Scripture references are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless stated otherwise. There are seven foundational biblical truths, which underpin and enhance our belief in Universal Reconciliation. These seven truths are woven into each chapter of this book and are confirmed by relevant supporting scriptures. We encourage you to take time to carefully read this chapter to understand these truths, in order to fully appreciate and understand God's Plan for the Reconciliation of all things through Jesus Christ. Here are the seven foundational biblical truths: 1. The truth of God 2. The truth of Creation 3. The truth of Sin and God's Judgements 4. The truth of the Shed Blood of Christ on the Cross 5. The truth of Israel 6. The truth of God's Elect, the Bride of Christ 7. The truth of the Kingdom of God Let us now consider each of these truths. THE TRUTH OF GOD God is Spirit. (John 4:24) There is only ONE God and God is ONE. (Deuteronomy 6:4, Mark 12:29) In the New Testament, God relates to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, this does not make God a 'Trinity'. God can relate to us in additional ways as He did in the Old Testament, as 'The Angel of the Lord' (Exodus 3:2), and as Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:1-3). The word Trinity is not in the Bible. We are uncomfortable with calling God a Trinity because it can be misunderstood to mean that there are three Gods and it also limits God to relating to us in only three ways. Why use the unbiblical term 'Trinity' when there is no mention of it in the Bible? Father is the focus of our worship to God. We pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ because He is the only Way to the Father. Only true believers in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ can relate to the Father as His children. In the beginning Jesus Christ was with God as the Word and He was God. The Word became flesh in the womb of a virgin called Mary and He was born and became a Man. The Man Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed His blood to forgive the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2) The central truth of Jesus Christ is that the Father will reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. (Colossians 1:20) God created everything by Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible has been inspired by the Holy Spirit and He is its Author. As Christians, the Holy Spirit lives in us and guides us. He is our Teacher and reveals the spiritual truths contained in the Bible. (John 14:26) God is Love. (1 John 4:16) God's love demands that everything He has done, is doing and will do, flows out of His love. Even God's anger, wrath and judgements flow out of His love to bring righteousness. (Isaiah 26:9) God's love will reconcile ALL things through Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father. God is Sovereign. God's sovereignty ensures that He always carries out His purposes throughout the Ages; nothing and no one, including Satan, can frustrate His will. (Isaiah 46:10) Man's limited freewill does not and can not override God's sovereign will. When God says that He wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, He means exactly that; all men will come to the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ and be saved. (1Timothy 2:4). This will happen in God's time and His order. (1 Corinthians 15:23) THE TRUTH OF CREATION God created the heavens and the earth (the universe) in the beginning. (Genesis 1:1) When God created the universe through Jesus Christ, this marked the beginning of time or the Ages. Jesus Christ is the Beginning and the End of the Ages. He started the Ages and He will end the Ages with the fulfillment of God's Plan for the Reconciliation of All things. The Bible is a book of Ages and it refers to seven distinct Ages. All that is written from Genesis to Revelation is related to one or more of these Ages. Everything that God has done, is doing and will do, must be understood in the context of these Ages, because God has a specific purpose for each Age. God did not create the heavens and the earth approximately six thousand years ago, as believed by Christians who hold to the Young Earth Creationist view. We reject this view as unbiblical, illogical and unscientific, because it brings an immediate contradiction to the very first verse of the Bible. In Chapter 6 'The Pre-Adamic Age', we explain why the Young Earth Creationist view is not only unbiblical, but also cannot be supported by earth's geology. Star distances confirm that the beginning of the Ages was many millions of years ago. All of the angels sang together and shouted for joy over the creation of the earth. It is therefore evident that the angels were created before the heavens and the earth. Also, it is clear that God must have created the earth in a beautiful state for the angels to rejoice with singing and shouting. (Job 38:4-7) Man is the pinnacle of God's creation. God created man in His own image, and He created man for a special purpose and relationship with God. (Genesis 1:27) Angels were created to be ministering spirits to men. (Hebrews 1:14) God created the animal and plant kingdoms to bless man and for man to have dominion over them. THE TRUTH OF SIN AND GOD'S JUDGEMENTS Sin is transgression or disobedience of God's Law (1 John 3:4) and, above all, sin is unbelief in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. (1 John 3:6-9) Sin first entered the world through Satan and his followers, the fallen angels during the Pre-Adamic Age. A third of the angels sinned and were thrown down to earth with cataclysmic consequences. God renewed the face of the earth and created life, including man, in six literal 24-hour days. Sin then entered the human world because Eve and Adam ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, when tempted and deceived by Satan. As a result of man's original sin, every descendant of Adam and Eve, with the exception of Jesus Christ, is born with a sin nature. God has complete foreknowledge of everything that happens in His creation; therefore, the sins of fallen angels and men did not take Him by surprise. This is all within God's Plan, which includes both separation and reconciliation; separation because of sin, and reconciliation because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Sin brings judgement, suffering, death, destruction, and separation from God. God takes full and complete responsibility for the existence of sin and evil. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that man is responsible for his sins. However, God makes man accountable for his sins, individually, nationally, and universally for the ultimate good of all. Our accountability for our sins brings God's judgement for the greater purpose of receiving His salvation and reconciliation through Jesus Christ. Without God's judgements we would not understand good from evil, light from darkness and the righteousness of God from the unrighteousness of man. Here is an important truth. All of God's judgements are corrective, no matter how horrific they may appear from man's perspective. Traditional Christianity has failed to understand and refused to acknowledge the important truth that Jesus Christ died on the cross to conquer sin and death for all people and that God is the Saviour of ALL people. He was foreordained to die before the foundation of the world, not only to forgive the sins of believers, but also to forgive the sins of the whole world. (1 Peter 1:20, 1 John 2:2, 1 Timothy 4:10) Death is no longer man's enemy because, through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, all will be made alive (saved) in God's time and in His order. (1 Corinthians 15:22-23) Ultimately, all people will believe in their Saviour and all will be reconciled to God. (Colossians 1:20) Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God punishes an unbeliever, or even Satan in hell, forever. There are four words in the Bible, two Greek words aion and aionios, and two Hebrew words owlam and ad, which have often been misinterpreted and mistranslated in most but not all bible versions, to mean forever, everlasting and eternal. These four words are age-related, referring to an age of a definite time duration having a beginning and an end. Mistranslation and/or misinterpretation of these four age-related words is an important reason why Christians have failed to understand God's Plan of the Ages to reconcile all things through Jesus Christ, and why traditional Christianity believes in endless punishment in hell. A full explanation of this important subject is given in Chapter 5 'The Seven Ages in God's Plan for All'. The simple, logical and powerful truth of the Bible is that God's judgements flow out of His love and they are ALWAYS CORRECTIVE. They are designed to bring humility, repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, which leads to Righteousness, Salvation and Reconciliation. (Isaiah 26:9, Isaiah 46:12-13, Malachi 3:2-3, Mark 9:49, 1 Corinthians 3:15, Romans 11:32-33, Hebrews 12:6-11, Revelation 3:19) One thing that is absolutely certain is that ALL people will be reconciled to God, either in this life or in the next life. The loving and righteous judgement of God for all sinners will ensure that all people, in God's time and in His order, will repent and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, by God-given faith. Chapter 12 'The Great White Throne Judgement' gives a full explanation of God's loving and refining Lake of Fire judgement for all unbelievers. THE TRUTH OF THE SHED BLOOD OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS The Cross of Christ is absolutely at the centre of God's Plan to reconcile all things in heaven and all things on earth unto Himself. Colossians 1:19-20 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 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 His cross. The Cross is the Way and the only Way through which our Holy and Righteous God makes peace with fallen man. The Cross of Christ has infinite power to transform all people from unrighteousness to God's Righteousness and to reconcile all things in the universe and make peace with God. This is why Apostle Paul said that he was determined not to know anything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2) When God created angels and men, He knew that unrighteousness would enter His creation and that angels and men would sin. He worked out a plan to solve the problem of their unrighteousness, even before the creation of the heavens and the earth. The Plan God formulated was for the universal reconciliation of all things, without exception, which includes all of mankind and all angels, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for not only the sins of believers, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2) The sins of the whole world include the sins of all unbelievers and all fallen angels, as our key scripture Colossians 1:15-20 clearly says. All of God's creation without exception will be reconciled through the blood of the Cross. This is the only way by which the FULL PURPOSE of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ will ultimately be completely fulfilled, in God's time and in His order. Anything less than the full reconciliation of ALL THINGS would be tantamount to a defeat and failure of what Jesus Christ has accomplished through His sacrifice on the Cross. This is why the traditional doctrine of hell is such a stench in the nostrils of God. The Bible says that God is the Saviour of all men. (1Timothy 4:10) God is not a torturer or an annihilator of men, as unfortunately believed by most Christians. THE TRUTH OF ISRAEL The Bible speaks about three groups of people. These are the Israelites (the Jews), the Gentiles (the nations) and God's Elect (the Bride of Christ). These three groups of people are separate and distinct and should not be confused with each other. It is important to understand that God has kept the Israelites a separate and distinct people from the Gentiles, racially through the descendants from the line of Jacob, and religiously through the Mosaic Law. The Israelites are direct physical descendants of Abraham through