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PART 9

EXCEPTION AND ENMITY IN THE AGE OF RESTORATION

§ Remnant Based Restoration

179.          All restorational prophecy is with respect to terrestrially living remnant survivors of future living generations (e.g., Is. 1:9; 11:1; 65:8-9; Jl. 2:32; Zec. 13:8-9), contrasted against the non-survivorship of unbelievers (Is. 1:9) for whom no restoration is thus indicated, to wit:

(The entire Universalist appropriation of restoration age prophecy to prove eventual universal reconciliation is predicated on applying to the netherworld domain prophecies that speak only to future terrestrially surviving remnants, having no organic textual foundation for a cross domain application.  Such application is thus based on no more than sheer assumptive leap.)

180.          All remnants are terrestrially living, being preserved from death—the offer of life being made to the living (Am.4:10-11; 5:3-4, 6-7, 14-15).

181.          All scriptures referencing dead disobedient ancestral generations remain memorialized in enmity, divorced from any connection to the restoration prophecies. Rather,

·        none of the disobedient ancestors would see the land of promise (Num. 32:8-13);

·        on divine oath none of them would enter God’s rest (Ps. 95:8-11; Heb. 3:7-18-19);

·        the disobedient ancestors are co-identified together with Jeremiah’s generation only as the “generation of His wrath” subject to eating wormwood, drinking poison and to scattered annihilation (Jer. 7:21-29; 9:13-16);

·        the disobedient ancestors are “no more” (Lam. 5:7);

·        restorational prayer envisions restoration only of the presently living generation out of the sins of the dead fathers (Dan. 9:6,8,16-19);

·        the restorational promise to the present generation is contrasted against the wrathful treatment of the past fathers (Zec. 1:2-6a; 8:14-15);

·        the future restorational offspring are contrasted against the disobedient ancestors (Is. 65:6-9) while the future restorational offspring of the nations will reject the falsity of their dead fathers (Jer. 16:18-19);

·        Jesus leaves the enmity continuum open upon the disobedient ancestors through their sentencing to the Lake of Fire (Mt. 23:32-33; (also Lk. 6:22-23,26; 11:47-48)) offering not so much as even a hint at their possible eventual restoration among the future living generations.

(See also I Ki. 14:22-23; II Ki. 17:13-15; 21:15; II Chr. 29:5-9; 30:7-8; 34:21; Ez. 5:12; Neh. 9:2, 16-31,34-35; 13:18; Ps. 78:8, 17-42, 56-59; 106:7,13-46; 109:14-15; Is. 14:20-21; Jer. 2:5-8; 11:7-11; 14:20; 23:27; 31:32; 44:9; Ezk. 2:3; 18:2-4; 20:4-30,36; Am. 2:4; Mal. 3:7; Ac. 7:39-43,51-53; 28:25-27; I Cor. 10:1-11). (The divorce, contrasts and complete lack of organic connection between the restoration prophecies of living / future generations and the memorialized annihilistc fates of the disobedient ancestors prove that the restoration prophecies do not envision any eventual universal domain reconciliation of the hell-confined disobedient ancestral generations with the future generations that will witness the fulfilments of these prophecies. Such attempted connect is made only on the strength of wishful assumption (“It just has to be so….”). Not only is the Is. 65 contrast between the restored and the dead insurmountable, as also is the Lam. 5 annihilation of the dead fathers, but Universalists must also show where any subsequent oath decree of the Lord terminates and reverses His open-ended wilderness oath decree that the disobedient ancestors will not enter either the Promised Land or the Lord’s Rest in Christ. Without a reversal oath decree, the decree of no entry means never—at any time, in any age or state of existence.)     

182.          The remnants from among the living that go on to inherit the earth are distinguished from the wicked that do not (Is. 65:8-16). (Because only remnants come into the inheritance of the earth, the eventual inheritance of the earth will never include the damned beyond death nor will universality of living earthwide worship include them.)

183.          The restoration of surviving remnants is conditional, still allowing for the possibility of their permanent destructive re-removal (Jer. 12:15-17). (If even the surviving remnants are not guaranteed the certainty of established irrevocable salvation, then the restoration prophecies are unable to prove the eventuality of a final permanent universal reconciliation after final judgment.)

184.          Salvation is secondarily restorative to the terrestrially living as a pass-through out from the aftermath of terrestrial judgment/wrath (Ps. 14:7; 53:5-6; 80:7,19; 85:3-6; 106:46-47; I Pt. 3:20) in the form of a remnant seed (Is. 1:9; 6:13; Rom. 9:29; Heb.4:6). Such remnants are described as snatched amidst destruction and from within the mouth of the destroyer (Is. 1:9; Am. 3:12; cf. Jude 23). (Restoration of a living remnant out of terrestrial wrath does not provide a model or type for a hope of a secondary alternative universalistic “salvation” out from the Lake of Fire after the final judgment. Please review above PART 8 § The Exceptional Disciplinary Agency of Wrath on a Terrestrial Covenantal People.)

