‘All Men to Be Saved’

“As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?”

—Ezekiel 33:11

One of the most important, inspiring, all-encompassing truths in the Bible is this: God “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).

Everything God does—every decision He makes, every action, law, word and thought—is consistent with this aim. God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). Love is what God is. It radiates from Him. It is His way of life.

This is a true Bible definition of love. Anything that is contrary to God and His nature and His thinking isn’t actually love. At best, it is a counterfeit.

God loves human beings and seeks our happiness—every person’s happiness. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly,” Jesus Christ said (John 10:10). “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth,” said the Apostle John (3 John 2).

Many people believe this, but then do not believe or accept the way God goes about it. They reject the way He defines love. They turn away from the knowledge of the truth. And they certainly reject the notion of repentance, which means turning away from sin. They want God to “love” them—and want to “love” God—on their own terms.

Nevertheless, God’s great master plan is to give every human being who has ever lived the opportunity to “come unto the knowledge of the truth,” and to “come to repentance”—to turn their way of living toward God’s way. The Bible reveals that though all men have sinned (Romans 3:23), all will be educated and given the opportunity to change the way they think and act, and to experience the love of God.

What exactly is the love of God? “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). God is love; anything He commands is an expression of love. And we express that love by keeping those commandments with a willing heart.

Many people think they know what love is, but unless you study God’s law, you don’t. Even many religious people—people who say they love Christ—hate the law of God!

Any concept of love apart from the law of God is false—it is generally just an emotion based on self-centered lust. For most people, love is a hazy, ill-defined concept. God’s law, on the other hand, is crystal clear, detailed and precise. The way it defines love is thorough and complete.

To better understand the love of God in action, let’s return to the people of Sodom.

Hope for Sinners

As we saw in the Genesis 19 account, God destroyed the sin-saturated Sodomites in a blaze of brimstone and fire from heaven. But does that mean that He hated them? Does it mean that their lives were worthless, that they lived in vain? No.

Just as Jesus Himself referenced their destruction, He also spoke of the fact that, in the future, they will be resurrected!

Speaking to the people in His own day who rejected God’s message, He said this: “[I]f the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee” (Matthew 11:23-24).

The people Christ was speaking to were religious. They professed to obey God—but they didn’t live that way. God will judge them according to what they knew. The people of Sodom, by contrast, largely committed their sins in ignorance, and thus will be given more mercy “in the day of judgment.” They will be taught and shown what was wrong with their actions. They will learn why God authored sex, marriage and family. They will come to understand why He prohibits fornication, adultery, homosexuality, incest, rape, transvestism, bestiality and other sexual uncleanness. They will be offered the Holy Spirit and the power to overcome their sins. And the world into which they will be raised will not be ruled by the devil. He will have been imprisoned, and his influence over men will have been broken (Revelation 20:1-3).

At that time, the Sodomites will have their opportunity for salvation—and Christ was confident that they will embrace it!

Yes, God loves the people of Sodom! He was sickened and outraged by the sins they were committing. For those sins He judged them—and decisively, and mercifully, ended the misery into which they had descended. But He has promised to resurrect them into a far better world, to teach them the truth, to lead them to repentance, and—for the first time—to offer them eternal life!

This is the inspiring future described in Scripture! Few people understand it today, simply because this world lives under the shroud of deception cast by its god, Satan the devil. But they will be the happy beneficiaries of this plan once God fully carries it out.

This too is the hope for an entire world currently caught in the trap of similar sins today. God “will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth”—He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God will not save this world in its sins. He will not allow this world to continue indefinitely as it is. No, “as it was in the days of Noe,” and “as it was in the days of Lot,” God will purge the world of its sin—He will correct its evils—in a devastating, fiery judgment! But then, after casting the author of sin into a bottomless pit, He will offer salvation to the world.

In this future world, people everywhere will learn to live the happy, abundant life that Christ came to offer. They will then enjoy the prosperity and health that John said he wished upon people “above all things.” Those kinds of blessings come only when we obey God’s perfect laws. Then people can come to enjoy the richness of the love of God, shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

More about this world can be found in our free booklet The Wonderful World Tomorrow: What It Will Be Like. Understanding this truth will help you recognize how something so horrifying as the consuming fire that destroyed Sodom, or the ferocious Flood that obliterated humanity in Noah’s day, can be consistent with—or even a representation of—the love of God.

