Contents. Crazy Love Chapter 1: Stop Praying 6. Forgotten God Chapter 1: I ve God Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit? 22

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3 Contents Crazy Love Chapter 1: Stop Praying 6 Forgotten God Chapter 1: I ve God Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit? 22 Erasing Hell Chapter 1: Does Everyone Go to Heaven? 39 Multiply Part I: Living as a Disciple Maker 1: What Is a Disciple? 65

4 OVERWHELMED BY A RELENTLESS GOD FRANCIS CHAN with danae yankoski

5 CRAZY LOVE Published by David C Cook 4050 Lee Vance View Colorado Springs, CO U.S.A. David C Cook Distribution Canada 55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5 David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook. The Crazy Love title treatment with arrows is a registered trademark of David C Cook. All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the publisher. The Web site addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These Web sites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C Cook, nor do we vouch for their content. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Italics in Scripture quotations have been added by the author for emphasis. Scripture quotations marked nasb are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission; marked esv are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved; and rsv are taken from the Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971], Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. LCCN ISBN eisbn Francis Chan Published in association with the literary agency of D. C. Jacobson & Associates LLC, an Author Management Company The Team: John Blase, Jack Campbell, Amy Kiechlin, and Karen Athen Cover Design: Jim Elliston Author Photo: Kevin Von Qualen, 2007 First Edition 2008

6 CHAPTER ONE What if I said, Stop praying? What if I told you to stop talking at God for a while, but instead to take a long, hard look at Him before you speak another word? Solomon warned us not to rush into God s presence with words. That s what fools do. And often, that s what we do. We are a culture that relies on technology over community, a society in which spoken and written words are cheap, easy to come by, and excessive. Our culture says anything goes; fear of God is almost unheard of. We are slow to listen, quick to speak, and quick to become angry. The wise man comes to God without saying a word and stands in awe of Him. It may seem a hopeless endeavor, to gaze at the invisible God. But Romans 1:20 tells us that through creation, we see His invisible qualities and divine nature. 6

7 7 CRAZY LOVE Let s begin this book by gazing at God in silence. What I want you to do right now is to go online and look at the Awe Factor video at to get a taste of the awe factor of our God. Seriously go do it. Speechless? Amazed? Humbled? When I first saw those images, I had to worship. I didn t want to speak to or share it with anyone. I just wanted to sit quietly and admire the Creator. It s wild to think that most of these galaxies have been discovered only in the past few years, thanks to the Hubble telescope. They ve been in the universe for thousands of years without humans even knowing about them. Why would God create more than 350,000,000,000 galaxies (and this is a conservative estimate) that generations of people never saw or even knew existed? Do you think maybe it was to make us say, Wow, God is unfathomably big? Or perhaps God wanted us to see these pictures so that our response would be, Who do I think I am? R. C. Sproul writes, Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God. 1

8 STOP PRAYING 8 Switch gears with me for a minute and think about the detailed intricacy of the other side of creation. Did you know that a caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head? That s quite a few, for a bug. The average elm tree has approximately 6 million leaves on it. And your own heart generates enough pressure as it pumps blood throughout your body that it could squirt blood up to 30 feet. (I ve never tried this, and I don t recommend it.) Have you ever thought about how diverse and creative God is? He didn t have to make hundreds of different kinds of bananas, but He did. He didn t have to put 3,000 different species of trees within one square mile in the Amazon jungle, but He did. God didn t have to create so many kinds of laughter. Think about the different sounds of your friends laughs wheezes, snorts, silent, loud, obnoxious. How about the way plants defy gravity by drawing water upward from the ground into their stems and veins? Or did you know that spiders produce three kinds of silk? When they build their webs, they create sixty feet of silk in one hour, simultaneously producing special oil on their feet that prevents them from sticking to their own web. (Most of us hate spiders, but sixty feet an hour deserves some respect!) Coral plants are so sensitive that they can die if the water temperature varies by even one or two degrees. Did you know that when you get goose bumps, the hair in your follicles is actually helping you stay warmer by trapping body heat? Or what about the simple fact that plants take in carbon dioxide (which is harmful to us) and produce oxygen (which we need to survive)? I m sure you knew that, but have you ever marveled at it? And these same poison-swallowing, life-giving plants came from tiny seeds that were

9 9 CRAZY LOVE placed in the dirt. Some were watered, some weren t; but after a few days they poked through the soil and out into the warm sunlight. Whatever God s reasons for such diversity, creativity, and sophistication in the universe, on earth, and in our own bodies, the point of it all is His glory. God s art speaks of Himself, reflecting who He is and what He is like. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:1 4 This is why we are called to worship Him. His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious. There is no other like Him. He is the King of Kings, the Beginning and the End, the One who was and is and is to come. I know you ve heard this before, but I don t want you to miss it. I sometimes struggle with how to properly respond to God s magnitude in a world bent on ignoring or merely tolerating Him. But know this: God will not be tolerated. He instructs us to worship and fear Him. Go back and reread the last two paragraphs. Go to the Web site and watch the Just Stop and Think fifteen-minute video. Close this book if you need to, and meditate on

10 STOP PRAYING 10 the almighty One who dwells in unapproachable light, the glorious One. There is an epidemic of spiritual amnesia going around, and none of us is immune. No matter how many fascinating details we learn about God s creation, no matter how many pictures we see of His galaxies, and no matter how many sunsets we watch, we still forget. Most of us know that we are supposed to love and fear God; that we are supposed to read our Bibles and pray so that we can get to know Him better; that we are supposed to worship Him with our lives. But actually living it out is challenging. It confuses us when loving God is hard. Shouldn t it be easy to love a God so wonderful? When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead of genuinely loving out of our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is. Our amnesia is flaring up again. It may sound un-christian to say that on some mornings I don t feel like loving God, or I just forget to. But I do. In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him. I recently attended my high school reunion. People kept coming up to me and saying, She s your wife? They were amazed, I guess, that a woman so beautiful would marry someone like me. It happened

11 11 CRAZY LOVE enough times that I took a good look at a photograph of the two of us. I, too, was taken aback. It is astonishing that my wife chooses to be with me and not just because she is beautiful. I was reminded of the fullness of what I have been given in my wife. We need the same sort of reminders about God s goodness. We are programmed to focus on what we don t have, bombarded multiple times throughout the day with what we need to buy that will make us feel happier or sexier or more at peace. This dissatisfaction transfers over to our thinking about God. We forget that we already have everything we need in Him. Because we don t often think about the reality of who God is, we quickly forget that He is worthy to be worshipped and loved. We are to fear Him. A. W. Tozer writes, What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. 2 If the gravest question before us really is what God Himself is like, how do we learn to know Him? We have seen how He is the Creator of both the magnitude of the galaxies and the complexity of caterpillars. But what is He like? What

12 STOP PRAYING 12 are His characteristics? What are His defining attributes? How are we to fear Him? To speak to Him? Don t check out here. We need to be reminded of this stuff. It is both basic and crucial. God is holy. A lot of people say that whatever you believe about God is fine, so long as you are sincere. But that is comparable to describing your friend in one instance as a three-hundred-pound sumo wrestler and in another as a five-foot-two, ninety-pound gymnast. No matter how sincere you are in your explanations, both descriptions of your friend simply cannot be true. The preposterous part about our doing this to God is that He already has a name, an identity. We don t get to decide who God is. God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM (Ex. 3:14). We don t change that. To say that God is holy is to say that He is set apart, distinct from us. And because of His set apart ness, there is no way we can ever fathom all of who He is. To the Jews, saying something three times demonstrated its perfection, so to call God Holy, Holy, Holy is to say that He is perfectly set apart, with nothing and no one to compare Him to. That is what it means to be holy. Many Spirit-filled authors have exhausted the thesaurus in order to describe God with the glory He deserves. His perfect holiness, by definition, assures us that our words can t contain Him. Isn t it a comfort to worship a God we cannot exaggerate? God is eternal. Most of us would probably agree with that statement. But have you ever seriously meditated on what it means? Each of us had a beginning; everything in existence began on a particular day, at a specific time. Everything, that is, but God. He always has been, since before there was an earth, a universe, or even angels. God exists outside of time,

