The Work of the Cross
by Ken
Eckerty
Nothing is as powerful,
glorious, and life changing as the Cross of Jesus Christ. Yet at the same
time, nothing is so hated and attacked. Men hate the Cross because it
exposes their darkness and casts light on the true motives of their
heart. Satan also hates the Cross because it was Christ’s “death that
destroyed him who had the power of death.” (Heb. 2:14) God’s ways are
higher than the thinking of men, and so while we may not understand the reason,
God has chosen the mystery of the Cross as the way He would redeem mankind back
to Himself. While the Church embraces the Cross for her own salvation,
she has unknowingly limited and weakened the work of our Savior by believing
that most men will spend an “eternity” in a state of unending punishment.
In this essay we will attempt show from the Scriptures the falsity of this
doctrine, and expose it for what it does—weakening and limiting the glorious
work of our Lord.
Will Christ Fail?
There should be no doubt in any
Christian’s mind what Jesus came to do:
What do you yourselves think? Suppose a man gets a hundred sheep
and one of them strays away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and
go and look for the one that is straying? (Matt. 18:12)
For the Son of Man is come to seek and save that which was lost.
(Luke 19:10)
Jesus
said that He came to save the world and that He would draw (literally “drag”) all
men to Himself (John 12:47; 12:32). Will He succeed? The Apostle
Paul tells us that “Jesus is the Savior of all men.” (1 Tim. 4:10) Is He?
How we answer these questions will reveal how powerful we think the
Cross really is.
Sadly, most of the Church
believes the Cross to be a big failure. The majority of Christians say
that Christ died for all men, but He cannot save most because of man’s “free”
will (Arminianism). A smaller
group says that Christ died only for the elect (Calvinism). However, both of these views teach that the end result for the majority of humanity will be never-ending (“eternal”) punishment. If this is
true, then how can we truly say that Christ’s mission as “Savior of the world”
was successful? How can we declare the
Cross to be victorious if most men are lost for ever? Will God be content with only saving a small percentage of His
creation? Can Jesus be lifted up as the
Savior of all men if most men will never come to know
Him as their Savior?
Whether a person believes in the “free” will
of man or in doctrine of predestination, both of these traditional views present
a Cross that does not save to the
uttermost. In one case, God can’t save all because of “free” will;
in the other case, God won’t save all because of election. This is not the good news of the gospel and
presents a picture of either a God who is too weak to save men or One who is
too cruel. Fortunately, there is a
better testimony given to us in the Scriptures showing us that the curse that
was passed on to all men because of Adam’s disobedience has once and for all
been broken by the obedience of Christ. (Rom. 5)
In this short essay, we will
look at a few principle texts that show that God not only “can” save all
through the Cross, but that He “will.” We will also answer the skeptic’s
charge that Christ’s death is invalidated if all men are to be saved. In no way
is this going to be an exhaustive presentation of the subject. I trust
that the reader will do his own study to see if these things are so. (Acts
17:11) My prayer is that God will use
this short essay to open up our eyes to the “larger hope” that has all but been
forgotten by the modern church.
1 Tim 2:4: God’s Will
For this is good
and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior;
Who will have
all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:3, 4)
We’ve
just asked the question, “Will Jesus fail?”
Anyone who calls himself a Christian would never admit that Jesus could
ever fail, yet according to our theology, this is exactly what we teach! Church dogma (not the Bible) teaches that
Jesus will only be able to save a small percentage of all those ever born since
Adam. However, 1 Tim. 2:4 clearly tells
us that “God WILL HAVE all men to be saved”—not just some, or even most, but
ALL men! Most Bible “scholars” say that
the Greek word thelo (translated “will have” in the KJV) should really
be translated “desire.” They tell us
that God only “desires” all men to be saved.
However, the Greek word literally means “to intend;” or “to be resolved
or determined.” In other words, “God is DETERMINED that all men be saved”…or
even better, “God is RESOLVED that all men be saved.”
Do we
believe that God is sovereign? If so,
why do we teach that God will somehow fall short in His purpose to save all
men? Is there a passage anywhere in the
Bible that says that God will not get what He determines? No! In fact, the
Scriptures most confidently declare that “God works ALL according to the
counsel of His own will.” (Eph. 1:11)
In other words, God moves all circumstances in order to bring about His
own will. Isn’t this what Solomon tells
us when he says that “Man devises his
way, but the Lord directs his steps;” “Man’s goings are of the Lord;”
and “the King’s heart is in the hands of the Lord, He turns it wherever
He desires?” (Prov. 16:9; Prov.
20:24; Prov. 21:1)
God has a will and since He is in sovereign
control of all things—what He wants, He will get!
I know that Thou canst do all
things, and that no purpose of Thine can be thwarted. (Job 42:2)
NO PURPOSE of God can be
thwarted! It is His purpose (will) that
all men be saved and Job understood that nothing could keep God from
accomplishing His intention.
Dear reader, do you really
want to confess that there are some things that God intends or determines, and
yet for some reason, He will not be able to accomplish them? Of course you don’t—and yet we have no
problem saying that most men will never be saved. So because of our unbelief, we weaken the power of God by saying
that He doesn’t really “intend” for all men to be saved, He simply “desires”
this. O.K.—for the sake of argument,
let’s say that God only “desires” that men be saved. Doesn’t the Bible say, “…I (God) will do ALL my desire,” and “the
desire of the righteous SHALL BE granted?” (Is. 46:10; Prov. 10:24)
No, it is not as our
traditions tell us. We have
underestimated God’s resolve to bring about His own will, and since men are the
crowning accomplishment of God’s own creation, He will not let man’s blindness
and ignorance be a stumbling block in His determination to save them.
