God is a complicated Being that we cannot fully apprehend or put in a box, as if He were one-dimensional. There's always more to God than we can apprehend! Try not to think of Him as just a mean Judge, for example. Muslims view God as being capricious, arbitrary, and whimsical; therefore they live their lives in fear of not doing enough good deeds to balance out or outweigh their bad ones.
God's desires and wants are not like man's, who goes primarily by emotion, instinct, passion, lust, or even hormones; God's will is at play too, and to Him, that is the paramount deciding factor in what happens. God's Plan A is taking place without anyone able to thwart it or force God into Plan B. It is written: "... As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand" (Isaiah 14:24, ESV); and again, "For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?" (Isaiah 14:27). God knew that Adam and Eve would sin and this was all in His plan too, but that doesn't mean He desired it--it was necessitated.
God's desires and wants are not like man's, who goes primarily by emotion, instinct, passion, lust, or even hormones; God's will is at play too, and to Him, that is the paramount deciding factor in what happens. God's Plan A is taking place without anyone able to thwart it or force God into Plan B. It is written: "... As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand" (Isaiah 14:24, ESV); and again, "For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?" (Isaiah 14:27). God knew that Adam and Eve would sin and this was all in His plan too, but that doesn't mean He desired it--it was necessitated.
John Wycliffe's tenet is that "all things come to pass of necessity." Also, Ephesians 1:11 says that God works all things according to the counsel of His will. Yes, He sovereignly directs, disposes, and governs all creatures, actions, and things (from The Westminster Confession, 1646) as the causa prima or sole primary cause of the universe (got the ball rolling as unmoved mover). NB: God's name I AM can be translated, "I cause to be."
God is using us for His purposes. Today's common secular worldviews deny that anything has a purpose, which is a dirty or forbidden concept to them who deny this concept known as teleology. All nature teaches that God has a purpose for everything if you examine it with an open mind. I refer to the Anthropic Principle that says everything was designed for human habitation. We are called according to His purposes (cf. Romans 8:28). When David "had fulfilled God's purpose" the Lord took him.
God is using us for His purposes. Today's common secular worldviews deny that anything has a purpose, which is a dirty or forbidden concept to them who deny this concept known as teleology. All nature teaches that God has a purpose for everything if you examine it with an open mind. I refer to the Anthropic Principle that says everything was designed for human habitation. We are called according to His purposes (cf. Romans 8:28). When David "had fulfilled God's purpose" the Lord took him.
However, God doesn't cause evil (He uses evil ones to do it), but uses and allows evil to His glory (Psalm 76:10 says, "Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise..." in the NIV, and in the ESV it says, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise you...."). "The LORD works out everything to its proper end--even the wicked for a day of disaster" (Proverbs 16:4, NIV). Ecclesiastes 3:1 says "there is a time and purpose for every event under the sun." God makes everything beautiful in His time. Eccl. 3:11
Evil wouldn't exist if it didn't glorify Him in the end. God was not defeated by Satan and had to come up with some salvation plan to rescue man. Man usually does according to the natural inclination of his evil desires, but God has the power to restrain Himself, so as not to sacrifice His glory. "... But He does according to His will in the host of heaven.... And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, 'What have You done?'" (Daniel 4:35, NASB). "But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 115:3, NASB).
His justice is just as important to demonstrate as His grace and mercy; both will be brought forth. A good judge doesn't "desire" to send people to the death chambers when he metes out justice but is committed to doing the right thing. A judge can't be "soft," but he still desires to render justice as well as mercy. Thus, God gives everyone a chance to be saved, though He is not obligated to woo everyone (cf. John 6:44, 65), not necessarily the same amount of wooing to anyone, but no one has an excuse at Judgment Day (cf. Rom. 1:20). "Yet he did not leave himself without witness..." (Acts 14:17, ESV). Caveat: "Note then the kindness and severity of God..." (Romans 11:22, ESV).
1 Timothy 2:4 says that God desires all to be saved and in some versions, it says "wants all." 2 Peter 3:9 says God wants everyone to come to repentance yet in 2 Tim. 2:25 it says "if perchance God will grant them repentance" (repentance is by the grace of God, just like its flip side faith is). Acts 11:18 says that God has even granted to the Gentiles the repentance unto life (it's a gift, God is under no obligation or it would be by justice). It is God's preceptive will (what God's Word reveals to us as right and wrong) that no one perishes because He commands all to repent, yet His decreed will is that some receive His mercy and some His justice for the sake of His ultimate glory.
Evil wouldn't exist if it didn't glorify Him in the end. God was not defeated by Satan and had to come up with some salvation plan to rescue man. Man usually does according to the natural inclination of his evil desires, but God has the power to restrain Himself, so as not to sacrifice His glory. "... But He does according to His will in the host of heaven.... And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, 'What have You done?'" (Daniel 4:35, NASB). "But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 115:3, NASB).
