God’s plan is a matter of offer and acceptance. No response is rejection.

OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE IS A PRINCIPLE OF LIFE

Our whole society functions on the basis of offer and acceptance. This is the basis of all contractual relationships. For example:

A dealer offers merchandise... a buyer accepts by paying the price and taking the merchandise.
A person offers his time and skills to a company... the company accepts by hiring him.
A man offers to be the woman’s husband... the woman accepts by marrying him.

God’s way of dealing with us is not illogical or unrelated to these kinds of ordinary human contractual experiences. Every day we are bombarded with offers, which we either accept or reject, consciously or subconsciously. The quality of our life depends upon which offers we accept and which we reject.

The Bible says clearly and repeatedly that salvation (from hell) is an offer from God. We understand because we have already learned the concept of offer and acceptance from our dealings with other people.

AN OFFER IS WITHOUT BENEFIT UNTIL ACCEPTED

The best offer in the world is worthless unless it’s accepted. In legal terms, there’s no deal without offer and acceptance.

It’s of no consequence that a person is too busy to hear or fully understand the offer. If he has notice that an offer is being made, it’s his responsibility to investigate it. Failure to investigate means forfeiting all benefits that could accrue from it.

IGNORING AN OFFER IS SAME AS REJECTING IT

Future intentions don’t count. Even though a person may plan to investigate an offer at some later time, the fact is that every offer is rejected unless or until it is accepted. Ignoring or procrastinating is a form of rejection.

By not accepting now, a person is at risk of having the offer withdrawn or facing changed circumstances. God’s offer of new life terminates upon our death, which could happen quickly and unexpectedly, leaving us with no second chance. Ignoring God’s offer now is a foolish risk.

A FREE GIFT IS BEST POSSIBLE KIND OF OFFER

A gift is a particular type of offer. It’s given without requirement that something be given in return. But even with a gift, there’s no way to get the benefits without accepting it. A gift is never forced upon a person – it’s only offered.

The Bible says that salvation is an offer from God… but more than that, it’s a FREE gift. But just knowing that a gift is available doesn’t make it ours. We have to reach out and personally take it.

GOD DOESNʼT ACCEPT COUNTER OFFERS

When a person doesn’t like an offer and proposes something else, he has rejected the original offer and made a counter offer.

It’s effrontery when we do this to God. His offer is spelled out in the Bible and it’s the same offer to everyone. God doesn’t entertain counter offers and a person deludes himself by thinking he can negotiate a special deal with God.

MOST AMAZING ʻPRODUCTʼ IS OFFERED BY GOD

It demeans God’s plan to make it ordinary and mundane; to present it as a commercial product. That’s why, in awe and respect for the majesty of Almighty God, special theological terms are used to explain him and his dealings with us.

Jesus sometimes used illustrations from the commercial world of his day (sower, vineyard, shepherd) to help explain the plan. So, for just a moment, without being disrespectful, let’s re-state God’s offer in a format that would be common in our product-dominated world today.

‘Salvation’ is the respectful theological term and concept, but a ‘New Life product’ is the way a secular person might think about it:

How important is it? Nothing is more important than our happiness now and our eternal destiny after death.

Who’s offering it? The designer and creator of the universe! If God is capable of designing an incredible universe which we personally observe and use every day, we have confidence that he’s capable of designing an excellent and eternal life for us. No product carries a better name!

What are the benefits? As summarized in the box above, the benefits are absolutely amazing. Properly understood, everyone wants these benefits, but no other product or service can give them.

What’s the price? The ‘free’ part is appealing, but the ‘confession’ part is hard on the ego and is probably the biggest reason why some people don’t want it. No one can take credit for it and there’s no personal status in it.

How do I get it? Even though the product is free, no one gets it automatically. If a person wants it, he must humble himself before God and ask for it in a personal encounter with him (a specific confession in a specific prayer – see Topic 62). Most people either don’t understand the need for this personal encounter or they postpone the encounter because they think they have to clean up first or have other pressing things to do first. A product offered does no good until actually accepted and received; therefore procrastination has the same effect as rejection.

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s only solution for our sin.

JESUS CHRIST DIED AS OUR PERSONAL SUBSTITUTE

The Old Testament foretold that God would send a Savior to take away the sins of the world (see Topic 23). He came as promised in the person of Jesus Christ. In theological terms, this is called the ‘incarnation,’ meaning the appearance of God in human flesh.

He allowed himself to be crucified at the hands of men who didn’t believe him. Usually men are crucified for something they did, but Christ was crucified only for saying he is God incarnate. What he said was so preposterous to them that they killed him for blasphemy.

Because of the enormity of the aggregate human sin to be punished and because there is no greater value than life itself, nothing but his life could be an adequate sacrifice for all the sins of the world.

He became the once-and-for-all sacrifice for mankind so that no further sacrifices are needed. The Bible says we won’t be punished for our sins because he has already taken the punishment for us, provided that each person believes in his heart and mind, individually, that Christ died on the cross as the sacrifice for his sins and that this is God’s free gift, requiring only personal acceptance of it in order to get any benefit from it.

Jesus Christ, in love, became our substitute, dying in our place. Because he paid the penalty for our sin, we don’t have to pay it ourselves.

CRUCIFIXION WAS WORST KIND OF EXECUTION

The cross was an instrument of execution used by the Romans, who controlled Palestine at the time Jesus lived there. Jesus was sentenced to death by crucifixion by Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, at the demand of religious leaders who were furious that Jesus claimed to be God and was developing a large following.

Here’s a brief description of death by crucifixion (from Harper’s Bible Dictionary, Harper & Row):

Though the procedure was subject to wide variation according to the whim and sadism of the executioner, by the Roman period several features were fairly standard...

