Clay Nation (Romans 9v19-24)

When I was a kid it was my dream to make a stop-motion claymation movie starring Gumby and Pokey.

Our text introduces us to a clay-nation, as it were.  God is the Potter and Israel, in His sovereign hands, is like clay.

Let’s keep in mind the context of Romans nine, ten and eleven.  Jewish believers were trying to reconcile God’s Old Testament prophecies and promises to Israel with their current circumstances in which Israel had been set aside while the Gospel was going out to the Gentiles.

Paul presented a series of Old Testament examples to show that God was and is consistent in His dealings with Israel:

The nation had rejected the supernatural birth offered to them and was therefore more like Ishmael than Isaac.
The nation had despised their birthright and was therefore more like Esau than Jacob.
The Jews had hardened their hearts and were more like Pharaoh than Moses.

These examples, especially that of Pharaoh and the hardening of the heart, gave rise to an objection.

Romans 9:19  You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?”

The Contemporary English Version captures the sense of the objection when it says, “How can God blame us, if He makes us behave in the way He wants us to?”

The question reveals a profound understanding of what Paul had been teaching.  The Jews were realizing that God knew Jesus Christ would come to His own but that they would not receive Him.  God knew that the offer of the kingdom would be rejected and that the Jewish leaders would hand the Lord over to be crucified.

If this was indeed the “will” of God all along, was it really fair to hold the nation of Israel accountable and responsible?

Here is the answer:

Romans 9:20  But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”
Romans 9:21  Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

Wow.  It sounds like God, because He is God, can harden whomever He chooses, whenever He chooses, for His own purposes, and that we aren’t even allowed to question Him.

One such proponent of that interpretation put it like this:

Admittedly dreadful, God has chosen, designed, and prepared certain people for destruction.  Their only purpose is to serve as objects of God’s wrath, so the elect can better appreciate God’s mercy toward them and His power.  Likewise, the elect were chosen, designed, and prepared to serve – but, they were fashioned to serve as objects of His mercy and therefore glorify Him.

Not so fast.  You have to know where Paul got this idea about the “clay nation.”  It’s from Jeremiah chapters eighteen and nineteen.

In the Jeremiah passage, Israel was the clay and God was the Potter.  The clay is said to be marred.  As a result the Potter could not mold it as He desired.  Instead He made it into another vessel, one more consistent with the material in His hands.
Then God Himself provides this commentary:

Jeremiah 18:6  “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!
Jeremiah 18:7  “The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it,
Jeremiah 18:8  “if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it.
Jeremiah 18:9  “And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it,
Jeremiah 18:10  “if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
Jeremiah 18:11  “Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.”‘ ”

Did you hear the two “if’s”?

“if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it…”
“if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it…”

God’s own application is, “Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.”

Does that sound at all like God arbitrarily forms clay according to His will without taking into account the will of the clay?  No, it doesn’t.

God’s own commentary on the Potter and the clay is better than any man’s comments!  He said that His dealings with Israel, and other nations, depends upon their obedience to Him.  He holds them responsible and then judges them accordingly.

The hardening came from the clay, not from the Potter.  Finding the clay hardened, God would shape it according to its nature.  Yet He looked for repentance.

In Jeremiah nineteen the vessel on the potter’s wheel was finished.  Jeremiah took it out to the field and broke it in pieces.  It remained marred in the potter’s hands, and was only fit for destruction.  It was a picture of the destruction that would come upon Israel if their hearts remained hardened against God.

Officially, by the decision of the leadership, the nation of Israel was hardened against Jesus.  God treated them accordingly.  He has been treating Israel, as a nation, accordingly for the last two thousand years of human history.

Verses twenty-two through twenty-four describe those two thousand years.   For us, it’s a history.  The Gospel has been going out directly to the Gentiles.

Romans 9:22  What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

There is some disagreement as to who is being described.  I think it’s the nonbelieving Jewish nation, so guilty before God, yet long endured.  Though provoked to visit discipline on the Jewish nation for its sin in rejecting Christ, and thus to demonstrate his power, yet thus far God has endured with His longsuffering their rejection of Jesus.

Romans 9:23  and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory,

“The vessels of mercy” are both Gentile and Jewish believers in the Church Age.  While God is being long-suffering with the nonbelieving Jews, He is showering His mercy on whosoever will believe in Jesus.

“Prepared beforehand” is not a reference to electing individuals in eternity past for eternal life.  Paul was referring to the preparation made in the Scripture that anticipated the nation of Israel rejecting Jesus and the Gospel going out to the Gentiles for the “glory” of God.

For example.  We don’t have time to go into it in depth right now, but in the great prophecy given to Daniel regarding the flow of history, we see a period of 69 weeks of seven-years leading up to the Savior being cut-off by His people.  Then there is a break in the timing until eventually the final week of seven years is fulfilled.

We live during that ‘break.’  The final seven years is yet future; it’s the Great Tribulation.

So you can see how that God “prepared beforehand” for the rejection of Jesus by Israel and His “glory” being revealed in the salvation of whosoever will believe.

Romans 9:24  even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Thus God is “calling” to all who will believe, both Jew and Gentile.

The picture of God as a potter making (creating) some people as vessels only fit for eternal destruction is not a biblical teaching.  It assumes this illustration of the potter and the clay has no context or commentary to explain it.

God is sovereign.  Mankind is free and responsible.  With that as your basic understanding you can see how a sovereign God is nevertheless justified in holding the nation of Israel responsible for their free choice to reject Jesus as His Son and their Savior.

You might still struggle with the concept that both these things can be simultaneously true.  I do – until I remember that I only know about God and man and our relationship by what He has revealed in the Word.  I therefore see them both and trust that there is no contradiction or inconsistency.

You and I are free and responsible.  God is sovereign and in control.  Israel rejected Jesus.  God pushed ‘stop’ on the prophetic clock.  He is calling out a people, the Church, comprised of Jews and Gentiles.  God’s longsuffering is still in effect and it will remain in effect until “the times of the Gentiles” are fulfilled.  When the last person in this age is saved, the Lord will return in the clouds to resurrect the dead in Christ and to rapture the believers who remain alive until His coming.

Then He will push ‘start’ and all Israel will be saved through the Great Tribulation to recognize their Savior at His Second Coming.

Know Mercy (Romans 9v14-18)

Has anyone ever broken a promise they made to you?  Of course they have!

Has God ever broken a promise He has made to you?  Of course He hasn’t!

It seemed, however, to the first century Jews in Rome and throughout the empire that God had indeed broken His promise, specifically His promise to Abraham.  That promise, called the Abrahamic Covenant, is really a set of promises.  Among other things it promises, unconditionally, that Israel will continue as a nation, bless all the other nations of the world, and possess the land God promised her forever.

Instead of those things the Jews Paul was addressing saw God setting the nation of Israel aside in favor of the Gentiles.  They cried “Foul!”

Actually, they cried “Unrighteous!”  They accused God of unrighteousness.

Romans 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not!

God is righteous so it is just not possible for God to act unrighteously.  “The righteousness of God is evident in the way He consistently acts in accord with His own character.  His every action is consistent with His character.  God is always consistently “Godly.”  God is not defined by the term “righteous,” as much as the term “righteous” is defined by God.  God is not measured by the standard of righteousness; God sets the standard of righteousness.”

Paul sometimes simply told people they were wrong in the way they thought about God.  You certainly must defend what you believe from Scripture, but don’t overlook the nature and character of God in your thinking.   If your study of the Word, or some system of theology, comes to a conclusion that demeans the nature or character of God, it’s just wrong.

In the case before us we would say it is just not possible for God to break His unconditional covenant with Abraham.

By the way, all Christians agree with this.  The disagreement is with whether God still intends to keep His unconditional covenant with the physical descendants of Abraham or if He has transferred it to only the spiritual  descendants of Abraham.

While we certainly understand that New Testament believers are the spiritual descendants of Abraham, that in no way cancels-out God’s promises to the physical descendants of Abraham.  The spiritual descendants of Abraham, like you and I, inherit the parts of the Abrahamic Covenant that apply to us as Gentiles.  God will still keep His promises to the Jews.  He must keep them!

Paul is giving the Jews Scriptural precedents for God’s present dealings with His chosen people.  He wasn’t being unrighteous.  He was acting just as He had always acted without breaking any promises to them at all.

Romans 9:15  For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOMEVER I WILL HAVE COMPASSION.”

This quote from Exodus comes after the Jews had sinned by worshipping the Golden Calf.  The Law had scarcely been given to Moses when he returned from Mount Sinai and heard the sound of partying in the camp.  It was a drunken perverse orgy fueled by idolatry as they danced around a golden calf that Aaron had fashioned for the occasion.

Moses smashed the tablets of stone upon which the finger of God had written the Ten Commandments.  It was fitting since the people had broken the Law.

