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Why
Does God
Permit Calamities?
Chapter 4
God Is Not Trying
to Convert the World Now
Many believe the opportunity for
eternal life ends with the second advent of Jesus. Nothing could
be further from the Truth.
The common words ALL and EVERY
are two of the most important words in the Bible. In Luke 2:10
the angel who announced the birth of Jesus said, “Behold I bring
you good tidings of great joy which shall be to ALL people.”
Verses 30 and 31 speak of salvation for “ALL people.” First
Timothy 4:10 speaks of God as “the Savior of ALL men.”
The simple logic of Jesus
dying for ALL is found in 1 Corinthians 15:22: “As in Adam ALL
die even so in Christ shall ALL be made alive.” Similarly,
Romans 5:18 shows that “by the offense of one [Adam] judgment
came upon ALL men to condemnation: even so by the righteousness
of one [Christ] the free gift came upon ALL men.” Father Adam
sinned with the unborn race yet in his loins. Therefore, ALL
were born in sin and shapen in iniquity (Psalm 51:5) and thus
worthy of death. God knew that Adam, due to a lack of
experience, would disobey. Thus 1 Peter 1:19-20 speaks of the
blood of Christ as being foreordained for our redemption even
before Adam was created. Since ALL were lost in Adam, it was
necessary that Jesus “by the grace of God should taste death for
EVERY man” (Hebrews 2:9).
John 1:7 speaks of Jesus as
“the Light, that ALL men through him might believe.” Verse 9
says he is “the True Light, which lighteth EVERY man that cometh
into the world.” How can this be? Countless millions died before
the time of Jesus. They never saw the True Light! They never
heard the name of Jesus. And since the death of Jesus, millions
have died never hearing of the only “name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). If you are a
Bible-believing Christian, you know that no one is saved through
ignorance but only by believing in Jesus as his or her savior.
This is a seeming contradiction. The answer is found in 1
Timothy 2:5-6, “…Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for
ALL, to be testified in due time”—a plain statement that Jesus
died for “ALL.”
If Jesus died for “ALL,” why
is it that ALL do not have the opportunity to hear this good
news? The key of harmony is found in the phrase “due time.” The
Greek word translated “time” is plural; i.e., “times” (Thayer’s
Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament). The knowledge that
Jesus is a ransom for ALL will be testified “in due times.” The
due time for those God is calling to be of the Church is during
the Christian Age. The due time for ALL other people to
understand is during the 1,000-year reign of Christ.
Now is not the time for ALL to
hear the name of Jesus. God is not trying to convert the world
between the first and second advents. If He was, then He has
obviously failed. For after more than 2,000 years, less than one
third of the world’s population even claims to be Christian. The
fact is, Jesus predicted that the Gospel would only be a witness
to the world, not that all would be converted before the end of
the Age. Mark 4:11-12 specifically states that God is not trying
to convert the world now. Jesus said to his disciples, “Unto you
it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto
them that are without all these things are done in parables.
That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may
hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be
converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.” Ponder well
this scripture.
If Jesus died for ALL, why has
God arranged that many would not be able to understand the Bible
and, therefore, not be converted and have their sins forgiven?
The Bible is not written like a textbook system of logic. God
purposely had the Bible written in parables and symbols, so that
many would not be converted and have their sins forgiven. This
is why there are over 250 Christian denominations with so many
different interpretations of the Bible. God has not attempted to
convert the world, but is only calling a “little flock” at this
time. If man’s eternal destiny were dependent upon understanding
the Bible now, our God of love would have surely made the Bible
plain and simple for all to understand (1 John 4:8).
Acts 15:14-17 reveals that
“God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a
people for His name [not to convert all]. And to this agree the
words of the prophets; as it is written, after this I will
return [Second Advent] and build again the tabernacle of David
[set up the Kingdom of God]…that the residue [REMAINDER] of men
might seek after the Lord and ALL the Gentiles….” God’s work
since the death of Jesus has not been to convert all humankind,
but merely to take out or to call out a “people for his name.”
In the Kingdom, all the REMAINDER of men, who are not of these
called out ones, will have their opportunity to seek the Lord.
Similarly, 1 Timothy 2:3-4
states that God “will have ALL men to be saved and to come unto
the knowledge [Greek, accurate knowledge] of the truth.” This is
a salvation that comes before knowledge. Jesus’ ransom for ALL
(verse 6) guarantees that ALL who died in Adam will be saved
from Adamic death.
The ALL of 1 Timothy 2:6, who
are ransomed, parallels the ALL of John 5:28-29 who come forth
from their graves. Jesus divides this ALL into two classes—the
“good” and the “evil.” The “good” is a reference to the church
who are united with Jesus in the resurrection. The “evil” are
the remainder of mankind who come forth “unto the resurrection
of trial (Greek—krisis).” The Greek word “krisis” has the same
meaning as our English word crisis. Crisis is the time a
situation can take a turn for the better or worse. The crisis or
time of probation for the majority of mankind will be in the
Kingdom of God.
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