13 13 CRAZY LOVE and since we are within time, there is no way we will ever totally grasp that concept. Not being able to fully understand God is frustrating, but it is ridiculous for us to think we have the right to limit God to something we are capable of comprehending. What a stunted, insignificant god that would be! If my mind is the size of a soda can and God is the size of all the oceans, it would be stupid for me to say He is only the small amount of water I can scoop into my little can. God is so much bigger, so far beyond our time-encased, air/food/sleep dependent lives. Please stop here, even if just for a moment, and glorify the eternal God: But you, O Lord, sit enthroned forever; your renown endures through all generations. But you remain the same, and your years will never end (Ps. 102:12, 27). God is all-knowing. Isn t this an intimidating thought? Each of us, to some degree, fools our friends and family about who we really are. But it s impossible to do that with God. He knows each of us, deeply and specifically. He knows our thoughts before we think them, our actions before we commit them, whether we are lying down or sitting or walking around. He knows who we are and what we are about. We cannot escape Him, not even if we want to. When I grow weary of trying to be faithful to Him and want a break, it doesn t come as a surprise to God. For David, God s knowledge led him to worship. He viewed it as wonderful and meaningful. He wrote in Psalm 139 that even in the darkness he couldn t hide from God; that while he was in his mother s womb, God was there. Hebrews 4:13 says, Nothing in all creation is hidden from God s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. It is sobering to realize that this is the same God who is holy and eternal, the Maker of the billions of galaxies

14 STOP PRAYING 14 and thousands of tree species in the rainforest. This is the God who takes the time to know all the little details about each of us. He does not have to know us so well, but He chooses to. God is all-powerful. Colossians 1:16 tells us that everything was created for God: For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. Don t we live instead as though God is created for us, to do our bidding, to bless us, and to take care of our loved ones? Psalm 115:3 reveals, Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. Yet we keep on questioning Him: Why did You make me with this body, instead of that one? Why are so many people dying of starvation? Why are there so many planets with nothing living on them? Why is my family so messed up? Why don t You make Yourself more obvious to the people who need You? The answer to each of these questions is simply this: because He s God. He has more of a right to ask us why so many people are starving. As much as we want God to explain himself to us, His creation, we are in no place to demand that He give an account to us. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: What have you done? Daniel 4:35 Can you worship a God who isn t obligated to explain His actions

15 15 CRAZY LOVE to you? Could it be your arrogance that makes you think God owes you an explanation? Do you really believe that compared to God, all the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing, including you? God is fair and just. One definition of justice is reward and/or penalty as deserved. If what we truly deserved were up to us, we would end up with as many different answers as people who responded. But it isn t up to us, mostly because none of us are good. God is the only Being who is good, and the standards are set by Him. Because God hates sin, He has to punish those guilty of sin. Maybe that s not an appealing standard. But to put it bluntly, when you get your own universe, you can make your own standards. When we disagree, let s not assume it s His reasoning that needs correction. It takes a lot for us to comprehend God s total hatred for sin. We make excuses like, Yes, I am prideful at times, but everyone struggles with pride. However, God says in Proverbs 8:13, I hate pride and arrogance. You and I are not allowed to tell Him how much He can hate it. He can hate and punish it as severely as His justice demands. God never excuses sin. And He is always consistent with that ethic. Whenever we start to question whether God really hates sin, we have only to think of the cross, where His Son was tortured, mocked, and beaten because of sin. Our sin. No question about it: God hates and must punish sin. And He is totally just and fair in doing so. Before the Throne So far we have talked about things we can see with our own eyes,

16 STOP PRAYING 16 things we know about creation, and some of the attributes of God as revealed in the Bible. But many facets of God expand beyond our comprehension. He cannot be contained in this world, explained by our vocabulary, or grasped by our understanding. Yet in Revelation 4 and Isaiah 6 we get two distinct glimpses of the heavenly throne room. Let me paint a bit of a word picture for you. In Revelation, when John recounts his experience of seeing God, it s as though he s scrambling for earthly words to describe the vision he was privileged to see. He describes the One seated on the throne with two gems, jasper and carnelian, and the area around the throne as a rainbow that looked like an emerald. God, the One on the throne, resembles radiant jewels more than flesh and blood. This sort of poetic, artistic imagery can be difficult for those of us who don t think that way. So imagine the most stunning sunset you ve ever seen. Remember the radiant colors splashed across the sky? The way you stopped to gaze at it in awe? And how the words wow and beautiful seemed so lacking? That s a small bit of what John is talking about in Revelation 4 as he attempts to articulate his vision of heaven s throne room. John describes flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder coming from God s throne, a throne that must be unlike any other. He writes that before the throne are seven blazing torches and something like a sea of glass that looks like crystal. Using ordinary words, he does his best to describe a heavenly place and a holy God. Most intriguing to me is how John describes those who surround the throne. First, there are the twenty-four elders dressed in white and wearing golden crowns. Next, John describes four six-winged beings with eyes all over their bodies and wings. One has the face of a lion, one of an ox, one of a man, and one of an eagle.

17 17 CRAZY LOVE I try to imagine what it would be like if I actually saw one of these creatures out in the woods or down at the beach. I would probably pass out! It would be terrifying to see a being with the face of a lion and eyes all around and within. As if John s description isn t wild and strange enough, he then tells us what the beings are saying. The twenty-four elders cast their gold crowns before the One on the throne, fall on their faces before Him, and say, You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being. At the same time, the four creatures never stop (day or night) saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come! Just imagine being in that room, surrounded by the elders chanting God s worth, and the creatures declaring God s holiness. The prophet Isaiah also had a vision of God in His throne room, but this time it is a more direct picture: I saw the Lord seated on a throne. Wow. Isaiah saw that and lived? The Israelites hid themselves whenever God passed by their camp because they were too afraid to look at Him, even the back of Him as He moved away. They were scared they would die if they saw God. But Isaiah looked and saw God. He writes that the bottom of God s robe filled the whole temple, and that the seraphim appeared above Him. The seraphim each had six wings, similar to the creatures John describes in Revelation. Isaiah says they called out to one another, saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory! Then the foundations shook and smoke filled the house, which is similar to John s description of flashes of lightning and peals of thunder.

18 STOP PRAYING 18 Isaiah s description is less detailed than John s, but Isaiah shares more of his response to being in the throne room of God. His words reverberate in the wake of the smoky room and shaky foundation: Woe is me. I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty. And then one of the seraphim brings Isaiah a piece of burning coal that had been smoldering on the altar. The creature touches Isaiah s mouth with the hot coal and tells him that his guilt is taken away. Both of these descriptions serve a purpose. John s helps us imagine what the throne room of God looks like, while Isaiah s reminds us what our only response to such a God should be. May Isaiah s cry become our own. Woe is me we are a people of unclean lips! Perhaps you need to take a deep breath after thinking about the God who made galaxies and caterpillars, the One who sits enthroned and eternally praised by beings so fascinating that were they photographed, it would make primetime news for weeks. If you are not staggered, go to Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 and read the accounts aloud and slowly, doing your best to imagine what the authors describe. The appropriate way to end this chapter is the same way we began

19 19 CRAZY LOVE it by standing in awed silence before a mighty, fearsome God, whose tremendous worth becomes even more apparent as we see our own puny selves in comparison.

