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“I Will Draw All Men”…Are You Sure About That?

KD Jesus Christ dying on the cross Sticker Poster|Christian Posters ...“I Will Draw All Men”…Are You Sure About That?

James R. Aist

“One may infer that saving faith is the result of the elect being taught by and learning from the Father, rather than by deciding to believe in Jesus after being drawn to Him.”

In this article, I will use various scripture passages to connect the dots, so to speak, concerning the mechanics of salvation as described in the Bible. My focus will be on a few passages that deal specifically with people being drawn to Jesus, one way or another. In doing so, I will challenge a very commonly held interpretation of one key verse that is all too often taken out of context to arrive at a conclusion that is not warranted by the text.

What is the result of being “drawn to Jesus?”

In the Gospel of John, Chapter 6, Jesus answers this question repeatedly, clearly and to the point:

John 6:40 “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (Here we can see that when Jesus says “I will raise him up on the last day”, He means that He will raise him up to eternal life.)

John 6:44-45  “No one can come to Me unless the Father who has sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘They shall all be taught by God.’  Therefore everyone who has heard and has learned of the Father comes to Me.” (There are three pertinent points to see here: 1) No one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him; 2) Those whom the Father draws to Jesus will be taught by God; and 3) Everyone whom the Father has drawn to Jesus will be raised up to eternal life on the last day.)

John 6:54 “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day. (Everyone who has eternal life will be raised up on the last day.)

What, then, does it mean to be “drawn to Jesus?” What John 6 is saying is that only those who are drawn to Jesus by the Father can be saved, and everyone who is drawn to Jesus is taught by God and will be raised up by Jesus to eternal life on the last day. Note that there is not even a hint here that, in this process, we are invited to make a choice whether or not to believe in Jesus.

Thus, the path to salvation, according to Jesus, goes like this: an elect person is drawn to Jesus by the Father, then taught by the Father, learns from the Father, and is raised up to eternal life by Jesus on the last day. One may infer, then, that saving faith is the result of the elect being taught by and learning from the Father, rather than by deciding to believe in Jesus after being drawn to Him.

Does the Bible say that all men are drawn to Jesus?

That said, let us now turn our attention to the main thrust of this article, starting with a comprehensive understanding of the meaning of the word “all” in the Bible and elsewhere. If you look up “all” in most any dictionary, you will find not one, but two, alternative meanings. Perhaps the most familiar meaning is inclusive, as in “all have sinned,” where “all” refers to all of humanity. Another meaning is exclusive, as in “all Israel will be saved”, where “all” refers only to those Jews who will believe in Jesus. To discern which of these two alternative meanings applies, one must consider the context of the passage in question.

Now we are ready to examine a well-known utterance of Jesus that is commonly misconstrued: “And if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself.” He said this to signify by what kind of death He would die.” (John 12:32-33). The second verse is usually ignored, leaving only “And if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself”, and is then cited as biblical proof that all of mankind is drawn to Jesus. But, there are at least two reasons why that interpretation cannot be correct. First, the meaning of verse 32 is explained in the very next verse: “He said this to signify by what kind of death He would die,” not “how many would be drawn to Him if He were to be crucified!” And second, if verse 32 was meant to say that all of mankind would be drawn to Him, then this would mean that all people will be saved, because, as we learned above, all who are drawn to Jesus will believe in Jesus and inherit eternal life. Thus, to cite John 12:32 as biblical proof that everyone is drawn to Jesus is tantamount to endorsing universalism, a well-known heresy!  A correct understanding of John 12:32, then, may be to see “all” in this verse to be the exclusive “all”, most likely referring only to God’s elect.

Are we drawn to Jesus to be given a choice to either accept or reject the offer of salvation?

Some say that all people are drawn to Jesus, and then they are given a choice whether or not to accept His offer of salvation. They receive eternal life if they say yes, or so the story goes. There are several reasons why this storyline cannot be true. First, it does not square with what Jesus says about it in John 6, as mentioned above. Second, the Bible does not say, clearly and directly to the point, that anyone chooses to believe in Jesus. Saving faith is a gift of God, given only to His elect. Whenever the Bible speaks clearly to this matter, it is God, not us, who does the choosing. And third, in Romans 8:29-30, the Apostle Paul traces the path to salvation as follows: God foreknew, predestined, called, justified and glorified those He saves. What is missing from this path to salvation is any step at which God presents to us an opportunity to accept  or reject God’s offer of salvation.

