What About The Pygmies?

In John 14:6 Jesus makes an astounding claim. He claims to be the only way in which man can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Later in Acts 4:12, Peter also says that Jesus is the only way of salvation. So, there is no other way for any human being to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life, than through Jesus Christ.

Think about that for a minute…

The ONLY Way?

Throughout history people have struggled with this. They often ask questions like, “what about all the people that have never heard the gospel?” “The people that have never heard of the name Jesus Christ” “What if they desire God but were raised in another religion?” “Would God send those people to hell just because they didn’t know about Jesus?” These are hard questions!

Fortunately, the bible has answers. In Romans 1:19 the bible says that God has put it into the heart of man to seek after Him. Then, In Jeremiah 29:13, the Bible says that anyone who seeks God with all their heart will find Him. So God says that He puts it into our heart to seek Him and that if we seek Him, we will find Him. He isn’t playing hide and seek, He is desiring for us to turn to Him!

What Kind of God is He?

But getting back to our question, “What about the Pygmies”? In the book of Acts we see two examples that should give us hope and encouragement. In Acts 8, we see an Ethiopian man that is reading a portion of Isaiah. He has a heart to seek God but he doesn’t understand what he is reading and He certainly doesn’t know that Jesus is the only way of salvation.

Then, in Acts 10 and 11, we see a similar situation. A man named Cornelius is seeking after God with all his heart. Yet, up to this point, he has not heard of salvation through Jesus Christ. I Guess these guys are just out of luck right? What a mean, cruel God we serve! Sadly, this is how many people view these kinds of scenerios. But in reality, that’s not the case at all.

A Good and Loving God!

In both of these cases, we see something amazing. Both times God sends someone to preach the gospel to the people that were seeking Him and the people received salvation. That’s right, they found out about Jesus! It’s a beautiful picture of the truth that, regardless of our nationality, our religious background, or even our personal experience, if we seek God with all of our heart, we will find Him.

How? Because He will make sure of it! God’s word tells us this and God’s character assures it. So rest easy, because even the farthest reaching people can find salvation in Jesus Christ, God will make sure of it!

How About You?

How does this encourage you when you think about people in the world today that have not heard the gospel yet? How does this challenge you to be a part of seeing these people get reached? Feel free to comment below.