Luke 10:8-16 “Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. (9) And heal the sick there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' (10) But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, (11) ‘The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this that the kingdom of God has come near you.' (12) But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city. (13) "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. (14) But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. (15) And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. (16) He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”
And so, we see in this section, that a very effective method that God uses to predestine the lives of unbelievers is in choosing when and where they will be born into the earth. For it is God, as the creator of all men, that decides when each of us will be born and where we will be born. And so, it is no accident that the vast majority of the earth’s population are born into nations that don’t acknowledge the living God, and don’t allow the gospel to be freely proclaimed within their borders, such as China, India and Muslim nations for example. Some would then argue that God is unjust, because He arbitrarily decides to place individuals into nations, which He knows will not allow them to be exposed to the preaching of the gospel. There is a twofold biblical response that refutes that argument however. The first response is that in a very real sense, it is in fact the goodness of God that places these individuals into these nations. For as we see in the above quoted passage of scripture, Jesus taught us very clearly that those who hear the gospel message and reject it, will experience a greater condemnation on their day of judgement than those who were never exposed to the preaching of the gospel. For example, an individual who lived and died as an unbeliever in a Muslim nation, having never being exposed the preaching of the gospel will receive a more tolerable sentence on the day of judgement, than an individual who lived and died as an unbeliever in a Christian nation, having been exposed to the preaching of the gospel and rejected it. And so, although both will still perish as unbelievers, the punishment of the one will be more tolerable than the punishment of the other.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments