The following Bible Teaching is the transcript of an ex tempore live broadcast (GL002) given by Gabriel Ljungstrand at Yom haBikkurim (the Day of Firstfruits) on 21 April during the Pesach (Passover) Conference of 2019. Brother Ljungstrand, from Göteborg (Gothenburg) in Sweden, is a leader in NCAY, was originally trained for the Lutheran priesthood, is a student of biblical Hebrew and Greek, and is currently resident in Kigali, Rwanda where he heads the East Africa Mission.
A subject that has been very much in the air that can potentially cause division is the question: How far reaching is the finished work of Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) on the cross? Did Yah'shua (Jesus) say that only a few would be saved or that there would be many. As He does not say one way or the other, we must search the Scriptures.
I will begin with a very well known Scripture, maybe the most well known of all Scripture, from the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 16. But to put it in context, I will include verse 17 also:
"For Elohim (God) so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For Elohim (God) did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:16-17, NKJV).
I can tell you this word "might" means something like 'perhaps' in English but this is not the meaning in Greek. The correct meaning is that "the world through Him will be saved". In other words, that Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ) is the Saviour of the world and it is bacause "Elohim (God) so loved the world" that He will saved the world.
When we read about judgment in scripture, we certainly read about hell, we read about the "Lake of Fire". I certainly believe in the existence of hell but not in the way most people think of it that has come to us from Dante's Divine Comedy in the Middle Ages. Rather, I believe what Scripture says about Sheol in the Tanakh (Old Testament) Hebrew and Hades in New Testament Greek. The Greek Hades means the same as the Hebrew Sheol.
Let is now go to 1 Timothy, chapters 2 and 4:
"For this is good and acceptable in the sight of Elohim (God) our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the emet (truth)" (1 Tim.2:2-4, NKJV).
He "desires" or "wills". Then the question we must ask ourselves is: which will is the strongest? Is the will of Elohim (God) strongest or is the will of rebellious men and women along with the will of Satan and of demons. Which will is strongest? I do not believe in the notion that we have one 'good God' (Yahweh) and one 'bad God' (the Devil) who are fighting each other. The Elohim (God) I believe in, the Elohim (God) in Scripture, is Almighty, and what He wills, will come to pass. But Elohim (God) hasn't just created the Universe - He has created time, and Elohim's (God's) will - Elohim's (God's) intention - does not happen immediately. Fallen angels, and fallen men and women, can go against Elohim's (God's) will (the definition of sin) but Elohim (God) also has a Plan.
In the Messianic Scriptures (New Testament) there are two words - thelma, Elohim's (God's) will that is His wish, which men, women and angels can go against, which is sin. But there is another word, bullemai, which is Elohim's (God's) Plan, and no one can go against Elohim's (God's) Plan - His Plan for the Ages.
So let us go to 1 Timothy 4, starting at verse 8:
"For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living Elohim (God), who is the Saviour of all men, especially of those who believe. These things command and teach" (1 Tim.4:7-11, NKJV).
I am therefore obeying what the apostle Paul is speaking when I teach that "the living Elohim (God)...is the Saviour of all men, especially of those who believe". There is certainly a difference between believers and non-believers
