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WHY GOD
People complain that going to Hell isn’t fair.
Since God is Creator He can do whatever He wants to do with
mankind:
Genesis 1:1
(NASB)
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
John 1:1-3
(NASB)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He was in beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him
nothing came into being that has come into being."
Isn’t it great that God acts out of His love for you and has
made provision for you to have eternal life and go to heaven?
John
3:16 (NASB)
16 "For God so loved the world,
that He gave His [One and only] Son, that whoever believes [lit. whoever is the one who believes] in Him [should] not
perish, but have eternal life.
Ephesians
2:4-9 (NASB)
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with
which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive
together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing
riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace [unmerited favor] you have been saved
[lit. you are having been saved] through faith; and that [that
salvation, neuter: touto] this not
of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
So why not accept what His Son did for you?
On
the other hand few will decide to believe and have eternal life. All
individuals are disposed NOT to believe and only a
few will receive special attention from God and be drawn in the sense of persuaded to choose of our own free wills to believe
in Christ for salvation unto eternal life:
SINCE ALL
MEN BEGIN LIFE AS UNBELIEVERS; AND SINCE ALL UNBELIEVERS, EVEN THOSE WHO LEAD
RELATIVELY MORAL LIVES, DO THE SAME THINGS AS GODLESS MEN DO, THEN THERE IS NO
ONE RIGHTEOUS ENOUGH TO ESCAPE GOD'S JUDGMENT / CONDEMNATION WHO HAS NOT
TRUSTED ALONE IN CHRIST ALONE FOR THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF TO BE CREDITED TO OUR ACCOUNT BY GOD UNTO ETERNAL LIFE
(Ro 1:17 NKJV) "For in the
gospel a righteousness from God is revealed [in one to mankind] from faith to
faith, [i.e., out of ones belief in the gospel to faithfulness in ones temporal life to
that belief] just as it is written: 'The righteous will live [out the length of
their lives] by faith.' (Ro 1:18) The wrath of God is being revealed
from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the
truth by their wickedness, (Ro 1:19) since what may be known about God is plain
to them, because God has made it plain to them. (Ro 1:20) For since the
creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine
nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so
that men are without excuse. (Ro 1:21) For although they knew God, they neither
glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile
and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Ro 1:22) Although they claimed to be
wise, they became fools (Ro 1:23) and exchanged the glory of the immortal God
for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Ro
1:24) Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to
sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. (Ro 1:25)
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created
things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. (Ro 1:26) Because
of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged
natural relations for unnatural ones. (Ro 1:27) In the same way the men also
abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one
another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves
the due penalty for their perversion. (Ro 1:28) Furthermore, since they did not
think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a
depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. (Ro 1:29) They have become
filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full
of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, (Ro 1:30)
slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of
doing evil; they disobey their parents; (Ro 1:31) they are senseless,
faithless, heartless, ruthless. (Ro 1:32) Although they know God's righteous
decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to
do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. (v.
2:1) You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on
someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning
yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things."
(cont.) =
Since all men begin life as unbelievers;
and since all unbelievers, even those who lead relatively moral lives do the
same things as godless men do, then there is no one righteous enough to escape
God's judgment / condemnation who has not trusted alone in Christ alone for
eternal life.
[Compare Ro 3:10-12]:
(Ro 3:10) "As it is written: 'There
is no one righteous, [Righteous as God is] not even one;
(Ro 3:11) there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
(Ro 3:12) All have turned away, they have
together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.' "
And God only draws some of mankind, not
all
(Jn 6:37 NIV) "All that the Father
gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me [lit., the coming ones to Me]
I will never drive away, [lit., 'never cast out'].
(Jn 6:38 NIV) For I have come down from
heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him Who sent Me, [lit., the One
having sent Me]
(Jn 6:39 YLT) And this is the will of the
Father Who sent Me, that all that He [has] given to Me I may not lose of it,
but may raise it up in the last day.
(Jn 6:40 NKJV) And this is the will of Him
who sent Me, [alt. "of My Father"] that everyone who sees the Son and
believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last
day."
A)
GOD THE FATHER GAVE TO HIS SON, JESUS CHRIST, AS A GIFT ALL INDIVIDUALS WHO
WILL EVER CHOOSE TO COME TO JESUS IN THE SENSE OF BELIEVING IN HIM FOR ETERNAL
LIFE. AND ALL WHO COME BY FAITH TO HIM, HE WILL NEVER CAST OUT IN THE SENSE OF
NEVER DENYING THEM ETERNAL LIFE
(Jn 6:14 YLT) "The men, then, having
seen the sign that Jesus did, [were declaring] - 'This is truly the Prophet,
the [One Who is] the Coming [One] [into] the world;' (Jn 6:15 YLT) Jesus,
therefore, having known that they [were] are about to come, and to [seize] Him
that they may make Him King, [withdrew] again to the mountain Himself alone...
