a doubt “Good News.” There are so many layers to this question and it could be thought through completely and still from our human perspective never have an answer that would be complete. I do not claim to be able to tell you how God thinks, judges, or anything else the Bible tells us that we cannot understand the ways of God. But we do have His Word to guide us and His spirit to give us wisdom. 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (NIV)
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
With that said, I pray that with God guiding me I can explain this in a way that it will make sense. As God reveals the answer to this question to us I hope that it will show His great love for us and lead us to draw nearer to Him. When that happens I pray we will trust in His promises and live in His love all in a way that will let our lives be used to show this love to others.
Here’s the problem: We don’t want anyone we know to go to hell. Even if they are not our favorite person we do not wish hell on them, nor do we believe that most people deserve to go to hell, except for the Hitlers or Stalins of the world. But if we go by God’s Word, we will see that we all deserve to be separated from God for eternity and that would be and is hell.
Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV)
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Romans 3:10-18 (NIV)
10 As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." 13 "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." 14 "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." 15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know." 18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Romans 3:23 (NIV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
I could go on but I think this makes my point. From Genesis 3 where we first sinned and stood against God until today where we do the same thing, God should have let us have our way and forgotten about us. Instead of driving us out of the garden and banishing us from it, He should have let us eat from the tree of life and live forever separated from Him. The first two chapters of Genesis are the most beautiful picture of love we could imagine. That God would form us into His image with His own hands and so intimately breathe life into us is beautiful. Then, that He would spend time walking with us in order that we would get to know Him and have a relationship with Him is incredible. Could it get any better? Yes! The moment we said that we wanted to do things our way and we didn’t want to listen to Him. The moment we took all God had given us and said that it wasn’t enough, we wanted more. God could have (and justly should have) left us forever to live in our self-created misery. The moment He loved us in spite of our defiance against Him, His love is not only beautiful but is unmistakably and undeniably the greatest love ever and He pours that love on us continually. So regardless of what we think, our God is justly unjust in the love He has given us. So before we go on, remember the first thing we have to realize is that since the fall of man in our rebellion and disobedience, our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked. In our state of being we do not seek God, we do not love God, and we don’t desire God. We are broken and can do nothing to fix this, which leaves us hopeless and in desperate need of a savior. Which is as bad as it seems is the start of the “Good News.”
This leads us to the next question: How could God love such evil people as us? If God does not love us because we deserve it, then why does He love us? Now the easy way to answer this is that it is all because of Jesus that God could love us. What I mean is that without Jesus becoming our life God could not love us. But to truly understand this we have to start by looking at the nature and character of God. In First John, the coolest statement of God comes out, God is love. For three short words these are as important as any we could read. God doesn’t just love, He is love. His nature and complete essence is love and it permeates and infuses all of His other attributes including His wrath and anger. Because God’s very nature is love, He demonstrates love as well as He demonstrates all His other characteristics. He does this to glorify Himself, not because He is narcissistic but because there is nothing else worth the glory. Glorifying God is the highest, greatest, and the most noble of all acts so it makes sense that He glorifies Himself. Because He is the highest, greatest, the only God, and He deserves all glory.
Here is the best part: Because it is His nature to love, He demonstrates His love by pouring it out on undeserving people, which is all of us, because we all stand in rebellion against Him. It is not some sappy, sentimental, romantic feeling. It is an agape love, a love of self-sacrifice which He shows completely by sending His own Son to die on a cross to pay the debt for our sin. In doing this He is glorifying Himself through His sacrifice in order to forgive us and draw us to Him so that His Spirit can live in us enabling us to love as He loves and also so that He can love us. This He did in spite of our rebellion against Him and our evil ways. What a great God we serve!
Romans 5:6-8 (NIV)
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
This is so cool when we know that He knows us and all we have done against Him, yet He loves us so intimately and it becomes so personal. It is this love that separates Christianity from all other empty and impersonal religions. So then why does God love us? Because God is Love!
Then when you think it doesn’t get any better, we see that it is God’s will that we would all come to Him and spend eternity with Him.
Matthew 7:7-8 (NIV)
7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
John 3:16 (NIV)
16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 3:22 (NIV)
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
Romans 6:23 (NIV)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
2 Peter 3:9 (NIV)
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
So we see that it is God’s desire for all of us to come to Him and spend eternity with Him. The problem and the wonder comes in that He gave us free will to accept that free gift.
Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
He starts off by telling us which gate we should enter through, which one will give us life. Then He ends with the reality that most will miss it and choose this world and all of its stuff over Him therefore entering through the wide gate. There is no doubt He loves us and wants us with Him, but it has to be because we want Him and only Him, not because He makes us or because it’s a better option. It has to be about our desire for Him; we have to call on Him.
Romans 10:12-13 (NIV)
12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
He also makes it clear that He gives all of us the best chance to seek Him and reach out to Him. He shows us His patience and love throughout in order that we can know Him and desire a relationship with Him. As Paul tells us in 1st Timothy:
1 Timothy 1:15-16 (NIV)
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. 16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.
Acts 17:26-27 (NIV)
26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
Romans 1:18-21 (NIV)
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
It is almost unbelievable in light of all of the scripture that we have seen that God would even love us. Even more unbelievable is the fact that God gave us free will to live and believe how we chose. But because He is so gracious and merciful and because He is absolute love, we have hope. He is patient with us and in His wisdom He puts us in the best place with the best surroundings and places the people around us in His perfect timing so that we can see His glory and reach out to Him. The Bible doesn’t say that we will reach out; it says that He doesn’t leave us to stumble across Him by chance. He gives us every opportunity to reach out. Paul says, “So that perhaps we will reach out” which again shows us that it is completely free will even though He is the one who reveals Himself we still have to see Him as our Lord and Savior.
Matthew 7:21-27 (NIV)
21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' 24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."
Reading this shows us that it is not by what we do that will get us to God; it is completely by what He has done in that He sent His son on our behalf. When it says it is only those who do the will of His father it shows us His goal. His goal is that we trust and obey His Word and as I remember, His Word became flesh and lived among us. That means that we trust Jesus and understand that we cannot do the Father’s will apart from His spirit living in us. So regardless of the storms of life that will come our way and they will come our way, we let Christ be the Lord of our life. In this passage we see that the storms of life were the same for believers and unbelievers the only difference was the final outcome. That the believers because of Christ withstood all that came and did not fall, but for those who did not trust Christ as Lord of their life, fell with a great crash. Knowing that Jesus is Lord is not enough; it takes a relationship with Him as Lord of your life for your salvation.
James 2:19 (NIV)
19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.
Unless we believe that the demons are going to heaven then we have to understand that belief and knowledge is not enough. There has to be more and I think Paul explains this best in Romans:
Romans 10:8-13 (NIV)
8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
We can see here that if the Word is Christ then we have to believe in Him as our Lord and call out to Him and then completely trust in Him as Lord of our life. When that happens He has promised that Love Wins.
If we look at the truth, we will see that we really don’t want everyone to go to heaven regardless of what they believe or what religion they follow. We do not want a God who would let all people go to heaven. It has to be that we see the truth and follow Jesus not religion. So as much as we do not want to believe that people who try and live good lives would go to hell outside a true relationship with Jesus Christ, it is the truth. God sent Jesus because He is the truth, the life, and the way. That should leave us that follow Jesus with an urgency to give up everything in order to let a lost and dying world without that relationship see and seek Him through us. If “Love Wins,” then regardless of what we know about God in light of scripture it would mean that He is not a just and merciful God. He is a mean God who let His son suffer and die for no true reason and He used us as pawns in a game. He left us here to struggle and search for no other reason than His own enjoyment. That would make Him narcissistic, a God of pleasure, who instead of loving us so much that He sent His son that we could have life, it would mean He sent His Son to be a part of a selfish game to amuse Himself.
That is not the God that changed my life and gave me hope. So let’s praise Him for being the God who loves the world so much that He sent His only Son so that we could have life. Let’s quit trying to change His Word in order that we can feel better about who goes to heaven or hell. Let’s pick up His Word and read it, pray for understanding of it, and let it change us so that we can let the world see Him through us. That they too may know who will save us from this body of death and be able to say thanks be to God for Christ Jesus. Where there is no condemnation only life and love to those who will trust and obey. Let’s show the world what Godliness with contentment looks like and nothing else matters. That my dear friends is what will change the world and that is where “Love Wins.”