This is NOT God's Will

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 
2 Peter 3: 9

A Bit of A Twist:

We have been talking about God's will. Well here is a bit of a twist on this discussion. Let's chat about what God does not want:  I have heard someone say that they don't believe in God's judgement, and I have heard them say, "A loving God will never send anyone to hell."  I have a need to respond to this by saying, God really does not want anyone going to hell. To say this Peter's way, God does NOT want anyone to perish. Check out what the Apostle Peter is saying above in the second half of verse 9. Here he tells us that God is a patient God. He is patient with you, and He is patient with me. And he says that God provides His patience because He does not want anyone to perish, but He does want everyone to repent. This means He wants people to turn from their sins to to believe in Jesus, who is the only one that provides the way for a person to not perish. (Acts 4:11-12)

Perishing Is NOT God's Will

Many know a verse, in the Bible, that addresses this as well, and it unpacks what Peter is talking about. I am talking about John 3:16; however, many leave out the powerful following verses that need to be discussed. I am talking about John 3:16-18. Read these verses for yourselves, and you will see that God loves the world so very much that He gave His only begotten Son. Why did He give us this Son? He did so that, whoever believes in Him, will not perish (there is that perish word again) but that this believer would have eternal life.  Eternal life means to share in God's life forever. This is what God wanted. It is what God actually wants for us today. He wants us to believe in Jesus and NOT perish. He wants us to have eternal life. He wants us to share in God's life for all eternity. John then says that God did NOT send His Son, Jesus, to condemn the world, but through Jesus the world would be saved. And He adds that those who believe in Him are NOT condemned! However, God makes it clear, that even though He wants salvation for all, those who do not believe are condemned already because they do not believe in the name of this Son, Jesus. Yep, because of sin, everyone stands condemned before God, but no one has to be condemned at all. God simply does NOT WANT anyone to perish. It is NOT God's will.

God Allows Us To Make The Ultimate Choice

Therefore, God does want to save people from condemnation, but they must choose to believe. Each one must respond to God's will by doing God's will, but they will perish against God's will because they choose not to believe in the One who can save them. God will indeed judge, but not because it is God's first choice. He demonstrated His first choice, and He made it as transparent as it could possibly be made, 2000 plus years ago.  In other words, when people choose to  fail to "repent," or turn from their sins, to believe in Jesus, they are condemned and they will perish against God's will. As Matthew 25:41 tells us, plainly, that Hell was prepared for the Devil and his angels. It was not prepared for  humans. God gives each human being the ultimate choice. To believe, or not to believe, really is a choice God freely gives to everyone. God, as Peter tells us, is waiting patiently for each one who is set to perish to come to Him through His Son Jesus.

In a nutshell, God wants to save folks from perishing. But He will not do so against our own wills. Needless to say, salvation is for all, but it's only for those who want it. 

Think about it.

SoJourner

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