20 Forgotten God REVERSING OUR TRAGIC NEGLECT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Francis Chan with Danae Yankoski

21 FORGOTTEN GOD Published by David C Cook 4050 Lee Vance View Colorado Springs, CO U.S.A. David C Cook Distribution Canada 55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5 David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook. All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the publisher. The Web site addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These Web sites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C. Cook, nor do we vouch for their content. Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved; Scripture quotations marked TNIV are taken from the Holy Bible, Today s New International Version. TNIV. Copyright 2001, 2005 International Bible Society. All rights reserved worldwide; Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. The author has added italics to Scripture quotations for emphasis. LCCN ISBN eisbn Francis Chan Published in association with the literary agency of D.C. Jacobson & Associates LLC, an Author Management Company The Team: John Blase, Amy Kiechlin, Sarah Schultz, Caitlyn York, and Karen Athen Cover Design: The Regime, Jim Elliston First Edition 2009

22 Chapter 1

23 I ve Got Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit? We may as well face it: the whole level of spirituality among us is low. We have measured ourselves by ourselves until the incentive to seek higher plateaus in the things of the Spirit is all but gone. [We] have imitated the world, sought popular favor, manufactured delights to substitute for the joy of the Lord and produced a cheap and synthetic power to substitute for the power of the Holy Ghost. -A. W. Tozer- I am convinced there is a desperate need in the church for the Holy Spirit of God to be given room to have His way. I think we can agree that there is a problem in our churches, that something is wrong. But I don t think we can reach an agreement on what to do about it. Most 23

24 24 forgotten god people do not connect what is missing or wrong with a particular need for the Holy Spirit. A while back, our lack of openness to examining ourselves especially in the area of the Holy Spirit really hit me. Two Jehovah s Witnesses knocked on my door and initiated conversation. I had a lot to do, so I prepared to send them on their way. But as they began their spiel, I decided to take a few minutes and engage them. I gently told them that I found their teachings about Jesus offensive because they taught that Jesus was the same person as Michael the archangel. I told them that I believe He is much more than one among many angels; that I believe He is God. My visitors replied, No, Jesus/Michael is the only archangel. There are no other archangels. So I asked them to open their Bibles to Daniel 10:13, which reads, But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me (NIV). I pointed out that this passage is clear: Michael is only one of the chief princes (or archangels). This caught them off guard. They told me they d never heard or read this before. Now that I had their attention, I said, There s no way you can look me in the eyes and tell me that you sat down one day seeking to find God, read the Bible, and came to the conclusion that Jesus is the same person as Michael the archangel. No one could come to that conclusion. You only believe it because that s what you were told, and I don t want to stand here and spoon-feed you something else. With that, I challenged them to read the Bible for themselves, rather than simply accept what they ve been told about it. They went away that day and said they would consider doing that. I left that conversation feeling a bit proud of myself because I stumped them and got them to question their beliefs. Yet I couldn t

25 I ve Got Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit? 25 help but wonder whether I was fair to them. Had I ever sat down with the Bible and sought after its self-evident truth? Or had I passively ingested what I heard from other people, much like my front-door visitors? It was then that I began reading the Scriptures as though I had never read them before. I asked the Spirit to make them living and active to me, though I d been reading them for years. I asked God to penetrate the wrong and ill-conceived notions I d collected along the way (Heb. 4:12 NIV). It s a great exercise for those of us who have been immersed in church culture for years. There are, of course, dangers in this, since the Bible is meant to be interpreted within the context and accountability of faithful community. Yet even with that qualification, there is still a need for those of us nestled deep within the Christian bubble to look beyond the status quo and critically assess the degree to which we are really living biblically. Most of us assume that what we believe is right (of course we do it is why we believe what we believe) but have never really studied for ourselves. We were simply told, This is the way it is, and didn t question. The problem is much of what we believe is often based more on comfort or our culture s tradition than on the Bible. I believe we need to reexamine our faith just as much as the Jehovah s Witnesses who came to my door need to reconsider theirs. Remember, the Bereans were lifted up as good examples because they questioned the things they were taught. They made sure that even the apostles teachings were in line with what was written: Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness

26 26 forgotten god and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true (Acts 17:11 NIV). 2 One of the areas we desperately need to examine is how we think about and relate to the Holy Spirit. As I said previously, if you or I had never been to a church and had read only the Old and New Testaments, we would have significant expectations of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Think about it. Upon foretelling His death, Jesus comforts the disciples by telling them that another Counselor is coming (John 14:16 NIV). In John 16:7 He goes so far as to say it is to their advantage that He leave so the Counselor can come. And in Acts 1:4 5, after His death and resurrection, He tells His disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit. (The disciples obey because that s what people do when someone rises from the dead and gives instructions.) Jesus disciples had no idea what or whom they were waiting for, or what it would be like. But they were expectant and trusting because Jesus had instructed them to wait for this good gift. Then in Acts 2, we see the fulfillment of this promise in a way that must have shocked the disciples. The Holy Spirit s power is unleashed like no one had ever seen or experienced before, and Peter shares the amazing promise that this Holy Spirit is available to anyone who believes. The Epistles tell us of the Holy Spirit s amazing power at work in us, our Spirit-enabled ability to put our sin to death through Him, and the supernatural gifts He gives us. If we read and believed these accounts, we would expect a great deal of the Holy Spirit. He would not be a mostly forgotten member

27 I ve Got Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit? 27 of the Godhead whom we occasionally give a nod of recognition to, which is what He has become in most American churches. We would expect our new life with the Holy Spirit to look radically different from our old life without Him. Yet this is not the way it is for most people. We don t live this way. For some reason, we don t think we need the Holy Spirit. We don t expect the Holy Spirit to act. Or if we do, our expectations are often misguided or self-serving. Given our talent set, experience, and education, many of us are fairly capable of living rather successfully (according to the world s standards) without any strength from the Holy Spirit. Even our church growth can happen without Him. Let s be honest: If you combine a charismatic speaker, a talented worship band, and some hip, creative events, people will attend your church. Yet this does not mean that the Holy Spirit of God is actively working and moving in the lives of the people who are coming. It simply means that you have created a space that is appealing enough to draw people in for an hour or two on Sunday. It certainly does not mean that people walk out the doors moved to worship and in awe of God. People are more likely to describe the quality of the music or the appeal of the sermon than the One who is the reason people gather for church in the first place. 2 I think the worst part is when you get outside the church s walls and interact with believers and nonbelievers in the same sphere. Can you really tell a difference? If you didn t recognize their faces from

28 28 forgotten god church, would you know from their actions and lifestyle that they were followers of Jesus? Honestly, sometimes I am embarrassed by some of my Christian neighbors because my unbelieving neighbors seem more joyful, welcoming, and at peace. Why does this happen? And how is it even possible? Romans 8:9 says, You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. According to this verse, if I am a believer, the Spirit of God dwells in me. Paul reiterates that truth in 1 Corinthians 6:19 20: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price (NIV). Our bodies are the Spirit s temple. Later we will delve more into what that means for us; but essentially, it s that the Holy Spirit makes His home in our bodies. We are His place of dwelling. And this is the question I just can t get around: If it s true that the Spirit of God dwells in us and that our bodies are the Holy Spirit s temple, then shouldn t there be a huge difference between the person who has the Spirit of God living inside of him or her and the person who does not? This may be a silly illustration, but if I told you I had an encounter with God where He entered my body and gave me a supernatural ability to play basketball, wouldn t you expect to see an amazing improvement in my jump shot, my defense, and my speed on the court? After all, this is God we re talking about. And if you saw no change in my athleticism, wouldn t you question the validity of my encounter? Churchgoers all across the nation say the Holy Spirit has entered them. They claim that God has given them a supernatural ability to

29 I ve Got Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit? 29 follow Christ, put their sin to death, and serve the church. Christians talk about being born again and say that they were dead but now have come to life. We have become hardened to those words, but they are powerful words that have significant meaning. Yet when those outside the church see no difference in our lives, they begin to question our integrity, our sanity, or even worse, our God. And can you blame them? It reminds me of James s frustration when he writes about freshwater springs producing saltwater. You can almost hear his incredulity as he writes, Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? (James 3:11). What he s saying is that so-called Christians were doing something that should ve been impossible and this kind of doing the impossible is not a good thing! He laments, My brothers, these things ought to not be so (James 3:10). I echo James s exhortation to those of us in the church today: My brothers and sisters who have received the Holy Spirit, we often lack love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, etc., even while many of our unbelieving friends exhibit these traits brothers and sisters, these things ought not to be so! Just as I advised my Jehovah s Witnesses visitors, we need to begin afresh by reexamining our preconceived ideas about the Holy Spirit and what it means to be a temple of the Spirit. There is much more to God and following in the Way of Jesus than getting a bunch of talented people together to hold a church service. When Jesus was preparing to leave this earth, He comforted His disciples, telling them not to worry but instead to trust in Him (John 14:1). Hadn t He proven Himself faithful the past years that

