CHRIST-DAILY
NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH "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" (II Pet. 3:9). What is the heart and mind of God toward all people? Our Father is not willing that anyone should perish. There is a lot of confusion about the term predestination. There is a lot correct about Calvanism and the great grace that our Father has bestowed on us through the finished work of Christ on the cross. However, hyper-Calvanism where God's sovereignty has been viewed on who is to be saved, and who is to be lost, is misunderstood and wrongly presented according to the scripture. Peter hits the hammer squarely on the nail of this problem when he said, "our beloved Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are so things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures" (II Pet. 3:16). Peter declared that some clearly don't understand the scriptures and are twisting them to their own destruction. Then, what has our Father predestined for all people? Before the foundation of the world, our Father planned, preordained, and predestined that all people would be in Christ (Eph. 1:4). Our Father's heart cry is that everyone with make a Holy Spirit convicted choice and be Spirit rebirthed and be 100% a part of His divine eternal plan to be in Christ. In Christ there is eternal life. In Christ there is fellowship with the Father, as one of His many sons throughout the Body of Christ. In Christ there is His righteousness and holiness. In Christ there is His love, joy, peace, and strength. Never forget that the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross was for all of mankind. He bore the sins for the salvation of everyone whether they choose to accept it or not. His eternal plan was all inclusive, and not willing that any should perish. Again, Christ gave Himself as a sacrifice for all mankind. Read the whole passage and chapter of Ephesians 1. The words saved or lost do not appear there and is not the focus or substance of the discussion in that entire chapter. The focus is on the Father and the Son. He, Him, His, and Himself referring to the Father and the Son is used at least 31 times. The good pleasure of the Father's will is that He "predestined us to adoption of sons by Jesus Christ to Himself" (Eph. 1:5). Predestination is a foreordained and disclosed end destination. Predestination is not God moving men like puppets with no choices of their own. Our Father was not willing that any should perish. Our sovereign God has given us a choice. "For whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom. 10:13). So, this is not a matter about God choosing man for Salvation. It is clearly a matter of man choosing to believe and receive God for salvation! Is not Ephesians chapter 1 written to and for Spirit rebirthed believers in the church? Absolutely – every verse is centered around that focus. Without being Spirit rebirthed you have no Salvation or inheritance in Christ, the end destination. These verses are not written to excude anyone from God's freely given to all salvation. These verses are just an exclamation on what one receives in, by, and through His Salvation by His 100% grace and finished work on the cross. Our Father is not willing that any should perish, but that all by faith simply believe and receive! VWritten by Dwight Davis |
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