There the offender was stripped and flogged. The prisoner’s arms were affixed to the crossbar with ropes or nails, and the crossbar was then raised and attached to the upright stake. A small wooden block attached to the stake beneath the buttocks supported the weight of the suspended body, which was bound to the stake with ropes. Often the feet were also affixed to the stake with ropes or nails. Because deterrence was a primary objective, the cross was always erected in a public place. Death came slowly, often only after several days, resulting from the cumulative impact of thirst, hunger, exhaustion, exposure and the traumatic effects of the scourging. After death, the body was usually left hanging on the cross. Because of the protracted suffering and the extreme ignominy of this manner of execution, it was viewed by the Romans as the supreme penalty, the ‘most wretched of deaths’ (Josephus), and generally reserved for the lowest classes and the most heinous crimes...

The Biblical account of Jesus’ crucifixion reveals few variants from the usual procedure.

It’s amazing to note that over 700 years earlier, the Old Testament foretold that the Savior would be crucified... written long before crucifixion was used as a means of execution (see Topic 23).

JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR US, BUT HE LIVES AGAIN

Three days after being buried in a tomb sealed and guarded by Roman soldiers, Jesus miraculously came back to life and spent the next 40 days teaching his disciples. During this time he was seen by over 500 witnesses.

Here’s the Bible account of how his life on earth then concluded: ‘When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere…’

The more we learn about God, the more we realize that everything he does has good reason, even from human perspective. The resurrection and ascension of Jesus is no exception. It profoundly effects us in three ways:

It’s final proof that Jesus is God, that his words can be trusted and that he’s alive
It’s transformation of the localized Christ as man into the universal risen Savior, with ecstatic disciples willing to die for the astonishing truth they discovered
It’s demonstration of a future resurrection which will happen to all of us after we die

VALUE OF THE SACRIFICE WAS QUALITY, NOT TIME

Jesus hung on the cross for about six hours (9:00 AM to 3:00 PM) before dying. Then, he experienced hell for three days, suffering terrible torment on our behalf. On the third day, God (Father – see Topic 42) released his soul from hell and put life back into his dead body.

Some people say, or at least secretly think, this was not such a big sacrifice since it all happened in only a few days. We know that many people have given their lives for others, permanently, without any hope of restoration to life again. How could only a few days of suffering by Jesus be equivalent to eternal hell for all sinners?

That kind of thinking disregards the fact that in the spiritual world time has little significance compared to quality. We have no way to comprehend the intensity of Jesus’ suffering and humiliation. For all we know, in order to take the sins of the entire world, his suffering may have been infinitely greater than what any human can ever experience, even in hell. We simply don’t know and therefore no one is in a position to judge the degree of anguish.

But the duration and intensity of suffering is not the main point, but rather the quality of the one who suffered. The main point is that God’s love for us is so great that he paid the penalty himself and, furthermore, regardless of our opinion or sense of balance, God says that the sacrifice is adequate for our complete forgiveness.

DEATH AND RESURRECTION ARE NECESSARY FOR NEW LIFE

In God’s plan, Jesus’ death and resurrection was essential in order for us to have new life.

At first thought, we may think blood and death are too gory – and resurrection too bizarre – and wish that God had chosen some more pleasant and conventional way to give us new life. But the fact is that this is the way he chose to do it. It’s his world and his plan; we’re in no position to say he should have done it some other way.

If we’d designed the reconciliation, we probably would have made it more difficult. We wouldn’t let people off the hook so easily. We’d make them suffer and pay a price for their wrongdoing.

We should rejoice that God’s plan is such a remarkable reflection of his character (holy-just-love) and is so easy for us.

God resolves the conflict by offering to exchange our life for Christ’s life.

EXCHANGE IS A BASIC PRINCIPLE OF LIFE

The world functions on the basis of exchange. For example:

Through trees and plants, sunlight is exchanged for oxygen
Through our bodies, food is exchanged for energy
Through steam turbines, coal is exchanged for electricity
Through bulbs, electricity is exchanged for light
Through employment, labor is exchanged for money
Through markets, money is exchanged for goods

Nothing is free. Every benefit has a cost, involving some kind of exchange. In the spiritual realm, we learn from the Bible that:

Through Jesus Christ, our sin is exchanged for God’s righteousness

SACRIFICE IS A COMMON TYPE OF EXCHANGE

Because some kind of exchange underlies every benefit, it’s assumed by most people that we must pay to get benefits from God. In religious terminology, these supposed exchanges are called ‘sacrifices’ (what man gives to get God’s favor). The religions of the world specify thousands of sacrifices of various kinds: giving offerings, doing certain things, refraining from doing certain things, performing rites and rituals.

The ultimate benefit we can get from God – new life (see Topics 56, 59 and 62) requires an exchange. However, the exchange doesn’t require a sacrifice from us. Instead, it requires only personal acceptance of a sacrifice already made for us by him!

A big difference! Only God could provide a sacrifice that’s an adequate exchange for all of our sins.

JESUS CHRIST MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

In the Old Testament – before Christ came – God directed people to make sacrifices to him in order to make amends for their wrongdoings. The most important kind of sacrifice was a blood sacrifice (see Topic 33). This demonstrated the exchange principle with regard to sin: forgiveness is given in exchange for a blood sacrifice.

Why blood? Because blood is the essence of life. It’s the highest price anyone can pay.

The Old Testament sacrifices help us understand what Christ did by dying (literally shedding his blood) on the cross. Without seeing the exchange principle, we might think his death was just a tragedy at the hands of misinformed men. But the Bible says his death was not a mistake. It was the main reason he came to earth – to exchange his life for ours – to take our sin and give us his righteousness.