185.          The regeneration of life out of a tree stump prophetically portrays new terrestrial life to arise of a future unborn generation (e.g., Is. 11:1). (Such imagery does not portray regeneration as the reconstitution of the dead trunk and branches cut down at the root and burned to ash. Thus such prophecies cannot be used to assert eventual universal reconciliation with the damned that constitute the ashes.)

186.          The re-engrafting of branches that have been broken off the covenantal tree of faith portrays an eventual repentance among terrestrial unbelievers of present and future generations under covenant as exemplified by Paul himself (Rom. 11:23 → 1). (Such imagery does not portray the re-constituting of branches of past generations that have already been turned to ash in the netherworld domain, as Paul’s other terminally destructive contexts show. Thus this illustration, meant to predict the eventual reconciliation of the Covenant people with God in the land of the living, does not support an assertion of eventual universal reconciliation with all the damned of the netherworld after the final judgment. Please further see the commentary on Romans 11 in APPENDIX G.)

187.          The Lord’s dead will live again while the other dead killed under His wrath will not, but will be erased from memory (Is. 26:14,19; Ob. 16).  Similarly, the Lord’s remnant will survive but the rest will not (Jer. 24:5-10; 44:11,14,28; Ezk. 20:34→38; Am. 9:9-10; Ob. 15-18). (Covenant based resurrection and remnant survivorship contrasted against the remainder of men disproves universal reconciliation, which can make no allowance for a covenantal distinction in how God treats mankind.)

191.          The universality of the Lord’s future world reign and worship is based on remnantal survivorship (Is. 4:2-3; 10:22-23; 11:4-5→9-12:1,5; 13:11-13; 17:6-7; 19:16-25; 24:1-6, 13-16; 25:1-12; 28:5; 65:8; 66:23-24; Jer. 3:14-17; 5:10,18; 25:33; 30:11; 31:7;  46:28; 50:20; Mic. 2:12; 5:7-8; Zeph. 2:3,7; 3:8-11; Rom. 15:8-11→11:5→20-22→II Th. 2:8-12; Rev. 11:13). (Therefore the universality of worship in the age of restoration is not an evidence of universal reconciliation. The fact of remnant survivorship disproves universal reconciliation. In a Universalist construct, the restorational concept of survivorship is an oxymoron. Please review above § Remnant Based Restoration.)

192.          The future universality of knowledge of God’s glory is predicated on His destructive action (Ex. 9:16; Ps. 8:2→9; 64:7-9; 65:5→7; 102:10→14-15; 104:31→35; Hab. 2:13-14,16; Rom. 9:17; Rev. 11:12-13; 15:3-4). (Therefore the universality of the knowledge of God’s glory does not evidence universal reconciliation with the living, much less with the damned in the Lake of Fire after final adjudication.)

• God’s signs, wonders (wonderful works) and marvels beheld by the terrestrially living include many anti-reconciliatory destructive acts of terminal judgment (Neh. 9:10-11,17; Ps. 9:1-5, 11-12→15-17; 66:5-6; 71:13→16-17; 74:12-14; 77:11-12,14-20; 78:11-12,31-33,43; 89:5-7→10; 105:1,5→11; 106:1→7→11→22; 107:15-17,24-27,34; 135:9; 136:4→10; 145:4-5→20). (Thus universal praise for God’s signs and wonderful works does not evidence universal reconciliation with the terrestrially living, much less the damned of the netherworld after final adjudication.)

193.          The future universal rejoicing of all the earth over the Lord’s reign (Ps. 98:1-9) is platformed on the destruction of the wicked (Ps. 58:10-11; 66:1-4; 97:1→3-4; Pr. 11:10; Ezk. 35:14; Rev. 18:20) wherein the establishment of justice upon divine vengeance is cause for celebratory praise (Ps. 58:10-11; 59:10; 149:5-9; Pr. 11:10; Rev. 18:20; 19:1-5). (Celebration over destruction is anti-reconciliatory. Thus universal rejoicing over the Lord’s reign is not evidence of universal reconciliation with the perished, but against it.)

194.          All living flesh will see the salvation of God upon His people, whether they are part of His people or counted among His enemies (Lk. 3:6; →Is. 52:5→7→10). (There is no living flesh in hell or the Lake of Fire to see the salvation of the Lord. But even if there were, it would not mean that by seeing the salvation of the Lord they would partake of it. One’s seeing of the salvation of the Lord does not mean one is saved by seeing it (see II Ki. 17:2, 19-20). Thus this declaration does not mean all men will come out of the Lake of Fire to be saved by seeing the salvation of the Lord.)

195.          All of God’s covenantal people Israel will non-exceptionally come to know Him in the future age, from the least to the greatest (Jer. 31:33-34). (This passage does not teach that all mankind will come to know the Lord in future ages including those already damned and to be damned to the Lake of Fire. Universalism perpetually ignores the restrictive applications of salvation made to “all” within terrestrial covenantal bounds, erroneously applying them to all men without respect to the domain and covenantal boundaries that define salvation.)

