The “All” inclusiveness is not only a NT teaching. Isaiah, in the Old Testament, already spoke about All in chapter 25 “God will prepare a feast for all people, He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers up all nations. He will eliminate death, wipe away the tears from all faces and remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. He will destroy death forever, wipe away tears from every face and remove people’s disgrace”(HCSB).
This brings us to the question of God’s justice. Is there justice if all people are saved you might ask?
What about all the bad people in the world, people who did very bad things (like Hitler, Stalin etc.) where is justice and avengement for their victims? Where is the avengement for 6 million World War 2 holocaust victims? The martyrs in Rev 6 were asking the same question: “How long O Lord, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”
Again we go back to the garden of Eden where Adam was told the lie by satan, causing humanity to doubt the word of God. Where Adam did not pass judgement against satan but passed judgement against God, and in doing so gave over to satan the claim to rulership. A gross injustice was done against God and humanity. Consequently humanity now lived constrained within the bounds of this captivity, blinded to the reality of their divinity as image bearers of God, under the lie of satan till the execution of justice on the cross by Jesus (God in the flesh). The captives, all humanity, were set free, their true divinity restored as image bearers (offspring) of God, fully adopted.
Will we see all injustices addressed in this lifetime? Probably not, but it will be in the end. All injustices occurred will be put on satan’s shoulders, the initiator, and true justice through love, will be upheld by God himself. This will be the judgement against satan and his minions when they are thrown in the lake of fire and sulphur, tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:10). Or as Young’s says, to the ages of the ages. This is where the injustices will be addressed. While humanity might experience this as a refiner’s fire (Rev. 21:8), the removal of the dross from the gold, a removal of their stinking thinking, not as a judgement, yes this will be like a torment, like a death, but as Rev. 21:7 says, “Jesus has already overcome and has inherited all things”. At the same time “all of humanity’s life history is a “book of life”. When we die, the book is finished, but it will not be destroyed. It remains for eternity in the memory of God, not to be used against us in judgement. It is a loving and healing remembrance that puts things to rights; Remember me according to thy great mercy” (Jurgen Moltmann, The Coming of God, pg 73). The dead were not to be punished for what they have done wrong, but rewarded for what they have done right. Several times in the New Testament we read about rewards 1 Cor. 3:8, “will receive his own reward according to their own labour”, in Hebrews 11:6, “a rewarder of those who seek him”. “It is done! I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End”, said a loud voice from the throne of God (Rev. 21:3, 6). The New Heaven and a new Earth, “The holy city-the new Jerusalem coming out of Heaven as a bride adorned for her husband”, vs 10b.
So we can come to the conclusion: Yes, All means All. All humanity is included. All humanity is the gold, refined in the fire. All humanity is part of the habitation of the new heaven and new earth.
