A revealing word study – DRAW.
By Dennis Rhodes
26/1/12
A simple word study into the english word translated as Draw, Drew, Dragged etc in the New
Testament will give a clear picture of whether God is able to save All men or not.
The common objection to God saving all men is that man has a free will and God will never
go against someone’s free will!! Oh really? Yes it is true…but He has ways and means of
making men willing!!
Many of us can testify of that in our own salvation experience!!
As for me, I remember swearing at and pushing in the chest, men who were telling me I
needed Jesus Christ. I was determined to not need Jesus!! But He got me in the end.
Remember Jesus said, “ You did not choose Me but I chose you…..” Jn 15:16b
Scripture also declares
Rom 9:15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE
MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE
COMPASSION.”
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who
shows mercy. nkjv
It is not of him who wills…IT IS NOT OF HIM WHO WILLS.!! See it my friend? No man can
choose Jesus by an act of his will unless the Lord has granted it.
Act 11:18 When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God,
saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”
We may think we were the ones who sought out Jesus and found him, but it is the
other way around. He searches until he finds his lost ones. He came to seek and to
save the lost. If we are seeking him, or were seeking him or in the future seek him,
then it is the grace of God doing it in us!!
So I come back to what I want to look at…Draw. God will draw all men unto Himself.
Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. KJV
“ And I, if and when I am lifted up from the earth [on the cross], will draw and
attract all men [Gentiles as well as Jews] to Myself.” Amplified Version
Please take note of what the Amplified version says for it is accurate here. Jesus said He
“will draw and attract all men [Gentiles as well as Jews] to Myself” if He is lifted up, that
is if He is crucified. Well He was crucified, is He drawing all men to Himself? Yes He is. Are
they all coming to Him? No.
Down through the last 2000 years men have not come to Him,
most have died without faith in Him. But He said He will draw or attract all men to Himself?
He is drawing they just do not know it. They will know it and will come to Him eventually. In
the Ages to come God will continue to draw the millions still to come in.
Let’s look at this word study now.
G1670
ἑλκυω / ελκω
helkuo / helko
Thayer Definition:
1) to draw, drag off
2) metaphorically, to draw by inward power, lead, impel
The word helkuo is used 8 times in the New Testament and it is profitable to look at each
verse.
- Joh 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at
the last day. - Joh 12:32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
- Jas 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the
courts? - Joh 21:6 And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So
they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. - Joh 21:10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.
- Joh 21:11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and
three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. - Act 16:19 But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and
dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. - Act 21:30 And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him
out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut.
Look at each example and rejoice for Jesus promises to draw all people to Himself.
The greater strength is with the one doing the drawing. He is able to drag, to draw the most
unwilling souls to Himself by the power of His love and also through other means like trouble and evil happenings!!
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these
things.
God loves us too much to let us stay away from Him forever. He will deal with every single
human being ever conceived. Either His love will win them over or His power will work in
other negative ways until they come to their senses and turn.
He will draw them all, but not all will come in this Church age. Paul said that all will come in,
but each in their own order or rank.
1 Cor 15, Rotherham’s Emphasized reads
22 For, just as, in the Adam, all die, so, also, in the Christ, shall all be made alive.23But, each, in his own rank:–A firstfruit, Christ, after that, they who are the Christ’s, in
his presence,24 Afterwards, the end–whensoever he delivereth up the kingdom unto
his God and Father, whensoever he shall bring to nought all rule and all authority and
power;25 For he must needs reign, until he shall put all his enemies under his feet:
26 As a last enemy, death, is to be destroyed;
27 For–He put, all things, in subjection under his feet. But, whensoever it shall be said–all things are in subjection!–it is
evident that it means,–Except him who did put into subjection, unto him, the all
things–28 But whensoever have been put into subjection, unto him, the all things, then,
the Son himself, [[also]] shall be put in subjection unto him who put in subjection, unto
him, the all things,–that, God, may be, all things in all.
There you have God’s plan to draw all men! First (vs 22) he tells us that in the Christ shall all be
made alive….the same all who died in Adam – all mankind!
Then he explains that the all who will be made alive shall not come in at the same time, but in
their own rank or order.
The First to come in is Christ Himself, the Man raised from the dead
The next rank are those who have believed into Him during the Church Age. (in His presence)
The next group are those who are enemies during the Millenium – He makes them his friends
and subdues them with His love!!
