John 3:16 and the word "world" ?

The most famous verse in the Bible is John 3:16 LITV, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

The word "world" here does not refer to everyone, but the word "world" refers to the world of men from every tribe, nation, tongue and people.

Let is look In v. 14 first: Jesus speaks about when Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole.

The children of Israel were disobedient to God and the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and many of the people of Israel died.

Then the people of Israel repented, and God commanded Moses to make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole, and anyone who gets bitten by a fiery serpent, when he looks at the serpent which Moses made, will live.

Moses did what the Lord commanded him, and made a fiery serpent made of bronze, and put it on a pole, and everyone bitten and looked upon the serpent of bronze, he lived.

Jesus is telling Nicodemus as this happened for Israel, I will do for the whole world, the whole world of men, from every tribe, nation, tongue and people.

Nicodemus and other Jews believed a Saviour, a promised Messiah was coming but they believed the Saviour was coming for the Jews, but the Lord Jesus is telling Nicodemus, I am not coming for the Jews only, but for Jews and Gentiles, the whole world of men from every tribe, nation, language, and people. That is what the word "world" means in the context it is used.

Jesus died for His sheep from every tribe, nation, language and people.

The Bible says in John 10:11LITV
I am the Good Shepherd! The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 

Willing that All? should come to Repentance

There are some Christians who will use 2Peter 3:9 and say, God is not willing any should perish, but all should come to repentance, to mean every individual.

But when you look at this verse, and the pronoun used, I believe it is not referring in this verse to every individual, but to all the elect of God.

2Peter 3:9 KJV says, 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.

Peter  is writing to believers in this epistle, so when he wrote, "but is longsuffering to us-ward (us)" the "us-ward" refers to believers (the elect). Why is the Lord longsuffering toward the elect? Well, let us read on,  "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance".

I would explain 2Peter 3:9 like this, The Lord is longsuffering towards His elect, because the Lord is not willing that any of them (His elect) should perish, but all of them (His elect) should come to repentance.

The LITV translates 2Peter 3:9,
The Lord of the promise is not slow, as some deem slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not having purposed any of us to perish, but all of us to come to repentance. 

The Lord we Serve

Notice what the Lord said to Moses on the mountain when Moses first looked upon his own weakness, and not upon the Lord's strength.

And Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt? And He said, I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you that I have sent you, when you bring out the people from Egypt: You shall serve God on this mountain. Exodus 3:11-12 LITV

The Lord had called Moses to a place of service, for him to lead the Israelites out of the hands of Pharaoh, but instead at looking how small the mission was to God, he looked at his own weakness, and how big the mission was to him.

The Lord said to Moses, I will be with you. Moses looked upon himself instead of God. Moses feared in his own weakness compared to Pharaoh's strength.

The opposite to David before he fought against Goliath, David looked at Goliath and thought, look how small Goliath looks to God.

Moses did eventually change the focus to the strength of the Lord, and both, Moses and David had faith in the Lord, and obeyed Him, and God gave them the strength to do according to His will.

The same with His people today, the Bible says, Philippians 4:13 LITV
I can do all things through Christ, the One giving me power. 

The Lord is doing His Work in and through His people, and strengthens them to do according to His will.

The Bible says in Galatians 2:20 LITV I have been crucified with Christ, and I live; yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith toward the Son of God, the One loving me and giving Himself over on my behalf. 

The believer is like the glove and Christ is the Hand. For example, what use does a glove have when there is no hand inside, no use, the glove is useless. Can the glove be used for the purpose it was made for without the hand, no, the glove can not. The glove is dead without the life and strength of the hand. It is the hand working in and through the glove.

The same with Christ and His Church, Christ is working in and through His Church according to His perfect Word.

Genesis destroys Modalism

Modalism is a teaching that denies the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity. Modalism teaches that God appeared in three modes or manifestations.

First as the Father (in the Old Testament), second as the Son (Christ on this earth), third as the Holy Spirit (after Christ ascended into heaven). Modalists deny that the one True God is three distinct persons. Modalism teaches God is one eternal person who has appeared in three modes or forms.

