Proverbs 8
8 Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
2 On the heights, beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
3 beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
4 “To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live.
5 O simple ones, learn prudence;
acquire intelligence, you who lack it.
6 Hear, for I will speak noble things,
and from my lips will come what is right;
7 for my mouth will utter truth;
wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
The reason we are not as wise as we should be is because we refuse the invitation. Proverbs 8 tells us that wisdom sends out an invitation. It calls. Wisdom wants followers. This invitation comes from God. Jesus Christ is our wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and this invitation is to come to know God. God holds His loving, patient, saving hands to a rebellious people for their good and their salvation.
Now let’s do a little side thought about how a God who chooses people also invites. The Scriptural truths that salvation is by the sovereign electing grace of God and that God the Holy Spirit must do a work in the heart before anyone can come to Christ or even want to come, do not contradict the truth that God invites people to come to Him and that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Wisdom calls out to them and the call is real and it is genuine and it is meant. The fact that not all can come and not all are chosen to come does not impinge on the fact that the invitation is real.
To some this is illogical nonsense. Tough. This is biblical and the God who authored the Book is the author of sound thinking. He does not need us telling Him what makes sense.
This does not mean that we should not expect the Bible to make good logical sense, for it does. And it certainly does not mean that we are not called to think hard and properly and it most certainly does not mean that we can defend sloppy thinking on the basis of God being incomprehensible or the Bible not demanding sound logical thinking. A great deal of damage has been done to the cause of Christ due to fluffy headed thinking and lazy mental effort.
The Bible clearly tells us that God invites, commands, urges, sinners to turn away from their sin. It is equally clear that God awakens people to salvation whom He chose before the world was made and that He shall lose none of all those so chosen. This is not a contradiction, bad logic, inconsistent, or two-faced.
No one will stand before God condemned and even think of accusing the Judge before whom they stand with their lostness being His fault. It isn’t. And they will know that the reason they will not spend eternity with Him is their fault. They will finally see themselves as God sees them and they will realize that they are getting what is deserved, even while they gnash their teeth at the One who reveals such things to them.
Having said all that, we need to conclude with this: we can, should, and must, confidently give the Gospel and in our giving it, tell people who do not know Christ, that He gives them a sincere and heartfelt invitation to come and be saved. They need to know that the Gospel they are hearing from us is for them in particular – because it is.
Christians should be smitten with the Saviour who has saved them. And they should be smitten with the Gospel that the Saviour has given. And we should want people who do not yet know the Saviour or believe the Gospel to have such a glorious Saviour and glorious Truth. And we can offer this Gospel with the great hope that it is offered to them and can powerfully change them into people who receive it with great joy.
What a work God has entrusted to us. And what a privilege it is to be able to tell them that He who is wisdom beckons them to come.
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