Dear Mike,

I want so badly for what you teach to be true. I want all to be saved. I want to believe that God will save all. But I am still in bondage and fear to what I have been taught, and I asked God for the truth to set me free. But I’m still so scared and I don’t know what to do. I hope God sent me to your website as a means of answering my prayer.
My problem is this:
“… but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.” Joh 10:26
If Christ died only for His sheep, and they were not of them, then doesn’t that refute salvation for all? Please help me, I’m great in bondage to fear.
Love,

R____

Hi R____,
Please allow me to give to you freely, the freedom from bondage that is in Christ, the Truth.
You quote Joh 10:26 and ask if this verse does not refute salvation for all? Here is that verse in its context”

Joh 10:24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Joh 10:25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
Joh 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [ man] pluck them out of my hand.

Now ask yourself where in these verses, or anywhere in scripture, do you see anything that says ‘You will never be of my sheep, so you will burn in literal flames for all time’? Of course the answer is that it is not there, it never has been there, and it will never be found anywhere in scripture.
Here is why Christ said that to His own people to whom He first came.

Joh 1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
Joh 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [ even] to them that believe on his name:

This is in the first chapter of the gospel of John. God never intended for the physical Jews to receive Christ. If they had received Him, they would not have killed Him, and you and I would not have a Savior. It is through His rejection that we were given a savior, if it is given to us to believe on Him.

Joh 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Now what do the scriptures teach us about what happens to those who do not believe? Are we told that they go to hell and burn forever in literal flames? No, of course not. Here is what we are told:

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

That is the very reason for two resurrections. Your faith is given you at the expense of the masses to whom it is not given to believe at this time. But you and I are not being saved just for the sake of being saved. We are being saved to become the saviors of ‘these also who now believe not’, that ‘through your mercy they also may obtain mercy’.
So that is why those to whom Christ was speaking in Joh 10:26 “believe not”. It is for the purpose of giving His faith to you and to me, so that you and I can show mercy upon all those who do not at this time believe.

Joh 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

This thing called “the lake of fire” does not last for eternity, but for the aions of the aions.

Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. (eons of the eons)
Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

This second resurrection is a resurrection to judgment which lasts for the aions of the aions, which means that ages of the ages, meaning the ages which bring the previous ages to a close. The fire here is the same fire we find throughout scripture. It is the Word of God, and it is those in whom that Word dwells. In other words, the fire of the lake of fire consists of God’s own righteous saints in whom He dwells. Look at what God told Jeremiah about having His word in Jeremiah’s mouth:

Jer 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Since we all must “lose our life in order to find it”, it is the burning up of this people’s wood which will actually be their salvation “through your mercy”.

Mat 10:39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

So it is those who are being judged now who will judge all others in this thing called the lake of fire. Who is comfortable in these symbolic flames of God’s Word? Here is what the scriptures actually teach:

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

It is in this symbolic “devouring fire” of God’s Word, in these symbolic everlasting [ Hebrew – olawm, age lasting,] burnings”, that those who are enduring this same fire now in this life, will be granted to show mercy to the rest of mankind after the millennium, at the great white throne judgment.

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

It is here in this same chapter that it is revealed that we as “the house of God” are right now being judged, so we can be judges in that lake of fire.

1Pe 4:17 For the time [ is come] that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [ it] first [ begin] at us, what shall the end [ be] of them that obey not the gospel of God?

I hope this helps you to see that Joh 10:26 is speaking of the fact that those who rejected Christ have only done so because we receive our faith at this time at their expense, and that it will be through us as that lake of fire, that they will receive faith.
Your brother in Christ,
Mike