Friday, January 8, 2010
1 Timothy 2:3-4 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
GOD DESIRES ALL MEN TO BE SAVED
Is a person only superficially considers the reign of God in the distribution of His means of grace among the peoples, it is easy to think that God wants only certain people to have a share in His grace. The Old and New Testaments, however, declare just the opposite. First, they tell us that God's grace is universal and extends to all people. The prophet Ezekiel makes this clear: "'As I live,' declares the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live'" (33:11). In our text, Paul says "[God desires] all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth," and Peter adds, "[God is not willing] that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
From these passages it is obvious that God does not want any sinner to die, but that each one should come to the knowledge of the truth that saves.
Despite the arrangements by God to give His saving Word to all the Gentiles, there are still countless millions who have been robbed of that Word by the guilt of their forefathers, and they have sunk back into the night of uncertainty and superstition. We cannot blame God that so many who have never heard about their Savior have already perished and continue to perish. But all of the heathen who languish in despair and hopelessness without God's Word are accusers of those Christians who, in indifference and lovelessness, care not at all about the salvation of their poor brothers. The conversion of the heathen remains a duty of everyone who calls himself a Christian.
-Excerpt taken from "God Grant It : Daily Devotions from C. F. W. Walther"
Concordia Publishing House, 2006.
