include the exchange of nuclear bombs between the mighty nations remaining after the conquest of the modern-day nations constituting end-time Israel.

The Day of the Lord is one of several major turning point in the history of mankind as was the Deluge. God will punish the world and in the process considerably reduce the world’s population while allowing the survival of enough persons for civilization to again take root and for the nations to rebuild. God will change the nature of animals so that they are no longer harmful to humans and they will no longer be any carnivorous animals whose food are other animals; they will all eat straws like cattle and oxen. The destruction of the environment and to animal life that it enables will have been so great that God, in a way similar to what occurred after Satan’s rebellion against Him where he restored the surface of the earth, will have to restore the earth back to a state where it will again be able to support life.

This is how intense and worldwide will be the awesome destruction of animal and human life and of the environment that will occur during the Day of the Lord.

One last point of importance is that God is not trying by the death, destruction and misery to come to convert individuals or nations. The Day of the Lord has a similar purpose as the Deluge and as the extermination of spiritual Gog and Magog shortly after the end of the Millennium and that is, purging the earth of evil before the next phase of God’s plan of salvation begins.

For more detailed information on this topic please read the following study Why End-Time Plagues on the Unconverted Nations of the World and on Prophetic Israel?

The Battle of Armageddon

At Christ’s 2nd Coming there is a great battle that occurs on the plains of Esdraelon where the troops of the Beast power and the Russian-Chinese armies combine their efforts and march toward Jerusalem to destroy what they think is an invading alien from outer space but which in actuality is Christ’s Second Coming.

This battle constitutes the final destruction of the armies of the Beast and of the Russo-Chinese coalition. They had before on the European continent being engaged in war against each other for control of the world. The Beast in a nuclear attack had devastated Russia (the first woe) but Russia retaliated with a nuclear attack on the Beast which devastated the European continent (the 2nd woe). But the Europeans and the allied Russians and Chinese also had armies in the Middle East which were in their staging areas getting ready to attack each other to determine who would rule over the earth. Then before the battle begins, Christ’s 2nd coming occurs. Believing the earth is being invaded by space aliens, they combine their forces and head off in the direction of Jerusalem where they had seen the alien land with the intent of destroying it.

As they are making their way to Jerusalem in a long snaking column several miles long the head of the column comes to the valley of Jehoshaphat, the plains of Armageddon and from there the whole column is supernaturally destroyed by Christ leaving a trail of bloody and torn bodies several miles long and to the height of a horse’s bridle. The Millennium can then start off in relative peace with the main belligerent countries being greatly chastened by the destruction of their armies and in no condition to continue armed hostilities against anyone.

But as the nations and the world recover from the events of the Day of the Lord and the great destruction of property and loss of life that then occurred, certain nations of the world will rise up against Israel during the Millennium which has become a wealthy nation but which is without any visible army. It will look to be a quick and easy prey.

Restoration of End-Time Israel — the Making of the New Covenant

Another major turning point of the greatest importance is the 2nd exodus of the remnant of the physical nations constituting end-time Israel from their captivity among the gentile nations. This event occurs after Christ’s 2nd Coming and the immense destruction of cities and loss of life that occurred during the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord. Many are the Scriptures that describe Israel being freed from its end-time captivity, resettled in the Promised Land, becoming a rich and prospering nation and being feared by the nations of the world following the events of the battle of Armageddon and the destruction of the armies of Gog and Magog. This has all been described in detail in the following studies available on this site and which you can access by clicking on the following hyperlinks: Administration of God’s Plan of Salvation During the Millennium; Mass Conversion of the Nations during the Millennium?

At the time of Christ’s First Coming, He came among other things, to train the men that would be used as the foundation of God’s New Testament Spirit-begotten Church. This training involved their being taught truth what Paul calls the foundation in I Cor’ns 3: 10-11.

1Co 3:10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Paul though not one of the original apostles, was also personally trained by Christ.

Gal 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
Gal 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Gal 1:17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
Gal 1:18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.