In simple language, here’s what the Bible says:

Our sins will be punished. That’s a fact, consistent with God’s holiness and justice. There’s no way around it.

The only question is, will our sins be laid on us or laid on Jesus Christ? If they’re laid on us, we’re punished in hell. If they’re laid on Jesus, we escape hell and (being sin-free) are rewarded in heaven.

That’s the marvel of the great exchange. Because God is not only holy and just, but is also love, he gives us the opportunity to willfully exchange our sin for Christ’s righteousness!

It’s an absolutely staggering thought. It’s so simple that even a child can understand it, yet so profound that the wisest philosopher cannot fully grasp it.

God’s spiritual designs – like his physical designs – are mind-boggling to us, yet they are evident enough for us to use and enjoy; they are downright exciting.

CHRISTIAN LIFE IS AN EXCHANGED LIFE

God offers us new life through Jesus Christ. A Christian is one who has accepted the offer.

A Christian has exchanged his old life for a new one and in this exchange his sin is replaced by Christ’s righteousness. Therefore, he’s no longer guilty in the sight of God and thus is ‘saved’ from hell. (For information about heaven and hell, see Topics 50-51. Recognize also that not everyone who says he’s a Christian really is, as explained in Topics 11 and 62-64.)

The Bible uses the word ‘redeemed’ to express this exchange concept and Jesus Christ is called our ‘Redeemer.’ Then, as now, the term means to exchange something of lesser value for something of greater value. The term had emotional meaning in Bible times because it also referred to a kinsman who buys back a family member who had been taken into slavery.

The concept of an exchanged life is so incredibly simple, yet so profound, that we can hardly comprehend it. Said another way, here’s the simplicity of it:

No one can get to heaven unless he’s totally righteous. Christ offers to give us his total righteousness, so that – if we accept him – when God looks at us he sees Christ’s righteousness rather than our sin.

The irony is that God’s plan is so simple and so easy that most people won’t believe it. Not only do we get eternity in heaven, but we get a better life right now (weight of sin lifted from us, warmth of God’s love, Holy Spirit within and much more, as explained in Topic 44). It all seems too good to be true!

Because it’s so easy, God’s plan goes against our nature. There’s something within us that says we should work or pay for heaven, in our own way. The idea that our righteousness, even at its best, is not good enough for heaven is insulting to us and it’s difficult for us to humble ourselves enough to acknowledge to God that we are unworthy of heaven.

When it comes to the moment of decision, our sinful nature is threatened and tells us to wait until a later time to exchange our life (give it up) for Christ’s life (a new nature we take on). The Bible says, however, that a person is not a Christian until he purposefully and willfully makes this exchange with God.

Bible Statement about the Exchange:

Godʼs offer of exchange is made and explained in many ways and places in the Bible. Hereʼs an example, from II Corinthians 5:17-21:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting menʼs sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christʼs ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christʼs behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The conflict between our sin (deserving punishment) and Godʼs character (holy-just-love) is reconciled by this exchange plan which he implemented through Jesus Christ.

Our sin creates a conflict between God’s holiness, God’s love and God’s justice.

GOD WONʼT VIOLATE HIS OWN CHARACTER

The Bible reveals two dimensions to God: One dimension is what he does (function) and the other is who he is (character). We can best understand his actions when we know his character, because actions proceed from character.

God’s essential character is HOLY, JUST and LOVE (see Topics 46-49), evoking each of the following responses to our sin:

JUST ➞ identify sin (punish sinners)
HOLY ➞ hate sin (withdraw from sinners)
LOVE ➞ tolerate sin (pardon sinners)

Obviously, our sin poses a dilemma for God. It appears that whatever action he chooses, he would violate some aspect of his own character. With respect to our sin, it seems impossible for God to be holy, just and love all at the same time.

If God were to punish us – as justice dictates – he couldn’t pardon us.
If God were to withdraw from us – as holiness dictates – he couldn’t have a personal relationship with us.
If God were to pardon us – as love dictates – he would violate holiness and justice; making them meaningless.

We could speculate forever on the possible ways he could reconcile this situation without violating his own character, but the important thing isn’t what he could have done, but what he actually did.

In everything we know about God and his creation, we see that his plan is awesome – staggering to our minds – and thus we can expect that his solution to this dilemma will also be awesome. And it is!

We learn (in Topics 53-59) that God resolved the dilemma by coming to earth in human body (1) to tell us about our sin problem, (2) to bear the punishment for our sin himself, and (3) to give us a pardon for our sin! This solution allows him to be thoroughly HOLY, JUST and LOVE, all at the same time, without any conflict of character.

This story illustrates the principle:

The judge has just imposed the sentence, a very large fine. The agony for him is that the defendant is his own son and his son has no money. The judge hates crime and is committed to enforcing the law, but he still loves his son and doesn’t want him to go to jail. So the judge steps down from the bench and offers to pay the fine himself.

On a much grander scale, this is what God did in love to resolve our sin problem without violating his own principles or character.

RECONCILIATION IS THE MAIN THEME OF THE BIBLE

There’s a rift between God and man, caused by our sin.

Knowledge of this rift is built right into us and it’s the basis of every religion. Our instinct says that we do wrong things that offend God and we need to do something to make it right. Throughout history, people have been trying to find better ways to make peace with God. Most religions say we must appease God by obeying rules, performing rituals and offering sacrifices. But the Bible says that doesn’t do any good.

Throughout the Bible, there’s a frequently recurring question: How can God and humanity be reconciled? Or, put another way: Can anything we do bridge the gulf between holiness and sin; between God and humanity?

