As salvation is described in 2 Cor 4 …For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
This dawn is awakened through Christ crucified(Col. 1:16-20) in each and eventually all and is inevitable because all the paths of chaos lead to futility and no human is capable of eternal resistance, the love of God being so superior and demonstrated so clearly in this one great event from which all other events spring…this one act of wisdom and humility that breaks every heart- sooner or later.
In my opinion it is not an issue of Gods omnipotence versus man’s freedom, so much as it is understanding the inevitable and overwhelming beauty of sacrificial love that will break through every veil- eventually.
“If I be lifted up from the earth I will drall all men unto me” and “Behold I am making all things new” are the Alpha and the Omega.
I think God saw this from the beginning and in order to bring us to Himself** as friends in understanding and communion**, He allowed us to suffer chaos, to chose it and revel in it, to be broken by the emptiness of it, and now is gathering each heart as it breaks and even the hardest will break eventually because of the inevitable superiority of love.
“I dwell in the high and holy place and with the one who has a broken and a contrite heart.”
The breaking occurs in the LOF(imo) because there, as the heat of the refiner increases, and the light that shines out of darkness erupts, the secrets of the heart are revealed and each individual there will see themselves through the eyes that are as flames of fire, “for all things are open to the eyes of Him with which we have to do”.
Aparently it is a painful process on some level, and I dont doubt it, as the refiner’s fire has caused me some serious pain at times to break me and open me up, but I do not think the lake of fire forces people to become righteous. I think that God is Rock and Water and Wind and Light and Fire and all of these natural elements express facets of how He has so set the cosmos so that one aspect or another will win out over our rebellion.
He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29 Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man Acts 17
because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. 20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse Ro 1
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Heb 4
As far as pre-existence, the way I see it is God created Adam from the dust and breathed into it and then he became a living soul. Perhaps that breath is a sparkle of the diadem of the I AM in each soul, perhaps that part could be said to have pre-existed, but I don’t think so, beyond the idea of an infinite God shaing a little piece of His own infinite being(I AM That I Am) with each soul, and thus our uniqueness is an expression of Him, but I dont see how pre-existence has a tremendous impact on the philosophical or theological conundrums of Universalists, because I believe, properly understood, the salvation of all, or UR, or UUR- is in itself the ultimate key to unlock the matrix of the scriptures and “bring it all home”, Alpha to Omega.
To know that God always intended to save all, and to save them all from themselves through the glory of Christ crucified, gives a broad enough context for all the other parts to fall in place, leaving a few fuzzy places around the edges to keep us humble