Jesus made this sobering injunction of the Pharisees,
“Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.” (Luke 11:52, NIV)
It wouldn’t make sense for Jesus to say this if He didn’t care about the people who were being persuaded not to enter His Kingdom. If these people were simply made by God not to enter Heaven, why would He care if the Pharisees hindered them? In fact, how could the Pharisees hinder them?
I can’t block you from entering a locked door. If the door is locked, you won’t go inside whether I’m standing in front of it or not. So we know from Luke 11:52 that Jesus wants people to go through the entrance to Heaven. Otherwise, He would be accusing the law experts of something He did Himself! Yet Jesus was so perfectly honest during His life time, that He had no fear when He asked His accusers this question:
Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? (John 8:46, NIV)
We can trust Jesus. His worst enemies couldn’t find any sin within Him. Peter the close follower of Jesus says about Him,
“He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” (1 Peter 2:22, NIV)
There are more passages we could look at, but I hope this is a starting point for you to realize that God does not lock people out of eternal life before they are born. God is good–we should never ascribe to Him characteristics He calls evil.
‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.’ (from Ezekiel 33:11, NIV)
gracestories 