As Christ says in Revelation 3:19, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” Can you recognize the love of God in His effort to purge the sin from our lives that makes us miserable? Can you perceive His love in divine rebuke, even punishment?

A Look at Sin—From Higher Up

God loves homosexuals and all sinners. At the same time, we must understand how much He hates sin.

In His Old Testament laws, God proscribed the death penalty for several specific crimes, including homosexual sex (Leviticus 20:13). This was a powerful deterrent against the spread of these sins, as others would “hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you” (Deuteronomy 19:20, as one example). However, like the people of Sodom, those who came under that judgment did not have the promise of eternal life at that time; they will be resurrected once more to physical life and given the opportunity to repent. They suffered only the “first death,” which is not final.

However, that physical death penalty was merely a type of the spiritual penalty for sin—not just certain sins, but all violations of God’s eternal law of love. God has determined that penalty to be eternal death—the “second death” (Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:14; 21:8).

And because all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23; 5:12), and thus come under that penalty, the only chance we have of eternal life comes by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Though He was sinless, He took upon Himself the death penalty that we deserve (Romans 5:6-8).

Yet God does not redeem us in our sins, that we may continue sinning. He commands us to come out of our sins. That is what repentance is. Repentance—being resolute and determined to turn 180 degrees from the sin we committed—is a prerequisite to our being washed in the blood of the Lamb (e.g. Acts 2:38; 3:19).

As God warned Adam and Eve, eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil leads to death. Sin causes grief, suffering and anguish. And God hates to see human beings suffer! He hates seeing people sabotaging their lives through bad choices. He hates selfishness and the pain it creates. He hates the fulfilling of personal lusts over the welfare of other people. He hates injustice. He hates to see the powerful oppressing the weak. He hates arrogance and pride, He hates deceit, and He hates bullying (e.g. Proverbs 6:16-19). He hates the exalting of evil and the condemnation of good (Isaiah 5:20-23). He hates to witness the suffering that permeates a society which descends into sin and all of its curses. That is why He wants us to purge sin from our lives! “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” (Ezekiel 33:11).

God also hates what this world did to His beloved Son—slaughtering Him mercilessly! He hates sin and all of its effects, the worst of which was that it claimed the life of the Son of God!

The book of Revelation describes a series of end-time events that demonstrates the utter depravity to which mankind will descend just before Jesus Christ returns. Within that chronology, God describes Jerusalem as “the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (Revelation 11:8).

“The Father hasn’t forgotten about His Son being crucified—that horrendous sin of all sins!” Gerald Flurry writes in his booklet Prophesy Again. “God prophesied how evil we would become in this end time. The book of Revelation came from God the Father. And here He is calling Jerusalem, and Israel, Sodom—the filthiest city ever on the planet!” (request your free copy).

This is an extremely important point to understand. God isn’t talking about one city or even one nation in this prophecy. He is using Jerusalem—the capital city of the ancient nation of Israel—as a type of the modern descendants of Israel, which actually include several nations in our day. Foremost among these are the United States, Britain, and the Jewish nation called Israel. You can read proof of this tremendously important key to understanding end-time biblical prophecy by requesting a free copy of our book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.

The point is that in this and several other prophetic passages, God condemns these modern nations for falling into the same wickedness that swallowed Sodom anciently, and that necessitated God consuming that city in His wrath!

This is the plain truth: God does not spare people who sin! He demands repentance, and, in the absence of repentance, eventually He resorts to destruction.

Do you really view the sins of our nations today the way God does?

Our Godless Ingenuity

Obviously, homosexuals cannot reproduce naturally. (This poses a problem to the individual who believes both in evolution through natural selection and in same-sex attraction being an inborn tendency that cannot and should not be overridden. From a natural selection perspective, homosexuality is an evolutionary dead-end. It makes no sense.) Same-sex couples who want children must resort to adoption, sperm donation, in-vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood or other means. Lesbians can conceive, for example, using sperm purchased on an Internet site from an anonymous donor.

Yes—technology has given individuals intent on creating fatherless children (not to mention those mercenary enough to profit from it) the means to do so. Science is also searching for a way for a male couple to bring a child to term without a female.

Here is where our sophistication and ingenuity have brought us.

Whereas God gives the married couple the awesome, even God-like power to create new life through their union, people instead choose dead unions and then look to unnatural means of generating that life. Whereas God intends life to begin with an act of love, science enables us to start it with the squeeze of a syringe. Whereas God intends children to grow up with the authoritative and loving influence of both a man and a woman, each fulfilling a specific role, bound and committed to one another and to the offspring they produce together, people want to bring children up within whatever concoction suits their self-interest and call it “family.”