(Jn 6:26 NAS) Jesus answered them and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you
seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were
filled. (Jn 6:27 YLT) Work not for the food that is [the] perishing [kind], but
for the food that is [the] [enduring] [kind] to life [eternal] which the Son of
Man will give to you, from Him did the Father seal - [even] God.' (Jn 6:28
NKJV) Then they said to Him, 'What shall we do, that we may work the works of
God?' (Jn 6:29 NKJV) Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God,
that you believe in Him Whom He sent.' (Jn 6:30 YLT) They said therefore to
Him, 'What sign, then, [do You do], that we may see and may believe [You]? what
[do You do?]' (Jn 6:31 YLT) our fathers the manna did eat in the wilderness,
according as it is having been written, 'Bread out of the heaven He [Moses]
gave them to eat.' (Jn 6:32 NAS) Jesus then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say
to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My
Father Who gives you the true bread out of heaven.' (Jn 6:33 YLT) For the bread
of God is that which is coming down out of the heaven, and giving life to the
world.' (Jn 6:34 NAS) Then they said to Him, 'Lord, always give us this bread.
(Jn 6:35 NKJV) And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. [The
{one who} comes] to Me shall never hunger, and [the {one who} believes in Me
shall never thirst [at any time]. (Jn 6:36 YLT) But I said to you, that
[you] also have seen Me, and [you] believe not. (Jn 6:37 NIV) All
that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me [lit., the
coming ones to Me] I will never drive away, [lit., 'never cast out']."
=
The phrase rendered "comes to
Me" in Jn 6:37 continues the figure of speech for a moment of faith alone
in Jesus Christ alone resulting in eternal life established in verse 35
The word "gift" is implied by
the verb rendered "gives" in the phrase rendered, "All that the
Father gives Me." It implies that God has evidently made provision for a
number of chosen individuals to come to His Son by faith unto eternal life. Jn
6:44 and 65 will indicate that God has indeed made provision for certain
individuals such that they are drawn by Him, (Jn 6:44) and enabled by Him, (Jn 6:65)
to choose to come to Jesus, His Son, by faith such that these individuals are
stipulated as God's gift to His Son. Thus to make this a true gift, there
cannot be anyone outside of this elect group of individuals who might come to
Jesus by faith on their own without God - and none will. Otherwise individuals
could claim to come to Jesus without God's help. But Scripture says that all
who come to faith in Jesus are part of God's gift to His Son giving God all the
glory.
So the phrase "all that the Father gives
Me will come to Me [by faith]" has the entire population of those who
believe throughout history in view. The second half of the verse says:
"And whoever comes to Me [lit., the coming ones to Me] I will
never drive away, [lit., 'never cast out']"
= Gk:
"ou ...mE ..ekbalw .exO" =
..........."not .not ...cast .....out"
The words "ou me" in the phrase
"ou me ekbalO," lit., "I will never cast out" are an
emphatic double negative in the Greek. They picture the eternally secure
position a believer has with Jesus relative to eternal life - He will never cast
the believer out of Himself nor Himself out of the believer.
On the other hand, some maintain that a
believer could choose to cast himself out of eternal life by unfaithfulness of
some kind; but Jn 6:37 makes it clear that the only One Who has the capacity to
grant or deny eternal life is God Himself, Jesus Christ the Son of God. Man is
not stipulated in Scripture as having the capacity to grant or cancel his own
eternal life; but all men do have the capacity to choose to believe of their
own volition in God's Son for eternal life. Compare Jn 3:15-16 which support
this point, especially since these verses contain the phrase rendered,
"For God so loved the world," implying that all mankind has the Son's
payment for sins specifically made for all men of all ages since the beginning
and the phrase rendered "so that whoever believes [lit., whoever is the
believing one] should never perish but have everlasting life
Notice that Jesus is claiming to have the
authority and power of God over every individual's eternal destiny - a capacity
exclusive to God which He claimed in His testimony to the crowd.
B) JESUS ONCE MORE DECLARED
TO THE JEWS THAT HE HAD COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN NOT TO DO HIS OWN WILL BUT TO DO
THE WILL OF HIS FATHER WHO SENT HIM: TO SEE TO IT THAT ALL THAT THE FATHER HAD
GIVEN TO HIM - ALL WHO WILL "SEE" HIM IN THE SENSE OF BEING PRESENTED
WITH THE TRUTH ABOUT HIM - WHO CHOOSE TO EXPRESS A MOMENT OF FAITH ALONE IN HIM
ALONE UNTO ETERNAL LIFE, HE WILL NOT LOSE BUT RAISE THEM ALL UPON THE LAST DAY
TO EVERLASTING LIFE
(Jn 6:14 YLT) "The men, then, having
seen the sign that Jesus did, [were declaring] - 'This is truly the Prophet,
the [One Who is] the Coming [One] [into] the world;' (Jn 6:15 YLT) Jesus,
therefore, having known that they [were] are about to come, and to [seize] Him
that they may make Him King, [withdrew] again to the mountain Himself alone...
