Preparedness

Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. (Romans 01:13-15, NKJV).

Universalism is the fallacy (error, false thinking) that all roads lead to Heaven. This is illogical wishful thinking. Illogical because even if all “roads” had a single destination, as all ancient Roman roads ended up in Rome, it was entirely true to also say of that empire, “all roads lead away from Rome”, since there is nothing intrinsically one-way about direction, other than when stepping off a cliff, you will inevitably go down.

It is wishful thinking because it fails to take into account what Heaven's owner says about the entrance requirements, which is believing and trusting in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Only regenerated Christians get through the gate. Everybody else remains outside.

This would be truly horrible if the gospel weren't so simple, accessible, understandable, and itself “universal”, meaning that it is offered to everyone regardless of ethnicity (what moderns incorrectly call, race), philosophy, religion, gender, creed, intelligence, health, or skin color.

The thing about the gospel is that it must be heard or read for the invitation to eternal life to be effective. Paul declares this very thing later in Chapter 10, but even without his explicit statement, it makes sense.

How can someone respond to an invitation, or accept a gift, when he or she remains unaware that either has been offered?

This brings up two points. Let's call the first, Exposure, and the second, Preparedness, which is the main theme of this study.

If the gospel needs to be heard or read, or brought into a person's awareness in some way, then what about those “unreached” regions of the world where Christianity and Christians are few and far between?

Or what about those who may be mentally incapable of understanding the truth? Or who die before being mature enough to understand?

In answering these questions, we need to step away from human thinking and consider reality from the divine perspective as much as possible.

If exposure to the gospel is a prerequisite for accepting it as truth and thereby being saved, why would we think that an omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), and omnipresent (everywhere present) God would establish a requirement for His mercy and grace in salvation that could not be met?

In other words, why would He offer a gift and then not overcome any circumstance that might make it unavailable?

Missionaries around the world, and throughout history, have gone to unreached areas of the globe and have reported encounters with the indigenous (originating in that place) population who had received visions and dreams of Jesus and His propitiatory (gaining favor) death on the Cross. Other inhabitants spoke of visitors or messengers (angelic beings?) who appeared out of nowhere and declared the message of the gospel before the missionaries arrived to confirm it.

And who's to say that the One who invented human intelligence in the first place cannot surmount any physical handicaps related to it?

Furthermore, is it impossible to think that a child who dies before the age of accountability is not automatically and mercifully brought into Heaven? (Read what David said about his and Bathsheba's firstborn in the Book of Samuel, and think about the implications of what he meant.)

It is entirely conceivable and more than a little likely that the God who knows the end from the beginning will go to extravagant and even supernatural lengths to ensure that all who would be saved are provided the means of salvation.

Therefore, spreading the message of salvation is not entirely dependent on human endeavor, but that is not to say that humans are exempt from the effort.

The truth is that evangelizing (preaching the message of salvation through faith in Christ) is not only a command from Jesus Himself, but it is a privilege and honor. We get to participate in the miracle of His death and resurrection by telling sin-ravaged hearts about the hope and glory of Christ. What could be more astonishing and satisfying?

But to do that effectively, to be prepared, we need two things: knowledge and personal conviction.

We need to know the facts:

Jesus is God become Man to die in our place, paying for our sin so that we can avoid our just punishment and live forever.

He is fully human and fully God, existing eternally and being born as a baby to a virgin at the proper time.

He lived sinlessly and died voluntarily for us, in obedience to His Father, and then rose to life again on the third day to show that death could not keep Him because it is the result of sin.

He needed to be exactly who and what He is in order to satisfy God's righteous wrath against sin, and He needed to be born of a virgin so that He would not inherit Adam's sin nature.

He needed to be a Man so He could die as a Man because it was a man who fell in the garden.

That's the knowledge part in summary, though the mystery of the gospel is so deep and profound that entire human lifetimes could be spent in its study.

Yet it is so clear and simple that even a three-year old can understand and believe.

The personal conviction part of preparedness is equally important.

You can have all technical knowledge about Jesus and still not share it from a place of belief. Does that make the message ineffective? No, because God can use even a donkey to carry out His will (see the story of Balaam in Numbers). And Paul tells the Philippians that even preached in pretense, the gospel has the power of salvation.

But it is also clear that personal conviction and evidence of a changed life makes the gospel message that much more persuasive. We humans are built by God to respond, not only to facts, but to sincerity.

Thus, the best preparedness can be expressed as the equation knowledge + conviction, a formula that yields more than the sum of its parts.

That's how our God works: takes what little we can offer in our own strength and multiplies it beyond what we could ask or think.

Love,

Dad