Romans 5:18: Death to All;
Life to All
So then, as through one sin it was to all men to
condemnation, so also through one righteous act to all men to
justification of life. (Rom 5:18)
This is a powerful passage
that not only describes the scope of Adam’s sin, but more importantly, the
extent of Christ’s work. Critics who refute the obvious universal intent
of this passage say that the second “all” found here is limited in scope,
whereas the first “all” is universal. In other words, what Adam
did—affects all men, but what Christ did—affects only some. Is this what Paul is saying? Let’s look at the context to see if we can
get to the truth.
…but where the
sin did abound, the grace did much more abound.” (v. 20)
The above verse, quoted over
and over by Christians everywhere, is one of the most powerful statements in
the entire Bible declaring sin’s ultimate defeat at the hands of God’s
grace. With powerful simplicity, Paul
says that grace is much more powerful than sin, and in context, powerful
enough to overcome all that the 1st Adam accomplished. However, this is not what orthodoxy
teaches. Instead, they believe that the
1st Adam was more powerful than the 2nd Adam. If, as most theologians argue, the second
“all” in Rom. 5:18 represents only a limited number who receive justification
of life, how then can grace much more abound than sin? In other words, if
only some will come to a saving knowledge of Christ, how can Christ’s act of
obedience be considered greater than Adam’s disobedience? All are agreed
on the scope of the first “all.” Adam, because of his disobedience,
passed death and condemnation to “all” men.
(Rom. 5:14) However, Paul doesn’t all of a sudden change the scope
of the second clause to mean a limited number. If so, then how can Christ
be greater than Adam? Is the effect of Adam’s disobedience greater than
the effect of Christ’s obedience? Is the disease (sin), greater than the
cure (the Cross)? Can Adam condemn “all” to death, but Christ can only
bring “some” to life?
This is the fallacy of the
doctrine of never-ending punishment—sin is allowed to have greater dominion
than grace. In fact, rather than
believing what Paul says here, it would be more accurate for the Church to say
“but where the grace did abound, the sin did much more abound.” This
must be our conclusion if we believe that Adam can damn more to hell than
Christ can save.
No, Paul is not teaching that
only “some” will receive life. He gives
us absolutely no reason in this passage to believe that he means anything other
than what he says—Adam brought condemnation to all; Christ brings life to all!
Just because we have not seen the final result of Christ’s obedience, does not
mean that God will forget most men.
I’d like to quote Thomas
Talbott from his excellent book The Inescapable Love of God:
The explicit universalism of the fifth chapter of Romans is
so clear that even the proponents of everlasting punishment have sometimes
conceded, as Neal Punt does, that “Romans 5:18 and its immediate context place
no limitation on the universalistic thrust of the second ‘all men.’”
Talbott goes on to say that
since many theologians cannot destroy the universal meaning of the passage,
they must resort to going elsewhere in the Scriptures to try and refute what is
clearly being said here. While theologians may try to use tricks to get
around Paul’s meaning in Rom. 5, I have yet to hear one person who can honestly
answer the question, “How can Christ be considered greater than Adam if
Adam has the power to condemn more than Christ has the power to save?” It
is a legitimate question and one that, in my opinion, gives a deathblow to the
theology of “eternal” punishment.
The “natural man” loves to
feel that he has received something that most never will, but as we will see in
our next section, God is not as exclusive as the carnal man thinks Him to
be—for He is not simply intent on being “all in some.”
1 Cor. 15:22, 28: God shall
be “All in All”
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made
alive. (1 Cor. 15:22)
But when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also
will be subjected to the One who has subjected all things to Him, that God may
be all in all. (1 Cor. 15:28)
1
Cor. 15:22 is very similar to the passage we just looked at in Romans.
Again, it is quite clear that Paul has a definite universal thrust in mind
here. Adam brought death to all, so Christ will make all alive!
There is no ambiguity here with Paul, and again, there is no room in the passage
itself to give us permission to change the scope of the second “all” to
anything less than the scope of the first “all.” If Adam causes all to
die, then Christ causes all to live. To see this any differently would
make the disobedience of Adam greater than the obedience of Christ in that Adam
can curse ALL of humanity but Christ can only save SOME of the world.
Remember, “He is the Savior of ALL men”—not just some. (1 Tim. 4:10)
Critics
of the universal intent of this verse will say that only those who are “in Christ”
will be made alive. However, notice that Paul here does not say “all in
Christ,” but says “in Christ all”—and there is a huge difference between the
two. In the former, the emphasis is on being identified in Christ; in the
latter, the emphasis is on the result coming out of Christ. As
previously discussed, the power of grace is much greater than the power of sin,
and so because of what Adam DID, all die; AND because of what Christ DID, all
shall live. The grammatical point here
is NOT what a person must do to be included in both Adam and Christ, but the
result that occurs because of what both
have done—in Adam, the result is death to all; in Christ, the result is life to
all. You must look at the second half
of the phrase (“in Christ all”) in light of the first half (“in Adam
all”). If, in Adam, ALL have died, then, in Christ, ALL will be made
alive. This is the only conclusion we can make if we boast that Christ
(grace) is greater than Adam (sin).
All
that being said, in no way do we deny that for a person to be made alive, he
must eventually exercise faith in Christ—for the Scriptures are clear on this
point. But this is not what Paul is
telling us here. His emphasis in this particular passage (and in Rom. 5:18) is
not on what we must do to be made alive, but on the result of Christ’s work. In other words, the
passage emphasizes Christ’s work, not on man’s. Paul tells us in the very next verse when this will happen—“but
every man in his own order.” (v. 23) He
reiterates the very same thought in 1 Tim. 2:6 when he says “Who (Christ) gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in
due time.”
The
reason it is so difficult for Christians to accept Paul’s clear teaching here
is because of what they see around them.
It is clearly evident that all men have sinned, but because most are
still in an unredeemed state when they die, the assumption is that they are
lost for ever. The first part (“in Adam all die”) is both past and
present and can be easily seen; the second part (“in Christ shall all be made alive”) is future and has yet
to be seen in completeness. The first part is something we can see with
our eyes; the second part is can only be seen with the eyes of faith. The
purpose of the God’s judgment is not to condemn men for ever as orthodoxy
teaches, but to raise them in order that Paul’s prophetic words here might be
fulfilled. Christ’s work will not be
for naught! (See God's Perfect Judgment)
Verse 28 says,
And when all
things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject
unto Him that put all things under Him....
