Will everyone have a chance to accept Jesus as their Savior before dying?

divinelady

Member
I am wondering if everyone will have a chance to accept Jesus as their Savior before dying because their are many people dying before their time (assuming). The bible states that everyone will get the chance to know Jesus before his return to accept as their Savior, so I am assuming the many people who dies in car crashes, natural causes, murder, suicide and etc.....have had the chance to know and choose whether they serve the Lord or not.....but if this is not the case are they still judged for not having the chance?

Where do their souls go?
Hell or heaven until judgement?
 

readytogo

Well-Known Member
God would not be a just God if He would condemn someone who never had the chance to accept the gospel. Also, natural disasters, murder, etc, are a surprise to us, but not to God. He makes sure that each person, whether they accept Him or not will have at least one chance to hear the gospel before they die. This might be through a gospel tract, someone witnessing to them, reading online, having a dream or a vision (if they are in a country where the gospel is not available to be given freely...) No one gets out of this life without the chance to make the choice. (Except for children under the age of accountability.)

As far as a "temporary resting place" Paul tells us in Hebrews 9:27, "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" There's no making up their minds after death.
 

Hannah

Well-Known Member
We don't have scripture that directly answers this question but we do have scripture that shows us the character of God and His intentions towards mankind where the gospel of salvation is concerned.

First I want to share a scripture that answered this question for me many years ago when I was thinking about this as I had elderly family who were not Saved and very sick about to die.

The Bible tells us this about God. Here it is refering to the second coming of Jesus at the end of the Tribulation.

2PE 3:8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

What do we learn from this verse I have highlighted? God wants ALL mankind to come to repentance which precedes their being able to receive salvation. A repentant heart is able to turn to the Lord for forgiveness of their sins through the Blood of Christ.

We know that God is certainly not half hearted about bringing mankind to salvation and reconcliliation with Himself. God sent us His own Son to die for us. Therefore we know for sure God wants to see people Saved.

You can be sure that God will be doing whatever is necessary to bring people to His gospel of salvation. So they have every opportunity to receive Him before dying.

The second thing I want to share with you is God is a just God and He does not allow people to go to Eternal Damnation in ignorance. So how can we know this? We can see it in the first chapter of Romans.

RO 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

RO 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

RO 1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.

We see here that it says mankind will be without excuse when they stand before Him in judgement. Here we see that God has made sure all of mankind can recognise Him through His creation. It is also revealed to us in these verses that mankind have to literally reject the Truth of God to literally "supress the TRUTH". So God makes sure we can all know His Truth. To rebel against God we have to reject that knowledge. People who wish to turn their back on God cannot do so in ignorance.

So we learn here that mankind is been given every opportunity to SEEK God and to Desire His Truth!

I am certain that no one dies deceived by Satan or in ignorance without having the opportunity FIRST to know God's Truth.

We can see that God Himself desire NONE go to Everlasting Destruction but to Turn to Him and be Saved.

God is so good to mankind He even provided the Perfect Sacrifice Himself that could take away our Sins. His own Son!

So do not doubt that God is working in the hearts and minds of everyone on this Earth to bring them to Salvation through Christ.

When I came across this Truth I was inspired by the Holy Spirit to pray that my Elderly family members would not die until they have come across the gospel and fully understood it so they would know exactly what they are accepting or rejecting. I was able to pray this fully Trusting that God desired none to perish but all to come to repentance.

Hope this helps you with your question.
 

Hannah

Well-Known Member
Just one more verse that helps us see how God is working in this world to bring mankind to His salvation.

AC 17:24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 `For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, `We are his offspring.'

Everybody born on this Earth was born in a specific time and place so they would have every opportunity to SEEK God. No one is disadvantaged. God specifically placed us here today, in the nations where we are currently living, in the families we have been born into, into the circumstances that we are living our lives so that we would all have the ability to SEEK God and be Saved.

So even Budhists and Muslims born in non-Christian countries and families are right now in the right palce, the right time and the right circumstances to Seek God and find Salvation.

See God has planned the lives of each individual every born that they be in the best circumstances to receive His gospel of Salvation. I really think that is amazing and Praise Him for this often. :yeah:
 

DanLW

Active Member
The isolated tribe issue is an interesting one, and it will be interesting to find out exactly how God works it. The Romans passage indeed says that nobody is without excuse. The heavens declare the glory of God. Creation is evidence. So does such a tribe have to simply believe that one God made it, and seek to know him? Trouble is, a lot of tribes go overboard and start worshipping everything - sun, moon, stars, owls, rocks, mosquitoes, etc.

So if they come to the knowledge of one all powerful God who created everything, how do they God's salvation plan revealed to them? Or perhaps the many generations of isolated tribes are in a different dispensation until a missionary can reach them? We like to say that prophecy has ceased, but is it possible God would raise a prophet to them in lieu of a missionary?

The thing you can't get out of observation of creation is a knowledge of the death and resurrection of Christ. We all agree that belief and confession of this truth is essential to salvation. So while a tribe isolated for hundreds if not thousands of years could come to an understanding of a monotheistic creator God, how do they arrive at Christ? I can only think of two ways for them to be saved - God holds them to an earlier dispensation (you could say they don't have the Mosaic Law, so they are living in the pre-law dispensation, or whatever the technical term is), or God provides prophets from their own people to cover all the centuries it takes for the gospel to finally reach them.

Of course, if they hold to the belief in one creator God, and desire to know him, technically they are calling on Christ since the three are one. They just don't know the details, but do possibly have a hope in salvation, in much the same way the people before the time of the law had a hope in salvation.

We can speculate as to how God brings them to saving faith, but I think this will ultimately be one of those things we're just going to have to learn post-rapture.
 

readytogo

Well-Known Member
The isolated tribe issue is an interesting one, and it will be interesting to find out exactly how God works it. The Romans passage indeed says that nobody is without excuse. The heavens declare the glory of God. Creation is evidence. So does such a tribe have to simply believe that one God made it, and seek to know him? Trouble is, a lot of tribes go overboard and start worshipping everything - sun, moon, stars, owls, rocks, mosquitoes, etc.

So if they come to the knowledge of one all powerful God who created everything, how do they God's salvation plan revealed to them? Or perhaps the many generations of isolated tribes are in a different dispensation until a missionary can reach them? We like to say that prophecy has ceased, but is it possible God would raise a prophet to them in lieu of a missionary?

The thing you can't get out of observation of creation is a knowledge of the death and resurrection of Christ. We all agree that belief and confession of this truth is essential to salvation. So while a tribe isolated for hundreds if not thousands of years could come to an understanding of a monotheistic creator God, how do they arrive at Christ? I can only think of two ways for them to be saved - God holds them to an earlier dispensation (you could say they don't have the Mosaic Law, so they are living in the pre-law dispensation, or whatever the technical term is), or God provides prophets from their own people to cover all the centuries it takes for the gospel to finally reach them.

Of course, if they hold to the belief in one creator God, and desire to know him, technically they are calling on Christ since the three are one. They just don't know the details, but do possibly have a hope in salvation, in much the same way the people before the time of the law had a hope in salvation.

We can speculate as to how God brings them to saving faith, but I think this will ultimately be one of those things we're just going to have to learn post-rapture.


What God does with the Muslims, He can do with anyone! If someone is sincerely seeking Him, He'll find a way.

http://www.raptureforums.com/forum/...968-evangelism-middle-east.html#post841893502
 

Hannah

Well-Known Member
The isolated tribe issue is an interesting one, and it will be interesting to find out exactly how God works it. The Romans passage indeed says that nobody is without excuse. The heavens declare the glory of God. Creation is evidence. So does such a tribe have to simply believe that one God made it, and seek to know him? Trouble is, a lot of tribes go overboard and start worshipping everything - sun, moon, stars, owls, rocks, mosquitoes, etc.

So if they come to the knowledge of one all powerful God who created everything, how do they God's salvation plan revealed to them? Or perhaps the many generations of isolated tribes are in a different dispensation until a missionary can reach them? We like to say that prophecy has ceased, but is it possible God would raise a prophet to them in lieu of a missionary?

