-12-
Israel, God's Elect
Romans 9
1 – 5 “I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.”
Have you ever experienced real heartache? If you can bring yourself to talk about it, would you tell it like it is? Would you ever tend to exaggerate just a bit? I think I may have... just a bit. As we read Paul's words, notice he wants us to know that he is not exaggerating. Great sorrow. Unceasing anguish. And to wish himself accursed and cut of from Christ for eternity … if that would be what it takes to save them! And this is not exaggeration? Wow. I honestly cannot identify with that.
He loves the elect of God. As a people, as a nation, Paul lists the many things that made them a special people. The greatest of all of all is the honor they had in being the people through whom Jesus would be born.
So what is all this anguish about? It is simply this, being the elect of God was not enough to save them and give them eternal life. So many of them … all of the ones who did not receive Christ … are lost and headed for hell. And Paul cannot stand the thought.
Now Paul asks a reasonable question … If the reader assumes that 'election' and salvation is the same thing, then what went wrong? Did God make a mistake?
6, 7 “It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children”
Not all who have descended from Israel … are Israel. What does this mean? It means there are really two Israels. The first is a physical nation, the second is a spiritual nation … inward and invisible. It is like a people within a people. The Israelite who is 'saved' and possesses eternal life, is one who is more that than a 'born' Jew. He is a 'born again Jew.' This is what Paul brings out in the next verse:
7b, 8 “On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.”
And verse 9 contains the promise: “For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
A promise like that required faith to believe it. At first they did not believe. Both Sarah and Abraham laughed when they heard it.
Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” Genesis 17:17
So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Genesis 18:12
But earlier on in the book of Romans we read: What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4:3
I believe I mentioned earlier what a remarkable statement this is. Notice the absence of any mention of laughing? This is an example of how God's forgiveness can actually revise history a little. The record now mentions no laughter at the promise at all.
So to repeat verse 8, it is not the children of physical descent who are God's children. The children of God are those who believe God, (just as Abraham and Sarah had to believe God when it came to having a son in their old age).
10-13 “Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad —in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Now Paul goes into another aspect of election. The first showed God electing a nation. Israel. Then we see that God elects the gentiles. But we also noted that not all the 'elect' were saved. So this is called corporate election as opposed to individual election.
In this second aspect we see the divine hand of God planning some things that would affect history. Paul makes it clear that God picked the younger of the two twins, Jacob and Esau, and 'elected' Jacob to be the forefather of the people through whom Christ would come. And this includes the fact that, from Jacob, the whole nation of Israel would be produced.
God 'pre-chose' Jacob. This is a specific, individual election. God has done that a few times.
But can we 'question God'? Can we ask, 'God, why did you do that? God, why did you not choose Esau? After all he was the first born. Why did You hate him?'
Paul speaks about this. First he says, Don't ever question God. He has His reasons and He is not obligated to explain them to us.
14-16 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
But even though Paul says that we are not to question God, we are given this principle:
God has mercy on those who believe in Him and trust Him. He hardens those who continually resist Him.
17-18 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden
These verses refer back to the book Exodus. There Moses is recording the sequence of events that led up to Pharaoh's finally releasing the Israelite people from slavery. From Egypt Moses would lead them to the 'promised land'. It is a beautiful account really. It reminds us that we were all slaves to sin and God in His wonderful love and mercy called us out of that life. There we read that Pharaoh did his level best to keep the Israelites under his power. This is much like the work of Satan. He enslaves people and wants to keep them for his own. In the Exodus account we notice that God did not try only once, but many times to free the Israelites from slavery. Finally, after the last plague .. the one that we call Passover, the Israelites headed for freedom.
But what is interesting, although we can 'spiritualize' and call Pharaoh the Devil, let's leave that thought alone for a bit, and look at Pharaoh as just another human being.
In the Exodus history, you will read that after each of the first few plagues that Moses caused, it is said that Pharaoh hardened his heart. Then, after the plague of the hail, we read that God says that He will harden Pharaoh's heart. So in our Romans passage … Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden, we must acknowledge that Pharaoh hardened his own heart first. After a period of time, God hardened Pharaoh's heart. That is a principle that is consistent with God's dealing with all people. We noted in the early chapters of this study that when people pushed God out of their thinking, that God gave them up. He did this to Pharaoh as well. Therefor we are not to understand that Pharaoh never had a chance. God had raised Pharaoh up to a position of power. Pharaoh, through Joseph, had the privilege of protecting the People of God. But when it came time to let them go and become a nation … the Pharaoh of that time had ruined his place of honour with God. God gave him chances to do the right thing, but Pharaoh refused … so God hardened his heart.
19-21 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
Paul realizes that God's intervention behind the scene is concept hard to grasp. He recognizes that some will see it as God manipulating everything. And if that is so … how can He ever blame us with sin? All of our sin would be God's fault.
To answer those objections Paul, once again … starts with 'So what? Even if that were true … you would dare to blame God!? God is God and can do whatever He pleases. It is not our place to question Him.
But Paul softens his bold statements with these thoughts:
22-24 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory — even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
We are pointed to the fact that God's actions started out with His great patience. This indicates that God is waiting for something. He is calling people to repentance and waiting patiently for their response. Next we are given the statement, ' objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction. It would be very easy to stumble over these words. We might be tempted to think that God prepared, before the creation of the universe, that certain people were prepared for destruction, and that way back in eternity that they were already objects of His wrath. But let's look carefully here. Let's look at two things: First, it would make no sense for God to have waited with great patience … if they have been objects of wrath from the very beginning … in eternity past. And second, there is nothing to indicate WHEN these people became prepared for destruction. Certainly there is nothing to indicate that this happened back in eternity.
What actually happens, takes place in time, not eternity. Look at these verses which gives us a very clear principle.
Pr 28:14 ¶ Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
Pr 29:1 ¶ He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
So this is the case with Pharaoh. At a certain point Pharaoh was prepared … prepared himself, actually, for destruction. And on the reverse side Paul says that it works the same for those whom God wants to honor. Way back in eternity He said that He would call people to come to Him, and that when they would come to Him, He would shower glory upon them that they could never imagine. He prepared in advance the kind of rewards He would give to those who answer His call. It is sad to note, “many are called, but few are chosen." Mt 22:14
And the words of Jesus in Luke; “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ Luke 13:24,25
Paul now goes to quoting a number of scriptures. He does this show the wonderful grace of God, calling to anyone who will come to Him.
As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”
and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children
of the living God.’”
Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”
It is just as Isaiah said previously:
“Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been
like Gomorrah.”
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one
who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
So we end the chapter with Paul going back to 'corporate election'. He says that the gentiles have achieved what the Jews did not. He said the gentiles were never known as a people who were pursuing God and His righteousness … and yet they found it. All of them? Of course not. We just need to look around us. Most of the gentiles are not pursuing God. But just as the Jews were called an elect nation … that is now passed on to gentiles. But for it to make any difference to a gentile, Paul points out, righteousness must be pursued by faith. Faith in Jesus. He is the rock that people stumble over while they are trying to be righteous on their own power and ability. We all must come to the place where we cry out to God, “I Can't! You require for me to be holy and perfect … I can't!” Then God says … I will give you My holiness.
We will add one more verse to this study.
10:1 “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.
Paul believes that his kinsmen, the Jews, need to be saved … and that they could be saved if they would only believe. There is no mentioning at all that only those that God pre-elected could and would be saved. There is no thought at all, that he should just leave it up to God, as Calvin taught … that God's grace is 'irresistible'.
What Paul is clearly portraying is that with prayer and persuasion they might turn to Jesus.
So as we end this chapter … with the apostle Paul, we rejoice that God showers his glory and grace upon those of us who have bowed our knees to Him and received His free gift of right-standing.
And we rejoice that any and all of our friends and loves ones can come to Jesus … if only we can reach them with the gospel.
