A Command and a Miraculous God

One of the central claims of Christianity is that salvation can only be obtained though faith in Jesus. A common objection to this comes in the question: How could a loving and just God condemn to hell those that have never even heard of Jesus? For example, those living in jungles in remote parts of the world. I find this to be a valid question, and it is certainly a question that has led me to think. As such, in what follows, I would like to discuss two thoughts I find important and useful when addressing this question. First, that Jesus commands those that follow him to tell people about him, and second, that God can work in miraculous ways.

In Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus says, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” This is a call to all believers in him to tell people about him. It’s not just a call to tell some people either. It’s a call to tell everyone – “all nations”. Jesus chooses to use his people as the means through which people can get to know him. Certainly, no single person could reach everyone in the world. Even if possible, a person would still be confined to reaching only those alive at that same time in history. That’s the beauty though. Christians comprise a body. Some are called to share locally, while others are indeed called to go to the aforementioned remote parts of the world. 

An amazing example of the latter is the story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. Jim was a part of a group of missionaries that was killed in an attempt to make contact with and share about Jesus with a tribe in a remote part of Ecuador. What is amazing though is that, just a few years later, Elisabeth went to Ecuador with their three-year-old daughter and was able to successfully move in with and minister to the same tribe that had killed her husband. 

While Christians are called to tell people about Jesus, it’s also important to remember that God can work in miraculous ways. In Mark 10:23 Jesus exclaimed, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” At this, his disciples wondered who could be saved. In response Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). I could see Jesus responding similarly to those today that wonder how those in remote areas of the world or those that believe in God but perhaps profess a different faith than in Jesus could possibly be saved if indeed Jesus is the only way. We must remember that God can do what is seemingly impossible. 

An example of this comes in the story of an Iranian pastor. While travelling across Iran with his wife he needed to stop to get gas. When going in to pay, he passed by a man with a gun standing outside the door of the gas station. After he had paid and was starting to drive away, his wife told him that he needed to give that man a Bible. He thought she was crazy because he would probably get killed for doing such a thing. She insisted though, and begrudgingly, he turned around and went back to the gas station. Once back there, he walked up to the man and gave him a Bible. The man responded by saying that three nights ago he had had a dream telling him to go to this place because there he would be given the words of life. God can reach people even when Christians can’t. This is not the only story either. I have heard many about Muslims whose initial steps in coming to faith in Jesus involved him coming to them in dreams and/or visions. I trust that God can work in equally miraculous ways with other groups of people too.

To finish, I would like to note one more aspect. Namely, although the answer can be thought  as two-fold, the two pieces are inextricably intertwined. First, even when Christians do share about Jesus, it is only because God first worked the miraculous in them by drawing them unto him and endowing them with his Holy Spirit. This is so evident in the story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot. There is no way Elisabeth could have lived with and felt the desire to share about Jesus with the people that killed her husband without the love of God in her heart. On the other hand, even though he didn’t need to, God still used people, even a reluctant person, as part of his plan to reveal himself to the man in Iran. It should be noted that all other stories I have heard about people taking the initial steps to faith in Jesus through dreams and/or visions have involved them meeting a Christian too. A final part to this puzzle that all must remember, and hopefully draw comfort from as well, is the fact that God is just. “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” (Isaiah 30:18).