And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a
witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come (Matt. 24:14 KJV).
COMMON GRACE
ARGUMENT:
This text is sometimes used to support the
“free offer of the gospel”—the teaching that God, through the preaching,
expresses an earnest, ardent, but unfulfilled desire to save the reprobate.
(I)
Rev. Martyn McGeown
[Source:
Called
to Watch for Christ’s Return (RFPA, 2016), pp. 86, 88]
Many people imagine that when God sends the gospel
to people, he is offering them salvation. So popular is this view that it is not
only the Arminian position, but many professing Calvinists promote it as well.
Such believe that in the preaching God expresses an earnest desire, even
longing, to save all men. Others believe that God, to be fair, is obligated to
give everyone a chance at salvation and then leaves them a free will to accept
or reject it. Nevertheless, Christ does not say that this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preached in all the world as an offer
to all nations, or as a chance of
salvation to all nations, but as a witness
unto all nations.
In fact, when the testimony of the gospel comes to
the reprobate, they are hardened under it and left without excuse. The
reprobate despise a spiritual savior, a spiritual king, and a spiritual
kingdom. They despise the cross and the forgiveness of sins, and they want no
part of it. Thus the gospel was a great stumbling block to the Jews and utter
foolishness to the Gentiles (1 Cor. 1:23). When they heard it, they were
stirred up to hate it, and multitudes rejected it, but it was still a testimony
to them. When Christ returns, every nation will have been confronted with the
truth of God, and every nation will have rejected it in favor of the earthly,
carnal kingdom of Satan and antichrist. That is no failure of the gospel, for
out of every nation God saves an elect remnant. Man’s sin will be exposed, man
will be ripe for judgment, and Christ will come. All of this serves God’s
purpose with the gospel
… The one great calling of the church is to hold up
the truth of the kingdom of Christ before the world so that the elect will hear
and believe.
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(II)
More to come! (DV)
That is correct the gospel is not an offer of salvation but a declaration that God has an eternal purpose of saving sinners, whether they be Jew or Gentile, that is those chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. In teaching and preaching the good works of God, in creation and redemption, as revealing in Christ, men are left without excuse if they continue in sins and rebellion against God, they are without excuse.They know that God receives repentant sinners for the gospel teaches that.
ReplyDeleteHow ever when the lord Jesus says then comes the end I believe He is referring to end of the Jewish age when He came and destroyed the Temple and Jerusalem in 70 AD by the agency of the Romans and not the end of the world. (Come back to me if you are interested)