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Authors Note
Most Christian writers today use the New International Version of the Bible for their Scripturesreferences.
I decided to do the same, and the references in the early chapters of this book are all NIV unless
otherwise stated.
Then I came to chapter eight on Hell. The Authorised Version gives hell forhades on ten of the
eleven occasions in which it occurs, but the NIV translates hades as hell only once in the eleven
occurrences. My subject matter was fast disappearing!
Even so, most Christians still think of hell, discuss hell and preach the hell of the AV even if they read
the NIV. So at this point I reverted to the AV. Usually I have given the NIV or other versions, if
appropriate.
Oh yes! If the AV translators had been consistent and used hell for hades on that eleventh occasion 1
Cor. 15:55 would have read, O death where is thy sting? O hell where is thy victory? One can
imagine that the response might have been quite deafening!
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MERCY ON THEM ALL
Chapters
1. The Fall - The Will of God or not?
2. Almighty, all-loving - and all-wise?
3. Eternal in the Old Testament
4. Eternal in the New Testament
5. "Mercy triumphs over Judgement"
6. Jonah's Three days and Paul's Three days
7. The Purpose of God in Death
8. Hell - in the Old Testament
9. Hell - in the New Testament
10. "Everyone will be salted with fire"
11. The Ages - Past, Present and Future
12. Will God still love Jim in Hell?
13. From Him . .. through Him ... to Him
are ALL THINGS
Appendices
1. The Bible and the Cross" - Rev: G. Campbell Morgan D.D.
2 Bibliography
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To suggest that this might have been God's will for His creation, and Man, His
vice-regent, in particular, sounds at first, preposterous. It is almost to accuse God
of being responsible for all the implications of the Fall. It is to make Him responsible , for
example, of war, with its killing and maiming of young men, rape of young women, and
slaughter of millions of innocent children. It is to lay at God's door death by the lingering agonies
of famine and drought, cancer, cholera and the black death and of the ghastly effects
of mental and physical deformities. Enough, enough, you say. Yes, this is totally
unacceptable isn't it?
But what if we maintain that the Fall was outside the will of God? What are
we saying then? Are we implying that the devil is smarter than God? Are we
suggesting that in one masterly stroke Satan ruined God's creation and devastated
His Grand Design - not merely for a million years, or ten million years, but
irrevocably and irreversibly, for ever. Oh yes. There is Calvary. But even Jesus
said "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road
that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and
narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Matt. 7:13,14. Only a
few find it. What then of the many? Do they spend eternity in hell as an eternal
and irreversible witness to angels and saints that the devil outsmarted God?
Please don't respond with the "but Adam had to have freewill" answer. What
sort of blessing is freewill if it lands 90 % of mankind in hell for eternity? Any
parent who watched a blind two-year old toddle towards a bonfire and simply let it
fall into the fire and be burned to death because he did not want to deprive the
little child of its freewill would be held to be a monster. The courts would find the parent culpable
- and rightly so.
God well knew that Adam and Eve were innocents abroad, mere babes in the
woods, and that they were no match for the wiles of the devil. He knew the
outcome of the temptation in the garden of Eden before He created Adam and
Eve, even before He created Satan and hell. "Through him all things were made;
without Him nothing was made that has been made" (Jn. 1:3). All things must
include hell and the devil. And hell must be precisely what he intended it to be.
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But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones and he will surely curse
you to your face.' The Lord said to Satan, 'Very well, then, he is in your hands;
but you must spare his life." Job 2:1-6.
Satan had no access to Job until God granted it. How much more, then, would
it have been impossible for Satan to have tempted and overcome Eve and then
Adam before the Fall if God had not allowed it?
And if we lean to the "outside the will of God" alternative, let us think of the
implications. If Satan outsmarted God and devastated his purpose once, might he
not be able to do so again? In fact, from this viewpoint, it would appear that the
devil did frustrate God a second time. The view that "perfect-bliss-forevermore"
was Plan A, spoilt by the devil, and Calvary was Plan B, a rescue operation
('rescue operation' and 'rescue mission' are two phrases I heard from different
preachers on successive weekends) then the devil has also largely frustrated Plan
B. For Plan B dictated that the fruits of Calvary could only be enjoyed by faith
and we are told that "the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so
that they cannot see the light of the gospel" (2 Cor. 4:4). Why ever would God
design a rescue operation which by its very nature (the central principle being
faith) was largely doomed to failure?
The picture, then, appears to be:
God creates mankind for unbridled bliss; Satan is inexplicably allowed to step
in and spoil everything; many years later at Calvary God mounts a rescue mission
which operates by faith; Satan has the power to blind potential beneficiaries so
that they cannot believe and so enjoy the salvation purchased at so great a price.
Is this scenario remotely conceivable? Yet it is implied in less stark terms
from pulpits week after week.
Furthermore when God says he "will not let you be tempted beyond what you
can bear" (1 Cor. 10:13), can we be sure of that, or of anything? What happens to
our faith if there is a devil out there capable of outwitting God and God is unable
or unwilling to stop him? (Incidentally, there is a strong implication in this verse
that God does permit all temptation to which we are exposed.)
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And we have to ask, "Where was the all-wise, all-loving, almighty God when
this happened? We remember Elijah's challenge to the prophets of Baal when
their god did not answer their day-long cryings at Carmel. '"Shout louder' he said
'Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or travelling. Maybe
he is sleeping or must be awakened, '"1 Kings 18:27. So much for Baal, but it is
unthinkable that the God of the whole Earth, who neither slumbers nor sleeps, was
not looking or not aware when wily, powerful Satan assaulted these two brand
new spiritual babes. God could neither have been disinterested or uninvolved in
an act with such far reaching consequences for him and his plan, let alone Adam,
Eve and all humanity. No. He either positively allowed the Fall with all its
massive implications for good reason or one must question his wisdom, or power,
or love, or all three. Again, "Stop! This is unacceptable" you say.
So where does this leave us? Answer, as always with a spiritual problem -
with the scriptures. Oh, does God tell us whether the Fall was within or outside
his will and hence his plan and purpose for mankind? Indeed he does.
Please turn to Romans 8:20,21.
"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the
will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated
from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of
God."
Creation was subjected to frustration. The AV renders this "vanity". Good ^.
News says "futility".
God's wonderful and glorious creation has become frustrated, futile, vain. Its
purpose has been frustrated. That which God proclaimed "Very Good" (Gen.
1:31) is now vanity. '"Meaningless, meaningless!' says the teacher 'Utterly
meaningless. Everything is meaningless'" (Eccl. 1:2). God's grand purpose in
creating sons and daughters in his image, with whom he might have fellowship,
whom he blessed with freewill and a capacity for love that they might, of their
own volition, love him and he them, has been frustrated. They are now separated
from him by sin, turned in on themselves to become their own gods. Self is on the
throne as the sole arbiter of behaviour, ambition, and the use to which they put
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their time and energies. "People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without
love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not lovers of good,
treacherous, rash conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a
form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Tim 3:2-5).
Quite a character reference for - Man. Man, created to be a "lover of God" has
become a lover of himself, but without self control; a lover of money and a lover
of pleasure. Religious, yes, as long as it does not have power to affect his self-
centred, self indulgent, self gratifying life. His love has become re-directed,
misdirected within instead of outward, upward, heavenward to his all-loving
Creator.
Creation was indeed subjected to frustration but "not by its own choice" we are
told. That's strange. We thought it was specifically of its own choice, or at least
at the choice of its progenitor, Adam. The bible continues "but by the will of the
one who subjected it... in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its
bondage to decay... and be brought into the glorious freedom of the children of
God."
If creation and with it God's grand design for creation was subjected to
frustration by a will other than the will of Adam, whose will was it? Our
immediate reaction might well be, "Oh it must be the devil." But it was subjected
"in hope." The devil never gave anyone hope but false hope, delusory hope.
Satan has no hope and is incapable of conveying hope of any kind. Hope is, by
definition, positive and all the devil is capable of is negative. Jesus said: "The thief comes
only to steal and kill and destroy" (John 10:10) .
We read on and find that the nature of the hope re spelt out, "liberation from its
bondage to decay (the devil is the source of bondage and decay) and brought into
the glorious freedom of the children of God." That settles it; it cannot be Satan.
Then can it be ... dare we suggest ... is Paul saying . . .? Yes. The New
American Standard Bible translates Romans 8:20: "For the creation was subjected
to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it..." Note the
capital H of Him. The translators of the NASB were in no doubt that the one who
subjected creation to futility was God.
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The Good News goes further and actually spells it out: "For creation was
condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be
so."
God willed it to be so.
In the confines of human knowledge and reasoning we may recoil at the mere
suggestion that the Fall was the specific and declared will of God. But Romans
8:20 is not capable of any interpretation other than that given by the translators of
the Good News Bible.
God willed it to be so.
Nor was it a mere permissive, passive, uninvolved acceptance by God of the
tragedy acted out by Satan, Eve and Adam. The Bible states positively and
definitively. God willed it to be so. And how could it have been otherwise?
The view has been propounded that the fall was "God's permissive will."
Whatever is that supposed to mean? The Bible nowhere refers to God's
permissive will. Can we seriously hold the view that God stood by as a
disinterested spectator and "permitted" His creation to be devastated and all
mankind to become doomed to a life of sin with the consequences which we read
s graphically in our daily newspapers as in the bible? Hell on earth and hell
thereafter for many.
An analogy may help at this stage. The analogy of Calvary. On the surface it /
appears that religious bigotry, the jealousy and hatred of High Priests Annas and
Caiaphas, the greed of Judas and the cowardice of Pontius Pilate had conspired to
put Jesus to death. It looks like yet another human assassination. As Dr. Leslie
Weatherhead, a Methodist leaderput it in The Transforming Friendship
"He was hounded to an untimely death by jealous Pharisees."
So it would seem to an objective historian. But we know that "Satan entered
Judas, called Iscariot, one of the twelve. And Judas went to the Chief Priests and
the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray
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Jesus." (Luke 22:3, 4). Satan entered Judas and the infamous saga of Jesus
betrayal, the mockery of a trial and the travesty of justice by which he was
condemned to death by crucifixion after having been declared innocent, was
launched. Paul writes of true wisdom and adds "None of the rulers of this age
understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory" (1
Cor. 2:8).
All the commentaries I have read interpret the rulers of this age (Gr.Aion) to
be Satan and his minions of whom Paul wrote to the Ephesians "For our struggle
is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the powers of this dark world (Gr.Aion) and against the spiritual forces of
evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 6:12).
So we could say that the crucifixion was the will and the work of evil men but,
beyond that, it was the will and work of the devil.
But we read prophetically of Jesus on the Cross in Isaiah 53:4 - "we considered
him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted... it was the Lord's will to crush
Him and cause Him to suffer."
"It was the Lord's will." God willed it to be so.
12 March 1995 was designated "Unemployment Sunday." Hymns, prayers and
even the Creed were adapted to this theme on a specially printed sheet. The creed
proclaimed "We believe in the Son of God made human. He suffered and died
because he challenged and upset the powers of his day." No! He upset and
challenged the (religious) powers of his day, but he died because it was God's will
and plan and purpose. "I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No-one
takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord" (Jn. 10:17).
Peter on the day of Pentecost affirmed "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of
Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs.
Which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was
handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the
help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross" (Acts 2:22,23).
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God's will, God's set purpose. Of course.
So on the surface the crucifixion of Jesus was a dastardly human act. But it
was also the work of the devil. Yet, as with Job's affliction, it was also the
positive act of God.
How could it have been otherwise? Satan is totally under God's control. And
so it was with the Fall. At the first level it was a human act, the sin of
disobedience by Adam and Eve; at the second level it was Satan who tempted
them and prevailed; but at the third level it was God. "God willed it to be so."
The consequence: "the result of one man's trespass was condemnation for all
men" (Rom. 5:18).
Lest we should seem to come to too hasty a conclusion on one verse (though it
is hard to see how else one could interpret Romans 8:20) let us move on - to
Romans 11:32.
"For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy
on them all."
The preceding verses, as with the whole text from chapter one, were a
comparison of Jew and Gentile. Each was disobedient: each received God's
mercy. But the words of Romans 11:32 could scarcely be plainer.
God. God. God has bound all men over to disobedience. Precisely. This was
the effect of the Fall which we have seen was the declared will of God and part of
his plan, just as Calvary was his declared will and part of his plan from before
creation.
Other versions read:
"God has concluded them all in unbelief." (AV)
"For God hath shut up all unto disobedience." (ASV)
"For God has locked up all in the prison of unbelief." (Weymouth)
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Ah! So there was a purpose in his engineering the Fall? Yes.
"So that he may have mercy upon them all."
We need to take a break.
It is bad enough, mind-boggling enough, for a Christian schooled in received
orthodox theology, to have to accept that God engineered the Fall with all its
inexhaustible consequences. But to be told that this was specifically so that he
might have mercy . . . and mercy on all. Well, that does take some accepting.
Some modem versions such as the NEB render this as "show mercy". That lets
theologians off the hook but the text will not bear this translation. It is
unequivocally "have mercy".
Let us face it, if the end of 90% of mankind is anything like the picture which orthodox,
evangelical teachers and preachers present, then to have set up the Fall, so that he may
have mercy on them all can only leave us totally perplexed with a great sense
of doom.
While we thought the devil was responsible for the fall, the end of unbelievers,
while lamentable and deeply distressing, was at least logical. The devil tricked
Adam into sin; Adam's sin was passed on down to all men; all men were doomed;
Jesus came to die for our sins and to save those that believed this good news; most
never heard the good news, let alone believed it; those who did hear heard an often
insipid gospel preached by a largely anaemic, compromising and compromised
church made up of Christians singing that they belonged to Jesus but who in fact
belonged very much to themselves. Many have already died outside of saving
grace and God must have known it would have been impossible during their
lifetime to have mercy upon all. Yet he took this drastic, irrevocable step of
plunging mankind into the darkness of unbeliefso thathe might have mercy upon
all.
What did Paul think about all this? Surely verse 32 will be followed by an
awful lament, a dirge about how sad it is that due to Satan's wiles and man's evil
heart it has all gone wrong; the plan has backfired. But before we read on in
chapter 11, maybe it strikes us that just as the statement in 11:32 is in perfect
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accord with 8:20 as to the Fall being God's will, God's doing, in respect of the
beginning of the Adamic race, so 8:21 is in perfect accord with 11:32 as to the end
and outcome.
"... in Hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay
and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God."
Not "part of creation" nor "the remnant of creation" but "the creation" will be
liberated. "Mercy on them all."
Dr. George Campbell Morgan, one of the great Bible expositors of the first
half of the twentieth century, wrote, "If by that Cross all things in the heavens are
to be reconciled, and infinite peace is to follow, I dare trust it, notwithstanding all
of
my sin and all my weakness. By the way^if-by that Cross I am reconciled to God,
and through it I find rest, infinite, eternal and undying. At last my rest shall be
rest with the WHOLE CREATION, for the cosmic order will be restored through
the mystery of God's suffering as revealed in the Cross."
Let us be clear:
Everything that God does is with and for a purpose. Nothing is merely his
"permissive will" or incidental, or capricious, or arbitrary, or pointless. All is
planned in infinite detail and is part of a great and grand design.
., But what purpose can there be in the Fall? It is presented by the church at
large as an unmitigated disaster with multiplied catastrophic consequences. Can it
possibly be positive, constructive, creative; part of an overall plan?
Paul did not follow his amazing declaration that God had bound all men over
to disobedience with a woeful lament. Instead he wrote:
"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!"
(Really! Is this the right place to be extolling God's knowledge and wisdom,
Paul?)
"How unsearchable his judgements, and his paths beyond tracing out!
Who has known the mind of the Lord?
12
But God immediately promised the seed of woman^who would crush Satan's
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head,(Genesis 3:15} the first of a remarkable train of prophecies right through the y
Old Testament telling of the Messiah who would come and upon whom would be
laid "the iniquity of us all" (Is. 53:6).
