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‘And that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them as you have loved me.’

      (John 17 v 23B)

      Jesus’ ministry of giving eternal life to all flesh consists of firstly the apostles, then the church, and then the whole world.

      Unfortunately, most churches stop at the second group and don’t see the universal aspect of the ministry of Jesus.

      We now come onto the book of Acts. Many Christians, especially Evangelicals, are always emphasising the book of Acts as a blueprint for church life and say things like ‘we must be more like the church was in the book of Acts, with the same power and authority and preach as they did, if we are to see revival’ etc.

      Well, let’s analyse exactly what they did preach in the book of Acts.

      Firstly, most Evangelical Christians teach that in order to be saved people must repent of their sins and believe in Jesus, anyone who fails to do that will go to hell when they die. But unfortunately for these Evangelicals, nowhere in the book of Acts is such a warning given. In fact, the word ‘hell’ is never used in the book of Acts; only the word ‘hades’ is used in connection with the resurrection of Jesus:

       ‘You will not leave my soul in hades.’

      (Acts 2 v 27)

      The only reference to hell or hades is that a soul will not remain there.

      So what did the early church preach? Well, as we saw earlier, in Acts 3 Peter spoke about how Jesus must remain in heaven until the restoration of all things.

      In Acts chapter 9, we have the conversion of Paul, and Paul starts preaching not only to Jews but also to Gentiles who start getting saved, and many of the Jewish Christians get uptight that the Gospel is being accepted by Gentiles and, like the church of today, they didn’t want those outside their group to eventually be included in God’s kingdom.

      The result was that they had a council in Jerusalem, of the church, to discuss this, and James stood up in the middle of the meeting and said:

       ‘Men and brethren listen to me, Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name and with this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written:”

       “After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down, I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by my name” says the Lord who does all these things.’

      (Acts 15 v 13-17 )

      This ‘calling out of the Gentiles a people for his name’ is the church of Jesus Christ, which is predominantly Gentile in its makeup, and James clearly applies this to when Peter saw the first Gentile convert, during the church age, at Cornelius’ house.

      So this ‘tabernacle of David’ which is fallen down which he sets up is also the Church. For we are described in many places as being the temple of God (2 Cor 6 v 16) and (Eph 2 v 21). What James is saying here is that once the church is complete then the rest of mankind, including all those who are not in the church, will seek the Lord, even ‘all the gentiles’ who are called by his name.

      I am reminded of Psalm 2, in which all the heathen of the earth are inherited by Christ and become his possession.

       ‘I will declare the decree. The Lord hath said unto me thou art my Son this day I have begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.’

       (Psalm 2 v 7)

      This passage deals with all the Gentiles (what this means for all the Jews who are not in the church is dealt with in Romans Ch 9-11). But in Acts 15 there is no mention of anyone ultimately being excluded from God’s kingdom, only the rest of mankind other than those already in the church being saved.

      When Peter is told to go to the house of Cornelius, God gave him a vision of the restoration of all things when he saw an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners descending down to the earth, and in it all kinds of animals, and he hears a voice saying:

       ‘Rise Peter, kill and eat.’

      (Acts 10 v 13)

      Peter says:

       ‘Not so Lord for I have never eaten anything unclean’

      (Acts 10 v 14)

      God says to him:

       ‘What God has cleansed you must not call unclean.’

      (Acts 10 v 15)

      This sheet of animals represents the whole of humanity coming down from heaven, being cleansed by Christ and returning to heaven again.

      Many Churches call unbelievers ‘unclean’ because they’ve not believed in Christ but God is declaring here to Peter that Christ has died not just for believer’s sins but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2 v 2). God sees all as cleansed because of the work of Christ and all who come down to this fallen world will ultimately return back to the kingdom of God.

      The reason this vision occurs three times is to show that all human beings from the first three ages of the earth – the age of the Gentiles, the age of Israel and the age of the Church - will all come back during Christ’s millennial reign and will then return to heaven in the dispensation of the fullness of time (Eph 1 v 10).

      After Paul is converted in the book of Acts, he is commissioned by God to write his letters to various Churches and these become part of the canon of scripture.

      He writes 13 books of the New Testament, and, again, nowhere in any of them does he mention hell!

      (Please look up the word ‘hell’ in any concordance to try and find it in Paul’s letters and you won’t find it anywhere!)

      What did he write? In Romans chapter 5, he compares the work of Christ with the work of Adam and concludes that just as the work of Adam is universal, so the work of Christ is universal. Just as Adam sinned and plunged the whole of humanity into a fallen state, so the work of Christ redeems everyone.

       ‘Consequently just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people.’

      (Rom 5 v 18)

      The amplified Bible puts it like this:

       ‘Well then, as one man’s trespass (one man’s false step and falling away) led to condemnation for all people so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all people.’

      (Rom 5 v 18)

      Notice the phrase ‘all people’ in regard to both the condemnation and the acquittal!

      Paul then adds:

       ‘For just as through the disobedience of the one (Adam) ‘the many’ were made sinners (we know that all people are sinners for Romans 3 v 23 says all have sinned) so also by one man’s (Christ’s) obedience, the many (‘the many’ means all people) will be made righteous.’

      (Rom 5 v 19)

      That is an absolute promise that one day all people will be made righteous.

      Then Paul states the incontrovertible fact that:

       ‘The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly but because of him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.’

      (Rom 8 v 20-21)

      The children of God are those that believe now, but the creation means the whole creation, and the whole creation will one day be delivered

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