Hi zarla,
Here are a couple of places Ray spoke on this.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,6142.msg50216.html#msg50216 ----
This is part of the gospel. Christ was crucified, was dead, rose from the dead.
v. 41 not to all the people, but to chosen witnesses before by God, even to us (Peter was a witness) who ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead.
v. 42 And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained of God to be the Judge of the quick and the dead.
Oops, how did that slip in there? Did you notice that? Did you notice what the gospel is? Jesus Christ is “the judge of the quick and the dead.” That is the gospel. This takes us all the way down to Rev. 22, doesn’t it. It certainly does. This thing of judgment is part of the gospel… "Judge of the quick and the dead." Now John says that as Christ is, so are we. Christ is the judgment. Guess what? So are we.
1Cor 6:2 Do you not know…
Who is the you? Corinthians. Who are the Corinthians? The chosen, these are uncircumcised in flesh, circumcised in the heart, in spirit… Gentiles. They are the kingdom of God, these are the heavens where God’s Spirit dwells and He says unto them.
1Cor 6:2 …that the saints shall judge the world?
That’s the gospel. Jesus Christ was appointed for that thing, to be the judge of the quick and the dead and as Christ is so are we. Guess what? We are to judge the world. Well of course, we are going to rule them with a rod of iron. That is how we are going to start out in the kingdom of God on this earth, over the nations of the world, in what’s called the millennium or the thousand year reign.
Rom 8:22 And we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
The whole world. If you have any doubts about that, just turn on the evening news. If it’s not the weather; the hurricanes, the earthquakes, then it’s wars and terrorist. Now they are burning down Paris, for eight days straight. This is always been the condition of the world. They say the history of mankind is a chronicle of wars. Man is either in war, coming out of war or preparing for the next war.
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creation waits…
This whole world, this whole creation is groaning and travailing in pain. Is waiting for what?
Rom 8:19 …for the manifestation of the sons of God.
That’s us, the sons of God or the kingdom of God. They are the heavens in which the Spirit of God dwells and will rule the nations.
Obadiah 1:21 And saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau (this is them); and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.
The “saviors” are going to rule from mount Zion, not over there in that ugly swill of a city called Jerusalem. But from spiritual mount Zion. He is going to rule them, "Esau" is them, "and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s." What kingdom? The kingdom of what, in this context? Kingdom of saviors, plural saviors. Who are these saviors? That’s us, we’re saviors. Well this sounds a little odd, I mean we’re saying we’re going to be the saviors of the world. Well we do have a leader though, King of kings, Lord of lords, Savior of saviors and Son of sons. We’re sons right, He’s the Son of the sons. He will always have a name superior to every other one.
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,4445.0.html ---------------
It just amazes me how utterly short-sighted Biblical scholars and theologians can be when they are locked into their pagan traditions. Jesus had a special REWARD/AWARD for all His followers. What was it? Heaven? NO. Eternal life? NO. All humanity will be given immortality which is in effect eternal, everlasting life.
So what is so special that only the CHOSEN FEW will receive it? It is ruling and reigning and judging with Jesus Christ! This reign is "eonian" or "age-lasting." It is decidedly NOT "eternal," as we are plainly told that it will END (I Cor. 15:25). Jesus rules only "UNTIL" He puts all enemies under His feet, at which time He hands over the reign of the Kingdom to His God and Father (Verses 27-28). All enemies will learn RIGHTEOUSNESS and ultimately be saved (Isa. 26:9, I Tim. 2:4, I Tim. 4:10, Phil. 2:9-11, Eph. 1:10, etc., etc., etc).
And so, those who do not quality to rule, reign, and judge with Christ, will themselves BE JUDGED. And judgment means to set things right. Hence "the [wicked] shall go away into everlasting [Gk: 'eonian'] punishment [Gk: 'chastisement']: but the righteous [the chosen Elect Few[ into life eternal [Gk: 'eonian' also]" (Matt. 25:46). Aionios is the adjective form of the noun aion. Aion means an "age." Aionios means that which pertains to an age. Eternus is a Latin word that surprisingly traces it etymology to the Greek word aion. Eternus never, ever meant "endless time" until hundreds of years after the Bible was completed and the Catholic Church decided that aions would be now taught to be "ENDLESS ages." As aion and aionios never meant endless, the word endless had to be affixed to aion and aionos in order to ever give it such a false and erroneous meaning.
The root of "kolasis" means "cutting off," as in pruning a tree. One prunes a tree to make it PRODUCE MORE FRUIT, not to kill it! The wicked are chastised (judged) for the period of Christ's reign and the Saints reign for the period of Christ's reign. Both periods are the same length--until their purpose has been accomplished. Simple, huh? And Scriptural as well. God will torture no one for all eternity. That is blasphemously insane!!
God be with you,
Ray