Preachers have not always been explicit on God's attitude to Satan's
ensnarement of Adam and Eve. But there ^ an implied, sometimes expressed,
view that God's hands were bound. He had given Adam freewill and entrusted
him with creation and if Adam chose to hand this over to Satan then God could
not honourably interfere.
All God could do, which he had known before the creation of Satan, hell, the
world and Adam, was to send a Saviour to atone for Man's sins and so reconcile
man to himself. Many preachers (myself included) were more than a little
unhappy with this, as it was very difficult to come to terms with God setting the
whole thing up the way he did/when he knew beforehand that 90 of his beloved
humanity would end up in hell. It was a puzzle, too, as to why God would permit
all this when he knew that the cost of redeeming even the few was the horrific
death of his Son on the Cross. Certainly, there are divine mysteries'but God has v
made us rational beings and sent His spirit to lead us into all Truth. However
that^how it seemed to be and most evangelicals (myself included) simply
accepted it.
The gospel as presented then continued that those who believed in Jesus and
Jlis salvation would be saved but unbelievers would be damned, or sent to helL-A^ '
There are plenty of scriptures for this such as "Jesus said to them 'Go into all the t" ' 1
world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptised
| will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned (AV damned) "'
/Mark 16:15,16/and "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever
rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" (Jn. 3:36).
3
Preachers have been somewhat divided over what happened to the hundreds
of millions who never heard the gospel. Some fervent evangelists such as
Jonathan Edwards presented graphic pictures of a continuous stream of sinners,
including the "untold millions, yet untold" as the hymn writer put it, pouring into
the abyss of the fires of hell. Others have quoted such scriptures as "(Indeed,
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2 l2
when Gentiles who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law,
they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they
show that the requirements of the law are written on the hearts, their consciences
also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending
them). This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets
through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares" (Rom. 2:14-16). This hardly
conveys all heathen rushing headlong into hell, come what may.
But as to those who hear the gospel and do not turn to Christ, virtually all
evangelical preachers of the past few centuries (myself included) have been
unequivocal: they go to hell and burn for ever and ever.
^ More texts are produced and quoted to show that this judgement is
irreversible and eternal.
In the Old Testament Daniel prophesies that at the resurrection "Multitudes
who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to
shame and everlasting contempt" (Dan. 12:2).
Nor is there any shortage of New Testament scriptures to confirm what we
read in Daniel. "Then he will say to those on his left,' Depart from me, you who
are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels... then they
will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (Matt.
25:41, 46) is but one such scripture.
Some preachers have a problem that while Christ rejecters should be
punished, for a God of mercy and love to set the whole thing up so that they burn
for eternity is somewhat extreme. The passive God who has to stand by
honourably while the wily serpent ensnares Adam'and Eve and dooms most of
humanity to an eternal hell does not ring totally true. Why did he let himself get
into that situation in the first place if he knew what the horrendous outcome
would be?
But what a devastating,, mind-blowing realisation it is when we face up to
Romans 11:32. To read that God concluded all in unbelief so that he might have
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3 ^
mercy on all, and then to find that he will never be able to achieve his end
because the punishment of many is eternal, shakes our very foundations.
Because of the enormous implications of this scripture I should like us to look
at the passage in Job quoted in chapter 1 once again. May I paraphrase the scene
in modem parlance:
The angels came unto God's presence and Satan was with them. (This is
pretty mind-blowing for subsequent events show it was clearly after the fall of
Satan). God asks Satan where he has been,to which Satan replies that he has (seen^
going to and fro in the earth. God asks Satan if he has seen this wonderful
man Job. Satan says he has but tells God this is only because He (God) has --
put a hedge around Job so that he (Satan) can't get at him. "Stretch out your
hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face"
taunts Satan. "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the
man himself do not lay a finger" says God. Unbelievable catastrophes follow:
Job loses everything, including his sons and daughters.
Then in chapter 2 the angels came before God again and Satan was with them.
God asked him where he's been, (he's been to the earth) and God asked him
whether he has seen this wonderful man, Job.'^noWnetel "though you incited me
against him to ruin him without any reason."
I make this point because it seems that God and Satan are agreed on a spiritual
point with which many theologians would have great difficulty. That is.that
when God permits Satan to do something God is effectively doing it himself.
Satan challenged God to stretch out his (God's) hand and strike Job. God did not
argue and say he could do no such thing, especially as he was later to say there
was no reason to strike him. But in response God gave permission to Satan to
stretch out his (Satan's) hand and strike Job. And when Satan (not God) had done
so God said that Job had maintained his integrity "though you incited me against
him."
We may protest: No, God did not strike Job, Satan did. But God himself took
responsibility because Satan could only act when God let him. God therefore
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accepted that it was as if God had done it himself. "You incited me against him."
4 ,
^ . Many years ago I was discussing this area of scripture with a dear Christian
4"" brother^aew-wth-lne-tord?-id I said, "Reg, if I have a vicious dog on a leash,
and I know it will savage anyone who comes on to my property; I then see you
come through my front gate and I release the dog, which promptly attacks you,
who has savaged you? I have. I am responsible because it was within my power
to withhold the attack or permit it. The dog had no influence over your fate until
I unleashed it. So alsc^with God and Satan. If God allows Satan to do something
then, effectively, God has done it. So when Satan entered Judas to betray Jesus,
as we have seen, God says through his word that Jesus was "stricken by God". "It
was the Lord's will to crush Him,"(lsaiah 53) although, ostensibly. God was
simply a by-stander in the collusion of the wickedness of Satan and the
wickedness of men. And the Fall is an exact parallel. God engineered the Fall.
But why make the point at such length? Because it explodes the passive God,
permissive God, hands-tied God view of his attitude to the Fall. He allowed it, so
He did it. And of course Paul does not shirk in two places in Romans to state
definitively that the Fall was not by default but the specific, purposeful, positive
will of God - the planned act of God, just as was the work of redemption through
the crucifixion.
Furthermore, this specific/positive, planned act of God in causing mankind to
inherit Adam's sinful nature and-se be bound up, shut up or imprisoned
(whichever version you prefer) in disobedience and unbelief was for a declared,
unequivocally stated purpose^so that he might have mercy y^on alL1'1'
The evangelical view as set out above is that God does not and cannot achieve
this purpose - for whatever reason. If eternal is eternal and everlasting is
everlasting then many of the "all" will never, th'ough all eternity, experience the V;
mercy of God. ^Vv (W< k
Q^-MeA^&ci
This conclusion is inescapable but never ycrbaliscd- because once one faces
the conclusion one is forced to face the implications. Dare we say it? If God had
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instigated the Fall withjfte hellish (literally) consequences for a specific purpose,
and he does not and cannot (for whatever reason) achieve that purpose for all
eternity, then plunging humanity into this benighted state would have been a
blunder of unparalleled proportions. It would have been earth-shattering,
5 \^
universe-shattering, everything-shattering. Before you have apoplexy, or want to
indict me for blasphemy, can you disagree with that statement?" ^o Cf^.cMcL^it.c^ ,
As a young Christian I felt tremendous responsibility for my office
colleagues. If I did not testify to them then their blood would be on my hands.
Eze. 3:20,21. So I had my testimony printed and included )/C in everyone's pay K
advice at the end of a month. Then a new accountant joined the staff, so I looked
for an opportunity to share the gospel with him. On doing so he said. "Tony, tell
me, is God all-loving or almighty?" Young and enthusiastic, I immediately
protested that He was both. "No" said my friend, "either he is all loving and
wants to save everyone, but he can't; or he is almighty and can save everyone but
won't. You can't have it both ways." I stuttered some explanation of the hands- -^
tied God type and slunk away. It did concern me as I thought about it, but I took
refuge in conventional evangelical doctrine and pushed it to the back of my mind.
The years passed; I went to Bible School; I was ordained and had what was
considered a relatively successful ministry.
Then one day I was considering the wisdom of God - God is the all-wise God.
I was reading my Authorised (King James) version in Acts 15:18 "Known unto
God are all his works from the beginning of the world."
