O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
I wrote about this verse in Bible Truth #156 but I want to bring up a completely different point here.
Some Arminians will claim that this passage proves that man has to “accept” the call by Christ to be saved but the problem is they have said “Christ wanted to gather them but they would not.” That is incorrect - Jesus said that He wanted to gather their children together but they would not. It was the religious leaders who were doing everything in their power to keep the people from following Jesus. But that is beside the point.
Here is the point I want to make and my question - Why didn’t Jesus want to gather the religious leaders?
The answer is just as obvious as it is easy. Jesus Himself answers the question in John 8:42-47. The Pharisees were not of God, they were of their father the Devil. They were not chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) so they would never be saved and never understand.
That also answers the question as to why they didn’t want anyone else to follow Jesus. Since they were lost and did not nor could not understand ANYTHING Jesus was saying (1 Corinthians 2:14), they certainly did not want members of “their flock” to follow the “heretical” rabbi Jesus of Nazareth.
Praise God NOTHING can stop Jesus from raising up (saving) those God has chosen and DRAWN to Jesus (John 6:44), especially man's so-called free will.
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