It was mid-January 2016. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was in prayer and talking with the Lord and asking, is this it? The burden He had put on my heart to study and research the three interpretative frameworks was gone. I had spent two-half years on this analysis. The answers were before me, and I could only stand on one solid, wonderful conclusion.
Jesus died on the cross to save all of humanity and to bring reconciliation of all things back to the Father. It is certain a time of judgment will come. An age or eon of judgment for those unrepentant in their lifetimes. However, the blood of Christ really is that powerful. None shall be lost. All humans will be saved, and the cosmos will be reconciled. All in accordance with His law. It is only our understanding of the timing and phases of how He will achieve this and … by what standard and process.
I broke down in tears of joy and amazement. In another way, also fear. What will people think of me now? Eternal hell had its legs kicked out from beneath it. I felt something I never felt before. True freedom, peace, and love! Then something else happened. What followed mid-January 2016 is an explosion went off in my heart. It is something that, unless you experience it, I am not sure anyone can really explain what it is like. It is a kind of “click … 1 … 2 … 3 … Kaboom” took place. I saw every single person around me in a new light. It was no longer saved or unsaved, but “they are redeemed.” I had a new love for Father God and Lord Jesus in a way I never knew possible. I could see every person, friend, or foe someday as a guaranteed brother or sister in Christ. The God All in All. In an atomic second, … I was changed forever!
This was the outcome of several years of my personal study on the three interpretative frameworks of trying to understand what happens to the unrepentant in their lifetimes. For most of my Christian life, I hadn’t even realized there was anything other than the eternal hell framework. This is what I grew up with. There is much to this story, but I want to give a small overview what led me to this all. After all, in total, this story has been ongoing for eleven years.
Where did this journey begin for me in questioning the eternal hell framework? Well, in fact, it isn’t too surprising. It was when I decided to actually “read my Bible.” It was in 2010 when I finally read the entire New Testament. I was thirty-three at the time and I had never fully read the Bible before. My background is not one that comes from being a scholar or a theologian. It comes from being an analyst. I studied business and my background working in Vienna, Austria has been in finance, sales, and business operations. For ten years, I worked in the software industry. On average, in any given year, I was driving a $50 Million plus software business along with the Regional Sales Director. I am very analytical about how I approach life. I hope, given this background, you will still consider reviewing all that I have to share, as I really believe it is something to be at least considered.
What followed having read the New Testament was, I committed to read the full Bible. It was a commitment to do a “front to back” reading plan. The first time, I read it the New International Version 1984 (NIV). It wasn’t easy, but I achieved it. This took about nine months. I was hungry for more. I followed it up again with a three-month New Testament reading plan. I would say not much came from it the first time, but it certainly stirred relevant questions in me.
From there, I just kept reading the entire Bible, each time in a different translation. I read the New King James Version (NKJV), then Young’s Literal Translation (YLT). That was tough, as the language and its literal nature was not something I was used to. It was when reading through the YLT that awakened enormous questions in me. What becomes clear is anybody who questions eternal hell has, in their lifetime, discovered the YLT. Since that time, I have read the entire Bible in seven to eight different translations. Some of my favorites are the Emphasized Bible by J.B. Rotherham and now the New Testament: A Translation from Dr. David Bentley Hart.
If we ignore—at this point in time—certain word translations. A profound conundrum developed in my mind. “I couldn’t reconcile the Old Testament God to the New Testament God.” What do I mean here? Usually, one hears stories of how people see God in the Old Testament as some angry, vile, wrathful God unable to be pleased. Then, in the New Testament, somehow His wrath has been satisfied in Jesus. In a way it amounts to, “OT God = angry, harsh, wrathful God. NT Jesus God = love, good, saved us from the wrath of OT God.”
What I saw was the complete opposite. I saw the Lord God of the Old Testament, in fact, so incredibly loving. So unbelievably merciful. What I kept seeing repeatedly as I read the Old Testament was His “amazing grace” and I still do; I saw the entire Old Testament full of the Lord’s grace, patience, and kindness. Yet … also His need to discipline and enact proper justice.
What followed was this difficult ability to reconcile what I read in the Old Testament with what I heard being preaching on the New Testament. I was taught that His wrath will be eternal on the unrepentant. It will never end. Yet, throughout the Old Testament, all I could see is the ending of His wrath. I saw the restoration of sinners back into a relationship with Him. I found such a deep disconnect taking place.
What happened then in 2014 after reading all of these different translations of the Bible? I experienced the Lord saying to me, “Right, enough of the customs of man. I am going to shake up your entire paradigm about who I am and what you should think about me. It is time to break down the idols of your heart.” Wow! What a scary proposition! This all began when I started reading the full Bible in 2010, but it was in 2014 when it became serious.
My starting point was with what I was already believing. First was the eternal hell interpretative framework, second the annihilationism (or conditional immortality) framework, and third the universal restoration (restoration of all things) framework. I spent about eight to nine months reviewing every verse, translation, part, and parcel of the eternal hell framework. Then the annihilationism framework with parts here and there regarding universal restoration.
The approach that I have with Jesus is maybe quite radical today. Jesus says in Matthew 18:3, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” So how does this practically work? For me, it means I take all that I know about a tradition we have and literally set it aside. I renounce my traditions, my understanding as it currently sits in my mind. I then come to Jesus as a little child, as if I really know nothing for this moment in time. What happens is if there is something worthy to be picked up again, it will come. Otherwise, it is as if He resets the foundations.
When I came to the end of these very intense nine months. I felt a release from the Lord saying, “… this is all for now.” Whew! What a relief! At that moment in time, I could only see the “annihilationism framework” was, in fact, holding far more weight than the “eternal hell framework.” It was quite a surprise for me.
Jesus gave me a good six-month break. But then … one day I knew with certainty Jesus was saying, “I am not done on this topic. It is time to continue.” I have to say, I fought it. I really didn’t want to even bother with this topic or theme anymore. I would say that was around June 2015 when I came back to the topic. I spent the following seven and half months reviewing in depth “universal restoration.” Going through all verses, history, and all discussions from all sides for and against it. It really was a battle now between universal restoration and annihilationism.
During this last session, slowly, annihilationism had all of its leg kicked out from beneath it. It blew my mind. I wasn’t being driven by feelings; it was purely analytical. What did all the data point to? It was as if Jesus launched a nuclear bomb upon all three frameworks and the only one able to come out of the ashes was “universal restoration.” And as you have read in the first three paragraphs, you saw what the outcome was in my heart.
What followed was more years of reading and studying the Bible and then it was over the summer of 2018, Jesus began introducing me to His laws. One might say I was unknowingly enrolled into the school of kingdom law. I will not write much about this here. As the entire book is all about “how the law of Christ decrees the salvation, reconciliation, and restoration of all things.”
It is now in 2021, I believe I am now at a point where I have a strong enough grasp of the data and all the information in order to share some of what I have learned over the last eleven years. For me, it was in studying the law of Christ that really drew the deepest distinction between the three frameworks.
With that, I would like to invite you to join me in this study. I only ask please, maintain an open, soft heart for what the Lord might like to share with you from it. Allow Him to speak to you as to what you should retain from this study, and what maybe personally for you is irrelevant. Let’s carry on.