CHAPTER 3

THE SEVEN FOUNDATIONAL BIBLICAL TRUTHS

There are seven foundational biblical truths, which underpin and enhance our belief in the biblical truth of Universal Reconciliation. These seven truths are woven into each chapter of this book and are confirmed by relevant supporting scriptures. We encourage you to take time to carefully read this chapter to understand these truths, in order to appreciate and understand God’s Plan for the Reconciliation of all things through Jesus Christ.

Here are the seven foundational biblical truths:

1. The truth of God

2. The truth of Creation

3. The truth of Sin and God’s Judgements

4. The truth of the Shed Blood of Christ on the Cross

5. The truth of Israel

6. The truth of God’s Elect, the Bride of Christ

7. The truth of the Kingdom of God

Let us now consider each of these truths.

1. THE TRUTH OF GOD

God is Spirit. (John 4:24) and God is ONE. (Deuteronomy 6:4, Mark 12:29) There is only one God.

In the Old Testament, God revealed Himself to Israel as one God YHVH (sometimes pronounced Yahweh). In the New Testament, God relates to us as one God; God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. However, this does not make God a Trinity. God can relate to us in additional ways as He did in the Old Testament, as ‘The Angel of the Lord’ (Exodus 3:2), and as Melchizedek. (Hebrews 7:1-3)

The word ‘Trinity’ is not in the Bible, therefore we are uncomfortable with calling God a Trinity because it can be misunderstood to mean that there are three Gods and it also limits God to relating to us in only three ways. Why use the unbiblical term ‘Trinity’ when there is no mention of it in the Bible? Also, the concept of Trinity can pose a stumbling block to both Jews and Muslims accepting Jesus Christ as their Saviour.

Father is the focus of our worship to God. We pray to the Father in the name of Jesus Christ because Jesus is the only Way to the Father. Only true believers can relate to the Father as His children.

Jesus Christ was with God as the Word in the beginning, and the Word was God and is God. The Word became flesh in the womb of the virgin Mary and Jesus was born and became a Man. Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed His blood to forgive the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2) The central truth of Jesus Christ is that the Father will reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. (Colossians 1:20)

The Holy Spirit is both the Power and the Person of God. God created everything by Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible has been inspired by the Holy Spirit and He is its Author. As Christians, the Holy Spirit lives in us and guides us. He is our Teacher and reveals the spiritual truths contained in the Bible. (John 14:26)

God is Love. (1 John 4:16) God’s love demands that everything He has done, He is doing and He will do, flows out of His love. Even God’s anger, wrath and judgements flow out of His love to bring His righteousness. (Isaiah 26:9) God’s love will reconcile all things through Jesus Christ to the glory of God the Father. 

God is Sovereign. God’s sovereignty ensures that He always carries out His purposes throughout the ages; nothing and no one, including Satan, can frustrate His will. (Isaiah 46:10) Man’s limited freewill does not and can not override God’s sovereign will. When God says that He wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, He means exactly that; all men will come to the knowledge of the truth of Jesus Christ and be saved. This will happen in God’s time and His order. (1 Timothy 2:4, 1 Corinthians 15:23)

2. THE TRUTH OF CREATION

God created the heavens and the earth (the universe) in the beginning. (Genesis 1:1) When God created the universe through Jesus Christ, this marked the beginning of time, the beginning of the ages.

Jesus Christ began the ages and He will end the ages with the fulfilment of God’s Plan for the reconciliation of all things because He is the Beginning and the End.

The Bible is a book about the ages and refers to seven distinct ages. All that is written from Genesis to Revelation is related to one or more of these ages. Everything that God has done, is doing and will do, must be understood in the context of these ages, because God has a specific purpose for each age. Full details are given in Chapter 5, The Seven Ages in God’s Plan for All.

All of the angels sang together and shouted for joy over the creation of the earth. (Job 38:4-7) Therefore, it is evident that the angels were created before the heavens and the earth. Also, it is clear that God must have created the earth in such a beautiful state for the angels to rejoice with singing and shouting.

Man is the pinnacle of God’s creation. God created man in His own image for a family relationship with Him. (Genesis 1:27) Angels were created to be ministering spirits to men. (Hebrews 1:14) God created the plant and animal kingdoms to bless men and for men to have a caring dominion over them.

The Bible supports Old Earth Creationism, the belief that God created the earth many millions of years ago, as opposed to Young Earth Creationism, the belief that God created the earth only six thousand years ago. We reject Young Earth Creationism because we have found it to be biblically untrue, illogical, scientifically nonsensical, and furthermore it cannot be supported by earth’s geology and fossil record.

Old Earth Creationism is also known as ‘The Gap Theory’. However, there are other forms of beliefs in an Old Earth like Theistic Evolution, which tries to harmonise the false theory of Evolution into the Genesis creation account. As we reject Young Earth Creationism, we also completely reject Theistic Evolution as unbiblical.