(Jn 6:26 NAS) Jesus answered them and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you
seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were
filled. (Jn 6:27 YLT) Work not for the food that is [the] perishing [kind], but
for the food that is [the] [enduring] [kind] to life [eternal] which the Son of
Man will give to you, from Him did the Father seal - [even] God.' (Jn 6:28
NKJV) Then they said to Him, 'What shall we do, that we may work the works of
God?' (Jn 6:29 NKJV) Jesus answered and said to them, 'This is the work of God,
that you believe in Him Whom He sent.' (Jn 6:30 YLT) They said therefore to
Him, 'What sign, then, [do You do], that we may see and may believe [You]? what
[do You do?]' (Jn 6:31 YLT) our fathers the manna did eat in the wilderness,
according as it is having been written, 'Bread out of the heaven He [Moses] gave
them to eat.' (Jn 6:32 NAS) Jesus then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to
you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My
Father Who gives you the true bread out of heaven.' (Jn 6:33 YLT) For the bread
of God is that which is coming down out of the heaven, and giving life to the
world.' (Jn 6:34 NAS) Then they said to Him, 'Lord, always give us this bread.
(Jn 6:35 NKJV) And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. [The {one who}
comes] to Me shall never hunger, and [the {one who} believes in Me shall never
thirst [at any time]. (Jn 6:36 YLT) But I said to you, that [you] also have
seen Me, and [you] believe not; (Jn 6:37 NIV) All that the Father gives Me will
come to Me, and whoever comes to Me [lit., the coming ones to Me] I will never
drive away, [lit., 'never cast out']. (Jn 6:38 NIV) For I have come
down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him Who sent Me,
[lit., the One having sent Me] (Jn 6:39 YLT) And this
is the will of the Father Who sent Me, that all that He [has] given to Me I may
not lose of it, but may raise it up in the last day. (Jn 6:40
NKJV) And this is the will of Him who sent Me, [alt. "of My
Father"] that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have
everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day." =
Jesus once more declared to the Jews that
He had come down from heaven not to do His own will but to do the will of His
Father Who sent Him: to see to it that all that the Father had given to Him -
all who will "see" Him in the sense of being presented with the truth
about Him - who choose to express a moment of faith alone in Him alone unto
eternal life, He will not lose but raise them all up on the last day to
everlasting life.
In Jn 6:38, Jesus explained once again to
the crowd what so far had been unfathomable to them: "I have come down
from heaven not to do [My] will but to do the will of Him Who sent Me."
Recall at this time, that only angels and God Himself resided in heaven
Jesus then indicated in Jn 6:39 that it
was His Father's will that, on the last day, He Himself will raise up from the
dead to have eternal life all those whom God had given to Him. He will lose
none of them, i.e., no one will lose their salvation. Thus all those whom God
has given to His Son as a gift - all those who choose to believe in Jesus to
receive the Food once for all time that endures to eternal life, (cf. Jn
6:27-29), are eternally secure.
On the other hand, some maintain that
there are others who are not part of God's gift to His
Son who may come to the Son through faith, who could lose their salvation hence
not be raised up on the last day. If this were true, and it is not, then God's
gift to His Son of those who come to Jesus would be valueless. According to
Scripture, no one will come to Jesus unless they are chosen by the Father to
give to the Son; and all who choose to believe must be drawn, (cf. Jn 6:44),
and enabled by the Father, (cf. Jn 6:65), to do so. Scripture does not
attribute credit to anyone who receives eternal life except God, (Jn 6:39).
Jn 6:40 begins with the phrase, "And
this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son [in the
sense being presented with the truth about Him] and believes in Him may have
everlasting life."
The Greek words "Pas ho... pisteuOn
eis auton," lit, "everyone [who is] the... believing one in Him"
in Jn 6:40a contains a nominative participle, i.e., a noun. So in view is a
single present moment of believing to become the believing one - the believer -
with nothing else stipulated resulting in the present tense possession of
eternal life forever because it is eternal. This is corroborated in Jn 6:40b
with a future tense promise of.all who believe being raised
up from the dead at the last day, (Jn 6:40).