And, cut loose from God-given moral moorings, guided only by their own reason, many have convinced themselves the children will grow up to be just as healthy for it. They have convinced themselves that same-sex “marriages” will discourage promiscuity, and bring a new level of loyalty and commitment into the homosexual community—that it will be a stabilizing influence on society.

They may even have convinced themselves that God is smiling down on their efforts. But if they were honest, they would acknowledge that they simply don’t care what God says! They don’t care how He defines a family, or why!

There is a war being waged over marriage and family. On one side are those trying to preserve God’s design; on the other are those trying to destroy God’s design!

To take it upon ourselves to redefine what a family is, to spurn God’s standard and set up our own, to presume that our ideas which are totally contrary to God’s are in fact superior in design and in the results they produce—this is the height of both arrogance and folly!

The Pride of Sodom

God prophesied that we in this end time would become as sinful as Sodom (Jeremiah 23:14). The Prophet Isaiah called the leaders of modern-day Israel “ye rulers of Sodom” and the population “ye people of Gomorrah” (Isaiah 1:10).

In Isaiah 3:9, God prophesies, “The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.”

That is a remarkably incisive description of our modern society. The modern nations of Israel openly defy God and trumpet their sins before the whole world. Everything about our modern-day dysfunctional society is exactly as Isaiah said it would be: with women ruling the homes, children oppressing society and behaving arrogantly against their elders, and people parading the most heinous of their sins with pride (Isaiah 3:12, 5, 9).

Perhaps in no arena is this truer than in the homosexual community and its increasingly broad influence. What other sin enjoys such positive publicity? There are many sins that society tolerates, even accepts; there are many people who boast of their sinful behavior. But it is remarkable how homosexuality is particularly associated with overt pride and arrogance. How many “fornication pride” parades do you see in Washington, d.c.? When would a public figure “come out of the closet” to announce that he drove drunk, or molested children, or was a serial killer? The pride aspect of homosexuality tends to make it unique among other sins condemned in the Bible. One can certainly recognize it in the shamelessness, the brazenness, of the mob that tried to assault Lot’s visitors. In Ezekiel 16:49, when God lists the sins of Sodom, He puts “pride” first. In the next verse, He says “they were haughty, and committed abomination before me.”

Homosexuality is an abomination to God (Leviticus 20:13)—as is all sin that we do not repent of. Isaiah warned that our nations are “sick” from head to toe and will suffer the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah because of our universal sin and rebellion against God’s laws (Isaiah 1:5-9). If we continue to flaunt our sins before God, whatever they are, He will inflict the fate of Sodom on us!

Ezekiel 24 contains a parable about rebellious Israel, comparing it to a pot covered in “great scum,” or deeply etched with green corrosion, representing our nations’ all-consuming sins. God condemns us for pridefully displaying our sins “upon the top of a rock” (verse 7), in full view of the world. He warns that He is going to inflict a great punishment that is just as public—just as prominently broadcast. “That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great” (verses 8-9). If we put our sins up on top of a rock, God says He will put our blood upon the rock! The whole world sees our sins—and the whole world will see what God thinks of them!

In the rest of the parable, the people of our nations are compared to meat and bones that are consumed within the pot. Then God says that because the pot’s filth and corrosion is so bad, He has no choice but to burn the pot as well. This is a prophecy—further substantiated by dozens of others like it—of great tribulation that will engulf our nations in unparalleled suffering. Massive economic and social collapse, burning, terrorist attacks, even nuclear bombs wiping out cities—that is what God means when He tells the prophet here to set the empty pot on the coals, “that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed”! (verse 11). God is determined to clean up these sins, and this is the only way He has left to do so!

Where Are the Spiritual Leaders?

The Apostle Jude did not “disagree with God,” as some homosexual apologists contend. He was inspired by the Holy Spirit to show that, among their other sins, Sodom and Gomorrah unquestionably were also destroyed for sexual sins, including homosexuality. And beyond that, he was inspired to draw the lesson that these cities are “set forth for an example” (Jude 7). The Apostle Peter also talked about these cities being turned “into ashes,” “making them an [example] unto those that after should live ungodly” (2 Peter 2:6).

