By J. Michael
Feazell
By J. Michael
Feazell
A common belief among Christians is that all people who do not hear the gospel and accept it before they die are eternally lost and without hope.
One of the distinctive doctrines in the Worldwide Church of God is our belief that God does provide an opportunity for every person to respond to the gospel, even those who seem to have had no such opportunity before death.
We have traditionally given attention to that belief on what is called the Last Great Day of the Feast, the eighth day of the seven-day Festival of Tabernacles. Some members may not realize that the original decision to attach this meaning to the Last Great Day was speculative; the Bible gives it no such meaning.
However, even though we now realize that the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day are not commanded assemblies for Christians, our belief that God does in his time confront every person with the gospel has not changed.
We draw our belief on this matter from what we understand to be the deep current of Scripture, the message of redemption and salvation by God's grace through faith in his Son made flesh, Jesus Christ.
The Bible depicts God as a God of salvation and redemption. He is shown to be a God who loves his creation, a creation over which he is sovereign and almighty, and who loves the people he has created.
He is a God who longs for humans to repent and to turn to him. He wants them to know him and experience him for who he really is--their Creator, Deliverer, Redeemer, Father and Friend. He wants them to dwell eternally with him.
The apostle Peter wrote: "The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9, New Revised Standard Version throughout).
This is how God reveals himself as feeling and thinking about the people he has made. He made them in his image, they became sinners, and he, loving them intensely, wants to see them redeemed and saved.
We are told in Acts 17:30-31: "While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
Not only will the whole world be judged in righteousness, but the Judge will be none other than the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. Revelation 20 describes what we call the Great White Throne Judgment:
"Then I saw a great white throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.
"Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:11-15).
In this passage we are given a powerful, symbolic picture of the final judgment. It is a depiction of two kinds of people--the saved and the condemned. In this picture, every person is either saved or condemned. There is no category in between.
The Bible teaches that there is only one way to be saved--through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). As we see from Revelation 20 and other passages, such as Matthew 25:31-33, there are only two kinds of people in the final judgment, the saved and the condemned.
So what of those who seem never to have had the gospel presented to them before death? Are they automatically doomed eternally for the simple reason that before they died no Christian ever told them about the death and resurrection of Jesus?
Consider Paul's statements in Romans 10:14-21. Here, Paul highlights the unbelief of Israel by citing the words of the Psalms and of Isaiah. First, he asks a question regarding the hearing of the word of Christ (v. 17-18), "But I ask, have they not heard?" His answer: "Indeed they have; for [quoting Psalm 10:18] "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world" (v. 18).
Next, Paul quotes Isaiah to illustrate the irony of Israel's unbelief in light of the salvation of the gentiles: "I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me" (v. 20, quoting Isaiah 65:1).
God's word is the decisive word for all time to all humanity; it is not merely the word to those who are contacted by Christian missionaries and evangelists. Jesus is the incarnate Son of God and Word of God--the supreme Good News for all time past and all time future and extending to every corner of the cosmos.
It is a doctrine of the Worldwide Church of God that God makes fair and just (God is the very definition of fair and just) provision for those who do not seem to have heard the gospel before death.
Exactly what that provision is, we do not profess to know. But we do believe that God is consistent with his word--he does not want any person to perish. We believe this means God does, in ways and at times to which we are not privy, make the gospel known to every person and give every person the freedom to accept God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
We also now realize that Revelation 20 does not say all the things we used to think it did about the timing of the final judgment. Therefore we no longer hold as doctrine the details of when and how God will provide for these people. But the essential doctrine--that those who do not seem to have heard the gospel in this life are not automatically lost--remains our belief.
The Worldwide Church of God formerly taught that the Feast of Tabernacles represented the 1,000-year reign of Christ with the resurrected saints after his return. We believed this would be followed by an unspecified (we once taught 100 years) period of time during which people who had not heard the gospel would be raised to physical life so that they could prove their faithfulness by a lifetime of obedience to the law. The church called this period the Great White Throne Judgment, and assigned it to the Last Great Day for celebration.
A careful reading of Revelation 20:11-15, however, reveals nothing of a period of time for people to prove themselves obedient to God. What is described is plainly and simply a judgment--books are opened and people are judged out of those books.
