For the life of me...I can never remember it right. I get confused with the "millennial" reign and what happens after the second resurrection and when some are cast into the LOF. The elect are ruling all along until He delivers everything to His Father?
I don't mean to bring outside influences...but I've seen people discussing the eons, and that there are at least 5 of them. Does Ray talk about this? I don't recall him ever writing on it.
In my humble impinion I don't think it's important as to how many there are.
Ray
probably does mention briefly what would be a logical numbering to how many Eons have been and how one could logically differentiate this from the start until the time of judgement and the Father becoming All in All but I believe its IMPOSSIBLE to know how many there have been or will be exactly.
If I had to try and understand from what we do know, I would approach it this way.
We know there was an age before the universe existed[1]. There was an age before Jesus Christ existed[2]. There is the age of the world and humanity [3]. There will be the age of judgement[4]. There will be the age after that in which God finally becomes all in all[5]. To my understanding this is how one could logically potentially number them, if we wanted to, but I don't think their exists a scripture which states how many exact eons have been because what about before when God was here without Christ? We aren't told how many there were, there could have been way more than just 1. What about after when God becomes all in all, how many will there be from there? Infinite? How does one number that?
I hope that makes sense. This is just how I see it and I could be completely wrong. I'm unfamiliar with a scripture that states a specific amount of ages which have been or will be. I could be entirely wrong though so... take what I said with a grain of salt
P.S. I remember reading one time here on this website that the idea in revalations that the dead lived not until after the first ressurection, aka didn't come up until a second ressurection was a spurious idea. In other words, the text didn't exist in the oldest greek manuscripts of the new testement.
Revelation 20:5
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
I believe it was the part I have bolded that is spurious to the text. (Yup, I was correct, ref;
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,6638.msg53239.html#msg53239)
So in other words, the rest of the dead, come up with the elect in the "first" and only ressurection but they don't come up with glorified bodies like the elect, they must go through the lake of fire aka be judged, while the elect already endured judgement in this life and overcame.
1 Peter 4:17
For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.Revelation 2:11
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.Revelation 3:21
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.1 Corinthians 6:2
Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? Love in Christ,
Alex