1Tim 2:3 -4 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who desires all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (New King James Version throughout).
We do not often hear that God is our Savior.
God is our Savior. So is Jesus. But it is God who sent Jesus to bring about salvation (John 4:34,5;36; 6:38-39).
That all people are to be saved is God’s will. It is good in His eyes. This applies to all people, however sinful they have been and even though they were hostile to God.
As for “coming to a knowledge of the truth”: at this time, most people are blinded, but God’s will is that that blindness be removed one day.
2 Pet 3:8-9 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
The Lord’s experience of time is different from ours. Even as a child, we experienced it differently than grown-ups. One year in school feels like an eternity. The older one gets the faster the years pass. If you’re 60, one year is one sixtieth of your life, but if you’re ten, it’s a whole tenth.
God has no beginning and end. One day is like 1000 years to Him, and 1000 years as one day. One day like a thousand years? For us, this is incomprehensible. A thousand years like one day? Also hard for us to comprehend it.
For God to take thousands of years to bring His plan of salvation to fruition is no big deal. It will take thousands of years. In the end, everyone will come to repentance because it is His will. God will succeed in what He intends doing. But it is going to take time.
We live in a world where things need to happen fast: fast internet, fast computers, fast cars, fast foods, and quick fixes. We feel good when we can quickly “sort out” problems. And frustrated when we can’t. It’s an impatient humanity.
God is different. He is not a frustrated God. He has all the patience in the world… No, wait….. the world does not have patience. Patience or longsuffering is part of the fruit of God’s spirit (Gal. 5:22). People are impatient by nature.
Therefore, many become impatient with God. Where is God when all these bad things happen? Why does He do nothing, while women are raped and the defenceless robbed or murdered?
Because they don’t understand the bigger picture. God is the Master when it comes to timing. And our time arithmetic is not at His level. We are short-sighted. We think mostly in terms of this life, which for the average person is barely 70 years.
This passage admonishes us, we should never lose sight of it: God intends to save everyone, but from our perspective, it is going to take a very long time – yes thousands of years -to bring it to fruition.
Isa. 46:9-10 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
It is Yahweh speaking. He is the only God. He is totally in control of all that happens… good and evil. Not only that, He has decided and it happens! He makes the devil visit and seduce Eve. He provided the need for a perfect Sacrifice of Atonement before the foundation of the world and had already placed in the pipeline, the crucifixion of the Lamb, His Son Jesus
God saw fit to periodically give His prophets a glimpse into aspects of His plan so that they could prophesy about it. Everything prophesied that had to happen, happened. Everything prophesied that has yet to happen, will happen. No one can stop God.
What He wills, He will do. He wants not a single person to be lost. It will happen that way.
Job 42:1-2 Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that You can do every thing, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
By the end of the book of Job, Job had far more insight about God than before. Even though he was apparently unaware of the dialogue between God and Satan that gave rise to his adversity and trials, he learned something about God. God’s omnipotence and sovereignty. God is capable of anything. If He has decided on something, nothing can stop Him. He is therefore able to persuade a sinner to make a turnaround — as he did with Paul. If He decides He wants to save all mankind, excluding no one, then He can and will do it.
Mat. 19:23-26 23 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, “Assuredly I say unto you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. “25 When his disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved? “26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
Jesus is speaking here of the kingdom that was promised to Israel. In that dispensation and context, “salvation” meant entering the kingdom. The disciples (all from Israel) were destined to inherit the kingdom.
On previous occasions, such as at the sermon on the mount, Jesus taught that it was the humble and meek who would inherit the kingdom. You had to qualify. Salvation by mere grace was not on the cards in that dispensation.
But even in that non-grace context, Jesus could answer that God can offer salvation where, humanly speaking, it seems impossible. You probably know people who you feel are hopeless cases. Wicked ones. Impossible to save, in your “humble opinion”.
God looks at people differently than we do. He understands each and every person — his or her background, temperament, sensitivities and wounds. He caused His Son to die for people while they were sinners.
A camel cannot pass through a needle’s eye, but with God everything is possible. He can save those that are seemingly beyond hope. Jesus looked at them intently when he said this. These were not just beautiful words — he weighed every word and meant it.
Do we take note of it?