Our former teaching had two major flaws: 1) The passage contains no time period for proving obedience, and 2) the Bible teaches that God does not judge on the basis of obedience, but on the basis of faith.
To review, we no longer teach specifics of how and when God will do it (because we do not know and never did), but we do still teach that God makes righteous provision for the fair judgment for every human being. In other words, God does, in his own time and way, confront every person with the gospel.
We note two fundamental points in Revelation 20:11-15 that lead us to our denominational position on this matter: 1) All are judged, and 2) Jesus is the judge.
What sort of judge is Jesus? He is fair and just. He is merciful. He has gone to extraordinary lengths to see to it that people are saved. He took all our sinfulness upon himself and so destroyed sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3).
When all the people of the world, the great and the small (v. 12), including all the dead (v. 12-13), stand before the judgment seat, they are facing none other than Jesus Christ. Think of what this means. Their judge is the Lamb of God, the atoning sacrifice not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:1-2). They are in the hands, the pierced hands, of the risen Christ. They are at his mercy--the mercy of the Author of mercy.
There is, therefore, no need to worry that our departed loved ones, nor any of the rest of the masses of humans who have died, are consigned to the eternal flames simply because no missionary reached them with the gospel message before they died. Jesus knows the gospel too, and he can present it (I speak as a fool) even better than we can.
Sadly, the Bible tells us that some do not accept the grace of the Creator and King (Matthew 25:46; Revelation 19:20; 20:15). There could be no greater tragedy, indeed, no greater stupidity, than for invited guests to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb to reject God's free gift of grace in favor of their own pitiful and miserable attempts to make life worthwhile. But that is exactly what our broken human nature is bent toward doing.
Our "just desserts" oriented minds find it most distressing to put all our eggs in the one basket of the Father's outrageous grace. Such a deal would mean not only that our hard work at being good didn't really matter in the end, but worse yet, that some pretty unsavory types might be allowed to stroll into the kingdom alongside us as well--just by nothing more than believing in God's grace through faith in Christ.
There must be some way to distinguish the deserving, like me, from the undeserving, like that weed-smoking pimp on the corner. There must be some way the good, decent people will get a better deal than the blatant sinners will get. This free, undeserved grace thing just has too many question marks around it for us to be entirely comfortable with it.
A remarkable thing takes place during this heavenly judgment sequence of Revelation 20. First, all the dead are gathered and some books are opened (Revelation 20:12).
Then, another book is opened, not the "books" just mentioned, but "another book," distinct from them. This book is called the Book of Life (v. 12). And then these dead people are judged. By what standard? They are judged "according to their works, by the things which were written in the books" (v. 12).
What are these books by which people's works are measured and judged? In Jewish apocalyptic (the literary style of Revelation), the books of judgment are the books of the Law of Moses, the Torah. The dead are judged according to what they have done in comparison to the books of the Law. Where do you suppose that leaves them?
It leaves them, naturally, in the same spot you and I are in--red-handed guilty. That is the verdict for every one of these people, and the verdict, in fact, for all people who have ever lived.
"There is none righteous, no not one," God says. "All your righteousness is as filthy rags," is his assessment of where we humans stand in terms of judgment. "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God," just in case anyone is still wondering who "made it" and who didn't.
Just to be sure we understand that absolutely nobody is left out of this judgment, we are again told that everybody who has ever died is there: the sea gave up the dead in it and Death and Hades give up the dead in them (v. 13). Don't get the idea that anybody has slipped through the cracks. Everybody stands before this judgment seat. And all are judged "according to his works" (v. 13).
At this point, things seem to have taken an ugly turn. There is indeed not one righteous. Everybody who has ever lived and died is condemned by their own actions in plain terms as recorded in the books. And they get to stand there and wait their turn while Death and Hades get tossed into the ultimate incinerator (v. 14).
But wait! What is this? That "other" book turns up again. The judgment according to their works by what was written in the books is not the end of the story!
There is another book, the Book of Life, and the only ones who wind up in the lake with Death and Hades are those whose name don't appear in this Book (v. 15)!
It was sitting there all along. Everybody whose name is in it gets a full pardon. And how do names get in it? Only one way--by trusting God. "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life" (John 5:24).
And there is more. What were the "books" really about all along? They were a testament to Jesus Christ. "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life" (John 5:39-40).
There is only one way to be saved--faith in Jesus Christ. The very Law that brings condemnation by our failure to keep it also brings salvation through its proclamation that God would send his Messiah to rescue us from our sins.
In Matthew 25:31-46, all people come before the judgment seat of Christ. On what basis does Christ separate the sheep from the goats? The Bible gives only one basis for salvation--either accept God's gift or reject it.
One of the fascinating things in this parable is that the people who have been displaying the self-sacrificial love of Christ do not even realize they have been doing so. They have no personal sense of having been particularly good or holy or righteous. "When did we do all these things?" they ask, surprised.
Ironically, those who are rejected are also surprised, surprised that the judge would think they have done nothing worthwhile for God. "When did we not do all these things?" they ask, incredulous. They have no need, they believe, for this free and undeserved grace reserved for dirty sinners. They have a stack of good report cards and a pocket full of merit badges, and if that is not good enough for this so-called judge, then they want no part of his kingdom of losers.
Who will love Jesus more--the one who is forgiven much or the one who is forgiven little? Jesus poses the question in Luke 7:41-50.
The point? People who think they are decent moral folks don't seem to be looking for grace. People who know they are big sinners tend to be hungry for grace. Big sinners will get into the kingdom ahead of some big righteous people, Jesus says (Matthew 21:31). A friend of sinners, he was called, and that is just what he is (Luke 7:34). He is your friend and mine, after all.
Religious people tend to think they have an inside track on who is going to be saved and who is not. The rule keepers, the good boys and girls and the holy people are in, and the troublemakers, the stinkers, the lowlifes, the unwed mothers and the like are out.
"Don't count on it," Jesus says. "You think you know about righteousness? Why won't you trust me to be your righteousness, because you can't even see you're nothing more than a dolled up corpse, so rotten your nose can't smell your own stink. I will have mercy on whom I want to, pal, so take what you've earned and get out of here" (forgive my loose paraphrase of Matthew 20:13-15).
How many people have died longing for justice, for righteousness, for peace, for hope, for truth, for freedom? In Christ, and in Christ alone, these ageless quests are finally ended. "And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3).
Remember what happened when Jesus touched the lepers? Any other person would have become unclean from touching lepers. But not Jesus. When Jesus touched the lepers, not only did he not become unclean, the lepers got healed.
Our minds are like lepers' bodies, hopelessly deformed and rotting. But when the Son of God took human nature upon himself, not only did his mind not catch corruption from our minds, he healed the human mind.
That healing is open to everyone. All it takes to receive that healing, to begin to experience the joy of that healed mind, to enter the kingdom of God, is accept his free gift--to trust that in Christ's death and resurrection the astonishing almighty God of lavish love has done everything that needed to be done to secure our place at his table.
In the last book of his Narnia Chronicles series, The Last Battle, Christian author C.S. Lewis presents a symbolic picture of the final judgment.
A man who was well acquainted with the intimate love of our Savior, Lewis was not afraid to depict the gracious salvation of a soldier who died having never believed in the only name under heaven whereby people must be saved.
When Emeth, the enemy soldier, came face to face in the final judgment with Aslan, the Christ figure in the story, he immediately loved Aslan, knowing Aslan was the true longing of his soul.
Is this concept so far-fetched? The Lord who died for us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8) knows those who are his (2 Timothy 2:19). Jesus tells us that God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:17).
John tells us that Jesus died not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). Is this same Jesus not the Lord of all space and all time?
Perhaps Lewis' depiction is not far off. In Matthew 25:31-46 we learn that Jesus lives in those who are his and that his works are accomplished in them even though they are not entirely aware of it.
Is it too much to say that such people will immediately know and love the glorious risen Lord as the deepest longing of their souls? And is it too much to say that those whose hearts have become fully committed to whatever opposes the kingdom of God--some to the egotistic pursuit of their own ends, some to cruelty and hatefulness, some to evil and rebellion against whatever is good and pure--will be filled with terror and hate for him?
And yet, even so, there is still the element of surprise, of supreme reversal, in which even the blackest human heart can be melted and transformed by the radical grace of our radically gracious God.
"Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last," Jesus declares (Luke 13:30).
Human expectations of justice and fairness are knocked on their ear when God's Son starts shelling out the fabulous grace of his Father.
Witness the parable of the workers in the field (Matthew 20:13-15). He is dangerous, this One, because he forgives where we can't muster forgiveness, and he blesses where we can't see any justification for blessing. He saves the undeserving, the "deserving" get mad about it, and he tells them to shove off.
What is God's will? Jesus said, "This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day" (John 6:40).
Now someone will argue that God's further will is that a great many not see the Son and not believe in him and not have eternal life so that he will not raise them up at the last day. But that is not what the Bible says, and that scenario is not the doctrine of the Worldwide Church of God.
An amazing thing about the kingdom of God is that it is nothing like a religion or an exclusive society or club or institution. The religions and institutions of this world erect barriers and rules to keep the riffraff out. But the kingdom of God is designed to encompass everybody--everybody whom God has created.
Everybody is born, because of Jesus Christ, with a golden invitation to his kingdom, only they don't know it yet.
Some, upon finding out about this invitation, don't want it. They have better things to do, more important fish to fry.
Others figure they have better ways of getting in, working for it instead of taking charity. Others don't want to be in a kingdom that lets in so many losers.
When all is said and done, the only people who will be excluded from the kingdom of God are those who refuse to accept it on the terms it is offered--absolutely free to the completely undeserving by simply trusting in the grace of the Giver.
It is not that hard to be a Christian. There is no secret handshake, no riddle or maze to figure out. And thank God, it certainly doesn't depend on how competent the church is as spreaders of the gospel, even though our Father in his grace has blessed us with such a wonderful role in that task.
Jesus says simply, "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:20). He doesn't say when. He doesn't say, "Oh, by the way, beat the deadline or you're burnt toast."
This Savior has all the ends sewed up. The final judgment is rigged. Not only did the Father send his Son into the world that whoever believes on him would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16), indeed, not only did he send his Son into the world precisely not to condemn the world but so that the world might be saved through him (v. 17), he also committed all judgment to him--he made his Son the supreme presiding Judge of the final judgment.
This is not the God of popular imagination! This is not the God people grow up on, the stern stone-face God who blows away the sinners and sends winning lottery tickets to the pious and obedient.
This is the God of the Bible, the one who can't be stopped from lavishly dishing out his grace to anybody and everybody who will accept it.
God is not a "butterfingers." No one is going to slip through the cracks. Jesus Christ has a personal and intimate interest in every person who has ever lived, and he has gone to incredible lengths to see to it that they will take their place at his Father's table.
He will not force anyone. But neither will he consign anyone to condemnation simply on the basis that one of us Christians did not get to the poor unfortunate wretch with the gospel message before he died. God's grace is not geared to our level of competence in evangelism.
But doesn't the Bible say, "It is given to all men once to die and then the judgment?" Yes, the Bible does say that, and that is exactly the point. When people die they get judged. It is a final judgment. And the one who sits on the judge's bench is none other than the one who bore the marks of slaughter for them, and boy, has he got good news!
You will find no teaching in the Bible, regardless of what many Christians believe, that Jesus is powerless to confront and save people when their physical life has ended.
In the words of the finale from the musical Les Miserables: "For the wretched of the earth, there is a flame that never dies, Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise."
Whatever the author of the verse intended, this is not just a lovely sentiment. It is God's own truth. Jesus is that eternal Flame, and even the darkest night has found its end in the rising of the Sun of righteousness (Malachi 4:2), the only name under heaven by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12).
A last thought on the topic of church distinctives in general. The fact that our church holds a distinctive belief on a nonessential subject (in terms of salvation) does not mean that all members must hold the same position.
Nor does it mean that Christians in other churches are wrong to hold a different position. Only God knows the true answer to these kinds of questions, and when it is all said and done, we will probably find that what God is doing is infinitely better than any of our best guesses ever were.
In the meantime, let us rejoice in God's grace and faithfulness and walk in Jesus' love one for another.
God will gather all the living and the dead before the heavenly throne of Christ for judgment. The righteous will receive eternal glory, and the wicked will be condemned. It is the belief of the Worldwide Church of God that the Lord has made righteous provision in the Judgment for the unevangelized dead, and that many will respond to their risen and glorified Savior in faith and be saved, while the rest will be condemned.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2000