Will everything be alright in the end? Will everyone end up in heaven eventually? There have always been those who would like to think so. They quiet their own consciences with this belief, despite their sinfulness, and they comfort their hearts with this sentiment as they consider their lost loved ones. Eventually, such a person bumps up against the Scriptures, and its prevalent teaching about hell, and they scramble to find a way to reconcile the teaching of the Word with what they want to believe – This is how heresies are born! Historically, such people have done one of several things – They either:
1) Focus on the grace, love, and mercy of God to the degree that they ignore or reject the Bible’s teaching about God’s holiness, justice, and wrath
2) They redefine what is meant or entailed by the wrath of God and hell
3) They argue that God used to be wrathful, but in not so any longer
4) Or they argue that God’s love supersedes His wrath, effectively negating that wrath being dispensed on anyone, and His salvation being applied to everyone
Let’s look at each in turn. The first error is like living in a dreamland, where you can just skim the Bible for those things you like and simply pass over the things you do not. As if truth were determined by our desires – Like you might determine what to eat from a menu or a buffet line. But we do not get to choose for ourselves what is true, and our feelings are the least reliable facet of our beings to determine what is true or not. A man might look at a menu and consider skipping right to dessert, ordering a brownie covered in ice cream and smothered with fudge and caramel is what he desires the most – But only a fool would believe this is the most nutritious and healthy option. Sadly, such is the case with those who look for the palatable things the Bible contains, who ignore the whole course offering. They want nothing more than the sweet ending but ignore the things that are perhaps less pleasant but are actually necessary for their spiritual health.
Secondly, there are those who are either so afraid, threatened, or sickened by the idea of a wrathful God that they redefine what judgment, wrath, and hell are all about. One modern-day heretic (Rob Bell) went so far as to distort the meaning of the Greek and Hebrew terms used for these things in the Bible, to argue that no one will endure “eternal torment,” but rather only a “period” of “correction.” Astonishingly, Bell referenced Matt. 25:46 to make his point; but read that verse for yourself, it says – “These [the wicked] will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (NASB) The same Greek word is used to describe the length of punishment for the wicked, as the length of life for the righteous. No amount of translational gymnastics can shorten the length of punishment for the wicked, without also diminishing the duration of heaven for the righteous. Hell then, is clearly an everlasting torment because heaven is an everlasting glory.
The third premise is about as asinine as they come. To believe that God was one way in the past but is not that way anymore is actually a disastrous and terrifying premise. If God has changed, even if that change currently benefits you, what is to say that He will not change again, but this time to your detriment? Thus, those who believe God has changed cannot have confidence, or an eternal hope, because the basis for their salvation is constantly moving. Of course, the truth is that God never changes. And that is the only basis upon which to hope in deliverance from His wrath. Such is God’s testimony about Himself according to Mal. 3:6 – “For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” Only an unchanging God can follow through on His promises eternally, and so only an unchanging God can be trusted to save us. So also, if God condemned sinners in the past, we can know He will still condemn them today, and for all eternity.
Lastly, to surmise that God’s love supersedes and negates His wrath is demonstrably false. And if we are honest, we can see that, even from our limited human perspective. To love someone is to hate that which does them harm. As a father, I hate those things that might harm my children and so I seek to protect them from those things. As a husband, I hate that which harms my wife, and I will defend my wife’s honor and life with my own. God loves His children, and so He must hate sin. And He will have justice on those who harm His elect or who cause them to stumble. Furthermore, God loves God – And He will not suffer those who sin against Himself to go unpunished. Far from negating His wrath, God’s love necessitates it! But probably the greatest demonstration that God’s wrath is not negated by His love can be observed in the cross. There, the greatest object of the Father’s love (His own Son – With whom He was well pleased), had the full weight of God’s wrath thrust upon Him when He bore our sins. In the cross, wrath and love met together. And Jesus was crushed to death by that wrath. It is through faith in the substitutional sacrifice of Christ that we are saved. Necessarily then, it is by faith in the wrath of God that we are saved – Faith that the wrath of God fell on Jesus in our place. God’s wrathfulness does not disappear because of His love, but by faith in His love through the Christ, we escape that wrath. But for those who have no faith in what God accomplished through Christ the wrath of God remains, and it will be eternally ruinous for them. Jn. 3:36 – “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Okay, I need to wrap up for today. So let me ask you again: Will everyone end up in heaven eventually? The answer is clearly: No. Such inclusive and universalistic beliefs are heresies that dull the conscience and provide false comfort to many lost souls. Don’t be taken in by them. Don’t allow your feelings to mislead you. But instead, allow the Word (in its entirety) to lead you to the truth.
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