Annihilationism-God Desires All Men to Be Saved
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday October 19, 2014
Annihilationism: God Desires All Men To Be Saved
Lesson # 2
Please turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 2:1.
“Annihilationism” is the belief that all the unsaved will be judged by God and thrown into the lake of fire where they will cease to exist.
There are several passages of Scripture which refute this.
Daniel 12:2 reveals that there will be those in Israel who lived during Old Testament dispensations who will experience “everlasting” contempt.
In Matthew 25:46, the Lord says that when He judges the Gentiles subsequent to His Second Advent, the saved will go to eternal life while the unsaved go away into “eternal” punishment.
In John 3:36, the writer says that those who believe in the Son will have eternal life whereas as those who do not obey the Son will not see life but the wrath of God abides on them.
The present tense of the verb μένω, “abides” expresses the idea of a continuous existence or state indicating that the unsaved will experience God’s wrath continually.
In 2 Thessalonians 1:9, Paul says that those unsaved individuals who persecuted the Thessalonian believers will pay the penalty of “eternal” destruction, away from the presence of the Lord.
In Revelation 14:10-11, John writes that those people who worship the Antichrist during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week will drink of the wine of the wrath of God.
He says that they will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
He says that this torment goes up forever and ever.
Furthermore, notice in Revelation 14:10 that the unsaved have no rest day and night.
In Revelation 19:20, the apostle John reveals that the Antichrist and the false prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ.
Then, in Revelation 20:10, John says that after the millennium and Satan’s release from prison after the millennium, Satan will start a final rebellion against God which will be overthrown.
He will then be thrown into the lake of fire.
John then says that the Antichrist and the false prophet are still there in the lake of fire when Satan is thrown into the lake of fire.
Therefore, these two human beings had been suffering in eternal condemnation throughout the millennium and Satan’s final rebellion.
We must remember that God desires all people to be saved but not all will be saved but this is not the fault of God but of the person who rejects Jesus Christ as Savior.
The apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 2:6 teaches that Christ Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for each and every member of the human race revealing the Father’s purpose to save the entire human race at the appointed time.
1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. (NASB95)
In verse 6, Paul teaches that Jesus Christ dedicated Himself to the specific purpose of canceling the sin debt of each and every member of the human race.
“For all” emphasizes that Jesus Christ’s spiritual and physical deaths were universal in that they were for the benefit of each and every member of the human race and not just the elect.
Of course, not every one will receive eternal salvation since many will reject Jesus Christ as their Savior.
It teaches that not only does each and every member of the human race-past, present and future, “benefits” by the spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ on the Cross but also it denotes the Lord died as their “substitute” as well.
So this prepositional phrase teaches the “unlimited” or “universal” atonement and refutes those who adhere to a “limited” atonement.
The latter is a false doctrine that is actually an attack instigated by Satan upon the integrity of God.
The “limited” atonement doctrine contends that Christ died for only the elect or in other words, believers whereas the “unlimited” or “universal” atonement contends that Christ died for “all” men, all-inclusive, without exception and thus “without racial, sexual or social distinction.”
This doctrine states that Jesus Christ died for every sin committed by every single member of the human race-past, present and future (John 1:29; Rom. 5:6-8; 1 Tim. 4:10; Titus 2:11; 1 John 2:2).
The entire human race is condemned by God who is holy because they are sinners by nature and practice.
The penalty for this is real spiritual death, which results in physical death and then eventually, in the second death, i.e. eternal condemnation.
God rendered this penalty to all of Adam’s posterity as a result of his disobedience to the command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Those who reject Jesus Christ as Savior will be thrown into the eternal Lake of Fire forever and ever at the conclusion of human history.
Every unbeliever in history will have to stand before Christ at the Great White Throne Judgment, which will take place at the end of human history and is the judgment of all unregenerate humanity in human history for their rejection of Christ as Savior (Rev. 20:11-15).
Unbelievers will “not” be judged according to their sins at the Great White Throne Judgment since Jesus Christ died for all men, Jew and Gentile and for every sin that they have committed-past, present and future.
The unbeliever will be judged according to their self-righteous human good works, which do not measure up to the perfect work of the impeccable Christ on the Cross (Rev. 20:11-15).
The unbeliever goes to the lake of fire because of their rejection of Christ as their Savior since 1 Timothy 2:4 and John 3:16-17 clearly indicates that God desires all men to be saved, thus, He has made provision for all people to be saved through the Person and Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
The fact that unregenerate man will receive eternal condemnation in the lake of fire forever and ever is a righteous judgment since as sinners they can never be justified before a holy God and have rejected God’s only provision for sin, which is the Person and Finished Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
God who is holy and cannot tolerate sin is justified in throwing His creatures into the lake of fire for rebelling against Him but also God, who as to His nature, is love, did everything He could to prevent any of His creatures from going to the lake of fire forever and ever for their rebellion against Him.
The fact that God did not immediately deposit all mankind in the lake of fire for their disobedience is incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures and desires none of them to go to the lake of fire.
The fact that God the Father sent His Son into the world to become a human being to satisfy His righteous demands that the sin of men be judged is also incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures.
The apostle Paul taught the Roman believers that Christ died for the ungodly, which refers to unbelievers and reconciled us meaning believers, while we were God’s enemies.
Therefore, if Christ reconciled the believer to God while he was an enemy of God, then Christ died for unbelievers as well (Romans 5:6-10).
Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die 8 but God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (NASB95)
Thus, in order for God’s desire for all men to be saved to ever have any chance of becoming a reality, He would have to send His Son into the world to die for all men.
Therefore, Christ’s death on the Cross was the propitiation for the sins of both believers and unbelievers.
1 John 2:2 And He Himself (the Lord Jesus Christ) is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. (NASB95)
1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God (the Father), but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (NASB95)
Of course, all men will not be saved because many will reject Jesus Christ as Savior.
