It Is Not in the Bible

One of the main objections raised against the clear biblical doctrine of predestination goes something like this, “but the Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Before you read any farther, you should read 2Peter 3:1-10. You will not find that quotation in that passage or anywhere else in the Bible.

I. In the first place, there is nowhere in the Bible that it says that “God is not willing that any should perish.”The complete passage that this is lifted from says the exact opposite of what the anti-predestination crowd would say.

It is unnecessary perhaps to say it to Christians, but we must remember that the Bible trumps any human emotion, desire, will, or wish. We cannot presume to know more than God and elevate our internal desires or dreams to contradict the Scriptures. God is good to the unjust and to the ungodly, but this only ripens them for judgment, as Romans 2 says. The goodness of God is designed to lead men to repentance and serves to reveal the hardness of their hearts and the justness of God’s wrath against them.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us–ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

The “promise” is the promise of the second coming of the Lord. See 2Pet 3:1 Scoffers mock at the promise, but the Lord gives the reason why He has not come yet: “He is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

He has not come because all of us have not been saved yet. It is not because he is not willing that any whatsoever perish. If that were true He would have come hundreds of years ago, for far more have been born and died in unbelief than have turned to Christ. If Christ is unwilling that people perish, He should come immediately for thousands of unbelievers are being born every day. In fact, He would not have created the world at all, for He surely knew of the millions and millions that would descend into hell even before the Lord Jesus came.

The only thing that has delayed the coming of the Lord is that the full total of the elect of God has not yet been made up. When that happens, Christ will come as a thief in the night, and will be very willing to bring vengeance upon His enemies.

Because it is impossible to know the exact number of the elect of God, Jesus could come at any moment, when the fullness of His church is complete.

II. In the second place, This objection is foolish on the face of it, for God is certainly willing that the ungodly perish. Please note the following:

Ps 11:6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: [this shall be] the portion of their cup.

Rev. 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

2Thess 1: And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

Re 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

III. Third, the objection is silly on another level. If God is unwilling that any sinners perish, then why do they perish? Who has Him in a hammerlock that compels Him, against His will, to bring the awful wrath that the Bible described upon the ungodly.

This objection reveals a faint-heartedness and timid state of mind. I suspect that there are those who are afraid people will not believe if they are told the truth about God, that He will in flaming fire take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. To convince people to believe [under the illusion that they can do such a thing by human manipulation. We are proclaimers not manipulators] they present a false view of God, ashamed of the God they claim to serve, and so become false prophets. Instead of proclaimers of the word they become little more than salesmen, minimizing the defects of their product in order to make the sale, hoping that the customer will not catch on that they misrepresented their product.

"In thy light we shall see light" [Ps. 36:9]

The Tragedy of Eyes that Do Not See

I knew that my children understood my reproofs when I heard them reprove each other. Even a small child's injunction not to slam the door, showed that he understood the lesson, even if he slammed the door himself. The minute he could condemn his brother showed that he was a moral being accountable for his actions.

"Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:" (Jer 5:21)

"And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth." (Joh 9:39-41)

Only those who have a moral sense can be held responsible for their actions. The fact that someone can judge another is proof that he is not without moral sense. The additional fact that he judges unjustly shows that his moral judgment is in bondage to sin.

Jesus said that if his enemies were truly blind, they would not have any sin at all, for who judges a tree for moral failures? But they said that they could see; hence, they could not escape the truth that they were sinners, for they were condemned of their own consciences.

Paul said the same thing in Romans:

"Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?" (Ro 2:1-3)

Having eyes is a good thing, and is far better than not having eyes. But what good are eyes if we do not use them to see things. "Use your eyes," my father used to say. "Can't you see?"

Israel professed moral and spiritual superiority. They boasted that they were a "guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law" [Romans 2:20-21].

There are people who use guilt to attack those whom they consider threats to them. They want to get the attention off themselves. They don't want the light turned on, and so they do not want preaching and teaching of the word that exposes the heart and the true nature of the law of God. They do not mind being the center of controversy and ruckus, as long as it is about somebody else's sin, real or imagined.

Every human being knows that it is wrong to lie, steal, hate, and so forth. This is the reason that they either deny it altogether, or invent elaborate justifications. We are very inventive in this.

This guilt keeps many from criticizing others and they lapse into a kind of moral agnosticism. They see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. They refuse to give witness to moral evil because they know their own sins might be exposed. The effect of this makes it very difficult to get people to bear witness in crimes against the state or against the church. They are bound by guilt. They have eyes, but they refuse to see. They will not speak because of their own secrets. This is one of the reasons that totalitarian governments in both church and state need to have plenty of guilty people around..

But even worse, perhaps, people use guilt to intimidate and bully others. The Pharisees were very good at this. "They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out." (Joh 9:34) They would not instructed by the man who had been blind.

Jesus had healed the man, restoring his sight. He became a symbol of those who has eyes and could see, a witness against those who had eyes but refused to use them.

It is easy to identify these religious bullies. Most of them you will find in church, complaining about faithful preaching of the Scriptures. They do not want the light turned on. They will be experts on the failings of those whom they cannot control.

But Jesus turned the light on. "And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind." (Joh 9:39) They crucified him for it.

"None are so blind as those who will not see." Author Unknown

What is the cure that frees us from guilt, from bullies, and from our own apathy? The only cure is this:

"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." (Pr 28:13)

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1Jo 1:9)

The Light Is Often Painful

"For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved." (Joh 3:20)

I am exactly like everyone else, so I
know what I am talking about in this
post. We poor sinners do not like to
have the light of the Scriptures turned,
into our souls.

Some of the Scriptures are o.k., for we pick and choose from them to fashion a suit of clothes that makes us look pretty snappy. In this we are like Huckleberry Finn. He decided that he would give up watermelon and persimmons for Lent because "watermelons were out of season and persimmons ain't never any good."

In other matters we don't mind being rascals, but we hope no-one finds out, and if they do, we hope they won't tell anyone.

But God doesn't play our game. He looks on the heart and not on the outward appearance. His word is a blinding light to those who chaff against it for "it is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Heb 4:12)

In the last day, we will not be judged by what others think of us, or by the reputation that we have carefully cultivated, or even by our own opinion of ourselves. Jesus said it plainly, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." (Joh 12:48) There should be no surprises at the day of judgment, for the words of Christ have been before the world since the beginning, for He is the one that not only spoke through the prophets but came to speak to us plainly. We didn't like it, but crucified the Lord of Glory, to our shame.

Neither will we be excused because we have had our feelings hurt and excuse ourselves. The light hurts; the truth is painful; the salt that cleanses the wound stings.

But it is better to face the truth now, than to face the fire of God's indignation in the last day. As the apostle put it, "If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged." (1Co 11:31 av)