Ultimate redemption - Daniel Mosby
I like to use this illustration where I have a white light board and then place translucent coloured shapes on the board. The white light tiles represent God, the translucent shapes represent us.
God is everywhere and God is light. Our nature is as an image of God We are all unique shapes and colours, and you can see God through and in each of us.
Our will is to be like God, but sin is a disease of our will. We listen to the lies of our ego and believe that we’re not like God and to become like him we need to judge others and ourselves. This sin distorts how we see ourselves and it becomes harder to see the God image in each of us. At this point I use a marker pen to block out some of the light shining through the shapes.
Now I add a clean shape in the shape of the cross. So God came to Earth as a human, Jesus. Fully God, fully human to remind us that our nature is indeed God. To remind us how it is possible to be both fully human and fully God. But our diseased will told us we know what God is, we created out own version of God more in the world’s image than his and we killed God himself. We didn’t recognise God even when he was literally staring us in the face.
God is light and life though and death couldn’t hold him, he rose again defeating sin an death. This ultimate demonstration of love, proves that Jesus is God, showing us the true nature of God, that’s the power of the cross. Realising this allows us to begin to restore ourselves to our original nature. Wiping away the sin. As I say this I use a cloth to wipe off the marker pen.
Watch me present this in more detail here
This is why is John 14:6 Jesus says
“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
The way we return to our nature is by recognising that like Jesus we are made in God’s image.
We have to consent to the restoration, we have to realise that our will is diseased and that to want to restore our true nature God won’t force it on us.
Before we die?
Romans 10:9 says :
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”
Traditional doctrine, or at least what we now consider to be traditional doctrine, says that where we move on to is either heaven or hell. Eternity with God in heaven or eternity in torment in hell. And our placement depends entirely on if we have “declared with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believed in your heart that God raised him from the dead”
Now there are a lot of questions here:
· Is hell is a real place, not as cut and dry as you may think
· What counts as saved?
· What does believing in your heart mean?
· Once saved always saved?
· What if no one has ever told you about God?
· What if you die too young to understand and believe?
· What if a disability means you’re not able to understand that?
· Is baptism compulsory?
· Are there specific words you have to say?
We can go down a huge legalistic rabbit hole here and I’m not going to answer any of those questions in this blog!
What I am going to do is say why I don’t think any of those questions matter.
You see the problem is people read in an additional three words into that verse.
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, before you die you will be saved”.
I believe we are eternal spiritual beings, we live in these skin suits for some time and then we move on.
So the question is, do we have to “declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead” whatever that looks like before we die in order to be saved?
The western, modern understanding of that question is usually yes. But that hasn’t always been the default position look at the thoughts of Origen, Clement, Gregory of Nyssa. Even the modern Eastern orthodox church.
Let’s consider three statements:
1. God wants everyone to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).
2. Christ's victory over death extends to the realm of the dead (1 Peter 3:18–20).
3. God stops offering any possibility of reconciliation at the precise moment someone dies.
The first two of these are generally universally accepted, the third is a position you can arrive at but not one universally accepted by the church throughout history.
As always there are verses and scripture you can use to support both sides.
In Philippians 2:10–11Paul says that: “At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.”
1 Peter 4:6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead...
In 1 Peter 3:18–20, Peter describes Jesus preaching to spirits in prison.
In Romans 8:38–39 Paul says that neither death nor life, nor anything else in all creation, can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
On the other hand Hebrews 9:27 says “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgement.”
The problem with that verse is that I don’t believe we can read judgement as meaning sorting into heaven or hell. I believe God’s Judgement is restorative not retributive.
One story used to promote the idea that it must happen before death is the parable of the goats and the sheep. I’m not going to recount the full parable here but just look at when it says this judgement will happen.
Matthew 25:31
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.”
No mention there of this happening immediately after death.
So before we go any further let me says this, I am telling you what I believe, just because I am writing on the internet or the pastor doesn’t mean that I’m right. Please go and seek the spirit and look into this yourself. But please don’t just dismiss it out of hand because it’s different.
Because this is different, and this idea is a well entrenched part of many people’s understanding they may think it as heretical.
So let’s first look at the most universally accepted declaration of the Christian faith the Nicaean creed. When I was an Anglican we chanted this weekly as part of the meeting.
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is,
seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
I don’t see anything in there that either answers the question or disagrees with anything I’ve said.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
It doesn’t say will come again to judge the living once they are dead. It ays he will judge the living and the dead.
I’m going to use the “U” word now. Universalism, this is something I’ve been accused of many times.
Let’s explore what universalism is.
