All – Saviour of All Men – knowing Him
‘I’ve heard all the stories
I’ve seen all the signs
Witnessed all the glory
Tasted all that’s fine
Nothing compares to the greatness of knowing You, Lord’ – (song, “Nothing Compares” by Third Day)
“More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,” – apostle Paul (Philippians 3:8, NASB)
Firstly, let’s consider a Biblical Command regarding Boasting
(i) Disallowed
“Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;” (Jeremiah 9:23, NASB)
(ii) Allowed
“but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:24, NASB)
Conclusion
The above (context) is what apostle Paul meant when he quoted the Old Testament verses above in his Inspired New Testament Verses below:
“But, “The one boasting, let him boast in the Lord.” – apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 10:17, BLB)
“But God has chosen the foolish things of the world that He might shame the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world that He might shame the strong; and the low-born of the world, and the things being despised, God also chose—the things not being—that He might annul the things being, so that all flesh may not boast before God.
But out of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who has been made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it has been written: “The one boasting, let him boast in the Lord.” – apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 1:27 – 31, BLB)
P/S:
Let us remember that the Heart of the Gospel and the Purpose of “age-during life” (into the coming, next “age”) is to “know Him” [as point (ii) above also clearly mentions] correlating perfectly with the verse below:
“and this is the life age-during, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and him whom Thou didst send — Jesus Christ;” – Lord Jesus Christ (John 17:3, YLT)
Are we able to see this Biblical Fact?
Indeed,
“My soul will make its boast in the LORD; The humble will hear it and rejoice.” (Psalm 34:2, NASB)
“In God we have boasted all the day, And Thy Name to the age we thank. Selah.” (Psalm 44:8, YLT)
Yes:
“Rise up, God, champion your cause! Remember the insults that fools bring against You all day long.” (Psalm 74:22, CSB)
“At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
Both rider and horse were cast into a dead sleep.
You, even You, are to be feared;
And who may stand in Your presence when once You are angry?
You caused judgment to be heard from heaven;
The earth feared and was still
When God arose to judgment,
To save all the humble of the earth. Selah.” (Psalm 76:6 – 9, NASB)
Yes, when His Judgment comes to earth (consecutive verses above, context), even the “wrath of man” will turn to “praise” simply because they too will realize that ‘He Judges Perfectly’:
“For the wrath of man shall praise You;
With a remnant of wrath You will gird Yourself.” (Psalm 76:10, NASB)
“At night my soul longs for You, Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently; For when the earth experiences Your judgments The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” (Isaiah 26:9, NASB)
So, our role in Judgment ‘now’ (on earth, ‘before the time’) as Christians is ‘not to pass out eternal Hell sentences to others who disagree with us’ but rather realise that ‘all who are Judged’ will ‘Praise Him eventually’ (phrase: “each man’s praise” in verse below):
“Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.” – apostle Paul (1 Corinthians 4:5, NASB)
Verses below clearly describe that “all My burning anger” in afterlife Judgment will eventually cause all those to whom His Wrath was poured upon to eventually “call on the name of the LORD” (and ‘be Saved’, implied by Romans 10:13, Joel 2:32, Acts 2:21 —> His Name & Saving Capability has NO Expiry ‘before this lifetime nor is It subject to any other man-made limits’, Ephesians 3:20) & even cause them to “serve Him shoulder to shoulder”:
““Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD,
“For the day when I rise up as a witness.
Indeed, My decision is to gather nations,
To assemble kingdoms,
To pour out on them My indignation,
All My burning anger;
For all the earth will be devoured
By the fire of My zeal.
“For then I will give to the peoples purified lips,
That all of them may call on the name of the LORD,
To serve Him shoulder to shoulder.” (Zephaniah 3:8 – 9, NASB)
Can you understand it?
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,” – apostle Paul (Ephesians 3:20, NASB)
Only with ‘understanding’ & ‘knowing Him’, we can offer Him ‘True Worship’ in ‘Truth’ because He is the Truth (John 14:6):
“For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.” (Psalm 47:7, NASB)
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:24, NASB)
Please note that the ‘Word of Christ’ manifests itself in both ‘wisdom & spiritual songs too’ (implied):
“Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all Wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” – apostle Paul (Colossians 3:16, NASB)
Here’s an infamous explanation by Origen of Alexandria regarding this same set of verses too for edification (to quote from Gary Amirault):
Listen to the words of Origen as he battles with a Greek philosopher named Celsus:
“The Stoics, indeed, hold that, when the strongest of the elements prevails, all things shall be turned into fire. But our belief is, that the Word shall prevail over the entire rational creation, and change every soul into his own perfection…for although in the diseases and wounds of the body, there are some which no medical skill can cure, yet we hold that in the mind there is no evil so strong that it may not be overcome by the Supreme Word and God. For stronger than all the evils in the soul is the Word, and the healing power that swells in Him, and the healing He applies, according to the will of God to every man. The consummation of all things is the destruction of evil…to quote Zephaniah: ‘My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kings, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent’…consider carefully the promise, that all shall call upon the name of the Lord, and serve Him with one consent; also that all contemptuous reproach shall be taken away, and there shall be no longer any injustice, or vain speech, or a deceitful tongue” (Celsus, 6k8, ch. 72, ANF, v.4, p. 667).