The can't-have-it-both-ways conversation came back, with a third dimension
now added. God is all-loving, almighty and all-wise. The destiny of the major ) ,n ' es j
unbridgable^understanding-gap between God and ourselves is to make the
Bible pointless. True, fallen man needs to be restored and filled with God's
Spirit to know God, but this is the whole purpose of redemption. "The Son of
God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who
is true. And we are in him who is true - even in his Son Jesus Christ" writes
John (I John 5:20). One of the most important reasons that God came as a
man in his Son Jesus was to enable men to know him. "If you really knew
me, you would know my father as well. From now on you do know him and
have seen him" said Jesus (John 14:7). Nor is this an external knowledge, by
observation, as we know people in the world, for Paul writes: "No-one knows
the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit
of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand ... not
in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit,
expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words" (I Cor. 2:11-13). The same
writer commented in his epistle to the Thessalonians, "Now about brotherly
love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by
God to love each other" (I Thess. 4:9).
God, who is love, teaches us to love by imparting his own nature to us.
The ultimate in God's plan of salvation for the individual is that we "be
conformed to the likeness of his Son," (Romans 9:28) who is "the exact
representation of his being," (Heb. 1:3). The whole work of the Holy Spirit
throughout the entire life-span of the believer is to teach him from within what
God is like and to transform him into God's image.
To say that we do not know what God is like and cannot understand God
is a denial of the very purpose of the New Covenant and the work of
1 ^
redemption. It also means that we have no frame of reference for our
standards and ethics, or in our behaviour to one another. This would make us
like the unbelieving world which is at the whim of every philosophical and
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psychological fad or fashion. The revealed nature of God is our frame of
reference. His nature, which is revealed in his dealings with mankind
throughout the Bible, is our pattern, our guide, our sure behavioural code.
Christ came, "leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps" (I
Peter 2:21). And He gives us His Spirit to enable us to follow, more, to live
out that example, pattern and code.
All is beauty and harmony in the Biblical revelation of God as taught by
the Church - with one exception. The love of God, his compassion, grace,
forgiveness, mercy, long-suffering, patience, kindness are all facets of his
transcendent goodness. God is good. The humility, meekness, yet strength
and sacrificial suffering of Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, all fit into the
revelation of the unseen God. There is but one jarring note: an incredible
vindictive, torturous punishment of burning billions of souls in endless fire.
According to orthodox doctrine it is not only endless but totally aimless,
pointless and negative. There is no hope that repentance and change of heart
will be rewarded by release or even a sliver of mercy in annihilation. The
fire, the torment, the punishment is to go on, and on, and on not merely for a
million years but endlessly.
Such punishment far exceeds the most diabolical of mediaeval tortures or
anything else that the depraved, sadistic mind of fallen man has managed to - --- _
contrive. Hitler burnt the Jews in gas chambers and the civilised world was
rightly outraged: but that burning was relatively quick, not endless. Stalin and
his successors consigned dissidents to Siberia for twenty or twenty-five years
at a time on minor offences and, again, the civilised'world was incensed. But
with complete equanimity Christians can accuse their God of torturing souls,
not for twenty or fifty years, or fifty thousand or fifty million years, but
endlessly. And there is no point in trying to excuse God (as if he needed a
champion) because if endless fiery torment is a fact then God, by specific
design, must have decreed it to be so. It cannot be unfortunate happenchance.
Richard Wurmbran^records an incident in Room 4, the death room, where a
godless communist named Boris was dying:
"All over soon," he (Boris) murmured. "A priest once told me 'You'll rot
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in hell.' So be it!"
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"What made him speak like that?" I (Wurmbrand) asked.
"I was cursing God for my sufferings. He said I'd be punished for
Eternity."
A pastor named Valentin intervened: "Men curse the Communist Party,
but eventually it may release them. If hell were endless, then God would
be worse than our Secret Police."
It is one thing to sit in a study in the West and write of Hell in terms of
Communist punishments: it is another thing altogether for a compassionate
^ Christian minister suffering himself and beholding others suffering at the
hands of communist torturers, to say that if hell were endless, God would be
worse than the Russian Secret Police. But who can deny the soundness of this
pastor's reasoning?
The narrative continues:
General Stavrat said "I was taught at school and in Church that God will
punish eternally those who die unrepentant and without faith. It is the
received dogma."
"Received in your mind, but not, perhaps in your heart. General."
That surely is it. Christians believe in eternal punishment in their minds
and will defend their dogma with great vehemence, but few really believe it in
their hearts.
The rich young man came to Jesus to ask about eternal life. Jesus said,
"Why do you call me good? No-one is good - except God alone" (Luke
18:19). Jesus was saying that the only One who is absolute, undefiled and
unadulterated goodness is God. God is the definition of goodness; - "who
does not change like shifting shadows" (James 1:17). He is totally and
consistently good. He is the standard by which all goodness is judged. Every
human ethic, every vestige of the image of God in man and the New
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Testament itself cry out that to torture endlessly with neither correction nor ,
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previous statement, (that God had concluded all in unbelief) was that most of
the offspring of Adam would spend eternity in the flames of hell? It is,
frankly, inconceivable and untenable. Yes. God's patient, loving
chastisements, his punishments and corrective judgements, both in this life
and, if necessary, in the life to come are unsearchable riches. He will rebuke
and chasten till all come to know the blessedness of submission to his will.
So it is written of Jesus, "A bruised reed he will not break, and a
smouldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory" (Matt.
12:20).
There we have it. Judgement or Justice is unto victory! It is positive,
corrective and always "unto victory." Can "justice" or judgement which
consigns millions of sin-blighted, blind humanity (for whose sins Christ has
5 ^
atoned!) to endless flames be construed as victory? Victory for whom, one
might ask.
If received orthodox theology on the subject were true then Calvary would
appear to be a rescue operation of limited success, a Dunkirk, a damage
limitation exercise. How can one talk of victory against the background of
such a doctrine? But received theology is based on the mis-translation of one
word in each of the Old and New Testaments causing Jesus' glorious victory
and total triumph over sin, Satan and death to appear very limited in its effect.
Christ has triumphed - totally, completely, absolutely. "After the suffering of
his soul he will see the light of life and be satisfied" (Isa. 53:11).
It may shock some readers to know that in the three New Testament
scriptures we have just considered the Greek word for "judgement" is
precisely the same as that translated "damnation" elsewhere in the King James
or Authorised Version of the Bible. So Jesus linked damnation with the love
of God; Paul praised God for his damnations; and Isaiah foretold of Jesus
sending forth "damnation unto victory". This is not being in the least bit
facetious. For God's damnations or judgements are unto victory; they do flow
from his love; and he is to be praised for them. The strangeness of these
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phrases only copes from wrong thinking emanating from the mediaeval
teaching of a-^resceeseme God of wrath who bums the unbelieving endlessly,
pointlessly, remorselessly. Lord, deliver your Church!
There is basic wrong thinking, too, on the purpose of hell. The mental
concept of i^' being ^ Satan's home ground, where he is lord and master, is
certainly not based on scripture. One hears Christians pray in this way,
sending the devil back to the place where he supposedly musters his forces
and works out his plans. Christian literature, such as C.S. Lewis' "Screwtape
letters" and even jokes also give this impression. Re-read the passages in Job
we considered in the first two chapters. Need it be said that hell is part of
God's creation? "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers (!) or
authorities (!); all things were created by him and for him. He is before all
things, and in him all things hold together" (Col. 1:16-17).
So hell was created by Jesus, and is for Him. Again, we read: "For of him,
and through him, and to him are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen"
(Rom. 11:36). Hell is "of him, for him" and hell is "to him". /W / c/ ^C- LU ^
^^c
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"" purpose is restoration into fellowship with God and that God might be all in
all.
While we are on the subject of God's nature and God's goodness we might
well consider what God requires of us in forgiveness and restoration as well as
vengeance and punishment of one another. God never requires of us more
ivc. '&l^vt*^y't is
than 44e-4s=of^'imsem prepared to do, nor will He require of us an attitude
totally contrary to the attitude He-takes in any situation.
Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against
me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?" Jesus saith unto him, "I say not
unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven."
There are Christians who find it difficult to forgive their brethren once,
and I have heard ministers say "I can never forgive so-and-so for splitting the
work." To forgive someone seven times is quite something. But to Jesus this
was not nearly enough, nor was seventy times seven. That is 490 times. I
doubt whether anyone takes this to mean that one is excused from forgiving
the 491st wrong for, if to forgive is also to forget, we would not know when
that point had been reached. "Love keeps no score of wrongs" (I Cor. 13:5
NEB) writes Paul. So if we had been counting the first 490 offences it means
we had not even truly forgiven the first offence let alone the 490th.
Effectively Jesus' reply to Peter was that he should never stop forgiving. (For
those familiar with Bible Numerics the feature often times seven squared (10
x 7 x 7 = 490) will also be significant. Seven is the number of completion in
scripture, as in the seven days of creation, seven days of the week. Seven
squared represents perfection or completion. ^ What God requires is an
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concerned with the wrongdoer but the attitude of the wronged. Jesus prayed
for the forgiveness of his murderers who were far from sorry for what they
had done. They would gladly have repeated their dastardly act had Jesus
responded to their invitation to come down from the cross. They had not
apologised or repented, yet Jesus forgave them and prayed for their
forgiveness. Is it wrong to ask, incidentally, how and where and when that
prayer will be answered? I believe it is wrong and almost blasphemous to ask
if it will be answered, but it is honouring to Jesus to assume that his cry,
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke
23:34) will be answered, come what may. One might say that those who do
not respond to the gospel do not know what they are doing.. They are blind,
cannot believe, and certainly do not fully appreciate the consequences of what
they are doing. Are the cruficiers of Jesus to be forgiven but those who do not
respond to the gospel not to be forgiven? Or will the crucifiers of Jesus, for
whom he prayed, not experience forgiveness? "Oh what a web -we-weave-. . . ^
-etc^ How glorious, too, was Jesus' free and instantaneous forgiveness of the
sins of the thief on the cross, who admitted "We are getting what our deeds
deserve" (Luke 23:41).
Is it consistent with the character of the Jesus who requires such absolute
and complete forgiveness of us, who prayed for his persecutors, who forgave
the thief on the cross, that he will never forgive your decent, unsaved next
door neighbour, who came to the meetings held by the visiting evangelist but
who did not respond to his appeal?. My question is, "When he is in hell, in
anguish of soul over his sins and his rejection of the offer of salvation, and
turns his eyes heavenward, will Jesus' heart of love have turned to stone? Will
he whose name is Saviour no longer be willing or able to save? He assures us
that "The arm of the Lord is not too short to save" (Isa. 59:1
You refer me to Lazarus and the rich man as recorded in Luke 16. We
will look at this account in some detail in chapter nine, but, at this stage, may
we just make the point that the Lazarus account was in the pre-Calvary age,
the pre-resurrection period. After his death Jesus "led captives in his train"
(Eph. 4:8). Also, "He went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed
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long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah" (I Pet.3:19,20).
These were not merely souls who had not heard God's Word. "Noah, a
preacher of righteousness" (2 Pet.2:5) had warned them, and they had rejected
8 '^
God's message. They had disobeyed. Yet Jesus, whose name means Saviour
or Salvation, went and preached to them. Are we to believe he took just
Noah's generation aside in the expanse of hell and preached to them in a
comer? I believe that they are mentioned because the context of the teaching
under review in Peter's epistle was Noah's day. Is this not an indication that
Jesus preached to all "the spirits in prison"? This scripture is not often quoted.
One is looked at askance if one refers to it at all as it is considered to be an
embarrassment, somewhat of an unwelcome intruder into Holy Writ. But
why? Is it not God's Word? And is it not glorious - a wonderful revelation of
God's mercy beyond the grave, not merely to those who have not heard, but to
the disobedient? Let us examine our hearts if we cannot rejoice that Jesus
preached to the disobedient in hell.
Jesus spoke of those in His day who "strain out a gnat but swallow a
camel" (Matt. 23:24) and lest there are those today who, in desperate defence
of their position, suggest that Jesus' teaching to the disobedient was merely
confirming the sentence of eternal damnation, it is interesting to read only
nine verses later "For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those
who are now (not in text) dead, so that they might be judged according to men
in regard to the body; but live according to God in regard to the spirit" (IPet.
4:6).
I have resisted the temptation to quote highly respected (by me, as by
others) Christian authors who have attempted to justify the eternal damnation
doctrine. Somehow this pointless punishment is supposed to enhance God's
mercy to the few elect and so glorify his name - notwithstanding his express
statements that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11)
and is not willing that any should perish (2 Pet. 3:19).
Reformed theologians, with whom I can now agree in view of the end
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thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for
evermore." (Psalm 16:11). Our Christianity is puny and paltry indeed if we
envy the world its life without God.
As Paul told Timothy, Jesus is the Saviour of all men, but there is a special
salvation for the believer and we will see what that might be in a later chapter.
^ But let us rejoice that Jesus is the Saviour of all men. His wonders are known
in the grave. He has preached to the disobedient spirits in prison that they
might live. Let us praise him for his full, abundant and absolute salvation.
Jesus is Victor. Hallelujah!
And so we see that far from requiring a forgiveness of us which is greater
than his own. God's mercy truly "endureth for ever". As we read 26 times in
Psalm 136 (AV) alone, it has been proved to the ultimate. It has reached the
depths of hell.
Paul wrote to the Corinthians concerning the man who had had an
immoral relationship with his step-mother. His sentence, to be carried out by
the Body of believers in the name of Jesus, was, "hand this man over to Satan
so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of
the Lord." (I Cor. 5:5). We see again that judgement is always positive, with
11&-5
correction and restoration as its purpose and aim. That this act was extreme
none will deny. To deliver someone to Satan is frightening in its implications,
but even so it is no malicious abuse of authority, no vindictive wreaking of
vengeance for letting the side down. The whole purpose was that his spirit be
saved.
Once we discover a truth in scripture we see it confirmed time and again
and we see this Holy Spirit inspired act to be in line with our proposition that,
God being what he is revealed to be throughout the scriptures, punishment and
judgement can only be for correction and restoration. God is good; and to
torture for the sake of torturing, with no aim or purpose, is evil by any
standards.
How can the Church present to the world a God whom they hold to be the
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perfection of love and an eternal torturer at the same time and expect to be
credible. If it were true (how could it be?) it would not be so bad, but as this
enormous doctrine is based on the mis-translation (or dubious translation if
you are not yet fully convinced) is monstrous.
In his next epistle to the Corinthians, Paul appeals on behalf of the ex-
communicated man. "The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is
sufficient for him. Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so
that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow" (2 Cor. 6:6, 7).
"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching" (2 Tim. 3:16) we
read. Let us look a little closer at this word of Paul concerning a man who
was a Christian, part of the Body of Christ at Corinth, who had gone into
immorality and who had been cut off from fellowship and delivered to Satan.
"Sufficient!" says the Apostle, inspired by God. "Enough! No more!". Is
this the word of a God who will punish for all eternity unbelievers who have
never known the grace of God and yet also have never fallen into such
immorality? Do we hear him say "Sufficient"? Why is it sufficient? "So that
he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow" says God through Paul. But
what of the billions in hell? Will they not be overwhelmed by excessive
sorrow? "Ah" you say, "but nothing can be done once they are in hell." I ask,
why not? Did God not create hell and all it is? Did he not create man? Did
he not create Satan, and permit him to tempt Eve and Adam? Did he not
create man so that the loss of a limb would not be passed down, but that sin
12 6'-
would? Did he not know the consequences? If course he did. Hell was his
idea, his concept and he created it. Assuredly he has complete control of hell
and every last soul in it. "If I make my bed in the depths (Heb. Sheol; AV
hell) you are there" (Ps. 139:8) said David.
The punishment of the Corinthian was sufficient and the divinely-inspired
appeal for its cessation was made because its purpose had been accomplished.
