Tim Hodge - The Gospel of The Restoration of All Things

(Psalm 24 v 1)

So every person who has ever lived, is living or will live in the future belongs to God and are included as ‘his people’, so the angel promises that Jesus will one day save all people from their sins!

The same phrase ‘his people’ is also used in Luke 1 verses 68 and 77, where it says that God has redeemed his people and will give knowledge of salvation to ‘his people’ by the remission of sins. Again, ‘his people’ means ‘the world and all who dwell therein’!

An angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds at the time of the birth of Christ and said:

‘Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great Joy which will be to all people.’

(Luke 2 v 10)

Simeon, in the temple, when Jesus was presented there by his parents, said:

‘For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before the face of all people.’

(Luke 2 v 30)

So God is not just giving good news to all people but is preparing salvation for all people.

John the Baptist then appears on the scene and starts preaching. He announces himself as:

‘ The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’

(Luke 3 v 4)

This is his message:

‘Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill brought low. The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough ways smooth and all flesh shall see the salvation of God!’

(Luke 3 v 5-6)

In other words, nothing shall be a hindrance to God’s universal salvation plan until:

‘All flesh shall see the salvation of God!’

Most have not yet seen the salvation of God, but they will, for:

‘All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord.’

(Psalm 22 v 27)

And to ‘turn to the lord’ is to be saved.

John the Baptist then announces Jesus and says:

‘Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’

(John 1 v 29)

Notice, he doesn’t take away the sin of the church or the sin of the ‘elect’ or just ‘born again believers’, but the sin of the entire world.

And how does Jesus take away the sin of the world? Firstly, by dying on the cross for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2 v 2), and secondly by taking away the one sin that keeps people away from God - ‘unbelief’. In fact, ‘unbelief’ is the sin of the world.

‘For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God.’

(Eph 2 v 8)

Jesus as God is the one who gives faith to every man and in that way takes away their sin.

‘For God has dealt to every man the measure of faith’

(Romans 12 v 3 KJV)

Remember as we saw earlier that Jesus said:

‘All things have been delivered to me by my Father’.

(Matthew 11 v 27)

And:

‘The Father loves the son and has given all things into his hands’

(John 3 v 35)

And we saw that ‘things’ means people and ‘all things’ means ‘all people’ and all people have been given by God the Father to God the Son and Jesus makes this remarkable promise:

‘All that the Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will in no way cast out for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me and this is the will of him who sent me, that all he has given me (which is all things) I should lose nothing (no thing) and raise it up at the last day.’

(John 6 v 37-39)

So Jesus says ‘all have been given,’ ‘all will come to him,’ ‘none will be cast out’ and God’s will is that Jesus not lose any that have been given to him!

If Jesus fails, he will have failed to do the will of his Father.

That’s why Jesus says in Luke’s Gospel:

‘What man of you having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them does not leave the ninety nine and go after the one that is lost until he finds it. And when he has found it he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and when he comes home he calls together his friends and neighbours saying to them ‘rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost’. I say to you likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine just persons who need no repentance.’

(Luke 15 v 4-7)

Christianity has millions of people lost, but Jesus says even if there’s just one, he will not rest until they are saved, and this is so clearly about salvation that the ninety nine just persons who need no repentance are believers who are already justified by faith. Also the shepherd doesn’t wait for the lost sheep to agree to be rescued; he simply picks it up and carries it home.

Jesus tells these parables:

‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is greater than the herb and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.’

(Math 13 v 31-32)

Jesus says we believers are like branches in the true vine, so the tree is those who believe now but the birds of the air who nest in the branches are those who believe later.

‘ The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.’

(Math 13 v 33)

The kingdom of heaven will not be complete until all are saved!

Jesus said to the Pharisees who were clearly rejecting him:

‘Assuredly, I say to you that the tax collectors and harlots are entering the kingdom of heaven ahead of you.’

(Matthew 21 v 31)

If you enter somewhere ahead of someone, it means both will go in, you go in first and they follow later, and here Jesus confirms that these Pharisees would one day enter the kingdom of heaven.

‘ They will come from the East and West from the North and the South and sit down in the Kingdom of God and indeed the last will be first and the first will be last.’

(Luke 13 v 29-30)

In other words, those who are last in society, the messers, those who know they need a saviour, will enter the kingdom of God first, and those who are first in society, the self-sufficient, the rich and important people will go in last, but notice both will go in. Some will go in first, some go in last, but all will enter!

Jesus adds in Luke 16:

‘The law and the prophets were until John, since that time the kingdom of God is preached and everyone is pressing into it.’

(Luke 16 v 16)

Notice ‘everyone is pressing into it’!

When Jesus looked out over the city of Jerusalem which was rejecting him, he said:

‘Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings but you were not willing! See your house is left to you desolate, for I say to you, you shall see me no more till you say ‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’

(Math 23 v 37-38)

Jesus does what many of the Old Testament prophets do, and warns of impending judgement, but then teaches about their ultimate salvation.

‘Your house is left to you desolate.’

Our bodies are described as being like a house.

‘You shall see me no more until…’

Until what? Until we all say:

‘ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’

In other words, until we are all saved.

When the people heard these teachings of Jesus, they knew that one day all men would be saved.

The people of Samaria in John 4 after hearing Jesus teach said to the woman at the well: