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What happens to those
who never hear the Gospel?
Creation
clearly reveals not only that God exists but also His divine nature
Biblword
Your Question: What will happen to those
who have died but have not heard the Gospel in their life?
First, let’s establish why people need to hear
the Gospel.
The reason is very simply put by the Apostle Paul in Romans
3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God.”
Sin is the problem and Jesus is the solution.
Speaking of Himself, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the
Father except through me” (John 14:6).
Speaking of Jesus, Peter said “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no
other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be
saved” (Acts 4:12).
God wants “all men to
be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
Gods view
In God’s eyes are they innocent or guilty?
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in
unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them;
for God made it evident to them.
“Since the creation of the world His invisible
attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being
understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
“For even though they knew God, they did not
honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations,
and their foolish heart was darkened.
“Professing to be wise, they became fools, and
exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of
corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. (Romans 1:18-23)
Creation clearly reveals not only that God exists but also
His divine nature.
Man’s refusal to recognize this is because of the hardness
and rebellion of his heart.
All of mankind is thus guilty of sin which is separation
from God. Only Jesus has been able to bridge this separation through His death
and resurrection.
Only Jesus
Since only Jesus can ensure that we are reconciled with God
and go to heaven to be with God when we die; it is clear that nobody can be
saved without Jesus.
People do not go to hell for rejecting Jesus when they’ve
never heard of him; people go to hell because they are sinners, and are
rejecting the knowledge they already have of God, as Romans 1:18-23 has said.
Not believing in Jesus simply seals their fate.
Example
Perhaps this simple illustration can make this point clear.
A man gets sick and goes to the hospital.
After some tests, the doctor informs him that he has an
incurable form of cancer and there’s no treatment available.
That same day researchers elsewhere discover a cure of that
precise kind of cancer. But the man knows nothing about the researchers and
they know nothing about him.
Within a few months the man dies. He died because he had
cancer, not because he didn’t get the cure.
Not getting the cure simply sealed his fate. In the very
same way, the whole world is dying of the cancer of sin.
They don’t die because they’ve never heard the Gospel. They
die because they are sick with sin.
Not hearing the Gospel simply seals their fate.
Biblword is a ministry of GlobalRize. Marten Visser is the
founding director of GlobalRize. Marten is a pastor from The Netherlands with
long years of experience as a missionary in Thailand. We now have around 200
people from all over the world involved in GlobalRize’s ministry. Besides the
English page, Biblword also exists in 13 other languages on Facebook.
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