the line of Isaac and Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel. The Bible uses the word 'Israel' to mean both the nation and the land. Scripture says again and again, hundreds of times, that God is the God of Israel, and the Holy One of Israel. The word Israel is mentioned over 2,500 times in the Bible. We all need to grasp the tremendous importance of Israel in God's Plan; why and how God is using Israel to demonstrate His justice and His righteousness through the Seed of Abraham who is Jesus Christ Himself. (Galatians 3:16) The Israelites are God's chosen people. (Deuteronomy 7:6-8) The reason why God chose the children of Israel was to fulfill the covenant, which He made with their father Abraham. This was why they became a special treasure above all peoples, and it was not because of any greatness in the people themselves. The Abrahamic Covenant is a covenant based on faith through which God is unconditionally bound to make Abraham and his descendants (Israel) a great and blessed nation, and also to bless all of the families (nations) of the earth through his Seed, Jesus Christ. God also made a covenant with the Children of Israel through Moses, at Mount Sinai, 430 years after the Abrahamic Covenant. This is known as The Mosaic Covenant, which is a conditional covenant based on laws, promising blessings for obedience but incurring God's curses and judgements for disobedience. It is important to understand both of these covenants because they are at the heart of God's purpose and His Plan, not only for all Israel but also for all the nations of the earth. We give a full explanation of this important subject in Chapter 7 'God's Purpose for Israel'. The story of Israel is an amazing story of God's unending love for His chosen people despite their continued disobedience, and His total commitment to keep the covenant He made with Abraham. Yes, God severely punished His chosen nation for their sins and disobedience as required under the conditional Mosaic Covenant. However, God's commitment is to restore Israel to their land and ultimately to save all Israel, as He is bound under the unconditional Abrahamic Covenant. THE TRUTH OF GOD'S ELECT, THE BRIDE OF CHRIST The Bible says that many are called but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:14) These few who are called and then chosen are God's Elect. They are elected to enter the coming Millennial Kingdom of God as the Bride of Christ, in their new resurrected, immortal, bodies. The choice as to who is God's Elect is according to the grace of God alone and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with a person's good deeds or personal attributes and characteristics. The key focus of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation is the story of God's Elect. All people from Adam to this present time fall into one of two categories: God's Elect or Non-Elect. Abel was the first of God's Elect mentioned in the Bible. All of God's Elect have a covering of God's Righteousness through God given faith, such as Noah, Abraham, Lot, Moses, King David and others mentioned in the Bible. None of God's Elect were righteous by themselves. All of God's Elect mentioned in the Bible sinned in a number of ways, as God's Elect are capable of doing today. However, all of God's Elect are counted as Righteous through God given faith. Only a remnant of Israel has been chosen and elected before they die and they, along with God's Elect from the Gentile nations, will be in the First Resurrection. These together will form the Bride of Christ. They will be raised up to meet Jesus Christ when He returns to earth in all His glory as King of kings. God has purposely blinded Israel except for the remnant of His Elect. God must first call all of His Elect from the Gentile nations before He will remove the blindness from the rest of the Israelites. The Bible is very clear that ultimately God will save ALL Israel. (Romans 11:26) The important question we need to answer is why God calls and saves only a few people in this life, but allows the overwhelming majority to die as unbelievers. The simple glorious truth about God's Plan is that, after Jesus Christ marries His Bride, the Firstfruits, there will be the Great Harvest of more fruits to follow, birthed from this marriage. The union of the Bride of Christ with Jesus Christ will bear multiple billions of spiritual children born into the Eternal Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth. These spiritual children are none other than the rest of humanity who will rise in the Second Resurrection. We give details of this wonderful revelation in Chapter 9 'The Truth of God's Elect - The Bride of Christ' and Chapter 12 'The Great White Throne Judgement'. THE TRUTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD The Bible speaks of the Kingdom of God coming in two phases. The first phase is the Millennial Kingdom of God, which will last for one thousand years. The second phase is the Eternal Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth, which comes after the Great White Throne Judgement and after Jesus has reconciled all things to God the Father. The Kingdom of God has not yet come. The Millennial Kingdom will be established on this earth at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. There are a number of prophesied significant events that will happen before both phases of the Kingdom of God are established on this earth. We give below an overview of these prophesied events, in their chronological order. The full gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached in all the world before the end of this age, before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. (Matthew 24:14) The full gospel is about the Reconciliation of ALL things, and God being the Saviour of ALL people. This is the gospel, which is yet to be preached in all the world, as a witness to all nations before Jesus Christ returns. Full details are given in Chapter 8 'The Gospel of the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness'. The Great Tribulation of three and a half years duration will be a time