Why is it important to know how God saves us, if all He saves will be with Him in heaven anyway?

There is no solid, biblical basis for believing that the Father draws us to Jesus to then, give us an opportunity to accept or reject God’s offer of salvation; it is nothing more than a human construct designed to give the impression that the free will of men is sovereign over God’s will in the matter of salvation. This idea may be attractive and appealing  to the ego and easy to believe, but it robs God of the full measure of glory in saving us. God is not willing to share His gory with anyone (Isaiah 42:8). My Bible says that salvation belongs to the Lord (Psalm 3:8), not us!

You can read more of my articles on biblical topics by clicking (HERE).

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An “Angel of Light”

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An “Angel of Light”

James R. Aist

And suddenly an angel of the Lord approached him, and a light shone in the prison. (Acts 12:7)

I was 19 years old, a college student and very naive and ignorant concerning spiritual matters and the Word of God. In my frame of reference at that time, anything supernatural was assumed to be of God.

Now, please keep in mind that I was fully conscious and aware during the entire supernatural encounter I am about to share with you. One Sunday afternoon, I was alone in my apartment praying earnestly to God for His guidance concerning a major life decision that I was about to make: should I pursue marriage with my girlfriend of two months or just move on when she returned to finish her college degree elsewhere? I wanted very much to continue pursuing this relationship and marry her. While I was standing at the kitchen stove cooking a snack and praying passionately to God about this, I suddenly felt an invisible force pulling on me, weakly at first, but then stronger and stronger until I could no longer resist it. Then, my entire body fell limp, and my upper torso was held upright (i.e., levitated). I was literally pulled down the hallway to the other end of the apartment by this force, with my lower legs and feet dragging along the floor. When I arrived at the doorway to my bedroom, the force released me, and I slumped to the floor sitting upright, still unable to move of my own accord. Then, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, a bright, round, white light about the size of a volleyball. This light was situated at the juncture of the wall and the ceiling. Next, my gaze was turned fully toward the light, and a voice from the light spoke clearly into my mind. It said, “She believes in God. It’s OK to marry her. When trouble comes, I will take care of it.” Finally, my strength slowly returned to me, and I was able to stand and walk.

Believing that this strange and bizarre response to my prayer was of God, I acted on the message I was given and eventually married my girlfriend. The marriage seemed to be going well for a while, but, gradually, trouble began to creep in, and it became clear, eventually, that it was necessary to dissolve our marriage.

Not long after the divorce was finalized, I met a Christian woman, and soon we were married. One night, in a vision, God called me to become a student of the Bible, and we have enjoyed many, many years of faithful marriage during which time we have, together, grown greatly in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord.

In retrospect, I have been able to more reliably understand the message given to me by the “angel of light.” Yes, it was a message from God in answer to my prayer. In that message, God did not instruct me to marry my girlfriend. He simply said that it was OK for me to do it (After all, she believed in God, and I really did want to marry her). Then He went on to prophesy that a) there would be serious trouble in the marriage, and b) He would take care of the trouble. And, here’s how God took care of the trouble: first, in His written word, He provided me biblical grounds to divorce my first wife; and, second, He gave me a godly, Christian woman to replace her. And this is how I know, in retrospect, that the encounter with the angel of light was from God and not from Satan: only God would take care of the “trouble” in such a way!

To read more of my articles on biblical topics, click (HERE)

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Spiritual Encounters With God: A Jonah Moment

Spiritual Encounters With God: A Jonah Moment

James R. Aist

“I called to the Lord out of my distress, and He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and You heard my voice.” (Jonah 2:2)

It was the second week of January, 2023, and I was in the hospital for a heart catheterization. If there was any serious arterial blockage, then they would install stents to open the arteries, as needed. My operation was scheduled for early morning, with the expectation that I would be able to go home the same day. However, something went terribly wrong, and I ended up spending the next nine days in the general hospital, followed by nine more days in the rehabilitation hospital. This encounter occurred while I was in the general hospital.