Afterwards Moses went to God to plead for the Jews.  God responded by pardoning His sinning nation.

Do you see the connection?  The Gentiles were drunken, perverse idolaters upon whom God now in mercy was showering His love.  He was only doing for the Gentiles what He had long ago done for the Jews.  He was showing them His mercy, undeserved and unearned.

To accuse God of acting unrighteously in extending His mercy beyond Israel to the Gentiles was to deny His faithfulness to oft unfaithful Israel.

Romans 9:16  So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
What do “wills” and “runs” mean in this verse?

Running would refer to exerting effort to win the race.
Willing, therefore, would refer to the understanding that you were definitely a contestant in the race.

I think the one “who wills” and “who runs” is the Jew.  From birth he “willed,” believing he was in the running to receive God’s blessing by virtue of his ethnicity.  Thus he ran towards the goal by observing the Law.  The practical result of this was a belief that because you were a Jew God must shower His blessings upon you while simultaneously withholding them from all non-Jews.

But God’s mercy is not reserved for those who think they deserve it and who work for it.  No, God can extend His mercy to anyone – and He does!

This is so interesting to me.  Some people read this verse and somehow conclude God restricts His mercy – showing it to a very select group.  That is what the Jews thought – and they were wrong!

It clearly indicates a broader application, does it not?  Paul was telling the Jews God’s mercy was never restricted to them because it can’t be willed or worked for.

No, God’s mercy is for “whomever.”  God’s compassion is for “whomever.”   “Whomever” is a big word, a broad word, an inclusive word.  We would say mercy and compassion are available to “whosoever believes in Him.”

All this talk from the Book of Exodus reminded Paul of the Egyptian Pharaoh.
Romans 9:17  For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I HAVE RAISED YOU UP, THAT I MAY SHOW MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MAY BE DECLARED IN ALL THE EARTH.”

Pharaoh was a Gentile who persecuted God’s people, the Jews.  He held a privileged position but hardened his heart resulting in God being glorified in delivering His people.

Centuries later, it was the nonbelieving Jews who were persecuting God’s people, the church.  They held a privileged position but hardened their hearts at the preaching of the gospel.  God was being glorified in delivering His people, the church, comprised mostly of Gentiles.

You read in Romans 11:25, in the NIV,

“…Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.”

The Jews were acting and reacting to the mercy of God upon Gentiles exactly as Pharaoh had acted and reacted when God wanted to show mercy to His enslaved people in Egypt.

Paul was really laying it on them.  Earlier in the chapter he had told them they were acting like Ishmael rather than Isaac, and like Esau rather than Jacob.  Now they were acting like Pharaoh rather than Moses!

Romans 9:18  Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

What does it mean “whom He wills He hardens?”
We usually choose one of two positions regarding God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart:

Either God hardened Pharaoh’s heart to reveal His glory and Pharaoh had no real, personal, free-will choice about it.
Or God confirmed what He foreknew Pharaoh would do.  He simply stood back and watched Pharaoh harden his heart.

Those aren’t the only alternatives.  Alfred Edersheim has done an extensive study of the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.  He points out that the phrase is used of Pharaoh twenty times.  Of the twenty passages, exactly ten are ascribed to Pharaoh himself and exactly ten are ascribed to God.

The Scripture, then, is careful, even balanced, to ascribe just as much responsibility to Pharaoh for the hardening of his heart as it does to God.  The hardening is simultaneous on the part of God and Pharaoh.

We don’t generally like simultaneous truths.  They’re not very neat.  They don’t fit neatly into our systems of theology.

But the Bible says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart AND that Pharaoh hardened his own heart.  Why can’t we accept it as it is written?  We want God to be sovereign to the exclusion of man’s free will, or we exalt free will to the point where God’s sovereignty seems to be in question.

We just saw that God’s mercy is for “whomever.”  In verse eighteen ”whom He wills He hardens” is presented as the flip-side of God having mercy on whomever.  If you aren’t a recipient of God’s mercy, then you will be a recipient of hardening.  You will harden your heart and God will simultaneously harden your heart.
It’s either/or, one thing or the other, for every member of the human race.  But it isn’t predetermined.  Mercy is definitely available to “whomever” until it’s too late.

I don’t see in these verses any revelation of God limiting His mercy.  Quite the opposite.  The confusion the Jews were having was because God’s mercy was being extended beyond them to the Gentiles.  The Gospel remains a “whosoever will” call to receive God’s mercy.

There is no unrighteousness in God’s dealings with Israel as a nation.  He will keep His unconditional promises to Abraham’s physical descendants.  In the mean time, His mercy is extended to all, and whosoever will believe is of the spiritual seed of Abraham.

Don’t Call Me Ishmael (Romans 9v6-13)

There’s a lot of crazy stuff about birth order.  For example, I came across this tidbit about last born children:

[The last born] of the family are social and outgoing, they are the most financially irresponsible of all birth orders.  They just want to have a good time.  Knowing that these kids love the limelight, it’s no surprise to discover that Billy Crystal, Goldie Hawn, Drew Carey, Jim Carey and Steve Martin are all last-borns.

If you were a first century Jew in Rome, birth order was important because it determined birthright.  The birthright of the firstborn Jewish son consisted, first of all, in a double portion of any inheritance.  The firstborn also became the new head of the family, thus having considerable authority over the other members of the family.

Let’s say you were a first century Jew who had been born-again.  And let’s say you were a gracious individual who understood that Gentiles could be saved without conforming to Jewish rites and rituals.

Still you would look out at what was happening spiritually and be confused.  Israel was God’s “firstborn,” but they no longer had the birthright.  God seemed to have set aside Israel as His firstborn nation in favor of the Gentiles.

True, the leaders of the nation of Israel had officially rejected Jesus.  They had crucified Him.  But God had made certain unconditional promises to Israel through the patriarchs.  Had God’s Word to Israel failed?

Romans 9:6  But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,

“Taken no effect” means failed.  The Word of God had not failed.  Paul will show from the Old Testament patriarchs that “they are not all Israel who are of Israel.”  God never intended natural birth alone to determine salvation.  Natural birth determined privilege but not salvation.  A natural born Jew was privileged to have the things listed in verses four and five, but these alone were insufficient to save him.  A supernatural birth was also required.

Natural birth and supernatural birth are illustrated to the Jews in the offspring of the patriarch Abraham.

Romans 9:7  nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “IN ISAAC YOUR SEED SHALL BE CALLED.”

Abraham had two sons:

Ishmael was born when Abraham went into to Sarah’s maid, Hagar, and slept with her.
Isaac was born when Sarah was past child bearing age and barren.

Both sons were naturally born to Abraham, but only one was also understood to be supernaturally born.

Paul applied this truth in verses eight and nine:

Romans 9:8  That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
Romans 9:9  For this is the word of promise: “AT THIS TIME I WILL COME AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.”

Paul was comparing Christ-rejecting Jews to Ishmael.  That’s rough!  But it was accurate.  They were only born “of the flesh,” only born naturally.  They lacked the supernatural birth necessary to be saved.

Jews and Gentiles who receive Jesus Christ are like Isaac.  They are supernaturally born and saved.

It’s as if he was saying to the first century Jews, “at this time the Lord has come and He will have sons – all those who are supernaturally born-again, Jew and Gentile alike.”

Even though Israel was set apart, from the beginning God taught the Jews that a second, a supernatural, birth was needed for them to be saved.

Paul next looked at the patriarch Isaac and his wife Rebecca and their twin boys, Esau and Jacob.  He goes from discussing birth to discussing birthright.

Romans 9:10  And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac
Romans 9:11  (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),
Romans 9:12  it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”
Romans 9:13  As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Esau was Isaac and Rebecca’s firstborn son and, by privilege, should have inherited the birthright.  Instead Jacob received the birthright.  The second born son ended up with the privileges that belonged to the firstborn.

Now, before you get lost in the secondary theological ramifications of these verses, don’t overlook Paul’s primary argument.  Esau and Jacob and their birthright are used here to illustrate an important point:

Esau had the privileges of birth, but he later despised them.
Jacob did not have the privileges of birth, but he later desired them.

Esau represents  the nation of Israel, and Jacob represents the Gentiles.

The nation of Israel had the privileges by birth but later despised them by rejecting Jesus.
The Gentiles never had the privileges by birth but later desired them and were being saved by the preaching of the Gospel.

The Jews had become like Esau!  Wow.  First Ishmael and now Esau.

God was giving His attention to those second-born, the Gentiles, who were being born-again by faith in Jesus.

By looking at birth and birthright, Paul established precedents in the Jewish Scriptures for God setting aside nonbelieving Jews in order to save Gentiles.

What I’ve just told you is the context of these verses.  It is why Paul wrote them.  He did not write them to develop or to defend a theology about individual salvation that would teach God predestines anyone to Heaven while simultaneously predestining others to Hell.

