By J. Michael
FeazellPart Two of Two Parts
By J. Michael
Feazell
In Part One we considered the strange but common belief among many Christians that all people who do not accept the gospel before they die are eternally lost and without hope.
We began by reviewing the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man, and from there we reviewed various passages that assert that God's purpose for humanity is salvation. We reaffirmed that there is no path to salvation other than by God's grace through faith in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Jesus Christ. And we had begun to look at the depiction of the Judgment given in Revelation 20.
Returning to Revelation 20:11-15, we find the two great truths of human destiny, attested continually in Scripture, once again jumping out at us: 1) All, that is, everybody, gets judged, no exceptions, and 2) Jesus is the judge.
Now let's sit down and give a little serious thought to that. What sort of judge is this Jesus? Well, for one thing, he is not like any human judge we're ever going to meet. No human judge takes on himself every criminal's punishment and then declares the criminal "not guilty!" But this one does. In fact, he already did. In fact, he did it from the foundation of the world. Which means that the power of his redemption precedes even the very first salivating of Eve's mouth for the forbidden fruit.
This is no ordinary judge. This judge holds all the universe every moment in the miraculous dance of existence by the word of his mouth. This judge not only gives existence to every single human, he became one of us for the express purpose of forgiving us all crimes against him and giving us eternal life in himself. This judge draws all men, women and children to himself in his death and resurrection from the dead. This judge is no ordinary judge.
He is perfectly fair and just, but not just fair and just, because that would leave every one of us dead. His perfect fairness and justice are overpowered by his perfect mercy (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13; 12:7; James 2:13). He has gone to extraordinary lengths, through his own incarnation, 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). This is no ordinary judge.
This universe springs from the gracious freedom of the triune God to be who he will be. By his grace the worlds exist. By his grace every person exists. And by his grace the eternal Son of the Father became flesh for us, atoning for the sins of the whole world, that God's gracious purpose for us might be fulfilled in him, the eternal Son, Jesus Christ.
When all the people of the world, the great and the small (Revelation 20:12), including all the dead (verses 12-13), stand before the judgment seat, they are facing none other than Jesus Christ. Imagine the scene. Their judge, the one who holds their eternal fate in his hands, is none other than 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 spike-pierced hands, of the risen Son of God, the crucified and glorified Christ. They are at his mercy--at the mercy of the Author of mercy.
Imagine you are sitting in the Court of the Universe, waiting with pounding heart for the Judge of All Things to walk in and pass judgment on you. You had never really taken seriously the idea of a final judgment. You had heard people talk about God and such, but it never really meant anything to you.
Now you realize that there really is an accounting to be given. The piper is going to be paid, after all. You are heartsick. Your breathing is shallow, rapid. Sweat is trickling down your spine. Your eyes focus on the signs above two doors behind the bench. One reads, Exit for Perfectly Sinless and Righteous Saints. The other reads, Exit for All Others.
Flooding through your mind is a hideous collage of your lies, lust, meanness, betrayals, selfishness, greed. And now this is it, the day of reckoning. You feel numb. You know you've got no hope. You hear yourself groan.
Then the Judge walks in and takes his throne. His presence overwhelms you. He is like nothing you could have expected. The whole courtroom seems to come alive in response to him.
He is the definition of power and of authority, yet he radiates peace, serenity and love. He is so compelling that your thoughts are no longer on yourself and your dread. Your body relaxes, an unexplainable joy bubbles up from the center of your being. As awesome as he appears, you suddenly feel you would rather be smothered in his embrace than live another moment without him. You know that whatever his verdict, it will be good, and you are no longer afraid of anything.
"How do you plead?" the Judge asks. His voice seems to draw the truth from your lips.
"Guilty," you respond, and as you do, you realize two things at once, that you are deeply ashamed of your sinful life, and that the Judge has already dropped all charges against you. Your shame melts into grateful tears of joy and peace of heart as you receive his life-giving gaze into the depths of your soul.
"Guilty of what?" the Judge asks, with a playful smile. "There doesn't seem to be any record against you. Are you ready to join the celebration? Good. Let's go eat." And he holds open the Exit for Perfectly Sinless and Righteous Saints and beckons you to enter with him.
Or, of course, you could plead not guilty and try to argue your case, demanding to demonstrate that you really are a right decent sort of fellow in the main and should be counted among the saints because of all the quarters you put in that donation jar in the grocery store line. Or you could try to argue that you should be let off the hook because God has no right to impose his arbitrary rules on you in the first place.
Or you could simply tell God to leave you alone, he can keep his gospel, you don't need it, you want none of his lovey dovey stuff, you'd rather keep what works for you, your survival of the fittest, dog eat dog, fend for yourself way of life, at least you're the master of your own domain. All these avenues allow you to exit with your nose in the air through the All Others door and find yourself where you like it best, in the dark, free to stew in your own self-satisfied juice.
