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CHAPTER 1

THE GOSPEL OF THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS

As we saw at the beginning of the book, this Gospel was preached by the apostle Peter in the book of Acts Ch 3 v 19-21.

‘Repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus Christ who was preached to you before whom heaven must receive and retain until the time comes of the restoration of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.’

(Acts 3 v 19-21)

It is important to realise that the word ‘restoration’ has the prefix ‘re’ at the beginning, meaning a ‘restoring back’ to an original condition that we had before we were separated from God, before we were lost and needed saving. But it is the last section of this passage I want to concentrate on in this chapter, that this Gospel of the restoration of all things was spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. I will be doing an overview, going right back to the book of Genesis, through the old testament, through the new testament, and showing that this Gospel has always been taught and believed despite the Jews and the Church trying to shut it down.

It is important to begin with, for us to understand the little word ‘things’ as it is used in scripture, Peter talks about the restoration of all ‘things’.

The word ‘things’ in scripture means ‘beings’, human and angelic. We in modern English tend to use the word ‘things’ to mean inanimate objects such as rocks and trees, and feel it’s somehow insulting to call people ‘things’, but that is what the Bible does. For example, Jesus is called a ‘thing’ in Luke 1 v 35 when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and tells her of her impending pregnancy by the Holy Spirit:

‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you, therefore that ‘holy thing’ who is to be born will be called the son of God.’

(Luke 1 v 35 KJV)

The Apostles are called ‘things’ in 1 Cor 3 v 21-22

‘For all things are yours whether Paul, Apollos or Cephas’

(1 Cor 3 v 21-22)

All human beings are called ‘things’ in Philippians chapter 2:

‘At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, of things on earth and things under the earth and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.’

(Phil 2 v 10-11 KJV)

Can we see that ‘things’ in this passage have knees and tongues and a will to confess Jesus is Lord, so are clearly ‘beings’.

Angels are called ‘things’ in Colossians chapter 1:

‘For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers’.

The phrase ‘principalities and powers’ is also used in Ephesians 6 when speaking of evil angels.

So the word ‘things’ clearly means ‘beings’, human and angelic, and Peter says that there will come a time when ‘all things’ will be restored to God.

All humans and all angels will be restored to their original place in God because of the work of Jesus Christ, the saviour of the world.

Jesus said:

‘All things have been delivered to me by the Father.’

(Math 11 v 27)

And ‘the Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hands.’

(John 3 v 35)

All humans and all angels have been given to Jesus Christ by God the Father. Jesus promises that:

‘All that the Father gives me will come to me and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me that all he has given me I should lose nothing no-thing) but raise it up at the last day.’

(John 6 v 37-39)

Jesus says ‘all have been given, all will come to him, none will be cast out and all will be raised up on the last day.’ His job is not to lose any that the Father has given him.

St Paul tells us that

‘All things will be reconciled to God.’

(Col 1 v 20 )

‘All things will be gathered into Christ.’

(Eph 1 v 10)

‘All things will consummate in God and end in him.’

(Rom 11 v 36)

And the apostle John tells us that:

‘All things will be made new.’

(Rev 21 v 5)

Now we have an understanding of the word ‘things’ and what Peter meant by ‘the restoration of all things’, let us see how God has spoken this Gospel through all his holy prophets since the world began.

In the early chapters of Genesis, we have the creation of man and woman, their fall through the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and their hiding from God among the trees of the garden of Eden, and the Lord God comes to them in the cool of the day. This is the pre-incarnate Jesus appearing to Adam and Eve and he speaks with them, after pronouncing curses (firstly on the serpent, then on the woman, then on the man) he does an amazing thing - it says he made coats of skin and clothed them! We know that there was no death on earth until Adam and Eve sinned, so it could be that the Lord took an innocent animal and killed it, pre-figuring his own death four thousand years later on the cross, but what we do know is that the Lord took these coats of skin and put them on Adam and Eve, representing the robes of righteousness or garments of salvation. Adam is described in scripture as the representative head of all of fallen humanity; in other words, all of us in our fallen state are described as being ‘in Adam’. Eve, here, is called the mother of all the living, so Adam and Eve represent the whole of the human race which come from them, and Jesus clothing them is picturing the salvation of the whole human race and his death that will atone for all. But it is in Genesis chapter 12 that we get a fuller description of the Gospel of the restoration of all things when the Lord appears to Abraham and says to him:

‘In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’

(Gen 12 v 3)

In other words, Abraham, one coming from you will be the source of all blessing for every family on earth and we know that the one coming from Abraham was Jesus Christ, the messiah who would bless all mankind.

But this promise is expanded and repeated throughout the book of Genesis:

‘And all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.’

(Gen 18 v 8)

Now we not only have all families but ‘all nations’ being blessed in him. In whom? In the one coming from Abraham, the messiah Jesus Christ.

In Genesis 28 v 14 it says:

‘And in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’

Paul tells us in Galatians 3 v 16 that the seed of Abraham is Christ, so we not only have ‘all families’ and ‘all nations’ but we now know that they will be blessed ‘in Christ’. Now to be ‘in Christ’ is to be saved! Here it clearly teaches that all families and all nations will be blessed in Christ - in other words, ‘saved’!

Eph 1 v 7 says:

‘In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.’

So part of being blessed in him is having redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.

But the passage is expanded again, the NIV says:

‘All people on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.’

(Gen 28 v 14)

We not only now have ‘all nations’ and ‘all families’ but we also have ‘all people’ being blessed in Christ. In other words, every individual who has ever lived will one day be blessed (in other words saved) in the seed of Abraham, who is Christ.

This Gospel went out into the ancient world but was quickly thwarted, firstly by the Jews, who said that not all nations, families and people would be saved, only Jewish people, just as the Church says only Christians will be saved! This message of universal salvation was repeated in the New Testament when quoting these verses:

‘And the entire world will be blessed because of you.’

(Acts 3 v 25 Living Bible)

‘As God said to Abraham, “through your descendants I will bless all people on Earth.”’

(Acts 3 v 25 Good News Bible)

And so the scripture announced the good news to Abraham:

‘Through you God will bless all mankind.’

(Gal 3 v 8 Good News Bible)

This was the original Gospel preached to Abraham and through Abraham to the people.

Now of course Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, including Genesis, and understood fully that one day God would bless all mankind in Christ. He also gave the children of Israel the law, but as Paul says in Galatians 3 v 17 that the law covenant cannot annul the universal promise made to Abraham, that one day ‘In Christ’ all the families, nations and people of the world would be blessed.

