That does not mean that everybody is automatically going to heaven; no, because many "receive ... the grace of God in vain" (2 Cor. 6:1), and reject what Christ has already won for them.

Almost everybody at some time has dreams, bad dreams, nightmares. But the universal testimony seems to be that one always wakes up just before the final tragedy, which was so realistically feared. According to the Bible, since the world began no human being has ever experienced the second death, that is, hell itself, with one GRAND Exception--Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second or "last Adam" of the human race.

As the Head of the humanity, He "tasted death for every man" (Heb 2:9), not the first death which the Bible calls a "sleep," but the real thing, the utter God-forsakenness which is "the wages of sin" (Rom. 6:23; Rev. 2:11; 20:14). He died YOUR second death; there is no need for you to endure it! Christ has DONE something for every human being, ACCOMPLISHED it, and GIVEN him the benefit.

"The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6). Christ is "the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (John 1:9). Not only is He "the propitiation for our sins," but also "for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). A writer much wiser than I has written, "He restored the whole race of men to favor with God. ... No sin can be committed by man for which satisfaction has not been met on Calvary, ... a thorough expiation."

You and I live today because of that "satisfaction." He has lifted the heart-burden of "condemnation" which sinful Adam passed on to us and has pronounced on "all men" that "verdict of acquittal" that Paul describes in Romans 5:15-18 (REB). That does not mean that everybody is automatically going to heaven; no, because many "receive ... the grace of God in vain" (2 Cor. 6:1), and reject what Christ has already won for them. But "for every man" there is deliverance already achieved for those "who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2:14, 15).

"Don't I have to DO something?" someone asks. Of course; let your proud, sinful heart be melted; "humble yourselves … under the mighty hand of God" (1 Peter 5:6); let the "constraint" of that love motivate you to live "henceforth … unto Him which died for [you]" and not unto yourself (see 2 Cor. 5:14, 15). Say "Thank You!" with your life.