On its very last page, He makes it clear that no one has been left out of God's gift of eternal life, so He says once more as His parting word, just to be doubly sure: "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev. 22:17). And then immediately the Holy Spirit warns us not to "add" to what He has just said, nor lessen in any degree that "whosoever will" invitation (vss. 18, 19).
If we have even an ounce of common sense, we must get the message: "God [is] our Saviour; [and] will have all men to be saved" (1 Tim. 2:3, 4). The only ones therefore who can possibly be lost will be those who "will" not to be saved; they have chosen not to be "athirst"; they have resisted everyone who has ever said to them, "Come," maybe, yes probably, thousands of times. Each new morning that the sun arose gave them a new opportunity to say "Yes," and "come." They have made a deliberate choice to reject that invitation written on the last page of God's Book, and furthermore, because the Holy Spirit is so persistent in pressing the invitation upon us each new sunrise, they have reiterated that fateful choice, all the way from childhood to the last bitter days in the nursing home. They have chosen "darkness rather than light" so often that at last they have grown to "love" it (John 3:19).
Jesus explains the entire phenomenon with one simple, single word: UNBELIEF, which is disbelief, a perverse refusal to appreciate the truth of God's love (agape) (vs. 18). Does God tell them at last, "I don't like you; I don't want you in heaven; I'm locking the gate against you"? A wise writer has said, "They are shut out from heaven not because of any arbitrary decree on the part of God, but by their own unfitness for its companionship." They'd be miserable there, so God in love gives them what they have always wanted--darkness forever. Because "let him that heareth say, Come," Dial Daily Bread is a tiny voice that says, "Believe." Please "hear," and therefore tell someone else to "come."
--Robert J. Wieland
