If He Loses Even One.......

A while back I read a long blog article called "Is Hell Redemptive or Retributive". He made some very good points in favor of redemption that I have never heard stated in quite the same way in any article I have read on UR. I printed it and am going to read it in more depth when I have the time (like that is ever going to happen) ....but he seems to allow for the possibility that after the chastising redemptive period of punishment (which I am not sure I really believe in anyway) there may have been so much dross burned away that there is nothing left of the person to save. In theory that sounds logical, I suppose...but then, how does one reconcile that with the thoughts that God would have known that....and would not have created that individual to begin with....would he? Then it occurred to me as I was bustling around the kitchen getting spaghetti sauce ready to go in the crock pot.....that it makes no difference really whether one lost soul slips through God's fingers.....or one million lost souls.....or a hundred million lost souls......it would still disqualify Christ as the savior of the world. His mission....to save the world.......would have failed. Since God is already conciliated toward us....and it is mankind that must come into the knowledge and belief of this.....then if any remain unreconciled, our stubborn human will could thwart God. It makes no difference if there be one or many......it would still be a puny human will that would triumph over God's stated desire to save all. Otherwise, God could not be all in all. If there is a pocket, a sliver of space or dimension or realm or time zone or frame of being that God cannot reconcile, then perhaps.....he cannot reconcile me.....or someone reading this blog....or my children....or my stubborn, bitter little mother who has many, many bones to pick with God for his way of doing things. He either succeeds or he doesn't. He is who he says he is and does what he says he will do.....or he is a failure.....

This made me think of the verses in 1 Corinthians 15
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. 24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.

He either defeats his enemies (be they one or one hundred million) or he doesn't. He is all in all or he isn't. If I do not believe he is who he says he is and that he is able to do what he said he was going to do.......then I am "of all men most miserable" because I have put my faith in a victor who will not be victorious, a father who will give up one of his children. There will be no collateral damage. There will be no one beyond the scope of his redemptive power. We are made from him.....with his very substance dwelling within us......no matter how depraved one may appear on the outside. I have to chime in with Lincoln and say...."if God is just, he will save all or none......

We are all sinners saved by grace......and not of our own doing or choosing and in this certainty, I rest assured that I am safe in the hands of the savior of the world.