In religion, universalism—often called Christian Universalism—is the belief that all human souls will eventually be saved and reconciled with God.
When the Swiss theologian Dr Karl Barth was asked “when was the exact moment you were saved.”
He responded, “I was saved at 3 o’clock on a Friday afternoon, on a hill outside the city of Jerusalem, in the year 33 A.D.”
Universalism has become a really loaded term recently. At our recent love wins conference Bradley Jersak spoke about why he doesn’t see himself as a universalist and I agree with him. The reason I don’t identify as a universalist is because universalism has come to imply a lot of theology that I can’t get on board with such as:
· The cross wasn’t necessary
· We don’t have a sin problem
· Behave how you want everyone goes to heaven anyway.
To quickly address those, the Cross was 100% necessary, no matter what atonement theory you subscribe to the cross shows us that Jesus is God and we are forgiven.
The cross is not simply an example of love. It is God's decisive action against sin and death. Whatever understanding we have of atonement, we cannot separate the restoration of humanity from the death and resurrection of Jesus.
We do have a sin problem, sin distorts us into not living out our nature of being made in Gods image. That’s a problem.
We can’t behave how we like, to say that the only reason to “behave” is to assure your place in heaven completely misses the point of Jesus’s teaching. Of course we should behave in a way that reflects God’s love. That is how we were created to operate.
It does matter that people come to know Christ before death, not in terms of heaven or hell but in terms of the world we live in now and living out our potential here and now.
This doesn’t mean that we don’t need to bother sharing the gospel now, I want to make a difference to the world I live in now and Jesus is the way to do that.
I do however believe in ultimate redemption.
Ultimate redemption rests on several beliefs:
Creation was made good: Humanity was created in God's image
Sin distorts that image: Humanity becomes separated from God's purposes.
Jesus came to restore: Salvation is about healing and transforming humanity, not simply changing its destination after death.
God's purposes will ultimately prevail: Evil, sin and death will not have the final word.
All creation will be reconciled: God's ultimate intention is the restoration of everything through Christ.
Let me present you with two contrasting opinions:
A salvation focused on escaping judgement
"You are a sinner. You must repent and believe before you die, otherwise you face eternal separation from God."
A salvation focused on ultimate redemption
"You are made in God's image. Sin has distorted that image, but God, through Jesus, is working to restore you and ultimately reconcile all things to himself."
I know which of those I prefer.
Ultimate redemption doesn't deny sin, judgement or the need for repentance. It places them within a much bigger story of God's restorative love.
Let me also ask you this. If God is love, does that love not continue after death? If we stand before God after death and “declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead”. Can we really see God going “too late” off to eternal torment you go?
My belief is that rather than saying “too late” with a sadistic smirk on his face ” Like the prodigal son’s father he’ll embrace us and say “Finally, welcome home”.
I believe a lot of Christians use heaven and hell as a way to say I’m better than you. I’ve got my golden ticket to heaven (and you haven’t yah boo!)
Some people might say “God wants to let everyone into heaven but can’t” Why not, if God wants to do something he’s going to do it. Otherwise he’s not God. There is no higher authority that God has to negotiate our salvation with.
If God desires the reconciliation of all things, why should we assume that he will eventually abandon that desire once we die? Is it possible that his patience, love and restorative power extend further than we have traditionally imagined?
So let me conclude, I believe in the Nicaean creed in its entirety. I believe that Jesus is God and that Jesus came to Earth to solve humanities sin problem on the cross.
But I just cannot believe that the God I know and love, the God revealed to us by Jesus. The God made known personally to us by the holy spirit. I cannot believe that God is ever going to say “too late, off to hell you go”.
To be clear I believe that when we die and we stand before God we get another chance to restore our God image. And not just one chance, unlimited chances. I believe that if Hell exists it’s empty!
Is there a possibility that someone could stand before God after death and still deny that he is God and end up in hell? My gut says no, once we die and the diseased will is gone, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord.
But none of that should change how anyone behaves on Earth. If you were only a Christian for the reward, I don’t think you are truly Christ like. Christ was completely altruistic. A belief in ultimate redemption isn’t a license to sin or permission to behave how you want.
Let me finish by asking this, if when you get to heaven and there are people there you weren’t expecting is your response is your response, as Jonah was in Ninevah, to be angry with God because this club isn’t as exclusive as you first thought. To be disappointed that some people are not suffering eternal torment.
Or to fall to your knees in awe at the extent of God’s grace. Will you pleased that God has found a way to restore everyone’s God image?
To me only the second response shows the God image that is our nature.