—Revelation 19 & 20.DFO 146622/12/81

—And "The Number of the Saved!"

1. WELL, PTL! TYJ! THIS IS DECEMBER 22ND‚ 1981, & I JUST MADE AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY IN THE 19TH & 20TH CHAPTERS OF REVELATION! I think I'll make the title of this "Heaven, Hell & In–Between!" & it's on the subject of Universal Reconciliation, or the widely varied judgements & fates of the wicked.

2. I DISCOVERED IN THESE PASSAGES IN REVELATION 19 & 20 that despite the way they were usually interpreted to us by the preachers in the churches—in fact, virtually always interpreted that way & I can never recall anybody interpreting them any way differently—that in the 19th Chapter after the Battle of Armageddon in which the Beast & his False Prophet & his forces are destroyed, the 19th verse through the 20th verse, you'll note that it says here that only the Beast & the False Prophet are cast alive into the Lake of Fire. Reading it literally it says:

3. "AND I SAW THE BEAST & THE KINGS OF THE EARTH & THEIR ARMIES GATHERED TOGETHER TO MAKE WAR AGAINST HIM THAT SAT ON THE HORSE"—that's Jesus, of course—"and against His army."—That's us. "And the Beast was taken, & with him the False Prophet"—apparently they were captured—"that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the Mark of the Beast & them that worshipped his Image. These both"—meaning only the Beast & the False Prophet at this time—"were cast alive into a Lake of Fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant"—his followers who had the Mark of the Beast—"were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh."

4. IT SAYS IN THE 19TH CHAPTER THAT JUST THE BEAST, OR THE ANTICHRIST, & HIS FALSE PROPHET WERE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE & that the remnant of his followers, those with the Mark of the Beast, were only slain at this time. It does not say that they too were cast into the Lake of Fire, they were just killed. It says, "these both". It does not say that those that received the Mark of the Beast & those that worshipped his Image were cast into the fire, it only says that the Beast & the False Prophet were cast into the fire. Just because the statement follows the description of his followers, many people just assume that that included his followers, but it does not. Reading the verse again specifically it says:

5. "AND THE BEAST WAS TAKEN, & WITH HIM THE FALSE PROPHET that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the Mark of the Beast, & them that worshipped his Image." Period! It's merely describing the False Prophet. It's talking about the Beast & the False Prophet, but it's only mentioning the followers as a description of what the False Prophet did to them. The whole passage is talking about the Beast & the False Prophet in particular, & it ends then with the final statement in the 20th verse: "These both"—that's just two, both‚ Beast & the False Prophet—"were cast alive into a Lake of Fire." So that is clarifying that particular passage so often used by the preachers to say that everybody's going to be thrown into Hell.

6. THEN THERE'S A VERY INTERESTING DIFFERENTIATION MADE ALSO IN THE 20TH CHAPTER. See‚ at the end of Armageddon before the Millennium the wicked are not yet raised & judged, all the followers of the Beast & so on are not finally judged, but only the Beast & the False Prophet, they are immediately cast into the Lake of Fire. Apparently they don't even have to be raised for judgement by God at the Great White Throne Judgement in the next chapter. They bypass the judgement & go directly into the Lake of Fire, they are so bad! Even Satan is not yet cast into the Lake of Fire because he still has to be loosed after the Millennium.

7. SO TO GET YOUR CHRONOLOGY STRAIGHT, the Beast & the False Prophet are cast directly into the Lake of Fire immediately after or during the Battle of Armageddon apparently‚ which is then followed by the binding of Satan & the thousand-year Millennial Reign of Christ & us on the Earth, which is then followed by Satan being loosed & leading the evil rebels against the Millennial Kingdom of Christ on Earth in the Battle of Gog & Magog, & then comes Verse 9 (Rev.20), speaking of the forces of Gog & Magog led by Satan:

8. "AND THEY WENT UP ON THE BREADTH OF THE EARTH & COMPASSED THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS ABOUT & THE BELOVED CITY."—Obviously this is talking about Jerusalem where Jesus makes His Headquarters during the Millennium along with us. Satan & his followers "compassed the camp of the saints about"—this is during the Battle of Gog & Magog‚ the finale—"& the beloved city"—Jerusalem, because the New Heavenly City has not yet come down until the next chapter in the New Heaven & the New Earth. So this cannot be the Heavenly City but must be Jerusalem, the beloved city which is mentioned many times by the Prophets as being the headquarters of the coming Millennial Kingdom of the Messiah.