The evangelical church teaches
that while the Son WILLINGLY subjects Himself to the Father, somehow the
submission spoken of by the “all things” is to be a forced
subjugation—different from that of the Son. However, the same Greek word
(hupotasso) used of the submission of
the Son is the exact same word used of the “all things.” This is a
glorious passage that speaks of the willing submission of all men to the Lord
of heaven and earth! Just as Christ
WILLINGLY subjects Himself to the Father, all things will WILLINGLY subject
themselves to Christ. Common theology
removes the beauty and majesty of this passage by teaching that most men will
be forced to submit. However, the
Scriptures teach that salvation comes by confessing the name of Jesus (Rom.
10:9) and that “No man can SAY that Jesus is the Lord BUT BY THE HOLY SPIRIT.”
(1 Cor. 12:3) Therefore, by what power do men make confession that Jesus
is Lord—by their own power? No—for
without Christ, men can do nothing. (Jn. 15:5)
Any submission to the Lord Jesus Christ can only come about by the power
of the Holy Spirit! At the culmination
of the ages, when Christ has finished His mediatorial work, ALL will be filled
with the Holy Spirit and will willingly submit themselves to God and confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord “TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER.”
One additional thought in this
passage warrants discussion. In verse 28, Paul describes God’s ultimate
purpose to be “all in all.” When Christ has subjected all things to
Himself, He will then subject Himself to the Father, so that God may be “all in
all.” This is a glorious passage speaking of a future time when God will
“fill all things.” (Eph. 1:23) Notice Paul doesn’t say God will fill
“some” things, or even “most” things. God will not be “all” in a small
percentage of His creation. Oh, no! He will be “ALL IN ALL.”
If most of God’s creation is suffering in “eternal” torment, how can God be “in
all things?” One of the greatest scriptural contradictions taught by the
Church is that most men will be ETERNALLY separated from God. If this be true,
then kindly explain to me how God can “fill all things,” and be “all in all” if
He has chosen to for ever separate Himself from the majority of His creatures.
The purpose of the Cross is
not to simply give man an opportunity for God to be “all in all.” This is the theology of men. God
doesn’t just offer a solution to man’s lost dilemma; He planned it out before
the foundation of the world (Heb. 9:26)
and works it out “according to the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11).
If one man is lost for ever, then God has failed to become “all in all” to that
one man, but as bad as that thought is, multiply that one man by millions and
millions (perhaps billions) of people, lost for ever—eternally separated—from a
god who couldn’t fulfill his word to “fill all things” and be “all in all.”
Will you believe the Holy
Scriptures when it says “as in Adam all die, in Christ, all will be made
alive?” Will you believe that “all things,” including men, will be
reconciled to God? Will you believe that God will fill “all” things, not
just some? Will you believe what the Word of God says when John declares
that “all things will be made new?” (Rev. 21:5) Will you have the faith
to believe that God not only CAN save all, but that He WILL?
Philippians 2:9-11: All
shall Confess and Bow
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a
name which is above every name:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father. (Phil. 2:9-11)
We’ve already touched upon this verse in the last
section. This passage has become a very
popular verse in the evangelical Church—and rightly so. Taken from the prophet Isaiah (45:23), it is
a beautiful passage that speaks of the day when ALL men will bow the knee to
Jesus and confess that He is Lord. I
don’t know of anyone who believes that this passage says that only SOME will
confess Christ and bow to Him. It is clear that Paul has all of creation
in mind because he includes things “in heaven, in earth, and under the
earth.” The universality of the verse is clear, and so the only question
is whether this confession is made willingly or against the will of MOST
men.
I believe this is one of the clearest passages
in the whole of the Bible that proclaims the total victory of the Cross.
Unfortunately, mainstream evangelicalism says that most of those who confess
Christ and bow the knee to Him will be forced to do so—that it will not be a
voluntary submission. While God certainly has the power to force all of
us to submit to His will, is this really the type of submission He is looking
for? When 1 Cor. 15:28 speaks of “all things” submitting, does it mean
that SOME will WILLINGLY submit but MOST will be FORCED to submit? We know
from the Scriptures that God hates lying and false pretense. He rebukes
Israel saying,
Forasmuch
as this people draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor
me, but have removed their heart far from me.... (Is. 29:13).
Will God then, who hates pretense, accept a
forced confession of His Christ as an acceptable form of submission?
Again, doesn’t the Bible say that whosoever confesses Jesus as Lord only does
so by the Holy Spirit? So if Phil 2:11 says that every tongue should confess,
then by what power will men speak this confession—by their own rebellious
will-power or by the power of the Holy Spirit? Additionally, if one is
forced to submit against his own will, can we really say that that person has
truly submitted? I again quote Thomas Talbott,
For so
long as a single will remains in a state of rebellion against Christ, so long
as a single person is able to cling to his or her hatred of God, at least one
power in the universe--the power of that person's will--is not yet in subjection
to Christ. If they do not do this sincerely and by their own choice, if
they are forced to make obeisance against their will, then their actions are
fraudulent and bring no glory to God; a Hitler may take pleasure in forcing his
defeated enemies to make obeisance against their will, but a God who honors the
truth could not possibly participate in such a fraud.
Perhaps,
even more important to our argument is the context in which Phil. 2:9-11 is
written. The whole passage in Phil. 2 is centered around the Cross of
Jesus Christ. Verse 8 says,
And being found in
fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the
death of the Cross.