At the time of His 2nd Coming, Christ is coming back to restore all things or as the Bible states it in Acts 3:21:

Act 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

In the end-time, during the Philadelphia Era of God’s Church, following the 1260 years of persecution against the true Church by the Great Whore of Revelation 17:1 who was given to wear out the saints, God sent one in the power and spirit of Elijah to restore all things to the Church.

Dan 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

Dan 7:24 And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

When Mr. Armstrong came in among the exhausted remain of the Sardis Era, he found that they had but a little of the truth given by Christ to the apostles; most of it had been lost through the centuries of persecution that came upon the true church which had to flee into the wilderness to escape being exterminated by the the Great Whore.

There was thus a need for one to come in the power and spirit of Elijah to restore all things i.e., the foundational truth given the true Church at its foundation.

After Christ’s 2nd Coming and the resurrection of God’s saints all that will be left on the earth will be individuals scattered all over the world who before Christ’s 2nd Coming had been called but had not yet been chosen. They have but a little of the truth restored to the Church as we had when we were called. There will again be a need to restore the Church’s foundational truth to those that are to become God’s Church during the Millennium and the Last Great Day. You will remember that Christ said the Church He founded would never die out as long as mankind existed and mankind will exist until the events of the third resurrection. After the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord there will be a need for the foundational truth of God’s Church to be restored by someone who has it. Also this work of restoration of God’s truth is part of the prophecy of Daniel 9:27 which is quoted below.

Dan 9:27 And he [Christ] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Christ is coming back a second time to complete His ministry with Israel that was interrupted after 3 1/2 years. The Scriptures say He is to confirm the covenant with many for one week; therefore there remains another 3 1/2 year period of ministry which Christ is to have with Israel for the prophecy of Dan 9:27 to be fulfilled.

If you have been reading through the studies on this sites as recommended, you already know and understand that Christ will confirm the covenant with the remnant of end-time Israel following its return from captivity among the Gentiles and make a new covenant with those who commit themselves to obey God to the best of their abilities in all things for the rest of their lives. Christ is coming back a 2nd time to among other things complete His ministry with Israel and make with Israel the New Covenant and, at the same time, making them God’s saints and God’s Church which God will use to teach those individuals from the nations that follow their conversion when God pours out of His Holy Spirit upon all flesh during the Millennium and the Last Great Day.

Remember that Israel was to fulfill a special commission which it has yet to accomplish.

Exo 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

This has already been all covered in detail in a study available on this site: Administration of God’s Plan of Salvation During the Millennium

At this juncture in God’s plan of salvation, we see God starting over with a fresh group of individuals who constitute Israel in the end-time. God’s First Century church and their spiritual descendants were transformed into glorified spirit beings at Christ’s 2nd Coming and have become the Bride of Christ. The original church is continued through a new group of individuals who while yet to be converted have lived through the prophesied Great Tribulation and the events of the Day of the Lord. After Christ’s 3 1/2 year ministry with the physical remnant of the nations constituting end-time Israel, the New Covenant will be made with those who become converted (not all of them will). They will become God’s saints who personally and through those who come to conversion during the Millennium as God pours out of His Spirit upon all flesh, will become God’s Church that will last until the time of the 3rd resurrection.

Physical Gog and Magog

The detail of the destruction of Gog and Magog is found in chapter 38 of the book of Ezekiel. Mr. Armstrong explains in lesson 3 of the 58 lesson Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course (ACBCC) that Gog and Magog are the modern-day nations of Russia and China. The destruction of their armies occurs at a time when Israel is prospering, living in unwalled villages and in safety. Israel returned from its 2nd captivity in the end-time and resettled in the Promised Land has no armies, no defenses and is rich from the spoils they took from their captors at the time of their release. They look to be an easy prey; however, the world does not realize at that point that God is Israel’s protector nor can they know it as it is spiritual knowledge inaccessible to them.

The armies of Gog and Magog come up against Israel and are supernaturally destroyed.

Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

Eze 38:22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

They turn their swords against each other, pestilence will be among them and God will send upon them an overflowing rain, great hailstones, fire and brimstone.

No one in Israel will have done anything to defend themselves; no weapons were raised, no barriers were erected, no cannons were fired, etc.

The nations of the world will have seen the destruction of the armies of Gog and Magog by some kind of unknown great power or secret weapon of mass destruction that Israel to their mind, seems to have at its disposal. The nations of the world will fear Israel. They will remember the battle of Armageddon and the destruction of Gog and Magog; this will make Israel a highly feared and respected nation around the world. The nations of the world will be compelled to attend the feast of tabernacles every year as a reminder of the power of Israel as they walk by the valley of Hamongog where the bones of Gog and Magog are buried and constitute a large mound. God through forcing representatives of the nations to attend the feast of tabernacles every year will constantly remind them of the fate of the powerful nations that came up against Israel. The nations as a result will no longer seek to war against each other as there is a superpower the like of which the world has never known, whose power they do not understand and that can suddenly completely destroy large armies. After the destruction of Gog and Magog no country will want to put Israel to the test fearing sudden destruction.

Eze 39:11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog.

Eze 39:15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any seeth a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.

The destruction of Gog and Magog will remove from the earth the last nations not chastened by the events of the Day of the Lord and by the destruction the armies marching against Jerusalem at the time of Christ’ 2nd Coming. There will then be peace around the world as no nation will dare attract the attention of Israel by engaging in war and see itself suddenly destroyed.

Spiritual Gog and Magog

After the end of the Millennium Satan is released for a short time from the bottomless pit and goes out to deceive the nations.

Rev 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Please note that the nations that are being deceived are in the four quarters of the earth which is simply another way of saying that Satan will again deceive the whole world as he had been doing before. The number of those who will be deceived are “as the sand of the sea,” in other words, a multitude of people from all over the world that is so great in number as to be like the sand of the sea. In other words, it will be a very great multitude of individuals from all over the world who after the end of the Millennium will be in an unconverted state.

What is it that Satan will deceive them about, what is Satan’s power to deceive and who are those that can be deceived by Satan?

The time of Satan’s release is right after or shortly after the end of the Millennium which is a time period where he had not been able to deceive the nations and during which God poured out of His Holy Spirit upon all flesh. It was taught by the ministry and commonly believed that during the Millennium the nations would convert but for a few stubborn individuals who would refuse to do so which would make for a wonderful world of peace, abundance, prosperity, safety and security the likes of which the world has never known.

If this is the case, who is that multitude who in number are as the sand of the sea, a multitude so vast as to be uncountable as is the sand of the sea and which Satan deceives once released from the bottomless pit? Is it that the day before the end of the Millennium just about everybody was converted and a few days after the end of the Millennium there is a vast multitude of individuals from all over the world which for some reason lose their conversion?

How do we know that this spiritual Gog and Magog is made up of unconverted individuals after the end of the Millennium? Fair question. Let’s have the Word give us the answer.

In Matthew 24:24 in a verse that should be very familiar to all of us we have Christ saying the following to the disciples.

Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Christ had been answering the disciples’ questions about the destruction of the Jerusalem temple and what shall be the sign of His 2nd Coming and of the end of the world.

Mat 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

There would be false prophets showing great signs and wonders before His 2nd Coming and these signs and wonders would be so impressive that, if it were possible to do so, these false Christs and false prophets would deceive even God’s elect.

God’s elect, those who have been given to know the truth (were called) and have chosen to obey God to the best of their abilities until the end of their natural lives (were chosen) cannot be deceived.

