What did Christ accomplish on His cross? He said He had come to save the world, and He told His Father before He died that He had done it (John 12:48; 17:4).
If what Christ accomplished by His sacrifice was only an offer that is ineffective unless and until we take the first step in believing, then our salvation depends on our own initiative. But Jesus took the initiative; He redeemed the world before we were born. We simply respond to His initiative. Esau is the Bible example of how the plan of salvation works. If the merely "offer" idea is true, then logically Esau did not HAVE the birthright; he would have had to DO something in order to get it.
Surely the Holy Spirit is leading Christian people worldwide to comprehend what happened on the cross. Only when Christ is "lifted up" there, can He "draw all men" to Himself. That truth will be the essence of the final message that will "lighten the earth with glory" (John 12:32; Rev. 18:1-4).
What does the Bible say? (a) Christ reversed the "condemnation" that Adam by his sin brought on the human race; (b) He gave the "gift" (KJV) of "justification and life for all men" (Rom. 5:18); (c) He gave the world this "gift by grace" (vss. 15, 16); (d) yes, the same "all" who sinned were "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (3:23, 24); (e) yes, He secured for the human race a "judicial … verdict of acquittal" (5:16-18, REB); (f) yes, "the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6); (g) yes, "we see Jesus ... that He by the grace of God should taste death [the real thing] for every man" (Heb. 2:9); (h) yes, "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ .. hath made us accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:3-6; a wise writer said that the "us" is the entire human race [The Desire of Ages, p. 113]). (i) Esau already HAD the birthright--he didn't have to do a thing to obtain it; he threw away what had already been given him (Gen. 25:21-34; Heb. 12:17, 18).
Could the Good News be better than many Christian people believe it is? Christ DID save the human race. Don't resist and reject what He has done, and don't be like Esau and throw away what He has given you.
--Robert J. Wieland
