God's Determination to Save the World

Have you ever thought about how determined God is to save the world?

Jesus made an amazing statement while talking about his upcoming death.

He said, "But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."
And John, the gospel writer who recorded what Jesus said in John 12 : 32, explained, "He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die."

So Jesus was predicting that he would die on a cross, and in doing so, would draw all people to Himself.

Let's examine the word "draw" in Jesus' statement.
It is translated from the Greek word "helkuo", which appears several times in the original (Greek) New Testament of the Bible.
But just look how it is translated in some of the other verses where it appears.

John 21 : 11 describes the last stage of the miraculous catch of fish after the resurrection of Jesus.
"Simon Peter went aboard and dragged (helkuo) the net ashore full of big fish, a hundred and fifty-three in all; even though there were so many, still the net did not tear."

Acts 16 : 19 describes Paul and Silas being brought before the magistrates in Philippi.
"When her owners realized that their chance of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged (helkuo) them to the authorities in the public square. "

Acts 21 : 30 describes the arrest of Paul in Jerusalem.
"Confusion spread through the whole city, and the people all ran together, grabbed Paul, and dragged (helkuo) him out of the Temple. At once the Temple doors were closed."

I think you will agree that translating "helkuo" as "drawing" would be far too timid in these verses.  The much better translation of "helkuo" is definitely "drag".

So let's put it into our original Jesus verse.
"But I, when I am lifted up from the earth (crucified), will drag (helkuo) all people to myself." 

Jesus sounds pretty determined to me.  I can't imagine He won't succeed with that sort of determination.  How about you?
Barry