So the theme of faith alone in Christ
alone unto eternal life as a free gift is made in John chapter 6 for the ninth
time in verse 40. Absent is any declaration of any action
on the part of man other than a moment of faith alone in Christ alone to
receive eternal life.
(Jn 6:41 NAS) "Therefore the Jews
were grumbling about Him, because He said, 'I am the Bread that came down
[lit., having come down] out of heaven.'
(Jn 6:42 NAS) [And] they were saying, 'Is
not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? [alt.
Therefore] How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven?'
(Jn 6:43 KJV) Jesus therefore answered and
said [to] them, 'Murmur [lit., grumble] not among yourselves.
(Jn 6:44 YLT) No one is able to come [to]
Me, if the Father Who sent Me may not draw him, and I will raise him up in the
last day;
(Jn 6:45 NKJV) It is written in the
Prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' [Isa 54:13] Therefore everyone
who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.
(Jn 6:46 NKJV) Not that anyone has seen
the Father, except [save] He Who is from God; He has seen the Father.
(Jn 6:47 NKJV) Most assuredly, I say to
you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life.
(Jn 6:48 NKJV) I am the Bread of Life.
(Jn 6:49 NAS) Your Fathers ate the manna
in the wilderness, and they died.
(Jn 6:50 YLT) this is the Bread that out
of heaven is coming down, that any one may eat of it, and not die.
(Jn 6:51 NKJV) I am the Living Bread Which
came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and
the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the
world.' "
(Jn 6:14 YLT) "The men, then, having
seen the sign that Jesus did, [were declaring] - 'This is truly the Prophet,
the [One Who is] the Coming [One] [into] the world' ... (Jn 6:32 NAS) Jesus
then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given
you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father Who gives you the true bread
out of heaven.' (Jn 6:33 YLT) For the bread of God is that which is coming down
out of the heaven, and giving life to the world.' (Jn 6:34 NAS) Then they said
to Him, 'Lord, always give us this bread. (Jn 6:35 NKJV) And Jesus
said to them, 'I am the bread of life. [The {one who} comes] to Me shall never
hunger, and [the {one who} believes in Me shall never thirst [at any time].
(Jn 6:36 YLT) But I said to you, that [you] also have seen Me, and [you]
believe not; (Jn 6:37 NIV) All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and
whoever comes to Me [lit., the coming ones to Me] I will never drive away,
[lit., 'never cast out']. (Jn 6:38 NIV) For I have come down from heaven not to
do My will but to do the will of Him Who sent Me, [lit., the One having sent
Me] (Jn 6:39 YLT) And this is the will of the Father Who sent Me, that all that
He [has] given to Me I may not lose of it, but may raise it up in the last day.
(Jn 6:40 NKJV) And this is the will of Him who sent Me, [alt. "of My
Father"] that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have
everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (Jn 6:41 NAS) Therefore
the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, 'I am the Bread that came
down [lit., having come down] out of heaven.' (Jn 6:42 NAS) [And]
they were saying, 'Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and
mother we know? [alt. Therefore] How does He now say, 'I have come down out of
heaven?' " =
The Jews were grumbling because Jesus
said, 'I am the bread that came down from heaven' - The Bread of Eternal Life,
(Jn 6:35, 38-40). They rejected His claim of being the supernatural source of
eternal life from heaven. They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph
whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, 'I have come down out of
heaven?' " The Jews had even declared Him to be the Prophet Who was to
come, (Jn 6:14). Despite the fact that His claim was corroborated by His
miracles which were acknowledged by them; they limited their faith to what
would best serve their own interests as evidenced throughout the Gospel of
John, (Jn 6:41-42).
(Jn 6:41 NAS) "Therefore the Jews
were grumbling about Him, because He said, 'I am the Bread that came down
[lit., having come down] out of heaven.' (Jn 6:42 NAS) [And] they were saying,
'Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? [alt.
Therefore] How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven?' (Jn 6:43 KJV)
Jesus therefore answered and said [to] them, 'Murmur [lit., grumble] not among
yourselves. (Jn 6:44 YLT) No one is able to come [to] Me, if the Father Who
sent Me may not draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day." =
Author John stipulated that the Jews were
grumbling in disbelief about Jesus because He said, "I am the Bread [of
life] that came down [lit., having come down] out of heaven," - the Bread
of Eternal Life (Jn 6:41). Jn 6:42 corroborated their state of unbelief when
they said, "'Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother
we know? How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven?' " Jesus
answered them, "'Murmur not among yourselves about Him. No one is able to
come [to] Me, if the Father Who sent Me may not draw him, and I will raise him
up in the last day." Jesus acknowledged that their not coming to Him by
faith was due to the Father not drawing them, (Jn 6:43-44). Since not all will
choose to believe in Jesus to receive eternal life, (Jn 6:37-44); and since all
who believe must be drawn by the Father, then some are not going to be drawn by
the Father. Although believing is volitional by definition, and anyone may
choose to believe in Jesus for eternal life; only those who are drawn by the
Father will choose of their own volition to come to Jesus by faith in Him as
the true Bread from heaven to receive eternal life.
Note that in Jn 6:44, it is implied that
not all of humanity is drawn by the Father, as some contend they will be,
citing Jn 12:32 as a prooftext. But the statements in Jn 6:37-44, "No one
is able to come [to] Me, if the Father Who sent Me may not draw him, and I will
raise him up in the last day" and Jn 6:65, "No one is able to
come unto Me, if it may not have been given him from My Father," imply
that being drawn and given by the Father are essential and inevitably effective
in bringing an individual to be able to and actually choose of his own volition
to exercise a moment of saving faith in God's Son. The passage in John chapter
6 and passages throughout Scripture indicate that not all will choose to
believe and be saved unto eternal life: "but there are [some] of you who
do not believe," (Jn 6:64). So not all of humanity will be drawn by the
Father in the context of Jn 6:44. Jesus' statement in Jn 6:44, "No
one is able to come to Me, if the Father Who sent Me may not draw him" is
nonsensical if all men are drawn by the Father, because not all men will come
to Jesus, so why make this statement to those who do not believe, when it makes
no difference - they won't come anyway?
Since every version has the second phrase
of Jn 6:44, namely, "and I will raise him up at the last day," with
resurrection to eternal life in view, considering the ongoing context of Jn
chapter 6, especially 6:35-44; then only those who are drawn by the Father will
receive eternal life; especially considering that Jesus is explaining to those
who do not believe in Him, (vv. 36, 64-65), that their unbelief in Him, hence
their destiny of not being eternal life, is due to the Father not giving them
to Him in vv. 36-37, and due to the Father not drawing them in v. 44. So the
contention that Jn 6:44 is a universal drawing of all men by the Father is not
in view, because Jesus is addressing those who have not believed in vv. 34-36
telling them that they have not believed and explaining in verse 37 that
"All those the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to
Me I will certainly not cast out." So those who choose not to believe in
Jesus, do not choose to believe because they have not been given to the Son.
But those that have been given to Jesus by the Father, Jesus said that He will
"certainly not cast out," in the sense of declaring that they will
have eternal life.
In conclusion, other statements elsewhere
in Scripture such as all men being drawn to Christ when He is lifted up on the
cross and similar statements are neither the same drawing of the Father, nor
the same context / result as the drawing of the Father in Jn 6:37-44 which the
latter results in all those drawn to be raised up on the last day, (cf. Jn
12:32
So in the light of verses 37-44, it can be
concluded that all who come to faith in Jesus were
previously drawn by the Father, (Jn 6:44); and thus all who
come to faith were, previous to that faith, given by the Father to the Son, (Jn
6:37); and Jesus "shall lose none of all that He
[the Father] has given [Him], but raise them [all] at the last
day," (Jn 6:39). Finally, it is the Father's will that "everyone who
sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise
him up at the last day," (Jn 6:39-40, 44b).
(Jn 6:37 NIV) '''All that the Father gives
Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me [lit., the coming ones to Me] I
will never drive away, [lit., 'never cast out']. (Jn 6:38 NIV) For I have come
down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him Who sent Me,
[lit., the One having sent Me] (Jn 6:39 YLT) And this is the will of the Father
Who sent Me, that all that He [has] given to Me I may not lose of it, but
may raise it up in the last day. (Jn 6:40 NKJV) And this is the will of
Him who sent Me, [alt. "of My Father"] that everyone who sees the Son
and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him
up at the last day. (Jn 6:41 NAS) Therefore the Jews were grumbling
about Him, because He said, "I am the Bread that came down [lit., having
come down] out of heaven." (Jn 6:42 NAS) [And] they were saying, "Is
not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? [alt.
Therefore] How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven?' " (Jn
6:43 KJV) Jesus therefore answered and said [to] them, "Murmur [lit.,
grumble] not among yourselves. (Jn 6:44 YLT) No one is able to come
[to] Me, if the Father Who sent Me may not draw him, and I will raise him up in
the last day." ''' =
Since "All that the Father gives Me
will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me [lit., the coming ones to Me] I will
never drive away, [lit., 'never cast out'], (Jn 6:37 NIV); and since "This
is the will of the Father Who sent Me, that all that He [has] given to Me I may
not lose of it, but may raise it up in the last day," (Jn 6:39 YLT); and
since "No one is able to come [to] Me, if the Father Who sent Me may not
draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day," (Jn 6:44 YLT); then
the eternal security of the believer is based solely upon the promise and
capacity of God and His Son to raise all believers up at the last day.