9. SO WHEN SATAN & HIS GOG-&-MAGOG FORCES SURROUND JERUSALEM, it says here next in the 9th verse of the 20th Chapter that "fire came down from God out of Heaven & devoured them!" The forces were all devoured by fire‚ that is they were killed. Remember, they were still mortal human beings who had lived through the Millennium & apparently were still wicked despite God's mercy, so now they're killed. But it makes a difference about the Devil. It says:

10. "AND THE DEVIL THAT DECEIVED THEM WAS CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE & BRIMSTONE WHERE THE BEAST & THE FALSE PROPHET ARE"—in other words, where they already are at this time. They had been cast into the Lake of Fire after the Battle of Armageddon a thousand years previously. They'd already been in Hell for a thousand years, & the Devil is now cast in with them to join them!

11. SO YOU'LL NOTICE THAT SATAN'S MORTAL FOLLOWERS ARE AT THIS TIME ONLY SLAIN & KILLED BY THE FIRE, whereas the Devil himself is cast into the Lake of Fire "& shall be tormented day & night for ever & ever." And as we pointed out before, this means for the Age of the Ages. That's a very long time, but it does have an end‚ as every Age.

12. "AND I SAW A GREAT WHITE THRONE, & Him that sat on it, from whose face the Earth & the Heaven fled away; & there was found no place for them." Here comes the Lord in the last Great White Throne Judgement of the unsaved—or all the dead, that is, that were not saved—some not so wicked, some very wicked; some perhaps even good but not saved.

13. "AND I SAW THE DEAD‚ SMALL & GREAT, STAND BEFORE GOD; & the books were opened, & another book was opened, which is the Book of Life: & the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." There are a lot of books opened here, the main one is the Book of Life. The other books are obviously records of the deeds & works of the dead who are now raised to be judged to see what their fate is going to be according to how they lived & died etc. The books of their past‚ in other words, the books of their deeds & records were opened & the Book of Life—which we'll find out is a very important book because here it is open now, mind you, in the Last Judgement at the Resurrection of the unsaved.

14. ALL THE UNSAVED ARE HERE BEING JUDGED AT THE GREAT WHITE JUDGEMENT THRONE. All the saved were long ago resurrected, raptured, translated to Heaven, returned with the Lord in the Battle of Armageddon, wiped out the forces of Antichrist & took over the World in the great Millennial Reign of Christ & us for a thousand years while the Beast & the False Prophet—the Antichrist & his Prophet—were cast into Hell & Satan was bound. Then at the end of the Millennium, Satan is loosed, leads the Battle of Gog & Magog, his forces are all destroyed by fire, killed, in other words, & he himself is cast into Hell, the Lake of Fire.

15. THEN COMES THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT in the 11th verse of the 20th chapter.—All the dead, small & great, who have been dead, including all those who lived through the Millennium & yet followed the Devil & were then destroyed at the end of it, & all the dead of all Ages who were not saved. We know that the Great White Throne Judgement scene is only for the Unsaved because the Saved have already been resurrected in the First Resurrection & raptured & lived with Christ‚ reigning throughout the Millennium.

16. SO THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT IS NOT FOR ANY OF THE SAVED. And even though all the dead are resurrected here & judged‚ none of them are the Saved because the Saved are already with the Lord & they're probably already safely tucked back into the Heavenly City again after the Battle of Gog & Magog & its fiery end in which the whole Earth & the atmospheric heavens are destroyed. The Saved are not here in this scene at all‚ now get that straight!—The already Saved in the Age of Grace—now—are not at this Judgement!

17. OBVIOUSLY GOD HAS SPARED THEM & THEY WERE NOT DESTROYED IN THE BATTLE OF GOG & MAGOG like the rest of the people—the evil ones who followed the Devil in this battle & tried to destroy the Saints—obviously the Lord did not allow them to be destroyed. The fire came down from God out of Heaven & devoured "them", the "them" here, of course, is the followers of the Devil in the 9th verse. And verse 10, the Devil is cast into the Lake of Fire where the Beast & the False Prophet already are.