1 Tim. 4:10 For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe.
We can dedicate ourselves to God, exert strenuous effort and even endure insults for Him, because we have hope. Our hope is in God—God, the actual Savior—of all people. All people. The original text in Greek reads “all people.” Good people (is there such a thing?), bad people, evil people – all types of people.
God knows what stuff people are made of. After all, He formed the first man from dust. He knows everything there is to know about the psyche of every person on earth. And He knows exactly how to approach each one to win that person over. But it will be, each in his or her time—or rather, His time.
The salvation is especially valid for the believers in the present dispensation. But it’s not exclusively for those believers. There is a difference between “especially” and “exclusively.” The Greek reads “especially”. The believers of the present grace dispensation are people to whom God has bestowed faith. No man can stir up faith for himself. It comes from God. It’s part of God’s grace and kindness. Those believers will participate in the first resurrection. The rest of humanity is later raised from the dead and in the end, God will deliver them as well. He is the Savior of all people.
Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men…
God’s grace has always been there. But it is especially after the death on the cross and resurrection of Jesus that it became abundantly available.
Grace must not be seen as merely forgiveness. It is much more. Salvation includes being saved from our sinful nature, receiving a glorified body, and being completely reconciled to God.
That prospect appeared to all people—came to light (according to the Greek) with Jesus’ life on earth. “I bring you good news of great joy that shall be for all the people,” the angel told the shepherds at the birth of Jesus.
For the shepherds, this meant the Messiah for Israel had come who would bring peace on earth. Paul, who received special revelation and whose ministry was among the other nations, preached and wrote about the implications of the Cross like no one else. There is reason for joy for Israel and the rest — for all mankind.
Joh 1:29 The next day he [ John] saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Through Adam, sin entered the world. By the second Adam, the Lamb, it is taken away. (Rom. 5:12-15)
Jesus, the Lamb, takes away all sin. What does it mean? Through Jesus’ death on the cross, sin is no longer imputed to mankind. All mankind. All sin. Murder, rape, corruption, fraud, robbery, gossip, impatience, lovelessness, self-centeredness… nothing excluded.
But not only that.
He also takes away the sin principle… the state of sin… the sin-propensity of every human being. Believers of the present dispensation of grace have the promise that He who began the good work in us (by bestowing repentance and faith upon us) will continue to bring it to fruition. In the future, He will do the same with the rest of humanity. There will eventually be a world where there will be no sin present at all.
This is the work of the Lamb.
Joh 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.
Many people have the idea that God is out to pour out His anger and wrath on sinful people. They heard somewhere that God’s sense of justice must be satisfied, and therefore judgment and eternal punishment and torment in hellfire await most of mankind. Some believe that if adversity comes on a particular day, it is because they did not do Bible study or prayer that morning. This, then, is God’s punishment for the day.
That’s not how God is. He knows how fallible and weak people are (even if people don’t think that way about themselves). He is love… and this includes understanding of people born into sin (without them being able to remedy it), that He knows that they are in a battle against evil forces that are stronger than them (even if they don’t realize it themselves), and that God is patient with people (more than we are toward those who give us trouble).
God planned before the creation of the earth that mankind not be condemned. The atoning sacrifice by His Son — the Lamb — would pay the price. So that the world can be saved. Not just a part of the world—all of humanity.
1 Joh 4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
Joh 12:30,32 Jesus answered and said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
Being lifted up from the earth, was the kind of death He would die. High on a stake, visible to everyone around. Normally, out of respect for the person, a corpse is covered, until it is taken to a place such as a mortuary. Not Jesus. His body hung there, mangled, naked, bare and in full view to everyone present. And it is precisely through it that He is going to draw people to Him. Just a few people? No, everyone. The word “draw” in Greek is also the word for “drag.” Like dragging a net full of fish – see John 21:11 where the same Greek word occurs.
Exactly how Jesus is going to draw everyone to him, we don’t know. Probably different for different people. Is everyone going to see the video of Jesus on the cross (or rather, stake)? Possible… What we do know is that Jesus’ agonising sacrificial death will play a major role in the eventual reconciliation between mankind and God.
1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
All of us, all of humanity, are descendants of Adam. All of us were born with a sin-proneness that we inherited from Adam. And everyone’s body is mortal. Death reigns in every newly born baby, because that body that will grow stronger will experience its downward degeneration over time. No one is excluded.
You cannot help it. You didn’t ask for it. However, the clay pot cannot question the Potter.
The good news is that the Potter knows what He is doing. He planned wonderful things for His created people.
Just as in Adam all die, all will be made alive through Christ. At some point, some earlier than others, everyone will have risen from death and everyone will be given true life and immortality. All people. No one to be excluded.
Christ’s atoning work will overshadow and surpass Adam’s bungle work.
1 Joh 2:1-2 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
Christ is the propitiation for our sins. Hooray! Hallelujah!
We can and should be so happy about this. We don’t deserve it. It is grace. His abundant generosity.
But wait a minute. What about the billions of unbelievers? Are they going to be tormented forever in a lake of fire? Are we just going to shrug our shoulders and say, “Oh shame, bad luck for them.” Or are we going to say, “Sorry, but they are getting what they deserve”?
If it was “bad luck”, for the majority of people, where is justice? Is God, then, unjust?
Were you and I then so good that we may escape it? We, who said to one another, “It was only grace?”
God is just and His love and goodwill are toward all mankind. God worked it out in such a way that Jesus Christ, the Righteous One’s atoning work applies not only to our sins, but also to the sins of every human being who has lived, is currently alive and who is yet to be born, and even those who were conceived in sin but have never seen the light of life because of miscarriage or abortion.
Col. 1:19-20 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and, by Him to reconcile all things to Himself; by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross
God’s plan is to reconcile everything to Him. All of it. Everything on the earth. People… and apparently also animals, birds, fish, and the plant kingdom. All creation has been cursed by God since the fall of Adam and Eve. All creation longs for deliverance (Rom. 8:21).
Even the heavens have yet to and will be reconciled. This, apparently, includes the universe and heaven where God’s throne is. Satan still has access there (Job 1:6).
What is clear, however, is that God filled His Son with His divinity and authority, because His Son will reconcile every human being to Him (God) and has already, from God’s perspective, made peace with everyone. He made peace through the blood of His cross.
Rom. 14:11 For it is written: ”As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God.”
It is written in Isaiah 45:23.
Every knee will bow before the Lord. Every tongue will confess God. There is nothing about coercion. When will it happen?
The passage in Isaiah talks about Israel as a leading nation, urging other nations to serve the true God in the coming millennial kingdom on earth.
The passage here in context deals with the judgment that lies ahead for believers of the present dispensation before the judgment seat of Christ. That judgment will take place before the millennial kingdom. It will not be about salvation, but about reward and entrusting responsibilities.
Other passages (such as Phil. 2:10-11 and 1 Corinthians 15:22-25) make it clear that eventually every knee will bow before the Lord and submit to Him and acknowledge God as the only true God.
Phil. 2:10-11 …that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Everyone, by the completion of the eras, will acknowledge Jesus, that He is the Messiah, the Anointed One of God. “Those under the earth” is figure of speech, referring to those who have already died. Heavenly beings will evidently include all evil spirits – even Satan (See 1 Cor. 15:24-25).
Rom . 11:32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
The primary focus is on Israel in this passage. They were blinded by God so that they could not recognize the true Messiah. In time, however, all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:26). Setting aside Israel will lead to the reconciliation with God of the rest of the nations, and even more so when Israel is to be used again by God (Rom. 11:15).
It can also be said that the world has been locked in disobedience, since the Fall. One’s first impressions are that it is by Satan’s doing. Yet this verse says God did it.
Why?
So He could show kindness and mercy to all. All…. No one excluded. No mention of God casting the disobedient into hell so they could burn forever.
1 Cor 15:22-25, 28 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God, the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign, till He has put all enemies under His feet. ….Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
All will be brought to life. All means all. But all not at the same time. Each in his or her own turn. Christ himself was raised by God—he was first. Then at His coming, those who belong to Him are resurrected. After that, at the end of eras, everything and everyone will be subject to Christ. “He must be king until ‘He has put all his enemies under his feet.'”
Then Christ surrenders everything to God, including Himself, so that “God may be all in all.” Everything and everyone will eventually be reconciled to God. We can only dream and wonder what it will be like… We can say all ends well, but actually it’s not the end, because there is then no end…
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Question: What about Bible passages that mention judgment, hell, a lake of fire, never ending gnashing of teeth?
Reply: It is to be dealt with in other articles on this website (or that will be posted soon).