The Netherlands is my home country. I lived there pretty much my whole life. It’s a real trading nation. We export like crazy. But we especially know very well how to import all kinds of things. I also see this happening spiritually. From America and other places I see all kinds of charismatic-evangelical hypes blowing over. Usually they last for about a year or so, and then they fade to the background, unless there is a big shot Dutch Christian who runs with it, so that movement will take root in our country.
A recent example is the resurgence of the Word of Faith movement, which, in my estimation, is not very well-founded biblically. In our country it’s led by a number of emerging leaders who manage draw big crowds of especially young people. I have some big concerns about that spiritual hype.
Word of Faith, Universalism, and the list goes on
Another wind of doctrine that is taking over our country, and which I personally find even more dangerous, is universalism (everyone will eventually be saved). Well-known Dutch evangelist David de Vos has been pulled along in this teaching after something that seems like a burnout, and the subsequent deconstruction of his faith. Theologian Reinier Sonneveld just launched a book called “Het einde van de hel” (The End of Hell). These men can both be seen in a recent episode of David’s “Rauw” (Raw) podcast, which makes my (now partly grey) theological hairs stand on end.
The End of hell… and heaven in their current forms?
Is there something wrong with the evangelical image of hell that they are railing against? Absolutely. But there is not only something wrong with “our” image of hell, but also with our image of heaven. In the first centuries, the church broke away from the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith. In the process, many people started to think that Jesus came to save us from our sins so that we could live in God’s presence forever – in heaven, instead of in hell. With a harp on a cloud, we may praise him forever. This image of the afterlife is closer to Greek philosophy than to the biblical reality.
Where is eternity: heaven or earth?
I have brought a similar message as a preacher, accepting Jesus as your Savior to be sure you’ll go to heaven. I would lead a “sinner’s prayer” at the end of my sermon, so that everyone who had not yet accepted Jesus in their hearts could receive eternal life. In essence, there is nothing wrong with that. After all, we want people to be saved for eternity. But where will that eternity be? And what does a “choice for Jesus” mean?
The picture that the Bible consistently paints is that that eternity is here on earth, from the moment that Jesus returns and establishes his rule in the city of Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, and renews all things! We were not created to be permanent residents of heaven (or hell), but we, if we are in Christ, are given glorified bodies so that we could live on a renewed earth, an earth that will merge again with heaven as it was in the Garden of Eden.
Back to the biblical text in its own context
Back to David and Reinier. It is perfectly fine if they want to put end to the concept of hell as it has been developed in church history and in our evangelical world. But then they should also put an end to the idea that heaven is the final destination of all believers. And, instead of going along with the age-old false doctrine of universalism, why not completely revert to the biblical text in its own context?
And that is exactly where David and Reinier go wrong. They are just as detached from the Hebrew background of the Christian faith as the evangelical world they criticize. The same goes for our friends in the Word of Faith corner. The Bible is reinterpreted through a contemporary filter, a filter that is foreign to the biblical authors and their original readers.
Your eschatology determines your life in the here and now
I recently listened to an episode of the Messiah podcast of Firstfruits of Zion, which they recorded together with the guys from the Apocalyptic Gospel podcast. The discussion was about how our eschatology (the doctrine of the last things) determines our life with Christ in the here and now.
They put it very well. There is an “American Dream” eschatology. It is all about your life in the here and now. It’s all about “living your best life now.” God wants you to be wealthy, healthy, successful in this life, and then eventually go to heaven. And then there is the “eternal sing-along in the cloud” eschatology: life here is not important. The physical is bad and the spiritual is good. We need to get certainty that we will go to heaven so that we can praise the Lord forever with a harp on a cloud.
Embrace an apocalyptic eschatology
The Jewish eschatology which the (all Jewish!) writers of the New Testament based themselves on, was completely different in nature: it was apocalyptic. When we think about the word “apocalypse”, we think of all kinds of disasters. But the word apocalypse basically means “appearance”. The Jews in the time of Jesus all looked forward to a cataclysmic event: the Day of YHWH, the day of the LORD, the day that God would appear here on earth. This is the day when Jesus, the Messianic King of Israel, will return, raise the faithful dead, judge the world that rebels against him, and establish his throne on Mount Zion.