18. NOW MIND YOU, THE PICTURE NOW IS THAT OBVIOUSLY THE SAINTS ARE NOT DESTROYED AT THIS TIME‚ WHY SHOULD THEY BE? It's of course talking about the forces of evil, the forces of the Devil. Obviously the Saints, the Saved who already have their resurrection immortal indestructible supernatural bodies certainly were not destroyed at this time, that would be a ridiculous interpretation! But of course they were saved & very likely the Lord tucked them away during this time when the whole Earth & the atmospheric heavens were totally destroyed—or at least the surface of the Earth burned up, & the atmospheric heavens! No doubt the Lord whisked them off to the Heavenly City again where they'd had the Marriage Supper of the Lamb 1000 years ago!

19. I WAS CHECKING THAT TODAY TOO & there's nothing in the passage about the Marriage Supper of the Lamb or any of them that precludes them having that in the Heavenly City. Where else? Where else would God take them? In fact, the departed Saints are already there, because I was there in vision & saw them & have seen them several times that way! The Heavenly City already exists & the departed Saints are already there!

20. SO WHERE ELSE, OF COURSE, WOULD GOD HAVE THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB BUT IN THE HEAVENLY CITY which is already in existence & beautiful? What a place! Where else would there be a banquet hall big enough to have the millions of the already departed Saints plus all the other Saints who are resurrected & raptured at the end of the Tribulation, for all the Saved of all ages? Where else would there be a banquet hall sufficient to accommodate them & house them at one great banquet table but in the Heavenly City? Praise God!

21. SO THERE'S NOTHING IN ANY MENTION OF THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB WHICH PRECLUDES IT BEING IN HEAVEN‚ in fact, I think there's several other passages that I haven't time to go into here which make it quite evident that that Marriage Supper is held in a Heavenly place. In the story of the Five Wives & Five Foolish Virgins, after the Wise Virgins have entered, the Bridegroom slams the door & the Foolish ones don't get into the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. And that's another story which we don't have time to go into here, showing the difference between people who are really saved & those who think they're saved but don't really have the Spirit. (Mt.25:1-13)

22. BUT ANYHOW, NOW THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS: Armageddon is past, the Beast & the False Prophet are already thrown into Hell‚ Christ has reigned for a thousand years with His Saints, us. All the Saints, the Saved are all resurrected & raptured & gone to the Heavenly City to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb‚ come back in the Battle of Armageddon, conquered the Earth, ruled & reigned with Christ for a thousand years & then are once again undoubtedly raptured off to the Heavenly City while the Devil & his forces are destroyed in the Battle of Gog & Magog at the end of the Millennium.

23. NOW GET IT, THE SAINTS ARE SAFELY TUCKED AWAY AGAIN IN THE HEAVENLY CITY which has not yet come down to Earth because there's not yet a New Earth & there's not yet a new atmospheric heavens. At the end of the Battle of Gog & Magog, the Earth & heavens are destroyed—that is‚ the surface of the Earth & the atmospheric heavens are destroyed in the fire that comes down from God out of Heaven & devours them. Obviously the ball of the Earth is not devoured because it is renewed again. And obviously the heavens He's talking about here that are devoured are not God's Heaven because fire comes down out of God's Heaven to devour the Earth & the atmospheric heavens!

24. SO THE SAINTS & THE LORD ARE SAFELY TUCKED AWAY IN THE HEAVENLY CITY SOMEWHERE IN SPACE while the surface of the Earth & the atmospheric heavens are destroyed in the fire which burns up the forces of Gog & Magog who had attacked them at the end of their Millennial Reign. Satan's forces are destroyed by that fire & the Devil is cast into Hell, directly. Like the Antichrist & the False Prophet, he doesn't need any judgement, his judgement has gone before & he is cast straight into Hell! (1Ti.5:24) He has already been in the Pit, in prison for a thousand years while the Antichrist & the False Prophet have been in the Lake of Fire for a thousand years already. Now he's cast into the Lake of Fire with'm for God knows how long‚ for an Age of Ages‚ which sounds like a long time!

