@Patrick1966
The reason I don't believe that every human being is saved has everything to do with
why (the reason) Jesus said that
"..whoever believes .." (John 3:14-21).
I believe it goes back to
the very beginning, and I'm going to tell you why I believe this
.
But before we go back to the very beginning to see if we can understand whether
"whoever believes" = "(only) those who believe" or "all the world", there is
another statement in-between the very beginning and Jesus' words in John 3:14-21 which applies to this (remember that Jesus is the Word of God who became flesh, John 1:1-4 & 14):-
Why is it written,
"And he believed in the LORD. And He counted it to him for righteousness." (Genesis 15:6)?
3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness."
4 But to him working, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt.
5 But to him not working, but believing on Him justifying the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. (Romans 4:3-5).
Notice that it does not say that Abraham's "good works" or Abraham's "righteousness" was credited to Abraham for righteousness - it says that Abraham's
believing the Word of God was credited to him for righteousness - and God chose Abraham and his seed because Abraham believed the Word of God.
Believing the Word of God
is believing God, and
Jesus is the Word of God, and He said
whoever believes shall not perish, but
he who does not believe is already condemned.
Why is this?
I believe it goes back to the beginning:
"you shall not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. For in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:17).
"And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die." (Genesis 3:4).
The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and Adam could freely eat of it. John 1:1-4 tells us that
in the Word of God is life. Jesus is the Word of God, and He tells us that whoever believes His words and believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.
Therefore I believe that because
God spoke directly to Adam, Adam knew perfectly well that God had said that if he partakes of the fruit of knowledge and evil
he will most definitely die, so he would have understood what the words
"you will not surely die" implied about God and God's Word,
but Adam chose to believe the lie
because he wanted to make himself like the Most High, because the devil had said
he would be like God.
Adam and Eve were made in the image and likeness of God. You can't get more like God than that, because God is the Creator, and mankind is the creature.
But Adam and Eve wanted more than the image and likeness of God, they wanted to be like God in status and knowledge and omniscience and in every way, so they deliberately allowed that thought that they would be like God to dwell in their minds, and the result was that
they became convinced that they would not surely die.
So I believe that the first sin was
inward before it became the actual action - and
the first sin was unbelief of the Word of God - in effect
calling God a liar or a lie (because the Word of God is God), and Satan true - making him the god of this world.
And i believe that God
allowed Satan to do what he did so that Adam and Eve could be tested as to their faithfulness and loyalty, given a motive, as they had been, for
choosing to believe the lie.
Jesus came into this world, took on human flesh, took the penalty for that sin and all sin, died in Adam's (and our) place, and rose again from the dead.
I believe that if God allowed Adam and Eve to be tested,
then all the sons and daughters of Adam are likewise tested:
14 But even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up,
15 so that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him.
18 He who believes on Him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, .. "
Adam and Eve did not believe God after the lie of the devil gave them an alternate belief and they could choose between the Word of God and Satan's word.
".. because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who practices truth comes to the Light so that his deeds may be made known, that they have been worked in God.
Adam lost eternal life. The last Adam (Jesus) bought it back with his own blood. Abraham believed (the Word of) God and it was credited to him for righteousness.
So then what about those who will
always refuse to believe,
for the reasons Jesus gave above? Will they escape eternal death, though Adam did not escape death? Will
they also live forever? How can that be so, since
in the Word of God is life (John 1:1-4), and believing the Word of God is what gives mankind access to the tree of life again?
So God has provided salvation for all men, and the only way to inherit it is not through good works or righteousness or anything else, but to
believe the Word of Jesus, who is the Word of God, who took on human flesh and suffered greatly, bearing all our sin and the sin of all mankind in His own body, dying, and rising again from the dead.
Maybe we all have different experiences in life. Maybe it's difficult for you to believe that there are some humans who will
always refuse to believe, who will
always reject, no matter how many chances they are given. But I don't believe that. I believe there are many people who, even
if they were given a second chance, would receive it for a while, but then after not long,
they will turn away again:
Mark 4:14-20 The sower sows the Word:
And these are those by the wayside, where the Word is sown. And when they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the Word that was sown in their hearts.
And these are those likewise being sown on stony places; who, when they hear the Word, immediately receive it with gladness. But they have no root in themselves,
but are temporary. Afterward when affliction or persecution arises for the Word's sake, they are immediately offended.
And these are those being sown among thorns; such as hear the Word, and the cares of this world, and the deceit of riches, and the lust about other things entering in, choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful.
And these are those sown on good ground, who hear the Word and welcome it, and bear fruit, one thirty, one sixty, and one a hundredfold.
It's all about the Word of God, and believing or not believing God, just as Jesus said, and just as God said in the Garden of Eden: God told Adam he would die. The devil told Adam he would not die.
This is why I do not believe that those who do not believe, or even those who believe for a while but fall away, are saved.
It's harsh, but God is not a liar,
and it is so harsh to God the Father that He sent the very Word, which Adam rejected, into the world to come and take the penalty upon Himself, being cursed because of our unbelief and our sins, and dying, and then rising again from the dead.
We serve a Mighty, Almighty, merciful, loving and forgiving God. But He cannot allow sin and unbelief to dwell in His presence.
God did
not tell Adam that he would
not die if he ate of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil.
Jesus did
not tell us that those who
do not believe in Him will live.
