The idea of a God who will eventually save everyone is very
appealing. It eventually makes everyone our spiritual brothers, removing
distinctions and even the offense of the Cross. This is why this doctrine is
becoming increasingly fashionable. However, it is also utterly unbiblical.
There is just so much in Scripture that argues in favor of
eternal judgment, although it might ultimately be self-chosen, as it is in this
life (John 3:17-20). I’ve just chosen a
small sampling of these verses:
·
Daniel 12:2 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.
JESUS AFFIRMS ETERNAL, NEVER-ENDING PUNISHMENT:
·
Matthew 3:12 “His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he
will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the
chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
·
Matthew 25:41, 46 “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.”
·
Mark 3:28-29 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will
be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but
whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty
of an eternal sin.”
·
John 5:28-29 “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.”
THE EPISTLES:
·
Hebrews 10:26-29 For if we go on sinning deliberately after
receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for
sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will
consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without
mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do
you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of
God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and
has outraged the Spirit of grace?
·
Revelation 14:10-11 he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath,
poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with
fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the
Lamb. 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 20:10 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.
·
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you present
yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you
obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to
righteousness?... 21 But what fruit were
you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the
end of those things is death.
·
Romans 8:13
For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the
Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
·
Romans 9:22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to
make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared
for destruction.
·
Romans 11:22-23 Note then the kindness and the
severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to
you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And
even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for
God has the power to graft them in again.
·
1 Corinthians 5:5 you are to deliver this man to
Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the
day of the Lord.
·
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 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.
·
2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly grief produces a
repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief
produces death.
·
Galatians 5:21 I warn you, as I warned you
before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
·
Galatians 6:8 For the one who sows to his own
flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit
will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
·
Ephesians 5:5-6 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who
is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has
no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with
empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons
of disobedience.
·
Philippians 3:18-20 For many, of whom I have often told you and
now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end
is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with
minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven.
·
2 Thessalonians 1:9 They will suffer the
punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from
the glory of his might,
·
2 Peter 2:3 And in their greed they will exploit
you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their
destruction is not asleep.
·
2 Peter 2:12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures
of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of
which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction.
·
1 John 3:14-15 We know that we have passed out
of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides
in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer
has eternal life abiding in him.
·
Jude 1:13 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.
Although the doctrine of universal salvation is appealing
and comforting, it is offering a false comfort to those who instead need to be
warned of the consequences. It also tends to undermine or devalue all of the
doctrines of the Bible: Faith, Obedience, Confession, Repentance, Faithfulness….
We cannot serve the God of our own creation and liking. To
do so is to despise God:
·
Jeremiah 23:16-19 Thus says the LORD of hosts:
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with
vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the
LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall
be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they
say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’” For who among them has stood in the
council of the LORD to see and to hear his word, or who has paid attention to
his word and listened? Behold, the storm of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, a
whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
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