25. AND THEN COMES THE GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGEMENT IN WHICH ALL THE UNSAVED DEAD THEN ARE JUDGED. Now get it‚ all the unsaved dead are judged at this time. There are no already saved at this Great White Throne Judgement because the Saved have already been resurrected a thousand years before, raptured by Jesus, came back & conquered the Earth, reigned a thousand years on Earth & gone to be with the Lord again in the Heavenly City while the Earth is being burned up with the atmospheric heavens‚ & the Devil cast into Hell.

26. THE PREACHERS ALWAYS SAY "THE WICKED" BUT IT DOES NOT SAY THE WICKED HERE! I'll prove it to you in a minute. It just says all the dead. And who are these dead? They're not the saved—they're already with the Lord—but the unsaved dead who are now judged, now that they're all dead, because the final remaining ones that were unsaved were burned up at the end of the Millennium in the Battle of Gog & Magog. Now, get this straight!:

27. "AND I SAW THE DEAD, SMALL & GREAT, STAND BEFORE GOD"—only the previously unsaved—"& the books were opened: & another book was opened, which is the Book of Life." Now, if none of these people were going to be spared at all from Hell, why in the World did the Lord open also the Book of Life to see if they were written there? Certainly the Lord knows who's written in there & who isn't. If everybody written in the Book of Life were already saved & already raptured & already in Heaven‚ why bring out the Book of Life at this time at all? If the Book of Life contains only the names of those saved—as the preachers have always told us—why bring it out at the Resurrection & Great White Throne Judgement of the unsaved? Huh? Just to prove they're not in there? I presume that's how the preachers would interpret it! I don't think it would have been necessary to bring out the Book at all if it only had to do with the previously saved. But He brings out the Book of Life & also the books of their deeds for judgement, "& the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books"—all the books—"according to their works."

28. "AND THE SEA GAVE UP THE DEAD WHICH WERE IN IT; & death & hell delivered up the dead which were in them: & they were judged every man according to their works." It must have taken quite awhile, maybe they did it by stages. First of all, all those who died on the Earth, then all those who had died in the sea, & all those who were already captives of the grave & Hell. It says "death & hell", & the words actually used here in the Greek, as I recall, mean the grave. There's a difference between "Gehenna", a place of Hellfire, & there're other words used for the grave, which are not Hellfire: Sheol & Hades‚ meaning the unseen state or spirit world!—Neither Hellfire nor a hole in the ground! (See also "Salvation in the Spirit World", No.1476—coming!)

29. BUT THEY ARE ALL HERE & NOW RAISED—wherever they have been—which also proves they have been different places, not all in the Lake of Fire, not all in Hell. But they are now all raised, all the unsaved dead of all ages, from the various places they have been while dead. "And they were judged every man according to their works." Now get this:

30. "AND DEATH & HELL WERE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE." It does not say here that all these people were cast into the Lake of Fire‚ it just says Death & hell. In other words, Death, or the power of death, & Hades, the Spirit State, are cast into the Lake of Fire, these former places of confinement or punishment or imprisonment in the heart of the Earth or wherever they were, are now all of them cast into the Lake of Fire, including the end of the Spirit Sphere of today.

31. AND GET THIS: "WHOSOEVER WAS NOT FOUND WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE WAS CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE." It does not say that they were all cast into the Lake of Fire. It just says, "And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire."—Which makes it quite obvious that the Book of Life was brought out to find out who was to be cast into the Lake of Fire‚ who deserved such horrible fiery punishment, & who was not to be cast into the Lake of Fire, that's quite obvious, according to their works.

32. THEY WERE JUDGED ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS, obviously, because there was a difference in their works. Some of their works were extremely evil & extremely bad & those so wicked deserved Hellfire, punishment for however long, whereas others did not deserve that kind of punishment & will not be cast in the Lake of Fire! We will find them on the surface of the Earth in the New Heaven & the New Earth, but perhaps not in the Heavenly City, not the Saved as we were & are, as the Saved are the only ones who have the right to live in the Holy City.

33. THEY WILL NOT BE CAST INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE, BUT ARE THE IN–BETWEEN ONES—which I've always said there had to be a place for or places somewhere in-between for those who go neither to Heaven nor to Hell. The in-between cases‚ the good people, the ones who weren't so bad, the multitudes who did the best they could but never heard the Gospel—which is our fault‚ the churches' fault—& who never heard about Jesus & never were told how to get saved.