Sin is mankind’s biggest problem (see Topic 6). We all have it in our lives, some more than others and some worse than others. But for everyone it’s a reality that can’t be denied. We try to control and suppress it, but it’s hard work and usually a losing battle. Its a heavy feeling, a dirty feeling, a nagging feeling. It blocks our relationship with God and robs us of genuine happiness. We want to stop it, get rid of it. But how? The picture of the natural human condition is people struggling without God, and often struggling against God.

What’s needed is ‘reconciliation,’ which means a changed relationship for the better between persons who were formerly estranged from each other. It’s a relationship issue, not a performance issue. When the relationship is right, performance improves, but that’s the minor part of it. The major part is that God is a divine person (see Topic 46) and wants a personal relationship with each of us (see Topic 48).

Reconciliation is the main theme of the Bible, from cover to cover. Reconciliation occurs not when we do something great for God, but when we understand and accept the great thing he’s done for us through Jesus Christ.

Godʼs Plan for Reconciliation

From the Bible, we can tap into Godʼs thinking regarding our sin. In a brief and paraphrased form, hereʼs his plan as heʼs revealed it to us:

I will go to the world in a human body so people can actually hear me and see me. My life in human form will be an example of holiness, justice and love. Eyewitnesses will record my words and actions for future generations. I will offer my human body as the once-and-for-all sacrifice for everyoneʼs sins. In that way I will show that thereʼs a terrible penalty to pay for sin, but I will pay it myself to show my love and I will declare everyone pardoned who repents of his sin and personally accepts my sacrifice. Those who donʼt accept it will have to pay the penalty of sin themselves and spend eternity separated from me.

This plan – examined in detail in Topics 54-60 – reconciles our sin with Godʼs character.

The ‘Gospel’ is God’s Good News for everyone.

‘GOSPEL’ IS A CHRISTIAN ONE-WORD SUMMARY

The word ‘gospel’ is the English translation of the Greek word ‘evangelion,’ which means ‘good news.’ From this Greek root we also get the word ‘evangelize,’ meaning to tell the gospel to others.

Gospel is a short-hand expression – a communications handle – which conveys great meaning to those who understand the profound spiritual facts which the word embraces. In Christian terminology, the word means the good news of what God will do for us personally – if we ask him – through Jesus Christ.

The Gospel first burst upon the world nearly 2,000 years ago and changed the course of history. It’s been distorted, misunderstood and often buried under layers of church tradition; but it’s still as relevant and powerful as ever. The purpose of this resource is to help people discover the gospel.

In simple language, this is the Gospel (aka/the ‘Good News’)

Your sins can be be forgiven!
You could have God (Holy Spirit) in your life now!
You can experience heaven rather than hell!
This offer is a FREE gift!

THE GOSPEL IS THE MOST AMAZING OFFER EVER MADE

The Good News – the Gospel – is that we can live a happy life now... that we won’t go to hell... and that there’s no cost to us! It’s no wonder that people who know the gospel get so excited about it.

The Gospel is the most amazing offer ever made – surpassing the benefits of all the world’s best products and services – and it’s free and immediately available. Only God could make such an offer!

As with most of God’s ideas, a normal first reaction is that it’s too incredulous to take seriously. But upon further reflection, we realize that God works that way, in both physical and spiritual realms, with designs and plans so spectacular that they barely touch the threshold of our comprehension.

THE GOSPEL REQUIRES A PERSONAL RESPONSE

The Bible says that the benefit of the Gospel – a personal relationship with God forever – cannot be earned, purchased or demanded. The Bible says it’s a free gift offered to everyone, even though not everyone will accept it. As with any gift, it becomes ours only when we receive it according to the giver’s terms.

God gave us the Gospel as something to respond to; something to give us personal interaction with him. Believing and accepting the Gospel is the way we show love and gratitude to God. Rejecting the gospel is the way we tell him we don’t need him and want him to leave us alone.

The Gospel is highly personal and practical, determining our happiness and eternal destiny. Important aspects of the Gospel are examined in detail in Topics 53-66.

Even good people can go to hell.

HUMAN MERIT IS NEVER ENOUGH TO AVERT HELL

After death, there are only two eternal states: HEAVEN and HELL.

The common notion, even among many who regard themselves as Christians, is that if there’s a preponderance of good deeds in a person’s life, he’ll go to heaven... and if there’s a preponderance of bad deeds he’ll go to hell.

But, according to the Bible, this is NOT the criteria God uses in determining who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. Some ‘bad’ people will go to heaven (like the thief who died on the cross beside Jesus). Some ‘good’ people will go to hell (like the pious religious leaders rebuked by Jesus).

A person goes to hell for relying on his own merits rather than on Christ’s merits, regardless of how ‘good’ he may be. Rejecting Jesus Christ – saying the Savior isn’t needed – is what condemns a person to hell.

HELL IS THE GREATEST RISK WE’LL EVER FACE

The greatest irony in life is that most people believe in hell and yet give relatively little thought to how to keep from going there. Hell is our greatest risk and it deserves our greatest attention.

For lesser risks, we have extensive analysis systems for insurance policies, risk-management programs and product safety boards. But regarding the risk of hell, most people casually think that if they just ‘do more good than bad, it’ll probably work out.’ That’s not the way it works!

Anyone who isn’t sure of averting hell is playing a game with God more dangerous than Russian roulette. There’s time to accept God’s offer as long as we live, but at any moment death could come and seal our eternal destiny (see Topics 56-59).

WE MUST NOT JUDGE OTHERS REGARDING HEAVEN OR HELL

The Bible says that God alone is the judge of who’s going to heaven and who’s going to hell; we must not make any judgments about individual people.

Each of us can know whether we’re personally going to heaven or to hell, but we don’t know about the relationships others have with God now or may yet have with him before they die.

