Sure it does, it excuses everything, for all time, for everybody.
A lot of this is going to be speculation on my part so it is going to contain some 'ifs'. To determine if God is a kind and forgiving God you would have to compare some numbers, mankind started out as 2, that number keeps increasing with time. When Judgment Day arrives there is going to be "X" number of people born up to that point. If God is full of mercy then those who are alive by the time the last verse of Re:20 is said to be past is going to be X-0. God left Satan on the earth after he sinned, things that people did after that rests on Satan's shoulders (and any fallen angels but they ceased to have any influence after the great flood)not on each individual man. God caused some deaths after the flood either by saying such and such should be killed (mostly after the 40 years in the wilderness) or through prophecy that still has yet to be fulfilled. I'm not sure why it is assumed that those numbers will be taken away from "X" at Judgment Day (being as it is those who were the 'worst of man'). Each person should have the very same chance at salvation irregardless of what prophecy has been given. Anything less is not perfect justice. The best example that comes to mind is the prophecy that said one man would betray Christ, that being Judas. That would seem to eliminate one man from being able to see salvation. Under the rules of the day Judas repented before he killed himself. That would seem to be enough to take away any curse he was under.
Under perfect justice when is any man judged, does judgment come to everybody when they are at a different age or when they reach a certain age?
I'm quite sure this next section is accurate as far as understanding when a person can be judged as being eligible for the fiery lake.
When man first began to increase in numbers God gave each man a certain number of years, 120 before His spirit would be taken away. Some obviously lived longer than that but those were ones that God had approval for. The vast majority of men never made it to that 120 year mark.
Ge:6:3:
And the LORD said,
My spirit shall not always strive with man,
for that he also is flesh:
yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
(since this chapter is open there is another verse I want to bring up in that it has to do with God's relationship with man.
Ge: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.
Ge:6:6:
And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth,
and it grieved him at his heart.
Ge:6:7:
And the LORD said,
I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man,
and beast,
and the creeping thing,
and the fowls of the air;
for it repenteth me that I have made them.
At first glance it appears that God is very displeased with mankind, the who He is displeased with is Satan and the fallen angels (sons of God mentioned at the beginning of that chapter). They are the ones who have been caused the violence, even if man was against man. God was feeling sorrow for what was happening to men so sending the flood was basically putting them out of their misery. Fallen angels also were taken away during the flood, not by drowning but by 'saints from Heaven', De:33:2 & Jude:1:14. That is when they were put in the well without water).
Back to the 120 years, even though this verse is about the new earth (after Judgment Day) it still has bearing on what was said in Ge:6 in that there will be babies born to some and they are still subject to judgment at a certain age.
Isa:65:20:
There shall be no more thence an infant of days,
nor an old man that hath not filled his days:
for the child shall die an hundred years old;
but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
infant= a person under the age of 20 (the age given in the OT of when a man can be sent into battle)
old man= somebody who has reached the age of 120, then then go on to live for eternity (if judged to not be a sinner, which none are BTW)
child=a person between the age of 20 and 120, the child dies in that they are no longer a child but pass over to being considered an old-man.
sinner=somebody between the age of 20 and 120 that would be sent to the fiery lake if found guilty of being a sinner. Here is why none will be.
sa:65:23: They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
Isa:65:24:
And it shall come to pass,
that before they call,
I will answer;
and while they are yet speaking,
I will hear.
How does this play out for people born between Adam and Eve and the last person born before Christ's second coming (in that those alive for the 1,000 years are a static population that neither increases nor decreases. It depends on what age people come out of the graves and hell at Judgment Day. If they come out at the same age as they were when they went to those places then they are 'standing around' until they would be 120 before they get their 'interview'. (based on God saying a thousand years is like one day, alluding to the 1,000 years Christ has on earth before Satan is unbound, and one day is a thousand years, the length of 'time' from the start of Judgment Day and it's end)
Or when resurrected they are all at the age of 120 and they have had years given to them while in the grave or in hell and they were taught while in those places,
1Pe:4:5:
Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
1Pe:4:6:
For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead,
that they might be judged according to men in the flesh,
but live according to God in the spirit.
Either way I doubt God will judge anybody who has not reached that age.
It means god, if he has the characteristics usually ascribed to him, orchestrated the whole thing from beginning to end, he's responsible for it all, he knew exactly what everybody was going to do and nobody had any real choices in the matter.
That still relates to who is standing at the end of the final judgment. It wouldn't make sense for everybody who will be saved be saved when the ruler of the world (when death also exists) is Satan.
I have never been able to resolve the logical inconsistency between an omniscient, omnipotent god and human free will.
