We have investigated in some detail two of the four foundation stones for learning to “think God’s way:” 1.) God Is
Absolutely Sovereign, and 2.) Man Is Absolutely Sinful. Today we will look at God’s mind-blowing solution to our sin problem: 3.) God Relates To Man Absolutely By Grace Alone.
We have discovered that it is not just WHAT we think that is crucial for us, but also, even much more so, HOW we think! Once we have had an experience with the living God and been “born again,” having our minds renewed to think God’s way is essential to learning to live like “little children,” as Jesus admonishes us to do.
As we learn to do so, what our Heavenly Father has told us in His Word becomes more and more important to understand. As we saw last week, because of our death and resurrection in Christ at the cross, we are no longer compelled to live by our addiction to wanting to be “good” or “right.” Instead, we are learning to “walk by faith” in the reality of that personal death and resurrection in Christ, and thus to live by just doing what Daddy tells me to do in my heart as He changes my will (my “want to’s” -Philippians 2:13).
Therefore, the Cross of Jesus Christ is the focal point of human history. The redemption from the total destruction caused by the Fall in the Garden of Eden was achieved at that cross. When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant that what He had come to do He had fully accomplished. God’s justice, so prevalent in the Old Testament because of our totally depraved condition, had been COMPLETELY SATISFIED by Jesus’s death and resurrection!
This is the message the church is proclaiming in Bible-believing churches all over the world! Hallelujah! I believe this is the message of the Bible! However, our addiction to subconsciously always think we must “do something” will not allow us to leave this gospel to stand on GRACE ALONE without adding something to finally “get us saved!”
Can you see it? There always seems to be a hook in the gospel message, something I must do to ultimately save myself!—repent, believe, “invite Jesus into my heart,” “make a decision for Christ,” join the church, be baptized, etc.
What if Colossians 1:19, 20 is really true? “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to RECONCILE ALL THINGS to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”
Or Romans 5:18? “Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act THE FREE GIFT CAME TO ALL MEN, resulting in justification of life.
Or 1 Corinthians 15:22? “For as in Adam all die, even so IN CHRIST ALL SHALL BE MADE ALIVE.”
If that “all” in the first half of those last two verses is “all without exception” and not simply “all without distinction,” the last half of the verse applies to the same group of people. Yes, all of Adam’s heritage has already been justified and made alive in Jesus Christ!
These verses are representative of others as well, that, If they are true, mean that the gospel is no longer an INVITATION (for us to “do something”), but a PROCLAMATION (of what God has already done)! When Jesus said, “‘It is finished.’ And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit” (John 19:30), He was stating that He had completed what He came to earth to do—to save the whole world: “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 John 2:2)!
Those who believe what I have been describing are called Christian or Evangelical Universalists (EU), and that perspective is NOT that Hell is not real; Hell is very, very real, and just as terrifying as the Bible declares! However, the Greek word that we translate “eternal” or “everlasting” to describe Hell DOES NOT always mean that at all!
The Greek word in the original language text is the word aion (noun) or aionios (adjective), and it is often translated in the New Testament, literally dozens of times, to mean “age,” “eon.” or a “time-frame with an ending.”
For example, Matthew 24:3 says, “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “…Tell us, …what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age (aion)?” So, Hell has an ending, just as did the “age” (aion) to which the disciples were here referring.
EU Christians see Hell as “the woodshed” in which God spanks His rebellious little children who are still stomping their feet and still demanding that they will decide for themselves what is right and wrong. God is chuckling and saying, “I love you, and I’ll take care of this rebellion, as long as it takes.” So, Hell is redemptive, not punitive!
Yes, there will come a time when “ …At the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2L10, 11).
Jesus has accomplished what He came to do. He has indeed saved the world and now our third foundation stone is in place: 3.) God Relates To Man Absolutely By Grace Alone.
I am both an octogenarian and a little child in God’s family, and I feel as though I am just now ready for Kindergarten! Yes, I do believe what I have told you in this posting. I have tried to believe something else, and I can’t! But Daddy may change my mind tomorrow. Not my decision! For a fuller study on EU, drop me an email and I will send you, free of charge, a PDF of my 65-page book on this topic, Limitless Grace. In it, there are references to other books about EU I have read, and they present a much fuller analysis.