Then after that in the ages to come He will still be drawing men to Himself until the last one
has come in and the he subjects Himself to God so that God is ALL in ALL…. “so that God may
be all in all [be everything to everyone, supreme, the indwelling and controlling factor of life].” AMP
Here is what brother Preston Eby wrote about this……
“Here is what Paul says in the verse under consideration: “For as in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive” -but that is not the end of the matter! Paul does not drop his
thought or change his subject at the end of that sentence. The very same thought is
continued in the next verse where the apostle states, “BUT EVERY MAN IN HIS OWN
ORDER.” That is, all who shall be made alive in the Christ will be made alive by an order,
in sequence, according to a progressive arrangement, determined by group, position, degree
or rank. The Scriptures make it very plain that all are not saved at the same time. “Who gave
Himself a ransom for all; to be testified in due time” (I Tim. 2:6). At the present time God is
saving only those He has called unto the special salvation of the ages (I Cor. 1:26-30; 1 Tim.
6:12). He will use these to bring about the salvation of the rest (Eph.1:9-12; 2:6-10; Rom.
8:18-23).
The Greek word translated “order” is TAGMA and means a “group,” or “rank,” or “band,” or
“company.” TAGMA actually comes from a root word meaning to appoint, determine, or set in
array, as used in Acts 13:38, “and as many as were ordained (set in array) to eternal life
believed.” The thought is of soldiers marching in bands, companies, regiments or battalions.
As in times of war the country calls age groups and forms them into companies of men, so in
like manner the Spirit of God calls to resurrection and life every man in his own time, order,
and rank. Man holds no power to hasten that order even for an hour; neither has he power to
delay it. While men who understand nothing of the plan of God go rushing far and wide,
desperately trying to convert the world “before it is eternally too late,” the almighty God in
matchless serenity sits on His glorious throne, beholding with joy His on-going purpose of the
ages as it develops in magnificent harmony, and sends forth His Spirit at just the proper time
to call “every man in his own order.” As one has so beautifully written, “Jesus clearly taught
that No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him,’ giving
indication that the initiative is God’s, as He causes us to come in His time, to be in that order,
that rank that He has determined for us. But He also made it clear, that regardless of the
timing of our call, when the Father draws us to Himself, the process continues until ALL have
been brought to Him, for He said, ‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, WILL DRAW ALL
MEN UNTO ME’ (Jn. 12:32). ‘Every man in his own order’ is also very reassuring, for it
promises that in His own time and calling for each one, He will bring them into the fullness of
His life. The Spirit draws, awakens, illumines, imparts life – according to the will of God for
each individual. EACH IN HIS OWN RANK. There is no merit upon man for this choosing – ‘It
is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, BUT OF GOD that shows mercy’ (Rom. 9:16).And when He draws us we can only bow in humble thanksgiving for this expression of His
love toward us, and receive Him, yield to Him, and follow after Him with our whole heart.” –
Gospel Echoes.And now, let us see WHAT THE ORDER IS. “In Christ shall all be made alive – but every man
in his own order.” And then the apostle lists three unmistakable and successive orders in
which EVERY MAN is made alive. Hear it! “But every man in his own order: Christ the
firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.
Then comes the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;
when He shall have put down all rule and authority and power. For He must reign until He has
put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He hath
put all things under His feet … and when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the
Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be ALL IN
ALL” (I Cor. 15:23-28). Let me present the three orders:
1. Christ the firstfruits
2. Afterwards those who are Christ’s at His coming
3. Then the end … all enemies … all things subdued … until God is ALL IN ALL.
Those who insist that only the small handful of saints who during this age find life in Christ
make up the “all” who will be made alive fall short for they fail to get past the first two
companies. These believe that the Christ was Himself made alive, and they further believe
that those who are now His are being made alive, but in their terrible blindness they miss
entirely the third order in which ALL MEN AND ALL THINGS, including God’s very worst
enemies, are SUBJECTED AND SUBDUED UNTO HIM and then delivered up in His
Kingdom unto God, even the Father, that God may then be “all in all”! Ah, beloved, it takes
not two, but all three of these “orders” to constitute the ALL who are MADE ALIVE IN CHRIST.
And to say that “all” is anything short of this is to horribly distort and impiously wrest the Word
of God! “ “
J.P. Eby- God all in all, part 9 of Saviour of the world series
Dennis Rhodes