Even the Angels seemed to have free-will, they would also seem to be under some sort of Law, without Law there is no sin and Satan was found guilty of being a liar and a murderer way back in Eden.
A point of speculation might be did God know that Satan would succeed in tempting Eve, or that he would even tempt her. Man was given a Law about eating from the tree, Satan was probably under the same Law that will apply to man after Judgment Day (given in Re:21). That might mean that the innocence of man was the same thing to Angels that the tree was to man.
Then maybe Satan thought he should be given dominion over something (being the highest angel) rather than dominion being given to man over something (living things that resided on the earth). If his wish was for a dominion he does get one, just not the one he desired, he gets the lake instead and probably no guarantee that he will be the top of the heap there. If man will mock him while he is bound for that 1,000 years I doubt the 1/3 of all angels that fell are going to be very pleased with him either.
I don't see how they can coexist, and that's the point that's always stopped me from accepting any version of religious belief; it just doesn't make any sense to me.
I can't answer that with anything other than an opinion. I don't know why there has to be this stretch of time between the original fall and the end of Satan. I do know that there will be "X" number of people that will be staying in New Jerusalem and He might want a certain # that start the new earth. It could also be that the tree of life isn't ripe yet, which might be some sort of answer as to why Adam and Eve didn't go to that tree right after they ate from the other tree. I'm quite sure that God has only done enough to keep salvation possible. Noah was the last of man that was perfect (without any fallen angelic blood) in that he was the same as Adam. It could also have something to do with Christ, even though He was with God from the very beginning God was still showing Him things. I just don't see the description of Him given at the beginning of Revelation as being what He would have looked like in these verses.
Proverb:8:22:
The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way,
before his works of old.
Proverb:8:23:
I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
Proverb:8:24:
When there were no depths,
I was brought forth;
when there were no fountains abounding with water.
Proverb:8:25:
Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was I brought forth:
Proverb:8:26:
While as yet he had not made the earth,
nor the fields,
nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
Proverb:8:27:
When he prepared the heavens,
I was there:
when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
Proverb:8:28:
When he established the clouds above:
when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
Proverb:8:29:
When he gave to the sea his decree,
that the waters should not pass his commandment:
when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
Proverb:8:30:
Then I was by him,
as one brought up with him:
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing always before him;
Proverb:8:31:
Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth;
and my delights were with the sons of men.
You can't meaningfully be said to have a choice if somebody else already knows with perfect accuracy what you're going to do.
Correct
Let's suppose for the sake of argument that this omni-everything god exists, as does Heaven, where some people will go in the next life, and there's a Hell, where certain other people will go.
It would seem that Heaven (actually the 3rd Heaven) is only a palce that man visits for a short time. If Jerusalem is enlarged to be 1,500 mi./side maybe the new earth is enlarged by that same factor, or the 'old heaven' (currently home for the Angels) is the 'new earth' and the Angels move over to another 'new heaven'. However it works I doubt space limitation will be any factor on how many people see these new things.
2Co:12:2:
I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago,
(whether in the body,
I cannot tell;
or whether out of the body,
I cannot tell:
God knoweth
such an one caught up to the third heaven.
That place would seem to be where the city of God is, in that if He made the heaven that is home to Angels He was still somewhere when He accomplished those feats. Kind of like going from a single universe (what we can see these days) to a multi-verse that would mean the number of stars in our universe is about the same number of other 'big-bangs'
I can't know which place I'm going to end up in, it's not given to me to know that, but god, by definition, must know it.
Even those that end up in hell are only there for a set time, hell is empty when Judgment Day happens.
And there's nothing I can do in this life to change my final destination, it's already established.
If the parable of the workers and the penny can be applied here not everybody is called at once, those called last receive the same reward as those who have been in the field longer.
In what sense can I be held responsible for what I do if all my actions and their consequences are already known?
The only consequences I can see is if a person is destined for life in new Jerusalem or life in the new Earth, the first probably being the preferred over the 2nd, but even that would't seem to be a 'hardship'. I doubt those that will be 'tilling the soil' will also be pulling the plows.
I have no power to change any of them.
I still stand by the Scripture that says you can't reject Christ before you actually meet Him.
I don't see how omniscience and omnipotence can exist either, really (can god change his mind, for instance?), but that's another subject.
Once He has spoken something? No He doesn't change it, that is actually a good thing in the end, makes the path to there a little unpleasant for some though.
Psalms:110:4:
The LORD hath sworn,
and will not repent,
Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
Jer:4:28:
For this shall the earth mourn,
and the heavens above be black:
because I have spoken it,
I have purposed it,
and will not repent,
neither will I turn back from it.
Later, feel free not to answer point by point as this is pretty long already.
