“Listen and pay attention! Don’t be arrogant. The Lord has spoken”
(Jeremiah 13:5). “Do something, Lord, for the sake of Your Name, even
though our sins testify against us” (Jeremiah 14:7). We listen to God,
and we call upon Him – “If you return, I will take you back … I am with
you, and I will save you and rescue you, says the Lord” (Jeremiah
15:19-20). Along with the great promise, “I am with you and I will save
you”, there is also the call to return to the Lord. God knows what we
are like – “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure”
(Jeremiah 17:9). God knows that we cannot change ourselves. We can only
be changed by Him. He calls us back from the way of the “fool” (Jeremiah
17:11). He calls us to Himself. The Word, given to the prophet, is also
the Word, spoken to the people. It is the Word of salvation. “Where is
the Word of the Lord? Let it come!” (Jeremiah 17:15). The Word of the
Lord comes. It comes from above. It comes from the Lord. We cannot
create the Word of the Lord. We must let it come to us. The Word is His.
It’s not ours. We must pray, “Let the Word of the Lord come to us.” Let
the Word of the Lord be God among us, God speaking to us, God working
in us and through us.“Where is the Word of the Lord? Let it come!” (Jeremiah 17:15). The Word
of the Lord comes. It comes from above. It comes from the Lord. The
Word of the Lord – This is God at work. He is speaking to us. He is
working in us. We cannot create the Word of the Lord. We must let it
come to us. The Word is His. It is not ours. We must pray, “Let the Word
of the Lord come to us.” Let the Word of the Lord be God among us, God
speaking to us, God working in us, God working through us.
In this post, I will draw comparisons between Arminius and Berkouwer. * Bangs points out that the historical situation in Holland was not a simple one - Calvinism coming in, Arminius nearly ruining it and the Synod of Dort restoring it: “The earliest Dutch Reformed leaders don’t seem to be Calvinists at all. They rise out of the soil, here and there, nurtured by the old Dutch biblical piety, not seized by dogmatic insights, but steadily pressing toward a purified life of faith according to Scripture” (p. 21). This emphasis is similar to Berkouwer’s insistence that election is not a special gnosis for the theological elite. Rather, it is a confession of faith, arising from the hearts of those who have come to know the grace of God ( Divine Election (DE), p. 216). * Bangs observes that Arminius’ theological method is “practical and through faith”: “For the Theology which belongs to this world, is practical and through faith: Theoretical Theology belongs to the o...
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