doctorcello
Puritan Board Freshman
I have written a little essay with 8 points showing that the number of the elect vastly outnumbers the number of the lost. I wrote this because I could not find much about this on the internet. I believe Thornwell and Hodge also believed this. Corrections and criticisms are welcome!
The Number of the Elect Includes the Majority of Mankind
Dr. Marshall C. St. John ([email protected])
Re 7:9-10 "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
Over and over the Book of Revelation refers to the number of God's children as a "great multitude." How great is that multitude? Present day evangelicalism says that it is actually a very small percentage of mankind. I believe that the Bible tells us exactly the opposite: that the number of the saved will actually be VERY MUCH more than the number of the lost.
I don't believe in "Universalism." That's the doctrine that everyone in the world will go to Heaven, everyone without exception. The Bible tells us that there are people who will be lost forever. For example: Revelation 20:15..."If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." And Revelation 21:7-8... "He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practise magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur." And there are many other verses which agree.
But let me show you from the Bible that the majority of the human race must be saved. There are eight Biblical reasons why the majority of mankind must be saved...
I. The majority of mankind must be saved because the verse most often used to teach the opposite is badly mis-interpreted.
I refer to Matthew 7:13-14...
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
This verse has been used to teach that the majority of the human race will be damned. But this interpretation is an example of taking verses out of context, which is poor "Hermeneutics." Hermeneutics is the science of Bible interpretation. There are a number of rules that come into play, especially with these verses in Matthew.
Rule Number One: Never take a verse out of context. What is the context of Matthew 7:13-14? First, the Book of Matthew itself is the context. There are four Gospels, and they are written to four different recipients. Matthew to the Jews. Luke to the Gentiles. Mark also to the Gentiles. John is a theological work written decades after the other Gospels. So, when we read Matthew 7:13-14 we should look to see if these verses have special relevance to the Jewish people of the first century. We should realize also that the Jewish audience is the immediate context of Jesus' remarks. He is speaking to a Jewish audience in the Holy Land 2000 years ago. He is NOT speaking primarily to the world at large, though all His words naturally have applications for later readers.
Rule Number Two: When reading a passage in one of the Synoptic Gospels, you must check the parallel passages in the other two Gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels because they basically cover the same historical ground. They give three views of the same incidents and sermons of Jesus. Is there a parallel passage for Matthew 7:13-14 that sheds light? It turns out that Luke 13:23-30 is parallel, and it does indeed shed light on the Matthew passage.
23 ¶ Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them,
24 "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.
25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ "But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
26 "Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
27 "But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
28 "There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.
29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.
30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."
Matthew is just bare bones. Luke expands and explains that Jesus is refering to His contemporary Jewish audience. They were rejecting Him. He is the narrow gate. The Jews of Jesus' time did not receive Him as the Messiah. And so Jesus says to them: not many of you are going to make it into the Kingdom of God. However, Jesus makes it clear that a vast multitude of OTHERS will be saved: "People will come from east and west and north and south," which encomapasses the globe!
So, the Matthew passage does NOT teach that only a few people out of all humanity will be saved. It DOES teach that only a few of Jesus' Jewish audience of 2000 years ago were saved. They rejected Him, the narrow gate.
II. The majority of mankind must be saved because of the salvation of infants who die in infancy.
Up until recent times more children died in infancy and childhood than lived. A mother would quite often give birth to eight children, and have only three survive into adulthood. And even in modern times, biologist tell us that a very large percentage of conceptions don't even survive past the first two months of pregnancy. Yet these unborn children are true human beings, and when they die, they go to Heaven to be with the Lord. How do we know that infants and children who die go straight to Heaven?
First, we have the words of our Savior Jesus Christ in Matthew 19:13-14...
13 ¶ Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
And we have the words of King David, which he spoke after learning of the death of his infant child in 2 Samuel 12:18-23...
18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, "While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate."
19 David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realised that the child was dead. "Is the child dead?" he asked. "Yes," they replied, "he is dead."
20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshipped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
21 His servants asked him, "Why are you acting in this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!"
22 He answered, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’
23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."
Christians down through the centuries have believed that their infants/children go to Heaven when they die, and I believe the Bible says that, too. So, already, we have a great multitude of redeemed people in Heaven.
III. The majority of mankind must be saved because it is the nature of God to save rather than to damn.
Consider Jonah 3:10--4:2 and 4:10-11:
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
1 ¶ But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.
2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.
10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.
11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
Consider Psalm 103:8-14...
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger for ever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
IV. The majority of mankind must be saved because salvation is by FAITH not by KNOWLEDGE or WORKS.
People do not need to do tons of good works (Legalism) in order to be saved. If we were saved by works, surely none of us would ever merit salvation.
People do not need to have a lot of theological knowledge to be saved. (This would be the ancient heresy of Gnosticism.) Consider the salvation of Abraham. What did Abraham KNOW about God? Did Abraham know about the Trinity? Did He know that the 2nd person of the Triune God would die on a cross to pay for his sins? Did Abraham know about predestination, election, justification, sanctification and so on? How was Abraham saved? He had faith in God. (Genesis 15:1-6)
1 ¶ After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."
2 ¶ But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"
3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir."
5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
The man who was born blind is also an example to us of a person who was saved with very little knowledge, but lots of faith (John 9:13-38).
13 ¶ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.
14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.
15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."
16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided.
17 Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened." The man replied, "He is a prophet."
18 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.
19 "Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"
20 "We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind.
21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself."
22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.
23 That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner."
25 He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"
26 Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
27 He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!
29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from."
30 The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.
32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
34 To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.
35 ¶ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
36 "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."
37 Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
38 Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshipped him.
V. The majority of mankind must be saved because of death bed conversions.
The old saying is: "There are no atheists in foxholes." When death is knocking on your door, you all of a sudden see things in a different light. It is a well-known fact that many prison inmates awaiting execution admit their sins, and receive Jesus as Savior.
The thief on the cross is the most famous Bible "death bed" conversion. We find it in the Gospel of Luke chapter 23...
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don’t you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence?
41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
People that you would least expect to become Christians, do it just before they die: Karla Faye Tucker, executed a decade ago in Texas; Reggae singer Bob Marley, led to Christ by a hospital nurse. Mortimer Adler, Jewish Columbia University Professor, Great Philosopher, editor of the famous Great Books of the Western World, former pagan, became a Christian in his old age. And many others could be mentioned, who came to Christ from all kinds of paganism, atheism, and world religions.
How many multitudes in our hospitals across America, or at home dying, are finally talking with their Maker, and repenting of their sins, and receiving Christ? Many, I think. And don't scoff at death bed conversions. God works in mysterious ways.
VI. The majority of mankind must be saved because Jesus is the Victor, not the Loser.
What did Jesus come to this world to do? What does the Bible say?
"He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work" (I John 3:8).
What was the devil's work? The fall of mankind. What will Jesus destroy? The fall of mankind.
"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17).
What will Jesus save? He will save THE WORLD. Now, I have already said I don't believe in UNIVERSALISM. Some people will be lost. But the Bible pictures Jesus as saving the world.
In literature there are many devices: simile, metaphor, etc. etc. This is an example of hyperbole. It is an exaggeration, but it is still the truth. It is to say ALL, and not mean literally ALL, but still be a true statement. We use hyperbole all the time. (That statement was hyperbole!) For example:
"Everyone knows that gas prices are much higher than they used to be."
That's not LITERALLY true, but it is true. There must be a few people who don't know anything about gas prices. But it is still a true statement. IT WOULD NOT BE A TRUE STATEMENT IF ONLY A MINORITY OF PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT RISING GAS PRICES.
The Bible uses the term "world" or "all" or similar terms so many times that we must conclude that the majority of mankind must be saved. Here are some more examples:
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men" (I Timothy 2:5-6).
"For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive" (I Cor 15:21-22).
"For God was pleased to have all his fulness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Colossians 1:19-20).
"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world" (I John 2:2).
"Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men" (Romans 5:18)
Jesus is UTTERLY VICTORIOUS over Satan (Colossians 2:15)
"And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." Now, if only a small percentage of mankind were saved, how could we speak of Jesus as having victory?
VII. The majority of mankind must be saved because of the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:36-43):
36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
37 He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Note: The field is THE WORLD. And in another place Jesus tells us to pray for laborers, for the field is ripe for harvest. This is not a case in which there is a field of weeds with a few stalks of wheat scattered throughout the field. No, it is a field of wheat! It is the weeds which are few, not the wheat. It is a wheat field, not a weed field!
VIII. The majority of mankind must be saved because the percentage of Christians and the number of Christian nations is always increasing.
Jesus commanded His followers to make disciples of all the nations in Matthew 28:18-20:
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
The prophecies of the Bible seem to say that the discipling of all the nations will become a reality. All the nations of the world will become Christian nations.