From the text we understand that he had repented and Paul enjoins the
Corinthian believers to "reaffirm your love for him" (verse 8).
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So it is with the "spirits in prison". The punishment is for their correction
and restoration. When it has served its purpose, when it is deemed
"^ "sufficient" followed by repentance, as prefigured by Jonah (next chapter), the
mercy of God will be known in the grave, his "saving help" in the land of
forgetfulness.
This truth is borne out a number of times in the New Testament.
Once again we must ask whether God was requiring greater mercy and
forgiveness of His Church than He Himself is prepared to show. The man at
Corinth was a Christian; he had known the forgiveness of Jesus and
experienced saving grace; he had then abandoned himself to gross, continuous
sin in a form of sexual behaviour which was unacceptable even by heathen
standards. He was punished, but he was forgiven, restored and lovingly
welcomed back into fellowship after his punishment.
Yet Christians dismiss the possibility of restoration of the unbeliever after
death because he must not have "a second chance". This Corinthian had a
second chance after rejecting Christ, but it happened-to be afforded him in this
life so it is acceptable. Many unbelievers have died without receiving Christ,
yet also without having stooped to the abandoned immorality of this one who
had known the Lord. Is it unjust that they should be given the opportunity of
salvation? Or perhaps I should ask, is it unjust that they should not be given
the opportunity of salvation?
Will God be less generous, less merciful, than He requires His Church to
be?
13 y^
I was once told, "Oh, then you believe in a second chance." I replied, "I
do not even believe in a first chance. I simply do not believe in chance. I
believe in grace and the God of all grace. I believe in his plan and his purpose
for all of his creation and I believe that every detail of that plan was conceived
in his love and his grace and will be to his glory."
It is written of Jesus Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which
most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent: "Woe
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One of the most striking of Jesus' parables in this respect is found in the
eighteenth chapter of Matthew's gospel. The scenario is that of a servant who
is hopelessly in debt to his lord and king. The king ordered that the servant,
his wife and children all be sold to pay the debt. The servant fell down and
worshipped the king and pleaded for time to pay the debt in full. The king
was moved with compassion and forgave him the debt. The servant then went
to collect a small debt from his fellow-servant. The fellow-servant fell down
before him and besought him, just as he had pleaded with the king, but he
would not relent and cast him into prison. The king was furious and sent for
'him and said, "You wicked servant, I cancelled all that debt of yours because
you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow-servant just
as I had on you? In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be
tortured until he should pay back all he owed" (Matt. 18:32-34). Jesus added,
"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive
your brother from your heart" (Matt. 18:35).
So we have not only the parable but the interpretation given by Jesus
himself. The unforgiving servant is delivered to the tormentors, till he should
pay all. He is not delivered to the tormentors eternally. There is an end in
view once he has paid all. I do believe we must pay attention to every detail
of Jesus' teaching. No word is without significance. And Jesus could well
have taught that the servant was thrown into jail for ever. But he did not.
There was to be an end to the punishment. It would be poor teaching indeed if
Jesus were to postulate a situation where there was a definite end to the
punishment to illustrate endless torment, and he clearly says, "so likewise
shall my heavenly Father do also unto you".
You may recall, too, a parallel in the Sermon on the Mount where the
unreconciled man does not come out of prison "until you have paid the last
penny" (Matt. 5:26). Surely it is clear that the whole tenor of these and other
teaching is that an infinitely gracious and forgiving God is enjoining men,
who are resentful and mean in forgiveness by comparison, to be like him!
How could a God who keeps souls in existence for no purpose other than that
they experience the tortures of hell even longer, without even the mercy of
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annihilation, enjoin his children to forgive as he forgives?
15&o
The failure of the translators to render olam and aionios as "age-lasting"
has resulted in various forms of these words being translated as a rather vague
"for ever" or "for ever and ever." This is so in the case of judgement as with
other words which we have examined. The scriptures are rich in teaching
concerning the ages and God's revelation to man on his purposes in the
successive ages is lost. The general conception of things from the average
Christian's point of view is rather simplistic: the gospel is preached in this age;
some believe, some do not believe; the believers go to heaven, the unbelievers
go to hell to weep and gnash their teeth for eternity. Here endeth the first and
every other lesson.
Certainly the scriptures do teach that the gospel should be preached to
every creature and that "Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved, but
whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16). It is fair to say, I
think, that this refers to those who hear the gospel because if one has not heard
then it cannot be reasonably held that he has either believed or not believed.
With regard to the vast mass of mankind who never hear, the common attitude
is Abraham's question "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" And
David's reply, "Thou shalt judge the people righteously." If the
joybells/fumace option is indeed of eternal consequence it would seem
preferable for the unreached to remain unreached: at least they have a chance
in eternity whereas those who hear are, according to orthodox teaching,
doomed for eternity if they made the wrong choice. This choice may well be
influenced by the inconsistent life of the person bringing the message, lack of
Holy Spirit anointing, a bad experience with a Church, or any other adverse
factor. But there is no return, no escape; burning is the eternal destiny of one
who does not submit to the gospel call.
We will spend a chapter looking at The Purpose of God in the Ages but
one important implication of incorrect translations of aionios should be
brought out at this point.
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seeing the eventual outworking of Christ's redemption in his entire creation, as
we will see in many scriptures in a later chapter. The Bible teaches of "this
(present) age", "the age to come", "the ages to come", "the age even unto the
age", "the age of the ages", "the ages of the ages", and we may assume that
God had a very good reason for using each of these terms. In the bibliography
at the back of this book reference is made to books and booklets which are
devoted to this theme. It is sufficient in our broader study to note these
phrases, to realise the errors into which loose translations and attitudes can
bring one, and to understand that judgement is "age-lasting" in the context of a
number of ages in the economy of God. It is not eternal.
So we see in the scriptures that God's mercy truly "endureth forever;" that
his judgements are linked with his love; are to be praised as unsearchable; and
n^
are unto victory. All sins have been fully punished in Jesus, but sin, which
produced those sins, has to be dealt with. There is nothing spiteful, vindictive
or pointless in his chastisements all of which, in this life or the next, are
positive, remedial, corrective and unto restoration. Hell is God's creation,
under his control and, as all his works, for his glory. Say it: "I will sing of
mercy and judgement: unto thee, 0 Lord, will I sing." ':. ,'; ,;
i8 i-r/
Chapter 6
JONAH'S THREE DAYS - PAUL'S THREE DAYS
I was sitting in Church one Sunday morning listening intently to a
visiting preacher, whom I very much respected. He was a conventional
minister as far as the truths discussed in this book are concerned and, in any
case, his sermon was totally unrelated to anything to do with eternal destinies.
Then it happened - in an instant, a moment of time.
I turned to my wife who was sitting next to me and whispered "I've
had a revelation." She replied, "Don't forget it" and I said, "I'll never forget
this".
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The revelation, let me hasten to explain, was nothing extra-scriptural.
It was simply the Holy Spirit bringing together three events in the lives of
Jonah, Jesus, then Paul and one verse of an epistle.
Jesus told his disciples, "the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in
my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have
said to you". Jn. 14:26.
The Holy Spirit can only remind us of things we have already learned
and read, which emphasises the importance of saturating ourselves in the
scriptures. This is how he teaches us and gives us revelation, illuminating
scripture by the scriptures. And this is just what happened that Sunday
morning.
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The type I should like to share with you centres around the conversion
of Saul of Tarsus, later known to us as the apostle Paul. I will use the name
Paul throughout.
Paul was not saved by faith. Paul was saved by grace, by the blood of
Jesus, but faith never came into it.
The great apostle of faith, who preached a "gospel (in which) the
righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first
to last, just as it is written. The righteous will live by faith" Rom. 1:27 was not
himself saved by faith. _
This last phrase, better known in the AV's "The just shall live by faith",
was the Word which God used to liberate Martin Luther and might be
considered the catalyst of the Reformation. Yet the man through whom God
first gave this revelation was saved by a different means.
If we read all three versions of Paul's conversion as it is recorded in
Acts chapter 9 and as testified by Paul at Jerusalem in chapter 22 and before
Agrippa in chapter 26 we understand the following to be the circumstances of
his conversion. (I will not quote each verse of these chapters.)
Paul was "breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's
disciples". He "persecuted followers of this Way to their death, arresting both
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men and women and throwing them into prison". He told Agrippa, "I put
many of the saints in prison, and when they -were put to death ... I tried to force
them to blaspheme ... in my obsession against them, I even went to foreign
cities to persecute them".
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Was this all the sincere "obsession" of a zealous Pharisee? No. When
Paul was blinded by the Shekinah glory Jesus asked him, "Saul, Saul, why do
you persecute me. It is hard for you to kick against the goads."
Paul says he did it, "in ignorance and unbelief 1 Tim. 1:13. This is
difficult to accept in view of Jesus saying it was hard for him to resist. (I do
not for one moment question the inspiration of the scriptures. The scriptures
are faithful and reliable in recording what Paul said, but not necessarily
affirming his view of himself. Just as the Pharisees said to Jesus, 'You have a
demon'. That is inspired scripture in recording what the Pharisees said. But
^ no-one would suggest that Jesus had a demon just because it is recorded in this
context in the scriptures.) But even this is interesting, because "unbelief is a
prime qualification for hell!
The facts : Stephen, "a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit" Acts 6:5,
had preached the gospel to Paul and others, no doubt under a much greater
anointing than most preachers of today. Paul saw the glory on Stephen's face,
was convicted of the Holy Spirit but "kicked against the goads". In other
words, he resisted the work of the Holy Spirit and rejected the gospel. It was
not "easy" to resist because of his pharisaic background; it was "hard" to resist
because of the Holy Spirit's strivings, so Jesus said.
Stephen was then stoned to death "and Saul was there, giving approval
to his death ... and Saul began to destroy the Church". Acts 8:1-3.
Paul was the archetypal unbeliever who is destined for hell. He heard
the gospel, the Spirit strove with him mightily and he rejected the offer of
salvation. It was in this state that he set off for Damascus to kill more
Christians.
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Then Paul appears to have "got lucky" as our American friends would
say. He "got saved" whether he liked it or not and in spite of himself, contrary
in fact to his own will, wish or desire.
You know the story. In this state of fury, unbelief and antagonism to
the gospel he was blinded by "a light from heaven, brighter than the sun,
blazing around me". Then came the voice and the rebuke. Saul asked "Who
are you Lord?" and the reply came, to his undoubted horror, "I am Jesus,
whom you are persecuting".
Up to this point there was no repentance, no turning to God. Paul had
no alternative but to believe. Faith had not come into the matter. Paul had
been stopped in his tracks by the Shekinah glory of Jesus and been plainly told
by Jesus who he was.
Paul then entered into three days and three nights of his own personal
hell. (The three days and three nights will be seen to be significant.) He was
blind and had no reason to believe that he would ever see again. For three
days he neither ate nor drank. What did he do? The scriptures are silent, but
can we doubt what he did. Imagine the remorse, the agony of soul, the
memory of the Christians, Jesus' Christians, whom he had tried to force to
blaspheme, the men and women he had put in prison - and those he had put to
death. The agony would have been all the greater because of those words "It
is hard for you to kick against the goads". He knew, and he knew that Jesus
knew, that he had known all along in his heart that the gospel was true and that
he had rejected it, that Jesus was Lord and Saviour and he had rejected him.
He had known the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit in his heart. He had
seen the glory on Stephen's face. How the memory of that face, and his
concurring in the decision to kill Stephen, "must have come back again and
again. Paul could not but have cried to God, in his agony of remorse.
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Then what happened? Ananias, a member of the Church who might
himself have been put to death by Paul had God delayed his grace another day
or so, came to Paul under divine guidance and said "Brother Saul". Can you
believe it? Could Paul have believed it? Brother Saul. How beautiful.
A member of the Church (and this too, we will see to be significant in a
later chapter) brought Paul out of his "inner and outer darkness" into the
glorious light of the gospel by being "filled with the Holy Spirit".
^ No wonder Paul loved and served the Lord with such zeal for the rest
of his life. "The love of Christ constrains us ..." he said.
Who, I ask, of all the unbelievers and Christ rejecters of our generation
^ t
is more deserving of hell? Did Paul just "get lucky" Aid does the decent
\ or ^
citizen, next door neighbounwho has not done a tenth of the evil of Paul. but
who does not respond to a gospekoften preached backed with / little prayer
and therefore under little anointing bum in an eternal fire because Jesus is less
gracious to him?
But let there be an end to speculation because Paul tells us himself in
^ his first epistle to Timothy in the first chapter, verses 15 and 16. "Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst. 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 example for those who would
believe on him and receive eternal life."
This passage is worth dwelling on. The Authorised Version reads,
"Christ Jesus came into the world to save 'sinners; of whom I am the chief.
Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus might show
68
forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should HEREAFTER
believe on him to life everlasting".
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Paul was shown mercy. He was a recipient. He did not turn to Christ,
decide for Christ, accept Christ or do anything positive. He was shown mercy.
In English language terms, he was passive and not active. Why? For a specific
reason.
Now the NIV addresses a difficult word to translate against the
background of orthodox doctrine - protos. The NIV translators have used
"that in me, the worst of sinners". Protos simply does not mean worst. The
AV translates it "that in me first". That was a better translation - except that
Paul was not the first sinner to be saved. Others have used "foremost" and
"chief. Why are they struggling with a fairly straightforward Greek word
which is used 159 times in the New Testament? It is translated "first" 136
times, e.g. seek first the Kingdom, first be reconciled, gather first the tares, the
dead in Christ shall rise first. "Worst" is a bad translation.
The problem the translators had in substituting "worst" for "first" was
that Paul wasn't the first to reject Christ, nor the first convert. But possibly he
was not the worst sinner either. What of Stalin, Hitler or Herod, murderers of
the innocents, or Judas? If he was worse than all these, then God has had
mercy on the worst unbelieving, Christ rejecting sinner in spite of his
murderous antagonism to the anointed gospel. Is God a respecter of persons?
Does this not speak volumes?
He was protos. When you find that the word for "example" (NIV) or
"pattern" (AV) later in the verse is typos you will see that he was saying that
God showed mercy to him in this way because he was a protos-typos or proto-
type. Now a proto-type, as in a new aircraft or car, is the first of its kind.
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Paul was not the first to be shown mercy. There were 3,000 before him
on the day of Pentecost and 5,000 shortly thereafter. So he was not a
prototype of those who hear the gospel, repent and believe.
Of whom was he a prototype?
Here again the NIV translators have moved away from their
predecessors by giving us "an example for those who would believe on him and
receive eternal life." But look back at the AV rendered: "them which should
HEREAFTER believe." I have a book called the New Testament in 26
Translations. It gives usually between two and six variations of the AV from
26 translations. This passage in 1 Timothy is interesting. It gives the AV and
four alternatives, which are:
should HEREAFTER believe on him. AV
should THEREAFTER believe on him. ASV
would AFTERWARDS rest their faith on him. Weymouth
[ - ABOUT to believe on him. Rotherham
were AFTERWARDS to believe on him. TCNT (Westcott
and Hort text)
This is not a selective group, but all the alternatives as they are given.
Can we doubt the message Paul was-putting across after looking at all
these renderings?
7 0
I The clear message of Paul's letter to Timothy is that he, the Christ
rejecter who was saved in spite of himself, is a prototype of those who will
believe hereafter, thereafter or afterwards.
Why?
So that Christ might display his unlimited patience. When we consider
again all that Paul did, with a train of murder behind him and eagerly
contemplated murder ahead of him, we might well be astounded at Christ's
unlimited patience. But as I have the 26 translations to hand let me give the -
other eight renderings to really get the sense of it.
show forth his entire long-suffering. Rotherham
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show forth the -whole of his long-suffering. Alford
display the fullness of his patience. Weymouth
display his unlimited patience. Berkeley
demonstrate how vast is his patience. OlafNorlie
exhibit... his exhaustless patience. TCNT Westcott and
Hort
give the extreme example of his patience. Knox
demonstrate his perfect patience. NASB
71
_ Ayx-^, tky\ ^ W-^-^e/^/^ ^c^ -^-^
f^hJL^ Ci^i-^t^A. n^Tt^e^ ^'^-^-fifi/ie^
Eight different translations but together conveying a sense of a fullness,
a vastness, a completeness, a perfection of something only partially known
before.