34. EVEN SOME PEOPLE IN CHURCHES WERE NEVER TOLD HOW TO GET SAVED OR HOW TO RECEIVE JESUS!—Even people who were in churches & church members & did their best to be good & do good works & not be bad & yet were never saved, never told how to be saved. There had to be someplace else for them, neither the Heavenly City in which only the Saved can walk, nor Hell in which only the most evil & wicked & bad are damned to! So here it is as plain as day!

35. I WAS JUST CHECKING ON THIS AFTER READING THE BIBLE PROPHECY CHART, & it's plain as day that there's a difference in the judgements of the dead, & the Book of Life is brought out to find out who of them is in it & who of them is not, who deserves Hell & who does not! This is the difference between the first, second & third class citizens of the Future!—The first class citizens of Heaven & the Heavenly City, the only truly saved ones as we are now & so on; the third class citizens who are damned to Hellfire; & the second class citizens who inhabit a place or places other than either Heaven or Hell.

36. SINCE THE ALREADY SAVED ARE ALREADY SAVED & IN THE HEAVENLY CITY, THIS JUDGEMENT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SAVED WHATSOEVER! This has only to do with all the unsaved dead of all Ages—not all extremely wicked—some wicked, some even good—but not saved. So therefore these chapters clearly show that, for example, only the Devil & the Antichrist & his False Prophet are cast directly into Hell without even going before the White Throne Judgement; they don't have to be, they're already judged. The Saved are already saved & resurrected & raptured & in the Heavenly City after the Battle of Gog & Magog, so that here at the Great White Throne Judgement there are only the Unsaved.

37. ALL MY LIFE I PARROTED & APED THE PREACHERS & said, "Here's the Great White Throne Judgement of the wicked!" Well, they were not all really wicked & not all that bad, because a difference is made at the White Throne Judgement, in fact‚ quite a few differences. The major difference is between those found written in the Book of Life & those not found written in the Book of Life. Those who are not found written in the Book of Life—in other words, the very wicked—are cast directly into Hell along with the Devil & the Antichrist & the False Prophet. But obviously some are found in the Book of Life & they do not deserve that kind of death or judgement or punishment.

38. SO HERE WE HAVE IT PLAIN AS DAY THAT, SINCE THE SAVED ARE ALREADY IN HEAVEN & here we find all the very wicked unsaved who are not found written in the Book of Life cast into Hell, what happened to the rest of them?—All those found there in the Book of Life? Well, they're all judged according to their works‚ how good they were or how bad they were, & obviously these are a bunch not bad enough for Hell but not good enough for Heaven! Nobody's really good enough for Heaven, but not good enough for Heaven in their case because they didn't receive Jesus, or maybe they couldn't, or maybe they never had a chance.

39. THESE ARE BOTH THE GOOD & BAD WHO WERE NOT SAVED—not good enough for Heaven, in other words, through the blood of Christ, neither were they bad enough for Hell—but they were found written in the Book of Life & thereby spared from Hell. Not saved for Heaven & not damned to Hell, but found written in the Book of Life & spared—where? Well, whether there will still be some kind of prison in the heart of the New Earth, I don't know, or whether there will be other degrees of punishment which God's Word, Jesus Himself, very definitely taught. (Lk.12:47-48) Whether those degrees of punishment are somewhere in the Pit or the heart of the Earth, we don't know. Obviously they're not in the Lake of Fire, because only those not found written in the Book of Life are cast in the Lake of Fire at this last Great White Throne Judgement of the Unsaved.

40. I SHOULD NEVER SAY "WICKED" AGAIN THERE, I SHOULD JUST SAY THE UNSAVED, because they're not all very wicked, obviously‚ because some of them are found written in the Book of Life & are spared from Hell—but not saved to Heaven because they couldn't be, because only those who are saved can walk in the streets of Heaven. (Rev.21:24‚27) Now, whether they will be saved later or not when they then hear about Jesus & understand about Him, we don't know.

41. PERHAPS THIS WILL BE A PROBATION PERIOD THAT THEY SPEND ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH. Perhaps they'll be saved one by one or saved in groups or whatever by our healing ministry of the Leaves of the Tree of Life that we'll carry on on the surface of the Earth with the nations outside which still have kings etc. Perhaps our ministry even there will be witnessing & healing the nations & saving those who were lost because they never heard—even though they were perhaps good & righteous & not even very bad‚ but were not good enough for the Heavenly City & not bad enough to go to Hell.