30 30 forgotten god they had journeyed together? First, He comforted them by telling them that the separation would be only temporary and that He was going to prepare a place for them (14:2 3 NIV). Second, He told them that He was going to be with God the Father, and that even from there He could hear their prayers (14:12 14). Finally, Jesus gave the disciples the ultimate reassurance: Another Comforter would come. Jesus said that the Father would give the disciples another Counselor to be with [them] forever (14:16 NIV). In this case, the Greek word another means another that is just like the first (as opposed to another that is of a different sort or kind). So Jesus was saying that the One who would come would be just like Him! Have you ever thought about the significance of having another Counselor who is just like Christ? Right now, imagine what it would be like to have Christ standing beside you in the flesh, functioning as your personal Counselor. Imagine the peace that would come from knowing you would always receive perfect truth and flawless direction from Him. That sounds amazing, and none of us could deny the benefit of having Jesus here physically, guiding and enabling us every step of the way. Yet why do we assume that this would be any better than the literal presence of the Holy Spirit? Those of us who believe in Jesus would never deny the truth that we have the Spirit of the living God, the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead, living inside of us. I m just not convinced we ve internalized this truth and enjoyed His blessings as He intends. It seems like this is mostly head knowledge to us, and that we have not owned it. It has not really made much of a difference in our lives, to the degree that if we woke up tomorrow

31 I ve Got Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit? 31 and discovered that it is not true the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, most likely our lives wouldn t look much different. Jesus Himself said to His disciples, It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you (John 16:7 NIV). So Jesus is basically telling His disciples, Yes, I was with you for three and a half years, but it is better that I leave you and the Holy Spirit comes to you. When the disciples heard that two thousand years ago, I m sure it was hard for them to grasp. How could it be better to trade a human Jesus a man they could talk and eat and laugh with for a Spirit they couldn t physically see? Thousands of years later, I think most of us would also choose a physical Jesus over an invisible Spirit. But what do we do with the fact that Jesus says it is better for His followers to have the Holy Spirit? Do we believe Him? If so, do our lives reflect that belief? 2 My hunch is that most of you reading this book have basic knowledge about the Holy Spirit; but when it comes to experiencing the Spirit in your life, it s a different story. Take a moment and ask yourself this question: When was the last time I undeniably saw the Spirit at work in or around me? If it was recently, consider taking a few minutes to reflect on what the Spirit of God did and how you saw Him at work. Thank God for His active presence in your life, and praise Him for the way He is leading you even now. If you are having trouble recounting a time when the Spirit was at work in or around you, perhaps that is because you have been

32 32 forgotten god ignoring the Spirit. Perhaps it is because you have a lot of head knowledge about the Spirit, but not much of a relationship with Him. The reality is that the early church knew less about the Holy Spirit than most of us in the church today, at least in the intellectual sense. But they came to know the Spirit intimately and powerfully as He worked in and through their lives. All throughout the New Testament, we read of the apostles whose lives were led by the Spirit and lived out by His power. The goal of this book is not to completely explain the Spirit or to go back to the apostolic age. The goal is to learn to live faithfully today. First of all, it is impossible for us as finite humans to completely understand an infinite God. Second, many of us don t need more knowledge about the Spirit from a cerebral vantage point what we need is experiential knowledge of His presence. And third, we can never go back, only forward, seeking what it means to live faithfully in the time and culture where God has placed us. So while hopefully you will learn something new about the Holy Spirit in this book, my prayer is that it will draw you into deeper communion with the Spirit and greater experience of His power and presence in your life. 2 Years ago, when a random thought came into my head, I decided to share it with my wife. Have you ever wondered what caterpillars think about? I asked. Not surprisingly, she said, No.

33 I ve Got Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit? 33 I then proceeded to tell her about the confusion I imagined a caterpillar must experience. For all its caterpillar life, it crawls around a small patch of dirt and up and down a few plants. Then one day it takes a nap. A long nap. And then, what in the world must go through its head when it wakes up to discover it can fly? What happened to its dirty, plump little worm body? What does it think when it sees its tiny new body and gorgeous wings? As believers, we ought to experience this same kind of astonishment when the Holy Spirit enters our bodies. We should be stunned in disbelief over becoming a new creation with the Spirit living in us. As the caterpillar finds its new ability to fly, we should be thrilled over our Spirit-empowered ability to live differently and faithfully. Isn t this what the Scriptures speak of? Isn t this what we ve all been longing for? It really is an astounding truth that the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. He lives in me. I do not know what the Spirit will do or where He ll lead me each time I invite Him to guide me. But I am tired of living in a way that looks exactly like people who do not have the Holy Spirit of God living in them. I want to consistently live with an awareness of His strength. I want to be different today from what I was yesterday as the fruit of the Spirit becomes more manifest in me. I want to live so that I am truly submitted to the Spirit s leading on a daily basis. Christ said it is better for us that the Spirit came, and I want to live like I know that is true. I don t want to keep crawling when I have the ability to fly.

34 Joni Eareckson Tada Recently I was asked, Who is the most Spirit-filled person you know? My response: Joni Eareckson Tada. A 1967 diving accident left then-seventeen-year-old Joni a quadriplegic. Lying in a hospital bed, she was filled with an overwhelming desire to end her life. The thought of spending the rest of her years paralyzed from the neck down and relying on others to care for her basic needs was staggering. But Joni did not end her life that day. Instead, she chose to surrender it to God. Little did she know that the Spirit of God would transform her into one of the godliest women ever to grace this earth. God gave her a humility and a love that enables her to look beyond her own pain and to see others hurts. She is a person who consistently in humility count[s] others more significant than herself (an embodiment of Philippians 2:3). I don t even know where to begin with all that she has done.

35 I ve Got Jesus. Why Do I Need the Spirit? 35 While undergoing two years of rehabilitation after the accident, she spent many hours learning to paint with a brush held between her teeth. Her detailed paintings and prints are now highly sought after. Her international best-selling autobiography, Joni, was later made into a full-length feature film. She founded Joni and Friends in 1979 to increase Christian ministry to the disabled community throughout the world. The organization led to the establishment in 2007 of the Joni and Friends International Disability Center, which currently impacts thousands of families around the globe. Over the course of each week, more than a million people listen to her daily five-minute radio program, Joni and Friends. The organization she started serves hundreds of special-needs families through family retreats across the nation. Through Wheels for the World, wheelchairs are collected nationwide, refurbished by inmates in several correctional facilities, and then shipped and donated to developing nations where, whenever possible, physical therapists fit each chair to a disabled child or adult who is in need. As of 2008, Wheels for the World had cumulatively distributed 52,342 wheelchairs to 102 countries and trained hundreds of ministry and community leaders, including people with disabilities. In 2005, Joni Eareckson Tada was appointed to the Disability Advisory Committee of the U.S. State Department. She has worked with Dr. Condoleezza Rice on programs affecting disabled persons in the State Department and around the world. Joni has appeared twice on Larry King Live, sharing not only her Christian testimony but a biblical perspective on right-to-life issues that affect our nation s disabled population. And on top of all that, Joni has written more than thirty-five books.

36 36 forgotten god Yet it is not because of these accomplishments that I consider her the most Spirit-filled person I know. Actually, it has nothing to do with all she s accomplished. It has to do with the fact that you can t spend ten minutes with Joni before she breaks out in song, quotes Scripture, or shares a touching and timely word of encouragement. I have never seen the fruit of the Spirit more obviously displayed in a person s life as when I am with Joni. I can t seem to have a conversation with Joni without shedding tears. It s because Joni is a person whose life, at every level, gives evidence of the Spirit s work in and through her. 1

37

38 ERASING HELL Published by David C Cook 4050 Lee Vance View Colorado Springs, CO U.S.A. David C Cook Distribution Canada 55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5 David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England David C Cook and the graphic circle C logo are registered trademarks of Cook Communications Ministries. All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the publisher. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture marked TNIV taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 2001, 2005 by Biblica. Used by permission of Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. The author has added italics to Scripture and quotations for emphasis. LCCN ISBN eisbn Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle Published in association with the literary agency of D.C. Jacobson & Associates LLC, an Author Management Company The Team: Don Pape, Alex Field, Amy Konyndyk, Nick Lee, Caitlyn York, Renada Arens, Karen Athen Cover Design: Jim Elliston, The Regime First Edition 2011

39 Chapter 1

40 Does Everyone Go to Heaven? Does everyone go to heaven? Based on what I hear at funerals, the answer is an overwhelming Yes! How many funerals have you attended where this was even in question? What we need to do is get down to what the Bible says about the matter. Questions about heaven and hell are too important to leave to our feelings or assumptions. But before we examine the biblical answers to these things, we have to settle an important question. Do you want to believe in a God who shows His power by punishing non-christians and who magnifies His mercy by blessing Christians forever? 40

41 Does Everyone Go to Heaven? 41 Do you want to? Be honest. Do you want to believe in a God like this? Here s my gut-level, honest answer: No. No way. I have family and friends who reject Jesus. I do not want to believe in a God who punishes non-christians. Okay, maybe He should punish extremely wicked people that makes some sense. But punishment in hell for seemingly good people, or those who simply chose the wrong religion? That feels a bit harsh, at least according to my sense of justice. But let me ask you another question. Could you? Could you believe in a God who decides to punish people who don t believe in Jesus? A God who wants to show His power by punishing those who don t follow His Son? Now that s a different question, isn t it? You may not recognize the difference immediately, but read them again and you ll see that these two questions do you want to? versus could you? are actually miles apart. The problem is that we often respond to the second question because of our response to the first. In other words, because there are things that we don t want to believe about God, we therefore decide that we can t believe them. Let me be more specific and personal. I want everyone to be saved. I do. I don t want anyone to go to hell. The fact is, I would love for all people to stand before Christ on judgment day and have a chance to say, They were right all along, Jesus. You really are the Savior. I am so sorry for not believing in You before, but I believe now. Can I have a second chance?