196.          The universality of the Son’s inheritance of the nations is positively defined in the saints (Eph. 1:18) while anti-reconciliatorily defined toward the rest of the world (Ps. 2:8-9). (Thus the Son’s inheritance of the living nations to come does not evidence universal reconciliation with all nations, much less with the damned of the netherworld after final judgment. Even were the Son’s inheritance of future living terrestrial generations completely reconciliatory, it would not prove or even intimate a resurrection to life of the damned from past generations.)

197.          Some psalmic exclamations of universal (earth-wide) praise and worship occur without reference to an anti-reconciliatory forced context (Ps. 22:27-29; 65:5-8; 67:1-7; 86:8-10; 100:1-2; 138:3-4) or do not include the complete anti-reconciliatory forced context (Compare Ps. 105:40 → 78:31-33; compare Ps. 105:41 →78:15-22; 106:32; 148:1-14). (For universal reconciliation to be true, not one poetic exclamation of universal praise and worship may contain an anti-reconciliatory forced context. Psalmic exclamations of universal praise and worship taken in isolation from the complete collection of Psalms do not establish proof of universal reconciliation. Further, even were every Psalm to give exclamation of future universal earth-wide praise and worship to come, not one would create or offer any connective foundation to assert the return to life of the wicked who have been damned to annihilation, never to rise again! —to say nothing of the fact that neither poetry nor restorational prophecy establishes cosmological truth over apostolic teaching, all of which in common language leaves the universal enmity continuum open in perpetuity. All Universalist proof texts based in prophecies of universal worship to come on earth are flawed by a groundless phantasmagorical leap of assumption that universal earth-domain worship indicates that the nether domain of the Lake of Fire has somehow therefore disappeared after the final judgment.)   

• All living men will bow before the Lordship of Christ whether they are prosperous or so poor as to be ready to “turn to dust” in death (Ps. 22:27-29). (The earth-side universality of the worship of the Lord to come, whether forced or not, has no bearing on the state of the actual dead. The Universalist assertion that the eventual universal worship of all the terrestrial poor who are about to die certifies the eventual saving of the wicked out of the Lake of Fire is simply an emotively based non-sequitur without foundation contrary to massive biblical testimony to the final demise and annihilation of the wicked.) 

199.          Jesus must be withheld from returning until the Spirit of Elijah has restored all things prophesied to make a kingdom people who is ready to receive Him (Ac. 3:21 → Mal. 4:5-6; Mt. 17:11-13→Jn. 1:23). (Acts 3:21 has absolutely nothing to do with a total creational restoration including the reconciling of the dead in hell to the Lord after final judgment.  For universal reconciliation to have been the meaning of “restoration” in this verse, it would have to have been that which Peter himself meant, which his letters prove to be entirely inconceivable. (Review PART 3 § Salvation Contexted by the Terminal Enmity Continuum: Testimony of Peter and Jude.) The “all things” restoration of Acts 3:21 is directly tied to the kingdom restoration of Acts 1:6. And that is all it could ever possibly have meant in Peter’s mind. Why? It’s because Israel’s restoration is all to which the prophets ever spoke. The prophets leave the damned enemies of the LORD of Hosts in their graves.)   

§ The Restorations of Egypt and “Sodom”

200.          Isaiah, Micah and Zechariah together predict the eventual “worshipful” restoration of surviving mortal remnants of Egypt and Assyria together with Israel in which Judah is viewed with dread by Egypt, the Egyptians are stricken by the Lord, the Egyptians and Assyrians will lick the dust in terror before the Lord and Israel, and they will be punished by drought if they fail to go up to worship the Lord at the Feast of Booths in Jerusalem (Is. 19:17-25; Mic. 7:12-13,16-17; Zec. 14:9-11,16-19). (The complete context of this forced worship under vanquishment in which Egypt and Assyria are otherwise spoken of as a “blessing” and receiving “healing” utterly rebukes the romantic Universalist assertion that the imagined “blissful loving surrender” to the Lord of Egypt’s and Assyria’s mortal survivors to come proves universal reconciliation of all of Egypt and Assyria’s armies out of hell and the Lake of Fire, something which Ezekiel himself directly denies will ever happen! (Pharaoh is to be extinguished in hell – Ezk. 32:2-7-32).)           

201.          Ezekiel and Zephaniah together predict that surviving mortal remnants of the Moabites and Ammonites under the allegorical name “Sodom” will be restored from Babylonian captivity together with remnants of Jerusalem and Samaria as allegorical children of “an Amorite” and a “Hittite.” (Ezk. 16:3,45→46→53-55 with 25:9; Zeph. 2:9). (This allegorical prophecy describing a simultaneous existence and captivity of “Sodom” together with Jerusalem in Ezekiel’s time has nothing to do with—as Universalists assert—predicting the “restoration” from the Lake of Fire of the past incinerated city of Sodom, which was never captive along with Jerusalem anywhere (existing centuries apart), any more than the people of Jerusalem and Samaria were descended from an Amorite and a Hittite! (How could Jesus, Peter and Jude have missed such a fantastic prediction in all their teaching had it been true?))

Proceed to PART 10

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