I Will Draw All Men Unto Me

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. John 12:32-33

The Bible teaches that any who call on the Lord will be saved, but that none are calling by nature. There must be some influence outside of the person, which brings them to the place where they do call upon the Lord. Believing that this is no one other than God Himself, how does He do that?

He does that first by dying for them. John 12:32 is sometimes taken as an encouragement to exalt Jesus in our preaching and evangelism, and we should do this. But that is not the meaning of the verse. Jesus says He must be lifted from the earth, and then we are clearly told that this was an indicator of His death.

Having died for them, God will draw men to Himself. He will pull them to Himself. When He says He will draw all men to Himself, does this mean every single individual? No, and a survey of the remainder of John 12 makes that clear. They had God’s Light right in front of them, yet they did not believe. They did not believe because God had blinded their eyes to the light in accordance with Isaiah 6. They did not believe in spite of the miracles Jesus did. They did not believe because they loved the praise of men. All who reject the Light will be judged on their response to the word.

How does Jesus draw those who do believe? They respond to His call, which is the proclamation of the Gospel. In John 10:26-29, Jesus said that unbelievers are not His sheep, that His sheep hear His voice, and that He gives to them eternal life.

But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. John 10:26-29

Paul counts his own salvation testimony a tribute to God’s saving ability and work; a model for us all (I Timothy 1:12-16). Paul’s life and “work” was in opposition to Christ. His own testimony (Galatians 1:11-14) is that he was convinced of the rightness of this hostility right up to the moment that Christ revealed Himself to him. At that moment (Acts 9), Paul saw light from Heaven and heard Jesus’ voice — exactly the things John asserts in His Gospel. The men who accompanied Paul heard noise, but not God’s voice. Paul’s salvation testimony is an extreme example of what all who get saved experience — God gives them light about Himself, and they hear the voice of God through the Word of God. In an instant, Paul’s entire focus is shifted — “Master, who are You, and what do You want me to do?”

Christ commanded us to preach the Gospel to every person in the world, and He assured us that He is with us to the end of the age. That does not mean that He is our Silent Partner. He Himself is speaking. He Himself is opening the understanding of His sheep. He Himself is giving them faith to believe. In Ephesians 2:14-17, Paul says that Jesus preached peace to the Ephesians. Yet, Jesus had ascended 25-30 years prior to Ephesians. In I Peter 3:18-20, Peter tells us that Jesus preached in the days of Noah.

Ours are finite minds, trying to grasp infinite truth, but our assurance is this — that Jesus Christ is just as concerned and involved in the evangelization of the world as He is in purchasing the salvation of the world.