"From the west, men will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory" (Isaiah 59:19).
"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn" (Isaiah 60:1-3).
"As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD" (Isaiah 66:22-23).
"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no-one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope" (Matt. 12:18-21).
"Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed" (Rev. 15:4).
"I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it" (Rev. 21:22-24).
Consider the growth of Christianity throughout the world in the past 2000 years. It began with Jesus and the twelve. Then several thousands were saved and added to the Church on the Day of Pentecost. Peter and Paul and the other Apostles founded churches and wrote the New Testament. The Church has grown throughout the centuries, and now we actually many nations that are considered Christian nations. One fourth of the world claims to follow Jesus Christ.
We have every reason to believe that as the Gospel is preached more and more people will come to Christ. More nations will become Christian nations. A greater percentage of the world will be Christian. Today one fourth. Maybe in a thousand years one half. Maybe in 2000 more years, 90 percent of the world will name the name of Christ. We are not yet in a "post christian era." We are still in a "pre christian era" as far as the world is concerned.
And when the nations become Christian nations, and when most people are Christians, and we rear our children to love Jesus Christ, and when the institutions of society and government are directed by Christian men and women, how long will such a state continue? We don't know. Until the end of the age. And what percentage of the human race will then be saved? We don't know, but it will surely be very, very great!
And so I conclude, along with the Book of Revelation, that the number of the saved is a multitude so great that no man can number it. It is a roaring great multitude! It is an amazing harvest. It is a load of fish breaking the net (to mix methphors!)
The Number of the Elect Includes the Majority of Mankind
Dr. Marshall C. St. John ([email protected])
Re 7:9-10 "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
Over and over the Book of Revelation refers to the number of God's children as a "great multitude." How great is that multitude? Present day evangelicalism says that it is actually a very small percentage of mankind. I believe that the Bible tells us exactly the opposite: that the number of the saved will actually be VERY MUCH more than the number of the lost.
I don't believe in "Universalism." That's the doctrine that everyone in the world will go to Heaven, everyone without exception. The Bible tells us that there are people who will be lost forever. For example: Revelation 20:15..."If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." And Revelation 21:7-8... "He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practise magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur." And there are many other verses which agree.
But let me show you from the Bible that the majority of the human race must be saved. There are eight Biblical reasons why the majority of mankind must be saved...
I. The majority of mankind must be saved because the verse most often used to teach the opposite is badly mis-interpreted.
I refer to Matthew 7:13-14...
13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
This verse has been used to teach that the majority of the human race will be damned. But this interpretation is an example of taking verses out of context, which is poor "Hermeneutics." Hermeneutics is the science of Bible interpretation. There are a number of rules that come into play, especially with these verses in Matthew.
Rule Number One: Never take a verse out of context. What is the context of Matthew 7:13-14? First, the Book of Matthew itself is the context. There are four Gospels, and they are written to four different recipients. Matthew to the Jews. Luke to the Gentiles. Mark also to the Gentiles. John is a theological work written decades after the other Gospels. So, when we read Matthew 7:13-14 we should look to see if these verses have special relevance to the Jewish people of the first century. We should realize also that the Jewish audience is the immediate context of Jesus' remarks. He is speaking to a Jewish audience in the Holy Land 2000 years ago. He is NOT speaking primarily to the world at large, though all His words naturally have applications for later readers.
Rule Number Two: When reading a passage in one of the Synoptic Gospels, you must check the parallel passages in the other two Gospels. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the Synoptic Gospels because they basically cover the same historical ground. They give three views of the same incidents and sermons of Jesus. Is there a parallel passage for Matthew 7:13-14 that sheds light? It turns out that Luke 13:23-30 is parallel, and it does indeed shed light on the Matthew passage.
23 ¶ Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" He said to them,
24 "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to.
25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ "But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
26 "Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
27 "But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
28 "There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.
29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God.
30 Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last."
Matthew is just bare bones. Luke expands and explains that Jesus is refering to His contemporary Jewish audience. They were rejecting Him. He is the narrow gate. The Jews of Jesus' time did not receive Him as the Messiah. And so Jesus says to them: not many of you are going to make it into the Kingdom of God. However, Jesus makes it clear that a vast multitude of OTHERS will be saved: "People will come from east and west and north and south," which encomapasses the globe!
So, the Matthew passage does NOT teach that only a few people out of all humanity will be saved. It DOES teach that only a few of Jesus' Jewish audience of 2000 years ago were saved. They rejected Him, the narrow gate.