(Jn 3:15 NKJV) '''That whoever believes in
Him should not perish but [should] have eternal life. (Jn 3:16 NIV) For God so
loved the world that he gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish, but [should] have eternal life. (Jn 3:17 NKJV) For God did
not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
through Him might be saved. (Jn 3:18 NKJV) He who believes in Him is not
condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not
believed in the name of the [one and only] Son of God )... (Jn 6:35 NKJV) And
Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. [The {one who} comes] to Me shall
never hunger, and [the {one who} believes in Me shall never thirst [at any
time]. (Jn 6:36 YLT) But I said to you, that [you] also have seen Me,
and [you] believe not; (Jn 6:37 NIV) All that the Father gives Me will come to
Me, and whoever comes to Me [lit., the coming ones to Me] I will never drive
away, [lit., 'never cast out']. (Jn 6:38 NIV) For I have come down from heaven
not to do My will but to do the will of Him Who sent Me, [lit., the One having
sent Me] (Jn 6:39 YLT) And this is the will of the Father Who sent Me, that all
that He [has] given to Me I may not lose of it, but may raise it up in the last
day. (Jn 6:40 NKJV) And this is the will of Him who sent Me, [alt. "of My
Father"] that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have
everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (Jn 6:41 NAS)
Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, "I am the
Bread that came down [lit., having come down] out of heaven." (Jn 6:42
NAS) [And] they were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? [alt. Therefore] How does He now say, 'I have come
down out of heaven?' " (Jn 6:43 KJV) Jesus therefore answered and said
[to] them, "Murmur [lit., grumble] not among yourselves. (Jn 6:44
YLT) No one is able to come [to] Me, if the Father Who sent Me may
not draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day." ''' =
For one to come to Christ in the context
of Jn 6:44 is to believe in Him to provide eternal life for one, (cf. Jn
6:35-36, 40). And to believe is defined as to accept, regard, receive as true
that Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life Who will provide eternal life in a
moment of faith alone in Him alone to do that. Hence the word believe requires
that the individual have complete capacity and freedom to exercise his will to
believe or not
Since the nature of faith is volitional by
definition, i.e., by the will of man; and since Scripture requires all
individuals of accountable age to believe in the Son for eternal life, then
coming to faith in the Son is within the capacity of man to exercise. But
according to Jn 6:44, for one to exercise ones will and believe in Jesus Christ
unto salvation, the Father must draw one to be able to exercise one's will unto
saving faith within one's capacity to believe. Evidently what is in view is
that man of accountable age does have the capacity to believe in Jesus Christ
unto eternal life, but he will not evidently exercise that capacity until after
the Father draws him.
The meaning of the word rendered
"draw" in Jn 6:44 is to compel, persuade ones volition to choose to
consider and believe in Jesus Christ for eternal life. In the case of God's
drawing one to choose to believe in His Son unto eternal life in Jn 6:44, it is
evidently irresistable, because the result of everyone who is drawn by the
Father is inevitably to choose to believe in His Son unto eternal life.
Since all individuals who reach the point
of accountability by definition have the capability of choosing to believe in
whatever they choose to believe in; then Jesus' statement that "No one is
able to come to me unless the Father draws him" cannot have in view God's
overriding of an individual's will such that He overpowers the exercising of
what that individual chooses to believe. It must refer to an individual's own
will which blocks his decision to choose to believe in Jesus for eternal life.
History is filled with examples of those
with the insane mindset: "I don't care, I will not accept surrender
[defeat, my having done wrong, loss of face, infidelity, etc.] despite
overwhelming evidence which proves the case against one's point of view. It doesn't
matter what the facts are to the willful rebellious individual. He cannot
accept the facts because he will not. His mindset is controlled by his self
indulgent emotions which will never admit to the truth. The individual has
become so emotionally attached to his point of view, that regardless of the
facts, he cannot let it go - even to a point of self and eternal destruction.
This is the case with every man relative to believing in Jesus Christ unto
eternal life unless God draws him
(Jn 6:37 NIV) '''All that the Father
gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me [lit., the coming ones to Me]
I will never drive away, [lit., 'never cast out']. (Jn 6:38 NIV) For I
have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him Who sent
Me, [lit., the One having sent Me] (Jn 6:39 YLT) And this is the
will of the Father Who sent Me, that all that He [has] given to Me I may not
lose of it, but may raise it up in the last day. (Jn 6:40 NKJV) And
this is the will of Him who sent Me, [alt. "of My Father"] that
everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I
will raise him up at the last day. (Jn 6:41 NAS) Therefore the Jews
were grumbling about Him, because He said, "I am the Bread that came down
[lit., having come down] out of heaven." (Jn 6:42 NAS) [And] they were
saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we
know? [alt. Therefore] How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven?'