Our role is to tell people about God’s Good News (see Topic 52), not to judge or condemn them. Jesus said that some people who’s lives are now highly regarded by society will end up in hell and some people who’s lives are now a total mess will end up in heaven.

Our eternal destiny has nothing to do with how good we are, but it has everything to do with how good Jesus Christ is and with whether or not we acknowledge and appropriate the fact that he’s offered to be our substitute.

Our American system of justice is shaped largely by the work/reward and fairness principles of our capitalistic culture. But these marketplace concepts don’t apply to God.

God doesn’t equate justice with work or fairness. To illustrate the point, Jesus told the following story (Matthew 20:1-16), quoted here exactly as he said it:

For the kingdom of heaven is like a land owner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius [a day’s wages] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.

He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.

About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going to the first.’

The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

‘So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’

This story told by Jesus illustrates God’s character – he’s holy, love and just – and it explains why he’s not always fair.

Justice motivated by LOVE is better than justice motivated by FAIRNESS!

Heaven and hell result from the interaction of God’s character and man’s free will.

GOD’S CHARACTER DEFINES OUR ETERNITY

The knowledge that there’s life after death is built right into us. The overwhelming majority of people of all times, places and religions instinctively know there’s something beyond the grave. The Bible says clearly that there’s an after-life... either heaven or hell.

Heaven and hell are the logical extensions of God’s character. Stated simply, this is the fateful pattern in sequential order:

God is holy and has established and communicated spiritual laws (see Topics 5 and 47)
God is love and gives us free will to make individual choices (see Topics 6 and 48)
God is just and declares our sentence – hell – for a lifetime of sin (see Topics 45, 48, 52, 54 and 55)
God is love and offers a Savior to free us from the sentence; if accepted, this gives us HEAVEN (see Topic 51)
God is just and will forever leave alone everyone who doesn’t want the Savior; this leaves them with HELL

Notice from this pattern that salvation is a gift and hell is the residual. If the gift (Jesus Christ) is rejected, hell is all that’s left.

Hell is what’s left after God leaves. It’s a confinement together of all unforgiven sinners, Satan and evil spirits, left alone to fend for themselves in an environment of unrestrained evil and suffering, without God and unable to die.

HEAVEN IS BEING WITH GOD FOREVER

Heaven is both a place and a state of being. People there will have a different (perfect) body and there will be no sin, pain or sorrow. They will experience God’s best and will be truly happy and content. They will enjoy God, his revelations and his people forever.

There are many references to heaven in the Bible but no detailed description of it. It’s beyond our ability to comprehend and human words can’t describe it (see Topic 8).

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. – I Corinthians 2:9

We don’t know details, but we know that heaven is a wonderful place where a minority of people will spend eternity in the presence of God.

HELL IS BEING ABANDONED BY GOD FOREVER

Hell is the exact opposite of heaven. It’s the terrible place where people who don’t go to heaven will spend their eternity, totally abandoned by God.

In hell, people will be tormented by their stupidity for rejecting Christ in their earthly life. They’ll be in constant pain and suffering because of confinement in a place without any of God’s holiness, love or justice.

Hell is not specifically described in the Bible, but the Bible refers to it as God’s absence, place of darkness, place burning with fire, prepared for the devil, crying and gnashing of teeth, stark loneliness, condemned, utter ruin and torment.

The Bible says emphatically that hell is horrible beyond words and that everyone should act now to avert it.

MOST PEOPLE BELIEVE IN HEAVEN AND HELL

A recent national Gallop Poll shows that:

77% of Americans believe there’s a heaven
58% of Americans believe there’s a hell

More people believe there’s a heaven than believe there’s a hell, even though the Bible says clearly that both are realities. This is perhaps the ultimate example of human ability to deny truth when it becomes too frightening to face. It illustrates how we hear what we want to hear and selectively believe what we want to believe. But, of course, our beliefs don’t in any way alter the facts of God’s design plan. A wise person will adapt to facts rather than deny them, even when the facts are unsettling.

If most people believe that heaven is the best thing that can happen and hell is the worst thing, as surveys always show, it follows that most people should double-check their assumptions regarding God’s entrance criteria. Nothing could be more fatal than acting on the wrong assumptions.

Some people speculate on God’s criteria, but the Bible is the only authoritative source for an accurate answer. Beyond any reasonable doubt, the Bible is God’s book (see Topics 18-26) and it states clearly what a person must do to keep out of hell and be invited into heaven (see Topics 59-62).

HELL IS THE TOPIC NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT

There’s very little conversation about hell, even though most people in America believe in it and regard it as the most terrifying risk of our existence. Hell is virtually a taboo subject. For most people, the very thought of it is too frightening to express except in occasional sick humor.

There are three primary reasons for this silence: (1) a deep-seated personal fear of going there, (2) courtesy which makes it very awkward to even suggest that a relative, friend or acquaintance might be headed there, and (3) perplexity over how a loving God could torment people in such an endless and horrible manner.

Regarding the first reason, no one – at least no one reading this resource – need have any personal fear of going to hell, because the way to avoid it is clearly explained. The avoidance – through Jesus Christ – is free and easy.

Regarding the second reason, hell will always be a sensitive topic and rarely discussed, for fear of being offensive. That’s our culture and nothing will change it. Ironically, the most loving thing a Christian can do for a non-Christian is to warn him of hell and tell him about Jesus Christ. But because such a conversation could jeopardize the relationship, the subject of hell is usually postponed for some appropriate time that never comes.

Regarding the third reason, there’s a common notion that some day God will turn in a fit of anger and cruelly, un-mercilessly and eternally torture people for all the bad things they’ve done. That’s not what the Bible says. God isn’t going to torture people in hell. In fact, he’s not even going to be there. That’s the point! Hell is where God isn’t. It’s a place that won’t have any of his holiness, justice or love; a place God has abandoned to people who say they don’t need or want him.

Here's a sampling of what the Bible says on this subject.

Matthew 13:24-30
Jesus tells parable to illustrate how some people will go to heaven and some to hell

Matthew 25:41-46
Hell is eternal punishment, heaven is eternal life

Matthew 7:23, II Thessalonians 1:9
Hell is separation from God

Matthew 10:28
Both body and soul will be destroyed in hell

Mark 9:43, Jude 1:7, Revelation 20:15
People will suffer eternal fire in hell

Revelation 1:18
Jesus holds the keys of death and hell

Matthew 7:13-14
Only a minority of people will go to heaven

John 14:1-3
Jesus is preparing an eternal place for those who accept him

For help, see Topic 29.

God is just. He’ll leave us alone to suffer consequences if that’s our choice.

JUSTICE IS A COMMITMENT TO CONSISTENCY OF LAW

Justice is closely related to holiness and love rather than being a contrasting principle. When there are many things sharing common time and space – whether atoms in molecular orbit or people in a city – laws are needed to prevent chaos. Good laws are motivated by love, for the benefit of all.

But laws would be meaningless without a commitment to uphold them. Justice – which is the use of authority and power to uphold laws – is a basic requirement for life in community.

The Bible says that God is just. In other words, he has committed himself to act consistently in accord with his own spiritual laws.

To us, justice can mean either fear or security. We have nothing to fear when we understand and obey God’s laws, but we stand in terrible jeopardy when we disregard them. Just as walking off a cliff will bring tragedy for disregard of physical law, so refusing to listen to God will bring tragedy for disregard of spiritual law.

GOD USES SAME PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE WE USE

In God’s execution of justice, as in our human execution, there are four paramount principles:

Freedom must be protected
Laws must be good, announced and enforced
Commitments must be honored
Punishment must be commensurate with offense

The Bible tells how God applies these four principles of justice to our individual lives:

FREEDOM – God allows individual choice. Every person decides the kind of life he wants to live, now and for eternity (see Topics 6 and 48). God expresses his will, but he doesn’t force it on anyone.

LAWS – God has explained his design plan and announced his spiritual laws (basic principles) in the Bible (see Topics 5-8, 32 and 47). The laws are for our own good and quality of life is best when we follow them. Everyone is guilty of serious violations of spiritual law and therefore subject to punishment under God’s justice, but – this is the absolutely amazing part – he offers a complete pardon to everyone who personally accepts Jesus Christ as substitute and personal Savior (see Topics 52-62). In other words, there’s a way we can be just as acceptable to God as if we’d never violated a single law! But without the pardon, we’re subject to the punishment.

COMMITMENTS – God gives us a choice – accept or reject the Savior – and he holds everyone to the eternal consequences of his own decision (see Topics 56-59). God will honor his commitment to everyone who chooses the Savior and he’ll abandon everyone who chooses to be left alone.

PUNISHMENT – The worst sin is rejecting God’s offer of a Savior (see Topic 6) and for that worst sin a person gets the worst punishment – hell – which is eternal separation from God (see Topics 50-51).

Justice means upholding what’s right by punishing what’s wrong.

God administers justice at two different levels: At one level, he deals with mankind as a GROUP. At another level, he deals with each person as an INDIVIDUAL.

GROUP JUSTICE

Adam and Eve were the first man and woman on earth. God told them that they could eat fruit from any tree except one. They challenged God by eating the forbidden fruit and tried to hide from him. He imposed this punishment:

Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.

– Genesis 3:17-19

The punishment didn’t pertain to just the first man and woman, but to all their offspring and to the environment.

At first thought it might seem unfair that people living today should have to pay the penalty for sins of ancestors. But the objection is really moot because everyone knows that everyone disobeys God. We sin individually in our own ways today, and therefore punishment of the whole human race is appropriate.

It’s true that we all sin because God designed us vulnerable to temptation, but free will is an essential part of love (see Topics 6 and 48).

In group punishment, certain individuals suffer more than others. Afflictions strike the group at random. A flood, a disease or a thief will strike without regard to the victim’s degree of sin.

Considerable temporary injustice – unequal hurt resulting from group punishment – is unavoidable when life is lived in community with others, especially as people prey upon one another for personal advantage.

Group punishment actually experienced by most people is relatively minor compared to extreme punishment, especially compared to hell. And the duration of group punishment (less than 100 years on earth) is but a tiny fraction of the duration of individual punishment (eternity in hell). Therefore, God’s justice is seen most clearly and importantly at the individual level.

INDIVIDUAL JUSTICE

Group justice pertains to but a moment of eternity, but individual justice pertains to the whole of it!

There’s a judgment coming after death when everyone, personally, will stand before God to give account of his sins and how he dealt with them. By knowing spiritual law from the Bible and knowing that God is just, we can know now what we’ll hear on judgment day.

Staying within the bounds of justice, God satisfies the penalty for sin by providing a perfect substitute (Jesus Christ) for everyone who accepts him as Savior in this lifetime. (It’s like someone standing before the judge and paying the fine for a friend.) Everyone gets justice... but not everyone gets heaven, only those who accept the Savior (see Topics 52-62).

God is love. That explains why we have free will.

GOD LOVES US AND WANTS A RELATIONSHIP WITH US

The Bible says that God has a deep and tender feeling of affection and attachment for each of us, and he has an enduring concern for our individual well-being.

He’s not remote and unknowable as many people believe. On the contrary, he wants to have a personal relationship with each one of us.

The Bible says that God is love – not just that he has love, but that he is love. Said another way, the character of God is everything communicated to us by the wonderful and powerful word love.