Why were these apostles of God talking about cities being turned to ashes? Because the lesson is still relevant today! God intends the punishment those people suffered to serve as a warning to us—He wants us to “hear, and fear, and commit no more any such evil among you”! This is not just an outdated Old Testament story—it is New Testament doctrine. These men were warning that any people getting caught up in those sins should expect the same end. And when society becomes overrun with these types of sins, it is getting close to the time when God is going to step in and judge that society! (You can read more about these New Testament warnings in Gerald Flurry’s free booklets The Epistles of Peter: A Living Hope and Jude.)

Most professing Christians say they believe in the New Testament. But most of them ignore these passages with horrendous warnings from God!

Remember, in Luke 17:28-30 Christ Himself foretold that just before His return to this Earth in power and glory, our sophisticated, ultra-modern, anti-God society would revert back to the way it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, again warranting the cataclysmic destruction those cities faced.

The Bible is abundantly clear about God’s view. Some people insist that it is ambiguous or muddy. They insist that what happened to Sodom has nothing to do with homosexuality, and is certainly no condemnation of “loving” homosexual relationships. Should this surprise us? For millennia, the Bible’s meaning on this point was understood. Now suddenly people who are determined to justify their sins have “discovered” that God actually supports them!

Where are the religious people who will stand up and proclaim the truth of God? Religion today is sick and pathetic. Our nations are spiritually bankrupt! Yet God says in Isaiah 1:10, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah”! The leaders and the people of our nations must receive this warning!

Homosexuality and other deviant sexual activity break down character, trample on man’s spectacular potential, and destroy the family vision of God. But in our sophistication, this is considered good! What God esteems, men scorn—and what men exalt, God calls an abomination!

Thus, God thunders this message to our modern world: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5:20-21).

Yes—woe! The history of Sodom and Gomorrah is prophecy for today. We are living in the time it will be fulfilled! When you live in cities polluted like Sodom and Gomorrah, look out—they are about to be destroyed by fire! This time, it will come in modern forms: nuclear bombs and other means. These scriptural warnings are there to help us realize that it’s about over!

Fighting against biblical marriage is fighting God. Those pushing the homosexual agenda may feel certain they are leading people into greater freedom—but really they are leading people into ashes!

“They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for whatever overcomes a man, to that he is enslaved” (2 Peter 2:19; rsv). Liberal courts and churches are offering “liberty” to homosexuals, but they don’t know what liberty is. Sin may seem like freedom, but in truth it only enslaves us (John 8:34; Romans 6:16).

Christ said God’s truth is what makes us free (John 8:32). The Apostle James referred to God’s commandments as “the law of liberty” (James 1:25; 2:12). It is there to enrich us, ennoble us, give us the happiness and fulfillment God intended for us. Everything contrary to that offers only false freedom—it makes us slaves of sin, and leads to death. And before death, it leads to misery and failure. What is true freedom? “[T]he law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). That is true freedom: freedom from sin and death!

God gives His law to point us away from misery—and toward blessings, joy, happiness—and life! (Deuteronomy 6:24; 10:12-13; 30:19-20).

God has no interest in harming anyone. He desires all to turn to Him and live life under His law. The Bible is not our enemy. It is God’s means to protect us from catastrophe. This is why Jesus warned, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36).

Come Out!

Like the voice John heard from heaven, God tells us, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities” (Revelation 18:4-5).

God wants us to come out of this Satan-inspired world! To come out of the twisted attitudes, self-destructive habits and ungodly actions that are leading to death. To get away from the abominations that He is about to destroy—so we are not destroyed with them!

If we repent of our pride and strive to live God’s way—seeking His help to overcome—then we can be spared the destruction ahead. There is hope for any person willing to obey God and live by His miraculous laws. Even those who are caught in the deadly snare of homosexuality and other sexual sins can grasp hold of this life-saving solution! God forgives all sin upon repentance. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). David was an adulterer, Paul was a murderer, Mary Magdalene was demon possessed—yet upon their deep repentance, God completely forgave them all.

Deep repentance means turning completely away from the ways of sin. We cannot be like Lot’s wife, devoting part of our hearts to the devil’s world. We must instead lay up our treasures in heaven, and commit our hearts there (Matthew 6:19-21). We cannot allow ourselves to become mesmerized by this evil society. There should be nothing in this miserable world that claims our devotion. We must desire to flee Sodom! We have to set our hearts on doing the Work of God so that, very soon, we can help Him create a new and better world!