This
universal confession and bowing that is spoken of in verse eleven springs forth
from the very work of the Cross of Christ! The power of the Cross is
found, not in that it can force men to bow against their will, but in its
ability to draw men willingly BY THE POWER OF LOVE. Jesus said, “If I be
lifted up, I will draw all men to myself.” (Jn. 12:32) Again, Thomas Talbott:
Now just what is the power of
the Cross, according to Paul? Is it the power of a conquering hero to
compel His enemies to obey Him against their will? If that had been
Paul's doctrine, it would have been strange indeed. For God had no need
of a crucifixion to compel obedience; He was quite capable of doing that all
along. According to the New Testament as a whole, therefore, God sent His
Son into the world, not as a conquering hero, but as a suffering servant; and
the power that Jesus unleashed as He bled on the Cross was precisely the power
of self-giving love, the power to overcome evil by transforming the wills and
renewing the minds of the evil ones themselves.
John
Milton wrote, “Who overcomes by force hath overcome but half his foe.” If
the “orthodox” doctrine of “eternal” torment is true, then MOST of God’s
creation will be overcome by force NOT by the power of the Cross (love).
Can God consider this a victory? If most reject the gospel and instead
are MADE to mouth some insincere confession, how does this bring glory to
God? Does this mean that the Lord Jesus, who came to “save the world,”
couldn’t do it through His Cross so God has to resort to forced
submission? Paul writes in verse eleven that the “every tongue” and the
“every knee” will both confess and bow “...TO THE GLORY OF GOD THE
FATHER.” Which do you think brings more glory to God: an all-powerful,
angry God forcing weak men to submit OR God bringing forth TOTAL victory
through the power of love?
Note:
How ironic it is that those who believe that God will not violate the
“free” will of men have no problem believing that God will force men—against
their will—to confess and bow to Christ.
Additionally, it’s significant that the bowing of every knee
and the confessing of every tongue is done “IN” the name of Jesus, not “AT” as
translated by the King James Version. Scholars and Bible translators such
as Vincent, Robertson, Young, Rotherham, and Bullinger (just to name a few) all
say that it is best translated “IN.”
For where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
(Mt. 18:20)
Being “in” Christ’s name implies an “entering into” or an intimacy
with His name. Confession “IN” His name cannot mean anything but
intimacy. Phil. 2:10 cannot be a forced subjugation as if men are somehow
outside the name of Jesus. Again, Paul tells us that no man can say Jesus
is Lord but by the Holy Spirit. (1 Cor. 12:3).
Finally, the Greek verb
“confess” (exomologeo) that Paul
chooses is one that is used throughout the Greek Septuagint to not only imply
“confession” but also the offering of “praise and thanksgiving.” It is
the exact same word Jesus used when He prayed, “I THANK thee, O’ Father, Lord
of heaven and earth....” (Matt. 11:25). To Jesus, this word meant giving
thanksgiving and praise to His Father. Are we then to assume that all of
God’s creation will be divided into two groups: the first group being
Christians who confess Christ with praise and thanksgiving and the second group
(the rest of humanity) who confess Him with cold, sterile words? This is
ridiculous and exegetically dishonest. If Christians are included in the
“every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess” (and they are), then you
must take this verb to not only mean “confession” but also “praise and
thanksgiving.”
This same idea of all of God’s
creation praising Him is found in Rev. 5:13,
And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I
saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
There can be only one reason
why praise and thanksgiving will be offered by all of God’s creation and that
is because all of God’s creation has been reconciled—and this is exactly what
the next verse we will look at says!
Colossians 1:20: All Things
Reconciled by the Cross
And through Him making peace by the blood of His Cross, to
reconcile all things to Himself; through Him, whether the things on the earth,
or the things in the heavens. (Col 1:20)
This
verse describes the ultimate goal of the Cross, that is, the “reconciling of
ALL THINGS to Himself.” The word used for “reconcile” is the Greek word apokatallaso. W. E. Vine, in his Expository Dictionary
of New Testament Words explains the meaning of this word:
to reconcile completely; to
change from one condition to another, so as to remove all enmity and leave no
impediment to unity and peace.
Dr.
Vine has accurately communicated the meaning of this Greek word. To
“reconcile” means to remove all enmity. In other words, to reconcile
means to take two hostile parties, break down the wall of partition between
them, and make them friends. For Christians, this work of reconciliation
began the moment we were given the faith to believe. Paul, however, does
not stop with believers. He says that “all things” will be reconciled to
God.
At
this point you might be thinking, “Ah yes, but Paul did not say this
reconciliation would include all ‘people,’ but all ‘things.’” (I actually
had a friend of mine tell me that if the passage said “people,” he would be
forced to believe in the ‘salvation of all’).
This rationale completely ignores the context of the passage. In
the very next verse Paul says, “And you then being alienated and hostile in
your mind by evil works, but now has He reconciled.” (Col. 1:21) It is
exegetically dishonest to say Paul does not include men in verse twenty, when
he speaks of men being reconciled in verse twenty-one. Of course he means
men! Do you think that “things” are more important to God than men?
Are only rocks, trees, and stars (and only a small percentage of men) reconciled
to God? Isn’t man the crowning achievement of God’s creative acts?
(If you're still in doubt that men are included in the category of “things,”
see Luke 1:35, 1 Cor. 3:21-22, and 1 Cor. 15:27.)
NOTE: The word for “all” is the Greek word
“pas.” Most translations insert the
word “things” whenever “pas” is used.
However, the word “things” is an extra word not included in the orginal
Greek and should not have been put in our English translations.
Similarly to Phil. 2, Paul
tells us exactly the type of reconciliation he has in mind here—“making peace
by the blood of the Cross....” This reconciliation will be brought about
by the Cross of Jesus Christ NOT by some forced subjugation.
Reconciliation can only spring forth FROM the Cross, never APART from it, and
if there for ever remain millions upon millions of people in total rebellion to
God, how can we say that “all” have been reconciled? It is the Cross that
brings God the most glory, not some forced submission going against the will of
those who either because of ignorance or stubbornness reject Christ in this
age.
Many think that God’s purpose
in this current age is to save as many as He can before the end. It is not.
God’s focus in this present, evil age is NOT the world, but the Elect.