The problem with modalism is it nowhere to be found in the Bible. Nowhere in scripture is God ever called one person. The Bible teaches God is one God, absolutely, but never one person, but very clearly teaches God is three persons.

Even in the first Book in the Bible, Modalism is destroyed.

Let us take a brief look.

Genesis 1:26 LITV
And God said, let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creepers creeping on the earth. 

Notice God said let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.

God is one God, but the one God refers to Himself as ”Us” referring to more than one person. In the next verse, this is confirmed.

The next verse, v. 27 says, God created man in His own image. Man was created in the image of God (not the image of angels nor any other image) so the ”Our” image in v. 26 can only refer to God and His image. Very clear and very simple, One God, but not one person.

When you go to chapter 11 of Genesis and the tower of Babel, you will be able to notice Jehovah came down in verse 5, And Jehovah said in v. 6 (LITV), then in v. 7 (LITV) continuing what the Lord is saying, Come let Us go down and confuse their language. In v. 9 it tells us the Lord did confuse the language.  The ”Us” again clearly refers to God as in Genesis 1,  teaching One God, but not one person.

So even in the first book of the Bible, the Bible teaches one God, but the One God is not one person, which destroys the heresy of Modalism (modalists teach one person).

When we come to the New Testament, things become very clear and the three distinct persons (The Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit) are seen. One God but three Persons. The Trinity is Biblical.

Prayer

In this blog, I want to look briefly at closet prayer, corporate prayer and ceaseless prayer.

Closet prayer is when you (a believer) pray to God alone. You close the door behind you to speak to God in secret.

The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 6:6 (LITV) But you, when you pray, enter into your room and shutting your door, pray to your Father in secret. And your Father seeing in secret will repay you in the open. 

Are you spending time with your Heavenly Father alone? Are you spending sufficient time with God? God wants to have that secret time with His people.

Jesus prayed to His Father alone when He was on the earth.

Luke 6:12 (LITV)
And it happened in these days, He went out into the mountain to pray. And He was spending the night in prayer to God. 

Corporate prayer is when a body of believers come together and pray. For example, You have corporate prayer in a local church at the prayer meeting.

In the book of Acts, we read about when Peter was in prison and the people of God came together to pray for him.

Acts 12:5 (LITV)
Then Peter was indeed kept in the prison, but fervent prayer was made by the church to God on his behalf. 

God answered the prayers of His people, and Peter was led out from the prison, and says in v. 12 (LITV)

And considering, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, the one being surnamed Mark, where many were gathered together, and praying. 

God wants His people to pray corporately, not just secretly.

Ceaseless prayer means we (believers) should not restrict ourselves to praying in the morning and evening, or at the prayer meeting only, but God commands us to pray without ceasing.

1 Thessalonians 5:17LITV
Pray without ceasing. 

This does not mean all we do is pray and do nothing else during the day, of course not, but means prayer without intermission.

Never have a full stop after your prayers, only a comma, ready to pray to God throughout the day, everyday.

Far beyond our Understanding

Someone may say, why did God choose (elected) you in Christ and not so and so to lavish His saving grace upon. The only answer you can give is what the Bible says in Ephesians, According to the good pleasure of His will. I leave the rest to God.

The Bible says in Romans 11:34-35, O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counseller?

There are things which are far beyond our understanding, because He is an infinite God, and you and I are finite. Man could not handle all what God knows. The reason God has given us the perfect measure contained in the Bible.

Those Who Walk Away

In 1John 2:19, The Bible talks about people who professed to be believers in the Lord Jesus, but they eventually gave up, and walked away from the Lord Jesus, and went back into the world.

John wrote, They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt continued with us, but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

When a person walks away from Jesus, and turn their back on Him, and go back into the world, and no longer believe, God is making known they were never one of His people, they never truly believed, they never had salvation.

The most famous one would be Judus Iscariot. He was shown to be not a believer. He never lost salvation because he never had salvation. Judas was never a true believer, he was never saved. He may have appeared to be a disciple before others, but Jesus knew from the beginning he was not.