In context John 3:14-20 Part 2

In verse 14 we saw clearly that you have to make a choice to believe on Christ, now for verse 15:

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

If you believe on Christ, you have eternal life...

Verse 16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Whosoever believeth in  him....  What does that mean to you?  What it says, or does it really mean a select group?  Whosoever, means just that, anybody.  Period.  You cannot change it, it is referring to anybody, not a select body.  You cannot find any limiters in this verse, it is speaking of all...

Verse 17:

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

So, is this verse speaking of two worlds, the first, all the non select people of the earth, the second a select group of people?  No.  One.  For, if that is true, those who do not believe on Christ are not condemned...  He is speaking of one world, of all men, therefore, all men can be saved, and according to the above verses, by simply believing on Christ...

Verse 18:

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Pretty self explanitory:  If you believe on Jesus you will not be condemned at the Judgment because he covered your sins...  If you do not believe on Jesus, you are condemned...

Verse 19:

And this the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

So, this again speaks of choice, men loved darkness, rejected the light, and therefore are condemned.

Verse 20:

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Again, choice.  You choose to hate.  Evil men do not want to stop sinning so they do not come to Christ...

For me, these verses along with many others in the Bible leave no room for the doctrine that somehow only a select few ever have a chance at salvation.

God Bless,

Flame of Jah

In context: John 3:14-20

In the discussion on Calvinism a few weeks ago John 3:15-20 came up.  I did not fully cover it, so I decided to give it a post on its own.  On rereading John 3, I realized, that in context verse 14 cannot be removed, it is the all important heading verse for the next six verses.  I am going to discuss it in detail in this post, then in another post I'll cover the other six.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: John 3:14

To fully understand this, we must now look at what Jesus is referencing here.  In the book of Numbers we read the story of the Israelites speaking against God and Moses, therefore God sent fiery serpents among them and many died of the bites.  God provided a cure, which just a small step of faith:

And the Lord said unto Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole: and it shall come to pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. 
And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put upone a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.  Numbers 21:8-9

Whoever looked on the serpent of brass lived.  But in order to live you had to look on the serpent.  Some didn't, and they died.  Christ is saying that, he would be lifted up on the cross, and whosoever looked on him in faith, should be saved.  You have to make the choice to look on him, you have to put your faith in his saving power, if you do as in Numbers, you are saved, not from death of your body on this earth, but the eternal damnation of your soul. 



 

Pressing on...

Press on, no matter how dark it might seem

No matter how bleak and hopeless

 Never give up

  As long as you have breath fight on

 Don't give up

 Please don't give up

  Even when it seems there is nothing left to live for

 Even when all have forsaken you

 Even when your health is shattered

Your earthly life is seemingly pointless and ruined

 Never give up

  Remember this

  When all friends are gone

 When your life is at it's lowest

 Jesus is still there

He is faithful to the end

  Even when there is nothing else to live for

You can still live for Him

  Never ever give up the fight for life

 It can seem pointless

Even hopeless

 

Don't give up hope

 Fight on

 You never know what Christ might use you for

 In even the most terrible of straights

  My friends

 Hang on to life

 It is very precious

 Let Him call you home

Until then

Fight On!

God Bless,

Flame of Jah

Inspired by the story of Anne Frank.

I am often haunted by her story,

just weeks before her prison was

liberated she gave up on life. Her 

Father was still living, but she did 

not know, all she had to live for was

family, when they were gone, or 

seemingly so, she had nothing.

Never forget my friends, we have

Christ.