What is it that they cannot be deceived about? They cannot be deceived about what is the truth. They have been given to know it and no man can deceive them into believing that something else is the truth. Man was given absolute free moral agency which means that there is no power in heaven or on earth that can force him to believe something contrary to His will. If a converted Christian could lose the truth given him by God by being deceived by a superior power such as Satan or the craftiness of men, then it would not be possible for God to hold him responsible for having left the truth. A deceived man does not know he is deceived, otherwise he would not be deceived as self-evident as this may be. The world is not now judged as it is deceived and if it were possible for a truly converted Christian to be deceived by a superior power or men, then they also would not be under judgment.

God’s elect therefore cannot be deceived as it would be impossible for God to judge them.

So who is this great, vast, innumerable multitude that rises up against Jerusalem and Israel early on after the end of the Millennium if just about everyone had become converted in the preceding 1,000 years?

Who are those who today are deceived by Satan?

They are those who do not have God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in them. This is the general condition of the world today.

Who are those who are no longer deceived? They are those who have been called and chosen; God’s Holy Spirit then dwells in them.

And, how can they again become deceived?

By losing God’s Holy Spirit which happens when they freely and knowingly choose to no longer have God as the supreme authority in their lives. They then again become spiritually blind and under Satan’s deception.

What is it that Satan deceives them about?

Before their calling they were the supreme authority in their lives and they only reluctantly tolerated the authority of others over them in a limited number of circumstances. They had set themselves up as the highest authority in their lives and decided right and wrong for themselves; they were strongly defensive of their right to do so. Upon conversion they learn that they do not have the ability to correctly determine good and evil and that they must let God do it for them. They then know and must decide whether to accept that they must let God define right and wrong for them.

How does one get to again become blind to the truth since Christ said the elect could not be deceived?

Recall that God has given man absolute free moral agency; He commands man to choose and for him to be able to choose there can be no higher power (Satan included) that can force him to choose something against his will.

At the time of his calling, man has to choose to come under God’s authority but this is not a one time choice; it is a choice which has to continue to be made every day until the end of his natural life. This is what it means to endure in the faith. It is a constant struggle to stay on the strait and narrow way that leads to life; it is like running in a race which once we start off on it, we can never stop running and staying in the race requires constant effort.

The Bible is clear that there are some that will fall away from the truth. But how can turning away from the truth occur when the elect cannot be deceived.

Truly converted individuals leave the truth by knowingly choosing to do so; they do not leave it because of again having become deceived; it is a freely and knowingly taken choice to go back into the world. Once back into the world, the once truly converted individual becomes again deceived and cannot ever be brought back to the truth he once knew and accepted.

Why?

The truly converted Christian in time decided to again become the highest authority in his own life and to again decide for himself good and evil. In doing so, he cuts himself off from God’s Holy Spirit and becomes as blind as he was before being called.

Truly converted individuals lose their salvation by knowingly (they are not deceived) making the decision to again become the supreme authority in their own lives and rejecting God’s authority over them which was also basically Adam’s sin.

This is why God through Paul in Hebrews 6:4-6 gives Christians throughout the ages the following warning:

Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

So here we are, the Millennium has ended and the Last Great Day is about to start and the event that takes place is the attack of spiritual Gog and Magog on end-time Israel who has been living the last 1,000 years in the Promised Land.

The Bible says that this spiritual Gog and Magog is deceived; they are from the nations of the four quarters of the earth, from around the world; they constitute a multitude as large as the sand of the sea.

We know for sure that during the Millennium all are called as God pours out His Holy Spirit upon all flesh (Joel 2:28). So how is it that shortly after the Millennium there is this great multitude that is deceived.

The only individuals that can be deceived are those who were never called and that would not apply to these individuals as they were all called and were all given to know the truth. This process of God calling all flesh went on all throughout the Millennium so that there are none that were not called.

So how do we get to this incredibly large number of deceived individuals.

Is it possible to be called and not to be chosen; can we know for sure? Would we believe Christ?

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

There are many called today as there have been during the ages but relative to earth’s population as a whole it is the few. But during the Millennium it is truly the many as God pours out of His Holy Spirit upon all flesh.

Christ tells us clearly in a Scripture that doesn’t require any interpretation that of the many called, it is the few that are chosen.

