There is much to be dealt with in your article, like the
assertions that Calvinists believe that 1) “man’s will is not involved in the
salvation of the believer,” and 2) “the grace of God is superimposed upon the
believer regardless of whether he wills to be saved or not.” However, I want to
focus on your own use of Matthew 23:37, and your rebuttal to what you have
called argument #2.
You
said that Calvinists believe that,
“Jesus is
speaking to the Pharisees and not to Jerusalem as a whole.”
This is however only part of the argument, and not even the
principle part. It seems you have dismissed the other parts without giving us a
reason for doing so. Like you said, the point made by Reformed readers of this
text is that Jesus is speaking to the religious establishment in Jerusalem,
when he says “Jerusalem, Jerusalem” he is addressing those who spiritually lead
the city and the nation, and in this way, the city as a whole is being
indentified by those who lead it. The rebuke he gives concerns their children,
by children we are obviously talking about the children of Jerusalem, that is
all of the city dwellers who are lead and cared for and watched over by the
Pharisees. Your rebuttal points out rightly so that Jesus tells the leaders of
Jerusalem that he would have gathered their children together as a mother hen
gathers her chicks. However you completely miss the point of the distinction
made between the leaders Jesus is talking to, and the people those leaders
lead. Lets have an example.
Suppose I have a brother and sister in law. John, my brother
and Rebekah, his wife have 3 children. These children are my nieces and nephews,
and I want to visit them and tell them about how much I love them. Now lets say
that my brother and sister in law do not like me and want me to stay away from
their children. I love my nieces and nephews, and I want to be a part of their
life, so I send them letter after letter, and gift after gift to tell them how
much I love them. My brother and his wife however, burn all my letters and
gifts as they come in, and teach my nieces and nephews to hate their uncle. So
then I say to my brother and sister in law when I come to visit them, “John and
Rebekah, I have longed to gather your children to me, to show them my love, but
you were not willing for me to be in their life, you hated me and took every
opportunity to destroy everything I sent them that told them how much I loved
them.
I am trying to point out the distinction between those Jesus is talking to who are unwilling,
and those he desires to gather to himself. Jesus
does NOT say, “I longed to gather you
but you were not willing.” Jesus also does NOT say, “I longed to
gather your children but your children were not willing.”
He says, I longed
to gather your children but you were not willing. Confusing these two is the problem, and
leads to people believing that those Jesus desires to draw are resisting his
drawing.
You yourself make this error. You said,
“Jesus clearly states that He would have gathered them together, but they would not.”
That is it right there, the ones Jesus wants to gather, and
the ones who are unwilling are two
different groups. This is the principle point made by Reformed readers that
you have dismissed. Furthermore, the error dispelled by properly reading the text,
is the error you continue to make in your other rebuttals and into your
conclusion when you say,
“If Jesus WOULD HAVE gathered them, then that means He COULD
HAVE gathered them, and the parallel between verses 37 and 39 show that he
COULD NOT because they WOULD NOT.”
I hope that since I have pointed out your misunderstanding
of our argument and reading of the text, I will not need to show you how you
commit the error again in the lines quoted above. Remember the ones he would have gathered, are
a completely different group from those that would not.
Let me prove my point further and press it home by
color-coding the pronouns in the verse.
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Matthew 23:37
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“O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, the city that kills the
prophets and stones those
who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your
children together as a hen gathers her brood
under her wings, and you were not
willing!”
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He longs to gather the children, but the city that kills the
prophets is working against him, because their wills are bent against him, and
so they do not want him to gather the children to himself. The point is, that
the Pharisees are doing everything in their power to oppose Jesus and to work
against the will of God. And this is
what all people are doing all the time. The fact that people oppose the
will of God is not an anti Calvinist point, but a very Calvinistic one! It is
the very point made by the doctrine of Total Depravity, and exemplified in such
texts as John 6:44, Romans 1:18-25, Romans 3:9-18 and Ephesians
2:1-3.
Jerusalem should be the center of praise and love toward
Jesus, the very temple of God itself was there, and so it is dear to Christ.
The history of his people is wrapped up in and around that city. Yet, it is in
that very city and from those very wrong religious leaders that Jesus is
rejected. That is why he says in v38, “See, your house is left to you
desolate.” And in v39, “For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you
say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” The children of Jerusalem,
who may or may not have actually come to Jesus, are being prevented from coming
to him by the Leaders of the city. We should note that Jesus never says that he
was unable to gather the children, all he says is that the leaders of Jerusalem
were working against him at every turn. There is a parallel passage, which
explains this very thing.
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1 Thessalonians 2:14b-16
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“For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as
they did from the Jews, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and
drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind 16 by hindering us from
speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up
the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!”
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The point is that Jesus is expressing his sorrow for the
state of affairs in Jerusalem where his sheep, his children are being held back
from him by the unbelieving brood of vipers who rule the city. I am worshipful
and thankful that Jesus is the good shepherd who lays his life down for his
sheep (John 10: 11, 15), his sheep know his voice, follow him and he gives them
eternal life (John 10:27), and no matter what, no matter how the world may try,
no matter how hard the Pharisees may work, they cannot snatch Jesus’ sheep out
of his hand (John 10:28-29). I am thankful that the Lord accomplishes whatever
he pleases in heaven and earth (Psalm 135:6), and no one can stay his hand
(Daniel 4:35). We should also pray for those who lead us that they would not be
a hindrance to the gospel, and reap judgment and wrath upon themselves like
those in 1 Thessalonians 2:14b-16. Thank you for reading.