What are we therefore to make of verses eleven and thirteen?

Verse eleven reads, “(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls).”

We say that their earthly election is in view, not their eternal election.  In other words, God had already elected or chosen the earthly paths of these two boys in Rebecca’s womb.

I’d like to quote Dr. Harry (H.A.) Ironside:

What a tremendous amount of needless controversy has raged about these verses!  Yet how plain and simple they are, viewed in the light of God’s [dealings with Israel as a nation].  There is no question here of predestination to heaven or reprobation to hell… we are not told here, nor anywhere else, that before children are born it is God’s purpose to send one to heaven and another to hell… The passage has entirely to do with privilege here on earth.  It was the purpose of God that Jacob should be the father of the nation of Israel, and that through him… our Lord Jesus Christ… should come into the world.  He had also predetermined that Esau should be a man of the wilderness – the father of a nation of nomads, as the Edomites have ever been.

This, I believe, is the most accurate way of understanding this verse.

But doesn’t verse thirteen clearly say, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated”?

It certainly does – but you need to go back to where and why it says that!  It is not a quote from the first book of the Bible.  It is a quote from the last book of the Old Testament, from Malachi.

It was not said before the children were born and it was not said of Esau as a person but of his descendants, the Edomites, as a nation.  Hundreds of years after Jacob and Esau had died the Israelites and Edomites became bitter enemies.  The Edomites often aided Israel’s enemies in attacks on Israel.  God’s statement in Malachi refers to the Edomites as a nation.

Let’s deal biblically with this word “hated.”  Dr. Herbert Wolf has this insightful commentary:

The meaning of God’s hatred has perplexed and confused many, but a solution is readily available from Scripture.  In Genesis 29:30-33 a close parallel is found in the status of Jacob’s two wives, Rachel and Leah.  Verse thirty states that Jacob loved Rachel more than Leah, while verses thirty-one and thirty-three describe Leah as “hated.”  She was “hated” in the sense that she came out second best in her rivalry with Rachel, so the NASB is correct in translating the word “unloved” rather than “hated.”

In the New Testament the same modified use of “hate” occurs in the passage about hating one’s own parents or family in order to follow Christ (Luke 14:26).  This is explained In Matthew 10:37 as a matter of loving God more than parents or family.  Only in that sense can it be called “hatred.”

While some will rant on-and-on about “hated” means “hated,” it means “hated” in this modified, earthly sense that we see by comparing Scripture with Scripture.

It is my position that these verses are here to illustrate God’s integrity in His current dealings with the nation of Israel with regard to His unconditional promises to them.  This is not Paul’s theology on individual salvation.

God is not unfaithful or breaking His Word to the Jews.  He has set them aside to call out to Himself a people from all ethnic groups – Jews and Gentiles alike.
Even as we say that God has “set them aside,” it’s clear He is still dealing with Israel as a nation.  Not just because we see Israel returned to her ancient homeland as predicted in the Bible.  No, it’s clear because of any number of prophecies.

For example, Daniel, in chapter nine of his book, receives the prophecy of the Seventy Weeks.  The angel Gabriel explains to Daniel that seventy weeks are required to fulfill the petition Daniel has made concerning the restoration of Israel.  The seventy weeks are to be interpreted as seventy weeks of years.  This resulting period of 490 years (70 x7) is divided according to the text as periods of seven weeks (49 years), sixty-two weeks (434 years), and one week (7 years).   The first two periods, adding up to 483 years, were consecutive and have been fulfilled in human history.

Jesus came to offer Israel the Kingdom of Heaven on earth just as scheduled at the end of the 483 years.  But He was rejected by the Jewish leadership.  That left the seventieth week of seven years unfulfilled.   There is a prophetic postponement, a gap, of undisclosed time between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy.

We are living during that gap.  The Gospel is going out to the whole world.  When this time period, called the church age or the times of the Gentiles, is completed, the church will be resurrected and raptured to Heaven.  Then God will turn His attention back to national Israel for the final 70th week.  We know it better as the Great Tribulation.  As it ends, all ethnic Jews on the earth are saved.  The Lord returns and sets up the Kingdom which Jews once rejected but now receive.

Are you an Ishmael or an Isaac?  That is, have you been born a second time, born-again?

Are you an Esau or a Jacob?  That is, are you walking in the flesh or enjoying the things of the spirit?

Isreality (Romans 9v1-5)

Did God hate Esau?  Did God harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he could not believe?  Is God a Potter Who routinely rejects the majority of the human clay He created, rendering them lost and damned?  These are all found in Romans chapter nine.

Your first inclination – and it’s a good one – is to say, “No.”  But then what are we to make of incredible statements, like “Jacob have I loved, but Esau I have hated”?

If you read chapters nine, ten and eleven as the unit they are, you come to an important realization.  Paul was writing about the plan and purposes of God for the nation of Israel in light of the fact the Jewish leaders had officially rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah.  What, if any, plan did God yet have for His specially chosen people?

Some will say, “None.  God has no plan for Israel other than individual Jews getting saved just the same as Gentiles.”  If that is your working theory, then you will interpret these examples from the Old Testament to teach that God hated Esau as a person, that He hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he could not be saved, and that He routinely damns to Hell much of the human clay He created.

Ah, but it is obvious, is it not, that God does have a plan for the nation of Israel!  It’s obvious as you read God’s Word and take it literally.  And it’s obvious as you read the news and see what’s happening in the world, especially in the Middle East around Jerusalem.
The church at Rome was probably founded by Jews who had been saved while visiting Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost.

Some time had passed since they had begun sharing the Gospel in Rome.  The Jewish believers were perplexed and bewildered as they saw their own nation hardened into opposition against the Gospel, while at the same time Gentiles were turning to the Lord.  They were aware that the prophets predicted a great work of God among the Gentiles but they had always been accustomed to think of this as following the full restoration and blessing of Israel and as flowing from it.  Now all the prophecies on which they had based this expectation seemed to have failed.  An explanation was required, and one that fully agreed with the Old Testament.

Paul takes up the explanation in the next three chapters.  In them he discusses, in order, God’s past, present, and prophetic dealings with the nation of Israel.

His general assessment is this: Israel was and remains God’s specially chosen nation.  Yet they have been set aside by God as He builds His church.  God will take up with them once the church is complete.

This requires an explanation, a solidly biblical one, and Paul gives it in these chapters.

It’s not just a prophetic issue.  How can we be secure in God’s love and salvation when it seems that Israel was once loved and saved, but now seems to be  rejected?  Will God also reject me one day?

No, He will not, and He has not rejected Israel either.

We begin with a look at Israel’s past in chapter nine.  Or it might be more accurate to say that Paul draws from Israel’s past to show the Roman believers (and all believers) that God’s present dealings with Israel are Scriptural.

The following are the stories Paul will utilize:

There is the story of Abraham and his children by Hagar and Sarah, and his sons Ishmael and Isaac.
There is the story of Isaac and Rebecca and of their two sons, Esau and Jacob.
There is the story of Moses and Pharaoh.
There is the story of the potter and the clay, taken from Jeremiah Chapters Eighteen and Nineteen.
And there are quotes from the prophets Hosea and Isaiah.

But before he gets into his argument, Paul has something to share about his love for his fellow countrymen.

Romans 9:1  I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit,

When Paul said he was “[telling] the truth… not lying,” it wasn’t just a literary device to get their attention.  His love and concern for Israel went to his very core.  Though he took the Gospel to Gentiles he always started (when he could) in the local synagogues.  It was only after Jews in a city rejected the Gospel that he went outside.

“Conscience” is that mental faculty by which we judge the rightness or wrongness of our thoughts and actions.  Paul thought it right that he have such a great love for his countrymen.

It wasn’t merely his own conscience that guided him in his love for the Jews.  No, he was being influenced by the Holy Spirit.  This was Paul’s heart because it was and is God’s heart.

Romans 9:2  that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.

“Continual” doesn’t necessarily mean all the time, but rather whenever he thought about the condition of Israel.

Having said that, we need to understand he probably thought about Israel a lot!

We think in either/or terms too much.  Either I am happy or I am sad or depressed.  But there’s a sense I can be both with regard to different things.  I can have the joy of the Lord while simultaneously having “continual grief in my heart” for someone or some thing.  If I’m reading this right, I ought to have continual grief for the lost.

This helps me to understand how Jesus Christ could be described as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief and yet be the perfect, sinless, joyous Son of God.

Just how much did Paul love his countrymen?

Romans 9:3  For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,

Paul honestly said – his conscience influenced by God the Holy Spirit – that he would have forfeited his own salvation, if that were possible, for the salvation of his natural, national people – the Jews.