Relational love must have an object and the object must have freedom to love or not love in return. To be meaningful and satisfying, love requires free will, even though this sometimes results in the pain of rejection (see Topic 6). God will tolerate a person’s rejection only for a while – this lifetime, which could be cut short at any moment – and then God won’t offer his love any more. Separation from God’s love is called hell (see Topics 50 and 51).

GOD’S LOVE DISTINGUISHES CHRISTIANITY FROM RELIGION

If God were only holy, sinful man couldn’t have a close personal relationship with him. But the Bible says that, besides being holy, God is also love.

The Greek manuscripts from which our English Bibles are translated use multiple words for ‘love’ which convey more precise meanings than our single word. The manuscripts use a word meaning sensual love (eros), another word meaning friendship love (philos), and another word meaning unmerited and caring love (agape). It’s the latter word that’s used to describe God’s love for man.

This agape kind of love means much more than warm feelings. It means thoroughly enjoying a deep and intimate relationship and giving unselfishly in practical ways to meet the needs of the loved one.

It’s at this point where Christianity is in sharp contrast to the religions of the world (see Topics 11-14):

RELIGION is man reaching up to God... trying in vain to please him with rituals and good works, in fear.
CHRISTIANITY is God reaching down to man... in the person of Jesus Christ, in love.

Christianity is usually referred to as a religion – and in the sociological sense it is – but essentially it’s a love relationship between God and man.

GOD’S LOVE IS UNIVERSAL AND UNCONDITIONAL

God loves everyone in the world personally and impartially. His love is superior love because it’s steady and rational, not changing by moods, senses or response. His love isn’t caused by anything in the people he loves. It flows from his own character.

Human love is often sacrificial and beneficial, but it rarely seeks the well-being of undeserving people.

We usually put conditions on our love, but God’s love is unconditional.

We often love because certain people are attractive to us, or respond well to us, but God loves because it’s his nature to love. No one is at a disadvantage with God because of birth or upbringing, because of appearance or inabilities, or because of past sins.

God loves even the worst sinner. It’s not necessary to clean up our life before experiencing, enjoying and benefiting from his love (see Topic 58).

The human suffering we observe and experience is the result of evil (see Topic 47) and group punishment (see Topic 49). Given these two conditions, suffering on earth is inevitable. God allows it – temporarily – because, as explained in those Topics, he’s holy and just.

We think suffering here is bad – and certainly it is – but relative to what? Compare present suffering to the extremes: Suffering here is worse than heaven, but better than hell.

It’s probable that God, who sees the eternal perspective, isn’t as concerned about present suffering as we are. In fact, he may see suffering as helpful for our longterm good:

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. A bad man, happy, is a man without the least inkling that his actions do not ‘answer,’ that they are not in accord with the laws of the universe...

Until the evil man finds evil unmistakably present in his existence, in the form of pain, he is enclosed in illusion...

No doubt pain as God’s megaphone is a terrible instrument: it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. It removes the veil: it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.

– C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Were it not for suffering – either our own or others we observe – we wouldn’t see the consequence of sin. We would think everything is fine, without God, and our indifference to him would subject us to infinitely longer and more severe suffering in eternity.

Suffering shows us sin. Hatred of sin turns us to God. God, in love, offers us an eternity without suffering.

Here's a sampling of what the Bible says on this subject.

I John 4:7-19
Love originates with God, God is love

John 3:16
God sent Jesus Christ because of his love for us

Romans 5:8
Jesus Christ died for us, demonstrating God’s love

Ephesians 2:4
God’s great love for us gives new life

I John 3:1-2
God loves us enough to adopt us into his family

Romans 5:5
God pours out his love through the Holy Spirit

Romans 8:35-39
Nothing can separate us from the love of God

Romans 8:17-21
Present suffering nothing compared to eternity

I Peter 4:10
Suffering only for a little while, then heaven

For help, see Topic 29.

God is holy. There’s a conflict between his holiness and man’s sin.

HOLY MEANS NEVER VIOLATING DIVINE LAW

By observing the universe, we see that God operates by intricate principles and meticulous order – we call them laws (rules governing the relationship of things). The Bible says that God conducts his world according to physical laws and spiritual laws.

The word holy refers to the consistency with which spiritual laws are followed and applied. The word refers uniquely to God, but some people or things are said to be holy in the sense that they’re dedicated to God, follow spiritual laws, or have godly character. The Bible says that only God is truly holy.

When referring to God, holy means consistently perfect, always in accord with spiritual law, without error.

When referring to man, holy means sacred, consecrated, set apart, dedicated to God.

Loosely defined, holy means good to the point of perfection.

OUR SIN CONFLICTS WITH GOD’S HOLINESS

To say that God is holy means that he establishes and follows divine law. There are certain unfailing ways God does things in the spiritual realm, just as in the physical realm. We’re safe when we obey the laws but in jeopardy when we disobey them.

God’s laws are not arbitrary. They make sense as a way to regulate objects and people that share common time and space. Just as God’s gravitational law defines the orbits of physical mass in space, so God’s moral law (honesty, kindness, sexual purity) defines optimum living for people in community. Without good laws and compliance there’s uncertainty, chaos and tragedy.

Sin is willful violation of God’s spiritual laws, written for us in the Bible. We sin when we do what God has told us not to do and when we don’t do what God has told us to do. We sin both by commission (doing) and omission (not doing). Our sin is in critical conflict with his holiness (see Topics 5, 6 and 53).

BECAUSE GOD IS HOLY, WE CAN KNOW OUR DESTINY

Holy is the opposite of capricious (changing abruptly, inconsistently and often without reason or notice). We have yet to encounter a physical or spiritual law we haven’t been able to rely upon once we truly understand it. When the laws are known, we can foresee consequences of our actions and inactions.