Yes, in the age of salvation by grace, through faith (and this not from
yourselves! Eph. 2:8), God's amazing mercy is shown to the believer. But
Paul the prototype gives us a glimpse of greater grace, a fullness of grace,
greater mercy, a fullness of mercy to be shown to even the Christ rejecter. A
university student confessed before the Lord with bitter tears in my home that
her first reaction to this revelation was one of resentment. She was a Christian
and was "serving the Lord" but what justice was there in the unbelievers also
{jJi{'^VY^^h:Mi being saved?
V
How wonderful. Can you rejoice in this revelation from scripture that
God's unlimited, exhaustless mercy will ultimately be shown to -Hitler and /?C(L
t^b^tf- 31 il^u^.i'
-StaftnnwWhat glory this will be to Jesus.
0 what glory filled the heart of the student I referred to when she could
rejoice that the worst of humanity would ultimately experience the cleansing of
Jesus' blood. One of the main reasons for writing this book (with hours of
prayer) is the joy that floods the soul when the truth of Jesus' ultimate
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reconciliation of "all things" dawns on the soul. The sense of relief, of liberty;
the expansion of one's spirit, the magnification of one's praise and worship >
have to be experienced to be believed. One enters a whole new dimension of
appreciation and acclamation as one rejoices with Christ and Christians in this
truth.
But with this passage in 1 Timothy the Lord linked the account in
Jonah where Jonah was three days and thre'e nights in the fish - his personal
hell, as he called it. I quoted part of this passage at the end of chapter three.
72
Let us look at Jonah chapters 1 and 2 in more detail. Jonah knew God,
knew the voice of God and had been commanded, "Go to the great city of
Ninevah and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.
But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish ... But the Lord
provided a great fish and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three
nights. This, of course, is the same period that Paul was in his "hell". From
inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said, "In my distress I
called to the Lord and he answered me. From the depths of the grave (AV the
belly of hell, Heb. Sheol) I called for help and you listened to my cry. You
hurled me into the deep, the very heart of the seas and the currents swirled
about me; all your waves and banners swept over me. I said, "/ have been
banished/row your sight; yet I will look again towards your holy temple ... the
earth beneath me barred me in for ever (plant). But you brought my life up
from the pit 0 Lord my God ... What I have vowed I will make good, salvation
comes from the Lord! And the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah
on to dry land".
(Sheol is the Hades of the New Testament and is where Jesus went.
Jesus said "You will not abandon me to Sheol" The AV translates it "hell".)
In 2 Timothy 3:16 we read, "All scripture is God breathed and is useful
in teaching."
How is the account of Jonah, admittedly a popular Sunday School
story, "useful in teaching?"
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as it did in Jonah who said, "I have been banished from your sight (shades of
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me"), yet I will look again towards
your holy temple." The backslider turns back to God and goes and fulfils his
ministry. The thorough work of judgement in Paul is demonstrated by the
unparalleled commitment to Christ for the rest of his life.
But the important teaching is that, just as in the case of the disobedient
of Noah's day, judgement comes to an end and the sinner is restored - only,
ever, always of course, because of the atoning death of Jesus. What glory this
will bring to Jesus. "A bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he
shall not quench, till he send forth JUDGEMENT UNTO VICTORY" Matt.
12:20 AV.
Let us pause for a moment and consider the following proposition:
All sin, which must mean every sin past, present and future, including
the sin of not believing in Jesus (Jn. 16:9), committed or to be committed by
every man, woman and child who has ever lived and who will ever live has
been fully, adequately and completely punished in Jesus.
Whether sinners accept or are even aware of the benefits of this atoning
work of Christ or not does not change the fact that Jesus has been fully
punished by God for their sins - "once for all". As previously quoted, "He is
the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of
the whole world" 1 Jn. 2:2. God cannot punish those sins again. The
proposition is :
Any further punitive judgement of sins by God, whether on earth or in
hell, would be unjust. Sin can only justly be'punished once. The fact that the
one whose sin has been atoned for does not accept his pardon does not justify
75
God judging that sin punitively a second time, as if no atonement had been
made.
Some years ago in Britain a form of sentence for crime was used which
seems to have fallen into disuse. It was the option. "One month or one
hundred pounds," the magistrate would pronounce. If the criminal had one
hundred pounds and chose to pay it, he walked free. If he did not or could not
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pay he spent the next month in gaol. It was an option: one or the other but not
both.
""' Let us postulate a situation in which exactly that sentence is imposed
on, say, a motorist for excessive speeding. But he has no money and so faces
gaol. Then someone steps up and pays the 100 for him. The motorist walks
free.
This motorist may be extremely grateful to his benefactor or. callously
dismissive of him as a fool. Either way, he goes free. For we are not
e,
concerned with the criminal, penitent or unrepentant, grateful or ungrateful.
We are concerned with the integrity of the judicial system. Regardless of the
attitude of the criminal, the judicial system cannot send him to gaol for that
would be punishing the crime twice and the system would be brought into
disrepute.
So it is with God. Regardless of the sinner. God cannot justly judge
punitively anyone for whose sin Christ has fully paid the price just as if that
price had not been paid.
Alternatively:
76
The purely punitive judgement of sin by God a second time, first in
Jesus on the cross and then in the sinner in hell, would imply that the
atonement of Jesus was not acceptable, adequate or complete. It would be a
denial or denigration of Christ's redemptive work, accomplished at so great a
cost.
The mere suggestion that God could be unjust, or not fully accept the
full and glorious atonement of His Son, is, I agree, preposterous. But I have
made the point starkly to establish that God cannot judge sin punitively twice
and still be just, which he is. The purpose and justification of his judgements
can only be that they are corrective and remedial with restoration as their end,
rather like the chastisement of Christians which produces "a harvest of
righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Heb. 12:11.
Eternal judgement is neither corrective nor remedial. It is, by its very nature,
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purely punitive. Ergo: God's judgements cannot be eternal. MANKIND'S
SINS HAVE BEEN FULLY DEALT WITH, ONCE FOR ALL, IN JESUS.
| BUT SIN IN MANKIND HAS TO BE DEALT WITH BY JUDGEMENT.
We have seen that endless or infinite judgement cannot be eternal on
four counts:
- the adjective translated "eternal" or everlasting in the OT cannot
mean endless.
the adjective translated "eternal" or everlasting in the NT cannot
mean endless.
God has punished all sin in Jesus; being just he cannot judge sin
punitively a second time; endless punishment is punitive.
77
- punitive judgement by God would denigrate the glorious, finished
work of his Son on the Cross.
Now let me give you a fifth:
All punishment must be proportional to the crime.
Society would not sanction a 10 fine for a diabolical murder. A life
sentence or, in some countries, execution would be considered more
appropriate. Likewise a life sentence for being five minutes over time on a
~ parking meter would be considered outrageous. There must be some sense of
proportion.
Society in England recently debated whether the 28 years Myra Hindley
had spent in gaol for the most heinous torture and subsequent murder of
children was "sufficient". Society was divided. Yet the society would have
been unanimous if her crime had been shoplifting a bar of chocolate and she
had served 28 years.
What am I getting at? Simply this:
For God to punish finite crime committed in a finite lifespan with
infinite punishment would be immeasurably more unjust than 28 years in prison
for stealing a bar of chocolate.
Even Jesus' judgement when he took the sin of the whole world,
terrible that it was, was finite. It had an end.
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Infinite punishment for a finite crime is unjust.
78
Regardless of Calvary (and how can we disregard Calvary?) God, being
just, could not punish the sum total of any one person's finite crimes infinitely.
Therefore judgement cannot be eternal.
Let us recall the reason that God caused us all to be bom as sinners in
the first place:
"God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he might have
mercy on them all." His means of having mercy and b
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