Yes, “all men” will be “Saved” by God our Savior eventually (which is only seen very clearly when the “verb-will have” is translated accurately as it’s done in the KJV translation below):
“Who [God our Savior ] will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” – apostle Paul (1 Timothy 2:4, KJV)
“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw* all men to Myself.” – Lord Jesus Christ (John 12:32, BSB)
*Draw = in Greek, its literally ‘drag’ too as it is ‘done in fishing’ (He Himself is the Great Fisher of All Men, some in this life & others later —-> are we able to understand it?)
Even ‘post afterlife judgment’ as well all ‘as it is Written’:
“For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.” – apostle James (James 2:13, NASB)
Here’s a brief explanation regarding the verse above for further edification as well, please consider:
Re-Focus: Meaning of James 2:13
Last but not least,
Here’s an interesting note regarding James 2:13 which easily refutes any false claims of ‘context’ against it, please consider:
“For [afterlife] judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over [afterlife] judgment.” – apostle James (James 2:13, NASB)
Please note that in James 2:13, if the “judgment” in the first sentence “For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy” —-> refers to the [afterlife] Judgment —> then, the “judgment” in the second sentence “mercy triumphs over judgment” in this ‘same verse’ —-> must also refer to [afterlife Judgment] as well —-> with no twisting nor manipulations of any kind.
Can you really see it?
Here’s a Beautiful Verse agreeing to Correct Theology:
“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness [Mercy], because of Your truth.” (Psalm 115:1, NASB)
‘A Reason to Live,
A Reason to Die,
Beautiful Reason,
The Risen Son, Jesus’
(song, “Beautiful Reason”, please see link below, thank-you for watching & listening too):
“For the Grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,” – apostle Paul (Titus 2:11, NASB)
We may exclaim, ‘HalleluYah’ too! (which means ‘Praise the LORD’!). I love the song below exclaiming HalleluYah:
‘Whatever’s in front of me
I’ll choose to sing, HalleluYah’
Blessed Saviour of the World
“It is a Trustworthy Statement deserving Full Acceptance.
For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the Living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.
Prescribe and Teach these things.” – apostle Paul (1 Timothy 4:9 – 11, NASB)
Are we ready to ‘Accept’ and ‘Teach’ the above as Christians according to the Command in verse above?
“Should I worship Him from fear of hell, may I be cast into it. Should I serve Him from desire of gaining heaven, may He keep me out. But should I worship Him from love alone, He reveals Himself to me, that my whole heart may be filled with His love and presence.” – Sadhu Sundar Singh
“To follow Christ and bear His cross is so sweet and precious that, if I find no cross to bear in heaven, I shall plead before him to send me as a missionary, if need be to hell.”- Sadhu Sundar Singh
Did the Sadhu think there was eternal punishment? — “There was punishment, but it was not eternal…Everyone after this life would be given a fair chance of making good, and attaining to the measure of fullness the soul was capable of. This might sometimes take ages.” – Sadhu Sundar Singh
In 1925 Sundar wrote, “If the Divine spark in the soul cannot be destroyed, then we need despair of no sinner… Since God created men to have fellowship with Himself, they cannot for ever be separated from Him… After long wandering, and by devious paths, sinful man will at last return to Him in whose Image he was created; for this is his final destiny.”
Sundar Singh’s encounter with Christ:
“I returned inside, and the light increased in intensity and took the form of a globe of light above the ground, and in this light there appeared, not the form I expected, but the living Christ whom I had counted as dead.
To all eternity I shall never forget His glorious and Loving Face, nor the few words which He spoke.
‘Why do you persecute Me? See, I have died on the cross for you and for the whole world.’
These words were burned into my heart as by lightning, and I fell on the ground before Him. My heart was filled with inexpressible joy and peace, and my whole life was entirely changed.” (Sundar Singh, as quoted in Thompson, Sadhu Sundar Singh, 18)
Regarding more of Sadhu Sundar Singh’s visions of Hell and the proof of the quotes above too, please refer to the ‘first-original autobiographies of his life’, written by those ‘who met him in real life and walked with him too’ as some images from those books are shown in links below for edification too (regarding sadhu Sundar Singh, who is a credible witness to all this as well, though rarely known):
‘God has kept the Most Beautiful things about Him a Secret (Deuteronomy 29:29, Proverbs 25:2, Luke 8:17)’ – Anonymous
“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” – Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:33, NASB)
‘The Heavens are Roaring because You are Risen, Oh Blessed Saviour of the World’
‘You have no idea Who Walked among us (John 1:14)’ – Anonymous
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