I find it difficult to convey even to a professing Christian’s mind the truth of how loving, considerate and merciful is the God of the Bible. Those who neglect, or flatly reject, the Hebrew scriptures, thinking they portray an angry, vengeful God, cut themselves off from seeing how considerate and truly merciful God actually is, for it is in the Hebrew prophets that God’s real nature and plan of the ages regarding mankind is expressed and revealed. When the Bible says Jesus tasted death for every man (Greek, “person, every human”), it means just that. (See Hebrews 2:9). When scripture says God is not willing that ANY should perish but that ALL should be brought to repentance, it means just that. (See 2 Peter 3:9). When Jesus said He came to seek and save that which was lost (to false religion, incorrect instruction, etc.), He meant just that. (See Luke 19:10). When John wrote that God so loved THE WORLD, he meant THE WORLD – all mankind including every ancient Babylonian warrior, every ancient Chinese peasant, every Inca, Aztec or Apache tribesman – EVERYONE WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTIONS WHATSOEVER! (See John 3:16).
John Calvin was in gross error when he taught that Christ’s atoning sacrifice was limited only for the “elect.” He was also in error in his four other essential doctrines signified by the acronym TULIP. God does not permit billions of humans to be born, live out a short lifespan only to then die and be tortured in hell fire for eternity never having been enlightened by God as to just how one inherits eternal life! That is a doctrine of demons regardless of who might believe and teach it.
The Bible reveals that God sees mankind in three categories, not two. Most think there are but two categories: the saved and the lost. There are THREE: the saved, a relatively small number; the lost, in all probability even a smaller number yet; and the “uncalled,” the category with the overwhelmingly largest number of human beings – literally billions and billions! Most of humanity is not saved, not in Christ, but neither are most lost, as to be truly lost one MUST be a Christ-rejecter. Though they are temporarily cut off from God, those billions will yet be summoned to join the ever expanding family of God when the Kingdom of God is finally set up on this earth.
Speaking primarily of the learned, Bible-literate Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus said, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, THEY HAD NOT HAD SIN (charged against them), but NOW (since He HAD spoken to them, enlightening them to His true identity), they have no cloak for their sin” (See John 15:22). Again Jesus says, “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did (His healings, raising the dead, etc.), they had not had sin (charged against them), but NOW have they both seen and hated both me and my Father” (See John 15:24).
No one can get to hell without going around Mt. Calvary and the cross. Those who live and die without rejecting Christ, having never been enlightened to His mission to save them, do NOT die irrevocably lost. They die having never been called, never elected, never chosen by God to hear and understand the truth in this present age. They are “lost” only in the sense that they are not yet saved. Their opportunity to be saved from the consequences of sin and brought into the universe-ruling family of God is future. There are literally scores and scores of scriptures (most in the Hebrew scriptures, commonly called the Old Testament) that teach this truth clearly. There are a couple of scriptures that “seem to” say something different. But when those scriptures are carefully examined, especially in the light of the dozens of other scripture passages, one can easily see they do not teach what many erroneously THINK they teach and say.
The apostle Paul makes it clear in Romans, chapters 9 through 11, that God’s offer of salvation to His own chosen people, the Jews, IS FUTURE. Right now, at this present time, in the present era, only a small remnant has been offered salvation by having their blindness removed and having the Holy Spirit enlighten them to the reality of Jesus Christ having been their Messiah. Paul writes that eventually “ALL Israel shall be saved” (See Romans 11:26). He writes that God has made a covenant with them to “take away their sins” (verse 27, Romans 11). “For God hath concluded them all (save for a remnant) in unbelief, THAT HE MIGHT HAVE MERCY UPON ALL” (verse 32). After stating this grand truth, Paul then cries out, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” That’s right, God has to REVEAL these truths to the obedient ones who search the scriptures daily, proving all things. Human mind alone cannot search out and see these grand truths. (See Romans 11:33).
I watched a video, a documentary about Tibet, that tiny Buddhist country squeezed in between India and China. It showed a mother with a young 3 or 4 year old son in tow. She would prostrate herself lengthwise on the ground, arms outstretched before her and her legs totally straightened out along the earth. She would then arise, walk to the point her fingertips had reached and prostrate herself again in like manner, doing this thousands of times over until she reached the Buddhist temple nearest her home. Her little boy beside her did the exact same thing!! Had a truck careened out of a side street and ran over her and the boy killing them, what would be their eternal fate? Most Biblically ignorant preachers would say, “Well, since she was a full grown woman and a pagan Buddhist, she would go to hell. The little boy would go to heaven.” Wrong, wrong, wrong. Neither would go to hell and neither would go to heaven. Both would die, sleeping the sleep of death until resurrected in the coming earthly kingdom of God. They would then both hear the truth as Satan would have then been removed from the scene unable to deceive them any longer. Both would then have an opportunity to be saved and granted eternal life in God’s kingdom. That’s what YOUR Bible teaches clearly. And it is a truth that shows we indeed do have a merciful, loving Creator who truly is not willing that ANY should perish.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley