Yesha
Westminster Standards
- Jun 25, 2007
- 231
- 54
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Reformed
- Marital Status
- Married
Do you think Anne Frank and the Jews persecuted in the Holocaust went to heaven? Did God pity them? Did any of them come to Christ during that time?
Is the manner in which a person dies or their unjust treatment by other human beings capable of fully atoning for their sin against a Holy God? The Scriptures teach that all mankind is under the curse of sin.
Romans 3:9-20 (ESV)
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Furthermore, the just penalty due sin is death.
Romans 6:20-23 (ESV)
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
But we also see that God, according to his mercy, has bestowed on a measure of mankind his everlasting love in order to display the riches of his grace.
Ephesians 2:1-10 (ESV)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
So then the means by which God saves sinners is through the free dispensing of his grace according to the good pleasure of his will. Apart from this, there is no other way to be reconciled to the Father. But we have assurance that all whom the Father has given to the Son will be raised up! There will not be, there cannot be a single member of his flock that will be cast out.
John 6:35-40 (ESV)
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
We rest assured that whoever among the Jews persecuted by the Nazis was given to the Son was saved unto eternal life by the grace of God. Not a single sheep of His fold during that wicked time was lost. However, it is also a somber thing to know that the condemnation of mankind in sin is not relieved by temporal suffering. The infinite holiness of God demands a payment that he alone can satisfy. The cross is the most glorious display of the justice and mercy of God toward sinners and is the sole means by which God has reconciled a people to himself.
Last edited:
Upvote
0