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INTRODUCTION
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Some say that the reason why God does not save everyone is because He will not violate the freewill that He has given to man. This implies that God will let man decide whether to live his own life or to choose God and live how He would want him to live. Yet this view is not correct. The freewill of man has nothing to do with his own salvation. As we have explained in blog article 12, man will never choose to seek God in his freewill because he is spiritually dead. It is only when God the Father draws a spiritually dead person to Christ, will he be saved and raised up on the last day (John 6:44). This leads us to the next question: So why does God not draw everyone to Christ? Why does God not save everyone who has ever lived? What could be the reason?
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ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY ON WHY GOD WILL NOT SAVE EVERYONE
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Background information – All Have Sinned Their Own Sins
Before we attempt to analyze the main question, let us go into some background information first. The phrase, “sin nature” is used by many theologians to refer to that natural inclination to act against the laws of God. Many in Christendom from ages past till today are adamant that we inherited this natural inclination to sin from Adam and Eve right after their first act of disobedience. They used Rom 5:12 to support their views. But they have misinterpreted Rom 5:12. It is true that Adam was the first to introduce sin into the world. But introducing sin does not mean that all men are born with sin or into sin and neither does it mean that we have inherited the natural inclination to sin from Adam. Rom 5:12 is clear that death spread to all men because all sinned. We repeat, death spread to all men because all sinned. All have sinned their own sins and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23), and the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), both physical and spiritual death. We also wish to emphasize that just because God has predestined some to be saved does not mean He brings the rest who are not, to sin so that He could punish them eternally. God is not the author of sin. All have sinned their own sins, and God did not cause them to sin.
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Background information – Hardening vs Causing
But still, some disagree. They say that God hardens people’s hearts at will. Verses Rom 9:18, John 12:40, Rom 11:7 and 2 Cor 3:14 were used to support their assertions. But the action of hardening is different from the action of causing. What is hardening? In order to explain better, we will use some building science to assist us. Let us use the material, concrete. We all know that concrete is hard and tough. It has been used to withstand artillery bombardment and to build multi-storey buildings that lasts for many years. But the surface of the concrete can be made even more dense by using a chemical commonly known as concrete hardener (e.g. lithium silicate). This hardening chemical on its own is just powder or a liquid solution. But once applied to concrete, according to manufacturer’s instructions, the hardening takes place. Similarly, God hardens those hearts and minds that are already sinful. No where in Scripture does it say that God causes those who are sinless to be sinful by hardening their hearts. God causes no one to sin, but He will prevent them (those not predestined to be saved) from truly seeing the Light and turning to Him, lest they be forgiven (Mark 4:10-12). This leads us to the main question: Why does God not save everyone? To answer the question, let us look carefully at Rom 8:29.
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Rom 8:29 (NASB95) states:
(29) For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be firstborn among many brethren;
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Rom 8:29 Commentary: From the way verse 29 is written, there is clearly a sequence of events. If predestination was done first, then we can only conclude that the elect were randomly selected. But that is not the case. They were not randomly chosen. The elect were chosen based on God’s foreknowledge of them as persons. It is important to highlight that God’s foreknowledge does not mean that he sees into the future, to see who would respond positively to the gospel before He predestined them to be saved. No, because that would still mean that they chose God. But it was God who chose them based on His in-depth foreknowledge of His elect’s personalities and characteristics. And because of this foreknowledge, He predestined them to be saved. As for those of whom He did not predestine to be saved, they are obviously (and automatically) predestined to eternal destruction. Either a person is predestined to be saved or predestined not to be saved, there is no neutral position.
