Not too long ago I read that the world's population will be 6.66 billion people by April. (Yes I did see the 666!). What does God desire for them? He wants every person to hear the good news that Jesus saves and to accept His Son as their Savior. How do I know this? I read in 2 Peter 3:9 that God is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." I read in Romans 10:13 that "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved." I read John 3:16, "for God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." Finally, I read in 1 John 2:2 that Jesus is "the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world."
Do you see the universality of each verse? Did you notice the words any, all, whoever, everyone, and whole? God desires that the billions who live on this planet He created be saved. If each person could stand before Him right now, it is likely He would say "I love you" and point to the cross to prove it.
But people can't stand before God and hear Him personally say those words. How then will they hear about the love of God found in Christ? Paul wrote that "it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" [1 Corinthians 1:21]. The message must be proclaimed. Who is going to introduce the billions who do not know Christ to the Savior? We must. Our message must be proclaimed locally, but we also must announce it to the whole world. Who will if we won't?
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