Does God Love Some People More Than Others?

Hi Mike,

I have a question on Gen​esis​ 37:3.

It tells us Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children. Now I understand this is telling us Jacob (God the Father) loved Joseph (Jesus) more than all his children, and I’m sure no person of faith would ever dare argue with that, Jesus is God’s only begotten Son.

My question is, does this also apply to those who are In Christ? Does the Father really love some people more than others?

I was always taught God loved all of us equally because God is “no respecter of persons” (Act 10:34; Rom 2:11)

If you have already addressed this issue, please direct me to the appropriate page. Thanks for your help on this Mike, and I’ll look forward to your reply.
Your brother,
C____

Hi C____,

Thank you for your question concerning whether God loves some people more than others?

Shocking as it is to those who ​k​no​w​ nothing about Christ’s special place in His Father’s heart,​ or the special place Christ’s elect have in His heart​,​ this is the Biblical answer to that question, and it obviously has nothing to do with Christ or His Father being a respecter of persons because the decision was made before those mentioned were ever born:

Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, [before he was born] but Esau have I hated [before he was born].

I​f the Lord is giving you eyes that see and ears that hear, you will say, “​Wow! Where did that come from?” ​That was my reaction when it was first brought to my attention back in the early 1970’s. We have all been taught that mankind was given a will free from any influence from His Creator, when the Truth is that every day of our lives ​is​ “written in His book before there were any of them” (Psa 139:16 ASV).

The very specific purpose and lesson the Lord intends us to glean from the parable of the workers in the Lord’s vineyard is that it is right for Him to do with His own as He wills, and He has a plan which He is working out which does not depend on what we think of His methods of operation.

Look at how this parable agrees with what Paul tells us about the mind of God in Romans 9.

Mat 20:1  For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
Mat 20:2  And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Mat 20:3  And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
Mat 20:4  And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
Mat 20:5  Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
Mat 20:6  And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Mat 20:7  They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
Mat 20:8  So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
Mat 20:9  And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
Mat 20:10  But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
Mat 20:11  And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
Mat 20:12  Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
Mat 20:13  But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
Mat 20:14  Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
Mat 20:15  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

The very point of this parable is that every man will be given life in the end, “a penny” meaning a day’s wages], but in the meantime, God’s plan to bring about ​his plan demands that the last will be first and the first last because many are called in this age and few are chosen in “this present time” (Rom 8:18). In the 11th chapter of this same book of Romans, Paul makes all of this very clear with this statement concerning those who got paid last:

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through you mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief,

Paul goes on to say this about the function of mankind’s will, and the Lord’s manipulation of Pharaoh:

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 

There it is! Salvation is all of “He” and nothing of ‘me’ or my will. You and I are merely ‘clay in ​t​he Potter’s hand’​,​ which clay vessel was by ​t​he Potter’s design​;​ “marred in [His] hand” to be remade as a spiritual vessel:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

What happens when the Lord does not show mercy to a man and instead hardens his heart? This is how the Lord works in the life of every human who has ever lived or ever will live:

Pro 16:1  The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

We are all by nature wicked and sinful because the preparations of our hearts and the answer of our tongues, which are both by nature evil, are “from the Lord”, and unless ​H​e shows His mercy to us in “this present time” (Rom 8:18), then He has, by nature, given us a hardened heart​,​ and that is why He tells us:

Pro 16:5  Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.
Pro 16:6  By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.

But Isaiah tells it like it is with God:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

What is the natural response to this knowledge? The holy spirit anticipated our natural reaction and answers that question with these words which immediately follow what we are told about Pharaoh being raised up by God for the very purpose of being destroyed, as is the case for all flesh of all men:

Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour [our ‘new man, Christ within us’], and another unto dishonor [our carnal​-​minded old man who is dying daily 1Co 15:31]?
Rom 9:22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath [our carnal-minded flesh] fitted to destruction:
Rom 9:23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy [the “new man”, Christ within us], which he had afore prepared unto glory,
Rom 9:24  Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Rom 9:25  As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

Now if this is true for every man who has ever lived​,​ then there is no respecter of persons with God,​ and He is simply having mercy on the very few whom His plan calls for being shown His mercy at this stage of His plan, and He is hardening whom He will, not of our will b​ut​ ​by​ His election. T​hat is exactly what we discover has been the case all along:

Psa 139:16  Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.  (ASV)

So what is true for Jacob and Esau and Pharaoh is common to all men, and all of our “days… were ordained for [us] when as yet there was none of them”, and it really​ is​ the Lord Himself who is ruling in all the kingdoms of men, giving all of mankind to be ruled by the basest of men (Dan 4:17)​.​ It is the Lord Himself telling us plainly who is working all the evil in all of the cities on earth (Amos 3:6), and that it is really God Himself who is working all things after the counsel of the only ‘free will’ that exists, which is ​”​His own will”​ (Eph 1:11).​

Dan 4:17  The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the lowest of men.

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

The few workers who came into the Lord’s vineyard last will be given life first in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” to rule and reign with Christ a thousand years, after which Satan will be released from prison to deceive the nations in the four quarters of the earth, which will give God the occasion He is seeking to destroy all flesh. When that is accomplished,​ then He will use His few chosen to judge angels in the great white throne judgment which is also called the lake of fire.

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life [a thousand years earlier] was cast into the lake of fire.

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [“Blessed and holy… first resurrection]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: krisis – ‘resurrection of judgment, ‘the great white throne judgment’].

This is the fruit of all “judgment” by our Lord:

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments [The judgment which is “now on the house of God (1Pe 4:17) and the great white throne judgment], O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

I pray this serves to let you know that the Lord truly is no respecter of persons, but instead He has a plan for all of mankind in force since ​”before the world began” (2Ti :9 and Titus 1:2), which He is at this very moment working “after the counsel of His own will”, and that His plan requires that He love His “firstborn… firstfruits” over those who​m​ He preordained to be the later fruits, the later born, who are raised up in the resurrection of damnation, better translated as ‘the resurrection of judgment… the great white throne judgment’.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

For a much more in-depth treatment of this subject read After The Counsel ​o​f His Own Will and The Seven Steps t​o Salvation.

I encourage you to read all the papers in the essential reading section for your own edification and to discover what the scriptures actually teach, as opposed to what all the religions of this world teach based upon the false doctrine that man has been given a will free from the “working of all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11).

YbiC, Mike