This is why Jesus “did not pray for the world, but only for those given to
Him.” (John 17:9) God is setting apart an “elect” people, not for the
purpose of building an exclusive Christian country club while most others are
tormented for ever, but in order to minister His grace to the rest of humanity
in the “ages to come.” (Eph. 2:7) Paul says, “Christ is the Savior of all
men, but especially those who believe.” (1 Tim. 4:10) The only difference
between Christians and the rest of the world is that we have appropriated the
Saviorhood of Christ into our lives—the world has not. Jesus is the
Savior of all men, and so the same complete work of reconciliation that He has
done for us, will be completed in all men, “the testimony to be given in its own time.” (1 Tim. 2:6)
It is interesting to note that
Dr. Vine adds the following comment in his notes on apokatallaso:
It is the Divine purpose, on the
ground of the work of Christ accomplished on the Cross, to bring the whole
universe, except rebellious angels and unbelieving man, into full accord with
the mind of God. Things under the earth, Phil. 2:10, are subdued, not
reconciled.
Where
does it say anywhere in this passage that God will not reconcile unbelieving
man to Himself? In fact, where does it say this in the entire Bible? Dr. Vine’s interpretation of this passage
might be that unbelieving man will not be brought into accord with the mind of
God, but Paul sure doesn’t say this! Because there are numerous passages
in the Bible that “seem” to speak of never-ending punishment, Dr. Vine then
assumes that the reconciliation spoken of here excludes the mass of
humanity. He is basing this belief purely on his own theological bias.
However, any thorough study on the meaning of this word “eternal,” God’s plan
for the ages, and the purpose and intent of God’s punishments will show what a
ridiculous and untrue statement this really is. The study of the Greek
words aion and aionios
would greatly benefit the reader and provide much insight as to why the Bible
never speaks of “eternal” punishment, but only “age-lasting” punishment.
(See appendix at the end of this essay.)
Romans 11:32: “Mercy to All”
For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might
have mercy upon all. (Rom. 11:32)
How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out.
(Rom. 11:33b)
Perhaps the main reason why
the Church has difficulty seeing the truth of the salvation of all is because
she sees God’s judgment as something separate from His love and mercy. To believe the doctrine of “eternal”
torment, one has to believe that there will come a time when God will never
again show His love or mercy. This
cannot be! God’s judgments never
operate apart from His love, but always through it. God must judge sin because He is holy, yet
God must also have the sinner’s best interest at heart because He is love. The traditions of men have made God into two
separate personalities—a god of judgment or a god of love. This god of love can only love those who
“accept” him in this life. But if a man
is unfortunate enough to die at a young age apart from Christ, or born into a
Muslim country, or rejects Christianity based on the hypocrisy of so-called
Christians, or simply isn’t smart enough to choose Christ over the thousands of
religions and sects each claiming to have the truth, then look out! This god of love transforms himself into a
god of judgment. No longer can he love;
no longer can he reach out to his enemies; no more can he show mercy; and no
more is he able to save. This is absolute
nonsense and makes God out to be One who is limited in His love and
forgiveness. The fact is the Scriptures
declare just the opposite—“His anger is but a moment…for the Lord will not cast
off for ever.” (Ps. 30:5; Lam. 3:31)
Paul gives us the reason for
God’s judgment in the eleventh chapter of Romans. He speaks of God’s
severity toward the disobedient, His judgment of sin, and His willingness to
blind eyes and harden hearts, not as an end in and of itself, but as a means to
an end (v. 32)
Paul tells us that Israel was
blinded for the purpose of bringing the Gentiles into salvation (vs.
8-11). Jesus prophesied this when He
told Israel that the kingdom would be taken from them and given to another.
(Mt. 21:43) While this was an
indictment on the hard-heartedness of the nation of Israel who rejected their
Messiah, this would not mark the end of their existence. God never judges simply to punish, but to
bring forth something greater—“beauty out of ashes.” In this case, God’s judgment against Israel was to bring
salvation to BOTH the Gentile nations and Israel (vs. 12, 15). While our idea of God’s judgment is
something that is final and irrevocable, God’s purpose is far more glorious. God did not judge Israel only to cast them
off for ever, but in order that He might save them (v. 26).
In the same way, God will not
reject those who has He has chosen as “vessels of wrath,” but will instead use
their own disobedience to show them mercy.
Jeremiah told Israel that their own wickedness would correct them, and
Isaiah said the inhabitants of the earth would learn righteousness when God’s
judgments came to them. (Jer. 2:19; Is. 26:9)
This is the purpose for disobedience—that through the judgment of our
own sin, mercy might come forth.
The Lord is good to all:
and His tender mercies are over all His works. (Ps. 145:9)
God’s mercy is greater than
all of His works—including His acts of judgment. As we have said, God’s judgment never acts alone, but always
works alongside His mercy to achieve a greater and more glorious purpose.
This is certainly true in the life of a believer. Hebrews 12:11 tells us
that God’s chastisement (a form of judgment) produces the fruit of
righteousness. While God’s judgment in the “ages to come” will be more
intense, its purpose never changes.
God’s vengeance is not against the spirit of man, but against the deeds
of his flesh, and God will keep judging until all things are brought into
submission to His will.
Rom. 11:22 tells us that “God’s judgments are unsearchable
and His ways past finding out.” Most of
the Church would have us believe that God’s unsearchable ways are to “accept
Christ or burn in hell for ever.” We
reject this view of God’s judgment as nothing more than the carnal thinking of
men who are unable to see that God’s judgments flow FROM His love, not separate
from it. The carnal man wants to see
others “get what they deserve” and so he takes those prejudices and reads them
into the Word of God. However, the
testimony of God’s love is such that the Bible tells us that “love never
fails.” (1 Cor. 13:8) God’s end is
always love, not judgment.
