Our Deliverer

Anyone else surprised I haven't written about the Rob Bell Love Wins controversy yet? I've been praying about it for a long time, and I'm finally ready.

When I initially read the book, I was aware of the allegations against it, but I wanted to hold it accountable to Scripture and Scripture alone. I found it to be inaccurate historically, scripturally, and linguistically. There were quotes taken (from the Bible and other theologians) out of context, words translated in the wrong form, Scriptures ignored, or re-interpreted to suit feelings rather than fact.

This summer, I've spent time reading a lot of the rebuttal books, including God Wins (Mark Galli), Christ Alone (Michael Wittmer), Erasing Hell: What God Said About Hell And The Things We Made Up (Francis Chan), and Is Hell For Real or Does Everyone Go To Heaven? (Tim Keller and others), and of course in prayer and God's Word. What I have come to realize is that we cannot afford to ignore the afterlife. We may say that eternity and what we think about it shouldn't effect how we live now, but it does. How we feel about "heaven, hell, and everyone who ever lived" plays into our ministry, our day to day lives, and our relationship with our Savior. It is unwise, and unbiblical to live as though heaven and hell are not real, eternal places.

We need to grasp the urgency: if we do not believe that those who do not call on the name of Jesus go to hell, then our sin is not a big deal. And if sin isn't really a problem, then the Cross was for nothing; there is no justice necessary. If God doesn't need justice, then the cross isn't really a sacrifice. If the cross wasn't a sacrifice, then Jesus is not love. And if Jesus is not love, how can love win?

At the cross, Jesus did what sacrificed lambs could not do (see Leviticus 16-17). He bore God's wrath, willingly, for us. He rose again, defeating the grave and setting the captives free. He is our Deliverer, and has set us free - from sin, from God's wrath, and from hell. Because of Christ, we are able to sit with our Lord and Maker forever and ever.




For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. Philippians 3:20-21

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. Romans 11:26