Will God Judge Us Based on Our Deeds or on What We Believe About Jesus?

The Bible says we'll be judged "according to what we have done" (Revelations 20:13). And Jesus said the angels would separate the wicked from the righteous (Matthew 13:49) on the day of judgment. Does that mean we'll be judged based on our deeds rather than on what we believe about Jesus. Universalists want to see all people get into Heaven or, at least, all good people. And most universalists assume all people will suddenly "get it" or become good when they meet God after they die. They don't like the idea that one must know and believe in Jesus prior to death to be saved, because they consider most non-believers to be pretty good people who deserve to get into Heaven and be spared Hell.

However, though Scripture consistently puts emphasis on righteousness vs. wickedness and on good deeds vs. evil deeds (because it's important!), it is also exceedingly clear that salvation comes through no other name under heaven except that of Christ alone (John 3:18, 36, 14:6, Ephesians 2:8-9, Acts 4:12, Romans 3:21-25, 10:9-10). Scripture also makes it clear that rejecting Jesus IS a form of wickedness and, all by itself, is deserving of punishment.

"All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you" (II Thessalonians 1:5-10, emphasis added).

You can't have Jesus without JESUS! Although Christ's forgiveness and salvation is equally available to all humanity, there are vast groups of people whose hearts are so hard that they will NEVER turn to Him--regardless of anything He does to convince them of His love and grace (Genesis 6:5-6, Isaiah 42:18-20, Romans 2:5). That doesn't mean He condemned them in advance to Hell. That doesn't mean they didn't have ample opportunities during this life. That doesn't mean He ordained or designed them to be this hardhearted. Rather, God in His great love for us--even "while we were still sinners" (Romans 5:8)--took the penalty of our sin on His own shoulders, suffered and died in our place, spread His Good News to all mankind, and offered us a chance to spend eternity with Him. 

"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (John 3:18). 

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him" (John 3:36).

Do Those Who Died Prior to Jesus's Coming Get a Second Chance to be Saved?

According to Paul, people of faith who died without first receiving "the things promised" will still be welcomed into Heaven. However, these people were already people of faith when they died. Therefore, they need no second chance. He writes,  

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them... These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:13-16, 39-40, emphasis added). 

Therefore, no, those who died prior to Christ will not be given a second chance. As Paul explained earlier in Hebrews, people will "die once" and after that "face judgment" (9:27). But they don't need a second chance. By remaining in faith in the true God and looking forward in hope to His glorious Savior, the Messiah, until their deaths, they will be saved and welcomed into Heaven.

How Could a Good God Sacrifice His Son?

 

Many who misunderstand the Gospel, complain that it's unfair and cruel of God to demand that His son suffer and die for our sins. "No good father would do that," they argue. Agreed.

But one has to recognize that the Scriptural descriptions of God as a father are metaphorical. God and Jesus aren't literally father and son in the biological sense. Their relationship is FAR closer than that. They (along with the Holy Spirit) are ONE (Isaiah 9:6, John 1:14, 10:30, Colossians 1:15-17, 2:9, etc.). Therefore, where Jesus is, God is. What Jesus chooses, God chooses. What Jesus does, God does.

When Jesus allowed Himself to be put on that cross, God allowed Himself to be put on that cross. Jesus wasn't put on the cross by His Father--a distant, uncaring God who turned His back on His son. God Himself was on that cross! Jesus's cry of, "Father, Father, why have you forsaken me?" is a great mystery, but the way I understand it is that He was NOT referring to a breach in relationship with God, as many have assumed. God and Jesus were never at odds or at cross purposes or against one another (Matthew 12:25). Rather, Jesus/God was experiencing the weight of sin and suffering and pain in the same way all humanity has experienced it when we allow sin to master us rather than Christ's love and grace.

Because Jesus "became sin for us" (II Corinthians 5:21) as a human being--suffering and dying for the sin of the world--He was not experiencing the glory of Heaven or of divinity or of grace at that moment. He was experiencing existence as a mere man--separated from His Godhood and divine nature and state of sinlessness. That, I believe, is the separation and abandonment Jesus felt--not a literal abandonment of a cruel, heartless father refusing to acknowledge the suffering of his son--but the choice God made to abandon His godliness and glory so He could live life as a human being and suffer and die as a human being in our place (Philippians 2:6-8).

In this way, God Himself, as Jesus, allowed Himself to be tortured, ridiculed, and rejected, so we don't have to be. Therefore, God didn't demand any sacrifice He didn't pay Himself. And, because He is an excellent Father, He made sure you wouldn't have to pay that price either.