Opposite to what is embraced by “orthodoxy,” the
unsearchable ways of God put to shame the wisdom of men. The higher ways of God
take those things that seem to be absolutely impossible, and makes them
possible (Mk. 10:27). The miracle of God brings forth life out of the
rubble of death and judgment. (1 Sam. 2:6-8)
The power of God can take something as final as the grave and make it
weak, impotent, and ineffectual. (1 Cor. 15:55) And the wisdom of God can take
the weakness and foolishness of a Cross, and bring salvation to all, not just a
few
O Lord our God,
You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, and yet an avenger of
their evil deeds. (Ps. 99:8)
Hallelujah! Here is the perfect balance of God. He
loves, yet at the same time He hates; He forgives, and yet He avenges. The flesh must be destroyed,
and it is the infinite love and mercy of God Who will do whatever it takes to
bring His creation into perfect harmony with His will.
Jesus’ Words
The very words of our Lord also confirm to us the scope of this
great salvation. In Jn. 3:35, Jesus
said, “The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His
hand.” Jesus would be worthy of this
great stewardship for two primary reasons.
One, He was the Creator of Heaven and Earth (Jn. 1:3; Col. 1:16), and
therefore deserving to be the Judge of all (Jn. 5:22). Secondly, Jesus Christ was made to be the
heir of the world because of His complete submission to the will of the Father
(Jn. 5:30) and His absolute victory over His sufferings on earth (Rom.
8:17). Because of Christ’s victory, He
could say that all things were given into His hand. Listen carefully to the words of Jesus:
And this is the Father’s will
which He hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. (Jn. 6:39)
So the Father has given His
Son ALL THINGS (Jn. 3:35), and of all the things He was given, He would LOSE
NONE (Jn. 6:39). Could it be any
clearer? Jesus Christ will lose
none! Yet, orthodoxy teaches the exact
opposite. It teaches that Jesus Christ
will LOSE MOST because of the supposed “free” will of man. According to the majority view, the Father
wants to save all, but He can’t quite do it because He won’t infringe upon
man’s ability to choose or reject Him.
And so in the end, only a few will be saved while the rest will be lost
for all eternity. Space here will not
allow us to refute the false idea that man can somehow thwart the plans of God,
but for a thorough discussion on this, go to:
http://www.savior-of-all.com/freewill.html. Instead of Jesus being the “Savior of the world,” orthodoxy has
made Him to be the “Failure of the world.”
No, it is clear that the
Father’s will is for Christ to lose none, and it is equally clear of Christ’s
ability to completely carry out that plan.
Additionally, God speaks of
how He will complete His great plan of salvation. In John 6:44, Jesus says,
No man can come
to Me, except the Father which hath sent ME draw him….
The Greek word for “draw” is
the word helkuo, which literally
means “to drag.” It is the same word in
used in John 21:6 and Acts 16:19 that speaks of Peter dragging fish with his
net and Paul and Silas being dragged before the court. In no way, did either the fish or Paul and
Silas have a choice in being dragged.
It was done against their will, and in this same manner, the Father
DRAGS men [against their will] unto Himself.
Can the Father really do this?
Can He really drag men against their will? Absolutely! He certainly
did it to Saul of Tarsus, and He does it to each and every one of us. Paul was on the road to Damascus bent on one
thing—destroying as many Christians as he could find. God violently knocked him to the ground and stopped him cold in
his tracks. Soon afterward, he would
receive his calling as an apostle to the Gentiles. All of us were bent on going in one direction, and if it were not
for the Father intervening in our lives against our will (without our
permission), none of us would be saved.
Every initial work of the Father in our lives is against our will. Eventually, we are given the eyes to recognize
this work in our lives, and God changes our heart whereby we stop resisting His
work and willingly submit. So the Bible
is very clear that that unless the Father DRAGS a man to the Son, that man will
remain in a lost state. (See also Jn. 1:13)
Later on, Jesus says,
And I, if I be
lifted up, from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. (Jn. 12:32)
Again, the same word helkuo is used to describe the Father’s
work through the Son. It is a dragging
work and it will be accomplished in ALL.
Jesus tells us that because of His death on the Cross, ALL MEN would be
dragged unto Him. So much for “free”
will!
In John 4:42, Jesus tells us
that He is the Savior of the world. Can
He really be considered the Savior of the world if He doesn’t save all? To avoid any doubt as to how many is
included in Jesus’ saving work, the apostle Paul adds, “He is the Savior of ALL
men….” (1 Tim. 4:10)
Finally, one of the most
conclusive statements of all that show us that Christ’s saving work will be completed
in all, not just in a few, is the last words Jesus spoke on the Cross, “It is
finished.” God sent His Son to reverse
the destructive work of the first Adam and to rescue all (in order to lose
nothing) of those given into Christ’s hand—and with these three words, Christ
uttered the complete victory of the Father (to be testified in due time—1 Tim.
2:6).
We have looked at a few
passages from Paul’s writings in the New Testament, and some of Jesus’
words. We will now briefly turn our attention to the law and the prophets
and see that their message was identical.
Old Testament
All of the verses we’ve looked
at thus far have been from the New Testament, in particular, from Paul’s
epistles. However, according to the apostle Peter, the “restoration of
all things” was spoken of by the holy prophets of old. (Acts 3:21) There
are hundreds of passages in the Old Testament that speak of God’s blessings
coming to “all” nations and “all” peoples. Those who limit salvation to a
small minority do so by saying that Christ will not save each and every
individual, but instead will save men “out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, and nation.” In other words, God will not save ALL individuals,
but only those from ALL nations. This conclusion is based on a failure by the
Church to understand that God’s purposes are worked out in successive
dispensations or ages. As stated earlier, God’s purpose in this age is
not to save each and every person, but to “take a people out from among the
nations…so that the rest of men may seek the Lord.” (Acts 15:14-17) The
blessing of salvation is first given to the first-born in order that the same
blessing may come to the later-born. (Heb. 12:23) Unfortunately, we only
see God’s work as it relates to this particular age and do not have the “eyes
of faith” to see that this LIMITED Pentecostal age will birth a greater and
more glorious Tabernacles age where God’s Spirit will be poured forth on all
mankind.
