Posted on 07/23/2025 4:44:17 AM PDT by metmom
“This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: ‘He Himself took our infirmities and carried away our diseases’” (Matthew 8:17).
Even excluding the miraculous healings, Jesus’ ministry was unprecedented and amazing. “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks” (John 7:46). The man born blind, whom Jesus healed, told the Jewish leaders, “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man [Christ] were not from God, He could do nothing” (John 9:32–33).
When Jesus healed the paralytic, the onlookers “were awestruck, and glorified God” (Matt. 9:8), and after He expelled a demon they said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel” (v. 33). When He stood before Pilate, Jesus did not say a word in His own defense, “so the governor was quite amazed” (Matt. 27:14).
Everything about our Lord was astonishing, excellent, and humanly beyond explanation. It is hard to understand how anyone who witnessed His preaching and miracles, or has even just read about Him in the gospels, can still refuse to accept and obey Him. Some are drawn by His charisma and power, and they marvel at the things He taught and did, but they still take nothing to heart and don’t believe. Sometimes they are willing to call themselves Christians, but they need a commitment that is more than superficial—one that perseveres in faith to the end.
Ask Yourself
Think of all the things that are truly amazing about Christ.
If you were asked what you love the most about Him, what would you say?
You never want to be at a loss to share the specific ways He makes life distinctly abundant.
Studying God’s Word ping
Thanks for posting
Excellent!
Preserving to the end ....
Only to Soon
Lord Jesus.
.
Maranatha!
So many skeptics....just will not believe the gospel documents. The fear of missing out is not operative when it comes to the amazing person and work of Jesus the Christ. May God kindle a desire in their heart and soul to find and believe in Jesus.
“It is hard to understand how anyone who witnessed His preaching and miracles, or has even just read about Him in the gospels, can still refuse to accept and obey Him.”
John McArthur was a Calvinist, and so I assume his congregation taught Calvinist theology. So how do you explain the sentence above, taken from the short article?
Calvinism teaches that God chose some for salvation and the rest - either actively or passively - for damnation. Those he chose for salvation, according to Calvinism, will accept the message and believe. Those not chosen will not and CANNOT accept and believe.
So why the double speak? Why the inconsistency?
Calvinists make their first mistake by having a faulty unbiblical theology. Then they make their second mistake by continually teaching that which is inconsistent with their own stated theology.
Examples abound. This is one.
I have no idea since I do not adhere to that variety of Calvinism.
I am by no means a bible scholar but if God gives us free will and He’s not bound by time so he knows who will/won’t be saved, is that His will or knowledge of the choices we will make?
God grants us free will to choose Him freely, and His knowledge of our choices, unbound by time, does not negate that freedom.
Deuteronomy 30:19 says we do have free will yet God’s foreknowledge is clear in Psalm 139:4,
As Romans 8:29 says, ‘For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,’ indicating His plan works with our free will, not against it.”
Calvinism would claim that man does not have free will to choose God, and that God’s sovereignty requires that he controls everything that happens in the universe.
I’m not saying that is Biblical. But it is Calvinistic, in spite of some protests to the contrary.
What you replied is how I feel and I can give another example. To me God is incapable of evil but because of His knowledge of abortion, holocaust etc. infer that its His will? To me, it does not.
Calvinism has a god who creates robots which are programmed some ti do good and others to do evil, the ones programmed for evil are told at the end of their life by the maker “you were programmed to do evil and you did evil, so now you will be tortured for eternity”
If I had a dollar for every someone said “you don’t understand Calvinism” I’d have A LOT of dollars.
My original post stands as correct.
I had a teacher in Bible college explain it in a way that stuck with me: There's a door to heaven that has a sign on the outside that says, "Whosoever will..." and on the inside of that door, the sign says, "Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world". I trust that the Creator and Sustainer of all is GOOD and His will is perfect.
This devotional thread isn't meant for debate and I'm not trying to argue. Just my thoughts on a very deep subject that one day I know we WILL fully comprehend because we will have the mind of Christ.
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