As I am now into my "writing career," I can say that I am becoming a little more comfortable. My ability to quickly relay my thoughts into written words has gotten easier, but my concision of words still varies from topic to topic. With that, the topic of this post is not something that I can easily make petite and convenient, but I can provide some definitive statements about God that may help you with a common question asked by many people of all faiths. What happens to people who may never have or get the chance to hear about God or Jesus? What happens to them when they die?

This serves as a provocative question for believers and nonbelievers, as it arouses our human desire for an answer. Just like with anything concerning God, the most reliable answers are given to us in the inerrancy of God's Word. The Bible directly addresses this situation in the Gospel of Matthew. When Jesus takes His disciples unto the Mount of Olives, He describes some specific things that will occur during the last days.

He first gives an account of the natural disasters and tragedies that will strike the world, i.e., wars. famine, diseases, earthquakes, etc. He then goes on to say that those who are advocates of His name will have to endure persecution, rejection, and some even death. He ends it with some words of encouragement, though, by saying that in all of these perilous things, that those who endure to the end will be saved. He gives further encouragement by saying what is more pertinent to this blog post in verse 14, "And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come."

Now this is a direct result of what Jesus says in the gospel of Mark 16:15, when Jesus instructs His disciples to go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. These two synoptic verses are orderly very important, because while the composition of the Bible places the Gospel of Matthew ahead of Mark, the Gospel of Mark was actually written before Matthew. This is appropriate because Jesus first gives the instruction for His disciples (followers) to go out into all of the worlds to preach the gospel unto all of the creation.

Later in the Gospel of Matthew, He details the fulfillment of this instruction by saying that the gospel will be preached unto all the world for a witness unto all nations. So, these two verses here are our biblical foundation when concerning the spreading of the gospel. We first are given the instruction of what to do, and then an assurance that the gospel will be fulfilled.

While these two gospels give us something definitively biblical when concerning the permeation of God's Word, it still leaves some people with the concern of the evidence that suggests that there are some places that God's Word has not reached. Due to our human limitations in knowing every language and the whereabouts of all people, the argument is that it is factual that God's Word has not reached all places of the earth.

The apostle Paul addresses this issue in his epistle to the church in Rome (Romans 1:19-21), when he essentially says that God has given us an innate knowledge of His existence. That His existence is made apparent through the acts of nature, His creation, and most of all His divine and eternal power. Paul goes on to say that it is so much so, that people will be "without excuse." That is to say, that there will be no justifiable reason not to acknowledge and believe in an already apparent God.

The first two paragraphs give us a biblical foundation as to why God will be known unto all people, but you may still be wondering about the people who have never heard of the name of Jesus. The common question is if Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and that no one comes to the Father but through Him, according to John 14:5, then what about those ones who do not ever hear the name of Jesus? What about the ones that due to an unawareness of His name, are not able to confess that He is Lord and was risen from the dead by God (Romans 10:9)? Are they able to achieve salvation?

This is also a provocative aspect to the topic of this blog, because either answer to this question causes us to challenge the validity of all scriptures. The most concise answer to this question is knowing that God is just. The justice of God is one of the most replete messages in the Bible, and it calls attention to an aspect of God that is different from the more "warming" ones (i.e. His love, mercy, and grace). Additionally, part of God's justice is that He will only judge you based on what you know and what you do about it. This becomes important to know, because God is just enough not to judge you for being unaware of the name of Jesus.

Contrarily, God is just enough to judge you based upon what you do with the instinctual knowledge of Him that has been given to you (Romans 1:19-21). This is comparable to the people of the Old Testament who did not accept Jesus, because He had not yet come to redeem the world. Here, the determining factor is that they adhered to the instinctual knowledge of God, and made a decision to serve and dedicate their lives to Him. This too can cause uncertainty in the minds of people, because if people can achieve salvation without knowing the name of Jesus, would that then discredit the validity of other scriptures? In other words, would that make the definitive instruction on how to achieve salvation ambiguous, which would in turn make other scriptures wrong? My answer to that would be a profound no.

As stated earlier, one of the most replete messages in the Bible is the justice of God. To reiterate, God is just enough to judge you based on what you know and what you do about it. Additionally, He is just enough not to judge you for what you are unaware. An important characteristic of God's justice for which to take note is that it is beyond what our finite minds are able to fully comprehend. Nowadays this becomes difficult to accept, because as a whole, we have required an infinite God to satisfy the understanding of our finite minds. One thing to understand, though, is that because God's justice (and in actuality God as a whole) is beyond what we are fully able to understand, then consequently, God's ability to make Himself known to all of the world goes much further than what we are physically able to do. In other words, just because we humans may not be able to reach the outer, solitary parts of the world, by no means suggests that God cannot. The Bible informs us of His omnipresence in several passages, most notably in Jeremiah 23:24 and Psalms 139:7-10. More so, Psalms 90:2 says, "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God." This is appropriate and supports the validity of all scriptures, because just how God is among all men now, He was also among all men during the Bible days. Just how God was among all men during the New Testament, He was among all men during the Old Testament. Just how God is among the believers, He is also among the nonbelievers. Just how God is among the aware, He is also among the unaware. So, the justice lies in the fact God has not hidden from anyone. God is readily available to all people, regardless of age, race, social class, the level of education, etc. This transitions itself to the cross of Jesus Christ, our Savior, because at the foot of the cross, all men are equal. At the foot of the cross, Christ is readily available to all men, regardless of age, race, social class, the level of education, etc.

I know this was a rather lengthy post, but as I said in the intro, this was a topic that I could not put into a concise answer. With that, I know I may not have answered all of your questions, but I do hope it gave you some foundational information upon which to increase your knowledge of God. While the reality of an infinite God goes beyond what our finite minds are able to fully understand, it is important to know that God, just like Christ, has not been hidden. He is readily available to all people. Revelations 22:17 says for whosoever will, let him come. That requires a choice, though....I choose God.

Until next time,

Alvin E. Long Jr.