Have you ever experienced real heartache? If you can bring yourself to talk about it, would you tell it like it is? Would you ever tend to exaggerate just a bit? I think I may have... just a bit. As we read Paul's words, notice he wants us to know that he is not exaggerating. Great sorrow. Unceasing anguish. And to wish himself accursed and cut of from Christ for eternity … if that would be what it takes to save them! And this is not exaggeration? Wow. I honestly cannot identify with that.
He loves the elect of God. As a people, as a nation, Paul lists the many things that made them a special people. The greatest of all of all is the honor they had in being the people through whom Jesus would be born.
So what is all this anguish about? It is simply this, being the elect of God was not enough to save them and give them eternal life. So many of them … all of the ones who did not receive Christ … are lost and headed for hell. And Paul cannot stand the thought.
Now Paul asks a reasonable question … If the reader assumes that 'election' and salvation is the same thing, then what went wrong? Did God make a mistake?
6, 7 “It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children”
Not all who have descended from Israel … are Israel. What does this mean? It means there are really two Israels. The first is a physical nation, the second is a spiritual nation … inward and invisible. It is like a people within a people. The Israelite who is 'saved' and possesses eternal life, is one who is more that than a 'born' Jew. He is a 'born again Jew.' This is what Paul brings out in the next verse:
7b, 8 “On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.”
And verse 9 contains the promise: “For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
A promise like that required faith to believe it. At first they did not believe. Both Sarah and Abraham laughed when they heard it.
Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” Genesis 17:17
So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?” Genesis 18:12
But earlier on in the book of Romans we read: What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4:3
I believe I mentioned earlier what a remarkable statement this is. Notice the absence of any mention of laughing? This is an example of how God's forgiveness can actually revise history a little. The record now mentions no laughter at the promise at all.
So to repeat verse 8, it is not the children of physical descent who are God's children. The children of God are those who believe God, (just as Abraham and Sarah had to believe God when it came to having a son in their old age).
10-13 “Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad —in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Now Paul goes into another aspect of election. The first showed God electing a nation. Israel. Then we see that God elects the gentiles. But we also noted that not all the 'elect' were saved. So this is called corporate election as opposed to individual election.
In this second aspect we see the divine hand of God planning some things that would affect history. Paul makes it clear that God picked the younger of the two twins, Jacob and Esau, and 'elected' Jacob to be the forefather of the people through whom Christ would come. And this includes the fact that, from Jacob, the whole nation of Israel would be produced.
God 'pre-chose' Jacob. This is a specific, individual election. God has done that a few times.
But can we 'question God'? Can we ask, 'God, why did you do that? God, why did you not choose Esau? After all he was the first born. Why did You hate him?'
Paul speaks about this. First he says, Don't ever question God. He has His reasons and He is not obligated to explain them to us.
14-16 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
But even though Paul says that we are not to question God, we are given this principle:
God has mercy on those who believe in Him and trust Him. He hardens those who continually resist Him.
17-18 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden
These verses refer back to the book Exodus. There Moses is recording the sequence of events that led up to Pharaoh's finally releasing the Israelite people from slavery. From Egypt Moses would lead them to the 'promised land'. It is a beautiful account really. It reminds us that we were all slaves to sin and God in His wonderful love and mercy called us out of that life. There we read that Pharaoh did his level best to keep the Israelites under his power. This is much like the work of Satan. He enslaves people and wants to keep them for his own. In the Exodus account we notice that God did not try only once, but many times to free the Israelites from slavery. Finally, after the last plague .. the one that we call Passover, the Israelites headed for freedom.
But what is interesting, although we can 'spiritualize' and call Pharaoh the Devil, let's leave that thought alone for a bit, and look at Pharaoh as just another human being.