We take great comfort in knowing that God is holy... that he makes his spiritual laws known to us, that the laws don’t change, and that the laws are consistently applied.

Because God is holy – always acting in accord with his laws – we can know now, from the Bible, what will happen to us after we die.

God allows evil – temporarily – but this is not the same as saying he causes it. Everything he created is good:

‘God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.’ – Genesis 1:31

Evil is not a thing, not even a force or a power. It’s a condition. It’s the absence of good, just as darkness is the absence of light (see Topic 8).

Evil cannot exist apart from good any more than cancer can exist apart from a body. Evil is a corruption or privation of something good.

Because God is a personal God and wants a relationship with us, he gives us freedom of choice, which is essential for real love (see Topic 6).

Evil results from actions and inactions of our choosing which violate his spiritual laws.

Thus, the potential for evil – even the certainty of it – is inherent in God’s design plan which makes us free moral agents, but the actual cause of evil is our decision to disobey God. We cause it, but he allows it.

As punishment for man’s disobedience, God put a changing and aging process into his creation (see Topics 6 and 34). The result is natural evil (diseases, famines, earthquakes) and moral evil (crime, abuse, dishonesty). This is a temporary situation. One day he will, as described in the Bible, eliminate all evil here by restoring the earth and confining in hell all who are rebellious to his plan and purpose.

MEANWHILE, evil can work to our long term good by giving us an understanding of spiritual matters. Without knowing evil, we wouldn’t desire God’s holiness.

The greater the evil, the more people turn to God for solution. The lesser the evil, the more people ignore God and rely upon themselves. Ironically, since eternity is ultimately more important than present life, evil now – if it brings us to God – can do more good than harm.

Evil is a condition only on earth (now) and in hell (forever). There’s no evil in heaven.

We begin our eternal existence with a short stay on earth – typically 100 years or less – during which time we’re shown both holiness and evil. We’re told by God that we must decide here which condition – holiness or evil – we choose as our environment (but in magnified degree) for the rest of eternity.

After our time on earth, the two conditions will no longer coexist. For each person, everything will then either be all holy (heaven) or all evil (hell), depending upon individual choice.

God will always allow evil (essential for free will), but one day he’ll confine it (in hell). The fact that he hasn’t confined it yet doesn’t mean that he can’t, or won’t, confine it in the future. According to the Bible, it’s not yet time and therefore good and evil still coexist.

OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE IS A PRINCIPLE OF LIFE

AN OFFER IS WITHOUT BENEFIT UNTIL ACCEPTED

IGNORING AN OFFER IS SAME AS REJECTING IT

A FREE GIFT IS BEST POSSIBLE KIND OF OFFER

GOD DOESNʼT ACCEPT COUNTER OFFERS

MOST AMAZING ʻPRODUCTʼ IS OFFERED BY GOD

Good News Topics

Section Index

JESUS CHRIST DIED AS OUR PERSONAL SUBSTITUTE

CRUCIFIXION WAS WORST KIND OF EXECUTION

JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR US, BUT HE LIVES AGAIN

VALUE OF THE SACRIFICE WAS QUALITY, NOT TIME

DEATH AND RESURRECTION ARE NECESSARY FOR NEW LIFE

Good News Topics

Section Index

EXCHANGE IS A BASIC PRINCIPLE OF LIFE

SACRIFICE IS A COMMON TYPE OF EXCHANGE

JESUS CHRIST MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE

CHRISTIAN LIFE IS AN EXCHANGED LIFE

Good News Topics

Section Index

GOD WONʼT VIOLATE HIS OWN CHARACTER

RECONCILIATION IS THE MAIN THEME OF THE BIBLE

Godʼs Plan for Reconciliation

Good News Topics

Section Index

‘GOSPEL’ IS A CHRISTIAN ONE-WORD SUMMARY

THE GOSPEL IS THE MOST AMAZING OFFER EVER MADE

THE GOSPEL REQUIRES A PERSONAL RESPONSE

Now There’s a New and Better Way of Living

God’s Self Disclosure Topics

Section Index

HUMAN MERIT IS NEVER ENOUGH TO AVERT HELL

HELL IS THE GREATEST RISK WE’LL EVER FACE

WE MUST NOT JUDGE OTHERS REGARDING HEAVEN OR HELL

God’s Justice isn’t Based on Fairness

God’s Self Disclosure Topics

Section Index

GOD’S CHARACTER DEFINES OUR ETERNITY

HEAVEN IS BEING WITH GOD FOREVER

HELL IS BEING ABANDONED BY GOD FOREVER

MOST PEOPLE BELIEVE IN HEAVEN AND HELL

HELL IS THE TOPIC NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT

God’s Self Disclosure Topics

Section Index

JUSTICE IS A COMMITMENT TO CONSISTENCY OF LAW

GOD USES SAME PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE WE USE

If God is just, why does he allow injustice?

GROUP JUSTICE

INDIVIDUAL JUSTICE

God’s Self Disclosure Topics

Section Index

GOD LOVES US AND WANTS A RELATIONSHIP WITH US

GOD’S LOVE DISTINGUISHES CHRISTIANITY FROM RELIGION

GOD’S LOVE IS UNIVERSAL AND UNCONDITIONAL

If God is love, why does he allow suffering?

God’s Self Disclosure Topics

Section Index

HOLY MEANS NEVER VIOLATING DIVINE LAW

OUR SIN CONFLICTS WITH GOD’S HOLINESS

BECAUSE GOD IS HOLY, WE CAN KNOW OUR DESTINY

If God is holy, why does he allow evil?

God’s Self Disclosure Topics

Section Index