The Pygmies in Africa

By Guy Baker

How often have you heard it said that God is not fair? Not fair you say. Why? Because for God to say there is only ONE way to heaven means that people who have never heard that Jesus Christ is Lord are left out – they have had no opportunity to find God. Certainly God could not be so unjust and unfair as to make just one way to heaven. What about the Pygmies in Africa who never had a chance to hear the Gospel? Would God really send them to Hell for something they could not control?
Now these words or words similar to these, have been used to discount the truth of the Gospel. The good news that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life. Jesus said clearly in John 3:16 that “God so loved the world, He gave His ONLY begotten son and whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life.” Jesus also said in John 14:6 “ I am the way, the truth and the life. No one gets to the Father except through me.”
Obviously, God has a problem here. Either God must solve the pygmy problem or His word is wrong. That’s the way it lines up for most people.
The other day I was riding in the car with a friend and we started talking about faith. I asked a simple question, “What do you have faith in? If you died tonight and stood before God – and He asked you this question, what would you say? Joe! Give me a good reason why I should let you into my Kingdom?” For a sincere person, who has come to a place in his life that his spiritual relationship with God is important to him, this question has deep meaning. The Bible says everyone, believer or not, will stand before God Almighty on the judgment day. God will separate the believers from the nonbelievers. Both will be judged based on their deeds. The believers will be given eternal life in the presence of God. The non-believers will be given eternal life separated from God in Hell.
According to the Bible, God did not make Hell for man. He made Hell for the demons and Satan who were expelled from Heaven many centuries ago. But man can choose how he will live his eternal existence. He will either live it in the presence of God or in anguish and torment, separated in the fires of Hell.
Does God send people to Hell? According to the Bible, man chooses Hell instead of choosing to believe Christ is the only way to the Father. In other words, God has given every man the opportunity to choose where they want to spend their eternal life.
There are three kinds of faith. The first faith is intellectual. In other words, we believe because we trust the knowledge provided by independent sources. We know that George Washington lived, fought and died. There are numerous sources that confirm the existence of George, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and many other historical figures. But I would bet you never saw them with your own eyes. You never shook their hand. Yet you believe they existed, they lived. Most people believe Jesus Christ lived. In fact the Bible says the demons and Satan believe in Jesus. Oh? . . . there must be more to it than believing.
A second faith is emotional. It is feeling. You are in a plane during a storm. The plane is bouncing around and you begin to wonder if you will ever land. “Oh Lord, if you get me out of this I will…” (Fill in the promise.) We have all done this at one time or another. This faith comes from the deepest part of our soul as we realize how human and fragile our lives really are. But soon afterwards, we go back to being immortal and invincible. At least until the next time.
Faith has to be more that believing or feeling. Faith is knowing for certain –knowing in the deepest part of your soul — that it is true. The question then is what do you know.
If you stood before God and He asked for a reason, what would you say? Would you tell God that you are a good person. That you have led an honest and serving life? That you have used your money to help others? That you have never deliberately hurt anyone? Can you say these things? I bet most of us feel that way. When I have asked this question, I have heard others say that on balance they have contributed more good than bad. That if you could measure honesty, integrity, caring, compassion and all of the other attributes we admire and hold dear, on balance, “I have been better than worse.”
If you look closely at that line of reasoning, you will see the common denominator. It is what “I have done. I have been good. I have been kind. I have tried hard. I have given of my time. I have helped others.” The Bible calls these works. The Bible says that faith without works is dead. In other words, if there is no evidence of your faith, then where is it?
But, is works what creates faith? Paul the Apostle, the Pharisee of Pharisees, the Christian killer turned saint said, “Oh wretched man that I am.” He declared that he was “chief among sinners.” Here is perhaps the greatest evangelist in history, who went from a Christ-hater to a Christ-lover. He touched more lives at a time when Christianity was hated throughout the world. He died a martyr’s death. Yet he declares that works were filthy rags.
Faith has to precede works. Paul writes, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God, not by works, so that no man can boast.” Grace saves through faith. It is a gift. Our works are insufficient because we would boast and compete among each other for the affection of God. Think about this. If we could earn it, then we could do something to lose it. What is there that we could do that could add anything to the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. If there was anything we could add, then why did Jesus have to die?
Many people don’t understand the death of Jesus on the cross. I certainly didn’t for many years. It wasn’t until I read the Old Testament carefully, that I learned how the blood sacrifice from perfect animals was the only way God would forgive the sins of the Israelites. Life is in the blood. The blood of these animals, sacrificed on the altar by the priests, paid the price for the Hebrews’ sins. This was the Levitical system of sacrifice God taught Moses on Mt. Sinai when God gave Moses the 10 commandments.