Let’s just stop and say, “Wow.”  I would hope that I could at least say I am willing to die in order that others might hear the Gospel and be saved.  Or at least die to myself to help further the kingdom.  Or at least that I would live every moment for Christ so others would see His love for them.

Paul was serious.  But he was also identifying with the most revered Old Testament character.  Moses had once made a similar plea to God, asking to be blotted out of God’s book of life if God didn’t spare Israel.

There is thus a hint in this comparison that Paul, in preaching the Gospel to the Jews, was a spiritual deliverer to them.  And, just like with Moses, the Jews did not always respect or recognize what God was doing.

In a moment (in verse six) Paul is going to launch into an argument that “they are not all Israel who are of Israel.”  It has led some to say that Paul’s real focus in this chapter is on any person – Jew or Gentile – who gets saved.  To them it’s a kind of disclaimer, as if Paul was saying, “but God isn’t really dealing with Israel as a nation anymore, just individuals from every ethnicity.”
Not true!  In verses four and five he clearly establishes that he is talking about national, ethnic Israel.  Of course it is true, as he will show in verse six, that just being a Jew didn’t save you.  But it does not follow God is through dealing with the Jews.  He is not!

These chapters describe God’s dealings with His chosen nation during a long period of their unbelief.

Romans 9:4  who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;

Here is a list of the privileges that uniquely belong to the nation of Israel:

“Adoption” looks back to Exodus 4:22 where God told Moses to tell Pharaoh that He had chosen Israel as His firstborn son.
“The glory” refers to the Shekinah.  When the building of the tabernacle had been completed, this “glory of the Lord” came and filled it. It took its stand above the mercy-seat in the holy of holies.  During the wilderness journeys when it rested, the Israelites did not travel.  When it was taken up, they marched.  It was a cloud by day and a pillar of light by night.  When Solomon finished his very impressive prayer at the dedication of the temple, this glory filled the temple. It indicated the presence of the Lord with his people.
“The covenants” refer to the ones God made specifically with Abraham and David.  The unconditional parts of them are that Abraham would be given a land, descendants as innumerable as the sand and the stars, and that the Savior Who would come from him and his people would bless the entire human race with the promise of redemption.  David was unconditionally promised that the Savior would be a direct descendant of his and that His kingdom would be literally and physically established forever.
“The giving of the Law” as their rule of life.  It was given to them – not Gentiles.  True, in the past if a Gentile was to approach God he must convert to Judaism.  But that’s not true anymore!  The church council, whose official minutes are recorded in Acts fifteen, established that Gentiles have no responsibility to put themselves under the Law of Moses.
“The service of God” refers to the Temple and its symbolic rituals.
And (finally) there were innumerable (and we must add unconditional) “promises” about how God intended to bless Israel as an earthly people.  And how He intended to bless all earthly peoples through them.

Romans 9:5  of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

Their privileges were intended to prepare them to receive their Messiah, Jesus Christ, Who was born a Jew descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through the particular line of David, “according to the flesh.”

“Flesh” in this context simply means according to physical descent and lineage.

By the way, the sentence structure is such that Jesus Christ is being called “the eternally blessed God.”  It’s always good to be reminded that the Bible presents one God in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  They are not three gods; nor do they exist one at a time, the Father becoming the Son, then the Son sending the Spirit.  God is three-in-one in a mystery that cannot be fathomed.

Paul included this strong statement of nationality, of ethnicity, precisely so we would not make the error of thinking that in verse six he was dismissing God’s dealings with Israel as His chosen nation.  Far from it!

His argument isn’t that God is through with the Jews but that He has temporarily set them aside.  He will give proof from the Old Testament that what God is doing is Scriptural – that it was anticipated in their history.

He is building up to be able to say,

Romans 11:1  I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Romans 11:2  God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew…

Does it sound at all like Paul is referring to just anyone, Jew or Gentile?  Not at all.  He goes to great lengths to let you know he’s talking about the physical descendants of Abraham who are like him – except they are not saved.

Our approach to Israel is part of a larger understanding of God’s relationship to human history that is called Dispensational Theology or Dispensationalism.

Dispensationalism is a framework for understanding the Bible, teaching that God has dealt with man historically in different administrations or  dispensations.  It maintains a radical distinction between Israel and the Church – that there are two peoples of God with two different destinies – and it distinguishes between the Rapture and the Second Coming of Christ (that one precedes the other by seven years of tribulation).

Dr. Charles Ryrie says this:

The essence of dispensationalism… is the distinction between Israel and the church.  This grows out of the dispensationalist’s consistent employment of normal or plain or historical-grammatical interpretation, and it reflects an understanding of the basic purpose of God in all His dealings with mankind as that of glorifying Himself through salvation and other purposes as well.

That’s the deal on a doctrinal level.  On a more devotional level, on a personal level, the bottom line is what I stated earlier.  If God can make certain unconditional promises to the physical descendants of Abraham that He breaks, then how can I trust in the promises He had made me?

God cannot break His unconditional promises!  So Paul gives us an accounting of what God is, in fact, doing with Israel during the dispensation we are now in, the church age.

My Savior, He Wrote Me A Letter (Romans 8v31-39)

More than one writer or screenwriter has used the the device of a person’s letters to their loved one being intercepted by an evil third party and thus never delivered.  It always causes the person who receives no communication to conclude that they are no longer loved.  They then look elsewhere for love but are never quite fulfilled.

In our case we have the love letter of Jesus to us in the form of the Bible.  Reading and re-reading it ought to assure us that He loves us with an everlasting and unconditional love.

Still there are things that try to intercept our appreciation of His love for us.  Some of them are listed for us as we end Romans eight.

Romans 8:31  What then shall we say to these things?…

In other words, What conclusions can we draw?

Romans 8:31  … If God is for us…

The gift of God’s Son in saving us and the gift of God the Holy Spirit indwelling us are enough to conclude God is “for us.”

Romans 8:31  … who can be against us?

Well, lots of people and creatures are against us!  The devil and his demons are against us.  Sinners are against us.  Things are also against us – like the world and the flesh.  They want to intercept the understanding that Jesus loves us.
Romans 8:32  He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up…

It is the highest and greatest proof of the Father’s love for us that He sent Jesus to die.  “Delivered Him up” is a summary of all that the cruelty of man did to Jesus especially in His final hours.

Acts 2:23  Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;

It was the plan from before the foundation of the earth.  It thus greatly amplifies God’s love for us.  He knew ahead of time what it would cost Him and He came for us anyway.

Romans 8:32  …for us all…

The “us all” is the whole human race but especially those who believe.  If you are a Christian you are assured that God loved and loves you personally and demonstrated it by delivering Jesus to die in your place as your substitute.

Romans 8:32  … how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Since God gave us freely and by grace the greatest thing then we can believe He will freely give us “all things.”  These “all things,” though, are determined by Him according to what is best in conforming us to the image of Jesus.  They are anything and everything needed for our spiritual welfare.  In other words, His love, while unconditional, is purposeful.

Romans 8:33  Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?

The verse isn’t saying no one will attack us.  It’s saying that their attack does not lessen God’s love.  I cannot help but think of Job because his situation perfectly illustrates someone bringing a charge against God’s elect.  In fact, looking at Job, it was precisely on account of His love for Job that God permitted the devil to test him so severely.

Romans 8:33  … It is God who justifies.

The language scholars say that this phrase can be read as a question.  “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?  Shall God who justifies?”  Read that way you are reminded that God no longer looks upon you with any charges.  If you are justified by Him any charges brought against you by anyone or any thing else should not intercept His love.

Romans 8:34  Who is he who condemns?…

Again, plenty of people condemn us, but their condemnation should not be perceived as a lack of love by God.

Romans 8:34  … It is Christ who died…

Again this can be read as a question:  “Shall Christ who has died, condemn them?”  The argument here is, that as Christ died to save you, and not to destroy you, He will not condemn you.  His death for you is a security that He will not condemn you.

Romans 8:34  … and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God…

Back to Job.  Satan was in Heaven, before God’s throne, accusing and condemning.  Here we see that Jesus is “at the right hand of God,” loving on us.

Romans 8:34  … who also makes intercession for us.

Jesus isn’t condemning us through these accusations He allows.  If anything, He is proving His love, showing how He intercedes on our behalf, limiting what can happen to us.

The movies portray people who say they love a person but when difficulties come they abandon them.  The person who truly loves steps up and takes the hit.  Jesus stepped up for us and now He intercedes for us.

Romans 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?…

The love of Christ is the love He has for you.  It’s not just that it is His nature to love and, so, He has to love you.  His love was proven on the Cross when He took your place.  It is illustrated in many romantic metaphors.  Thus it is not just a duty that Jesus took upon Himself.  It is His delight.

The question assumes that there are forces which will make every effort to intercept the love of Christ.  Since Jesus cannot change, and His love cannot falter, these forces are directed against us to make us doubt our Savior’s love.