Why are they not chosen?

They are not chosen because even after having been given to know the truth, they make the decision to remain in the world out of which they are being called. This is wholly in accordance with the free moral agency God gave man. He is free to choose life or death and if he chooses death God will respect his decision.

God through Christ tells us that it is the few that will choose to abandon their former lives in the world and to come under God’s authority when God calls them preferring the pleasures of this life to those of salvation which are only to be had far off into the future and not in this life. These individuals are those that have been called but not chosen by God to become a part of His Kingdom because of their refusal to submit to Him.

And, there is also the situation where one is called and chosen but falls away because of trying to serve two masters. This is a warning given to newcomers to the faith entering God’s Church as well as to established members of the Church. All have to keep walking on the strait and narrow way that leads to life.

Mat 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
Mat 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

But, if we believe Christ, it is not the many that heeds His warning given in Matt 7:13-14. It is the many take the broad way that leads to destruction. They grow weary in well doing; they try to serve both God and Mammon, they are no longer putting to death their old man, they cease to walk in newness of life; instead, they seek to reconcile their old ways with the truth they have received; they compromise trying to satisfy God’s law while at the same time giving themselves permission to continue with some of their past ways which they now know to be sin.

Christ is clear that you cannot serve two masters; you will come to love one and to hate the other.

Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

So it is possible to be called and not become converted and; it is possible to become converted and not remain converted.

Christ says it is the many who are called that reject conversion.

Christ also very clearly states that of the few that are chosen and become converted, it is the few that remain converted.

Hundreds of millions of people will be called during the Millennium, the many will not follow their calling. That will be a very great number of individuals. And, of the few that will follow their calling, it is the few of them that will remain converted. Their numbers will add to those who don’t follow their calling to constitute ultimately a multitude from all nations as the sand of the sea which during the Millennium will not be converted individuals.

They are the ones that Satan deceives after his release from the bottomless pit after the end of the Millennium. Before Satan’s release these individuals had gone back into the world and no longer had God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in them. When Satan is released he can deceive them.

The world but for the elect is once more deceived as it was before Satan’s imprisonment in the bottomless pit.

Satan gathers them together to battle against Israel and Jerusalem and they are supernaturally destroyed by God raining fire out of heaven that devours them. Satan does not have the power to force them to do so, only to influence their minds to do so. According to the Scriptures, the world’s unconverted surround Israel to destroy it and are destroyed by God.

What is the net effect of this occurrence?

It is another major turning point in God’s master plan of salvation for mankind.

The Millennium has just ended, God has His Church which is the camp of the saints that the unconverted are surrounding to destroy it. God destroys this vast multitude from all over the earth and all that is left on the earth after the destruction of spiritual Gog and Magog is God’s Church, the camp of the saints, and those individuals in the world which God the Father is calling and who are still in process of deciding whether to abandon their lives in the world and commit themselves to obeying God and who will not have joined in with the rebels.

The Last Great Day is about to start. Those that are to be resurrected as flesh-and-blood human beings will come into a world which has been purged by fire of all the unconverted. Their existence will have been completely eradicated from the earth by fire. Those resurrecting in the Last Great Day will have the best possible chance at salvation by not having to contend with the influence of the unconverted of the Millennium. They will essentially be resurrected in ideal physical and spiritual circumstances. The Millennial conditions will continue with respect to the physical condition of the earth, the changed nature of animals; the beautiful weather, etc. and they will be without the influence of the civilization created by the hundreds of millions of unconverted who died just prior to their resurrection.

You will remember that some had expressed concern about where would God put all those that would rise up in the Last Great Day resurrection given that the earth is only so big. We now have our answer, the purging of the hundreds of million constituting spiritual Gog and Magog will free up huge amounts of space that can easily accommodate those rising up in the 2nd resurrection.

The Last Great Day and the Resurrection to Judgment

During the Last Great Day all those who were never given to know the truth since the creation of man will be resurrected to flesh-and-blood existence and be called by God.