42 42 erasing hell I want to believe in a God who will save everyone in the end. But is this what God says He will do? Do the Scriptures teach this? Despite what we may want to believe, we ve got to figure out what God told us to believe in His Word. That s what this chapter is all about. We re going to tackle the question: Does the Bible say that everyone will be saved in the end? Universalism: A Brief Survey Throughout history, some Christians have not only wanted God to save everyone but have gone on to argue that the Bible says He will. This view is called Universalism. 1 The most famous proponent of Universalism was an early church leader named Origen (ca. AD ), who seemed to teach this, though his views were very complex and not always consistent. 2 Origen s beliefs were later deemed heretical, 3 but this didn t stop others from embracing the view that everyone will be saved though advocates were always a minority. In fact, for over 1,600 years, hardly any major theologians argued that everyone will be saved. This all began to change in the 1800s, when several thinkers resurrected Origen s beliefs and put them back on the table. Today, there are a growing number of confessing Christians who reflect in one way or another the views of Origen on matters of salvation and the afterlife. Even some evangelicals, such as Thomas Talbott and Gregory MacDonald, have argued that God will end up saving everyone in the end. 4 Most recently, author Rob Bell finds this view compelling. With creativity and wit, he sets forth a similar position, though he avoids

43 Forgotten God 43 the label Universalism. Nevertheless, Bell suggests that every single person will embrace Jesus if not in this life, then certainly in the next. 5 He writes: At the heart of this perspective is the belief that, given enough time, everybody will turn to God and find themselves in the joy and peace of God s presence. The love of God will melt every hard heart, and even the most depraved sinners will eventually give up their resistance and turn to God. 6 It s important to understand that Universalism comes in many shapes and sizes. This is why we have to be careful about slapping the label Universalist on people who say that everyone will end up being saved. The term Universalist is about as specific as the term Baptist. If you call someone a Baptist, all you ve said is that they don t baptize babies beyond this, it s pretty much up for grabs. In the same way, all Universalists believe that everyone will end up being saved, but this belief is expressed in a variety of ways. For instance, there are non-christian Universalists. Sometimes called Pluralists, these people believe that Jesus is one of many ways to salvation. Pluralists believe that all religions present equally valid ways of salvation Christianity is simply one among many. Then there are Christian Universalists, some of whom call themselves hopeful Universalists. They believe that Christ is the only

44 44 erasing hell way, but they hold out hope that God will end up saving everyone through Christ in the end. But they go beyond simply hoping this will happen (don t we all?). They re hopeful, and they see strong biblical support for this view, though their view is often tempered with caution. The least cautious Christian Universalists call themselves dogmatic Universalists. Like the previous group, they believe that Christ is the only way, but they go a bit further and say that the Bible clearly teaches that all will be saved. They find the view not just possible, but the most probable: They believe that the Bible clearly teaches that all will be saved through Jesus in the end. It s important, then, to understand that Christian Universalists (hopeful and dogmatic) believe that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ and Christ alone. There s nothing untraditional about this. The difference is that they believe people will have another chance (or many chances) after death to believe in Jesus and be saved. Universalism in the Bible But how do they arrive at these views? As attractive as this position is, does anything in the Bible support the idea that God will end up saving everyone? Maybe. At first glance, some passages seem to support the notion that everyone will be saved. But after taking a closer look, it doesn t appear that they do. We don t have time or space to cover every passage used to support Christian Universalism, so we ll take a look at a few of the big ones: Philippians 2, 1 Corinthians 15, 1

45 Does Everyone Go to Heaven? 45 Timothy 2, and Revelation 21. We ll then conclude by looking at what the Bible says about choosing Jesus after we die. Every Knee Will Bow If you were on a deserted island and you uncorked an empty bottle containing Philippians 2:9 11, you would probably be a Universalist. After talking about Christ s humble life, death, and resurrection, Paul says: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. The key phrase here is every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (vv ). By itself, this could mean that every single individual who ever lived will embrace Jesus if not in this life, then surely in the next. But all we would need is for the rest of the Philippian letter to float ashore in order to see that Philippians 2:9 11 doesn t teach universal salvation. In Philippians 1:28, Paul says that those who oppose the gospel will face destruction, while those who embrace

46 46 erasing hell it will be saved. There s a contrast here between believers and unbelievers; each have very different destinies. In Philippians 3:19, Paul refers to the enemies of Christ whose end is destruction, while followers of Jesus look forward to resurrection and glory (3:20 21). Once more, there s a contrast. A contrast between believers and unbelievers and their individual destinies (note the word end in 3:19), which follow the decisions they make in this life. We also need to see that Paul in Philippians 2 is actually quoting from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. Here, the prophet Isaiah looks forward to a time when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess the name of God (45:23). But in that passage, Isaiah is referring to God s salvation, which is witnessed among the nations and embraced by some but not all. In fact, Isaiah himself, in the very passage that Paul quotes, says that there will be some who embrace salvation and some who continue to resist it. 7 So what does Philippians 2:9 11 mean? It means that there will come a day when Christ returns to reclaim His creation, and everyone will acknowledge this. King Jesus will reign, and none will be able to deny it. But Paul doesn t contradict Isaiah. 8 With this salvation and reign also comes judgment for those who opposed Christ in this life. Isaiah said this in the very next verse (45:24), and Paul affirms it as well (Phil. 1:28; 3:19). All Will Be Made Alive Several passages in the New Testament describe God restoring all people or reconciling all things to Himself. These verses are often

47 Does Everyone Go to Heaven? 47 used to prove that God will save every single person. 9 Here are a few of the big ones: For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Cor. 15:22) In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:19) In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. (Col. 1:19 20) [God] desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:4) In looking at these passages, one Christian Universalist says, Paul envisioned a time when all persons would be reconciled to God in the full redemptive sense. 10

48 48 erasing hell Is that what these passages are saying, or is there something else going on? There seems to be something else going on in 1 Corinthians 15:22, for instance, where Paul says, In Christ all will be made alive (NIV). The verse by itself could mean that everyone will end up being saved, but the context doesn t support this interpretation. When Paul says all will be made alive, he s clearly thinking about the resurrection of believers at the second coming of Christ. In fact, he says this very thing in the next verse: All who belong to Christ will be made alive at his coming (see vv ). 11 So the verse can t mean that everyone will be saved in the end. In fact, following this verse is a whole lot of destruction: destruction of everyone and everything that opposes God in this life (vv ). 12 This is why Paul concludes the letter with a forceful warning that everyone who does not love Jesus will be damned (16:22). So in this case, all doesn t mean every single person. And this is a good thing to keep in mind when looking at 1 Corinthians 15:22 and other passages like it. You ve got to figure out from the context what all means. For instance, when Mark said that all the country of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to be baptized by John (Mark 1:5 NASB), he certainly didn t mean every single individual in Judea man, woman, and child. All here simply denotes a large number of people. In Acts 21:28, Paul is accused of preaching to all men everywhere (NASB). Did Paul really share the gospel with every single person on earth? Again, all means a whole lot of people in many different places, not every single individual.