In Chapter 25, The Pre-Adamic Age, the Age of Angels, we give detailed answers to why Old Earth Creationism is biblical, scientifically valid and clearly supported by earth’s geology and fossil record.  

Our earth is destined to become the headquarters and governing planet of the universe after God has renewed it and its heaven (the earth’s atmosphere) by fire. God the Father Himself will descend to earth and live here forever with all people whom He created in His own image, and be all in all.  Everything in the universe will be reconciled and at peace with God because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of the whole world. There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor pain. There will be joy and peace for all for evermore. Everybody is included and no one is excluded from the glorious Eternal Kingdom of the New Heaven and the New Earth. (Revelation 21:1-6, Colossians 1:19-20)

3. THE TRUTH OF SIN AND GOD’S JUDGEMENTS

Sin is transgression or disobedience of God’s Law and, above all, sin is unbelief in the true Gospel that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of all men, the Saviour of the world. (1 John 3:4, 1 John 3:6-9, 1 John 2:2, 1 Timothy 9-11, John 4:42)  

Sin first entered the world through Satan and his followers, the fallen angels, during the First Age, the Pre-Adamic Age. A third of the angels sinned and were thrown down to earth with cataclysmic consequences for the earth; the complete upheaval of the earth’s surface and death and destruction of all Pre-Adamic plant and animal life. Satan and his fallen angels are confined to this earth and chained in spiritual darkness until their final judgement in the Lake of Fire.

God renewed the face of the earth in six literal 24-hour days with the creation/recreation of plant and animal life and then proceeded to create man in His own image. Sin then entered the human world because Eve and Adam became fallen when they ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, when tempted and deceived by Satan who was already fallen. As a result of man’s original sin, death entered the human world and every descendant of Adam and Eve, with the exception of Jesus Christ, is born with a fallen sinful nature.

God has complete foreknowledge of everything that happens in His creation; therefore, the sins of fallen angels and men did not take Him by surprise. This is all within God’s Plan, which includes both separation and reconciliation; separation because of sin, and reconciliation because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who died for the sins of the whole world.

The Bible from Genesis to Revelation shows that man is responsible for his actions, and this definitely proves that God has created man with freewill, otherwise it would be absurd for God to hold man accountable for his actions.

Sin brings judgement, suffering, death, destruction and separation from God. God takes full and complete responsibility for the existence of sin and evil as God is the creator of all things. (Isaiah 45:7)  However, since God has created us in His own image with freewill, we are responsible and accountable for our actions. Our accountability for our sins brings God’s judgement on us for the greater purpose of receiving His salvation and reconciliation through Jesus Christ. Without God’s judgement, we would not understand good from evil, light from darkness and the righteousness of God from the unrighteousness of sinful fallen men and angels. Full details are given in Chapter 26, Understanding Evil and Suffering.

Here is an important truth. All of God’s judgements are corrective, no matter how horrific they may appear from man’s perspective. All of God’s judgements flow out of His love because God is love and He loves the whole world. (1 John 4:16, John 3:16) God so loved the world that He died for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)

Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God punishes an unbeliever, or even Satan in hell, forever. Christians must understand that the belief in eternal torture in hell is a pagan belief, which was embraced and Christianised into the Word of God by Roman Catholicism in the early years of the history of Christianity. Chapters 15-19 give complete and comprehensive answers to why, when and how the doctrine of hell crept into Christianity.

Jesus conquered sin and death, on the cross, for the whole world because He died for the sins of the whole world. Ultimately, in God’s time and His order, which extends beyond this age, God will grant each and every person the genuine gift of saving faith to believe in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Salvation is always by grace through repentance and faith in the sacrifice of Jesus, whether in this life for believers or in the next life, in an age-to-come, for unbelievers.

God’s judgements are designed to bring humility, repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, which leads to righteousness, reconciliation and salvation. God’s loving and righteous judgement of all sinners will ensure that all people, in God’s time and in His order, will repent and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, by God-given faith.

Chapters 12 and 13, The Lake of Fire Judgement Age – Part 1 and Part 2 give a full explanation of God’s loving and refining judgement of all unbelievers and all fallen angels.

4. THE TRUTH OF THE SHED BLOOD OF CHRIST ON THE CROSS

The cross of Christ is absolutely at the centre of God’s Plan to reconcile all things in heaven and all things on earth unto Himself.

Colossians 1:19-20

19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

The way of the cross is the only way through which our Holy and Righteous God makes peace with fallen men and fallen angels. The cross of Christ has infinite power to transform all people from unrighteousness to God’s Righteousness and to reconcile all things in the universe making peace with God. This is why Apostle Paul said that he was determined not to know anything except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2)

When God created angels and men, He knew that unrighteousness would enter His creation and angels and men would sin. He worked out a plan to solve the problem of their unrighteousness, even before the creation of the heavens and the earth. The Plan God formulated was for the universal reconciliation of all things, without exception, which includes all of mankind and all angels, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice not only for the sins of believers, but also for the sins of the whole world. The sins of the whole world include the sins of all unbelievers and all fallen angels, as the key scripture Colossians 1:15-20 clearly says. A detailed commentary on Colossians 1:15-20 is given in the next chapter. 