42. SO HERE WE HAVE IT PLAIN AS DAY IN THOSE TWO CHAPTERS—IT DOES NOT SAY THAT THEY WERE ALL CAST INTO HELL! Only the Antichrist, the False Prophet & the Devil are cast directly into Hell without this Great White Throne Judgement. Only the Unsaved are at the Great White Throne Judgement, & a difference is made between the Unsaved as to whether they are in the Book of Life or not, & only those not found in the Book of Life are cast into Hell.

43. SO WHAT HAPPENS TO THE REST OF THEM WHO ARE FOUND IN THE BOOK OF LIFE? Well, there must be a place between, & according to the next two chapters it sounds very definitely like they are outside the Heavenly City, the Holy City, on the surface of the Earth! Where else could they be? "Outside the City", it says. Well, I looked outside the City when I was there & it was beautiful!—Rolling hills & trees & grass & villages & farms outside the City, a very beautiful restored Earth!—Very Heavenly!

44. I REMEMBER DEAR OLD WILLIAM BRANHAM SAID HE STILL EVEN HAD HIS OLD ROCKING CHAIR IN THE COTTAGE THEY LOVED! Well, I don't know whether that was true or not‚ but surely since he was saved he'd be inside the City. Who knows, maybe the Lord let him have his favourite old cottage on his old farm & his old rocking chair—there certainly will be plenty of room for it & for all the millions of saved inside that huge huge City!

45. SOME DAY I'M GOING TO GUESSTIMATE ABOUT HOW MANY SAVED THERE MIGHT BE IN THAT CITY & also about how many unsaved there might be that are resurrected. That shouldn't be too hard to figure out: to find the number of people who lived on the Earth since the Creation & figure about how much per generation would have been able to build up to this present population. I know that the Creation scientists have figured it out‚ that having started with two people about 6‚000 years ago, according to the average size of families & the mathematical multiplication of humanity through procreation generation by generation, that the population of the World at this time, 6,000 years later, should be about three billion, believe it or not—& that's just what it is!

46. AND THIS IS ONE OF THEIR PROOFS THAT THEY USE THAT CREATION DID OCCUR ONLY 6,000 YEARS AGO & THAT THE CREATION STORY IS TRUE, & therefore the World population is just about what it ought to be after 6,000 years of many generations, having begun with only two people in the Garden of Eden 6,000 years ago. They figure‚ of course, that the generations were quite long before the Flood—for about the first 1600 years of World history after the Garden of Eden they were nearly a thousand years long—yet the families were not necessarily all that large. They had several sons—varied from 2, 3, 4‚ 5 or 6 sons—about normal for today for those who don't use birth control, like us, & don't believe in it. So you have to figure close to a thousand years to a generation before the Flood, & since it was only 1600 years from the Creation to the Flood, that's only about one-&-a-half or not more than two of their generations.

47. IT GIVES THE ACTUAL LINEAGE, OF COURSE, OF SOME OF THE PEOPLE, the chosen line through which Noah would come & then his three sons, from one of whom Jesus would come. The lineages followed all the way down through the genealogy with definite time periods which make it possible for us to figure almost the exact date of the Creation‚ from the birth, or creation of Adam, that is—born of God, that's for sure—in the Garden of Eden, to the present day, according to both the genealogy of the Bible & the recorded history of the World. This is figured out very easily with just a little time & a piece of paper & a pencil. You can do it yourself & we've done it & we've got it on our charts (No.736)‚ so that it was just about 4,000 years before Christ, in other words, about 6,000 years ago that the World was created.

48. FIGURING LET'S SAY MAYBE AN AVERAGE OF FOUR CHILDREN TO EVERY COUPLE, this would double the World population about every generation, wouldn't it? Well, actually we don't even have to go back to Creation‚ because all we have to go back to is the Flood. Because we happen to know that the World population was cut down to just eight people during the Flood—Mr. & Mrs. Noah & their three sons & their three wives!

