Bible Synapse
Will everyone who seeks God or calls on him be heard?
Hard question · Salvation and the Christian life · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
Ask and it will be given; everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Wisdom warns those who refused her call: they will call and not be answered, seek and not find, because they hated knowledge.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord:
Not everyone who says ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom, but he who does the Father’s will.
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Seek the Lord while he may be found; let the wicked forsake his way and return to the Lord.
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
The objection
Joel promises that “whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered”, and Jesus says that everyone who seeks finds. Yet Proverbs says of some, “Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me”, and Jesus warns that not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom.
The answer
The promises and the warnings speak about different people and different times. The promises are made to those who turn to God in earnest: “ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). In Joel the call on the Lord’s name follows the summons to repent, “rend your heart, and not your garments” (Joel 2:13), and in Matthew 7 the asking, seeking and knocking are the prayers of disciples to a Father who gives good things.
Proverbs 1 describes people who refused God’s call over and over: “Because I have called, and ye refused” (1:24), and “they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord” (1:29). When disaster comes they cry out for rescue from its consequences, not for God himself, and the time of opportunity they despised has passed. Matthew 7:21-23 is the same: some say “Lord, Lord” with their lips, and even claim to have done wonders in his name, but do not do the Father’s will. Isaiah puts the two sides together: “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near” (55:6). The promise is open now to everyone who truly calls; the warnings concern calling that is empty or too late.
Other answers Christians give
Wisdom’s warning
Proverbs 1 is spoken by Wisdom personified, and some read it chiefly of the consequences that folly brings in this life, which a last-minute cry for help does not undo.
From the classic commentators
Now God is ready to hear their prayers; but then they shall cry in vain.Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary: Proverbs 1, at Bible Hub
Sources
- Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary: Proverbs 1, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Proverbs 1, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Matthew 7, at Bible Hub