Even if you don't like my little tale of the heavenly courtroom, the point is that there is 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 yes, ladies and gentlemen, he can present it even better than we can.
Sad to say, the Bible tells us that some will not accept the grace of the Creator and King (Matthew 25:46; Revelation 19:20; 20:15). They will not trust the Son of God and his Father. And there could be no greater tragedy, indeed, no greater stupidity, than for guests invited 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 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 Jesus Christ.
There must be some way to distinguish the deserving, like us, 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. It is the Judgment of God's grace, and it works off its own logic, a logic as high above ours as heaven is above earth (see Isaiah 55:8-9 and Psalm 103:11-14).
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. And then these dead people are judged "according to their works, by the things which were written in the books."
These "books" contain the record of their works, all the evidence needed to judge them, and on the basis of the evidence, where do you suppose it leaves them?
It leaves them, naturally, in the same spot you and I are in--red-handed guilty. That is the hideous predicament of every one of these people, and the predicament, in fact, of 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 gives up the dead in it and Death and Hades give up the dead in them (verse 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."
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 as recorded in the books. And they have to stand there and wait their turn while Death and Hades get tossed into the ultimate incinerator (verse 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 names don't appear in this Book (verse 15)!
It was sitting there all along. Everybody whose name is in it gets a full pardon. And how do names get in it? By the atoning blood of Christ. The great mystery is that through Christ's Atonement, everybody's name is in it. Believers simply receive what was there for them all along.
"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). Those who will not believe, on the other hand, are unable to make the leap.
This has been the message of Scripture all along, Old and New Testaments alike--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. The curse of death does not have the last word! In Christ, all things are made new. The Word of Life is himself the final word for humanity!
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 fail to 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 porn stars, 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 sinners have died longing for justice, for righteousness, for peace, for hope, for truth, for freedom, but having no clue where to find it? 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? Everybody else stayed as far from lepers as possible. But not Jesus. Not only was he unafraid to touch lepers, but when he touched them, the lepers got healed. Our minds are like lepers' bodies, hopelessly deformed and rotting. But when Jesus 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 Calormen 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 by God's grace such people might 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 some argue that God's will is also 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 let them take their rain cloud somewhere else. That is not what the Bible says.
Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). Through Jesus Christ, God is pleased to reconcile all things to himself whether on earth or in heaven by making peace through Jesus' blood on the cross (Colossians 1:20). The vast majority of humans died without ever hearing the gospel. Therefore, we must take into consideration the possibility that their decision of faith, or decision of non-faith, may well be one that takes place in the realm of death.
Objections to such a suggestion include the idea that the church is a little flock, so God intends to save only a few. The church may be a little flock in this age, but we are not talking about the church of this age. We are talking about those who have not known the gospel before they die. We are talking about the new creation in its full flower.
Another objection is that such trust in the grace of God for all humans would destroy any impetus for spreading the gospel. To that, I can only say Nonsense. Jesus our Lord commanded us to spread the gospel, and that is sufficient motivation for any of us.
Besides, one who possesses by God's grace and in the power of the Holy Spirit such good news cannot help but spread it. How can forgiven sinners like us want the rest of the world to continue living in the misery of not knowing that God loves them and has reconciled them to himself through the blood of his Son?
As the Spirit dwells in us, how can we not care whether others continue to live hopeless in their sins without the healing balm of the Savior?
But to say that God depends on our puny and often destructive efforts is to limit God. God loves us so much that he grants us the grace to participate with him in his joy of bringing people to faith, but surely we can admit that our track record is such that he has to do more clean up after us than we are of actual help to him.
Universalism? No. God gives humans freedom to trust him and also allows them not to trust him. Relationships are built on trust, and those who finally will not trust God will remain alienated from him. The Bible indicates that some people will not trust God to forgive them, but will instead by their own choice, in spite of their God-given freedom to believe, remain his enemies.
On that topic, though, let's never get the idea that hell is on any kind of par with heaven. Hell is only a tiny weed bed in a dark corner under a porch on a little street in the outskirts of the vast immeasurable expanse of all things made gloriously new in Jesus Christ.
Those who choose to cower there in the dark do so not because that is where God wants them, but because God, in his free grace, allows them to trample on his love and huddle in the nowhere place they have "created" for themselves in their darkened minds.
I have received letters from some readers who strongly disagree with what I have written on this topic. But it is interesting that nearly every letter that disagrees also grants in essence that the Scriptures lead us to trust that God will indeed deal righteously with those who die without knowing the name of Jesus. I offer that he will deal with them in no other way than in accord with his eternal faithfulness and mercy as demonstrated supremely in Jesus Christ, the great Judge.
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 (verse 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 or she died. God's grace is not geared to our level of competence in evangelism.
When people die they get judged (Hebrews 9:27). It is a final judgment. But 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).
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2001