You may also remember that in the Holy of Holies, the Chief Priest could only enter once a year, on Yom Kippur. Over the Ark of the Covenant, he presented the blood sacrifice for sins . No one could enter the Holy of Holies except the Chief Priest. This was off limits to everyone. If anyone entered, they would die. The Holy of Holies was the dwelling place of God, here on earth during the Israelites’ wanderings in the desert for 40 years. It represented the separation of God from man. Forgiveness from God required a mediator to intercede on behalf of the people to obtain God’s forgiveness of sin.
Once a year, when the Priest emerged from the Holy of Holies and had completed the offering, he would place the sins on a second goat. This goat was released into the wilderness to carry the sins of the people away – as far as the east is from the west. This was the scapegoat.
When Jesus died on the cross, the veil, a thick curtain that separated the Ark from the people, was ripped from top to bottom, thus symbolizing that the people now had direct access to God and no longer needed the Chief Priest as their intercessor. Jesus was now the intercessor. He is the final priest. The people (us) no longer needed a man to intercede for their sins. Christ’s death was the final sacrifice. Man no longer needed to sacrifice the blood of animals to pay the price of sin. Christ’s blood on the cross was accepted by God as full payment. Jesus said, “It is finished.”
When we stand before God, our works pale beside the finished work of Jesus. What works could we possibly offer that could supercede the work of Christ? How could we ever believe our efforts would add anything to what Jesus already did for us? Yet, the answer to this question is almost always, “I did this” or “I did that.” So what is the answer? Whosoever believes? Do you believe? If you do, then that is the answer. When God asks you, all you have to say is, “I believe Jesus is Lord. I believe He died on the cross for my sins and that I am forgiven. That I have accepted His death as my sacrifice and that He is my savior. There is nothing more that can be said. We can add nothing to the finished work on the cross.
God is Holy, Holy, Holy. Sin cannot come into His presence. You and I cannot even hope to have a relationship with God based on our own merits. When we believe what Christ did for us was meant for us, then we are immediately transformed. We become new creatures. The old man is dead and we are no longer slaves to sin. The Bible says we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit. Our bodies become the Holy of Holies and God lives within us. Our temporary bodies are still sinful, but our soul is now Holy.
Another thing happens as well. When God indwells us, we are covered with the Robe of Righteousness. This symbolic Robe is the blood of Jesus. When we stand before God, He sees the blood of Jesus, not us. This Robe covers our sin, our body. We are no longer seen as sinners, but as a child of God. We have been adopted with all of the rights and privileges of an heir.
Fine, fine, fine. But what about the pygmies, those who have not heard about God or the sacrifice of His Son?. For many years, the only answer I really understood was from Paul in Romans 1. He writes that God has put the knowledge of Him in the hearts of every man so that man is without excuse. In other words, God has done everything He needed to do in order to make certain there are no pygmies who do not know. But then, I often hear another argument that deals with God’s love. If God is loving, how can He let any one perish, particularly one who has not HEARD the gospel message?
In God’s system of justice it would be just as if He let all perish for no one deserves to be saved. The Bible says, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We are all imperfect and have all failed to have no other gods. “The wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” So if God wants to exercise His justice, no one is saved. The true question is not “How can a loving God allow anyone to go to Hell?” It is “How can a just God allow anyone into Heaven?”
Recently I was studying Ezekiel. Ezekiel was 30 years old when God came to him and told him to say these things to the people of Israel. They were captives in Babylon at the time, having been captured by Nebuchadnezzur, the Babylonian King. I have to admit the prophets of the Old Testament are hard for me to follow. Reading about what God did, or is going to do, to those who worshipped idols is not fun reading. But then I discovered Ezekiel 33. Here God tells Ezekiel he has made him a watchman for the house of Israel. God says that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He tells Ezekiel to tell them to repent and turn from their idolatry. God then says that the righteousness of man will not save him when he disobeys and the wickedness of the most wicked will not cause him to fall if he turns from his ways. If he does what is right, he will surely live.
The Old Testament covenant with God says He will judge each man according to his own ways. If a man is unrighteous and does evil, he will die for it. The New Testament is different. It is a covenant of grace. We are covered by the covering Jesus provided for us by His death on the cross. God has given this covering as a gift so that we, even though we are imperfect can be in His perfect presence forever. Jesus is our Savior and it is on His blood that we rely for our salvation.
So each of us has a choice. We can be judged under the Old Testament covenant and be judged according to our ways, or we can accept the New Testament covenant. God offers both. One is based on the grace of God, the other is based on our own righteousness.
So, will God leave the Pygmies out of the Kingdom because they didn’t hear the Gospel? Apparently, not. God says He will judge them based on their own righteousness. The ultimate choice is not God’s. He has already set the standard, for the Pygmies and for us. Since we have been given the choice then, would you rather rely on your own righteousness, which is imperfect at best, when standing before God OR accept the free gift salvation offered by God? Righteousness or salvation – we will be judged by one or the other. The choice is clear.