Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Genesis. This is study #16 of Genesis, chapter 9 and we are going to read Genesis 9:24-27:

And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, Blessed be JEHOVAH God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

In our last study, we went to Matthew, chapter 25 because it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ coming in judgment and when He comes, He pronounces a curse and a blessing, just as Noah did. Again, Noah was a husbandman and God is likened to the Husbandman. God awakes to judgment, as we read several times in the Psalms. Noah awoke and knew what his younger son had done to him and then he pronounced the judgment. We read Matthew 25:31-33:

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Again, Matthew 25 is telling us about the judgment seat of Christ as He came with all His holy messengers. We saw that all of God’s elect had to become saved before God could begin the judgment process and that is exactly what happened when the last of the elect became saved by the end of the Great Tribulation and the completion of the Latter Rain. God’s salvation program ended and God shut the door of heaven, which was the beginning of His wrath and fierce anger against the wicked people of the earth. The outworking of the punishment of God against all the sinners in the world began.

The elect came with Christ in the sense that it was the completion of God’s salvation program and the time when He would begin judging the unsaved people of the world.

But we also read in Matthew 25, verse 32 that all people are brought before this judgment seat. Again, it says in Matthew 25:32:

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

Base on this verse alone, we know that there would be elect people that would come before the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ. All nations are gathered before Him and then there is a separation process, with the sheep going to the right and the goats going to the left. However, both sheep and goats are gathered before Christ as the Judge. This is a Bible teaching and it is the doctrine of God. The Scriptures teach that both the righteous and the wicked must appear before God for judgment.

This is a correction to our understanding. Previously, we had thought that in the Day of Judgment only the wicked are brought before the judgment seat. We had understood that all the elect would be raptured out of the world and removed from the place of judgment, leaving only those that never experienced salvation to come before Christ to be judged. However, that is not what the Bible teaches. It says in Ecclesiastes 3:17:

I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

As it also says in Ecclesiastes 3:1:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

When God is seated upon His judgment throne, the righteous appear to be made manifest and the wicked come before Him to be judged. Concerning this time of judgment, we read in 2Timothy 4:1:

I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

The “quick” refer to those that are living. Who are the living ones? They are the righteous. It says in Luke 20:38: “For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living.” God will judge the living and the dead or the “righteous and the wicked,” as it says in Ecclesiastes 3, verse 17. The Bible teaches that it has always been God’s intention to bring all people before Him to be judged. That is exactly what we are seeing in Matthew 25, verses 31 and 32. The Lord comes in His glory and He is seated upon the throne of His glory, the judgment seat, and before Him shall be gathered all nations. It says in Romans 14:10:

But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

Previously, we had misunderstood God’s judgment program. If we had properly understood it, we would not have thought the elect would be raptured out of the world on May 21, 2011. This idea was taught my many theologians and many churches had taught this idea throughout history: the elect would not go through Judgment Day. They would be raptured before the non-elect would come before the judgment seat of God. We have received correction in this area because we were completely wrong when we declared that the elect would be raptured on May 21, 2011. It is obvious we were wrong because we are still here on the earth and, yet, we were right regarding it being the beginning of Judgment Day.

Because we were not raptured, some people concluded that May 21, 2011 could not have been Judgment Day because we are still here. Their conclusion is completely wrong and not in agreement with the Word of God. The Word of God says that the righteous are judged along with the wicked. When Christ appears, He “shall judge the quick and the dead.” For instance, in Revelation 14 we already looked at verse 10 where it speaks of the cup of God’s wrath which He poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation. It said in Revelation 14:11:

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

We have looked at these verses recently in our Genesis studies, but look at the next verse. By the way, please go to Revelation 14 and read verses 10 and 11 and you will see the context is Judgment Day. Look at what follows immediately, in Revelation 14:12:

