- Jun 29, 2019
- 650
- 168
- 60
- Country
- United States
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
In John 3:3, Jesus says to a Pharisee “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” By using the word “one” instead of ‘you,’ and considering the context of the rest of the Bible, we can presume that Jesus refers to everyone, not just the Pharisee. And in fact, Paul in Romans 1:16 says “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first AND ALSO to the Greek.”
How did we get to this point in time? We can start with Genesis 8:21 in which God says after the Flood, “...the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.” But except for isolated incidents in which God felt that certain people really got out of hand, like those of Sodom and Gomorrah, He pretty much left the people of the world to themselves until the Hebrews cried to Him for help when they were held in bondage in Egypt.
Proverbs 3:5 of the Proverbs of Solomon says to trust in God with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. But God does not forbid us to reach for an understanding as long as at the end of the day we maintain our trust in him. So I believe that starting with the Hebrews, God makes with them a Covenant in which they will be blessed if they adhere to the Law He lays out for them, expecting them to live accordingly. Also, In Leviticus 19:34 He reaches out beyond the Hebrews by decreeing that the Hebrews shall love the strangers in their midst as they would love themselves. Does that not include that the Hebrews are to share with strangers...the ‘Greeks’ in a figurative sense, the blessings of God they may receive by living under Him? So even as far back as the Old Testament, God’s Covenant could be extended to others.
But evilness still prevailed in much of the world. But God, instead of destroying cities like Sodom and Gomorrah, embarks on a new tack. We see rumblings of His new approach in the Old Testament in passages like Isaiah 43:18-19 which God says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,” and Isaiah 65:17 in which God says, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.”
And what does God do? John 3:16-17 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” So His Son Jesus appears in the flesh and later tells his disciples in Mark 16:15-16 to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” So his disciples, which included Jews by the way, went forth and spread the Gospel, the truth, of God as told by Jesus.
And to this day, and no doubt after this day, people are working to spread the Gospel of God through Jesus...from Jehovah’s Witnesses to the missionaries in the World, they are working to enlighten people, that the yoke of evil that prevails can at least be minimized by the time Jesus makes his appearance again, there will be many more who will be saved.
How did we get to this point in time? We can start with Genesis 8:21 in which God says after the Flood, “...the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth.” But except for isolated incidents in which God felt that certain people really got out of hand, like those of Sodom and Gomorrah, He pretty much left the people of the world to themselves until the Hebrews cried to Him for help when they were held in bondage in Egypt.
Proverbs 3:5 of the Proverbs of Solomon says to trust in God with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. But God does not forbid us to reach for an understanding as long as at the end of the day we maintain our trust in him. So I believe that starting with the Hebrews, God makes with them a Covenant in which they will be blessed if they adhere to the Law He lays out for them, expecting them to live accordingly. Also, In Leviticus 19:34 He reaches out beyond the Hebrews by decreeing that the Hebrews shall love the strangers in their midst as they would love themselves. Does that not include that the Hebrews are to share with strangers...the ‘Greeks’ in a figurative sense, the blessings of God they may receive by living under Him? So even as far back as the Old Testament, God’s Covenant could be extended to others.
But evilness still prevailed in much of the world. But God, instead of destroying cities like Sodom and Gomorrah, embarks on a new tack. We see rumblings of His new approach in the Old Testament in passages like Isaiah 43:18-19 which God says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,” and Isaiah 65:17 in which God says, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.”
And what does God do? John 3:16-17 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” So His Son Jesus appears in the flesh and later tells his disciples in Mark 16:15-16 to “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” So his disciples, which included Jews by the way, went forth and spread the Gospel, the truth, of God as told by Jesus.
And to this day, and no doubt after this day, people are working to spread the Gospel of God through Jesus...from Jehovah’s Witnesses to the missionaries in the World, they are working to enlighten people, that the yoke of evil that prevails can at least be minimized by the time Jesus makes his appearance again, there will be many more who will be saved.
