You have wondered, “Will more people be saved and enjoy Heaven for eternity, or will more people remain lost?”[1] If more people remain separated from God, then it seems that Satan will have won. And it does not seem logical that God would allow that.
It is true that some Scripture supports the more-lost-than-saved position: (1) “Jesus said, “. . . wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it” (Matthew 7:13). (2) In the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:1-8), only one kind of soil out of four brought forth a healthy crop. (3) Scripture repeatedly uses remnant as an indication of those in God’s favor. God has normally worked through a remnant, not the majority. And (4) it seems that reports of people redeemed do not nearly keep up with the birth rate.
But we get a very encouraging perspective from Revelation 7. John 14:2 and Revelation 21:16 also support the more-saved-than-lost position.
Jewish Evangelists During the Tribulation Revelation 7 weighs in solidly on the side of more-saved-than-lost. Verse 9 says, “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.” The identity of this multitude is clarified by verse 14: “These are they who have come out of great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Clearly these are redeemed people.
The connecting link between “a great multitude that no one could count” and “these . . . have come out of great tribulation . . . .” (verses 9 and 14) is the sealing of 144,000 Jewish evangelists (Revelation 7:4-8) who are highly effective evangelists during the tribulation period (which is described in Revelation 4-18).
During the end of the “end times,” the supernatural will break out and become common. A titanic, colossal war for the minds, lives, souls, talents and energies of people will break out between God and Satan. So much so that angels preach the Gospel in the end times (Revelation 14:6).
And these 144,000 Jewish evangelists who are sealed (marked, somewhat protected for a time, guided) will be highly effective, resulting in many, many people coming to faith in Jesus Christ (Revelation 7:9).
How many people could 144,000 redeemed Jews evangelize in a given day? Figuring low — four people per evangelist X 144,000 X 3.5 years (“times, times and 1/2 a time”–Revelation 12:14) = an uncountable multitude at a time of peak world population!
Jesus Preparing a Very, Very Large Place Secondly, John 14:2 says Jesus was / is preparing a place for His own.[2] And Revelation adds that that place—the New Jerusalem—will be a 1400-mile-square cube. This is a very, very large place.
A 1400-mile cube, shown against the outline of the United States inside the graphic below, would occupy about half of the land area of America. This is not just one layer. Imagine one layer stacked up on another to the height of 1400 miles!
When we lived in Everett, Washington, our home was within sight of the Boeing Aircraft facility, supposedly the largest building in the world. The New Jerusalem will make the Boeing building look like a miniature, dwarfed toy. A nothing. Let’s consider this place the Redeemer is preparing.
Shifting from one square mile to a cube with each dimension being 1400 miles means there would be many, many, many luxury apartments which can be expressed mathematically in any of the four following ways:*
- 2.5 X 1016
- 1400 X 1400 X 1400 X 132 X 132 X 5280
- 25,000,000,000,000,000
- 25,000 trillion
This is a large number of palatial apartments for God’s people to enjoy throughout eternity. Two factors[3] come quickly to mind that would change this estimate. First, individual apartments may be smaller or larger. My suggested 40 X 40 X 10 is just a guess. The home my wife and I live in now is smaller than that and still very adequate, hence my estimate. Second, there would need to be some space for hallways, elevators, streets, accommodation for travel, parks, concert auditoriums, stadiums, shopping, etc.
In recent years, millions have been aborted. I believe they went straight to the Savior’s arms. Through the centuries, multitudes have died shortly after being born. The Black Death of 1348 and the Plague of 1666 in London killed about 15% of the population, many of whom were children and infants. Again, such innocents were redeemed.
Plagues kept the population of the world small until the last 120 years. Recently, better nutrition, better health care and a reduction in plagues has caused the population of the earth to balloon, even though COVID recently killed six million people worldwide.
I believe that most of the people who have ever lived are alive now (which creates enormous accountability for the church to evangelize the world). We live in fascinating times.
Let’s return to the basic question – will more people remain unredeemed or will more people become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ? Certainly as we look at society and the seven billion people alive today, most are not genuine Christians. On the other hand, it seems logical that God would defeat Satan by causing more to be redeemed than remain lost. And the place Jesus Christ is preparing for His own suggests this.
While Scripture does not say more will be redeemed than lost, it makes sense. Christians will have a front row seat to watch the accumulating totals.
*It is possible my math is off; a mathematical whiz I am not. Though a knowledgeable person has checked my math, I invite correction. [email protected]
** I am indebted to my good friend, Jeff Rauf for the excellent graphic.
***Written November 9, 2021; revised and improved March 21, 2022 and November 18, 2022
[1] Everyone is born with a fallen, sinful nature; as such, all people are born on the Devil’s team. Unless they repent and believe in Jesus Christ they “remain lost.”
[2] “’Mansions’ from the King James Version is misleading if it makes us envision having massive lodging on separate estates. The intended meaning seems to be that we will have separate dwellings on a single estate, or even separate rooms within the same house.” Randy Alcorn, Heaven; Page 333. John 14:2 says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms . . . I am going to prepare a place for you.” Place is singular, but rooms in plural. So maybe three – five rooms each within a large place /dwelling.
[3] These numbers are beyond me, but have been verified by a knowledgeable mathematician. The first one – 2.5 X1016 __ involves something called scientific notation, which is how very large or very small numbers are expressed.
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