II. The majority of mankind must be saved because of the salvation of infants who die in infancy.
Up until recent times more children died in infancy and childhood than lived. A mother would quite often give birth to eight children, and have only three survive into adulthood. And even in modern times, biologist tell us that a very large percentage of conceptions don't even survive past the first two months of pregnancy. Yet these unborn children are true human beings, and when they die, they go to Heaven to be with the Lord. How do we know that infants and children who die go straight to Heaven?
First, we have the words of our Savior Jesus Christ in Matthew 19:13-14...
13 ¶ Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
And we have the words of King David, which he spoke after learning of the death of his infant child in 2 Samuel 12:18-23...
18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, "While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate."
19 David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realised that the child was dead. "Is the child dead?" he asked. "Yes," they replied, "he is dead."
20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshipped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.
21 His servants asked him, "Why are you acting in this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!"
22 He answered, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’
23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."
Christians down through the centuries have believed that their infants/children go to Heaven when they die, and I believe the Bible says that, too. So, already, we have a great multitude of redeemed people in Heaven.
III. The majority of mankind must be saved because it is the nature of God to save rather than to damn.
Consider Jonah 3:10--4:2 and 4:10-11:
10 When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.
1 ¶ But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.
2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.
10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.
11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
Consider Psalm 103:8-14...
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger for ever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
IV. The majority of mankind must be saved because salvation is by FAITH not by KNOWLEDGE or WORKS.
People do not need to do tons of good works (Legalism) in order to be saved. If we were saved by works, surely none of us would ever merit salvation.
People do not need to have a lot of theological knowledge to be saved. (This would be the ancient heresy of Gnosticism.) Consider the salvation of Abraham. What did Abraham KNOW about God? Did Abraham know about the Trinity? Did He know that the 2nd person of the Triune God would die on a cross to pay for his sins? Did Abraham know about predestination, election, justification, sanctification and so on? How was Abraham saved? He had faith in God. (Genesis 15:1-6)
1 ¶ After this, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."
2 ¶ But Abram said, "O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"
3 And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
4 Then the word of the LORD came to him: "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir."
5 He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
6 Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
The man who was born blind is also an example to us of a person who was saved with very little knowledge, but lots of faith (John 9:13-38).
13 ¶ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.
14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.
15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see."
16 Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." But others asked, "How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?" So they were divided.
17 Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened." The man replied, "He is a prophet."
18 The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.
19 "Is this your son?" they asked. "Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?"
20 "We know he is our son," the parents answered, "and we know he was born blind.
21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself."
22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.
23 That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give glory to God," they said. "We know this man is a sinner."
25 He replied, "Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!"
26 Then they asked him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"
27 He answered, "I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?"
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!
29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from."
30 The man answered, "Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will.
32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."
34 To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!" And they threw him out.
35 ¶ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
36 "Who is he, sir?" the man asked. "Tell me so that I may believe in him."
37 Jesus said, "You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you."
38 Then the man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshipped him.
V. The majority of mankind must be saved because of death bed conversions.
The old saying is: "There are no atheists in foxholes." When death is knocking on your door, you all of a sudden see things in a different light. It is a well-known fact that many prison inmates awaiting execution admit their sins, and receive Jesus as Savior.
The thief on the cross is the most famous Bible "death bed" conversion. We find it in the Gospel of Luke chapter 23...
38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don’t you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence?
41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
People that you would least expect to become Christians, do it just before they die: Karla Faye Tucker, executed a decade ago in Texas; Reggae singer Bob Marley, led to Christ by a hospital nurse. Mortimer Adler, Jewish Columbia University Professor, Great Philosopher, editor of the famous Great Books of the Western World, former pagan, became a Christian in his old age. And many others could be mentioned, who came to Christ from all kinds of paganism, atheism, and world religions.
How many multitudes in our hospitals across America, or at home dying, are finally talking with their Maker, and repenting of their sins, and receiving Christ? Many, I think. And don't scoff at death bed conversions. God works in mysterious ways.
VI. The majority of mankind must be saved because Jesus is the Victor, not the Loser.
What did Jesus come to this world to do? What does the Bible say?
"He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work" (I John 3:8).
What was the devil's work? The fall of mankind. What will Jesus destroy? The fall of mankind.
"For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17).
What will Jesus save? He will save THE WORLD. Now, I have already said I don't believe in UNIVERSALISM. Some people will be lost. But the Bible pictures Jesus as saving the world.
