Why couldn’t a sovereign God overrule an unwilling city? (Matthew 23:37)
Matthew 23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!"
Matthew 23:37 - 39
ESV - 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate.
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Tim Maas
Supporter
God gave free will to all humans, which is what gives our actions their meaning and value. Even on a human level, we would not respond positively to the "love" of someone who was acting toward us only out of a sense of compulsion, or a fear of punishment, and could never feel otherwise. Love must be voluntarily and willingly given by the parties involved. As noted by Jesus, God repeatedly sent prophets to Israel, appealing to the nation to forsake its sinful practices, return to Him, and reciprocate the love that He had shown them in establishing them as a nation by giving up their worship of false gods and the abhorrent rituals (even such as child sacrifice) that such idolatry involved. Despite those pleas, Israel rejected those prophets, as well as the ultimate incarnation of God Himself in the person of Christ. As a result, they were subjected to multiple conquests and exiles, and ultimately to the long-term destruction of the nation and the dispersion of its people.
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