How will this resurrection occur? God gives us a description of it in Ezekiel 37 to which I refer the reader. It is a description of the resurrection of Israel and of also the Last Great Day; all are resting in the dust of the ground and all will be resurrected to flesh-and-blood existence using the same process.

Those in the resurrection of the Last Great Day will live 100 years.

Isa 65:20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.

They will be called early on in their new lives so as to have the time to demonstrate their faith by their works i.e., by their free and willing obedience to God.

If the Millennium is any indication and I very firmly believe that it is, it will again be the few of the many called that will be chosen and of the few chosen, it will be the few of those who were chosen that will stay on the strait and narrow way that leads to life. Mankind will continue to have absolute free moral agency and be susceptible to following their own lust (which is the principal source of sin in man (James 1: 13-15)).

At the end of the Last Great Day comes the resurrection to judgement or the 3rd resurrection. This is the resurrection to flesh-and-blood existence of all those who throughout the ages were given the opportunity to choose God’s truth and instead chose to remain in the world or who followed their calling and subsequently fell away. They are the goats which Christ will separate from the sheep.

It is also the time of the resurrection of all those who during the Millennium became and remained converted until the end of their natural life. They are part of the sheep mentioned in Matt 25:34.

At that time, there will also be the resurrection to glorified spirit being of God’s Last Great Day saints i.e, of those who are then alive and have remained true to their conversion. They are also part of the sheep that inherit salvation. This occurs through an instantaneous death and resurrection to spirit life (1 Cor 15:52).

All that will then be left of the earth after the glorification of God’s sheep are those which the Bible calls the wicked. The earth becomes a Lake of Fire and all flesh-and-blood humans (the goats) are consumed and this is the 2nd death from which no resurrection is possible. The wicked will be ashes under the feet of the resurrected saints.

Mal 4:3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts.

The earth is purged of all the wicked and God’s Millennial and Last Great Day saints become part of God’s kingdom by a resurrection to glorified spirit existence. Following the destruction of the wicked God makes a fresh start of everything.

The New Heaven and the New Earth

The earth turns into a Lake of Fire which consumes the wicked and this is the beginning of the process of God creating a new heaven and a new earth.

2Pe 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

2Pe 3:12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

The New Jerusalem

The next thing that then occurs is the arrival of the new Jerusalem which comes down from heaven.

Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Rev 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

Rev 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Rev 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Finally, we come to the end. All those who have chosen life have become immortal spirit beings and are part of God’s household, family, nation and kingdom. There is God the Father, Christ the bridegroom who married God’s first resurrection saints which are the Bride of Christ and the children of the kingdom who are all those whose conversion occurred during the Millennium and the Last Great Day.

God is then a family, a nation and a kingdom.

God’s family comes to completion through the 2nd resurrection (Rev 20:12) and the 3rd resurrection. God’s Millennial saints who had died are resurrected to flesh-and-blood life and God’s Last Great Day saints who are alive at the end of the Last Great Day (remember that all live to a 100 years during the Last Great Day) will be resurrected to glorified spirit life by an instantaneous death and resurrection); the Lake of Fire occurs and destroys the wicked (those who during the Millennium and the Last Great Day and since the days of Adam and Eve were called but not chosen and those who turned away from the truth after having chosen it) and a new heaven and a new earth are created; all things are made new and an eternity of joyful, satisfying and never ending creative accomplishments begins as the children of the kingdom spread out into a vast new creation to which they are to add the last finishing touches using the creation powers of Gods.

God’s saints are to inherit the universe; not the existing one but the new heaven and the new earth.

Heb 2:5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
Heb 2:6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Heb 2:7 Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
Heb 2:8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you have found the information provided in this study useful and that it will stimulate you to reflect on God’s truth and motivate you to study God’s Word to keep growing your knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures so as to remain a live spiritual embryo growing in maturity and able to be born again at the time of Christ’s 2nd Coming.