For Moses says in Numbers:

‘The Lord said ‘I have pardoned them according to your word, but indeed as I live, all the earth will be filled with the Glory of the Lord.’

(Num 14 v 20)

‘All the earth’ means everyone who has ever lived on earth will one day be filled with the glory of the Lord’.

The prophet Samuel understood God’s universal gospel when he said:

‘God does not take away life, but plans ways so that the banished ones may not be cast out from him.’

(2 Sam 14 v 14)

God has a plan so that anyone who has been banished from him, either ‘on earth’ or ‘under the earth’, can be saved, and this plan is called ‘the Gospel of the Restoration of all Things’.

But King David is probably the Old Testament’s biggest exponent of universal salvation and was a man after God’s own heart, for he said in Psalm 22:

‘All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you for the kingdom is the Lords and he rules over the nations. All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who cannot keep himself alive.’

(Psalm 22 v 27-29)

The phrase ‘all the ends of the earth’ means ‘all mankind’ (from both ends of history), again echoing the gospel spoken to Abraham. We have ‘all families’ and ‘all nations’ and this also applies to all those who have died ‘all those who go down to the dust’, will what? Will ‘remember and turn to the Lord’ and will ‘bow before him’!

In Psalm 65 David makes this simple declaration:

‘Oh you who hear prayer to you all flesh will come.’

(Psalm 65 v 2)

‘You who hear prayer’ is God himself, and ‘all flesh’ is all mankind. Many in the church today believe that when every knee bows to God and confesses ‘Jesus is Lord’, God is somehow forcing his enemies to submit to him and it will be too late to be saved, but David says this:

‘Through the greatness of your power your enemies shall submit themselves to you. All the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you. They shall sing praises to your name.’

(Psalm 66 v 3-4)

So rather than being forced to submit they shall submit themselves to God. Not only that, but ‘all the earth shall worship God’ means all people and all people will become believers, for when are unbelievers going to worship God or sing praises to his name?

‘All the ends of the earth shall fear him.’

(Psalm 67 v 7)

‘All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God.’

(Psalm 98 v 3)

The phrase ‘all the ends of the earth’ means all mankind (again from both ends of history) and all will fear (or show reverence) to him and all will see the salvation that God has planned for everyone.

In Psalm 145, David again declares that the day will come when all people will worship God.

‘The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works, all your works shall praise you and all flesh shall bless his holy name forever and ever.’

(Psalm 145)

The Prophet Isaiah understood and proclaimed the Universalist Gospel when he said:

‘For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.’

(Isaiah 11 v 9)

It is difficult to see how ‘all flesh’ and ‘all God’s works’ shall praise him and bless his Holy name forever and ever if most of mankind are lost and writhing in agony in hell. Isaiah continues:

‘And in this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined wines on the lees. And he will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people. And the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.’

(Isaiah 25 v 6-8)

So Isaiah believed that one day God will make a feast for all people, will destroy the covering over all people, will swallow up death forever and wipe away tears from all faces.

This passage is a problem for those people who believe that death is ‘eternal death’ when God says he will swallow up death forever. Those who believe in ‘eternal torment’ need to explain how torment is eternal when God is going to wipe away tears from all faces.

It is important at this point to understand that all of these Old Testament Prophets gave a mixture of messages between describing God’s character, the judgement of God against the people of their day, God’s plan for the earth but also God’s overall plan for the salvation of all mankind. Many people use passages and verses that talk about people being judged as a reason to thwart the message of God’s plan of universal salvation, but these verses deal with things that occur prior to the restoration of all things, which is a common theme throughout scripture.

Isaiah goes on:

‘The glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’

(Isaiah 40 v 5)

‘Look to me and be saved all you ends of the earth for I am God and there is no other, I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath they shall say ‘surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength.’’

(Isaiah 45 v 22-24 )

Notice again that every knee will bow and every tongue shall swear an oath, that these are ‘in the Lord’ means they are saved, and again this applies to ‘all the ends of the earth’ meaning all people throughout all history.

‘The Lord has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God’

(Isaiah 52 v 10)

‘I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues and they shall come to see my glory.’

(Isaiah 66 v 18)

‘All flesh shall come to worship before me says the Lord.’

(Isaiah 66 v 23b)

The prophet Jeremiah also knew that the day would come when all people would ‘know the Lord’ when he wrote:

‘No more shall everyman teach his neighbour and everyman his brother saying ‘know the Lord’ for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them says the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.’

(Jer 31 v 34)

It is generally believed that Jeremiah wrote the book of lamentations as he watched and lamented over the destruction of Jerusalem at the beginning of the children of Israel’s captivity in Babylon, yet he realised that the judgements of God are not permanent and that the day would come when they would return and be restored, for he wrote:

‘For the Lord will not cast off forever though he causes grief yet he will show compassion according to the multitude of his mercies for he does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.’

(Lam 3 v 31-33)

Evangelical Christians teach that the Lord will cast people off forever and will not show them compassion. Jeremiah thought differently because he knew the ‘Gospel of restoration of all things.’

Daniel knew this principle too when he prophesied:

‘I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, he came to the ancient of days and they brought him near before him, then to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people, nations and languages should serve him’.

(Dan 7 v 13-14)

Daniel knew that one day all people would serve God.

The Prophet Joel knew the day was coming when the Messiah would return to earth, raise the dead and pour out the Holy Spirit on all flesh when he wrote:

‘And it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions and also on my menservants and on my maid servants I will pour out my spirit in those days.’

(Joel 2 v 28-29)

Again, ‘all flesh’ means all people.

Like many of the Old Testament prophets, the prophet Zephaniah speaks of God’s judgement of all nations and the ultimate restoration of all people when he writes:

‘Therefore wait for me says the Lord until the day I rise up for plunder, my determination is to gather the nations to my assembly of kingdoms to pour on them my indignation, all my fierce anger, all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy, for then I will restore to the people a pure language that they all may call on the name of the Lord to serve him with one accord.’

(Zeph 3 v 8-9)

Again, we have the judgement of God preceding the ultimate restoration of all things.

We can see from all these scriptures that the Gospel of the restoration of all things was proclaimed by all God’s holy prophets since the world began. The problem came when the Jewish people limited salvation to only the Jewish people and forgot that God had promised that all families, nations and people of the earth would be blessed in the seed of Abraham who is Jesus Christ.

The Church has done exactly the same thing, teaching that only Christians will be saved instead of everyone for whom Christ died, which is the whole world!

We now come onto the New Testament, John the Baptist, Jesus himself and the Apostles, to see that they also taught and believed that ultimately all will be saved and restored back to perfect union with God.

Firstly, in John chapter 1, Jesus is described as:

‘The true light that lights every man that comes into the world’

(John 1 v 9)

In other words, Jesus will light every man with the light of the gospel and the light of regeneration. Every man will be born again and will receive of his light.

In Matthew chapter 1, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, saying:

‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins.’

(Math 1 v 20-21)

So the question is, who is meant by ‘his people’? The question is answered in Psalm 24 v 1 which says:

‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof the world and all who dwell in.’

(Psalm 24 v 1)

So every person who has ever lived, is living or will live in the future belongs to God and are included as ‘his people’, so the angel promises that Jesus will one day save all people from their sins!

The same phrase ‘his people’ is also used in Luke 1 verses 68 and 77, where it says that God has redeemed his people and will give knowledge of salvation to ‘his people’ by the remission of sins. Again, ‘his people’ means ‘the world and all who dwell therein’!

An angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds at the time of the birth of Christ and said:

‘Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great Joy which will be to all people.’

(Luke 2 v 10)

Simeon, in the temple, when Jesus was presented there by his parents, said:

‘For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before the face of all people.’

(Luke 2 v 30)

So God is not just giving good news to all people but is preparing salvation for all people.

John the Baptist then appears on the scene and starts preaching. He announces himself as:

‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’

(Luke 3 v 4)

This is his message:

‘Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of God!’

(Luke 3 v 5-6)

In other words, nothing shall be a hindrance to God’s universal salvation plan until:

‘All flesh shall see the salvation of God!’

Most have not yet seen the salvation of God, but they will, for:

‘All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord.’

(Psalm 22 v 27)

And to ‘turn to the lord’ is to be saved.

John the Baptist then announces Jesus and says:

‘Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’

(John 1 v 29)

Notice, he doesn’t take away the sin of the church or the sin of the ‘elect’ or just ‘born again believers’, but the sin of the entire world.

And how does Jesus take away the sin of the world? Firstly, by dying on the cross for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2 v 2), and secondly by taking away the one sin that keeps people away from God - ‘unbelief’. In fact, ‘unbelief’ is the sin of the world.

‘For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God.’

(Eph 2 v 8)

Jesus as God is the one who gives faith to every man and in that way takes away their sin.

‘For God has dealt to every man the measure of faith’

(Romans 12 v 3 KJV)

Remember as we saw earlier that Jesus said:

‘All things have been delivered to me by my Father’.

(Matthew 11 v 27)

And:

‘The Father loves the son and has given all things into his hands’

(John 3 v 35)

And we saw that ‘things’ means people and ‘all things’ means ‘all people’ and all people have been given by God the Father to God the Son and Jesus makes this remarkable promise:

‘All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will in no way cast out for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and this is the will of him who sent me, that all he has given me (which is all things) I should lose nothing (no thing) and raise it up at the last day.’

(John 6 v 37-39)

So Jesus says ‘all have been given,’ ‘all will come to him,’ ‘none will be cast out’ and God’s will is that Jesus not lose any that have been given to him!

If Jesus fails, he will have failed to do the will of his Father.

That’s why Jesus says in Luke’s Gospel:

‘What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them does not leave the ninety nine and go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and when he comes home he calls together his friends and neighbours saying to them ‘rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost’. I say to you likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine just persons who need no repentance.’

(Luke 15 v 4-7)

Christianity has millions of people lost, but Jesus says even if there’s just one, he will not rest until they are saved, and this is so clearly about salvation that the ninety nine just persons who need no repentance are believers who are already justified by faith. Also the shepherd doesn’t wait for the lost sheep to agree to be rescued; he simply picks it up and carries it home.

Jesus tells these parables:

‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is greater than the herb and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.’

(Math 13 v 31-32)

Jesus says we believers are like branches in the true vine, so the tree is those who believe now but the birds of the air who nest in the branches are those who believe later.

‘The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.’

(Math 13 v 33)

The kingdom of heaven will not be complete until all are saved!

Jesus said to the Pharisees who were clearly rejecting him:

‘Assuredly, I say to you that the tax collectors and harlots are entering the kingdom of heaven ahead of you.’

(Matthew 21 v 31)

If you enter somewhere ahead of someone, it means both will go in, you go in first and they follow later, and here Jesus confirms that these Pharisees would one day enter the kingdom of heaven.

‘They will come from the East and West from the North and the South and sit down in the Kingdom of God and indeed the last will be first and the first will be last.’

(Luke 13 v 29-30)

In other words, those who are last in society, the messers, those who know they need a saviour, will enter the kingdom of God first, and those who are first in society, the self-sufficient, the rich and important people will go in last, but notice both will go in. Some will go in first, some go in last, but all will enter!

Jesus adds in Luke 16:

‘The law and the prophets were until John, since that time the kingdom of God is preached and everyone is pressing into it.’

(Luke 16 v 16)

Notice ‘everyone is pressing into it’!

When Jesus looked out over the city of Jerusalem which was rejecting him, he said:

‘Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you were not willing! See your house is left to you desolate, for I say to you, you shall see me no more till you say ‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’

(Math 23 v 37-38)

Jesus does what many of the Old Testament prophets do, and warns of impending judgement, but then teaches about their ultimate salvation.

‘Your house is left to you desolate.’

Our bodies are described as being like a house.

‘You shall see me no more until…’

Until what? Until we all say:

‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’

In other words, until we are all saved.

When the people heard these teachings of Jesus, they knew that one day all men would be saved.

The people of Samaria in John 4 after hearing Jesus teach said to the woman at the well:

‘Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him and we know that this is indeed the Christ the saviour of the world.’

(John 4 v 42)

Notice again he is not called ‘the saviour of the church’ or ‘the saviour of the elect’ or ‘the saviour of born again believers’ but ‘the saviour of the world’.

If the world is not saved, Jesus can never justifiably be called ‘the saviour of the world.’

Jesus says in John 12:

‘And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all mankind unto myself’.

(John 12 v 32)

Some translations say ‘drag’ rather than ‘draw’, but notice it’s ‘all mankind’ that will be drawn to Jesus.

Jesus promises that when the Holy Spirit comes he will convict the world of sin and it’s the entire world that will ultimately be convicted of sin (John 16 v 9).

He doesn’t say ‘he might convict the world of sin’ or ‘he will attempt to convict the world of sin’, but he definitely will convict the world of sin.

Why would the Holy Spirit convict the world of sin if most of the world will never be saved? He needn’t have bothered!

(For that matter, why would Jesus bother dying for the sins of the whole world if most of the world would never be saved?)

In John 17, we have the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus and he says this:

‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you, as you have given him authority over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.’

(John 17 v 1-2)

Well how many has the Father given him? Authority over all flesh and ‘all flesh’ means all people.

Jesus’ job is to give eternal life to ‘all flesh’. If he doesn’t then he will have failed to do his Father’s will and he says:

‘For I always do those things that please him.’

(John 8 v 29B)

He then lists three groups of people who will believe in him and who will receive eternal life.

First, his Apostles:

1.‘I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the World.’

(John 17 v6)

Secondly, those who believe in him through their word, in other words those who believe in this lifetime:

2.‘I do not pray for these alone but also pray for those who believe in me through their word’ (in other words – Christians)

(John 17 v 20)

And thirdly, the world:

3.‘That the world may believe that you sent me.’

(John 17 v 21B)

‘And that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you have loved me.’

(John 17 v 23B)

Jesus’ ministry of giving eternal life to all flesh consists of firstly the apostles, then the church, and then the whole world.

Unfortunately, most churches stop at the second group and don’t see the universal aspect of the ministry of Jesus.

We now come onto the book of Acts. Many Christians, especially Evangelicals, are always emphasising the book of Acts as a blueprint for church life and say things like ‘we must be more like the church was in the book of Acts, with the same power and authority and preach as they did, if we are to see revival’ etc.

Well, let’s analyse exactly what they did preach in the book of Acts.

Firstly, most Evangelical Christians teach that in order to be saved people must repent of their sins and believe in Jesus, anyone who fails to do that will go to hell when they die. But unfortunately for these Evangelicals, nowhere in the book of Acts is such a warning given. In fact, the word ‘hell’ is never used in the book of Acts; only the word ‘hades’ is used in connection with the resurrection of Jesus:

‘You will not leave my soul in hades.’

(Acts 2 v 27)

The only reference to hell or hades is that a soul will not remain there.

So what did the early church preach? Well, as we saw earlier, in Acts 3 Peter spoke about how Jesus must remain in heaven until the restoration of all things.

In Acts chapter 9, we have the conversion of Paul, and Paul starts preaching not only to Jews but also to Gentiles who start getting saved, and many of the Jewish Christians get uptight that the Gospel is being accepted by Gentiles and, like the church of today, they didn’t want those outside their group to eventually be included in God’s kingdom.

The result was that they had a council in Jerusalem, of the church, to discuss this, and James stood up in the middle of the meeting and said:

‘Men and brethren listen to me, Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name and with this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written:”

“After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down, I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name” says the Lord who does all these things.’

(Acts 15 v 13-17 )

This ‘calling out of the Gentiles a people for his name’ is the church of Jesus Christ, which is predominantly Gentile in its makeup, and James clearly applies this to when Peter saw the first Gentile convert, during the church age, at Cornelius’ house.

So this ‘tabernacle of David’ which is fallen down which he sets up is also the Church. For we are described in many places as being the temple of God (2 Cor 6 v 16) and (Eph 2 v 21). What James is saying here is that once the church is complete then the rest of mankind, including all those who are not in the church, will seek the Lord, even ‘all the gentiles’ who are called by his name.

I am reminded of Psalm 2, in which all the heathen of the earth are inherited by Christ and become his possession.

‘I will declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me thou art my Son this day I have begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.’

(Psalm 2 v 7)

This passage deals with all the Gentiles (what this means for all the Jews who are not in the church is dealt with in Romans Ch 9-11). But in Acts 15 there is no mention of anyone ultimately being excluded from God’s kingdom, only the rest of mankind other than those already in the church being saved.

When Peter is told to go to the house of Cornelius, God gave him a vision of the restoration of all things when he saw an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners descending down to the earth, and in it all kinds of animals, and he hears a voice saying:

‘Rise Peter, kill and eat.’

(Acts 10 v 13)

Peter says:

‘Not so Lord for I have never eaten anything unclean’

(Acts 10 v 14)

God says to him:

‘What God has cleansed you must not call unclean.’

(Acts 10 v 15)

This sheet of animals represents the whole of humanity coming down from heaven, being cleansed by Christ and returning to heaven again.

Many Churches call unbelievers ‘unclean’ because they’ve not believed in Christ but God is declaring here to Peter that Christ has died not just for believer’s sins but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2 v 2). God sees all as cleansed because of the work of Christ and all who come down to this fallen world will ultimately return back to the kingdom of God.

The reason this vision occurs three times is to show that all human beings from the first three ages of the earth – the age of the Gentiles, the age of Israel and the age of the Church - will all come back during Christ’s millennial reign and will then return to heaven in the dispensation of the fullness of time (Eph 1 v 10).

After Paul is converted in the book of Acts, he is commissioned by God to write his letters to various Churches and these become part of the canon of scripture.

He writes 13 books of the New Testament, and, again, nowhere in any of them does he mention hell!

(Please look up the word ‘hell’ in any concordance to try and find it in Paul’s letters and you won’t find it anywhere!)

What did he write? In Romans chapter 5, he compares the work of Christ with the work of Adam and concludes that just as the work of Adam is universal, so the work of Christ is universal. Just as Adam sinned and plunged the whole of humanity into a fallen state, so the work of Christ redeems everyone.

‘Consequently just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.’

(Rom 5 v 18)

The amplified Bible puts it like this:

‘Well then, as one man’s trespass (one man’s false step and falling away) led to condemnation for all people so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all people.’

(Rom 5 v 18)

Notice the phrase ‘all people’ in regard to both the condemnation and the acquittal!

Paul then adds:

‘For just as through the disobedience of the one (Adam) ‘the many’ were made sinners (we know that all people are sinners for Romans 3 v 23 says all have sinned) so also by one man’s (Christ’s) obedience, the many (‘the many’ means all people) will be made righteous.’

(Rom 5 v 19)

That is an absolute promise that one day all people will be made righteous.

Then Paul states the incontrovertible fact that:

‘The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.’

(Rom 8 v 20-21)

The children of God are those that believe now, but the creation means the whole creation, and the whole creation will one day be delivered from the bondage of corruption and be brought into that same liberty.

If most people are lost and end up in hell forever, then how can this scripture ever be true that God will deliver the whole creation?

Paul goes on to show that even though most don’t believe in this lifetime, death will not cut anyone off from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8 v 38-39)

In Acts 15 it talked about the fact that all the Gentiles not in the church will eventually seek the Lord! But in Romans chapters 9 to 11 he deals with Israel and the fact that God has not given up on his people, and that although they are rejecting him at the moment, the day will come when all Israel will be saved!

In fact, the history of Israel throughout time is a perfect picture of the restoration of all things, because God created Israel as a people and brought them into existence. He gave them his law and his commandments and when they broke them he judged them, sometimes allowing foreign nations to invade their land to discipline them and even allowed them to be taken into captivity in Babylon but always promised them restoration.

Eventually, after God sent his own Son to them and after they rejected him, in AD 70, they were kicked out of their land and dispersed among the nations and cut off as God’s people, God still promises them full restoration.

‘For the days are coming says the Lord, that I will bring back from captivity my people Israel and Judah says the Lord and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers and they shall possess it.’

(Jer 30 v 3)

‘“And in that day” says the Lord “I will gather the outcasts and assemble the lame and those I have afflicted, I will make the lame a remnant and the outcast a strong nation” so the Lord will reign over them from now on, even forever.’

(Micah 4 v 6-7)

Paul reiterates this when he says in Rom 11 v 26:

‘And so all Israel will be saved.’

(Rom 11 v 26)

This is confirmed in Isaiah 45 when the prophet says:

‘In the Lord all the descendants of Israel shall be justified and shall glory.’

(Isaiah 45 v 25)

Yes, they shall be justified by faith and will be ‘in the Lord’ - in other words, ‘saved’.

Each individual person (like Israel) was created by God and brought into existence, given his law and disciplined by him when they break it, and if they reject his Son in this lifetime they will be cut off from God by death, but (again like Israel) if they do not continue in unbelief, God can graft them back into his tree of salvation again (Rom 11 v 23).

So not only will all Israel be saved, but Paul says that the fullness of the Gentiles will come in as well (Rom 11 v 25), which is the full restoration of all things.

Paul adds that:

‘Even so then, at the present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.’

(Rom 11 v 5)

Throughout history, there has only been a remnant who believe in Christ but then Paul says that:

‘God has committed them all to disobedience (that’s all Jews and all Gentiles) that he might have mercy on all.’

(Rom 11 v 32)

Paul adds:

‘For of him and through him and to him are all things, to whom be glory forever.’

(Rom 11 v 36)

The amplified version says:

(And remember ‘things’ means ‘people’):

‘For from him and through him and to him are all things (for all things originate with him and come from him, all things live through him and all things centre in and tend to consummate and to end in him) to him be glory forever Amen.’

(Rom 11 v 36)

So just as there is only a remnant saved at the moment, ultimately Paul knows that all will be saved and will end in Christ!

Many people have never heard the Gospel, and many don’t understand it, but Paul says that all will see the truth and shall understand it.

For Paul goes on in Romans:

‘To whom he was not announced they shall see and those who have not heard shall understand.’

(Rom 15 v 21)

In other words, all will hear the gospel either in this life or after this life. After all, Peter says in his first epistle:

‘For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead.’

(1 Peter 4 v 6a) NKJ

‘That although their bodies were punished with death, they could still live in the spirit as God lives.’

(1 Peter 4 v 6b, Living Bible)

Paul adds:

‘For to this end Christ died and rose again that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.’

(Rom 14 v 9)

The Lord of the dead and the living? You never hear that preached in church!

What about those who never seek God or who never ask for him during their lifetime?

Paul says:

‘I was found by those who did not seek me, I was made manifest to those who did not ask for me.’

(Rom 10 v 20)

Many Evangelicals will tell us that unbelievers are not the people of God and are not called ‘sons of God’ but are children of the devil, but Paul says that God will say:

‘I will call them my people who are not my people and her beloved who was not beloved and shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them ‘you are not my people’ they shall be called sons of the living God.’

(Rom 9 v 25-26)

If Paul were alive today, I don’t think he would recognise the so called Gospel that is pumped out by the Evangelical church week after week in comparison with his Gospel as revealed in the book of Romans.

Let’s compare the two:

1.Paul says that the work of Christ is as universal as the work of Adam. (Evangelicals say that the work of Adam is universal but Christ will only save a small portion of mankind.)

2.Paul says the creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption and brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Evangelicals say that most of creation will not be delivered from the bondage of corruption but will be separated from God forever.)

3.Paul says that physical death does not cut man off from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Evangelicals say that physical death does cut man off from the love of God.)

4.Paul says that ‘all Israel will be saved’ and the fullness of the Gentiles will come in too. (Evangelicals say not all Israel will be saved neither will all Gentiles come into salvation.)

5.Paul says that if people do not continue in unbelief God can graft them back into his tree of salvation. (Evangelicals teach that if a person is cut off from God by death they can never be grafted back into the tree of salvation.)

6.Paul teaches that although at the present moment there is a remnant according to election of grace he has committed all to disobedience that he might have mercy on all. (Evangelicals teach that as there is at this moment only a remnant according to the election of grace that’s all there will ever be, and that although God has committed all to disobedience he will only have mercy on some.)

7.Paul teaches that ultimately all will end in Christ. (Evangelicals teach that most will never end in Christ.)

8.Paul teaches that all will hear the gospel and will understand it. (Evangelicals teach that many will never hear and will remain in ignorance and be lost forever.)

9.Paul says that God will be the Lord of both the dead and the living. (Evangelicals teach that God will never be the Lord of the dead, only the living.)

10.Paul says that people who are not yet God’s people will one day be called God’s people and all will one day be called sons of the living God. (Evangelicals say that not everyone will one day be part of God’s people and not everyone will be called sons of the living God.)

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul gives probably his most unequivocal statement about the restoration of all things when he says:

‘For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive but everyman in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christs at his coming.’

(1 Cor 15 v 22-24)

In a later chapter, I will look at the fact that in the Bible there are two types of resurrection, the resurrection of life and the resurrection of judgement, and I will be going into those two resurrections in detail.

But here in 1 Cor 15, Paul is speaking about the resurrection of life (which of course is the resurrection unto salvation) because here he says that they will be made alive ‘in Christ’. Whenever we read in scripture that a person is ‘in Christ’, it means they are saved.

You cannot be ‘in Christ’ and not be saved, and here it clearly teaches that all who die in Adam will one day be made alive ‘in Christ’. It doesn’t say ‘made alive by Christ’ but ‘made alive in Christ’, and it applies to all who die ‘in Adam’, which, of course, is the whole human race.

The very fact that Paul uses the phrase ‘made alive’ indicates that it means all will be saved because in the books of Ephesians and Colossians he uses the phrase ‘made alive’ to indicate salvation.

‘Even when we were dead in trespasses ‘made us alive’ together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).’

(Eph 2 v 5)

‘And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh he has ‘made alive’ together with him having forgiven you all trespasses.’

(Col 2 v 13)

So being ‘made alive’ means being saved and being forgiven and being ‘in Christ’ also means being saved.

He then adds ‘but everyman in his own order.’ Everyman means ‘every man’ and he says that every man will be made alive in Christ in two groups of people.

1.Christ the firstfruits

2.Those who belong to him (Those who are Christ’s at his coming)

‘Christ the firstfruits’ does not mean Jesus Christ, because Jesus doesn’t need to be made alive in Christ, he is Christ. ‘Christ the firstfruits’ means the Church of Jesus Christ because we do need to be made alive in Christ.

The phrase ‘the firstfruits’ is used of the Church in the book of James:

‘Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.’

(James 1 v 18)

In the Old Testament, the festival of firstfruits was a wonderful testimony of this truth. In those days when the harvest was ready the high priest would go into the field and throw a ring into the crops and they would cut down the crops inside the ring and raise them up to God, it was called ‘a wave offering’ and these crops were the firstfruits of the harvest, a sure sign that just as the firstfruits were gathered in, so the rest of the harvest would be brought in also.

We the church are those firstfruits, and just as we’ve been saved, so the rest of the harvest of humanity will come in also (remember the first will be last and the last will be first, but all will go in). The reason we are called ‘Christ the firstfruits’ is because we are fully identified with our saviour: he is the head, we are his body and we are the first to be made alive ‘in Christ’.

The passage then goes on, that the next group to be made alive in Christ is ‘those who belong to him’, so who is meant by those who belong to him? The answer again is found in Psalm 24 v 1:

‘The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and all who dwell therein.’

(Psalm 24 v1)

So ‘those who belong to him’ means all the world and all who dwell therein except those who are part of the firstfruits company – the church of Jesus Christ!

We do not now belong to God because our lives are now hidden with Christ in God. We are ‘in him.’ But the rest do belong to him and they will be made alive ‘in Christ’ when he comes. Which, of course, is the second advent of Christ when he comes to rule on earth for a thousand years (Rev 20).

Now Paul goes on in this passage to say that:

‘The last enemy to be destroyed is death.’

(1 Cor 15 v 26)

And the Bible says:

‘The wages of sin is death.’

(Rom 6 v 23)

So the last enemy to be destroyed is ‘the wages of sin’ because Christ died for the sins of the whole world, not only the sins of the firstfruits company but also the sins of the world and those who dwell therein.

When it says here in 1 Cor 15 that:

‘As in Adam all die’

We have to understand what the Bible means by death. According to scripture, just as there are two resurrections, there are also two deaths.

The first death is not physical death, it is spiritual death, our death ‘in Adam’.

So when did Adam first die? The answer is that Adam died when he first entered into a physical body, so each one of us died spiritually when we first entered into his physical body.

When God breathed Adam as a spirit into a physical body, his mind became set on ‘the flesh’.

‘To set the mind on the flesh is death.’

(Romans 8 v 6a)

‘The body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness.’

(Romans 8 v 10)

The power of death was in Adam’s body and as a dead man walking he was already cut off from God because God is a spirit (John 4 v 24).

So why does God say to Adam that on the day he eats of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he will die? Because on that day the process of physical death began in his body with the result that 930 years later his death was complete and he returned back to being a spirit again.

But the reason he disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit was because he was already fallen and was already dead spiritually from the moment he entered into a physical body.

So each one of us died spiritually when we first entered into a physical body and shared in the fall of Adam and developed a sinful (or carnal) nature which is one with the body on the very day we entered into our mother’s womb.

The second death, which is described in Revelation chapter 20, undoes the work of the first death and frees each person from the body of death and the carnal nature and purifies them to return to the kingdom of the spirit.

‘We shall be saved as one passing through the flames.’

(1 Cor 3 v 15 NIV)

But neither the first death nor the second death are permanent because the last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Once the second death has done its work, it is no longer needed.

Many Evangelicals teach that the second death is to be tormented forever in hell fire and they say that this is permanent. If that is true, then death is eternal, but the Bible clearly teaches that death is destroyed.

‘The last enemy to be destroyed is death’

(1 Cor 15 v 26)

‘He will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces’

(Isaiah 25 v 8)

‘There shall be no more death nor sorrow, nor crying’

(Rev 21 v 4)

The only way that death can be destroyed is if all are brought to newness of life and this is what will happen when all are made alive in Christ. And Paul concludes the 1 Cor 15 passage by saying that:

‘God may be all in all’

(1 Cor 15 v 28)

Not ‘all in some’ that Evangelicals would have us believe.

It is important, at this stage, to point out that some Calvinist Christians make a distinction between different uses of the word ‘all’.

They say that there is a difference between ‘all without distinction’ and ‘all without exception’. They would say that when the Bible says that Christ died for all, it means ‘all without distinction’, meaning ‘all kinds of people’, not just Jews but Gentiles as well, but that does not mean ‘all without exception’, meaning every single individual.

So they would say ‘all mankind’ means some French, some British, some Russians and so on, but not every individual in those nations, as with the phrase ‘all nations’.

The problem with this view is that there are many passages in scripture where the word ‘all’ is used, and even the Calvinists agree that the word ‘all’ in one part of the verse means ‘all without exception’ meaning every individual, it’s very rare in scripture for a word to change its meaning in the middle of a verse.

For example, the passage we’ve just been looking at says:

‘As in Adam all die.’

Does that mean ‘all without exception’ or ‘all without distinction’?

Does Paul mean that ‘some of mankind’ have died in Adam or every single individual? Even Calvinists believe that every individual died in Adam.

So clearly ‘all’ here means ‘all without exception’ so ‘in Christ shall all be made alive’ also means ‘all without exception’.

Paul does not mean:

‘As in Adam all die even so in Christ shall some be made alive.’

All means all, and God being ‘all in all’ means all will be saved.

In Isaiah 53 v 6, it says:

‘All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’

(Isaiah 53 v 6)

Here again, the word all is used twice. Does ‘all we like sheep have gone astray’ mean ‘all without exception’ or ‘all without distinction’?

Does Isaiah mean some of us have gone astray or every single individual of mankind?

Similarly:

‘The Lord has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all.’

Also means the same as at the beginning of the verse: ‘all without exception.’

To show that the second part of the verse applies to all without exception, meaning every individual of mankind, including all unbelievers, let us look at 2 Cor 5 v 19:

‘God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not counting their sins against them and has committed to us the message of reconciliation.’

(2 Cor 5 v 19 NIV)

Notice the difference between ‘them’ and ‘us’. ‘Not counting their sins against them’ meaning non-Christians because he calls Christians ‘us’ to whom is committed the message of reconciliation.

In the King James Version it says that ‘God is not imputing their trespasses to them’ and why not? Because in 1 John 2 v 2 it says that:

‘Christ is the propitiation for our sins (Christian’s sins) and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.’

(1 John 2 v 2)

So whenever the word ‘all’ is used and means ‘all without exception’ if the word is repeated in the same passage or verse it still means all without exception, so:

‘As in Adam all die (means every single individual) even so in Christ shall all be made alive.’ (Also means every single individual.)

Paul goes on in 1 Corinthians about the resurrection of the dead, that the body is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption, it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory, it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body and this is the destiny of all who die in Adam, when they are made alive in Christ!

In Ephesians chapter 1, Paul describes the blessedness of being ‘in Christ’ and from verse 3 to verse 9 he talks about those in the church and all the blessings that are ours and he uses the word ‘us’ six times. Then in verse 10 he says that the whole purpose of having a blessed firstfruits company is this:

‘That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on the earth in Him.’

(Eph 1 v 10)

And he is going to be using us, who are already in Christ, to help bring in the rest of mankind to gather them into Christ as well, so they can experience the same blessings.

This echoes the same promises repeated throughout the book of Genesis, that in the seed of Abraham (who is Christ) shall all the families, all the nations, all the kindred’s, and all the people of earth be blessed.

So that ‘in the dispensation of the fullness of the times’, which means when all the ages of earth’s history are finished, everyone will be saved.

Here we have the phrase ‘all things’, again meaning ‘all beings’, whether it be things in heaven (all angels) or things on earth (all humans) one day being gathered into Christ!

Someone once criticized this teaching by saying to me that only those ‘in Christ’ would be gathered into Christ. I responded by saying if they were already in Christ they don’t need to be gathered into Christ.

Paul is saying that we are already in Christ but the day will come when all will be gathered into Christ - in other words, all will be saved.

In Colossians 1, it says:

‘For it pleased the Father that ‘in Him’ all the fullness should dwell, 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.’

(Col 1 v 20)

So again ‘all things’ will be reconciled to God because Christ died for all beings, whether angels or humans.

Paul describes his ministry:

‘Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ.’

(Col 1 v 28)

The word ‘everyman’ means ‘every man’ and every man must be presented perfect in Christ’ and to be ‘in Christ’ is to be saved. So far we have been analysing Paul’s letters and we haven’t yet found any mention of hell but simply all things being reconciled to God and gathered into Christ. In other words:

‘The Gospel of the Restoration of all things.’

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul writes:

‘For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our saviour who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men. The man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.’

(1 Tim 2 v 3-6)

So God ‘will have’ all men to be saved? If all are not saved, then God’s will will be not be done either ‘on earth’ or ‘as it is in heaven’.

I’ve yet to meet a Christian who thinks that God’s will will not be done, yet at the same time believe that not all will be saved. They seem to believe both things at the same time!

God says:

‘My counsel shall stand and I shall do all my pleasure.’

(Isaiah 46 v 10)

And:

‘In him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will’

(Eph 1 v 11)

Notice ‘he works all things according to the counsel of his own will’. and his will is that all are saved and come to the knowledge of the truth!

Jesus gave himself a ransom for all (and all means all without exception) to be testified in due time, so when will Jesus’ ransom be testified to and by whom?

When:

‘At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow of those in heaven of those on earth and of those under the earth and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.’

(Phil 2 v 10-11)

And:

‘That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved.’

(Rom 10 v 9)

If everyone is bowing the knee and confessing ‘Jesus is Lord’, they must believe that God raised him from the dead. Otherwise they wouldn’t say Jesus ‘is’ Lord!

If we read about Paul’s ministry in the book of Acts, many times he suffered reproach and even persecution at the hands of his enemies for preaching the Gospel of the restoration of all things.

And he says in 1 Timothy 4 v 9 -11:

‘This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, for to this end we both labour and suffer approach, because we trust in the living God who is the saviour of all men, especially of those who believe, these things command and teach.’

(1 Tim 4 v 9-11 )

What Paul is saying here is that Jesus is the saviour of all men, not just of those who believe, and for preaching this he laboured and suffered reproach!

That is still true today. Many times when I have shared the Gospel of the restoration of all things with my Evangelical friends they’ve opposed it and even got angry because they want to keep salvation just for themselves and their select group.

It amazes me that many Evangelicals will go to the ends of the earth or fund mission work trying to save the world, and when you tell them that what they want to happen will happen, that the world will be saved, they get angry and even annoyed that all will be saved, but Paul here emphasises the fact that Jesus is the saviour of all men, not just those who believe.

In Paul’s letter to Titus, he makes this amazing statement:

‘For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men.’

(Titus 2 v 11 NASV)

‘All men’ have not received it yet, but they will! For God would never bring salvation to someone if he knew they would never take it.

For salvation is a gift, and:

‘The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable’

(Rom 11 v 29)

This completes our study of Paul’s writings and the things we’ve learned are these:

1.Paul never mentions hell or warns that unbelievers will go there.

2.He says the work of Christ is as universal as the work of Adam.

3.He says that all of creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption.

4.He says that death does not cut man off from the love of God.

5.He says all Israel will be saved and the fullness of the Gentiles will come in.

6.He says that God has committed all to disobedience that he might have mercy on all.

7.He says that ultimately all will end in Christ.

8.He says that all will hear the Gospel and understand it.

9.He says that Jesus will be Lord of the dead and the living.

10.He says that all people who are not yet his people will one day be his people.

11.He says that all who die in Adam will one day be made alive in Christ.

12.He says that one day God will be all in all.

13.He says that although the wages of sin is death, one day death will be destroyed!

14.He says that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself and that he’s not counting men’s sins against them.

15.He says that all things will be gathered into Christ in the fullness of time.

16.That Christ has reconciled all things unto himself.

17.He says that one day everyone will be presented perfect in Christ.

18.That it’s God’s will that all be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

19.That Christ is a ransom for all.

20.That Jesus is the saviour of all men, not just of those who believe.

21.That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and if they confess Jesus is Lord and believe in their hearts God raised him from the dead they will be saved.

I think from his own testimony and his writings that Paul was a Universalist and believed in the gospel of the restoration of all things.

We now come on to the book of Hebrews, in chapter 1 the writer says:

‘He (Jesus), by the grace of God might taste death for everyone.’

(Heb 1 v 9)

Why would Jesus taste death for everyone if not everyone gets saved?

He then says:

‘By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.’

(Heb 10 v 10)

Many times in the book of Hebrews, it says that Christ died ‘once for all’, and all means ‘all’ (all without exception).

To show that others apart from the members of the church will be in heaven, the writer lists who will be in the heavenly Jerusalem.

‘But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels to the general assembly and Church of the first born who are registered in heaven, to God the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and to blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel’.

(Heb 12 v 22-24)

So here we have six groups and individuals mentioned in the heavenly Jerusalem:

1.An innumerable company of angels

2.The general assembly (the Old Testament saints)

3.The Church of the first born

4.God, the judge of all

5.The spirits of just men made perfect

6.Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant

Most would believe that the general assembly and Church of the firstborn will be in heaven, but who is meant by ‘the spirits of just men made perfect’ who are listed separately from the general assembly and Church of the firstborn? These, I would argue, are the rest of mankind who will be gathered into Christ in the fullness of time, who are not yet believers but will one day bow the knee and confess Jesus is Lord.

Notice they are ‘spirits’ and ‘just men’. A just man is one who is justified by faith and they have been ‘made perfect’, which means that God has baptised them in the lake of fire in order to purify them, but they are clearly not part of the church.

We’ve seen already that the apostle Peter believed in the restoration of all things as he proclaimed in Acts 3 v 21, but in his first epistle he gives an amazing revelation, which is that there is an opportunity for salvation after the death of the body. In 1 Peter Chapter 3, he writes:

‘For Christ also suffered once for all sins, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the spirit by which he went and preached to the spirits in prison who formerly were disobedient when once the divine long suffering waited in the days of Noah while the Ark was being prepared, in which, a few, that is eight souls were saved through water.’

(1 Peter 3 v 18-20)

Here we see that human beings while alive on earth are called ‘souls’, yet after the death of the body are called ‘Spirits’, and Peter calls them ‘the spirits in prison’.

I will be going into this in much more detail in another chapter, but Jesus describes Sheol/Hades, the place that unbelievers go after they’ve died, as a prison (Math 5 v 25) and it says here that Jesus goes and preaches to them, so what does he preach?

The answer is found in the next chapter:

‘For this reason the Gospel was preached also to those who are dead that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.’

(1 Peter 4 v 6)

To show that these people were actually dead when they had the Gospel preached to them, I quote the Living Bible version of this verse:

‘That is why the good news was preached even to those who were dead, killed by the flood, so that although their bodies were punished with death they could still live in their spirits as God lives.’

(1 Peter 4 v 6, Living Bible)

Notice these are human beings killed by the flood who are called ‘spirits’ after they died and could still live as God lives as a spirit.

Please do not let anyone tell you that the Bible never calls humans ‘spirits’. As we saw in Hebrews 12, humans in heaven are called:

‘The spirits of just men made perfect’

(Heb 12 v 33)

And God is described in Numbers:

‘Oh God, the God of the spirits of all flesh.’

(Num 16 v 22)

In 2 Peter 3, he writes:

‘The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.’

(2 Peter 3 v 9)

Again, Peter says that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

If all do not come to repentance then God’s will will not be done.

I don’t know why Christians pray the Lord’s Prayer every week when they say:

‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

(Math 6 v 10)

when they don’t actually believe that God’s will shall be done.

We now come onto the letters of John, and his writings in the book of revelation.

In his first letter, he emphasised the universal aspect of Christ’s atonement.

‘And he himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world.’

(1 John 2 v 2)

This verse shows the universal aspect of the death of Christ, that he not only died for believers sins but also for the sins of the whole world. The word ‘world’ here is much broader than just human beings because the word ‘world’ also means ‘the cosmos’, covering all beings in heaven as well as on the earth.

‘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 the cross.’

(Col 1 v 20)

In Revelation 5, John writes:

‘And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard saying ‘blessing and glory and honour and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever!’

(Rev 5 v 13)

Here John sees a time when ‘every creature’ worships God. The fact that he mentions those in heaven, on earth and under the earth shows that ‘all angels’ (including Satan himself), all humans, and every demon will one day worship God and the lamb for who they are and for being the saviour of the world.

He asks:

‘Who shall not fear you oh Lord and glorify your name for you alone are holy for all nations shall come and worship before you for your judgements have been manifested.’

(Rev 15 v 4)

The answer is ‘all nations’. This reiterates the original gospel given to Abraham:

‘And in thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.’

(Gen 28 v 14)

Rev 19 shows that not only will the Church be saved, but also those outside the Church as well.

We read this:

‘For the Lord God omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready.’

(Rev 19 v 6-7)

We know from other scriptures that the wife of the lamb is the Church, but then John goes on:

‘Then he said to me ‘write blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the lamb.’

(Rev 19 v 9)

Now these are the guests, not the bride. When the Church marries Christ there are going to be guests who are not part of the bride - who are these?

This is ‘the rest of mankind’ mentioned in Acts 15 who will also be in heaven with Christ and his bride and ‘the spirits of just men made perfect’ of Hebrews 12, who are not part of ‘the church of the firstborn’.

In Revelation 21, we get a description of the new heaven and new earth and the heavenly Jerusalem, and John writes:

‘And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying ‘behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God and 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 were passed away then he who sat on the throne said ‘behold I make all things new’ and he said to me ‘write for these words are true and faithful.’

(Rev 21 v 3-5)

What do we learn from this passage? That God will dwell with man and all suffering will end! Please note that John uses the words ‘their’ and ‘them’, not ‘we’ and ‘us’. If John was talking about the members of the church, he would’ve said ‘and God will dwell with us’ and ‘God will wipe away every tear from ‘our’ eyes’. But he doesn’t, and this is because this passage is dealing with the restoration of all those who are not part of the bride company. It does apply to the church as well, but the emphasis here is on those outside the church.

We also learn that there shall be no more death! The wages of sin is death (Rom 6 v 23) yet there will be no more wage to pay because Christ died for the sins of the whole world!

There will be no more sorrow, crying or pain. If eternal torment were true, how could all suffering end?

And finally as we began this chapter showing that the word ‘things’ means ‘beings’, human and angelic, God says he will make all things new! God will make all humans and all angels new, and they will all be made alive in Christ and restored back to God!

This is the Gospel of the restoration of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began, and I commend to you this biblical overview and pray you meditate on the scriptures I’ve shared concerning this.