When Jesus the night before His death prayed His last prayer to His heavenly Father in John 17 in the presence of His few disciples, He clearly distinguished between two classes of people: (1) The "all people" which are the same as the "all flesh" mentioned in 17:2. He says that the Father sent Him into the world so that He might "give to them everlasting life." (2) The second group is the people whom the Father gave Him who are "OUT OF THE WORLD" (vs. 6). To them He says He "has manifested Your name, and they have observed [or received]" the blessing which the Father has given to the world "in Christ."
The fact that many "in the world" don't want to receive the gift God has given them does not mean that the gift was not given to them. If a person refuses to believe in Christ, that does not mean that Christ did not die for him. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" long before you or I chose to believe or disbelieve!
Our unbelief cannot annul the faith of God, says Paul in Romans 3:3. In the final judgment before the Great White Throne at the end of the biblical millennium (Rev. 20:11-15) the lost will realize that their life-long unbelief was a rejection of the "everlasting life" which the Father had GIVEN them "in Christ." They will see themselves as Esau who "despised" and "sold" the birthright that God had given (not merely offered) him (Gen. 25:34; Heb. 12:16). Oh, may the realization of the gift GIVEN move our hearts out of our collective lukewarmness today!
Jesus has a burden on His heart that last night: the disunity that has plagued His followers through the ages. Could it be that the root of that tragically persistent disunity is the unconscious refusal of "Christian" hearts to appreciate that the gift was GIVEN to the world? Could it be that in our "lukewarm" hearts we want to circumscribe or limit the love of Christ and reduce salvation to a mere offer? Do we want to glory in our own initiative to receive? When we enter the New Jerusalem do we want to say, "I'm here because I believed! I grabbed the offer! I took the initiative in my salvation!"
It seems very likely that those who enter will beat upon their breasts and say, "I'm unworthy! I'm here only because of the grace of God, not because of my taking the initiative to believe. To Him alone be all the glory! I thank Him for all the troubles He allowed me to have so that unbelieving I might learn to believe!"
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 17, 2001.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Please forward these messages to your friends and encourage them tosubscribe. The "Dial Daily Bread" Web site resides at: http://1888message.org/dailybread/
To subscribe send an e-mail message with "subscribe" in the body of the message to: dailybread@1888message.org
To un-subscribe click on this link: Unsubscribe me from this contact list
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert J. Wieland's inspirational "Dial Daily Bread" messages are availalbe via e-mail to anyone who wishes to receive a daily portion of uplifting Good News. "Dial Daily Bread" is FREE. Due to travel or other circumstances, there may be intervals when "Dial Daily Bread" will not be sent.
