To Encourage You

John 21:20-22 “Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, ‘Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?’ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If it my will that he remain until I come, what is that yo you? You follow me!’”

One of the arguments people have used over the years to not believe the gospel is their supposed concern for those who have never heard about Jesus.  The argument goes something like this: “How can Jesus be the only way to God? What about all the people in Africa who have never heard about Him? And what about the millions of people in other religions that don’t believe in Him?” By this they justify their own unbelief by questions they can’t answer about other people they’ve never met.  In the Scripture above the Lord would have us to know that questions about what other people do or don’t do regarding Him should never be a justification for what we do. 

As the Gospel of John closes, we see Jesus in a dialogue with the apostle Peter.  The passage above follows directly after Jesus had prophesied “the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.”  Peter then looks around him and sees “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” which is the way the apostle John referred to himself throughout this gospel.  Notice that it also says that this disciple had been the one who had asked Jesus who would betray Him.  Jesus’ reply to Peter is this: “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” 

With these words we see the sovereign hand of Jesus in every person’s life.  Jesus knew who would betray Him. He had always known.  In fact, Judas’ betrayal had been foretold hundreds of years before he lived by the prophets of the Old Testament.  Jesus also knew how Peter would die, as well as John.  But note what He says about this: “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”  Jesus is telling us that He alone holds the keys to every person’s life and death. 

In Psalm 139:16 the psalmist speaks of God in this way: “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”  You see, God is in sovereign control of each person’s life. He knows everything about us and He knows us better than we know our self.  He deals with each one of us as individuals.  And our response to His call is to be answered personally by each and every one of us regardless of what happens in any other person’s life.  We are responsible to God for what we know.  If we know (and if you are reading this you do know) that Jesus has called us to believe in Him and follow Him, we are responsible to obey.  In the end, when we stand before Christ, it won’t matter what everyone else did.  It won’t matter that we didn’t have all the answers about what everyone else in the world did about Christ.  There are things we will never know and that are best left to God, for He alone is omniscient.  What matters to you and me is what we know and how we have responded to that knowledge.  As for everyone else, although we are called to love them and share the gospel with them, how they respond is not our concern.  It is God’s.  So, as you know, Jesus has called us to believe on Him and follow Him. Our answer must be either “Yes” or “No,” and never “What about him?”