" (Jn 6:43 KJV) Jesus therefore answered and said [to] them, "Murmur
[lit., grumble] not among yourselves. (Jn 6:44 YLT) No one is able
to come [to] Me, if the Father Who sent Me may not draw him, and I will raise
him up in the last day;. (Jn 6:45 NKJV) It is written in the
Prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' [Isa 54:13] Therefore
everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.''' =
Jesus explained the phrase, "No one
is able to come [to] Me, if the Father Who sent Me may not draw him," in
Jn 6:44a with this quotation from Isa 54:13 in the Old Testament in Jn 6:45a:
"And they shall all be taught by God;" which is followed by Jesus'
words in Jn 6:45b, "Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the
Father comes to Me." So an individual's choice to be taught by the LORD -
to choose to listen to and to learn from the Father are functions of God's
drawing of him, which drawing inevitably results in the individual choosing to
come to a moment of faith alone in Jesus Christ for eternal life, in the
pattern of the children of ancient Israel who will enter the eternal Kingdom of
God which passage from Isaiah is quoted and commented upon by Jesus as recorded
in Jn 6:45:
1) [Compare Jn 6:44-45
with Isa 54:13]:
(Jn 6:44 YLT) [Jesus said] "No one is
able to come [to] Me, if the Father Who sent Me may not draw him, and I will
raise him up in the last day;
(Jn 6:45 NKJV) "It is written in the Prophets, 'And they shall all be
taught by God.' [Isa 54:13]. Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from
the Father comes to Me.' "
(Isa 54:13 NKJV) "All your children shall be taught by the LORD. And great
shall be the peace of your children."
Isaiah declared that the children, (the
descendants), of the ancient Israelites who enter the eternal Kingdom of God
when the LORD rules His Kingdom from the earth - will be taught by the LORD in
the sense of being faithful to His instructions. Isaiah concluded, "And
great shall be the peace of your children," implying an eternal godly
lifestyle in the Kingdom of God.
These words of Isaiah are further implied
by Jesus Christ in Jn 6:45 to signify that everyone who is drawn by God will
inevitably choose to be taught by the LORD, i.e., will choose to listen to and
to learn from the Father. And all of these will inevitably come to Jesus Christ
by a moment of faith alone in Him alone unto eternal life, and dwell in the
Eternal Kingdom of God forever. And the key source of learning from the Father
is the Word of God - the Bible.
(Jn 1:1 YLT) '''In [the] beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (Jn 1:2
YLT) He [lit., This One] was in [the] beginning with God...
(Jn 3:13 NKJV) No one has ascended to heaven but He Who came down
from heaven, that is, the Son of Man Who is in heaven... (Jn 6:37 NIV)
'''All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me [lit.,
the coming ones to Me] I will never drive away, [lit., 'never cast out']. (Jn
6:38 NIV) For I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will
of Him Who sent Me, [lit., the One having sent Me] (Jn 6:39 YLT) And this is
the will of the Father Who sent Me, that all that He [has] given to Me I may
not lose of it, but may raise it up in the last day. (Jn 6:40 NKJV) And this is
the will of Him who sent Me, [alt. "of My Father"] that everyone who
sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise
him up at the last day. (Jn 6:41 NAS) Therefore the Jews were grumbling about
Him, because He said, "I am the Bread that came down [lit., having come
down] out of heaven." (Jn 6:42 NAS) [And] they were saying, "Is not
this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? [alt.
Therefore] How does He now say, 'I have come down out of heaven?' " (Jn
6:43 KJV) Jesus therefore answered and said [to] them, "Murmur [lit.,
grumble] not among yourselves. (Jn 6:44 YLT) No one is able to come [to] Me, if
the Father Who sent Me may not draw him, and I will raise him up in the last
day; (Jn 6:45 NKJV) It is written in the Prophets, 'And they shall
all be taught by God.' [Isa 54:13] Therefore everyone who has heard and learned
from the Father comes to Me. (Jn 6:46 NKJV) Not that anyone
has seen the Father, except [save] He Who is from God; He has seen the Father.'''
=
The Father draws certain individuals
whereupon they choose to be taught by Him, to listen and learn from Him;
whereupon it is exclusively these who choose to come to a moment of faith alone
in Jesus Christ alone unto eternal life. This is not to say that anyone has
seen the Father except He Who is from God - meaning Himself. This implies Diety
and an eternal face to face relationship with the Father as the eternal Son of
God, (Jn 6:45; cf. Jn 6:33; 35; 38; 41; 46; 1:1-2; 3:13).
What about God’s election. After all you
won’t believe in His Son unless He elected you to choose to believe.
