Hi Mike,

It’s been a long time since I was in touch. I seem to have gone around in a circle and come back to IWWB… The verse of Joh 5.29 fills me with fear. Surely we have all done evil. Is not the heart of man evil continually? Hoping you can elucidate on this for me.
M____

Hi again, M____,

It is so good to hear from you!
You say you have “gone around in a circle and come back to IWWB.” Well, that is good to hear. The days ordained for all of us are written in God’s book before we are ever born, so it behooves us to be patient with one another. In so doing we are accepting what God Himself is doing in our lives and the lives of all men.

Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them. (ASV)

You ask:

The verse of Joh 5:29 fills me with fear…. Surely we have all done evil… Is not the heart of man evil continually? Hoping you can elucidate on this for me.

I certainly can add some light to the meaning of Joh 5:29. Here is that verse:

Joh 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

As you put it, “Surely we have all done evil… Is not the heart of man evil continually?” Yes, it is in the heart of man to do “evil continually”.

Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Just a few months ago we finished our studies in the book of Revelation, and we are now on the 14th chapter of Job. Both of these books deal with the destruction of the “old man” within us all.
Joh 5:29, while it is a terrible translation of the Greek, it is simply dealing with the fact that there are two resurrections – the first resurrection for those who are being judged now in this life and the later resurrection for all others.
That verse 5 of Gen 6 deals with the exact same subject. Before the flood of Noah, mankind was just as they are today. Every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continually, and so God destroyed mankind with a flood, which flood is a type of God’s Word.

Joh 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Those who died in that flood have never been judged and will be given their judgment ‘… in their own order’ (1Co 15:23). That is what Joh 5:29 is dealing with. It is merely telling us that there are two resurrections for two separate groups at two separate times.
The ark of Noah is a type of Christ, and in Him we come through the death of the flood, which is a type of the death of our old man upon the cross, and we come through that flood and become a new man in a new world, which is a type of our lives with Christ living within us, and our old man ‘dying daily’.

1Co 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
1Pe 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1Pe 3:19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; [ the people Noah preached to before the flood, as stated in this next verse]
1Pe 3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
1Pe 3:21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

Christ has come to save all who are in Adam, and that is exactly what he will do. This is made clear in unequivocal terms.

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Even the Jews who rejected and crucified our Lord ‘in their own order’ (1Co 15:23) will be saved from sin and death.

Eze 16:55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

The word ‘might’ is not to be understood as a mere possibility. The fact is that word is not in the Greek at all. The words “… might be saved” are all translated from the one Greek word ‘sozo’.
Here is Strong’s Concordance’s entry for that Greek word:

G4982
σωζω
so zo
sode’- zo
From a primary word σως so s (contraction for the obsolete σαος saos, “safe”); to save, that is, deliver or protect (literally or figuratively): – heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole.

So Christ came to save the world, and that is exactly what He is in the process of doing. I feel sure you have seen all these verses, but I will repeat them as a reminder:

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

So there it is. It is just as you pointed out, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”, and we are told that there is but “one event to the righteous and the wicked… all things come alike to all, as is the good, so is the sinner, for there is no difference”.
That “one event” which causes there to be “no difference” is the Biblical doctrine that all men must first die to our old man and then be resurrected from the dead, and we must then all be judged.

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Notice that death must precede judgment. It is this death of our old man which strikes fear into the heart of the flesh of our “old man”. It is our reluctance to relinquish these bodies of flesh which fills us all with fear.

Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
Heb 2:15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

None of us wants to see our flesh destroyed and replaced by a new man. Even Abraham pleaded with God not to reject he flesh:

Gen 17:15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be.
Gen 17:16 And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.
Gen 17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
Gen 17:18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

So “the resurrection of damnation” is just the second resurrection, in which all who do not accept Christ while in these vessels of clay, will be given life with the very same false doctrines a rebellious spirits with which they died being intact in their hearts in that resurrection.

Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

After all if “all things come alike to all… [ and] there is one event to the righteous and the wicked… as is the good so is the sinner… for there is no difference”, how then can Christ make the statement that “all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation“?
If there is a resurrection to life and a resurrection to damnation, how then can there be a “one event to the righteous and the wicked”?
The answer to that question lies in understanding that the word ‘damnation’ is a bad translation of the Greek word, ‘krisis’, and in understanding that those who are resurrected to life are judged in this life.
So if ‘damnation’ is a bad translation of the Greek word, ‘krisis’ what is the proper translation? Just showing how it is normally translated will answer that question. Here it is as I have cut and pasted from my e- sword:

