What if I told you that everything related to your salvation depended on God? Which, is what Jesus taught us recently in Matthew 13:11 in the parable of the Sower, Seed and Soil. God “granted” some “to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven”, and to others He did not grant such knowledge. I’m willing to speculate that most of us would readily agree with the proposition that God is the one who saves. Yet, when pressed on this issue, if God sovereignly saves some people but not all people…well, it seems that some people aren’t ready to say that, feeling that somehow, we ultimately do have something to do with our salvation. When pushed as to what that “something” might be, well, we often say…, ‘we must repent” (Matt. 4:17; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 8:22; 17:30; Rev. 2:16) or “we must repent and believe” (Mark 1:15; 5:36; John 1:12; Acts 8:37; 16:31; Rom. 3:22; 4:24; Gal. 3:22) or “we must repent, believe, and confess with our mouth Jesus as Lord” (Matt. 10:32; Luke 12:8; Rom. 10:9; Phil. 2:11). Well, knowing that the scripture indeed tells us that we must do each of these things, it would seem correct to say that we do indeed have something to do with our own salvation.
Unless, we understood, that those actions we freely take, such as believing, repenting and confessing, which are indeed actions taken by those who are “saved”, are in fact actions we freely take AFTER Jesus has first drawn us to Himself, and ransomed our spiritually dead soul from the dungeon of Adam’s original sin (Rom. 5:14; 1 Cor. 15:22). After seeing the kingdom of heaven as the “hidden treasure” (Matthew 13:44) that it truly is. The ransom price being Christ’s own life as the sinless sacrifice whose blood did once and for all permanently what the countless lambs previously sacrificed could only do temporarily. Expiate our sin (Matt. 26:28; Rom. 3:25; 5:9; 1 Cor. 10:16; 11:25; Eph. 1:7; 2:13; Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 9:11-28; 1 Peter 1:19; Rev. 5:9-10)! And indeed, that’s what Jesus’ death upon the cross of Calvary DID for the elect of God, those whom He predestined unto salvation according to His good pleasure and will (Rom. 8:29-30; Eph. 1:5,11). This is why John 12:32 is a very important verse in understanding why salvation is a singular act of God alone that then, and only then, enables God’s elect children to freely repent, believe and confess Jesus as Lord.
I believe we see this very promise from Jesus Himself in John 12:32, when He said…
32 As for Me, if I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all people to Myself.
33 He said this to signify what kind of death He was about to die.
His being lifted up from the earth is clearly a reference to His being crucified on a CROSS.
John confirms as much in verse 33…
Now, notice…Jesus said that at the cross He would “draw” all people to Himself.
Notice these three words from the text…I WILL DRAW…what possibly does Jesus mean here?
This verb “draw” is translated from the Greek verb…ἕλκω…which translates ‘I will draw’.
It means “to pull or drag, requiring force because of the inertia of the object being dragged—‘to pull, to drag, to draw.’”
Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 207). New York: United Bible Societies.
We see from this definition, and its use in John 12:32, that Jesus is the one initiating the action of this verb, it is something He will do, and that “all people”, is the object of which Jesus’ drawing will happen.
So if we are to take Jesus at His word here in John 12:32, that when lifted up from the earth to die on a cross, he “will draw all people to [Himself]”; we are forced to say that Jesus alone is taking credit for the work of ‘drawing’, the individuals of whom make up the class of “all people” (John 6:44; 65). A class of once spiritually blind and spiritually dead souls, who were dead in Adam’s original sin, incapable of coming to Jesus of their own accord (Rom. 3:9-20; Eph. 2:1-3). Thus we see both the reason and need of Jesus “to draw” them to Himself in the first place.
Jesus’ death upon the cross didn’t simply make salvation a possibility for ALL PEOPLE…that would be to say that Jesus’ death saved nobody; it just made salvation possible for everybody. This understanding of Christ’s death demonstrates a misunderstanding of the atoning blood sacrifice and its proper application.
“The Hebrew word translated ‘atonement’ is kaphar, meaning ‘to cover.’ This suggest that through the act of atonement sin is covered so that God no longer sees it. Throughout the OT the covering is achieved, ostensibly at least, with the blood of an innocent animal whose innocence renders the repentant sinner innocent as well (Lv 1:4-5; 17:11). The New Testament term hilasterion, ‘propitiation,’ continues this OT concept, again in contexts of blood sacrifice (Rm 3:25).” Eugene H. Merrill; Jesus and Atonement in the Old Testament; HCSB pg. 2123
What Jesus accomplished when He died on the cross as an ATONING SACRIFICE was an actual "blood covering" for those He came to save, it was a procurement and guarantee of salvation for their very souls; for the ELECT of God (Matt. 24:22, 24, 31; Rom. 8:33)…for the particular sheep whom He said that He would lay His life down for (John 10:11,15).
And we see this in these three words…I WILL DRAW! Jesus left nothing to chance (John 10:27-30)!
Now, this begs a different kind of question.
Does this mean that ALL PEOPLE will ultimately be saved? After all…Jesus said…, “I will draw ALL PEOPLE to Myself.” Is the idea of a universal promise of salvation taught here?
Certainly not…we see in John 5:28-29…Jesus has already made it clear that some will be lost…and in John 10:24-30, Jesus says that not all people are His sheep.
So how are we to understand the words, ALL PEOPLE in relation to Christ’s “drawing”?
Well, in this context…as well as in a few other passages that would seem to indicate a universalistic application of Christ’s atoning death (see…1 John 2:2; 1 Timothy 2:3-6; 1 Timothy 4:10; 2 Peter 3:9), the best understanding of “all people” can only be that ALL PEOPLE is referring to the elect of God which will include, “ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE”…meaning…both Jews and Gentiles. Because, if you don’t take this understanding, the only other option you have, is to say, that all people will be saved in the end, even those who die in unrepentant sin professing hatred against Christ and His cross.
Those elect which will be saved then will include not only Jews, but also those from every tribe, language, people, and nation (Rev. 5:9; cf. John 10:16; 11:52). Jesus dies for ‘all kinds of people’, for the stated purpose of making “one flock”, all of whom will have “one shepherd” (John 10:16).
So, what if I told you that everything related to your salvation depended on God? Everything (1 Cor. 1:30-31)! Let’s never stop thanking and serving God for His amazing grace shown us in the person of Jesus Christ (Acts 15:11; Rom. 3:24; 5:2)! And let’s keep SOWING (Matt. 13:3) and KINGDOM CASTING (Matt. 13:47-50) until HE comes again (Revelation 6:12-16), because until HE comes, HE is still drawing all kinds of people unto salvation. AMEN!