The older I get the more I am willing to admit that I don’t have all the answers and that I do not need all the answers. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be nice to have answers to the mysteries of God which swirl around my head more now than ever. Like this question which takes me back to my childhood and early teenage years. Maybe you can relate. Out of the 107 billion people that have ever lived on the planet, how many received what Christians refer to as salvation? How many of those 107 billion (7 billion alive now) got a fair shake at salvation? How did the 46 billion who lived before Christ experience a revelation from the God of the Bible such that they received salvation? Yeah, I know we go to Paul’s letter to the Romans where he states that humanity knows about God through natural revelation, i.e., creation. No doubt, we can come to believe in a deity outside of nature who created nature and thus worship or at least believe in God. Does coming to a belief in God, even without direct knowledge of Jesus Christ, bring with it a divine calling to repentance opening the gate to salvation for those who have the wherewithal to be spiritually self-aware ?
I know some of you may be like, “How could you think those things? When did you become a skeptic?” God’s grace is sufficient for me to speak my mind and share my honest questions. Agreed? The questions above speak to what lies underneath the perplexing wonders of God. There is way more to the God story than what has been revealed to us. The canon of Scripture—the Word—was closed long, long ago. I know prophets of old have ceased to be a voice to mankind. I should not underestimate how God can speak to the human heart in His own way—Spirit to spirit. Maybe that explains the seeming dilemma described above? God speaks to all?
No doubt, most of you reading have had the same question about humankind and salvation. Perhaps for many simply trusting God for what you can’t have answers for is sufficient and you leave it at that. Others have all their answers. Maybe some believe a whole lot of people missed the boat and went to hell if they didn’t receive Christ on earth. Might be that God worked it all out with every human being outside our time space realm when their death occurred, and they had a chance to make a choice. Is it possible that everyone meets the eternal Jesus for a time of reckoning when they die? An intermediate state? Purgatory?
I’ve come to embrace the mystery without all the answers, and it has moved me to open my heart to the love of God as being the supreme experience. I am learning to bring complexity into harmony with doubt and faith. Even the faith of a mustard seed. Faith, hope and love. The greatest of these is love. Because of love, Jesus cleared the way once and for all…for all.