49 Does Everyone Go to Heaven? 49 So all doesn t always mean everything or everyone. And the same goes for 1 Corinthians 15:22, as is clear from the context. The all who will be made alive in Christ refers to believers of all types, not every single person. Does God Get What God Wants? The same goes for 1 Timothy 2:4, which says: God wants all people to be saved (TNIV). We could spin a provocative question out of this verse by asking, Does God get what God wants? 13 And this would set up a rhetorical slam dunk. Of course God gets what He wants! Otherwise, He s not God. Or if He is God, He s not very powerful. But hold on a second. This question of God getting what He wants passes over two other important questions about 1 Timothy 2:4: (1) What s the meaning of all, and (2) what does the word want mean in this context? The first question is fairly easy to answer in light of our discussion above. Once again, the context is key. Just a few verses earlier, Paul commands Timothy to pray for all people (1 Tim. 2:1), and this command is based on God s desire to save all people (v. 4). If we take the second all people to mean every single person, then surely we ve got to take the other all in the same way. Does Paul really want us to march through a prayer list that includes every person on the face of the earth? Maybe this wouldn t be a bad thing, but I don t think this is Paul s point here. In 1 Timothy 2:1 2, he qualifies the prayer for all people by adding for kings and all

50 50 erasing hell who are in high positions. It seems that Paul is urging Timothy to pray for all types of people even those Roman leaders who may persecute Christians! It s probably the case that Paul wants Timothy to pray for all types of people because God is on a mission to save all types of people. What then does Paul mean by want? This issue is a bit more complicated, because this word can mean all sorts of different things. In any case, the word want does not have to mean that God wants something and is doing all He can to get it, in the same way that I want a coffee refill and simply walk up to the counter and get it. In fact, Paul, who said that God wants all people to be saved, also said that God wants all Christians to be sexually pure (1 Thess. 4:3). 14 Ever met a Christian who was not sexually pure? Does this mean that God is not getting what God wants? To figure out the meaning of want, it s helpful to consider what theologians have called God s moral will and His decreed will. Some things may be part of God s desire for the world, and yet these desires can be resisted. God doesn t desire that people sin, but He allows it to happen because humans are moral agents who often make evil choices. God is not a puppet master who pulls everyone s strings to suit His will. That s why the Lord taught us to pray things like your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matt. 6:10). God s desire His moral will is resisted. And then there s God s decreed will. This refers to those things that God makes happen regardless of what humans decide. He sometimes uses our bad choices our rebellion against His moral will to carry out His decreed will. There s a difference, in other

51 Does Everyone Go to Heaven? 51 words, between God s values that please Him (moral will) and those events that He causes to happen (decreed will). 15 Is this getting too heavy? Maybe an illustration will help. In Judges 14 16, we read about a loose cannon named Samson. Though he was mighty in warfare, his moral compass was significantly flawed, as seen in his love for ladies of the pagan sort. At the beginning of the story, Samson fell in love with a Philistine woman, which was against God s moral will (Judg. 3:1 6). And yet Judges 14:4 says that his love affair was from the LORD. God was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines, and so He used Samson s lust to oppose the Philistines. Samson s love for pagan women went against God s moral will, but became part of God s decreed will. Samson was free to go against God s moral will, yet God intervened to carry out His decreed will in using this situation to fight against the Philistines. Now back to 1 Timothy 2. In what sense does God want all people to be saved? The word underscores God s moral will, His desire to save all types of people. They are free to reject this because it isn t God s decreed will, but the verse captures God s heart nonetheless. So a question framed as, does God get what God wants? implies that if He doesn t save everyone as He set out to, then He s a failure. But this is a naive assumption at best; at worst, the rhetoric is tremendously misleading. Paul s point is not that Timothy is to pray for every single person who ever lived, and neither is it that God has decreed that He will save everyone. The point of 1 Timothy 2 and other passages like it (e.g., 2 Peter 3:9) is that God is not a bigot; He s not a racist; He loves to reverse social-class distinctions because His love knows

52 52 erasing hell no boundaries. The gospel has broken down all ethnic and socioeconomic barriers through the cross of Jesus Christ, as Paul says elsewhere (Eph. 2:11 22). 16 God even wants pedophile maniacs like Caesar Nero (i.e., kings and all who are in high positions in 1 Tim. 2:2) to repent and come to Jesus! Paul nearly got to Nero with the gospel and had his head chopped off in the process. But that s another story. Who Left the Gate Open? Let s flip to the last book of the Bible, where some argue that all will ultimately be saved. Revelation 21 envisions believers flowing into the New Jerusalem, which in one way or another depicts our final state. John, the writer, says that its gates will never be shut (v. 25) and that the kings of the earth will bring their glory into the New Jerusalem (v. 24). But who left that gate open? What is John saying by using this image of open gates? Some have taken this to mean that God will forever wait with open arms (or open gates) for unbelievers to turn to Him. Once they have been purified in the lake of fire, says one writer, those most vile of all men will be free to enter the New Jerusalem through gates that never close. 17 But does the image of open gates show that those who have said no to God s love in this life will have endless opportunities to say yes to it in the afterlife? 18 This is an interesting suggestion. I would love to believe it, but three things in the text make it hard for me to accept that theory. First, Revelation 20 and 21 have already described the lake of fire as the final destiny of those who don t

53 Does Everyone Go to Heaven? 53 follow Jesus in this life. There s nothing in Revelation that suggests there s hope on the other side of the lake. Second, there s nothing in the text that says the lake of fire is intended to purify the wicked. On the contrary, the judgment scene in 20:11 15 explains that the lake of fire is for punishment. 19 And third, even after the open-gates passage of 21:24 26, John goes on to depict two different destinies for believers and unbelievers: Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. (22:14 15) This passage says that there will be an ongoing separation between believers and unbelievers. What determines their destinies is whether or not they wash[ed] their robes; in other words, whether or not their sin has been dealt with through the blood of Jesus in this life (see Rev. 7:14). I think it s a stretch to suggest that unbelievers can wash their robes while in the lake of fire and then enter the gates. To sum it up, there are some passages in the New Testament that seem to say everyone will be saved. But after looking at the context, we see that these passages probably don t mean this. Not only would this contradict many other passages that speak of judgment

54 54 erasing hell and retribution (as we will see in the following chapters), it doesn t align well with the context of the passages themselves. What about Those Passages That Say There Will Be a Second Chance? I said at the beginning that the one thing all Christian Universalists agree upon is that after death there will be another chance (or an endless string of chances) to choose Jesus. The Universalist view depends upon it. So we need to wrestle with all the postmortem second-chance passages to see if they actually teach this view. The problem is, there aren t any passages that say this. No passage in the Bible says that there will be a second chance after death to turn to Jesus. And that s frightening. It s frightening because the idea of an after-death conversion is the most important ingredient for the Universalist position. It makes or breaks this view. But there is no single passage in the Bible that describes, hints at, hopes for, or suggests that someone who dies without following Jesus in this life will have an opportunity to do so after death. One Christian Universalist admits this. Arguing for the possibility of people getting out of hell, he says: Clearly my interpretation is underdetermined by the texts. I am not so much exegeting the texts as trying to draw out the logic of New Testament

55 Does Everyone Go to Heaven? 55 theology as I understand it and its implications for those texts. In the process I may be offering ways of reading the texts that go beyond what their authors had in mind. 20 Keep in mind that we re not simply trying to settle a doctrinal issue. We re talking about people s destinies. The thought that someone may end up banking on a second chance after they die even though the biblical authors never explicitly said this is well Terrifying. These are eternal destinies we re talking about. We can t be wrong on this one. To make a compelling case that the love of God will melt every hard heart, and even the most depraved sinners will eventually give up their resistance and turn to God 21 without clear biblical evidence is incredibly dangerous especially if you are one of these sinners and things don t work out like this. If the doctor said your daughter is going to be fine, and she died three days later, you d call the authorities. The Bible does not say that there will be a second chance after death. In fact, some passages even warn against this type of false hope. For instance, toward the end of His life, Jesus told a parable about second chances (Luke 13:22 30). 22 Jesus is making His way to Jerusalem, and His disciples ask how many people will end up being saved. Jesus answers that few will be saved, but even worse, many who think they are saved will end up on the outside of the kingdom, so to speak. While outside, they ll knock on the door to

56 56 erasing hell see if Jesus will let them in. What will happen when Jesus comes to the door? According to those who believe that there are second chances after death, Jesus answers, Come on in! He has to, right? To think that Jesus would answer any other way is cruel. It would be unloving and unjust! Could Jesus actually say, Door s locked. Sorry. If you had been here earlier, I could have done something. But now, it s too late? 23 Yes, actually, He could. Though we may wish for the door to fling open, Jesus says that He will do the opposite: When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us, then he will answer you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil! In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. (Luke 13:25 28) This passage gives no hint whatever that the door will remain permanently open. 24 If Jesus believed in second chances for those who reject Him in this life, then this parable is dangerously misleading.