Romans 8:35  … Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

“Tribulation.”  The word properly refers to pressure from without; affliction arising from external causes.  It means, however, not infrequently, trial of any kind.
“Distress.”  This word means narrowness of place.  These are situations where you cannot see a way out.
“Persecution.”  This is the specific trial or trials that come simply because you are a believer and take a stand for Jesus.
“Famine.”  We haven’t really experienced shortages because we have lost everything for the sake of the Gospel.
“Peril.”  It is a general word referring to dangers of any kind.  If there is intended to be a progression in these words you can see that once you’ve lost everything and are literally homeless you are in great peril.
“Sword.”  As if the preceding weren’t bad enough, you could be martyred.

The point is that these could all occur and yet they cannot in any way alter Jesus Christ’s love for you.  You may not ‘feel’ the love, but it is just as powerful as ever.

Romans 8:36  As it is written: “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE KILLED ALL DAY LONG; WE ARE ACCOUNTED AS SHEEP FOR THE SLAUGHTER.”

It’s written in Psalm 44:22.  God’s saints in the past were thus mistreated.  Do we conclude that God did not love them?  Do we conclude some failure or fault in them was a reason for the Lord to turn away from loving them, thus separating His love from them?

No, quite the opposite!  When we see Job or Joseph or Abraham or David in some tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or peril we understand it was precisely on account of God’s love they were mistreated!  When we see an Old Testament prophet killed by the sword we rejoice he was so loved by God.

Romans 8:37  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

On the phrase “more than conquerors” Dr. J. Vernon McGee writes,

How can a sheep for the slaughter be more than a conqueror?  This is another wonderful paradox of the Christian faith.  What does it mean to be more than a conqueror? It means to have assistance from another who gets the victory for us, who never lets us be defeated.
Jesus loves you so much that He fights your battles for you; He conquers your enemies for you.  He does it, however, with spiritual weapons, like humility, patience, forgiveness, etc.  In other words, it may seem like you are being conquered, but only because you won’t accept His kind of help.

“Through Him who loved us.”  Notice the past tense – “loved.”  Jesus loves us still and we know He does because He loved us at Calvary and died for us.  There He proved His love most unconditionally.

“Through Him” is a reminder that we can do nothing without Him but all things through Him.  The very trials themselves draw forth His presence, His sustaining grace.  Again Paul’s point was and is that these things which on the surface seem separators are really connectors.  They connect us to the deepest understanding and experience of the love of Christ.

I think that we do not produce tough Christians anymore.  The slightest trial throws them.  They immediately feel insecure in the love of Christ.  Rather than settling in with their love letter for a long wait they begin to seek love elsewhere:

Some seek it in the material realm by turning or returning to old habits.  They seek to fill the perceived void with the very things that left them empty in the first place.
Others seek love in a more ‘spiritual realm, but one in which the Word of God is not always the final authority.  They are looking for the love of Christ through methods not authorized or soundly condemned by the Bible.

These folks act as though they are not receiving any love letters.  They are letting all these things, in a spiritual sense, intercept the plain Words of the Bible.

Romans 8:38  For I am persuaded…

One version translates it, “I am certain.”  There is not the slightest doubt in his mind regarding the strength and sufficiency of Jesus Christ’s love.

As the chapter closes the apostle Paul is still searching for something that might separate us from the love Jesus has for us.  Let’s go through his interesting list one-by-one.

Romans 8:38  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life…

“Death” is the most terrible and terrifying of enemies.  He strikes all ages and at any time.  Making death notifications for the past fifteen years has given me a new appreciation for death’s nondiscrimination.

Death cannot “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  For a believer, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.  Death has no sting!  It is even to be preferred because it ushers us into glory.

“Life” seems an odd choice.  Upon reflection you see it is an insightful choice.  Daily living can distract us in such a way that we fail to reflect upon the Lord’s love.  Then, when trouble comes, we’re caught off-guard.

Then there is the other aspect to life – having it all.  But what does it profit you to gain the whole world and lose your soul?

Romans 8:38  …nor angels nor principalities nor powers…

These terms seem to refer to angelic beings that are arranged in various hierarchies.
If evil (fallen) angels are meant then we say that greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.  Jesus defeated Satan on the Cross.  Sure the devil fights on; but he has already lost.

Romans 8:38  …nor things present nor things to come,

“Things present” would include calamities and catastrophes we are subject to.  Many terrible things happen; just watch the news.  Do they “separate” me from the love of Christ?  Only if I let them.  He loves me no less.  In fact, it is His loving presence that reassures me in them.

“Things to come” are worries about tomorrow.  Worrying cannot change them.  And, besides, God is working all things together for the good.

Romans 8:39  nor height nor depth…

“Height” has been variously understood.  It seems most likely Paul was referring to prosperity, honor, and elevation in this life.  Jesus loves you no less if you have this world’s goods.  If they have you, then you may not be experiencing His love, but He loves you still.

“Depth,” therefore, would be the lowest circumstances of depression, poverty, contempt, and want; the very lowest rank of life.  I think of the saints in Hebrews chapter eleven who were in dire circumstances.  God loved them just as greatly.

Romans 8:39  …nor any other created thing…

This encompasses everything else in God’s creation.

Romans 8:39  … shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Spurgeon spoke of the confidence great men and women of God had in God’s love in ages past:

They did not speak of Christ’s love as though it were a myth to be respected, a
tradition to be reverenced; they viewed it as a blessed reality, and they cast their whole confidence upon it, being persuaded that it would bear them up as upon eagles’ wings, and carry them all their days; resting assured that it would be to them a foundation of rock, against which the waves might beat, and the winds blow, but their soul’s habitation would stand securely if founded upon it.

I came across this quote:

The Bible is God’s love letter to us. Not a love letter conveyed in one systematic context but one that comes through a diversity of times, places, people, experiences and stories that make it so rich.

Billy Graham once said,

The Bible is God’s “love letter” to us, telling us not only that He loves us, but showing us what He has done to demonstrate His love.

Is there something, or someone, intercepting your receiving the love letter Jesus has written you?  It ought to be dispelled after the reading of this final section of Romans eight.

The Double Trouble Of Predestination (Romans 8v29-30)

One Bible commentator said that the library at his theological seminary contained 10,000 books on the single subject of the Doctrine of Predestination.  After centuries of debate, there is no lack of disagreement, even division, regarding predestination and the other major subject of these verses, God’s foreknowledge.

That’s not to say we can disregard these words, these subjects, these doctrines.  It is to say that I will not solve this tonight or ever in my lifetime.  Neither will you.

What we can do is adopt a perspective on predestination and foreknowledge that is biblical without becoming so dogmatic that we arrive at awful conclusions about God.

The place to start talking about verses twenty-nine and thirty is verse twenty-eight where we read,

Romans 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

We said in our last study that “those who love God” is a synonym for “believers in Jesus Christ.”  It means those who are saved, born-again.

If you are a believer, you are “the called according to His purpose.”  Now the next two verses, twenty-nine and thirty, are the explannation of that statement.  They tell us what it means to be “the called” and what is God’s “purpose” for those who are “the called.”

Romans 8:29  For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Let’s hold our comments on God’s foreknowledge and predestination for a moment and see just what is God’s “purpose” for the believer.

God’s purpose is that every believer “be conformed to the image of His Son,” Jesus Christ.

I remind you that this entire chapter has as its theme the sanctification of the believer.  It’s not about how you get saved.  Paul talked about salvation in the earlier chapters.  This chapter – indeed chapters six, seven and eight – are all about living out the Christian life day-by-day.

What is simply but wonderfully being taught by the words “be conformed to the image of His Son” is that God will continually perform His work of making you more like Jesus Christ until the day you are either resurrected or raptured and His work is completed.  He who has begun this work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

The technical term, “firstborn among many brothers,” applies to Jesus Christ’s new position after His resurrection from the dead.  He became the first of all those who would be raised from the dead never to die again.

The “many brethren” are all those who believe in Him; all those who are saved.  As the “firstborn among many brothers,” Jesus has eternal priority; yet He is not ashamed to call us, who follow Him, His brothers and sisters.

God is therefore conforming us to the image of Jesus.  This is what the apostle John understood when he wrote. “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (First John 3:2).

Now that we know God’s purpose for believers we are in a better position to discuss foreknowledge and predestination.  Let’s talk predestination first.

“Predestine” means to determine something beforehand.  Read the words again and you’ll see exactly what was determined beforehand.  You are “predestined to be conformed into the image” of Jesus Christ.

It’s another way of saying that what God has begun He will perform and complete.  There is no thought here of you being predestined to salvation.  No, you are predestined with regard to your sanctification.  God has determined beforehand that everyone who believes in Jesus will become like Him.

