In John 3:16,17 we are told that the God of the universe wants every human who has ever been born to be saved. But how is this possible when most of the people who have ever lived, died never hearing the name of Jesus Christ, never hearing of the Bible and never been told about salvation? Billions of those people worshiped such gods as the sun, the moon, rock formations, animals as well as other human beings living at the time. Did not Christ die for those idolators also? Are they not part of “the world” that God loves and for whom He gave His Son as a ransom?

Most professing Christians, myself included in the past, believe that God is in a desperate fight with Satan to save as many people as possible before Christ returns, that He and those who serve Him in ministry are conducting a soul-winning crusade to save people before they die. This being the case, why does God tell us in His Holy Scriptures that HE HIDES HIMSELF FROM PEOPLE–THE VERY PEOPLE HE DECLARES IN PRINT THAT HE WANTS TO SAVE? This is a very interesting question. The answer is even more interesting. However, the answer has not been heard by the vast majority of salvation seekers who have lived during the last 1900 years.

Not only is the answer a mystery to the church world, but so is God Himself, as was He to me for more years than I care to admit. Man does not know who or what God is. Man also does not understand His purpose for mankind or how He is carrying out His purpose. This is because the loving God deliberately hides Himself from the vast majority of people. We find this being declared in Matthew 10 where Jesus is speaking to a multitude of people who have gathered before Him. When He finished His sermon His disciples asked Him why He spoke to the masses in parables, but spoke to them (the disciples) plainly. He answered them in verses 10-15. Parables are picture stories designed to relay information in such a way that the hearer does not understand what is being said. Jesus replied that the people He had spoken to were NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW TO ENTER THE KINGDOM OF GOD! But would He not later die for “THE WORLD” that would include those people?

GOD IS STILL HIDING HIMSELF FROM THE VAST MAJORITY OF THOSE WHO SEEK ETERNAL LIFE. Does this seem logical to you? It did not to me for many years. The following are a couple of Bible verses that will probable shock most of you.

Psalm 104:29 says about the Lord: “You hide Your face, causing men to be troubled. You take away their breath; they die and return to dust.” Isaiah 45:15 reads: “Verily (truthfully), You are a God Who hides Himself, O God of Israel ….” How does God help mankind; how does He care for the world as He claims to do, if He hides Himself from those He loves and wants to be saved? Notice that the same verse proclaims Him to be “the Savior.” How can He save man by hiding from Him? The Biblical Truth is that God has a plan for saving Israel, as well as the entirety of humanity that has lived since the time of Adam and Eve. In verse 17 He says: ” But Israel will be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation ….” Incredibly, HIDING HIMSELF FROM THE VAST MAJORITY OF HUMAN BEINGS IS PART OF THAT PLAN.

Remember that God’s ways are above our ways. As the Apostle Paul noted in Romans 11:33: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments. His ways are beyond finding out.” Without the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, no man can understand who and what God is; nor can he understand and His plans for the whole of mankind. As Jesus says in Matthew 7:13,14 and 22:14, few will come to know what God has available for man to know. Though many are called to receive such knowledge, few will be chosen for having answered His call. Sadly, many enter a false gate and walk a false path, all the while “knowing” beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are on their way to heaven. Read Matthew 7:21-23, Luke 6:46 and John 15:13,14.

The Prophet Amos declares that “God does nothing without first telling His servants, the prophets” (3:7). I thank God for those minutely few who, over the centuries, have listened to the voice of the Lord and have shared with Truth seekers what they heard. The Bible is clear that God will not hide Himself from the world much longer. We are living at the end of the end times. As I have been saying for a couple of years, things are about to change, and change bigly. Read The Gun, the Message and the Miracles. Key word–Gun. These dramatic changes will take place in anticipation of the establishment of His kingdom on earth and the government He will establish on earth. Read The Kingdom of God. Key word–Kingdom. “And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together” (Isa. 40:5). So why is He hiding Himself today?

Everything God does has a purpose. He did not create many of the things on earth today as they exist today. When Adam and Eve sinned, as someone said, “the rose suddenly grew thorns.” Mosquitos immediately come to mind when I think about what happened to God’s perfect creation after Adam fell.

In the following segment we will begin with God’s creation of angels, then proceed through to the current age of His creation and the spiritual condition of the world as it is today. But know this, the spiritual condition (and therefore every other aspect) of the world has been decaying for almost two millennia. As noted, everything is about to change–ever more rapidly and for the worse. Why? Because man has rebelled against God. He has sown the wind and must now face the whirlwind. But as I have also said, I BELIEVE that God is going to give mankind one last opportunity to turn from his wicked ways and follow Him. I also believe that there will be a short time of “revival” which will be as shallow as it is brief in that it will be nothing more than a return to the counterfeit Christianity that has existed for some 1900 years. I wish that a true spiritual change was coming. But I live in the real (Biblically-predicted) world where the chances of man making a true and lasting change for the better are, in a word–zero. I will rejoice if I am wrong and will gladly admit my error. L.J.