All whom God knows will come

 

All come to Christ at the discretion of the Father  John 6v36-40

 

“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him to cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.  For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.  And this is the Father's will, which hath sent me that of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day.  And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth in Him may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

 

There are those who will come and those who will not come, the final outcome is not in doubt.  God knows the end from the beginning, He does not force Himself on anyone; neither does He deal in possibilities only in certainties.  He knows those who are real and those who are unreal, those who believe and those who believe not.  He refers to ”those whom the Father has given Him” in a seemingly unrelated aside, but which goes to the heart of His self-revelation in scripture.  This occurs 9 times in this gospel-6v37,v39; 10v29; 17v6,v9,v11,v12,v24; 18v8.  In the context of those who believe, and those who believe not, those who believe are seen as a love-gift from the Father to the Son.  In the great prayer of the Son to the Father, chapter 17v6 says “Thine they were, thou gavest them me…”.  They were the Father’s in creation, and are given to the Son as a special possession in redemption.  They are all known to God, those who believe are described as the elect.  The reality is that only believers are in the elect, and therefore an elite group of people.  They are not elect and elite because of any merit of theirs, but only by belief in Him.  God does not choose as we do, for His thoughts are not ours, and His ways higher than ours.  By reason of astonishing omnipotence, He knows the end from the beginning and on that basis, He chooses those who are in Christ, who believe on Him.  There is no thought in all of scripture of Reprobation, that is the false doctrine that God predetermines the destiny of many for judgment.   His election is based on His foreknowledge as scripture clearly states-Romans 8v29 and 1^st Peter 1v2.   He chooses those who are in Christ and this has been known before time began.  All who come, who have come, who are coming, and who will come, Christ will accept as the gift of the Father.  His intimate knowledge of the workings within the Godhead serve only to assert His Deity.  He that comes, everyone who comes, who is thinking of coming, who is sincere about believing in Him will be received-“I will in no wise cast out”; the term is very strong, absolutely no doubt that those who come will be received.   The bible dictionary says this emphasises “By no means, assuredly not!”-the phrase is variously translated, “not”, as in absolutely not, over 40 times in the N/T; “in no wise”, Matthew 5v18, 10v42, John 6v37, Acts 13v44; “in no case”, Matthew 5v20; “by no means” Matthew 5v26; “never” John 8v51, 10v28, 13v8, Hebrews 13v6- Greek scholars tell us this can stand repetition up to six times, making it an absolute certainty.  The end result is known only to the Father, and nothing shall interrupt the process of anyone coming to Him.  His door is open to all who are genuinely approaching Him. 

 

He came explicitly to do the Father’s will, and the Father’s will is to secure all who come, and enter the joy of eternal life.  The decision made in time and on earth will have everlasting consequences, and so the issues are solemn.  No one who comes will be lost, all who come will receive everlasting life.  There is no limit on this invitation, except the limit we put on it ourselves.  All are invited, all are given opportunity, some will reject, as the Jews in Jesus’ day did, and as many today are doing.