So, for me, biblical predestination has nothing to do with initial salvation.  It is about your sanctification.  Once you are saved, you are then predestined to be conformed into the image of Christ.

The word “predestined” occurs two other times in the New Testament.  Let’s look at them.

Ephesians 1:5  having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

The Bible Knowledge Commentary says,

The emphasis of predestination is more on the what than the who in that the believers’ predetermined destiny is their being adopted as full-fledged sons of God through Jesus Christ, the Agent of the adoption.

This is in perfect agreement with what we said about predestination in Romans 8:29 & 30.  It describes what God will definitely do in the lives of those who are saved.

Besides that, who are the “us” in Ephesians 1:5?  The answer is in verse one, “the saints who are in Ephesus.”

The other occurrence of predestination is a few verses later in Ephesians.

Ephesians 1:11  In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

Again this seems to be describing God’s purpose of conforming believers into the image of His Son.

What does, “whom He foreknew” mean?  What is God’s foreknowledge?  Hang on a little while longer, please.

Romans 8:30  Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

We’ve just seen that “whom He predestined” refers to God’s certain, continual work in the lives of believers.  If you are a believer it is because you were “called.”  When you responded to that call, you were “justified.”  One day you will be “glorified.”

I added the ‘one day you will be’ to the idea of being “glorified.”  Why?  Because that is our earthly perspective.  We think in a linear manner, bound by time and space.

I’ll use myself as an example.  I heard the Gospel in 1979 as a ‘call’ to salvation.  I responded and was immediately “justified.”  I was saved; I was born-again.  It began the process of sanctification which will, in my future, result in my being “glorified” when I am resurrected or raptured.

Notice, however, the verse does not say “these He will glorify.”  No, it declares God has already accomplished this.

How is that possible?  It’s not only possible, it is true because God is not restricted by time.

God’s “foreknowledge” is, from our perspective, a knowledge of what will happen in the future.  But from God’s perspective there is no future!  He knows all things at once simultaneously.  He sees my entire life all at once.

From all eternity God saw me getting saved.  He knew in advance whether I would receive or reject Jesus Christ.  He knew my choice before I made it.   And he sees me as already “glorified” even though I am still, from my perspective, in the process of sanctification.

Does that mean that my choice to receive Jesus Christ in 1979 was determined ahead of time?  Does that mean I had no free will in the matter?

Not at all!  God’s foreknowledge does not cause me to receive or to reject Jesus Christ.  He has not by foreknowledge already chosen for me.  He is sovereign and I am free to choose.

Dr. Norman Geisler, in his excellent book Chosen but Free, does a great job showing that God’s foreknowledge of my actions does not mean God causes them.  God can remain sovereign and ordain that my free choice is the means by which I receive or reject Jesus.

Remember I said I would not resolve this issue tonight.  I haven’t resolved it.  What I’ve done is given you a perspective on God’s foreknowledge and on your predestination that is biblical and that does not dogmatically lead you to awful conclusions about God.

That is the second time I’ve used the term “awful conclusions about God.”  What do I mean?

There are those who believe that the Bible teaches you are predestined to salvation.  R.C. Sproul articulates the Reformed view of predestination like this:

The Reformed view asserts that the ultimate decision for salvation rests with God and not with man.  It teaches that from all eternity God has chosen to intervene in the lives of some people and bring them to saving faith and has chosen not to do that for other people.  From all eternity, without any prior view of our human behavior, God has chosen some unto election and others unto reprobation.  The ultimate destiny of the individual is decided by God before that individual is even born and without depending ultimately upon the human choice.

The word that probably caught your attention was “some.”  God chose to save “some,” but not others and not all.  He could have chosen more or all but He didn’t.  In fact, He has chosen some to “reprobation,” which means they will be eternally suffering in Hell.

This is sometimes called ‘double predestination’ and while some who believe God predestines you to be saved say He does not predestine anyone to be lost, that’s not really an option in Reformed theology.  Sproul very honestly writes,

If there is such a thing as predestination at all, and if that predestination does not include all people, then we must not shrink from the necessary inference that there are two sides to predestination.

A lot of people believe predestination is to salvation and that it is double.  They have many intelligent sounding arguments to defend their position, claiming it to be the one, true ‘grace’ message of the Bible with regards to salvation.

Let’s put this in an illustration.  I came across this in a book called Whosoever Will, by David Allen and Steven Lemke.  (I highly recommend it!).  It takes a non-Reformed approach to this subject, as do I.

Here’s the illustration:

Imagine a fireman who goes into a burning orphanage to save some young children because they are unable to escape by themselves and can be saved only if he rescues them.  Only he can save them because he has an asbestos suit.  He comes back in a few minutes bringing out 3 of the 30 children, but rather than going back in to save more children, the fireman goes over to the news media and talks about how praiseworthy he is for saving the three children.

Indeed, saving the three children was a good, heroic deed.  But the pressing question on everyone’s mind is, What about the other 27 children? Since he has the means to rescue the children and, indeed, is the only one who can save the children since they cannot save themselves, do we view the fireman as morally praiseworthy?

I suggest that we would not.  In fact, probably he would be charged with depraved indifference.  He had the means to help them, but he would not.  If we do not find that praiseworthy in a human, why would we find it praiseworthy in God?

If the Bible clearly and unequivocally taught that God acts like this fireman with regard to the human race, then we would have to believe it.

Godly men, scholarly men, intelligent men, disagree with the Reformed view of predestination not because they haven’t studied or because they don’t know the original languages of the Bible or because they don’t like it, but because they don’t see it unequivocally taught in the Bible.

You can believe that God is a malicious fireman.  But why would you want to since there are scholarly, accurate alternatives that are biblical?

That is what I meant when I said “awful conclusions about God.”  I can believe the worst of Him, that He’s awful for predestinating people to Hell whom He could have chosen.  I can act like that is praiseworthy somehow since God was under no obligation to save anyone.

But why would I want to believe such a thing if I don’t have to?

I don’t have to.  So I don’t and I won’t.

One author summarized predestination and foreknowledge like this:

The goal of predestination is sanctification (“to be conformed to the image of His Son”).  The believers, those God foreknew from eternity, He predestined (predetermined) that these would grow in sanctification.  And verse thirty tells us that the end of the road is glorification. This passage states that the path of the believer is predestined.  But where does it ever tell us that [God] predestined some individuals to believe?  Rather, context states that those He foreknew (who would love God, Romans 8:28) are predestined to sanctification (and glorification).  This verse says nothing about God predestining certain ones to believe… From this verse at least, it seems as if sanctification and glorification are predestined, not the faith of the individual.

I wish I could say, “Problem solved!  Debate over!”  That’s not gonna happen.

Hopefully I’ve given you enough from the Scripture to show that God is not a fireman who could have saved all but chose to only save some and then said it was to His glory.

No, His salvation is available to all, to “whosoever will believe.”  He is “the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe” (First Timothy 4:10).

He’s the fireman who died for every lost soul.

It’s All Good (Romans 8v28)

Joseph was the son of Rachel, born to Jacob in his old age, and was therefore the favorite.  In his youth Joseph had two remarkable dreams, resulting in the hatred of his brothers and the suspicion of his father.  His brothers plotted to kill him but ultimately sold him into slavery.  They deceived their father by dipping Joseph’s coat of many colors into the blood of a goat, assuring him that they had found it as the evidenced Joseph had been torn apart by a wild animal.

Joseph was sold to Potiphar, an officer of the Egyptian Pharaoh.  On a false sexual assault charge he was thrown into prison.  In prison he enjoyed the confidence of the warden, and interpreted the dreams of the butler and baker of Pharaoh.  He let the butler know that in three days he’d be exonerated and restored to his position.  The baker would not fair so well!  Within three days he would be beheaded and his body hung on a tree.
Some time later Pharaoh had two dreams that his wise men could not interpret.  The butler remembered Joseph and he was called into the presence of Pharaoh.

Pharaoh told Joseph his dreams.

In the first dream he stood by the river and saw seven well-favored and fat-fleshed cattle come up out of the river and feed in a meadow, and seven other cattle that were ill-favored and lean-fleshed followed and devoured them.
In the second dream he beheld seven ears of corn upon one stalk, rank and good, and they were followed by seven thin and blasted ears by which they were devoured

Joseph declared that the dreams were one and predicted that there would immediately follow seven years of plenty, succeeded by seven years of famine.
Pharaoh clothed Joseph in royal robes, made him ride in the second chariot, and required the people to prostrate themselves before him

Joseph began to make preparations for the famine. He gathered corn “as the sands of the sea” and stored it in the cities.
The famine began as Joseph had predicted and covered the entire land of Egypt.  The famine extended to Canaan.  Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy corn.  Joseph recognized them, but they did not know him.  He supplied their wants and they returned to their home.

After some real drama Joseph made himself known to them and sent for his father to come to Egypt.

