Will Jesus Draw All Men Unto Himself?

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.Joh 12:32

Here Jesus gives us a simple If, Then, equation. If I be lifted up…

We know from the next verse that He was “lifted up”…

This he said, signifying what death he should die.Joh 12:33

So, we know that the IF portion of the equation has been fulfilled, therefore, in order for Jesus to be telling the truth, the Then portion of the equation must also take place sometime. He didn’t put a time limit on the fulfillment of the equation, but only stated that He would “draw” all men unto himself.

It would be a good thing to find out exactly what “draw” means, wouldn’t it? Fortunately for us this Greek word is used enough times to get a pretty good picture of what it means. We can look at every time this root word is used in the Bible by using a Greek concordance. The word is helkuo, and here are all the verses it is used in:

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Joh 18:10 Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
Joh 21:6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
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.
Ac 16:19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
Ac 21:30 And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut.
Jas 2:6 But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

This word, helkuo, definitely has the quality of force behind it. Peters sword had no say in the matter; The net full of fish couldn’t resist Peter’s pull, even though Peter is not omnipotent. Paul and Silas didn’t voluntarily go into the marketplace. We don’t voluntarily go before the judgement seat at the hands of rich men. Yet Jesus said,

If I be lifted up, I WILL DRAW ALL MEN unto me.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:8

Come to Jesus, He is reconciling all men unto himself.

To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 2Co 5:19