How Does God Define Salvation
Now in Christ all Died, EVERY SINGLE HUMAN... 2 Cor 5:13-14. That is a fact.
The Question is will All LIVE? Will All believe?
People say we as evangelical universalist declare that "All saved whether you believe in him or not"
Do we believe that? No. No one ever said that. You have to believe in Him.
In order to determine if ALL WILL LIVE, it behooves us to ask God how did He define salvation.
I'm glad you asked.
How Does God Himself define salvation?
Let's look at a powerful moment at one of the few times when God decided to swear, to prove His point:
"Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 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.
He shall say,
‘Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength.
To Him men shall come,
And all shall be ashamed
Who are incensed against Him. " [Isa 45:22-23]
So How did He define being saved?
Let’s analyze God’s definition of salvation, shall we? ->
First, Simply that unto Him, every knee will bow and every tongue will swear that “In the Lord alone I HAVE righteousness and strength”. [Isa 45:24]
Paul, in case we do not understand the scope of this, expanded the scope BEYOND ISRAEL and stated that every knee includes knees in heaven, earth and under the earth. [Phil 2:10-11].
Even this embodies the principle of restoration through judgment, goodness and severity.
For this to occur, that is for every knee to bow, it may also include the experience of judgment - [Rom 14:10-11] “For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 11 For it is written: "As I live, says the LORD, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God."
NOTE GOD SWORE "AS I LIVE, EVERY KNEE SHALL WORSHIP, EVEY TONGUE SHALL CONFESS IN THE LORD, I HAVE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND STRENGTH"... You cannot get Stronger than that.
Second, notice the the declaration that every tongue will confess... Paul shortened it "Jesus is Lord", but the long version is that "In the Lord I HAVE righteousness and strength". Not tell me, how can everyone declare "In the Lord I HAVE righteousness and strength" without it being a LIE. Again, God said "AS I LIVE".
Let every man be a LIAR and only God be true.
No human can confess that that to God's Glory except by the Spirit. And that word for confess is to swear on your right hand, that is in context, to swear like God swore on the throne.
Let's repeat. Every tongue will swear what? According to Isa 45:23, they will swear "IN THE LORD I HAVE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND STRENGTH"
Now Tell Me. HOW CAN ANYONE SWEAR "IN THE LORD I HAVE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND STRENGTH" WHICH PAUL SHORTENED TO "JESUS IS LORD" <FOR SOME REASON> AND IT BE A LIE? <-- That is Why God defined this as Salvation.
What Did God Swear?
He swore and guaranteed that the earth will be turned to Him and Be saved, even though some will be put to shame (be made accountable), who initially rejected Him (and frankly the way we presented Him, as a big bad guy in the sky, some people are well within their right to reject that perception of Him) .
He defined salvation as "every tongue swearing like He swore and every knee worshiping"... That is how God defined salvation... And it will happen, even though it will take ages.
The Key is THIS...
Choose Life now, uninterrupted life, zoe, eternal life that gives you immortality and incorruption... or stay in death, die, experience loss, ruin, for aionon (ages - not "eternity", the word is olam), until you pay the last farthing.
But the Cross started the process for you... and yes, you must believe. But in the end, all will, even though it would take a lot of pursuit and convincing, and some becoming ashamed when they realized they should not have been running away from Him for so long.
Now that's good news!
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