And they shall teach no more every man His neighbor, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least
of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their
iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jer. 31:34)
Most Christians limit Jeremiah’s
prophecy to only a small percentage of men, while the rest are to be
damned. However, the man of faith knows
that nothing can stop God’s plan from being accomplished—not even the
grave. He knows that Christ took the sting out of death and that one day
God will raise all men from the dead, not to sentence them to an existence of
never-ending punishment, but to judge them in order to bring about a greater
and higher purpose.
The very first covenant, given
to Noah, was a covenant “between God and him, and every living soul, among all
flesh.” (Gen. 9:15) This was a covenant of grace, and it was a promise to
every living soul. While this promise has not yet been
fulfilled in either Noah’s day or ours, the man of faith chooses to “call those
things that are not as though they were,” even though every “sense” tells him
that only a few will receive the blessing of the promise. There will
always be those who mock faith because they cannot see what the Spirit
sees. They can take the “letter” of the Word and are able to prove
anything they want, yet they cannot, as a child, have simple faith to believe
God for the impossible, and thus they seal their fate of never being able to
see anything beyond the carnal letter. The
“letter” is limited and pertains to the flesh, whereas the Spirit is eternal
and moves us into the unsearchable and deep things of Christ.
(Eph. 3:8; 1 Cor. 2:10)
The next covenant was given to
Abraham and this was established so that through his seed “all the families of
the earth would be blessed.” (Gen. 28:14) Interestingly, just like those
in Noah’s day, both Abraham and Sarah laughed when they were told that they
would bear a child in their old age. They simply could not get past what
they saw as an impossible barrier to God fulfilling His promise. Men,
today, also cannot get past the impossible barrier of the grave as it relates
to God fulfilling His covenantal promises to both Noah and Abraham. But
if there is one thing we can count on from God, it is that He will fulfill all
His promises. (Tit. 1:2)
The Abrahamic covenant is
important because it came prior to Moses. The apostle Paul says that the
law cannot disannul the promise found in Abraham because he came before Moses.
(Gal. 4:17) When we understand that the law (which brings forth death)
represents God’s judgment, we understand that no matter how much the law
condemns, it can never usurp the promise given to Abraham which represents the
gospel of grace found in the Cross. This speaks powerfully on how
judgment can never be God’s end, but acts as only a means to bring all men to
Christ, whether in this age or the ages to come. (Eph. 2:7)
The prophets also tell us of
this restoration. Isaiah 2:2 says that all nations shall flow to the
Lord’s house. Ez. 16:55 tells us that Sodom will be restored to its
former estate (the same Sodom that now burns with “eternal” fire.—Jude
1:7) Jeremiah tells us that the Lord will not cast off for ever. (Lam.
3:31, 31) The Psalmist says that God’s anger endures but a moment; all
nations will worship the Lord; and that all the ends of the world shall
remember and turn to the Lord. (Ps. 30:5; Ps. 86:9; 22:27b)
These are just a few of the
myriads of passages found in the Old Covenant that speak of the “restoration of
all things.” Of course, the law only contains types and shadows of the
reality that is revealed in the New Testament. (Heb. 10:1) So while the
Old Testament is filled with many references to the glorious truth of God’s
reconciliation, it is not until we get to the New Testament that we see the
fullness of what was spoken in the Old—particularly in the writings of Paul who
spoke of things “hard to understand.” (2 Pet. 3:15, 16)
Argument: “Why then did
Jesus have to Die?”
Critics who question the truth
of the “reconciliation of all” say that if what I teach is true, then the
atonement of Christ is unnecessary. “If all men will one day be saved,
then why did Jesus have to die?”
This argument reflects the
ignorance of the Church concerning the extent of man’s depravity and how
hopelessly lost he really is. If we could only grasp how absolutely
incapable we are of choosing God (apart from His intervention), we would
realize that none of us would be saved unless the Father “drags” us to
Himself. It was not Adam who went looking for God in the garden, but God
who went looking for Adam. It is no different today. Man will
always try to flee from the presence of God.
It is the Shepherd who must seek us out lest we all perish for
ever.
Andrew Jukes expressed this
thought when he said:
…where by nature he (man)
is for ever lost, as unable to quicken his soul as to raise again his dead
body; that in this fall God pitied man, and sent His Son, in whom is
life, to be a man in the place where man was shut up, there to raise up again
God's life in man, to bear man's curse, and then through death to bring man
back in God's life to God's right hand; that in His own person, Christ, the
first of all the first-fruits, as man in the life of God, broke through the
gates of death and hell; that those who receive Him now, through Him obtain the
life by which they also shall rise as firstfruits of His creatures; that
"if the firstfruits be holy, the lump is also holy," and that
therefore "in Christ shall all be made alive.
Man is thoroughly lost and
without God’s intervention (through Christ), all men would return to the dust
of the earth and remain there forever.
The Cross is God’s way to reconcile man back to Himself. As to why the body and blood of our Savior
was chosen as God’s method of salvation, we can only speculate. However, it is sufficient for me to know
that the only way that lowly man can be lifted into the heavens (whether it be
one or all) is through the all-sufficiency of Christ’s death. To then say that because all will be saved
that this somehow invalidates Christ’s need to die is to call God’s plan
foolish. (1 Cor. 1:18) The flesh will
always try to avoid the Cross. Satan
tempted Christ to avoid the Cross by offering him the whole world if He would
only bow and worship him. The carnal
Christian seeks to save himself through the works of the flesh rather than the
death of the Cross, so it comes as no surprise that men would mock God’s
salvation rather than give glory for as many as He would choose to save.
