The Gospel of The Restoration of All Things. Tim Hodge

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       ‘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 СКАЧАТЬ