G2920
κρισις
krisis
Total KJV Occurrences: 48
judgment, 39
Mat_5:21-22 (2), Mat_10:15, Mat_11:22, Mat_11:24, Mat_12:18, Mat_12:20, Mat_12:36, Mat_12:41-42 (2), Mat_23:23, Mar_6:11, Luk_10:14, Luk_11:31-32 (2), Luk_11:42, Joh_5:22, Joh_5:27, Joh_5:30, Joh_7:24, Joh_8:16, Joh_12:31, Joh_16:8, Joh_16:11, Act_8:33, 2Th_1:5, 1Ti_5:24, Heb_10:27 (2), Jas_2:13 (2), 2Pe_2:4, 2Pe_2:9, 2Pe_3:7, 1Jn_4:17, Jdg_1:6, Jdg_1:15, Rev_14:7, Rev_18:10
damnation, 3
Mat_23:33, Joh_5:29 (2)
accusation, 2
2Pe_2:11, Jdg_1:9
condemnation, 2
Joh_3:19, Joh_5:24
judgments, 2
Rev_16:7, Rev_19:2

So ‘krisis’ appears in the New Testament 48 times, and of those 48 it is translated ‘judgment’ 39 times. Only three times is it translated ‘damnation’, and in those instances it would better be translated as ‘judgment’.
It appears that one of the three instances which I have emboldened above is a mistake, and ‘krisis’ is actually translated as ‘damnation’ only twice. Once is here in the verse which you say “… fills me with fear”, Joh 5:29. It appears in that verse only once, instead of the two times as indicated above. The other entry is in Mat 23.

Mat 23:33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation [ Greek – krisis, judgment] of hell? [ Gehenna, a type of the lake of fire]

Clearly a much better translation of this verse would be “… how can you escape the judgment of Gehenna?” Or ‘how can you escape the judgment of the great white throne and the lake of fire?’

Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting [ Greek – aionian, age ] fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Where and when are “the devil and his angels” cast into that ‘age lasting fire’? Here is the answer to that question:

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.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

What is the purpose of this “lake of fire”? The answer is that “the dead were judged out of the things written in the books, according to their works.”
There it is, the purpose for the lake of fire and the great white throne is the judgment of all who have ever died. They will be judged “out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”
When were those books written? This is the part that is very little understood, even though it is declared to be true from Genesis to Revelation. Here is when those books with all of the works of all men were written:

Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.

So there it is. God has determined what is our every action for every day of our lives before we are ever born. How long before we are born did God ‘write our days in His book?’ Here is what we are told:

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,
Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

So when did this fire that is in this ‘lake of fire’, do it’s work in those who are being saved in this age? Here is the answer to that question:

1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Co 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

“If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss [ the loss of the “old man”]: but he himself [“the new man”] shall be save; yet so as by fire”. Here is this same statement in the book of 1 Peter:

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
1Pe 4:15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

There it is; the fire that saves us is our judgment. What is it that saves us? We are “saved… so as by fire”. What is that ‘fire’? Here is what that fire is wherever you see that word as it relates to our judgment or the judgment of any man at any time in scripture. This is the ‘fire’ of scripture wherever it appears in the Old or the New Testament:

Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

So it is our “old man” who is the “wood, hay, and stubble” which is burned up and destroyed by “My words in your mouth… the brightness of His coming”.

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Eph 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

So will all men be saved or will they not? Here are the scriptures which declare that all men will be saved:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us- ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

For those who inevitably argue that the word ‘will’ here in 2Pe 3:9 and 1Ti 2:4, is nothing more than a wistful wish God entertains, we have these instructive words concerning whether God’s will is nothing more than wishful thinking:

2Ch 20:6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

“I will do all my pleasure”!!! What God wants, God gets. What does God want?

1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Does that mean just those who choose to believe in Christ, or does that mean the whole world? God cannot make it any clearer:

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

So every curse mentioned in scripture is pronounced upon the “natural… old man” who is first within us all. All the blessings are pronounced upon the new man who comes afterward:

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

So how is it possible to say that some men will be raised to life and others will be raised to damnation? It is possible to say that because the word ‘damnation’ should read ‘judgment’, and it is possible because those who are being judged now, at this time in fiery trials of this life, as “the house of God”, will be raised first, at the beginning of the thousand years and will not be in a resurrection to judgment in the lake of fire at the end of the thousand years.
It is then true that “they that have done good, [ will be raised] unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation”.
I will end this long e- mail with the last verse of 1Pe 4 which we quoted above:

1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Your soul is in very good, capable, and loving hands. Christ is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world (1Jn 2:2).
So Joh 5:29 should no longer cause you any anxiety. The word ‘damnation’ is not damnation at all but is ‘judgment’. Just coming to realize that Truth should give you confidence that when God’s judgments are in the earth, men will be chastened and will learn righteousness. This especially includes the great white throne judgment.
This is what God’s ‘judgment’ always produces, and this is what our own ‘spirits should be seeking early’:

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. [ to the later judgment]

I hope this serves as “the comfort of the scriptures” for you.

Rom 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike