Seven of Today’s Favorite Heresies—#6: Universalism
Jesus will save everyone

Contributed by Nancy Buschart

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” —Matthew 25:45

Christian Universalism believes that in the end, Jesus will save everyone. All the talk of hell and heaven in the scriptures can be explained away or hoped away. It is understandable that God’s people find Christian Universalism attractive. It is unbearable to think of a loved one who has, in life, rejected God’s love and mercy and salvation residing in a place of eternal separation from God where there is weeping and the gnashing of teeth (Mt 13:42,50; 24:51; 25:30; 22:13; Lk 13:28). So Christian Universalists hope that there is a different scenario in the end. They hope that Jesus’ love and sacrifice isn’t really as costly to willful sinners as the scriptures say. To pacify fears, they count a person’s good deeds and sacrifices and their contributions to the good of humanity and hope that these mitigate having rejected God’s grace—God’s gift that is always undeserved.

But God’s Word explicitly describes separating the wheat and the chaff (Mt 3), the weeds and the wheat (Mt 13), and the people who choose the wide gate or the narrow gate (Mt 7). Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25 is straightforward. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory” (Mt 25:31). When he comes, not if. The day approaches with certainty. What will happen on that day? “All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats… Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (25:32, 41).

My father died many years ago. In his life he made important contributions to his field of expertise and at his funeral people said good things about him. And, he was an angry and volatile man who was self-possessed and scary to this child. I never saw him as a soul surrendered to the love and mercy of God through Christ. I never heard of belief in Christ as Savior or Lord. I never heard him pray, “Your will be done.” I never saw him confess and repent of his sin and ask for forgiveness from God or from others. At the time of his death, I wrestled with hopes of heaven and fears of hell.

But the answer to my wrestling came quickly from God the Spirit. It is not that my father’s good deeds and failings could be weighed on a balance sheet. I was invited to turn my eyes from my human father and my hopes of heaven to the God I knew. This God is good and merciful and just and righteous and loving! He knew my father’s life and heart and I can trust this Living, Triune God to do the righteous and truly loving thing. So I surrendered my father’s eternity and my hopes and fears to my God and my Lord.

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin” (1John 1:5-7). Lord, help us fix our eyes on the Light with clear vision and understanding. We trust You!

Consider –

╬ Two of the questions for baptism are: “Do you acknowledge your need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit?” And, “Do you look to the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation?” Can you answer “yes” today? Take a moment to re-affirm your salvation and the matchless mercy of God. If your answer is “hmm, not sure” or “nope,” I invite you pause before these questions. Ask God the Spirit to lead you.

╬ Universalism is attractive because we hope that all people will be saved. These hopes come from a heart of compassion for the destiny of people. This compassion comes from God who is “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort” (1Cor 1)! Compassion compels us to love those who have not yet heard the gospel and inspires us to evangelism. Who do you know who has not yet said “yes” to Christ’s love? Pray. Ask the Lord to lead you to love and friendship and service to those who need Jesus.

╬ Father, Son and Spirit, you know our compassion for our family and friends who are hardened to your invitations to Life. Help us to trust You and Your goodness. For those around us and around the world who have not yet heard, compel us to live lives of faith and trust and surrender and service before them. May the grace we have received from You be the grace we extend to others. In Jesus. Amen.