of God’s judgement on the whole world prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The earth will be plunged into great distress and supernatural cataclysmic events will occur, as prophesied in both the Old and New Testaments. This Great Tribulation will be absolutely horrific and unprecedented. (Matthew 24:21) Satan will be bound by an angel and put in prison at the return of Jesus Christ. This will prevent Satan from deceiving the nations during the thousand-year Millennial Kingdom of God. (Revelation 20:1-3) The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to this earth is a glorious future event prophesied in many scriptures in the Bible. The Bible is clear that Jesus will return to this earth in the same way as He left, coming back in the clouds from the sky (heaven) and descending to land on the Mount of Olives. (Acts 1:11, Matthew 24:30, Zechariah 14:4) Full details are given in Chapter 10 'The Second Coming of Jesus Christ'. The First Resurrection, described in the Bible as a better resurrection, occurs when all true believers will rise to meet the returning Jesus Christ in the air. This is a special salvation for those who believe in Christ before His Second Coming. They are God's Elect called the Bride of Christ and they are also referred to as the Firstfruits. (1 Timothy 4:10) The Millennial Kingdom of God will be a glorious thousand-year age when Jesus Christ will rule and reign with His Bride on earth. Jesus will sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem. Christ and His Bride will rule over the mortal fleshly people of Israel and the Gentile nations, who will survive the Great Tribulation, and their descendants who will be born during the Millennial Age. The Millennial Kingdom will be a time of great blessing for all nations, and the whole earth will become like the Garden of Eden and full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Full details are given in Chapter 11 'The Millennial Kingdom of God'. The Second Resurrection will take place at the end of Christ’s glorious thousand-year Millennial Kingdom. This is when the rest of the dead will be resurrected. The Second Resurrection is for the multiple billions of unbelievers who were not included in the First Resurrection. All unbelievers will be resurrected in their new immortal yet still unsaved bodies. The Second Resurrection will also include all people who became believers during Christ’s Millennial Kingdom, whose names are written in the Book of Life, and these believers will be resurrected in their new immortal saved bodies. Satan will be released from prison at the same time as the Second Resurrection, at the end of the thousand-year Millennial Kingdom. He will then go out to deceive the nations of multiple billions of resurrected unbelievers and lead a rebellion against the Lord and God’s resurrected saints. (Revelation 20:7-10) This rebellion will be easily crushed by the devouring fire of God coming out of heaven and Satan will be cast into the Lake of Fire to be judged for an age and an age. The Great White Throne Judgement takes place at the Second Resurrection. God will judge resurrected unbelievers and He will cast them into the Lake of Fire, where they will experience the Second Death. However, resurrected believers whose names are written in the Book of Life will join the Bride of Christ, referred to as the Holy City, New Jerusalem located above the earth’s surface. In the Great White Throne Judgement Age, the earth's surface will be a ball of fire. This Lake of Fire represents both God’s physical and spiritual cleansing. God’s Consuming Fire will cleanse the earth physically by melting the elements and spiritually by consuming wickedness and unbelief from the hearts of the resurrected unbelievers. Full details are given in Chapter 12 'The Great White Throne Judgement'. The Judgement and Reconciliation of Satan and the Fallen Angels. God’s Lake of Fire will not only refine and cleanse unbelievers for an Age during the Great White Throne Judgement, but it will also refine and cleanse Satan and the fallen angels extending to an additional Age. The Bible says that the judgement of Satan will last for two Ages. (Revelation 20:10) The scripture clearly says that all fallen angels will also be reconciled through Jesus Christ. (Colossians 1:15-20) A full explanation of this subject is given in Chapter 13 'The Judgement and Reconciliation of Satan'. The Eternal Kingdom of the New Heaven and the New Earth will be created at the fulfillment of God's Plan when everything on this earth and its heaven (the sky, the earth's atmosphere) has been cleansed and renewed by God's fire. The Holy City, New Jerusalem, will land on the New Earth with its New Heaven. This is when God's Plan to reconcile all things in heaven and all things on earth will come to completion. This is when Jesus Christ will shout the glorious words 'It is Done' and delivers the Kingdom of God to the Father. This is when there will be no more death, no more sorrow, no more curses and no more pain. This is when God the Father Himself will come down to earth and dwell with men and be ALL in ALL. (1 Corinthians 15:24-28, Revelation 21:1-6) Full details are covered in Chapter 14 'The Eternal Kingdom of God of New Heaven and New Earth'. JESUS CHRIST is the BEGINNING and the END of God's Plan of the Ages. Jesus Christ began God's Plan when He first created the heavens and the earth, and He will end God's Plan when all things in heaven and all things on earth are reconciled to God the Father having made peace through the blood of His cross. (Colossians 1:20) We are sure that God inspired us to write God’s Plan for All, and we ourselves are amazed to read its contents. There are many wonderful, powerful and eye-opening truths revealed in this book. Truths, clearly explained with plain biblical texts. There has been no such book written in the history of Christianity. Click here to order your free paperback hard copy of God’s Plan for All. Please contact us if you have any comments to make or any questions to ask.       Copyright © 2005 All rights reserved GOD'S PLAN FOR ALL