There are four questions frequently asked by those who may not fully understand the truth of Universal Reconciliation through God’s only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. These are:
1. If there is no hell, then what am I saved from?
2. 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?
3. If God will ultimately save all people, then what is the point of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross?
4. If God will ultimately save all people, then why bother evangelising the world?
Let us now answer these questions.
1. 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 clearly says.
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Sin brings death, permanent death, without any hope of resurrection. However, God’s gift to humanity 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 death and resurrection. God will grant the gift of resurrected immortal life to all people, firstly to God’s Elect, the Firstfruits, in the First Resurrection, and later to the rest of humanity, the Great Harvest, in the Second Resurrection, as explained in detail in Chapter 12.
2. 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?
A true Christian rejoices in his salvation and he does not want to sin. So, a person who claims to be a Christian and wants to sin to his heart’s content because his salvation is guaranteed as there is no hell, simply proves that this person is still an unbeliever, and not a true Christian. On the other hand, if a person claims to be a Christian and his obedience to God is out of a fear of going to a place called hell, then he has the wrong type of fear, the wrong type of obedience and the wrong faith and belief. He also has no revelation of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ and remains an unbeliever, not a true Christian.
We need to understand that although all people are born sinners because of Adam’s sin, they are all born with a conscience (Romans 2:15, 5:12). So, for most people, it is their conscience that controls the amount and degree of sinfulness in this life, and not a belief in the doctrine of hell. Thank God that He created us human beings with a conscience, otherwise, this world would descend into an absolute unrestrained state of every sort of sinfulness, and it would become a totally uninhabitable place.
It is true that some people get so deep into sin that their consciences become seared and they do not feel any sense of guilt whatsoever about the amount and degree of their sinfulness. For such people, it does not make any difference whether God exists or not, or whether there is judgement after death or not, and they will continue to sin without having a bad conscience until the day they die.
It should be clearly understood that God’s future age-to-come refining Lake of Fire judgement, for all those who die as unbelievers, will not be without pain. God’s righteous refining judgement will be a painful judgement, not physical pain but emotional pain, which can be even more impactful than physical pain. The Bible tells us that there are different levels of judgement and that it will be more tolerable for some than others. All resurrected unbelievers will remain in the Lake of Fire until their rebellious hardened hearts are completely broken, and they truly repent of their sin of unbelief. Then, through the gift of God-given faith, they will all thankfully and joyfully accept and believe in the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, resulting in their salvation and reconciliation to God; for God is indeed the Saviour of all men (1 Timothy 4:10).
3. 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 (NIV)
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
The Bible tells us that there is no one righteous, no, not even one. Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, absolutely no-one could be saved from death because the wages of sin is death, and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. However, thanks be to God that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The glorious truth of the Bible is that God has solved the problem of sin once and for all through the sacrifice made on the cross by His only begotten Son for the sins of the whole world (Romans 6:10, 1 John 2:2). The Bible says that Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6), and when sin abounds, grace abounds much more (Romans 5:20). Yes, everybody is born a sinner because of one man’s sin, Adam’s sin (Romans 5:12), but everybody is destined to become Righteous because of one Man’s Righteousness, Jesus Christ’s Righteousness (Romans 5:18-19).
4. If God will ultimately save all people, then why bother evangelising the world?
We have no doubt that once a person fully understands Father God’s Plan of Universal Salvation through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, then that person’s zeal for world evangelism, far from being diminished, actually increases immensely.
Let us have no doubt about it. Evangelism is absolutely essential. 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 Eternal Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth.
Please remember that no one can come to the Son of God unless the Father, who sent His only begotten Son into the world, first draws that person to Jesus Christ (John 6:44). Evangelism is the means by which God, through the power of His Holy Spirit, ensures that the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached to each and every person for his salvation, through His Elect, the 144,000 Firstfruits, or by whatever other means God chooses.
The Bible clearly states that before this present age ends with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached in all the world, as a witness to all nations (Matthew 24:14).
We are living in perilous and momentous times near the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus warns us that many false teachers and prophets will arise claiming to be His followers 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. Modern Christianity has become a huge multi-billion pound 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.
The shocking fact is that the whole world of Christianity, as we know it today, is antichrist. The whole world of Christianity denies the true Gospel of Jesus Christ that He is indeed God’s only begotten Son and the Saviour of the world.
For God’s true believers, His Saints, the work of evangelism is in joyful obedience to Jesus Christ’s great command to ‘Go out into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature’ (Mark 16:15).
God has been calling and preparing His Saints, in this life, for a special salvation to rise as the Firstfruits in the First Resurrection when Jesus Christ returns. These Firstfruits, who are the Bride of Christ, will continue to work alongside their husband Jesus in the Millennial Age, and in the Lake of Fire Judgement Age. They will be working as willing labourers of Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Harvest, evangelising all unbelievers for the reaping of the Great Harvest of abundant fruits of the rest of humanity.
Ultimately, through evangelism, evangelising the true everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ (Revelation 14:6), all people, in God’s time and order whether in this age or in the ages to come, will be saved and they will all enter the Eternal Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth.