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Scripture references are from the New King James Version of the Bible unless stated otherwise.
There are four questions which are frequently asked by those who may not fully understand the truth of Universal Salvation, as the Bible teaches. These questions are:
- If there is no hell, then what am I saved from?
- If God will ultimately save all people, then why not just eat, drink, be merry and sin to my heart’s content, as my salvation is already guaranteed?
- If God will ultimately save all people, then what is the point of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross?
- If God will ultimately save all people, then why bother evangelising?
Let us go on to answer these questions.
If there is no hell, then what am I saved from?
We are not saved from hell, but we are saved from death, as the Bible confirms.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal (age-to-come) life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin brings death, permanent death without any hope of resurrection. However, God’s gift to mankind is life, permanent glorious resurrected immortal life. On the cross, Jesus Christ won the victory over death, which the Bible refers to as the last enemy, and destroyed death permanently through His resurrection. God will grant the gift of righteous life in Christ to all people in God's time and in His order, through the gift of faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
True believers, God’s Elect, are also saved from the wrath of God, the Righteous Judgement of God, which all unbelievers will have to face in the Lake of Fire. (Romans 5:9, Romans 2:5, Ephesians 5:6) However, as we have seen in Chapter 12 ‘The Great White Throne Judgement’, the Lake of Fire Judgement is a refining yet merciful judgement of unbelievers. God’s Righteous judgement will ultimately lead to the salvation of all unbelievers and their reconciliation to God through repentance and God given faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.
If God will ultimately save all people, then why not just eat, drink, be merry and sin to my heart’s content, as my salvation is already guaranteed?
The Bible says that the Kingdom of God (also meaning the Kingdom of heaven) is like treasure hidden in a field.
Matthew 13:44
...the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
When a man finds this great treasure, which is salvation, he has great joy in his heart, and he is fully committed to keep this treasure at any cost. He no longer desires to remain in sin with the spiritual separation from God, which sin brings.
A person who enjoys the pleasures of sin to his heart’s content, without the Holy Spirit convicting him of his wrongdoing, is not a Christian. His sinful way of life demonstrates that he has not yet found the great treasure of salvation. He does not fear God and is still blind to his spiritual condition, which is that he is ‘wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked’. (Revelation 3:17)
A person who obeys God because of the fear of hell has a wrong type of obedience and a wrong type of fear. This person is not yet touched by the sacrificial love of God, which makes him a child of God who relates to God as a child obeys and fears his loving father.
If God will ultimately save all people, then what is the point of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross?
Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:2
...He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, no one, not even one person, could be saved from death. The glorious and full gospel of Jesus Christ is that ALL people will be saved because of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross for the sins of the whole world.
If God will ultimately save all people, then why bother evangelising?
Let us have no doubt that evangelism is absolutely essential because God has purposed that it is through evangelism that every person will be saved and reconciled to God, whether in this age or in the ages to come, before the creation of the New Heaven and the New Earth. Evangelism means that God, through the power of the Holy Spirit ensures that the full gospel of Jesus Christ is preached to each and every person for his salvation, through His Elect or by whatever other means God chooses.
Evangelism in this Present Age
The Bible is clear that as this present age comes to an end with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the full gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached in all the world as a witness.
We are living in perilous and momentous times near the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus warns that MANY false teachers and prophets will arise claiming to be followers of Christ and they will deceive MANY. This is happening on a massive scale today. Our present world has never seen so much growth in the preaching of ‘another gospel’ through the media of the internet, television, radio and millions of books. Christianity has become a big multi-billion dollar business, promising health and wealth in the name of Jesus and offering ‘salvation’ from a burning hell by using the formula of reciting a sinner’s prayer. However, it is prophesied by Jesus Christ Himself that the true gospel of the Kingdom of God will also be preached to all nations before He returns to this earth.
Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Christians over the centuries have been zealous in their missions to convert people to Christianity and save them from hell, but has the gospel of the Kingdom of God really been preached?
How can Christians preach the full gospel of the Kingdom of God when most of them don’t even believe in the coming literal Kingdom of God? Traditional Christianity has ‘spiritualised’ many clear scriptures about the coming literal Kingdom of God. It is unfortunate that traditional Christianity has reduced the Kingdom of God to a hazy, ethereal idea of something to be set up in people’s hearts.
When you come right down to it, the ‘Christian gospel’ that has been preached for centuries by traditional Christianity is not good news at all. It is very, very bad news. How can it be good news, when the overwhelming majority of humanity, who die as unbelievers, is condemned to spend eternity in a hell of unceasing suffering? How can it be good news even for Christians if they believe that their loved ones who die as unbelievers will spend eternity in unending torment?
The full gospel is about the fulfilment of the Abrahamic Covenant and the Reconciliation of ALL things in heaven and on earth to God the Father through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross, and God being the Saviour of ALL people. It is about the preaching of the Kingdom of God to come on this earth in two phases, the Millennial and then the Eternal Kingdom of God. The latter will be established here on this earth after, it has been refined and renewed by fire, when Father God Himself will come down to earth to dwell with men and be all in all.
It is prophesied by Jesus Christ Himself that the true gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached to all nations before He returns to this earth.
Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
This full Good News of Jesus Christ is yet to be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations. Make no mistake about it, it will be preached in all the world before Jesus Christ returns.
Evangelism in the Millennial Age
The work of evangelism will continue in the next age, which is the Millennial Age when all people (except the goat nations) will come to repentance and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In the Millennial Age the whole earth will be transformed to be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Evangelism in the Great White Throne Judgement Age
Following the Millennial Age, the work of evangelism will continue in the Great White Throne Judgement Age. This is when all resurrected unbelievers (including the goat nations) will be humbled, repent and through God given faith freely accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
The work of evangelism will continue until all things are reconciled to God the Father and Jesus Christ shouts those glorious words 'IT IS DONE' in fulfillment of God’s Plan of the Ages. This is when Father God Himself will descend from heaven unto this cleansed and renewed earth to tabernacle with men and be ALL in ALL for eternity.
God has been calling and preparing His Elect, for a special salvation to work with Him in this great and wonderful work of evangelism, which will continue beyond this age until all people are reconciled to God.
1 Timothy 4:9-11
9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. 10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. 11 These things command and teach.
God is indeed the Saviour of ALL men. However, in this age, God’s purpose is not to save all men, but only to prepare a few people for a special salvation. The Bible refers to this group of people by various names, which are the Elect, the Saints, the Church, the First Fruits, the Bride of Christ, the Lamb’s Wife, the Holy City and New Jerusalem. It is important to understand that the Elect are called and chosen according to the Election of Grace, which is entirely down to God’s Will, and man’s freewill does not play any part in it. The Elect are true believers chosen from both the nation of Israel and the Gentile nations, who will rise as the Bride of Christ in the First Resurrection to join Jesus Christ at His Second Coming. The Bride will play a vital role in evangelising all of the billions of fellow human beings who died as unbelievers.
Preaching the Full Gospel of Jesus Christ
We are fully committed to preaching the Good News, which is the full gospel of Jesus Christ, without any fear of man through all means available to us. We believe that God is calling and preparing a core group of people to this great work of evangelism before the return of Jesus Christ. This core group of people will understand and believe in the reconciliation of all things to God the Father Himself through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and they will have the ministry of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:18-19
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Do you believe and understand the full gospel of Jesus Christ to reconcile and save all people? (Colossians 1:20) Have you got the same spirit of forgiveness that Jesus Christ had when He forgave His very murderers? (Luke 23:34) Do you understand that Jesus Christ died not only for the sins of believers but also for the sins of the whole world? (1 John 2:2) If this is true for you then rejoice, because God is calling you to the ministry of reconciliation.
Most Christians believe in either the Arminian gospel or the Calvinist gospel. Both of these half-baked gospels condemn most of humanity to endless torture in hell. Thankfully, God of the Bible is the great Saviour of ALL People and He is absolutely not a torturer or an annihilator of people.
Does your heart rejoice over the truth that God is the Saviour of ALL people? If this is true for you, then please contact us and join us as fellow heirs in the Kingdom of God and as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, for this great work of evangelising the true gospel of Jesus Christ before His Second Coming. We are commanded by God to preach the gospel and to reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, even if this means that we may suffer reproach. (1 Timothy 4:9-11)
The Grace of God and His Peace be with you. Amen
We welcome your input. Please CONTACT US if you would like to make any comments on this or any other chapter in our on-line book, 'God's Plan for All'
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GOD'S PLAN FOR ALL |
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