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

What is God talking about? I recall in the past when Mr. Camping was questioned about this, he just did not know why God was making this statement in the context of Judgment Day. However, the reason is obvious to us now because God’s plan all along was to bring His people in to the Day of Judgment and to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. We looked at this in our last study. We are living on the earth in the Day of Judgment and that is why 1Thessalonians, chapter 4 emphasizes in verses 16 and 17 that the resurrection of the dead saints takes place first and then the rapture of the living takes place. God refers to us as that are “alive and remaining on the earth.” He says this twice in these verses. We are “alive and remaining” because we were left on the earth to experience the Day of Judgment. We are the ones that must “endure to the end.” When we properly understand God’s end time judgment program and how our appearance before the judgment seat must take place, we can see why we must “endure to the end.” We can understand why Hebrews 12 tells us we must endure chastisement and scourging before we can be declared sons of God. We can see many verses that fit together harmoniously, now that we have a proper understanding of God’s Day of Judgment. We can understand why God says He will judge the “quick and the dead.” We can understand why God brings the righteous and the wicked together in judgment. We can see all these verses that now harmonize together. We can better understand verses in Isaiah, chapter 24, a chapter that describes the final judgment of the earth. For instance, it says in Isaiah 24:4-6:

The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

What is this verse describing? How could we have previously understood this verse? God is speaking of judging the earth because it is defiled; the curse has devoured the earth; all that dwell therein are desolate; the inhabitants of the earth are burned. Then there is that little statement at the end of the passage that says, “and few men left.” Who are these “few” and why are they left? That is the question we must ask because we want to understand what the Bible teaches.

For people that insist that May 21, 2011 was nothing and of no importance, are they seeking to find the answer to this question? No, they are not. It is as though they have given up on searching the Scriptures and they are not looking for deeper spiritual meaning. They are not looking to solve the mysteries of the Bible. If they are no longer looking into the mysteries of the Bible, then what are they doing? God’s people always search the Bible and they try to find answers. We do not just say, “Well, we were wrong five years ago and, therefore, from now until I die I am not going to look into end time things.” That would be no different a position than the churches. They just accept certain eschatology that is taught in their seminaries and they have given up searching the Scriptures, but God’s people never just adhere to certain confessions and creeds or to what theologians of the past have said. To be a child of God means to be a Bible student and to be a Bible student, we must be an active and ongoing search of the Scriptures to discover the deep things of God and the mysteries spoken by Christ. We are looking for the truths and the parabolic meaning of the Bible. God’s people continue to do so as we look for and haste unto the coming day of God. We do not say, “Well, I am done looking now. I am done searching the Scriptures. I have no intention of looking in certain areas.”

If you are not going to consider things regarding the end of the world, then you can stop reading the Book of Revelation or Matthew 24 and 25 or large portions of all the Gospels. You can just cross out 2Thessalonians, chapter 2 and you can forget the Book of Daniel and large portions of the Books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Zephaniah, and so forth. What does that leave? It leaves you with few Scriptures you can consider and, for all intents and purposes, you have cut up the Bible. The Lord’s people search the entire Bible. It is what God has graciously given us and we continue to search all the Scriptures. It is only by God’s grace that we can understand anything in the Bible and if that involves dates, timelines, “times and seasons,” or if it involves Judgment Day coming on May 21, 2011, then we thank God for that information.

We have continued, by the grace of God, to look into questions like those presented in Isaiah 24: 6: “Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” We have an answer to this question. Could there be another answer? I am not aware of any. Who are the few? They are the elect. Why are they left? It is because God has left them to go through the fire of Judgment Day and to “try” them to see if they are “gold, silver, precious stones” or “wood, hay stubble.” They are left to bring them before the judgment seat of Christ to demonstrate that they have already been judged in Christ at the foundation of the world. So, we find a solution that answers the question the verse presents and answers it very well. Do you see how all the Scriptures come together harmoniously and they fit together? We can only conclude that we are on the right path.

Just think of those that have turned back. They have turned back to the churches. They have turned back to the world. They have turned back to other doctrines. Are they on the right path? Of course, they are not. Do you see them growing in grace and the knowledge of God? No, they are losing whatever knowledge they once had. Only God’s elect continue to search the Bible and we are continuing to gain knowledge and understanding, as God allows.