In the Exodus history, you will read that after each of the first few plagues that Moses caused, it is said that Pharaoh hardened his heart. Then, after the plague of the hail, we read that God says that He will harden Pharaoh's heart. So in our Romans passage … Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden, we must acknowledge that Pharaoh hardened his own heart first. After a period of time, God hardened Pharaoh's heart. That is a principle that is consistent with God's dealing with all people. We noted in the early chapters of this study that when people pushed God out of their thinking, that God gave them up. He did this to Pharaoh as well. Therefor we are not to understand that Pharaoh never had a chance. God had raised Pharaoh up to a position of power. Pharaoh, through Joseph, had the privilege of protecting the People of God. But when it came time to let them go and become a nation … the Pharaoh of that time had ruined his place of honour with God. God gave him chances to do the right thing, but Pharaoh refused … so God hardened his heart.
19-21 One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
Paul realizes that God's intervention behind the scene is concept hard to grasp. He recognizes that some will see it as God manipulating everything. And if that is so … how can He ever blame us with sin? All of our sin would be God's fault.
To answer those objections Paul, once again … starts with 'So what? Even if that were true … you would dare to blame God!? God is God and can do whatever He pleases. It is not our place to question Him.
But Paul softens his bold statements with these thoughts:
22-24 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory — even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
We are pointed to the fact that God's actions started out with His great patience. This indicates that God is waiting for something. He is calling people to repentance and waiting patiently for their response. Next we are given the statement, ' objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction. It would be very easy to stumble over these words. We might be tempted to think that God prepared, before the creation of the universe, that certain people were prepared for destruction, and that way back in eternity that they were already objects of His wrath. But let's look carefully here. Let's look at two things: First, it would make no sense for God to have waited with great patience … if they have been objects of wrath from the very beginning … in eternity past. And second, there is nothing to indicate WHEN these people became prepared for destruction. Certainly there is nothing to indicate that this happened back in eternity.
What actually happens, takes place in time, not eternity. Look at these verses which gives us a very clear principle.
Pr 28:14 ¶ Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
Pr 29:1 ¶ He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
So this is the case with Pharaoh. At a certain point Pharaoh was prepared … prepared himself, actually, for destruction. And on the reverse side Paul says that it works the same for those whom God wants to honor. Way back in eternity He said that He would call people to come to Him, and that when they would come to Him, He would shower glory upon them that they could never imagine. He prepared in advance the kind of rewards He would give to those who answer His call. It is sad to note, “many are called, but few are chosen." Mt 22:14
And the words of Jesus in Luke; “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ Luke 13:24,25
Paul now goes to quoting a number of scriptures. He does this show the wonderful grace of God, calling to anyone who will come to Him.
As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”
and, “In the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children
of the living God.’”
Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”
It is just as Isaiah said previously:
“Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been
like Gomorrah.”
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one
who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
So we end the chapter with Paul going back to 'corporate election'. He says that the gentiles have achieved what the Jews did not. He said the gentiles were never known as a people who were pursuing God and His righteousness … and yet they found it. All of them? Of course not. We just need to look around us. Most of the gentiles are not pursuing God. But just as the Jews were called an elect nation … that is now passed on to gentiles. But for it to make any difference to a gentile, Paul points out, righteousness must be pursued by faith. Faith in Jesus. He is the rock that people stumble over while they are trying to be righteous on their own power and ability. We all must come to the place where we cry out to God, “I Can't! You require for me to be holy and perfect … I can't!” Then God says … I will give you My holiness.
We will add one more verse to this study.
10:1 “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.
Paul believes that his kinsmen, the Jews, need to be saved … and that they could be saved if they would only believe. There is no mentioning at all that only those that God pre-elected could and would be saved. There is no thought at all, that he should just leave it up to God, as Calvin taught … that God's grace is 'irresistible'.
What Paul is clearly portraying is that with prayer and persuasion they might turn to Jesus.
So as we end this chapter … with the apostle Paul, we rejoice that God showers his glory and grace upon those of us who have bowed our knees to Him and received His free gift of right-standing.
And we rejoice that any and all of our friends and loves ones can come to Jesus … if only we can reach them with the gospel.