(x)wisdom

Does God love everybody? Let us look to Genesis 20:1-7. God declares Himself personnal for a select group of people by saying to Moses, "your God." He declares Himself great by referring to some of His incredible activities recently witnessed by Moses, namely all of the events related to freeing Israel from Egyptian slavery. The main point of this passage is, "I the Lord your God am a jealous God..." Everything else that is said is related to this central point.

What is God jealous about? If we conduct a search through the Bible for the notion of God as "jealous God" we will find Deuteronomy 6:15, among others. An inspection of the context reveals Moses recounting the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5 and in Deuteronomy 6:5 he sums up the commandments with the greatest commandment, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."  Based on these verses as well as Isaiah 48:11 and John 17:1 I suggest to you that God is jealous about His own glory and fame. God is motivated out of His own self-love. It could be said that God loves Himself with all of His heart and all of His soul and all of His might. Lest you mistake this to mean that God is guilty of a sinful form of narcissism and megalomania I will quote John Piper, "God’s passion for his glory is the essence of his love to us. But narcissism and megalomania are not love." (For more on this see John's article entitled, How Is God's Passion for His Own Glory Not Selfishness?)

If we recoil and rebel against God's right to be recognized, worshiped and loved as the exclusively excellent object worthy of all of our affections then we can expect bad things to happen to us. God is clear that those who hate him will be recipients of His wrath. Joshua 24:19 paints this picture well, “He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” However, if we agree with God that His glory is worth all of the affections of our heart, soul, and strength then we will be recipients of His steadfast love.

Now for our original question, "Does God love everybody?" Psalm 11:5 says, "The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence." However, Romans 5:8 says, "...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." I recently stumbled across a pamphlet by A.W. Pink that contained a helpful quote:

"One of the most popular beliefs of the day is that God loves everybody, and the very fact that it is so popular with all classes ought to be enough to arouse the suspicions of those who are subject to the Word of Truth. God's love towards all His creatures is the favorite tenet of Universalists, Unitarians, Theosophists, Christian Scientists, Spiritualists, Russellites, etc. . . . So widely has this dogma been proclaimed, and so comforting it is to the heart which is at enmity with God, we have little hope of convincing many of their error.

To tell the Christ-rejecter that God loves him is to cauterize his conscience as well as to afford him a sense of security in his sins. The fact is, the love of God is a truth for the saints only, and to present it to the enemies of God is to take the children's bread and to cast it to the dogs."

Given everything that has been said to this point I would answer the question by saying that God shows His great patience with sinners by allowing them to live for a time on the earth. For those who die while still in rebellion against God, their time on Earth will have been the most pleasent portion of their existance. After death, and for the rest of eternity, they will experience God's hatred of them for rejecting Him as the sole object worthy of their affections and exchanging His glory for their own selfishness. Conversely, for those who die in recognition of God's glory; in a constant state of repentence and remorse over their sinful thoughts, desires, and behavior; and faithful in their trust of Jesus Christ for their salvation, these people will experience God's steadfast love for all eternity. They will experience the perfect love of the ultimate Father for His children.

How will it go for you? 

Are you scared or uneasy with what I've said? There is hope, read my post entitled, Salvation!