This argument is nothing more
than man trying to justify himself as better than other men. The carnal Christian boasts in himself that
he was fortunate enough to choose the Cross, but if all men get saved then he
know longer feels special to God. In
fact, it is the same attitude as Jonah who got angry because he knew God was
merciful enough to cause all to repent (which actually happened). If one man gets saved, the Church will say,
then that is a demonstration of God’s wondrous grace working through the Cross;
but if God saves all men, then that is heresy and totally negates the cross of
Christ. Why? Is only a portion of
mankind in need of a Savior? Are only
some men affected by the curse of Adam?
And if God does save all men through the only way He has chosen, are you
prepared to tell God that because He saved all, Christ was not needed? This is utter foolishness and demonstrates
man’s intellectualism at its best! When
one understands the extent of what Adam’s sin caused in the soul of each man,
and sees both the forces within his own self (his own foolish heart and wayward
flesh) and the forces outside of himself (the world and the devil) working
against him to keep him in a lost and blinded state, then, and only then, will
we be able to understand why the Cross MUST save all men, not just
some. Is man capable, in and of himself, of coming to God?
Doesn’t the Bible say, “There is none that seeks after God?” (Rom. 3:11)
If we somehow think that man has some sort of “divine spark” within himself
that gives him the ability to choose God apart from the drawing work of the
Holy Spirit, then we will never be able to grasp the grand truth of how
powerful the Cross really is.
If a rescue team saved all the passengers
on a sinking ship, would that prove their mission to be futile? Of course not! In the same way, just because all of mankind will one day be
rescued from death and the grave, this does not mean that Christ’s death was
not needed. It is only by Christ’s
death and resurrection that a man can be rescued from death and the grave – for
there is no other divine process whereby this can be accomplished! Any man who is rescued needed the rescuer to
save him, and in the same way, every man who comes into salvation, whether in
this age or in the ages to come, needs a Savior to save him. So whether salvation comes to one or to all,
Christ is most desperately needed by all of us—and the only way that a man can
come to the Father.
Conclusion
I understand that there will
be many who will take the same verses I’ve used to support the truth of the
“reconciliation of all,” and turn them around to try to prove that God will
cast off men for ever. I, too, tried to justify the lie that God’s
forgiveness was limited, but the more I studied and the more I prayed, the more
convinced I became at how weak my view of the Cross really was. I
thought, “Surely, God’s plan couldn’t be this big and this awesome—could
it?” Let me assure you, dear saint, it is bigger and more glorious
than any of us could have ever imagined.
The Church has not always
believed as it does today, but traditions of men do not fall easily. Men
are comfortable with what they believe even though it can be shown that there
is fallacy to their traditions. I, along with many other saints
throughout the centuries, have chosen to reject the orthodox view that says
that the glorious Cross of our Lord is limited either by man or Satan.
Never has the phrase “God created in the image of man” held more truth than
with the lie that puny man can somehow thwart the plan and purpose of
God. May it never be! Job
understood this when he said,
I
know that Thou canst do all things, and that no purpose [even
salvation] of Thine can be thwarted. (Job 42:2)
The Church believes a false
gospel mainly because she lacks the faith to believe. Because of the
faithlessness and hardness of our own hearts, we interpret the Bible with
earthly, temporal eyes. We have limited faith to believe that “with men
it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.” We can’t
forgive one or two times, let alone “seventy times seven,” so because we can’t
forgive, we bring God down to our level and teach that He can’t forgive
either. Oh…we use the Bible to defend our view, but it is the carnal man with
all his enmity against God and his fellow man that skews God’s Word and twists
it to make God into One who either cannot or will not forgive. Jesus on the Cross said, “Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do.” This is the ultimate expression of
love and forgiveness bestowed upon men who do not know what they are doing—men
who wander hopelessly lost, incapable in any way of saving themselves.
The Bible says that the very faith we have to believe is not our own (Eph. 2:8,
9). We are so lost and blind that even when it comes to the moment
of our own salvation, God has to give us the faith to believe.
A brother I know once said,
“Men seek out God AFTER they are saved, not BEFORE.” This is so true. It’s
amazing to me how often I hear pastors and musicians preach and sing about how
we can’t do anything apart from God—and Amen!—this is a true testimony; but
then in the very next breath proceed to tell the sinner that a decision for
Christ is ALL UP TO THEM. Yes, we must
come to Christ, but who is the One who manipulates circumstances at the right
time and manner to CAUSE a man to willingly come? When a man rejects Christ, he rejects Christ because God did not
bring about the circumstances for that man to come unto Him, but rest assured,
God is not partial. What He has done
for you and me, He will do for ALL men—in due season!
We can interpret the
Scriptures in one of two ways. We can take all the verses that seem to
teach the salvation of all and try to explain them in the light of God’s judgments
OR we can take God’s judgments and try to understand them in the light of His
plan to “reconcile all.” Both ways will lead to a definite
conclusion. Most of the Church has chosen the former and have concluded
that God will forever terminate His mercy for the majority of men.
However, there are a growing number of believers whom God is giving a glorious
revelation of the fullness of the Cross of His dear Son. Truth can only
be held at bay for a season until God begins to bring forth a great rushing tide
of His Spirit that smashes the dam of men’s traditions. In God’s perfect
timing, He will call forth a people who will not back down from proclaiming the
glory of His love to all nations. The great truth of the reconciliation
of all that was proclaimed by Paul, embraced by many in the early church, and
taught by men all throughout church history is finally beginning to free men
from the shackles of religion that for so long has kept them in bondage to
church authority and abuse. There is coming a greater outpouring of God’s
Spirit—an outpouring that has never before been witnessed. It will be
greater than any of the miracles seen under the old covenant. It will be
greater than the works of Christ. (Jn. 14:12) It will be greater than
Pentecost. This move of God will be the age of Tabernacles that will fill
the entire earth with the glory of God (Hab. 2:14) and it will not stop until
every last speck of God’s creation bows in loving submission to the Creator of
all!
It is my hope and prayer that this
testimony of God’s love, shown to us through the Cross, would enlarge the
vision of the saints and re-ignite the Church’s passion to proclaim the glory
and truth of the good news of God’s never-ending love for all men.
Blessed be the name of the Lord!!