57 Does Everyone Go to Heaven? 57 For those who follow Jesus, there is everlasting life in the presence of God, but for those who don t follow Him, there will be punishment. And as we have seen in this chapter, the Bible doesn t seem to hold out hope for a second chance. 25 How scary this is for those who will find themselves on the other side of the door wanting to come in, banging and begging, wishing they had made some different choices while they had the opportunity. It s sobering to think about this parable. Jesus did not say these words so we would one day merely discuss them in a book. Like all Scripture, this parable is meant to impact our souls. Please take some time to at least read it again. Read it with care. Read it with conviction, knowing that there will be people on the outside, in a terrible place of punishment. A place called hell.

58 58 erasing hell Notes 1. For a historical survey, see Richard Bauckham, Universalism A Historical Survey, Themelios 4.2 (1979): 48 54; Morwenna Ludlow, Universalism in the History of Christianity, in Robin A. Parry and Christopher H. Partridge, eds., Universal Salvation? The Current Debate (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003): For elaboration on the inconsistencies of Origen s thought, especially his views on universal salvation, see Mark S. M. Scott, Guarding the Mysteries of Salvation: The Pastoral Pedagogy of Origen s Universalism, Journal of Early Christian Studies 18.3 (2010): ; Tom Greggs, Exclusivist or Universalist? Origen the Wise Steward of the Word (CommRom. V.1.7) and the Issue of Genre, International Journal of Systematic Theology 9.3 (2007): Origen s views were deemed heretical at the fifth ecumenical church council held at Constantinople in AD 553. However, a great deal of politics drove this council, as well as other early church councils, so we shouldn t consider Origen s views heretical based solely on the decisions made at Constantinople. 4. Thomas Talbott, The Inescapable Love of God (Boca Raton, FL: Universal Publishers, 1999); Gregory MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2006). Gregory MacDonald is a pseudonym.

59 Does Everyone Go to Heaven? In his book Love Wins, Bell never actually comes out and says that this is what he believes. To be fair, he is not explicitly arguing for this position but listing it as a valid view that would help explain a lot of the tension that we feel when thinking about the hard realities of hell. But he presents this position in such favorable terms that it would be hard to say that he is not advocating it. He even says the traditional view of a literal hell that features eternal torment is not good news at all. To use Bell s phrase, The good news is better than that. He implies the view that all people will eventually be saved is actually much better news. So while he never says that this is the correct view, Bell certainly presents this view as the good view and the traditional view of hell as the bad view. See Love Wins (New York: HarperOne, 2011), , Bell, Love Wins, See Howard Marshall, The New Testament Does Not Teach Universal Salvation, in Parry and Partridge, Universal Salvation, This reading is supported by the conclusion of the book of Isaiah, which depicts two groups of people, those on God s side and those who remain against Him: [A]ll flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the LORD. And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh (66:23 24). And that s how Isaiah ends. There will be restoration for those who turn to God, and judgment followed by punishment for those who don t.

60 60 erasing hell 8. Throughout Isaiah 40 66, the nations will see (40:5; 52:10, 15), understand (52:15) and even know about (45:6; 49:26) God s salvation of His people, but this doesn t mean that they embrace it. For instance, Isaiah says that the pagan king Cyrus the Great will know that it is the LORD who raised him up, and yet the next verse says though you do not know me (Isa. 45:3 4). So does Cyrus know God or not? Yes and no. He knows God in the sense that he acknowledges God s sovereignty, but he doesn t know God so as to believe in Him for salvation. Now, to be sure, there will be many among the nations (i.e., Gentiles) who will embrace this God of Israel. This is an important theme in Isaiah as well (44:5; 45:14, 20 25; 49:7; 55:5). But Isaiah never says that everyone without exception will be saved. 9. Passages include Romans 5:18 19, Romans 11:32, and Ephesians 1: Thomas Talbott, Christ Victorious, in Parry and Partridge, Universal Salvation, 25. Similarly, Rob Bell says no one can resist God s pursuit forever, because God s love will eventually melt even the hardest of hearts (Love Wins, 108). In this quote, Bell is thinking of Colossians 1 in particular. 11. I ve switched the order of words in 15:22 23 for clarity, but the meaning I m giving here is clear from the context. 12. Thomas Talbott claims that God will only destroy the sinful nature of unbelievers, according to this passage ( Christ

61 Does Everyone Go to Heaven? 61 Victorious, 27). But there s nothing in the actual text to justify this interpretation. 13. This is the title of chapter 4 in Bell s Love Wins. 14. First Thessalonians 4:3 says For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality. The Greek word for will is thelema, which is the noun form of the verb translated want in 1 Timothy 2:4 (NIV). 15. See Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1998), Of course, it may be that God s decreed will includes the very resistance of His moral will. But that s getting a bit off track. 16. N. T. Wright calls this biblical universalism in his Towards a Biblical View of Universalism, Themelios 4.2 (1979): Thomas Talbott, A Pauline Interpretation of Divine Judgment, in Parry and Partridge, Universal Salvation, 42. See also Vernard Eller, The Most Revealing Book of the Bible: Making Sense Out of Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974), ; Bell, Love Wins, As Bell suggests (Love Wins, ). 19. More specifically, retributive punishment and not remedial punishment.

62 62 erasing hell 20. MacDonald, The Evangelical Universalist, Bell, Love Wins, The parable is not exclusively about the afterlife, because the kingdom is a present reality. However, the parable certainly includes the afterlife, because the kingdom extends into the age to come. Moreover, Jesus words in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (13:28), along with people being cast out (13:28) clearly point to hell, as they do elsewhere in Matthew (see 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). See Marshall, The New Testament Does Not Teach Universal Salvation, The quote is from Bell, who raises this question in Love Wins, 108. In the context, Bell is summarizing the view that he finds legitimate and compelling, though he doesn t necessarily say it s correct. 24. Marshall, The New Testament Does Not Teach Universal Salvation, See also Matthew 25:1 12; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 22:11.

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64 MULTIPLY Published by David C Cook 4050 Lee Vance View Colorado Springs, CO U.S.A. David C Cook Distribution Canada 55 Woodslee Avenue, Paris, Ontario, Canada N3L 3E5 David C Cook U.K., Kingsway Communications Eastbourne, East Sussex BN23 6NT, England The graphic circle C logo is a registered trademark of David C Cook. All rights reserved. Except for brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the publisher. The website addresses recommended throughout this book are offered as a resource to you. These websites are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement on the part of David C Cook, nor do we vouch for their content. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The author has added italics to Scripture quotations for emphasis. LCCN ISBN eisbn Francis Chan, Mark Beuving The Team: Don Pape, Amy Konyndyk, Renada Arens, Karen Athen Cover Design: Jim Elliston, Nick Lee First Edition 2012

65 Part I: Living as a Disciple Maker 1: What Is a Disciple? Two thousand years ago, Jesus walked up to a handful of men and said, Follow me. Imagine being one of those original disciples. They were ordinary people like you and me. They had jobs, families, hobbies, and social lives. As they went about their business on the day Jesus called them, none of them would have expected his life to change so quickly and completely. The disciples could not have fully understood what they were getting into when they responded to Jesus s call. Whatever expectations or doubts, whatever curiosity, excitement, or uncertainty they felt, nothing could have prepared them for what lay ahead. Everything about Jesus His teaching, compassion, and wisdom; His life, death, and resurrection; His power, authority, and calling would shape every aspect of the rest of their lives. In only a few years, these simple men were standing before some of the most powerful rulers on earth and being accused of 65