The children of Israel were thus saved from extinction during the famine and they began to multiply and thrive in Egypt.

At a point during this amazing story Joseph had a revelation about God that still reverberates down through the ages.  Upon revealing himself to his brothers and reconciling with them he declared,

Genesis 50:20  But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Think, too, of Jacob’s perspective.  Joseph was gone; Reuben was disgraced; Judah was dishonored; Simeon and Levi had broken his heart; Dinah was defiled; Simeon was in prison in Egypt; Rachel was dead; famine threatened to kill them all anyway.  Then there came the demand from the person second in command to Pharaoh that young Benjamin be brought before him.
Listen to what Jacob said:

Genesis 42:36  And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.”

In fact, “all things” were not against him but were working together according to God’s plan.

The truth that Joseph and Jacob learned so fully, so remarkably, in his own life was not just for him.  It was a window into God’s dealings with all His children.  It would be restated in a verse we all are very familiar with, Romans 8:28, where we read,

Romans 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

You are a Joseph (or, I guess, a Josephine!).  We all are.  We can all declare Romans 8:28 for ourselves.  It’s a promise whose only condition is that you need to be saved in order to claim it.

One commentator called this verse “a soft pillow for a tired heart.”  Dr. J. Vernon McGee said, “if Romans is the greatest book of the Bible, and chapter eight is the high-water mark, then verse twenty-eight is the pinnacle.”

It’s hard to exaggerate the encouragement, reassurance and comfort you find in Romans 8:28.  All of us have many times ‘pillowed our hearts’ upon it.  It’s probably the verse we give others most often in their time of need.

We’re going to look at everything before the comma tonight.  The second part, “to those who are the called according to His purpose,” is explained in verses twenty-nine and thirty.  We will find in the explanation that God’s “purpose” is that we be “conformed to the image of His Son.”  He’s making us more like Jesus until, one day when we are face-to-face with Him, we who were foreknown by God, called, and justified, will be finally glorified.

In fact, we are “predestined to be conformed to the image” of Jesus.  Once you are saved, nothing can stop it.  God, Who began this transformation in you, will perform it until it’s finished in the day you see Christ in person.

There’s a lot going on between the time you are “justified” and the moment you are finally “glorified.”  In terms of our future in eternity, timewise it’s a drop in the bucket.  Or more like a drop in the ocean!

But it’s where we live right now and it’s important both to God and to us to have a philosophy (for lack of a better term) for approaching life.

There is none better than to stand on the promise that “all things work together for good to those who love God.”

The verse begins by reminding that “we know.”  It means we know intuitively.  We know it by intuition.

I think of ‘intuition’ as almost ‘superstition.’  But that’s not its meaning.  Intuition is the direct perception of truth independent of any reasoning process.  It is an immediate apprehension of truth.

You and I have the direct perception of the absolute truth that “all things work together for good.”  How is it directly perceive?  Well, for one thing we are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit.  His indwelling guarantees that what God has begun, He will complete.  His very presence in us proves God is working all things together for good.

Besides that, God he Holy Spirit is constantly testifying to our spirits that everything is really under control and will work out to the glory of God resulting in our good.

You have undoubtedly experienced at least some things working together for good, have you not?

The hard part is that “all things” are said to “work together for good.”  “All things” means each, every, any, all, the whole, all things, everything.

Even bad things?  Think Joseph and Jacob.

I can “know” intuitively that no matter where I am on God’s timeline in my life, it’s “all working together for good.”

The “working together” is all on God.  He’s doing it.  I think that is abundantly clear in the lives of Joseph and Jacob.  They had no idea there was anything “working together.”  Especially Jacob, whose actual assessment was that things were working against him.

So what does Paul mean when he says, “all things work together for good to those who love God”?  Does the quality of my love affect His working things out?

This loving on our part does not qualify in any way the extent of the promise.  It doesn’t nullify it.  It’s not a condition.  God isn’t looking at me saying, “Gene, you don’t love Me enough today, so I can’t really make all things work together for your good the way I’d like.”

“Those who love God” is a synonym for believers.  In First Corinthians 2:9 and Ephesians 6:24 and Second Timothy 4:8 and James 2:5 those who “love” the Lord is, in fact, a synonym for those who have believed.

For example:

James 2:5  Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

It’s implied that “those who love Him” are all those James addresses as “beloved brethren.”  Christians – all of them – are “those who love God.”

Besides, since God is working “all things together,” that would include our poor responses to His work, would it not?  It would include a Jacob-like attitude that thinks God is really against me.

The only condition I can see in Romans 8:28 is that you are a believer.  God is doing His work.
Pam and I had a house built in the San Bernardino mountains.  (It sounds more grand than it was!).  Our builder turned out to be a slothful drunkard.  We were over a year getting in to the house after it was built . It wouldn’t pass final inspection!  I’d have to track him down at the Golden Elk – the local watering hole.

Our builder certainly was not working at all, let alone for our good!

God is not like that.  He is the wise Master Builder of lives.  If it seems He’s halted construction, then He’s working in a way that can’t be seen or understood at the moment.  But you can be certain He is at work.

The language guys say that “work together,” our word synergy, is ‘active voice present tense.’  It means God’s work is continual; it never ceases, He never halts.

I don’t do anything, per se, as a condition for God to be working.  But I’m not passive, either.  I can be more like Joseph, believing things are working out when there is little evidence of it.  Or I can be like Jacob, wallowing in an attitude that everything is against me.

Since we are those who “love God,” we may as well experience loving Him every single moment of every single day.  It’s to our benefit; it’s for our best life.

Think of your kids.  You can’t stop loving them, or raising them.  For their part, they can cooperate with you or they can make it hard on you, but you are committed to seeing it through and getting them grown and gone.

When they resist, disobey, and rebel, they still love you; their just not experiencing the relationship they could have.  They’d be better off realizing what you are doing is for their good.

Parents are imperfect.  God is perfect.  How much more can we, then, “love” God, enjoy the relationship, knowing intuitively that ‘it’s all good.’

Groan-Up And Act Your Age (Romans 8v23-27)

This is the time of year when you walk by inanimate objects and because of sensors that detect movement or sound they give off screams and moans and groans.  “This is Halloween!”

Year-round, life-long “groans” are described in these next few verses:

In verse twenty-three “we groan within ourselves.”
In verse twenty-six the Holy Spirit groans on our behalf.
In the previous verses we studied we learned that all of God’s creation groans.

Why are we and the Holy Spirit and creation groaning?  The reason given is that we are in our fallen, mortal bodies but anticipating our future, immortal bodies:

Previously we saw that creation groans as it waits for us to be “revealed,” meaning for us to be in our future, resurrected, glorified bodies.
In verse twenty-three you see a direct connection between the “groans within ourselves” and the “waiting for… the redemption of our body.”
In verse twenty-six the Holy Spirit groans in response to what Paul called our current physical “weaknesses.”

These verses have a lot to say about our physical bodies – our current ones and the ones to come.  Our bodies are falling apart!  Even if they are not, even if we are in great shape, we are not fit for Heaven.  Within even the best of us resides the flesh  and our propensity to sin.

We groan BUT we can anticipate new, glorified bodies that we will receive at the resurrection of the dead and rapture of the church.

Romans 8:23  Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

The “firstfruits” were the pledge of the fullness of the future harvest.  We have received the Holy Spirit to indwell us.  The body He indwells is, of course, mortal and temporary while He is immortal and eternal.  We have this heavenly treasure in an earthen vessel.  The having of Him is a profound guarantee of things to come.

Jesus Christ is elsewhere called the firstfruits in the sense that He was the first to be raised from the dead in a glorified physical body.  Just as He was raised from the dead, so will we, in glorified bodies.

Romans 8:23  …even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.

In our current condition, “we groan within ourselves.”  It is describing our deep internal desire to be free from the earth and home in Heaven.  It is not a license for us to complain or to go around being depressed and discouraged.  Quite the opposite!  We groan within ourselves knowing the glory that awaits us in the very near future.

We’re “eagerly waiting” for the resurrection.  Think of something you want to do that you are eager and therefore willing to wait for.  I’m thinking of the folks who camp out days or weeks ahead of time to get into a movie or concert.  They are excited and eager in their waiting, willing to suffer hardships for the event.

I think the longest I ever waited for an event was about four hours.  Even then, I grew extremely uncomfortable.  I definitely groaned!  But I hung in there eagerly awaiting the event.

We are “eagerly waiting” for “the adoption, the redemption of our body.”  Paul has previously told us we are fully adopted sons of God.  In what sense, then, are we “eagerly waiting” for it?

In the sense that we cannot enter in to the fullness of the experience of our adoption until “the redemption of our body.”
We really will be resurrected from the dead – unless we are fortunate enough to be alive when the Lord comes for the church.  Then we will be raptured without ever dying.

