In this video, Grace@Work leader Cortney Alexander answers the question of “What about my family members who weren’t Christians?”
First, it would be impossible for me or any other Christian to tell you the fate of a person we didn’t know. Even if that person went his entire life actively rejecting Jesus, we have no way of knowing what occurred between that person and Jesus in the closing moments of his life.
While you might think it comes off as wishy-washy to say that someone could have repented on his deathbed, unbeknownst to the world, we actually have Biblical precedent for it. Consider the story of the two thieves crucified with Jesus. While both thieves started off mocking Jesus, one ended by recognizing that he was receiving the punishment due him, while Jesus was innocent. Moreover, he recognized that Jesus could change his situation, asking that Jesus remember him when he came into his kingdom.
What an amazing demonstration of faith—to recognize that Jesus—dying on the cross—was actually about to come into his kingdom. And that Jesus could take the thief with him! But how many of the thief’s friends and family would have known he repented unless they were with him to the gruesome end—and within earshot of his amazing dialogue with Jesus?
But let’s deal with the terrible possibility that our loved ones did die without confessing Jesus as Lord. What if they are experiencing the consequences of their actions? That would indeed be something to mourn. God says much the same thing in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 18: “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”
But the possibility that our loved one is experiencing the consequences of rejecting Jesus does not give us good reason to reject Jesus. In fact, we have good reason to believe that our loved one—even while experiencing God’s judgment—would want something different for us.
In Luke 16, Jesus tells about a rich man who died and was taken into torment. While the man desires relief from his punishment, he expresses no repentance for his unbelief. When he’s told that he will receive no deliverance from his punishment, his thoughts turn to his family. He expresses a desire that his five brothers repent, “lest they also come to this place of torment” (Lk. 16:28).
So the rich man’s realization of his own fate did not lead him to wish the same fate for his brothers. He wished something different for them. In the same way, we should not let the possible fate of our loved ones keep us from repenting of sin and turning to God.
Whether our loved ones are with God or separated from him,
they would not have us suffer eternal separation from God.
Jesus’ story about the rich man has another interesting twist. The rich man asks that a man named Lazarus, a beggar who had died at the rich man’s gate, be sent back to warn the rich man’s brothers. He believed that if they heard the message from someone returned from the dead, they would surely repent.
That sounds logical, but he’s told this is not the case. His brothers had the Scriptures. And if they did not believe based on the Scriptures, neither would they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.
This conclusion to Jesus’ story provides an amazing testimony to the power of the word of God to change someone’s life—a power that surpasses even the personal experience of miracles. It’s no surprise, then, that the apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 10 that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17).
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