Some say that God is unfair for making them the way they are, implying that God made them sinners. Again, this is not true, of course. Everything that God created was very good (Gen 1:31), but man sinned their own sins, no one forced them to sin. In fact, even Satan was created by God, and he also sinned on his own accord. Let us take a look at Ezekiel 28. Eze 28:1-19 was written against two individuals. One of them is a human (The leader or the prince of Tyre, Eze 28:1-10, 17-19) and the other is Satan (The king of Tyre, Eze 28:11-16). How do we know that the second individual is Satan and not a human? Well, Scripture gave us very obvious clues. Eze 28:13 says that he was in Eden, in the garden of God and Eze 28:14 also says that he used to be a cherub (angel). The only individual who was in Eden and who used to be an angel will have to be Satan himself. This individual cannot be a man because he is alive from since the garden of Eden, and he also walked in the midst of the stones of fire (Eze 28:14). Eze 28:15 tells us that Satan was blameless from the day he was created until unrighteousness was found in him. So, we emphasize again that Satan was blameless, wise and perfect in beauty, had everything going for him, but he sinned on his own accord. The only person to blame is Satan himself, not God. The reason why Eze 28:1-19 seems to be grouping the two individuals together in judgment is because the leader of Tyre, who is human, is very likely possessed by Satan (the king of Tyre). From the way Scripture was written, it appears to us that the human does not seem reluctant to have Satan using him. But that is another topic for another day.
So why does God not save everyone? The reason is found in Rom 8:29 – because of His foreknowledge. In 2 Kings 8:10-15, God knew Hazael was going to do before he did it. In John 6:70-71, Jesus knew Judas was going to betray Him before he betrayed Him and in Ps 139:4, the Lord knew what David was going to say before he said it. Seriously, if any of us had such powers of foreknowledge, we too would know who to predestine for salvation and who should be left to their own sinful ways. Thus, if God did not predestine anyone for salvation, it is because He knew from a long time ago that the person is totally not suitable for salvation. So, if a person is not suitable for salvation, why did God allow him to be born into this world? The reason is because even unbelievers will serve God’s purpose when their time comes. Let us take a look at Rom 9:21-24.
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Rom 9:21-24 (NASB95) states:
(21) Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? (22) What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? (23) And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, (24) even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
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Rom 9:21-24 Commentary: Looking at Rom 9:21-24, it is clear that those who are not saved are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. If people misunderstand verse 23 or if they speed read, they might think that God is trying to boost His own glory at the expense of the unsaved. This is definitely not true, for He is already glorious from eternity. Verse 22 tells us that God is going to demonstrate His wrath on the unsaved and to make His power known. Known to who? Looking carefully at Rom 9:23 again, we see that God’s target audience is us (His vessels of mercy). God’s intention is to make known the riches of His glory to us, so that we know, so that we are informed of what He is doing to the wicked. God wants us to see the reward of the wicked and remember how they paid the penalty for their deeds. In Heb 3:9-11, we read that the sons of Israel saw the works of God for 40 years, we repeat, they saw the works of God for 40 years, yet God said that they always go astray in the heart and did not know His ways. Are the elect going to follow the ways of the sons of Israel? The demonstration of wrath on the wicked at the end of time is a work of God for our information retention, so that we will remember the terror inflicted on the unsaved and know how to fear the Lord. For the fear of the Lord is to hate evil (Prov 8:13). God’s kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom filled with His people who will continue to hate all kinds of evil. Surely, they will remember the fate of the wicked.
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CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY
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The reason why God does not save everyone is because of His foreknowledge of every person that was coming into the world. He had in-depth knowledge of the inner thoughts of all men as well as their personalities and characteristics long before they were born. Therefore, based on His foreknowledge He predestined some to be saved and needless to say, those who were not predestined to be saved are automatically predestined for eternal punishment. Is God unfair and cruel for not saving everyone? No. Everyone deserves to be given eternal punishment because of their own sins (including believers). But God in His mercy decided that some will be saved, and some simply could not be saved because He had already seen what they would become in the future, if He went ahead and save them as well. Judas Iscariot had the privilege of being with Christ, he saw His miraculous works, he heard him preach and teach, he spent time with Him that we can only dream and hope for in the future, yet he betrayed Him. So, when God purposed not to save someone, it is because He knows exactly what He is doing.