Jesus had been asked about the number of people who would be
saved:
·
Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people
going to be saved?” (Luke 13:23)
If all would eventually be saved, this would have been the perfect
time for Jesus to say so. However, Jesus instead declared that many who wanted
eternal life would be denied:
·
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter
through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will
not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you
will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he
will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ “Then you will say, ‘We
ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ “But he will reply, ‘I
don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ “There
will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown
out.” (Luke 13:24-28)
Instead, many would be "thrown out" of the
Kingdom, even though they claimed to have had some connection to Jesus. In a
similar teaching, Jesus taught that many would even claim that they were
entitled to enter His Kingdom by virtue of their good deeds:
·
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will
enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy
in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many
miracles?’”(Matthew 7:21-22)
In both cases, Jesus extended no hope to these two groups of
people. These were not doing the "will of my Father." Both groups
were still in their sins. He called them "evil doers." They would not
enter into the "kingdom of heaven." Instead, for those who believed
themselves entitled, there would be gnashing their teeth to find that they had
been excluded.
Nor was there any indication that this exclusion was just
temporary. Instead, heaven was reserved only for those who do “the will of my
Father.”
But didn't Jesus also teach that those who sought Him would
find Him (Matthew 7:7-8), and that He wouldn't turn any away (John 6:37). Weren’t
those who were to be excluded seeking to enter the “kingdom of heaven?” Didn’t
they want to be in the presence of Jesus?
I don’t think so. Consistent with the rest of the Bible, Jesus
taught that humanity abhors the presence of God and seeks to flee from Him:
·
And this is the judgment: the light has come
into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because
their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and
does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:19-20)
This suggests that those who do not come to Christ do not
want to come. Perhaps, they wanted the kingdom for its benefits but not the
benefit-Giver. In another parable, a rich man in the place of torment did not
repent or ask to be closer to the Lord but just to receive a bit of relief
(Luke 16:19-31).
While the universalist claims that all will be saved, it
seems that all do not want to be
saved. Instead, they prefer a place of darkness where they can hide from the
Light, as Adam and Eve after they had sinned.
Perhaps then God’s love and justice come together here. He gives
each exactly what they want – Light for those who love the Light and darkness
for those who love the darkness.
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