I was in the Intensive Care Unit for the first two days. During most of this time, I was either sleeping or hallucinating, but for brief moments I was awake and in touch with reality. It was during this time in the ICU that I had a very intense, but brief, encounter with God. I was in a place that was void of any light, so I couldn’t see anything. I was not even aware of my body. But, I could somehow sense the very close and real presence of God in front of me. Then a voice began to speak into my mind, describing to me the very dire situation I was in; that I didn’t understand what was happening to me or how serious it was, and that the doctors were doing everything they knew of to help me, but even they didn’t know what to do in order to pull me through. Then I focused my attention intensely on God. I very passionately described to Him how dire my situation was (as if He didn’t already know). I told Him that I don’t know how to survive this situation, and that the doctors don’t know either. And, I told Him that I know He is the only One who can keep me from dying, that He was my only hope to survive this ordeal. It’s fair to say that I made a very passionate and desperate plea for God to heal me and enable me to live on. To my knowledge, there was no response from Him at that time. With that, the encounter ended, and I lost awareness of anything for the time being.

After 18 days I was finally able to go home, and I have since made a full recovery. Subsequently, while my wife and I were studying the book of Jonah, it dawned on me that this experience in the hospital, while differing in most details, had a striking resemblance to the experience of Jonah in the belly of the whale (See Jonah 2:2, above). This fact confirms, to my way of thinking, that this encounter was, in fact, with God.

In retrospect, I believe that there are at least two take-home lessons for me here. First, I am immensely grateful to God for granting my request. And second, I am motivated to respond to this miracle by making good use of the time I have left to glorify God while I am still on this planet.

To read more of my articles on biblical topics,  click (HERE)

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God Owns Our Lives!

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God Owns Our Lives!

James R. Aist

“The earth belongs to the Lord, and its fullness, the world, and those who dwell in it” (Psalms 24:1).

This is, perhaps, the most difficult matter for us to truly settle with God: God claims to have the right to do anything He wants to with every human life, anything. What I want us to do while reading this article is to seriously consider this question:  Have I really made peace with God’s claim to His right to do whatever He pleases with my life, or do I stubbornly cling to the notion that my life is mine to do with as I please?

Just as we destroy our possessions if we want to, so also, God destroys even our lives if He wants to, as illustrated by the following examples:

  • The law of sin and death: The wages of sin is death (eternity lived in the Lake of fire), unless God saves you;
  • The flood: Sin was so pervasive that God destroyed the entire human race, except for Noah and his family, with a world-wide flood;
  • Christian martyrs: For more than two millennia now, Christians who refused to deny Jesus, including all of the Apostles except John, have been murdered for their faith;
  • Even Jesus was sent to give up His earthly life as a ransom for many!

These examples clearly demonstrate that God has the power to do whatever He wants to with our lives, that His sovereignty extends even to the point of our death. But does He have a right to exercise that sovereignty?

To answer this question, it is necessary to look for biblical bases for God’s sovereign right to use our lives any way He wants to. Here are two that have been found:

1) The right of creation (ownership by creation applies to all people)

  • “The earth belongs to the Lord, and its fullness, the world, and those who dwell in it” (Psalms 24:1);
  •  “Indeed, heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it” (Deuteronomy 10:14);
  • “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty, for everything in the heavens and the earth is Yours” (1 Chronicles 29:11); and
  • “Who has preceded Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine” (Job 41:11).

2) The right of redemption (ownership by redemption applies only to those whom God saves)

  • “What? Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God, and that you are not your own?  You were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
  • “Rather, O man, who are you to answer back to God? Shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does the potter not have power over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honor and another for dishonor” (Romans 9:21)?
  • “What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He previously prepared for glory…” (Romans 9:22).

Note that the lives of true believers are doubly owned by God, by virtue of both creation and redemption.

Have you truly made peace with God’s sovereign right to do with your life anything that He wants to? If not, then why not? It’s just the way it is, whether we like it or not. It’s time to truly “surrender all.”