His justice is just as important to demonstrate as His grace and mercy; both will be brought forth. A good judge doesn't "desire" to send people to the death chambers when he metes out justice but is committed to doing the right thing. A judge can't be "soft," but he still desires to render justice as well as mercy. Thus, God gives everyone a chance to be saved, though He is not obligated to woo everyone (cf. John 6:44, 65), not necessarily the same amount of wooing to anyone, but no one has an excuse at Judgment Day (cf. Rom. 1:20). "Yet he did not leave himself without witness..." (Acts 14:17, ESV). Caveat: "Note then the kindness and severity of God..." (Romans 11:22, ESV).
1 Timothy 2:4 says that God desires all to be saved and in some versions, it says "wants all." 2 Peter 3:9 says God wants everyone to come to repentance yet in 2 Tim. 2:25 it says "if perchance God will grant them repentance" (repentance is by the grace of God, just like its flip side faith is). Acts 11:18 says that God has even granted to the Gentiles the repentance unto life (it's a gift, God is under no obligation or it would be by justice). It is God's preceptive will (what God's Word reveals to us as right and wrong) that no one perishes because He commands all to repent, yet His decreed will is that some receive His mercy and some His justice for the sake of His ultimate glory.
Ezekiel 33:11 assures us that God takes "no pleasure in the death of the wicked." They have only themselves to blame for their rejection of His love (sin is basically "the refusal of the love of God," according to Dr. Karl Menninger). They made the condemning choice themselves and are culpable for it. They rejected God, but we all rejected God and chose self over Him in Adam, and none of us would have sought Christ had we not been wooed and sought out by the Holy Spirit (cf. John 6:44, 65).
God reserves the right to have mercy on whom He will have mercy and harden whom He will (cf. Romans 9:18). We didn't choose Him as Jesus said in John 15:16, but He chose us ("Many are called but few are chosen" per Matt. 22:14). In view of election, no one can say that they were just on the wrong list because God doesn't make anyone deny Him or reject Him against their free will. (What this means is that God doesn't make anyone do anything he doesn't want to do, and in that sense we are free to act on our desires--but God made our nature the way it is (e.g., melancholy, choleric, sanguine, impetuous, etc., and we act according to our God-given nature!)
God decreed that His sheep would be saved, and He does everything to make sure it happens, while He lets the lost go their own way, of their free will, and reject Him. Whenever God doesn't intervene a person is lost. Jesus said in John 15:5 that apart from Him we can do nothing, and this includes coming to Him. This doctrine is called preterition and means God simply passes over the non-elect and doesn't choose to save them. The elect receive grace and mercy, the non-elect receive justice.
God reserves the right to have mercy on whom He will have mercy and harden whom He will (cf. Romans 9:18). We didn't choose Him as Jesus said in John 15:16, but He chose us ("Many are called but few are chosen" per Matt. 22:14). In view of election, no one can say that they were just on the wrong list because God doesn't make anyone deny Him or reject Him against their free will. (What this means is that God doesn't make anyone do anything he doesn't want to do, and in that sense we are free to act on our desires--but God made our nature the way it is (e.g., melancholy, choleric, sanguine, impetuous, etc., and we act according to our God-given nature!)
God decreed that His sheep would be saved, and He does everything to make sure it happens, while He lets the lost go their own way, of their free will, and reject Him. Whenever God doesn't intervene a person is lost. Jesus said in John 15:5 that apart from Him we can do nothing, and this includes coming to Him. This doctrine is called preterition and means God simply passes over the non-elect and doesn't choose to save them. The elect receive grace and mercy, the non-elect receive justice.
Salvation is not a right and no one deserves to be saved or it would be justice and not mercy. God can save anyone He wills and condemn anyone He wills and, as the Potter, can make either vessels of honor or vessels of dishonor as He wills. God's glory is at stake. We don't know why God chose us, but it was "according to the good pleasure of His will." (Eph. 1:5).
What is the logical conclusion and application of the subject at hand? We should not wish people should go to hell or curse them to go there. Even some atheists sometimes wish there was a hell to send their enemies. We don't know who the elect are and must give everyone equal opportunity as far as we are concerned without bias or unfairness. We are to copy, emulate, or mimic this attitude of loving people into the kingdom, not arguing them in--you can win the argument and lose the seeker.
What is the logical conclusion and application of the subject at hand? We should not wish people should go to hell or curse them to go there. Even some atheists sometimes wish there was a hell to send their enemies. We don't know who the elect are and must give everyone equal opportunity as far as we are concerned without bias or unfairness. We are to copy, emulate, or mimic this attitude of loving people into the kingdom, not arguing them in--you can win the argument and lose the seeker.
God is uniquely able to separate His desires from His will and act in the best interest of His glory, which is His overall objective. He takes "no pleasure in the death of the wicked " (cf. Ezek. 33:11, NIV) and desires [wants] all to be saved (cf. 1 Tim. 2:4), but it is not His will. "Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him [the good pleasure of His will]" (Psalm 115:3, NIV). We are limited and must learn to trust God for the outcome that He knows best, and our work is not in vain in the Lord (cf. 1 Cor. 15:58). Soli Deo Gloria!
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