First, what is an offer? From Webster's 1828 Dictionary:
OF'FER, verb transitive [Latin offero; ob and fero, to bring.]
1. Literally, to bring to or before; hence, to present for acceptance or
rejection; to exhibit something that may be taken or received or not. He
offered me a sum of money. He offered me his umbrella to defend me from the
rain.
Does that sound like what
the Bible describes as the gospel, something He offers up to be accepted or
rejected?
After condemning the Pharisees
with the parable of the tenants, Jesus tells them, (Matthew 21:43) Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God
will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing its fruit. The
kingdom of God will be TAKEN from national Israel and GIVEN to spiritual
Israel; God takes from one and gives to another.
Many people who claim the gospel
is an offer turn to any of several places where God calls people to come to
Him. In the first place, the English word, come, is an imperative - a command.
When a mother tells her toddler "come here," she is not inviting him,
she's not offering him the option; she's commanding him. When the queen of
England bids an entertainer to sing for her, everybody calls it a "command
performance" because the queen issued the "invitation." So many
who call God sovereign posit Him as someone who offers and invites His
creatures to come into His kingdom - as if He were less than the queen of
England, less than a mother of small children.
How much more greater and grander
and beyond our ability to comprehend is the Creator and Judge of all flesh?
When the Lord of glory tells His chosen ones, "Come!" it is, as
everyone who embraces the doctrines of grace knows, an irresistible call. When you and I preach the gospel, we try to
persuade men - the general call we give (not knowing who the elect are) can be
resisted or accepted. Yet our words, our persuasive speech is not what saves
anyone. The Spirit of God moves as does the wind - no man controls nor is able
to know for sure where He goes. And He gives life to that which was dead, and
those called by God to come are no more able to say no than Lazarus was, being
4 days dead in the tomb. Jesus did not invite Lazarus to come forth, didn't
offer him another few years in the flesh. He commanded Lazarus to come forth;
and Lazarus did so.
Preach the gospel to every
creature, we are told. Nothing about offering the kingdom to anyone. Nothing
about inviting them - compel them to come, the master of the wedding feast
said. How do we compel people to come to Christ? By being faithful with our
proclamation of His gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation for those who
are being saved. He compels His chosen ones to come to the wedding feast.
Throughout Acts, we read of the
kingdom being preached and proclaimed, not one instance of the kingdom being
offered. We read in Revelation that God has made us a kingdom of priest unto
Him. Of 158 occurrences of
"kingdom" in the HCSB new testament, not one of them can be portrayed
as being offered to anyone.
A similar survey of
"gospel" shows us the same results. Of 78 occurrences, we see much
about proclaiming and preaching and announcing the gospel. People hear the
gospel; the gospel is confessed and presented and it is preserved. The gospel
is veiled to those who are perishing (2 Cor 4:3). The gospel is established and
advanced. People are called by God through the gospel. No occurrence of the
gospel being offered.
Why does this matter?
If the gospel and the kingdom are
offered to sinners, God is put in the position of "the anxious
seller," hoping people will accept Him. The Bible does not give any hint
of God in this light. He commands the clouds where to go and drop rain, He
gives life to that which was dead, He calls into existence things that do not
exist.
While none of us is able to
describe God comprehensively, each of us who name Christ as Lord should seek to
never reduce Him in any of His attributes. God speaks and His sheep hear His
voice. He needs not offer His kingdom to anyone - He gives it to whom He
pleases.