The thing you can't get out of observation of creation is a knowledge of the death and resurrection of Christ. We all agree that belief and confession of this truth is essential to salvation. So while a tribe isolated for hundreds if not thousands of years could come to an understanding of a monotheistic creator God, how do they arrive at Christ? I can only think of two ways for them to be saved - God holds them to an earlier dispensation (you could say they don't have the Mosaic Law, so they are living in the pre-law dispensation, or whatever the technical term is), or God provides prophets from their own people to cover all the centuries it takes for the gospel to finally reach them.

Of course, if they hold to the belief in one creator God, and desire to know him, technically they are calling on Christ since the three are one. They just don't know the details, but do possibly have a hope in salvation, in much the same way the people before the time of the law had a hope in salvation.

We can speculate as to how God brings them to saving faith, but I think this will ultimately be one of those things we're just going to have to learn post-rapture.

I used to be upset thinking people in isolated places were not going to have a chance to get Saved. However the verses I quoted from ACTS 17: 26 & 27 proves God thought of that ahead of time. Couple this with what we know from Romans chapter ONE we cannot deny God is certainly DRAWING people to Himself.

Yes I agree Dan we cannot specutale and formulate theologies about How these people are Saved. What process do they go through? Not sure.

I have heard ex-Muslims who have found Christ give testimonies that Jesus came to them in Dreams and Visions in their homeland where they had NO BIBLE, NO Churches, No Christian Missionaries.

So why did Jesus come to them in this way? I can only put it down to God's promise.

DT 4:25 After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time--if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the LORD your God and provoking him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. 27 The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. 29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him. 31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.


God promises to all who Truly Seek God with all their heart (or I like to put it as having a Sincere Heart) will find Him. God promises to be found by all who truly are seeking Him.

So how God does that we cannot speculate but we can know that God is not wanting any one to Perish but all to come to Repentance.

When you put together all these various scriptures you can know God has not forgotten or forsaken anyone in those isolated jungle backwaters.


AC 17:26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 `For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, `We are his offspring.'

I agree with your thinking on how these people might be Saved without a clear Gospel message. In the end we can Trust God will satisfy His own law to bring all to reconciliation with Him. For Jesus died once for ALL amnkind. How God applies that to those who have never heard of Jesus (the gospel message) I don't know but I do know the sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sins of mankind was made by Christ.
 

divinelady

Member
I agree and to add to that I would say the Lord left what is known as the comforter or the Holy Spirit and there is no limit as to what He can do and where He can go....so people in far places and locations where the gospel can not be preached from a website or television and so forth can be reached by the Holy Spirit and this will bring truth to the gospel......If they serve a god in their place I most certainly think the Lord would send them something far more beneficial than the false prophet that reaches them.....
 

mattfivefour

Well-Known Member
An interesting aspect of this, dl, is that we are hearing reports of Muslims—especially those in remote villages—who are coming to Christ after His appearing to them in dreams and visions. Joel Rosenberg reports it happened to an entire village in an isolated mountainous area..
 

DanLW

Active Member
Wow, very interesting what is going on. Young people seeing visions and old people dreaming dreams? I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere before...

(Joel 2:28)
 

dave-o

Well-Known Member
Here's what I know for absolute certain. Our God is a God of TRUE justice. There will be no one condemned to the "lake of fire" that doesn't 100% deserve to be there.
 

mattfivefour

Well-Known Member
Here's what I know for absolute certain. Our God is a God of TRUE justice. There will be no one condemned to the "lake of fire" that doesn't 100% deserve to be there.
:thumbup As we learn from prophetic Psalm 85:10, in Messiah righteousness and peace kissed (touched each other). In other words, God's righteousness and His mercy—the provision of peace for man (Luke 2:14; Nahum 1:15)—blended. No more did man have to sit under the judgment of God but, instead, could now enter into peace with Him through Jesus Christ.
 
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Elijah's Mantle

Well-Known Member
the great commission to take the gospel to every living person in the world is a great task for sure
one the modern church should never take lightly . The Harvest is plenty the laborers few :((
yet God is doing his part moreover we can know that because of the phenomenon of the isolated tribes :elmogrin we do a little and God does it all realistically :(( for salvation is God's gift
 
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