In literature there are many devices: simile, metaphor, etc. etc. This is an example of hyperbole. It is an exaggeration, but it is still the truth. It is to say ALL, and not mean literally ALL, but still be a true statement. We use hyperbole all the time. (That statement was hyperbole!) For example:
"Everyone knows that gas prices are much higher than they used to be."
That's not LITERALLY true, but it is true. There must be a few people who don't know anything about gas prices. But it is still a true statement. IT WOULD NOT BE A TRUE STATEMENT IF ONLY A MINORITY OF PEOPLE KNEW ABOUT RISING GAS PRICES.
The Bible uses the term "world" or "all" or similar terms so many times that we must conclude that the majority of mankind must be saved. Here are some more examples:
"For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men" (I Timothy 2:5-6).
"For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive" (I Cor 15:21-22).
"For God was pleased to have all his fulness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Colossians 1:19-20).
"He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world" (I John 2:2).
"Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men" (Romans 5:18)
Jesus is UTTERLY VICTORIOUS over Satan (Colossians 2:15)
"And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." Now, if only a small percentage of mankind were saved, how could we speak of Jesus as having victory?
VII. The majority of mankind must be saved because of the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:36-43):
36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
37 He answered, "The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 "As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
42 They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Note: The field is THE WORLD. And in another place Jesus tells us to pray for laborers, for the field is ripe for harvest. This is not a case in which there is a field of weeds with a few stalks of wheat scattered throughout the field. No, it is a field of wheat! It is the weeds which are few, not the wheat. It is a wheat field, not a weed field!
VIII. The majority of mankind must be saved because the percentage of Christians and the number of Christian nations is always increasing.
Jesus commanded His followers to make disciples of all the nations in Matthew 28:18-20:
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
The prophecies of the Bible seem to say that the discipling of all the nations will become a reality. All the nations of the world will become Christian nations.
"From the west, men will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory" (Isaiah 59:19).
"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn" (Isaiah 60:1-3).
"As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD" (Isaiah 66:22-23).
"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. He will not quarrel or cry out; no-one will hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory. In his name the nations will put their hope" (Matt. 12:18-21).
"Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed" (Rev. 15:4).
"I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it" (Rev. 21:22-24).
Consider the growth of Christianity throughout the world in the past 2000 years. It began with Jesus and the twelve. Then several thousands were saved and added to the Church on the Day of Pentecost. Peter and Paul and the other Apostles founded churches and wrote the New Testament. The Church has grown throughout the centuries, and now we actually many nations that are considered Christian nations. One fourth of the world claims to follow Jesus Christ.
We have every reason to believe that as the Gospel is preached more and more people will come to Christ. More nations will become Christian nations. A greater percentage of the world will be Christian. Today one fourth. Maybe in a thousand years one half. Maybe in 2000 more years, 90 percent of the world will name the name of Christ. We are not yet in a "post christian era." We are still in a "pre christian era" as far as the world is concerned.
And when the nations become Christian nations, and when most people are Christians, and we rear our children to love Jesus Christ, and when the institutions of society and government are directed by Christian men and women, how long will such a state continue? We don't know. Until the end of the age. And what percentage of the human race will then be saved? We don't know, but it will surely be very, very great!
And so I conclude, along with the Book of Revelation, that the number of the saved is a multitude so great that no man can number it. It is a roaring great multitude! It is an amazing harvest. It is a load of fish breaking the net (to mix methphors!)
. But nonetheless, according to your scheme, maybe only 20% (still a fat estimate) of those who will end up in heaven will have gone through this regular process and order of salvation, while 80% will go to glory directly and instantly. Moreover, if this was indeed the reality, should we not expect God to have revealed this fact to us more clearly in Scriptures? I personally prefer to stick to the position that all children that die outside the covenant of grace (that is those of unbelievers) such as the children of Koram and Abiram are damned, except that they suffer so little that they are not conscious of their existence. This would be like the threshold of hell, and its mildest form and state. This is the position that Augustine held. Your article also mentions that throughout church history, it was believed that children go to heaven when they die. This is an half-truth, since most Catholic theologians (including monergists like Bernard of Clairvaux and Augustine) taught that babies that die unbaptized are damned or go to limbo. You see that they had more covenant theology in them than in yourself. Following the Reformation, the Calvinists modified this view by pointing out that baptism itself is not necessary for infant salvation, but that there must still be some covenant membership for such an assurance to be founded. Indeed, your view is held by most Reformed Baptists (like C. H. Spurgeon) since it provides another excuse for favoring credo-baptism.