If
He has not elected you, you still
may choose to believe and be saved unto eternal life - you still have
that capacity - as all individuals of accountable age and capacity, but
you simply won’t.
Suppose
you have a change of heart while
you continue to suffer in Hell - all evidence seems to point to the
fact that the non-elect won't have a change of mind / heart.
I
don’t think you - non-elect - will have a change of
heart, despite the excruciating pain. Look at the Devil and his
minions. They
will be let out after nearly 1,000 years in the Lake of Fire and
immediately
rebel and try to overthrow God once more. How foolish, stupid,
ignorant, crazy,
arrogant. Are you - who are non-elect any different? Since the
non-elect are given every opportunity to choose to believe and have
that capacity to do just that.
Do I feel guilty and outraged that others were not chosen
to believe and they will be punished forever???
My
thoughts MUST follow the sovereignty of God and His Word. That’s scary
– my mother, father, stepfather, sisters, grand parents - evidently
evidenced not ever having believed. Only
I was saved. Can God be that heartless???
That’s scary that I could have been
imprisoned in the Lake of Fire forever, but only escaped because God decided to
choose me to choose to believe and be saved thru no merit of my own. Is that fair?
To
the finite mind that does not care for
the Absolute Sovereignty and Righteousness and Fairness of God, it may
not in
his limited point of view be fair. But Who is in charge? What an awful
world it
has been all these thousands of years with man allowed to act out of
his own
sovereignty and will. Is it time to let the absolute sovereignty
of God prevail beginning at the Millennium Rule and on into eternity
future. He's given mankind a chance to prove itself out. And it
did not succeed.
Take a look at the Genesis Flood account
in chapter 6 – it passes scrutiny corroborating what archeologists, historians,
etc. have discovered.
GEN 6:3
[Gen 6:3]:
"And the LORD said, 'My Spirit
will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred
and twenty years. [until such time as God will end His contending with man's
evil, (v. 5) - the men of those ancient days]
God is winding down civilization by
destroying all but the eight believers in the worldwide flood. He set a time
limit of 120 years for this to happen. He was not addressing the lifespan of
future generations.
And the next few verses explains why
God wasn't going to strive, i.e., contend for much longer with mankind's evil
at that time. He set the time of the end at 120 years, (far less than a generation
in those days).
[Gen 6:5-7]:
(v. 5) "The LORD say how great
man's wickedness on the earth had become and that every inclination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
(v. 6) The LORD was grieved that He
had made man on the earth, and His heart was fillled with pain.
(v. 7) So the LORD said, 'I will
wipe out mankind whom I have created, from the face of the earth - men and animals,
and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air - for I am
grieved that I have made them."
Notice that the context is focused
solely on those who were living in those times and the time period in which God
would wipe out every living thing. There is no message here about God limiting
the lifespan of future generations, for these verses do not address that fact
that mankind was permitted to survive through Noah - the focus was on the
immediate generation and God's judgment on them.
Henry Morris states, (The Genesis
Record, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1994, pp. 170-171)
"It was apparent that the
people had become so hopelessly corrupt as to be beyond reclamation. They had
completely and irrevocably resisted the Spirit's witness, so that it was futile
any longer for Him to "strive' [contend] with man....
"strive" =
"contend" = Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, (R. Laird
Harris Editor, Moody Press, Chicago, 1980, Vol 1, p. 188):
"judge, contend, plea.....
[with the concept of governing and judging the actions of].
Morris, cont.
"This particular prophecy was
evidently given, perhaps through Methuselah, just 120 years before the coming
of the Flood.... God has always been long-suffering, even under such awful
conditions as prevailed in the days of Noah (1 Peter 3:20). Though all had
rejected Him [after Methuselah died, except the 8 in Noah's family], He still
granted 120 years to mankind...
[He is doing this today;
[2 Pet 3:9] :
"The Lord is not slow in
keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not
wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."]
....[120 years] was more than
adequate time [considering the lifespan of hundreds of years in those days]
even for those who were infants to grow to maturity and have abundant
opportunity to accept or reject God.”
Just wait until you get your wonderful
resurrection body, then you will have so much greater an understanding – better
make sure you get one that is perfect and not one that is the same old you
because you didn’t believe in Jesus for eternal life
How horrible is the God Who will punish
you night and day forever, or is He justified considering how man has acted
toward fellow man all these millennia.
But why would you not opt out for eternal
life
But can the God of the Bible be
trustworthy.
Well how trustworthy is all that information in the Bible that can be tested to see if it is trustworthy throughout? Doesn’t the Bible make sense? Is man more trustworthy? Of course not: Consider this:
You know He paid an excruciating price for
your sins – so you would not have to go to hell if you did not want to?