Many have looked at these verses and reading of Christ's heartbroken lament over Jerusalem have concluded that there cannot be anything like election or predestination to salvation, because obviously Jesus desired fervently that the inhabitants of Jerusalem would repent and believe the Gospel and be saved but that they themselves obstinantly would not.
But the free offer of the Gospel, the desire of God that all men repent and believe, and the absolute sovereignty of God in election are by no means contradictory doctrines.
As the Dutch "Puritan" divine Willhelmus A'Brakel explains:
'The fact that there is such a specific election has been proven beyond the shadow of a doubt. It is equally true that there is an unconditional offer of the gospel, to which the promise of salvation is annexed upon the conditions of faith and repentance. There is no contradiction here, for the one is absolute and the other conditional. The one is a decree, whereas the other is a command. There is a difference between the objective of the worker and the ultimate realization of his work. It is a manifestation of God's goodness to present the gospel to the unrepentant with a conditional promise, and it is man's duty to obey that gospel. Election does not prevent the unrepentant from obedience, but rather their own evil nature, and God is thus glorified when He damns them for their own disobedience.” – Wilhelmus A'Brakel
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I was converted out of paganism and the occult in 1993 and while I was initially Charismatic/Arminian in my theology, I became Reformed and Presbyterian through bible study and the influence of ministries like Ligonier. After teaching in local bible studies, and taking seminary...