How deep is your stance on homosexuality? This is a major issue of prophetic consequence! It is not merely a matter of personal liberty. The homosexual agenda is a full-out, satanic war on marriage and family. How agitated does this make you? God is vexed, grievously pained and tormented to see society descending into such sins. We should cultivate God’s emotions. As in the vision of Ezekiel 9:4, God sets His protective mark upon those people “that sigh and that cry for all the abominations” around them.

Sodom and Gomorrah give us an example not only of how God punishes extreme sin, but also of how God protects the righteous—and of how we can secure that protection. In the midst of all the wickedness was Lot, a “righteous man dwelling among them,” who “vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds” (2 Peter 2:8). He was tormented by the evil. He wasn’t complacent about it, or tolerant of it. He hated it. You can be sure he was laughed at, considered backward or out of step. But in the end, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed—and Lot and his family were spared (verse 7).

Be like Lot. Strive to live righteously, to study and obey God’s laws, to pray daily, and to repent of sin. The more we think like God, the more repulsed by sexual sins we will be, the more motivated we will be to keep them out of our lives, the more grieved by society’s sins we will be, and the more urgent will be our daily prayer, “Thy Kingdom come”!

“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (verse 9). This is directed at us, in this end time! Even in destruction, God provides protection for the righteous. This is a source of genuine hope for those who follow this God. He physically delivered Lot and his daughters. He delivered Noah and his family. He will deliver His people from the disasters to strike in this end time. And He will destroy sinners—and reserve them for a future resurrection.

God says that, just as He left Sodom and Gomorrah in ashes, and just as He inflicted worldwide destruction in Noah’s time, He is about to destroy today’s sin-sick world. But the prophecies do not end in that destruction. They end in hope! And it is there that we find the solutions we seek—solid answers on how to win this war on family in our own homes, even today.

The Answer Is Family

Once God brings a swift, decisive end to the anti-family trends, He will begin to set things right. And do you know how He will do so? By educating mankind in and implementing the same family law that He put in place from the beginning!

When He establishes His Kingdom after Jesus Christ’s return, family will be restored to its rightful place at the heart of civilization. Christ will marry His Bride, the Church (Revelation 19:7). That blissfully perfect marriage will set the example for marriages throughout the Earth. “Thus saith the Lord; Again there shall be heard … in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate … The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for his mercy endureth for ever …” (Jeremiah 33:10-11).

Children will no longer oppress their elders. They will be taught respect, and everyone will be the happier for it. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof” (Zechariah 8:4-5).

These are the wonderful effects that implementing God’s law will produce. Among these laws are those governing the marital roles, the safeguarding of sex within the marital relationship, and the lifelong nature of the arrangement (Luke 16:18; 1 Corinthians 7:39). Also among them are the laws and principles governing the parent-child relationship and establishing godly government and order in the home.

Those laws are as absolute as the physical laws governing the universe. When they are broken, unhappiness and dissatisfaction result—as our sick society amply proves.

But when they are kept—when they are taught, cherished and obeyed—everyone benefits!

This is how, even today, you can successfully fight the war on family. One of the best ways to guard your mind against our Sodom-and-Gomorrah culture is to come to deeply value and understand the God-ordained institution of marriage and family. Study His design and His laws about family. Even if one lacks the spiritual understanding of their spiritual purposes, keeping those laws—set in inexorable motion by the Creator of marriage, family and all that exists—will bring stability, harmony, happiness and peace into your own home. Fix your mind on God’s purpose for family. Come to better recognize the manifold ways that Satan’s society works to undermine the family. Purge from your thinking and your life anything that subverts God’s family plan. The more you do so, the happier and more inspiring your life will become—and the more your thinking will mirror God’s!

God is a Family! He created the physical family as a means to introduce us into His Family! What is more beautiful than a strong, godly family? Once you understand God’s purpose, it is clear that real hope comes through the family—as God designed and defined it. What it leads into boggles the mind!

God’s great master plan is to give every human being who has ever lived the opportunity to “come unto the knowledge of the truth,” and to “come to repentance”—to turn their way of living toward His way. He loves human beings, and has given every last one of us a tremendous, eternal potential to become a part of the largest, happiest, most loving and enduring Family that has ever been or ever will be! That is the more abundant life that Jesus Christ came to offer to you!

We can be thankful to God that His supernatural intervention in the affairs of mankind, as prophesied in hundreds of biblical passages, is now just ahead of us. In the not-too-distant future, the world-ruling Family of God will vigorously teach all of mankind the perfection, the beauty, the blessing, the majesty and the vision wrapped up within the sacred institutions of marriage and family!