This statement, “There is an exception to every rule.” Is not found in the Bible. However, it is seemingly a statement of truth. Exceptions for rules is a practice for which we have become accustom in our society. People expect exception to rules to be made on their behalf. The speed limit on most interstates is 70 miles per hour except for most people driving on them. That is only the speed limit for the few people who are pulled over for speeding. On judgment day many will want God to make exceptions to His law.
Jesus gave some exceptions to some rules that He made. Matthew records the words of our Lord as: “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doeth commit adultery” (Matthew 19:9). Here, we see clearly, that an exception to the rule that any person who gets a divorce and marries again commits adultery is given. AS long as the person who does the putting away does so for fornication he is free to remarry, but no exception was given for the person who was put away. Since all have sinned we are all going to perish (Romans 3:23; 6:23) except we repent (Luke 13:3, 5). Except we are born again we cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:3, 5). We cannot bear fruit except we abide in the Lord (John 15:4).
May more exceptions for rules in the Bible could be listed, but will there be exceptions made on the judgment day? Some will say that since God will judge us and since He is the One Who gave us the rules by which we will be judged it is in His power to make exceptions to those rules even on the judgment day. It is true that God is all powerful and therefore is able to do whatsoever He so desires, but can He change His mind concerning His eternal will that He has revealed to us? Could God on the day of judgment just change His mind concerning His “eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:11)? Will God make an exception to save people who are not in Christ even though salvation is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:10)? Will God make an exception to allow a person to enter into heaven who attempted in his life on earth to come to the Father by some other means other than by Jesus (John 14:1-6)? Did Jesus say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me except for those that God may allow to enter into heaven who did not come by me”? An example often cited that God is always able to make an exception to His rule is found in 2 Chronicles 30. After a long period of time in which the Passover had not been kept Hezekiah, king of Judah, made plans to restore its observance and invited both Judah and Israel to the feast. The law stated that it was to be kept in the first month (Numbers 9:1-5), however an exception was given for those who could not keep it at that time to be allowed to keep it in the second month (Numbers 9:10-11). Upon this exception Hezekiah planned for the observance of the Passover in the second month due to there not being enough priests who had sanctified themselves and because the people would not have had time to gather in Jerusalem by the first month upon receiving the invitation. Some people, even many of Ephraim, Mannasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the Passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “The good Lord pardon every one” (2 Chronicles 30:18). These people partook of the Passover being unclean which by the law they were not to do, but yet God answered Hezekiah’s prayer and healed the people (2 Chronicles 30:20). God made an exception to His rule that had not been made as part of His law. Therefore He overruled His law to allow for those who were unclean to partake of the Passover, therefore He is able if He so desires to overrule His law on the day of judgment for someone who is not a Christians to enter into heaven in the conclusion some have reached. In regards to 2 Chronicles 30:18 God’s grace is expressed in many beautiful ways during the dispensation of the law of Moses. However, we do not live during the days of the law of Moses, which was given only to the Jews. Today, we are recipients of the grace of God, regardless of what race we might be. Paul wrote to Titus that “the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11). God’s grace, even though it is available to all men, requires certain conditions before it can be applied to any individual. Under no dispensation has God covered the sins of a man without that man’s knowledge, conviction, repentance, and obedience. If he had done so, people would be flying off the earth into eternal bliss never having even known God while they were here on the earth.
For God to make an exception on the day of judgment for any person who is not a Christian to be allowed to enter into heaven He will have to overrule the judgment of His Son. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). When the Lord returns He will be “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). For God to make an exception in overruling the Lord’s judgment on that day of judgment He would cause the words of His Son to become powerless even though Jesus said: “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). God cannot make an exception in overruling the word of our Lord that will judge us when we stand before Him. To hold one by the judgment of the word is to hold everyone by it, and to lose one from it is too loose everyone from it for God is no respecter of person (Acts 10:34).
Love, Keith