49. PRESUMING, THEREFORE, ACCORDING TO BIBLE HISTORY MR. & MRS. NOAH DIDN'T HAVE ANY MORE CHILDREN BUT THOSE THREE BOYS, we start out with three couples in about the year 2400–&-something‚ about 2500 years before Christ‚ about 4500 years ago. Since the Flood they began having children much earlier & dying much earlier. The age given to man after the Flood was only three score & ten years, 70 years. But if by reason of great strength or the blessing of God, God allowed'm to live longer, it's still much more trouble & sorrow, as the Bible writer says. (Ps.90:10)

50. BUT NORMALLY MOST PEOPLE HAVE MOST OF THEIR CHILDREN BETWEEN ABOUT THE AGES OF 20 & 30 NOWADAYS. In the early days just after the Flood it seemed like they had'm a little bit older, between the ages of 30 & 40 or so, some even lived to be in their 60's before they had their children! So we'd strike a happy medium between 20 & 60—the old 60–year-old bachelors that either didn't get married or have children till they were about 60 in the early days before the Flood, or the 40 to 60-year-olds before the Flood—& then after the Flood there were a few 30–year-olds in the genealogy then—dwindling it down to when most people nowadays have their children between 20 & 40. So it seems like 40 would be a nice happy medium in-between to figure as an average generation, right?

51. I SUGGEST MAYBE SOME OF YOU MATHEMATICIANS TRY FIGURING THIS OUT IF YOU CAN. Let's estimate that the average family had at least four children, some families perhaps less, as obvious in the Bible, some families perhaps more, as obvious in the Bible. But let's just guesstimate that maybe it was about four children to each couple. Generally speaking this would double the World's population every generation, wouldn't it? About every 40-45 years. We just said that Noah was about 4500 years ago, & this would allow for at least 100 generations or more since the Flood.

52. STARTING OUT WITH THE FIRST THREE YOUNG COUPLES, Shem, Ham & Japheth & their wives, six people—& of course the generations are actually described & actually how many children they had & everything right there, but I'm going to roughly estimate maybe a doubling of each generation. So you start out with six about 2500 years before Christ, or 4500 years ago, that's 100 generations of 45 each!

53. OK, LET'S JUST FOR EASE OF MULTIPLICATION & EASE OF FIGURING FIGURE THAT IT DOUBLED EVERY GENERATION & there were a hundred generations‚ OK? And we start with six, right? So at the beginning there were six, & at the end of the first generation, say of 45 years, there were 12. Well, we can say exactly from the Bible because it says how many sons they had, etc.‚ but this is just a mere simplification of the arithmetic for a rough estimate of how many generations.

54. AT THE END OF THE FIRST 45 YEARS, THE FIRST GENERATION‚ number one—we're numbering from one to a hundred—there were 12. At the end of the second generation, 24. Third generation, 48. Fourth generation, 96. Fifth generation, 192 etc. Now you good mathematicians, keep on going for 100 times & see how many people you get on Earth in 100 generations!—But of course a lot died early or were killed in wars etc.

55. WELL, I'M GOING TO STOP NOW TRYING TO USE MY LITTLE CALCULATOR TO SEE IF I CAN FIGURE IT, because my calculator doesn't go up to billions, I think it hardly even goes only a few millions! I don't even know that it goes to hundreds of millions! But anyway, wouldn't that be interesting? Give or take a few & all those slaughters in various wars & catastrophes, & give & take a few, those who had no children & those who had families of 12.

56. WE'RE JUST TRYING TO MAKE A VERY ROUGH ESTIMATE BECAUSE NOBODY KNOWS BUT GOD, & the angels & the saints who've already passed on. We know one answer, that there are over three billion people on the Earth right now, but I'm just trying to show you how it could be, like the Creation scientists have done. They proved that given an average length of generations of an average family & number of children, that the World would have wound up with over three billion population in 4500 years beginning with the Flood & Noah's three sons & their wives.

57. ANYHOW‚ THANK GOD WE GOT ALL THE SAVED IN HEAVEN & ALL THE VERY WICKED IN HELL & ALL THOSE IN-BETWEEN, not saved but not bad enough to go to Hell‚ spared from Hell, we won't call'm saved but we'll call'm spared & inhabiting the surface of the Earth outside the Holy City, maybe even some of them bad enough to have to go to the Pit or the prison or some other kind of punishment below, but not Hellfire—maybe Purgatory?