Will everyone be saved in the end?
But there is a clear separation that takes place between those who belong to Jesus and those who rebel against him. Matthew 24 and 25 show us the words of Jesus himself about how his return will take place and how that separation will take place. David and Reinier conveniently skip over this. Do they not understand the text? Do they not understand the context? Or do they not want to understand it because it is uncomfortable, because it does not fit into their picture of a god who is only loving and kind?
Yes, God is love. But God is also just. God’s justice requires that he is also a judge, and will judge those who are not in Christ and rebel against him! Why would people who have rebelled against him all their lives want to live in his presence for eternity? Burger King’s advertising slogan “Have It Your Way” also applies when it comes to eternity!
Is the second coming good news for you?
Jesus did not come to save us from hell so that we could live forever in heaven. And not everyone will be saved, as universalism teaches. Jesus came to ultimately restore all things at his second coming (Acts 3:21). We will live on a renewed earth, where Jesus will rule from Jerusalem as the righteous Jewish King… to the ends of the earth (so also over the Netherlands). If you are in Christ, and live in believing loyalty to him (that is the meaning of the Greek word for faith, pistis), then the return of Jesus and the judgment that will take place is good news for you.
Or is his second coming bad news for you?
But Psalm 2 shows us that if you join in the rebellion of the rulers of this earth against God, against his Anointed Jesus and against Zion (or the place where the Anointed One will establish his throne), then Jesus’ return will be your condemnation. Only those who are “in Christ” will ultimately be saved. God will ask us: “What have you done with my Son? Have you lived in believing loyalty to him? And what have you done with my chosen people, the people who belong in the promised land and on my holy mountain, Zion?”
I have little hope…
I find it downright shocking how evangelists who once were on fire for Jesus are seized by false doctrine and use their platform to give space to confused theologians like Sonneveld. As a result, many – especially young – people are led astray, and are on a path to judgment. If you have the influence as David de Vos has, the poster child he is of the EO and BEAM, you have a great responsibility. Jesus said:
“It is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” (Luke 17:1-2 BSB)
I have little hope for the church in the Netherlands when I think about all the evangelical hypes that have flooded our country, without any correction from the leaders who should know better. No one dares to open his or her mouth, afraid of being canceled and no longer being allowed to speak on certain platforms.
… But I also have hope
But I also have hope, because I see that more and more leaders and churches are now fed up with these hypes, and are starting to anchor their faith in the apocalyptic messianic-Jewish foundation of the first century. And by that I do not mean that non-Jews should suddenly start acting like they are Jews.
No, these leaders and congregations are looking beyond the borders of our country, a country that is flooded by liberal and charismatic confusion. These leaders and congregations are seeking connection with the Messianic Jewish movement worldwide, and especially that part of the movement that is not legalistic and is ready to welcome their non-Jewish brothers and sisters with open arms, so we can stand strong together against the tidal wave of theological and eschatological confusion.
Together we stand strong
Together we stand strong when we are one with them in Messiah. Together we stand strong in our Maranatha cry: “Come, Lord Jesus!” Together we stand strong when we turn away from the “American Dream” eschatology or the “eternal sing-along” eschatology, and align ourselves with the King of the Jews, who will establish his throne on Mount Zion and rule in righteousness on the Day of YHWH.
He is coming soon!
Want to grow in your understanding of the Bible in its own context? Want to better understand the metanarrative of the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation? From May 15-17 we will be hosting the KNGDM Conference in Almere, the Netherlands. The theme is “The King is Coming – Get Ready!” We will have many different speakers from a Messianic Jewish background, and from various nations. Here is a video invitation for you:
This article was originally published in Dutch on Cvandaag on February 27, 2025.
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