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QUESTION 20
I have been told that if you reject Christ enough that God will withdraw His offer of salvation and you cannot be saved. Esau is given as an example Hebrews 12:16-17. Is this really true?

ANSWER:
It is true that repeated rejections of Christ will harden the heart and make it more difficult to believe, nevertheless the thought that God will withdraw the offer is foreign to Scripture. We are living in the "day of salvation," 2 Corinthians 6:2. This is the time when God says, "Whosoever will may come" - Revelation 22:17. He is not going to take vengeance on mankind in this His day of grace. There was a time in the past and there will be one in the future, but it is not now.

Ecclesiastes 9:4, "For to him that is joined to all the living THERE IS HOPE." When one dies then the judgment, Hebrews 9:27. It may be that the mind and heart becomes so hard that can't believe, but it isn't that God won't save.

Regarding Esau, a careful comparison of this in Hebrews 12:16-17, with the record in Genesis 27:34-38, will show that it was Isaac, and not God, that would not repent and give Esau the blessing. Another often used verse is Genesis 6:3, "My spirit shall not always strive with man..." The meaning of this verse has nothing to do with salvation. It is the human spirit given to man in Genesis 2:7 which is what is in view here, and not the Holy Spirit. There will soon be a day when His door of mercy closes, but now God is "ready to forgive" - Psalms 86:5, and the offer is to all, Acts 13:38-39.

Dear reader, this offer is to you. Accept this Saviour and be saved today. Tomorrow could be too late.

All comments and questions to: Harold Smith

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Updated July 2009, by Shelly Allen