Is Everyone Saved?

Q. I have something I am struggling with and would like your opinion. We are taught our whole lives about hell but the bible says “God is not willing that any should perish” and what ever god wills, is. and He bought the whole field to get the treasure inside which can be interpreted as everyone is saved, also hell is referred to as fire and brimstone or the refining fire which was used to heat metals hot enough to separate the gold from the waste. Is it possible that everyone is saved but some have to go through a refining process or some hold lesser offices in heaven than the elect?. I am looking forward to your insight.

A. It’s clear from Scripture that while God is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9) many do. The story of the rich man and Lazarus alludes to the unsaved being tormented in the Lord’s time (Luke 16:19-31). According to Matt. 25:41 those who aren’t raptured but survive and remain unsaved at the 2nd Coming will be thrown into the eternal fire then. Rev. 21:8 speaks of sinners in the Lake of Fire during the Millennium. And in Rev. 20: 11-15 a multitude of unsaved dead will be resurrected for judgment at the end of the Millennium and thrown into the fire.

What this tells us is that it’s not God’s will that prevails where salvation is concerned, but man’s. The phrase “whoever believes” in John 3:16 refers to this choice. We all deserve eternal punishment. God is not going to send anyone to hell because He doesn’t want anyone to go there. But men will choose to go there by failing to accept the remedy He provided for their sins when He sent His Son to die for us.

By the way, it’s not hell that’s referred to as the refiners fire but the Great Tribulation when the believers of Israel will be separated from the unbelievers. (Zech. 13:9)