Question:
Dear Greg,
It
seems obvious that Jesus should be the greatest soul winner of all time.
However, if more souls end up in hell than in heaven, would it not then
make Satan the greater soul winner? If
God’s will is that all be saved and we are taught to pray “Thy will be
done”, then would it be acceptable to us for it to be so, even if such a
belief differs from that which we may have always been taught?
My question is, would it be ok with you if all were saved and ended up in
heaven?
Jack
Answer: Dear Jack,
Of
course it would be ok with me if everyone winds up in heaven.
But there are passages in the Bible that seem to clearly say that such a
thing will not happen.
If
we ascribe the problem with lost souls to God, then it could, as you suggest,
make him impotent. But the Bible
speaks to human choice. We have
something to say about whether we accept what God makes available.
Some
get “fired up” and “fire up” their followers about evangelism of the
unsaved with vivid depictions of sinners in the hands of an angry God (the
Jonathan Edwards classic). And the
hotter ones’ hell is the more urgent it seems that many are to rally to the
cause of evangelizing. But surely
God, who in his mercy and grace allows us to be his tools to help proclaim the
gospel, does not solely rely on our imperfect and pitiful human efforts?
Are there ways that he reaches people that are not obvious to us?
Some people, for example, are amazed that denominations other than their
own can reach out to the unsaved, and some still believe that the lost really
need to be evangelized to their specific denominational distinctives before they
are really saved.
On
the other hand--perhaps at the other end of the spectrum--if we lapse into
universalism and assume that all people will be saved (which is not, as noted
above, biblical), then we are not motivated to do anything at all in proclaiming
the gospel—for God will do it all.
PTM
believes that the plain truth is that heaven will be populated with more people
than many Christians believe, and that hell will be populated with fewer than
many Christians believe. Beyond
that, all of this is speculation, and we should avoid dogmatism when the Bible
does not give us clear direction and insight.
It
does seem safe to biblically conclude that:
1.
God will make a way (and has throughout history), in
his providence, to
2.
Each human will choose, based upon the circumstances
they face. It is
In
Christ,
Greg
Albrecht