CHAPTER 27

EVANGELISM - PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD

There are four questions frequently asked by those who may not fully understand the truth of Universal Reconciliation, which we need to answer before we discuss the important topic of world evangelism.

1. If there is no hell, then what am I saved from?

2. If God will ultimately save all people, then why not just eat, drink, be merry and sin to my heart’s content, as my salvation is already guaranteed?

3. If God will ultimately save all people, then what is the point of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross?

4. If God will ultimately save all people, then why bother evangelising?

Let us now answer these questions.

1.  If there is no hell, then what am I saved from?
 
We are not saved from hell, but we are saved from death, as the Bible clearly says.

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Sin brings death, permanent death without any hope of resurrection. However, God’s gift to humanity is life, permanent glorious resurrected immortal life. On the cross, Jesus Christ won the victory over death, which the Bible refers to as the last enemy, and destroyed death permanently, the first death and the second death, through His death and resurrection. God will grant the gift of resurrected immortal life to all people, firstly to God’s Elect Bride of Christ in the First Resurrection, and later to the rest of humanity in the Second Resurrection.

True believers, God’s Elect, are also saved from the wrath of God, the righteous judgement of God, which all unbelievers will have to face in the Lake of Fire (Romans 5:9, Romans 2:5, Ephesians 5:6). However, as we have seen in Chapter 12, the Lake of Fire judgement is a refining, yet merciful judgement of unbelievers. God’s righteous judgement flows out of His love and, ultimately, it will lead to the salvation and reconciliation of all unbelievers to God, through repentance and God given faith in the work of the cross.

2. If God will ultimately save all people, then why not just eat, drink, be merry and sin to my heart’s content, as my salvation is already guaranteed?

The Bible says that the Kingdom of God (also meaning the Kingdom of heaven) is like treasure hidden in a field.
 
Matthew 13:44
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

When a man finds the great treasure, which is to know that Jesus Christ is indeed the Saviour of the world, he has great joy in his heart, and he is fully committed to keep this treasure at any cost. He no longer desires to remain in sin with the spiritual separation from God, which sin brings.
 
A person, who enjoys the pleasures of sin, without the Holy Spirit convicting him of his wrongdoing, is not a Christian. His sinful way of life demonstrates that he has not yet found the great treasure of salvation. He does not fear God and is still blind to his spiritual condition, which is that he is ‘wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked’ (Revelation 3:17).

A person who 'obeys' God because of a fear of going to hell has the wrong type of fear and the wrong type of obedience. This person does not  know the true God of the Bible who loves the whole world, so much so that He sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to sacrificially die on the cross to fogive the sins of the whole world. This perosn is not yet a child of God who relates to God as His loving Father, through godly fear and godly obedience. 

3. If God will ultimately save all people, then what is the  point of Jesus Christ's sacrifice on the cross?

Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the whole world.

1 John 2:2 (NIV)
He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

The Bible tells us that there is no one righteous, no, not even one. Without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ no one could be saved from death because the wages of sin is death, and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Jesus Christ won the victory over death for all people. The glorious truth of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ sacrificially died on the cross for the sins of the whole world, so that all people will be saved and made righteous with God’s Righteousness, in God’s time and His order, which extends beyond this age.

 4. If God will ultimately save all people, then why bother evangelising?

Let us have no doubt about it that evangelism is absolutely essential. God has purposed that it is through evangelism that every person will be saved and reconciled to God, whether in this age or in the ages to come, before the creation of the Eternal Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth. Evangelism means that God, through the power of His Holy Spirit, ensures that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached to each and every person for his salvation, through His Elect or by whatever other means God chooses.
 
Now that we have answered the four questions given above, we can look at the exciting and very important subject of world evangelism.

Evangelism in this Present Age

The Bible clearly states that before this present age ends with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached in all the world, as a witness to all nations.
 
We are living in perilous and momentous times near the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Jesus warns us that many false teachers and prophets will arise claiming to be His followers and they will deceive many. This is happening on a massive scale today. Our present world has never seen so much growth in the preaching of ‘another gospel’ through the media of the internet, television, radio and millions of books. Christianity has become a huge multi-billion pound industry, promising health and wealth in the name of Jesus and offering ‘salvation’ from a burning hell by using the formula of reciting a sinner’s prayer.

Christians over the centuries have been zealous in their missions to convert people to Christianity and save them from hell, but the true biblical Gospel of the Kingdom of God has not yet been preached in all the world.

How can Christians preach the true Gospel of the Kingdom of God when many of them don’t even believe in the coming literal Kingdom of God to this earth, at the return of Jesus Christ? Traditional Christianity has ‘spiritualised’ many clear scriptures about the Kingdom of God, and it is unfortunate that the Kingdom of God has been reduced to a hazy, ethereal concept of something within people’s hearts.

When you come right down to it, the ‘Christian gospel’ that has been preached for centuries by traditional Christianity is not good news at all. It is very, very bad news.  How can it be good news, when the overwhelming majority of humanity, who die as unbelievers, is condemned to spend eternity in a hell of unceasing suffering?  How can it be good news even for Christians if they believe that their loved ones, who die as unbelievers, will spend eternity in unending torment?

The Gospel means GOOD NEWS. It is good news for all because ultimately, in God’s time and order, Father God through His Son Jesus Christ will reconcile all men and all angels without a single exception. This Good News of Jesus Christ is yet to be preached in all the world, as a witness to all the nations before the end of this age, as prophesied by Christ Himself.

Matthew 24:14
And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Make no mistake about it, the true biblical Gospel of the Kingdom of God will be preached in all the world before Jesus Christ returns.

Evangelism in the Millennial Age

The risen Saints, who are God's Elect called Bride of Christ, will rule and reign with Christ in the next age, the Millennial Age, and they will continue their work of evangelism.  In the Millennial Age, all people, except the ‘goat’ nations, will come to repentance and accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. Ultimately, through evangelism in Christ’s Millennial Kingdom, the whole earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Evangelism in the Lake of Fire Judgement Age
 
At the end of the Millennial Age, all unbelievers will rise in the Second Resurrection, in their immortal yet still unsaved bodies, to be judged in God's Lake of Fire. During the Lake of Fire Judgement Age, the work of evangelism will continue for Jesus and His Bride as they evangelise these unbelievers in the Lake of Fire. Ultimately, all unbelievers will be drawn from darkness into light to understand the full work of the cross. They will repent and through God given faith freely accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for their salvation.

The work of evangelism will continue until all fallen men and all fallen angels are reconciled to God through the work of the cross. This is when Father God proclaims ‘It is done’ in fulfilment of God’s Plan for All. Then, Father God Himself with Jesus Christ at His right hand will descend with the Holy City unto this cleansed and renewed earth to tabernacle with men, and be all in all forever in the Eternal Kingdom of God of the New Heaven and the New Earth. 

Conclusion

God has been calling and preparing His Elect in this life for a special salvation to work with Jesus Christ in the great and wonderful work of evangelism to all unbelievers, which will continue beyond this age until all men and all angels are reconciled to God through the work of the cross.  

1 Timothy 4:10-11
10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. 11 These things command and teach.

God is indeed the Saviour of all men. Note that it is a command from God to teach that He is the Saviour of all men. However, in this age, God’s purpose is not to save all men, but to prepare a few people for a special salvation. The Bible refers to this group of people by various names; the Elect, the Saints, the Church, the Firstfruits, the Bride of Christ, the Lamb’s Wife, the Holy City and New Jerusalem.

The Elect, true believers chosen from the nation of Israel and the Gentile nations, will rise as the Bride of Christ, the Firstfruits, in the First Resurrection to join Jesus Christ at His Second Coming. The Bride will play a vital role in the Millennial Age and in the Lake of Fire Judgement Age, as labourers working with the Lord of the Harvest (Christ), to evangelise all of the billions of unbelieving fellow human beings and reap the Great Harvest of abundant fruits of the rest of humanity.

HOME          NEXT