58. IN DANTE'S VISION OF HELL & IN THE PICTURE OF HELL GIVEN IN ISAIAH & also in Ezekiel, as I recall, particularly Isaiah‚ we find out that some kings are in so-called Hell (Is.14:9) but obviously not in the Lake of Fire, because they're on various levels & various states & conditions, just as Dante saw in his great vision of the infernal regions. It was not all Hellfire, only the very lowest level was Hellfire! So they're not all going to a fiery Hell, they're going to some kind of Hell, but not all of it is the Lake of Fire.

59. IF IT'S ONLY A LAKE THERE MUST BE SOME KIND OF LAND SURROUNDING IT‚ RIGHT? So, thank God, there must be some other kind of high & dry or wet places out of the fire which some people will have to go to because they didn't get saved but they were bad enough to be judged & condemned to go to such places of punishment & incarceration & retribution for their sins & their wickedness.

60. BUT APPARENTLY THE BEST OF THE SPARED ARE ALLOWED TO LIVE ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH OUTSIDE THE HOLY CITY, & WE RULE OVER THEM. They have nations & kings, the next two chapters tell us very clearly, & we go out there & heal them with the Leaves of Life from the Tree of Life! (Re.22:2) It even says that there are some pretty bad folks outside in one of the verses there‚ whoremongers & liars & dogs & all kinds of people even outside the City! (Re.22:15) It doesn't say in Hell, it doesn't say in the Lake of Fire, it doesn't say in the heart of the Earth, the Pit, or whatever.—It says "outside the City"! (Rev.22:15)

61. THE REASON I GOT INTERESTED IN THE POPULATION OF THE WORLD was to estimate approximately how many people are going to be in Heaven & how many people are not going to be in Heaven, but either in Hell or outside the City. So PTL! TYJ! God bless us & help us.

62. WE DON'T REALLY NEED TO KNOW THIS, LORD, we already know the population of the Earth. We know what has been the population of the Earth, there have been billions who preceded us, so there are going to be a lot of people in Heaven, a lot of people in Hell & a lot of people on the Earth. We're just curious to know approximately how many. In Jesus' name‚ amen.

63. WELL, I ABOUT DECIDED IT WOULD TAKE TOO LONG FOR ME TO FIGURE OUT THESE GENERATIONS & GENEALOGIES & millions & billions of people who have lived on the Earth since the Flood, & since somebody else has already figured it out for me, I'm going to have to take their word for it. I should be able to trust the word of the Creation scientists who believe in Creation—real Christians.—Amen?

64. BUT ANYWAY, I DID FIND OUT SOME OTHER INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT NUMBERS! I can tell you how many angels there are in Heaven! Would you like me to tell you how many angels there are in Heaven? I've got the exact figures here! You'll find it in the 5th Chapter of Revelation, 11th verse, Revelation 5:11:

65. "AND I BEHELD & I HEARD THE VOICE OF MANY ANGELS ROUND ABOUT THE THRONE & the beasts & the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, & thousands of thousands!" Ha! How about that? And would you like to know what that number is? Well, 10,000 times 10‚000 is 100 million! Do you know what thousands of thousands is?—Millions! Do you know how many angels there are in Heaven? First there's a 100 million, & then there are millions more! 100 million angels & millions more! And some people believe that what He's talking about here is really the Saved around the throne who were singing & praising the Lord!

66. ANYWAY, SINCE I WAS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT ABOUT HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE SAVED & HOW MANY PEOPLE WERE UNSAVED & how many people are going to be in Heaven & how many people are going to be in Hell, guess what verse I ran across about the Saved? I didn't find out about the unsaved or the folks in Hell, but I found this out about how many people are saved. Would you like to hear it? It talks about the number of them right in this verse in Revelation 7:9:

67. "AND AFTER THIS I BEHELD, AND, LO, A GREAT MULTITUDE WHICH NO MAN COULD NUMBER!"—He's talking about the Saved in Heaven now.—HA! That's when I decided not to try to figure it up, when I found no man could number'm! How about that! Well, the Lord answered my question, anyhow! "Don't worry‚ Dave, you can't even number'm, your computer isn't big enough!" "A great multitude which no man could number of all nations, & kindreds, & people, & tongues, stood before the throne, & before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, & palms in their hands." HAL! TYJ! That's all we need to know!—Are you one?

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family