NOT UNIVERSAL SALVATION BUT A UNIVERSAL OPPORTUNITY FOR SALVATION.
The Apostle tells us that God preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, "beforehand" signifying before it was due to begin; for the Gospel did not begin with Abraham, but with our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Apostle again declares, this salvation "began to be declared by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him." (Heb 2:3) All that ever went before our Lord's preaching was not the Gospel, but merely types and promises which foreshadowed it.
Let us notice next what, according to the Apostle, constituted this fore-statement of the Gospel to Abraham: he says that it was couched in the words, "In thee and in thy seed shall all nations be blessed." (Gal 3:16, 29) Note this carefully: it does not say, in thy seed shall one out of a thousand out of the families of the earth be blessed, and the remainder be doomed to an indescribably horrible eternity, but that the whole Gospel is a Gospel of blessing, applicable to all the families of the earth—through Christ, the true seed of Abraham.
When our Lord Jesus was born into the world, the Heavenly Father sent a message respecting him, and the angels who bore that message declared that it was a Gospel message. Let us hearken to what the angels said about the eternal torment of the vast majority of our race. They said to the shepherds,
"Behold we bring you good tidings [gospel] of great joy, which shall be unto ALL people." (Luke 2:10)
Let it be distinctly noted that the Gospel of the angels, like the Gospel communicated to Abraham, contains no reference to the damnation and eternal misery of any of the Lord's creatures, and that consequently those who preach damnation and call it the Gospel, are doing so in utter violation of the meaning of the word and of all the uses of that word throughout the Scriptures.
However well they may mean, they are in this certainly committing a wrong, a grievous wrong, and we long to see the light of the knowledge of the goodness of God shine into their hearts and relieve them of this blindness which comes not from God nor from his Word, but from the prince of darkness (2 Cor 4:4).
It will require all the Millennial Age (which is to follow this Gospel age in which we live) to bless all the families of the earth with the joyful knowledge of divine grace in Christ. Just so surely as the forty-seven thousand millions went down into death without ever hearing of the one name under the heavens whereby we might be saved, without coming to a clear knowledge of the truth, without the good tidings of great joy reaching their ears, --just so surely must they all come forth from the grave that this very Gospel message of "good tidings" may be declared to them, and that they may be tested thereby and either be accepted to eternal life or destroyed, as unworthy of life, in the Second Death. We say just so surely, for three reasons:
(1) The announcement of the Gospel to Abraham says, "In thy seed shall ALL the families of the earth be blessed," and all of these forty-seven thousand millions belong to this very class specified, the families of the earth--and they have not yet been blessed with this knowledge of the only name wherein is the blessing (salvation).
(2) The same is true of the message by the angels, --the good tidings of great joy are for ALL people, and these forty-seven thousand millions of humanity are surely the great bulk of ALL people.
(3) We are sure that this testimony must be given to them in the future because the Scriptural declaration is that "Christ died for the ungodly;" "he tasted death for every man," and as a consequence every man must have an opportunity granted him for benefiting by that death, and of availing himself of the privilege of eternal life which was secured by our Lord's ransom sacrifice, “to be testified in due time”, for the world that time is in the Millennial age, for the Church that time is now.
Thus mankind learns the lesson of evil and its consequences first in the present life, and the lesson of righteousness and its blessed results under divine providence, in the Millennium; and when thus fully equipped with knowledge on both sides of the question and instructed by the Royal Priesthood, (the completed and glorified elect Gospel Church), mankind will be ready for the tests, that will be applied by the Lord Jesus, under which the obedient and faithful will be granted full perfection and eternal life, and the disobedient and incorrigible will "be destroyed from amongst the people."(Acts 3:22, 23)
Continued with next post.
The Apostle tells us that God preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, "beforehand" signifying before it was due to begin; for the Gospel did not begin with Abraham, but with our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Apostle again declares, this salvation "began to be declared by our Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him." (Heb 2:3) All that ever went before our Lord's preaching was not the Gospel, but merely types and promises which foreshadowed it.
Let us notice next what, according to the Apostle, constituted this fore-statement of the Gospel to Abraham: he says that it was couched in the words, "In thee and in thy seed shall all nations be blessed." (Gal 3:16, 29) Note this carefully: it does not say, in thy seed shall one out of a thousand out of the families of the earth be blessed, and the remainder be doomed to an indescribably horrible eternity, but that the whole Gospel is a Gospel of blessing, applicable to all the families of the earth—through Christ, the true seed of Abraham.
When our Lord Jesus was born into the world, the Heavenly Father sent a message respecting him, and the angels who bore that message declared that it was a Gospel message. Let us hearken to what the angels said about the eternal torment of the vast majority of our race. They said to the shepherds,
"Behold we bring you good tidings [gospel] of great joy, which shall be unto ALL people." (Luke 2:10)
Let it be distinctly noted that the Gospel of the angels, like the Gospel communicated to Abraham, contains no reference to the damnation and eternal misery of any of the Lord's creatures, and that consequently those who preach damnation and call it the Gospel, are doing so in utter violation of the meaning of the word and of all the uses of that word throughout the Scriptures.
However well they may mean, they are in this certainly committing a wrong, a grievous wrong, and we long to see the light of the knowledge of the goodness of God shine into their hearts and relieve them of this blindness which comes not from God nor from his Word, but from the prince of darkness (2 Cor 4:4).
It will require all the Millennial Age (which is to follow this Gospel age in which we live) to bless all the families of the earth with the joyful knowledge of divine grace in Christ. Just so surely as the forty-seven thousand millions went down into death without ever hearing of the one name under the heavens whereby we might be saved, without coming to a clear knowledge of the truth, without the good tidings of great joy reaching their ears, --just so surely must they all come forth from the grave that this very Gospel message of "good tidings" may be declared to them, and that they may be tested thereby and either be accepted to eternal life or destroyed, as unworthy of life, in the Second Death. We say just so surely, for three reasons:
(1) The announcement of the Gospel to Abraham says, "In thy seed shall ALL the families of the earth be blessed," and all of these forty-seven thousand millions belong to this very class specified, the families of the earth--and they have not yet been blessed with this knowledge of the only name wherein is the blessing (salvation).
(2) The same is true of the message by the angels, --the good tidings of great joy are for ALL people, and these forty-seven thousand millions of humanity are surely the great bulk of ALL people.
(3) We are sure that this testimony must be given to them in the future because the Scriptural declaration is that "Christ died for the ungodly;" "he tasted death for every man," and as a consequence every man must have an opportunity granted him for benefiting by that death, and of availing himself of the privilege of eternal life which was secured by our Lord's ransom sacrifice, “to be testified in due time”, for the world that time is in the Millennial age, for the Church that time is now.
Thus mankind learns the lesson of evil and its consequences first in the present life, and the lesson of righteousness and its blessed results under divine providence, in the Millennium; and when thus fully equipped with knowledge on both sides of the question and instructed by the Royal Priesthood, (the completed and glorified elect Gospel Church), mankind will be ready for the tests, that will be applied by the Lord Jesus, under which the obedient and faithful will be granted full perfection and eternal life, and the disobedient and incorrigible will "be destroyed from amongst the people."(Acts 3:22, 23)
Continued with next post.
