WILL EVERYONE BE SAVED?

        

In the West, the ideas of righteousness and judgment have become repugnant. Many believe that love conquers all, and that, if we love enough, there would be no Hitlers and Stalins. With enough love, they would just want to reciprocate with love.

From this perspective, a God of eternal punishment has become unacceptable. Consequently, many have abandoned the God of the Bible in favor of a morally relativistic, sugar daddy god

Evangelical Universalists (EUs) believe that, eventually, everyone will go to heaven, even if they have to suffer for a while in purgatory. Why do they believe in such a counter-Scriptural teaching? EUs believe that the teaching of “eternal judgment” is not consistent with the love of God. If God loves the entire world and has the power (omnipotence) to save all, then His love requires that He should save all.

Besides, EUs are able to point out some verses that seem to offer hope that all will be saved:

·       For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:19-20 ESV)

Does this mean that all will go to heaven? Perhaps, instead, these verses suggest that this reconciliation is potentially available only to those who believe. In any event, there are many of verses that indicate that punishment is eternal. Here are just a few:

·       And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)

·       “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels... And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41, 46)

·       “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29)

·       For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

·       “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:11)

·       “and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." (Revelation 20:10 )

·       “wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.” (Jude 13; 2 Peter 2:17)

These verses instruct us that the consequences of hell are just as eternal as is heaven. If heaven is everlasting; so too is hell. They give us no hope that those who go there will have an opportunity to subsequently emerge into eternal heavenly life.

There are also many verses that equate hell with “destruction.” (I will not try to decide whether “destruction” simply means complete annihilation – non-existence – or merely the destruction of everything good. For now, it is enough to demonstrate that eternal judgment entails a terrible fate.):

·       “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.” (Philippians 3:19 )

·       And not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. (Philippians 1:28)

·       But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:7)

These verses are associated with the “end” and the “day of judgment” and are contrasted with salvation, indicating that in the end, the ungodly will be destroyed. These verses preach an end. They remove any hope of blessedness.

If universal salvation was a fact, most of the Bible would become irrelevant. Take John's letter, which he wrote to assure Christians that they are saved (1 John 5:13) by giving them ways to test themselves. If all are saved, any test become needless:

·       “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives FOREVER... As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—eternal life.” (1 John 2:17, 24-25 )

If all are saved, none of these tests matter at all. Instead, John wrote that "eternal life" is something that is promised only to believers - "us." It is only those who are obedient - and obedience is a sign of saving faith, of those who will "live forever."

·       “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.” (1 John 5:12)

·       Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. (John 3:36; Romans 2:8; Ephesians 5:6)

Instead, Scripture offers no hope for those who reject Jesus in this life. No evidence of post-death salvation! There are absolutely no verses that teach that all will be saved after they undergo a time in purgatory. To preach otherwise is to go beyond Scripture. His Word continually warns that there are explicit and eternal consequences for the unrepentant:

·       “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:19-21)

·       Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

These two sets of verses are especially damning. Why? Because they explicitly claim that the unrepentant “will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

I know that this sounds unloving. However, it is more unloving to broadcast a temporarily comforting false hope that all will be saved.

However, the EU claims that the love of God would never condemn His creation to eternal torment, but his understanding of “love” is inconsistent with the Bible’s teachings on this subject. Rather, it seems that it is possible to eventually place ourselves outside of the parameters of God’s love:

·       “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matthew 12:31-32)

Eventually, God gives us over to our hearts’ desires (Romans 1:24-28). He allows us to go our own way and even to choose our own eternal fate (John 3:17-20). If we hate the light in this life, we will most certainly detest and flee from it in the next. Who then is at fault? Not God, but us!

How then are we to understand Colossians 1:19-20 – “through him to reconcile to himself all things?” If we go down to the next several verses, we find that Paul identifies those who have been reconciled:

·       And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel…(Colossians 1:21-23)

It is those who “continue in the faith…of the gospel.” There is an abundance of verses that insist that God’s free gift has to be received through faith. The Bible extends no hope to those who refuse His free gift, not in this life or the next. If there is an undisclosed hope, it is a hope that God hasn’t given us permission to share. Instead, we are commanded to evangelize:

·       Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

If all are to be saved, why even bother about anything that the Bible teaches. Instead, eat, drink, and be merry.