John 12:47 “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”
The word “world” comes from the Greek word “kosmos” which fundamentally means an orderly arrangement of similar people or things. The Bible speaks of many different worlds, as did John in his account of the Gospel. So, just which “world” did the Lord come to “save”. There is the “world” that hates Christ (John 7:7), the “world” the Lord will judge (John 9:39), the “world” that has its own prince (John 12:31), the “world” in which our Father’s own Children live (John 13:1), the “world” that cannot receive the Spirit of Truth (John 14:17), the “world” our Lord would not manifest Himself to (John 14:22), the “world” that hates us (John 15:18), the “world” that we are not of (John 15:19), the “world” of sin (John 16:8), the “world” of tribulation that Christ overcame (John 16:33), the “world” our Lord would not pray for (John 17:9), the “world” we are not of (John 17:16), the “world” that does not know Christ, the condemned “world” (I Corinthians 11:32), the “world” we are not to love (I John 2:15), and the “world” that lieth in wickedness (I John 5:19). Then there is the “world” that the Lord took sin away from (John 1:29), the “world” that our Lord loved (John 3:16), the “world” our Lord saved (John 3:17), the “world” that went after Christ (John 12:19), the “world” in which our Lord’s beloved people reside (John 13:1), the “world” our Lord sent His Apostles to (John 17:18), the “world” that believes (John 17:21), the “world” reconciled to Christ (II Corinthians 5:19), this is the “world” that the Father sent His Son to save (I John 4:14)! If the Lord had come “to save the world” universal, then all would be saved to Heaven, for Christ plainly declared, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” (John 6:37). Those who were “given” to Him are the same as those who were “chosen” “in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). If the Lord had come “to save the world” universal; then, if on the last day any were cast away into “everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord” (II Thessalonians 1:9), our Lord will have failed in His purpose. Thus, we declare the glorious truth that those who were “chosen” “in him before the foundation of the world” “have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11)! The “world” our Lord came to “save” is the “world” of His “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (I Peter 1:2) – and, on the last day not a single one will be left behind!