All of God’s creation without exception will be reconciled through the blood of the cross. This is the only way by which the full purpose of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ will ultimately be completely fulfilled, in God’s time and in His order. Anything less than the full reconciliation of all things would be tantamount to defeat and failure of what Jesus Christ accomplished through His sacrifice on the cross.

This is why the traditional doctrine of hell is such a stench in the nostrils of God. God is the Saviour of all men. (1 Timothy 4:10) He is absolutely not a torturer of unbelievers in hell or an annihilator of them either, as unfortunately believed by most Christians.

5. THE TRUTH OF ISRAEL

The Bible speaks about three groups of people. These are the Israelites (the Jews), the Gentiles (the nations) and God’s Elect (Believers, the Bride of Christ). These three groups of people are separate and distinct and should not be confused with each other. It is important to understand that God has kept the Israelites a separate and distinct people from the Gentiles, racially through the descendants of Abraham from the line of Isaac and Jacob, and religiously through the Mosaic Law.

God changed the name of Jacob to Israel. The Bible also uses the word ‘Israel’ to mean both the nation and the land. Scripture says again and again, hundreds of times, that God is the God of Israel, and the Holy One of Israel. The word Israel is mentioned over 2,500 times in the Bible.

We all need to grasp the tremendous importance of Israel in God’s Plan for All, and why and how God is using Israel to demonstrate His justice and His righteousness through the Seed of Abraham who is Jesus Christ Himself. (Galatians 3:16)

Full details on this important subject are given in Chapters 6 and 7, God’s Purpose for Israel – Part 1 and Part 2.

6. THE TRUTH OF GOD’S ELECT, THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

The Bible says that many are called but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:14) These few who are called and then chosen are God’s Elect, true believers, chosen from Israel and the Gentile nations for a special purpose and a special salvation. The Elect who are the Bride of Christ will be resurrected as the Firstfruits at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

The glorious purpose of the Firstfruits, the Bride of Christ is to bear more fruits of the Great Harvest. The union of the Bride of Christ with Jesus Christ will bear multiple billions of spiritual children born into the Kingdom of God. These spiritual children are none other than the rest of humanity who will rise in the Second Resurrection and ultimately all people without any exceptions will enter into the Eternal Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth.

We allocate a full chapter, Chapter 9, The Truth of God’s Elect – The Bride of Christ, to deal with this little understood and much misunderstood subject of Election.

7. THE TRUTH OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The Bible speaks of the Kingdom of God coming in two phases. The first phase is the Millennial Kingdom of God, which will last for one thousand years. The second phase is the Eternal Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth, which comes after the Lake of Fire Judgement Age when Jesus has reconciled all things to God the Father. Chapter 8, The True Gospel of Jesus Christ, gives scripture references for these two phases of the Kingdom of God.

The Kingdom of God has not come to earth yet. The Millennial Kingdom will be established on earth at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. There are a number of prophesied significant events that will happen before the Eternal Kingdom of God is established on earth. We list below these prophesied events, in their chronological order.

1.    The true Gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached to all the world as a witness to all nations before Jesus Christ returns.

2.    The Great Tribulation will be the most horrific unprecedented time of God's global judgement, just prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It will be immediately followed by massively cataclysmic events, of shaking of the heavens, the sun being darkened, meteorites falling onto earth, a huge earthquake and mountains being flattened, at the actual return of Jesus Christ. 

3.    Satan will be bound by an angel and put in prison at the return of Jesus Christ to prevent him deceiving the nations during the Millennial Kingdom.   

4.   The First Resurrection, described in the Bible as a better resurrection, occurs when all true believers, God’s Elect, will rise to meet the returning Jesus Christ in the air.

5.   The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to this earth is a glorious future event prophesied in many scriptures.

6.   The Millennial Age of the Kingdom of God on earth will be a wonderful thousand-year age when Jesus Christ, with His Bride, will rule and reign over survivors of the Great Tribulation and their descendants.

7.     Satan will be released from prison at the end of the thousand-year Millennial Age of the Kingdom of God.

8.     The Second Resurrection will also take place at the end of the Millennial Age of the Kingdom of God. 

9.     The Lake of Fire Judgement Age for the Judgement and Reconciliation of all unbelievers and all fallen angels.

10. The Eternal Age of the Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth when all things in heaven and all things on earth have been reconciled to Father God Himself through the blood of the cross. This is when God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things will have passed away. God the Father Himself will descend to this earth and He will be all in all.

We describe these ten prophesied events in detail in Chapters 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14.

The next chapter, Chapter 4, ‘Universal Reconciliation Scriptures — The Riches of Christ’, is a very important chapter because it will help you to prove for yourself that the Bible from Genesis to Revelation upholds the truth of Universal Reconciliation.

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