The Gospel of The Restoration of All Things. Tim Hodge

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      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:

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