Marsha's Musings: God's Desire

My Quiet Time:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  (I Timothy 2:1-4 NKJV)

 

We are to pray for all people...friends, family, enemies, national leaders...it doesn't matter who.  What's more we are to give thanks in our prayers for them!  

Oh, boy, that is a tough one for me, considering who some of our leaders are in D.C.

Verse 4 tends to confuse some people.  It says that God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

Many have trouble with this verse because they reason, if God desires all people to be saved but not all people are saved, then He failed in His mission.  

Others reason that while God desires all people to be saved, it is contingent on them accepting or rejecting salvation.  This poses a problem because then it makes God dependent on what man will do, and again, Christ's work on the cross is ineffectual for some.

Whenever we have what seems like confusion in Scripture we need to interpret Scripture by Scripture.  This clears up the problem.

John 6:37 gives us the answer to who the "all people" are.  "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."

Going back to verse 4, God desires all those He has given to His Son to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  They will come and they will be saved.  Christ's work on the cross was effectual for all that the Father had given Him.