For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 3:17 – Scripture Of The Day (January 8, 2014)

Praise God that this is true!  Two thousand years ago, God out of his great love for us all gave his only begotten Son, as the famous verse preceding this one states.  He gave Jesus to be lifted up on that cross just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so that whoever believes in Jesus will be saved and have eternal life just as the Israelites who looked upon that serpent were saved from death by snake bite (John 3:14-16; cf. Num. 21:1-9).  Believing in Jesus means to actively obey him (James 2:14-26), for the ones who obey him are the ones whom he will save (Heb. 5:9).

Yes, God sent Christ to the world to save the world rather than condemning it as it deserved…but sadly, the majority of the world will reject that gift (Matt. 7:13-14).  As Jesus went on to say, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.  And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (John 3:18-21).  Most people will not believe in Jesus…and what is very sad is that many of them will be those who thought they did believe in Jesus but who truly didn’t because they didn’t truly obey him (Matt. 7:21-27; cf. 2 Tim. 4:3-4).  Therefore, they won’t be ready when Jesus comes again…and this time he won’t come to save (1 Thess. 5:1-3; 2 Thess. 1:7-9).