66 66 Multiply turn[ing] the world upside down (Acts 17:6). What began as simple obedience to the call of Jesus ended up changing their lives, and ultimately, the world. What Is a Disciple? What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? As you will discover, the answer is fairly simple, but it changes your life completely. The word disciple refers to a student or apprentice. Disciples in Jesus s day would follow their rabbi (which means teacher) wherever he went, learning from the rabbi s teaching and being trained to do as the rabbi did. Basically, a disciple is a follower, but only if we take the term follower literally. Becoming a disciple of Jesus is as simple as obeying His call to follow. When Jesus called His first disciples, they may not have understood where Jesus would take them or the impact it would have on their lives, but they knew what it meant to follow. They took Jesus s call literally and began going everywhere He went and doing everything He did. It s impossible to be a disciple or a follower of someone and not end up like that person. Jesus said, A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher (Luke 6:40). That s the whole point of being a disciple of Jesus: we imitate Him, carry on His ministry, and become like Him in the process. Yet somehow many have come to believe that a person can be a Christian without being like Christ. A follower who doesn t follow. How does that make any sense? Many people in the church have decided to take on the name of Christ and nothing else. This would

67 1: What Is a Disciple? 67 be like Jesus walking up to those first disciples and saying, Hey, would you guys mind identifying yourselves with Me in some way? Don t worry, I don t actually care if you do anything I do or change your lifestyle at all. I m just looking for people who are willing to say they believe in Me and call themselves Christians. Seriously? No one can really believe that this is all it means to be a Christian. But then why do so many people live this way? It appears that we ve lost sight of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. The concept of being a disciple isn t difficult to understand, but it affects everything. 1. Up to this point in your life, would you call yourself a follower of Jesus Christ? Why do you say that? Do you see evidence of your faith as described in Luke 6:40? How Do I Become a Disciple? To understand how to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, it makes most sense to start where Jesus started. While it is true that He said to the disciples, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matt. 4:19), the Bible records one message He proclaimed before that. In Matthew 4:17, Jesus said, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Try taking this phrase literally. If someone warned you to be prepared because a king and his army were coming, what would you

68 68 Multiply do? You would make sure you were ready to face him. If you weren t prepared to fight this king, then you would do whatever it took to make peace with him. The word repent means to turn. It has the idea of changing directions and heading the opposite way. It involves action. In this context, Jesus was telling people to prepare themselves to change whatever needed to be changed because God s kingdom (the kingdom of heaven) was approaching. So how do we prepare to face this heavenly kingdom? How do we make sure we are at peace with this coming King? Jesus says we need to repent. This implies that we all need to turn from the way we are currently thinking and living. Romans 3:23 explains that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Every person reading this sentence has done things that are evil and offensive to this King. Romans later explains that the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Because of our sin, which is an offense to God, we should expect death. But then comes an amazing truth. But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8). The death penalty we should have faced from this King was actually paid for by someone else. The King s Son, Jesus Christ! 1 1 These simple truths will be unpacked in far greater detail in Parts III and IV: Understanding the Old Testament and Understanding the New Testament. The full significance of these truths will be explained then, but the truths themselves are important to understand from the outset.

69 1: What Is a Disciple? 69 The Scriptures then say, If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom. 10:9). We are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is all about who Jesus is and what He has done. Part of our repentance is to turn from believing that there s anything we can do to save ourselves for everything was accomplished by Jesus Christ. The thought that someone else has paid for our crimes is strange to most of us because it defies our natural way of thinking. And the idea that we need to trust in another person s sacrifice on our behalf is even more foreign. But understand that while it is strange to us, it is consistent with God s actions throughout the Scriptures. We get a picture of this when we read the book of Exodus. In this story, Moses warned Pharaoh repeatedly about what God would do if he did not repent. It climaxed when God said He would bring death to the firstborn of every household if they did not repent. Meanwhile, He told His people that if they put the blood of a lamb over their doorposts, His angel would pass over their homes and not kill the firstborn of that house. So even in the story of the exodus, we see that people had to trust in the blood of a lamb to save them and this was the only way they could be saved. 2. Read Ephesians 2 carefully and take some time to consider the truths it presents. Do you trust in the death of Christ for your salvation? Do you ever struggle with believing you need to do something to save yourself?

70 70 Multiply The Lord of Grace Salvation is all about the grace of God. There is absolutely nothing that you can do to save yourself or earn God s favor. Paul said, By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph. 2:8 9). No one can brag about his or her good deeds because our works cannot save us. Salvation comes through the grace of God as we place our faith in Jesus Christ. All salvation requires is faith: Do you believe that Jesus is who He says He is? But keep in mind that while this is simple, it s not easy. Faith in Jesus Christ means believing that He is Lord (according to Rom. 10:9). Have you ever thought about what that word Lord means? We sometimes think of it as another name for God, but it s actually a title. It refers to a master, owner, or a person who is in a position of authority. So take a minute to think this through: Do you really believe that Jesus is your master? Do you believe that He is your owner that you actually belong to Him? Paul is so bold as to tell us: You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body (1 Cor. 6:19 20). The same Lord who by His grace set us free from sin and death now owns us. We belong to Him, and He calls us to live in obedience to His rule. The problem is, many in the church want to confess that Jesus is Lord, yet they don t believe that He is their master. Do you see the obvious contradiction in this? The call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is open to everyone, but we don t get to write our own job description. If Jesus is Lord, then He sets the agenda. If Jesus Christ

71 1: What Is a Disciple? 71 is Lord, then your life belongs to Him. He has a plan, agenda, and calling for you. You don t get to tell Him what you ll be doing today or for the rest of your life. 3. Evaluate your approach to following Jesus. Would you say that you view Jesus as your Lord, Master, and Owner? Why or why not? It All Comes Down to Love But don t get the impression that following Jesus is all about joyless sacrifice. More than anything else, following Jesus boils down to two commands, which He said were the most important commandments in the Old Testament Law: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matt. 22:37 40) It all comes down to love. Peter expressed it well for people like us, who didn t see Jesus on earth but follow Him nonetheless: Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see

72 72 Multiply him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory (1 Pet. 1:8). Following Jesus is not about diligently keeping a set of rules or conjuring up the moral fortitude to lead good lives. It s about loving God and enjoying Him. But lest we think that we can love God and live any way we want to, Jesus told us very clearly, If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15). The love for God in the first commandment is made practical in the love for our neighbors in the second commandment. John actually told us that if we don t love the people that we can see around us, then we don t love God, whom we can t see (1 John 4:20). True love is all about sacrifice for the sake of the ones you love: By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers (1 John 3:16). When we understand love in this light, it s not difficult to understand that love for God and obedience to Jesus Christ cannot be separated. God s love changes us from the inside out and redefines every aspect of our lives. 4. As you look at your life, how would you say that your love for God is shown in your actions? (If you re having trouble coming up with an answer, take some time to think through some changes you may need to make in your lifestyle.)

73 1: What Is a Disciple? 73 Count the Cost As you work your way through this material, you will be challenged to consider what it means to be a follower of Jesus. You will think through what the Bible teaches and its implications for the way you live your life today. Everything you study will be for the purpose of applying it to your life and teaching other people to do the same. But before you set out to teach other people to be disciples of Jesus, you need to examine your heart and make sure you are a disciple. Read the following words from Jesus slowly and carefully. Understand that Jesus is speaking these words to you. Think about what Jesus is saying and how it should affect the way you approach this material and your relationship with Him. After you have read this section, use the questions below to help you count the cost of following Jesus. Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or

74 74 Multiply what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:25 33) 5. If you choose to obey Jesus s call to follow, what might it cost you? (Avoid being vague. If following Jesus would cost you specific possessions, comforts, or relationships, list them below.) 6. What might hold you back from following Jesus at this point? Are you willing to let go of these things if necessary?

75 1: What Is a Disciple? Before you end this session, spend some time in prayer. Ask God to work in your heart and prepare you for what is ahead. You don t need to have all the answers or know specifically how God will use you. He simply calls you to follow wherever He might lead. As you pray, be honest about your doubts, hesitations, and fears. Ask Him to give you the strength to proceed and follow Him no matter what the cost. In other words, place your faith in Him. Watch the video for this session at multiplymovement.com.

76 Multiply is a simple, practical, biblical, helpful, and personal tool for disciples of Jesus who want to make disciples of Jesus. from the foreword by David Platt New York Times best-selling author Francis Chan is calling readers to turn the world upside down. Visit for leader videos and coaching helps. New York Times Best Sellers from Francis Chan Daley Hake Available in print and digital editions everywhere books are sold