Romans 8:24  For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?

If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior then you are “saved.”  You are justified by faith in Him.  There is nothing more you need believe or do.

But that is not to say your salvation is complete.  Spiritually it is; physically it isn’t.  Thus we still “hope” for the completion of our salvation when our bodies will be transformed.
“Hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?”  By definition hope looks to the future.  It expects something in the future.  We’re expecting new bodies, a new earth, a new city, and an eternity filled with fellowship with Jesus.

Romans 8:25  But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

“If” means since.  Since I am hoping for the redemption of my body at the resurrection, I definitely “eagerly wait for it.”  I’m like those campers, waiting for the theater to open, expecting something amazing.

And because I’m such a happy camper I can wait “with perseverance.”  Albert Barnes made this insightful comment on verse twenty-five:

Where there is a strong desire for an object, and a corresponding expectation of obtaining it – which constitutes true hope – then we can wait for it with patience.

Where there is a strong desire without a corresponding expectation of obtaining it, there is impatience.

As the Christian has a strong desire of future glory, and as he has an expectation of obtaining it just in proportion to that desire, it follows that he may bear trials and persecutions patiently in the hope of his future deliverance.  Compared with our future glory, our present sufferings are light, and but for a moment (Second Corinthians 4:17).  In the hope of that blessed eternity which is before him, the Christian can endure the severest trial, and bear the intensest pain without a complaint.

God the Holy Spirit has something to say amidst all this groaning.

Romans 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

“Likewise” means similarly or in the same way.  “Weaknesses” could be specific times of trouble but is probably a reference to our human condition in general.  It refers to our overall condition of knowing Heaven is our home but being stuck for now on earth in these bodies that are not fit for eternity.

How does the Holy Spirit help me as I am groaning waiting for the redemption of my body?  He groans right along with me!

His groanings are not from exhaustion or disappointment or anything like that.  They seem to be a type of interpretation by which the indwelling Holy Spirit translates my groaning into something intelligible to God the Father.

“We do not know what we should pray for as we ought.”  It should come as no shock that we don’t know what we should pray for.  We don’t know the future.

Will that job I’m praying for be a blessing or a bummer?
Will the healing I’m praying for draw me closer to God or cause me to fall away from Him once I have no more suffering?

So the Holy Spirit, Who dwells within us, “makes intercession for us.”  He does it with “groanings which cannot be uttered.”

This is not speaking in tongues.  I know that because it is clearly stated these groanings “cannot be uttered.”  If they cannot be uttered, then they cannot be an utterance in tongues, now can they?

This is not me speaking at all; it is the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit takes my groanings and makes them His groanings and then brings them before the Father.  He interprets and translates them.

One author called this a kind of inter-trinitarian language – something understood only within the Godhead by Father, Son and Spirit.

All of us, even the most eloquent, struggle to express ourselves.  Words elude us.

I love to read J.R.R. Tolkien’s, The Lord of the Rings.  Sometimes I will encounter a sentence whose words and structure almost take my breath away.  Tolkien was a linguistics professor, an inventor of languages, a genius.  And yet even reading his stuff, as good as it is overall, it’s only every know and again something will totally grip you.

You’ve heard the expression, “a picture is worth a thousand words?”  What Romans eight is saying is that the Holy Spirit’s groanings are worthy of the deepest expression of our mind, heart, feelings, dreams, etc., etc.  They transcend words.

Everything that we can put into a groaning can be understood and translated perfectly by the Holy Spirit.  Then His groanings on our behalf are expressed to the Father.

The Holy Spirit does something else to them.  According to verse twenty-seven He edits them according to the will of God.

Romans 8:27  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Only God can “[search] the hearts of men and women.”  I think what is meant is that our Father searches our hearts to know what the mind of the indwelling Holy Spirit is.

Here is what is happening.  In our current physical condition we sometimes are reduced to groaning.  We don’t really know what to pray for since we don’t know God’s will.  The indwelling Holy Spirit does know the Father’s will in the matter!  So He edits our groanings to the Father in a way that fully represents our hearts but in submission to the Father’s will for us.

The Holy Spirit prays perfect prayers on our behalf!

We have two divine intercessors:

Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father in Heaven interceding on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25; First John 2:1).
The Holy Spirit is also interceding.  The Holy Spirit intercedes with groanings which cannot be uttered that ascend to the throne of grace.

Let’s get practical.  How does this help us?  Something Charles Spurgeon wrote is enlightening.

I think, dear friends, you will all admit that if a man can pray, his trouble is at once lightened.  When we feel that we have power with God and can obtain anything we ask for at His hands, then our difficulties cease to oppress us.  We take our burden to our heavenly Father and tell it out in the accents of childlike confidence, and we come away quite content to bear whatever His holy will may lay upon us.

If I am understanding these verses correctly, the Holy Spirit translates my groanings, then edits them in a way that guarantees God will answer according to His will for my life.

In other words, I can pray and, in this truly great spiritual sense, obtain everything I ask for!

If properly understood, then, the Holy Spirit’s intercession ought to leave me with childlike confidence in my Abba to manage my life as I await the redemption of my body.

I close with another gem from Spurgeon:

O ye people of God, let this last thought abide with you – what condescension is this that Divine Person should dwell in you for ever, and that He should be with you to help your prayers… I bow with reverent amazement, my heart sinking into the dust with adoration, when I reflect that God the Holy [Spirit] helps us when we cannot speak, but only groan. Yea, and when we cannot even utter our groanings, He doth not only help us but He claims as His own particular creation the “groanings that cannot be uttered.

Wait For It! (Romans 8v18-22)

Probably my favorite scene in the movie, Jaws, takes place below deck in the Orca.  Quint, Chief Brodie, and Hooper are discussing their various wounds and scars.

Quint asks Hooper to feel a permanent bump on his head he acquired in a fight with a cop on St. Patrick’s Day in Boston.

Hooper tells him he’s got that beat and reveals the bite scar from a moray eel.

Not to be outdone, Quint describes why his arm will no longer fully extend.  He was injured in an arm wrestling contest at “an Oke bar” in San Francisco.

Hooper and Quint then swap shark bite scars.  Meanwhile Chief Brodie sheepishly looks at his appendicitis scar.

Hooper thinks he’s won when he dramatically points to his chest and reveals that Mary Ellen Moffit broke his heart!

Then it gets really heavy.  Chief Brodie asks Quint about a scar on his arm.  It’s from a tattoo removal.  Quint describes how he survived the sinking of the USS Indianapolis – the WWII ship that delivered the bomb, “the Hiroshima bomb” – and how the sharks attacked the men in the water awaiting a rescue that no one expected would come.

The apostle Paul would win any scar-contest among believers over who suffered the most for the sake of the Gospel!
Whenever the apostle Paul discusses sufferings I think it’s a good idea to refresh our minds with the trials he endured.  In Second Corinthians 11:23-28 he wrote,

2 Corinthians 11:23  Are they ministers of Christ? – I speak as a fool – I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often.
2 Corinthians 11:24  From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
2 Corinthians 11:25  Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep;
2 Corinthians 11:26  in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
2 Corinthians 11:27  in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness –
2 Corinthians 11:28  besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches.

Paul wrote those words in 56AD.  He would live another ten years before being martyred by beheading.  He wrote those words before being almost beaten to death in the Court of the Gentiles; before the shipwreck on the Island of Malta; and before being bitten by a poisonous snake whose venom was always fatal.

Keep these things in mind as we explore the next several verses!

Romans 8:18  For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

We need to understand that “sufferings” are the dominant feature of “this present time” in which we are living.  He’ll explain why in verse twenty.

This doesn’t mean we will all suffer the same way.  Indeed, some people seem to cruise through life.

It’s talking more about the characteristic of the world in which we live.  Look around and you won’t have to go far to see terrible sufferings.

We should “consider,” or judge, our individual sufferings as not even “worthy” of comparison to “the glory that shall be revealed in you.”

In other words, rather than getting all worked up over our sufferings we should simply accept them as par for the course and keep serving the Lord.

How different is our attitude!  We make such a big deal over our sufferings, but even more over the sufferings of others.  We feel as though we are not very Christian if we tell others to endure, persevere, or tough it out.

Let’s use Paul as an example of a more biblical way to treat sufferings.  When on his way to Jerusalem Paul was repeatedly warned through prophecy that imprisonment and sufferings awaited him there.  The believers along the way begged and pleaded with him to not go there.

Their begging and pleading was a greater trial than what awaited him!  It was par for his course to go to Jerusalem, be imprisoned, and suffer.  He accepted it as part of his necessary service to the Lord.

With compassion we must adopt the attitude of Paul – even towards others.

When “shall glory be revealed in us”?  Certainly the Lord glorifies Himself through our suffering.  But this looks forward to the future, as we next read,

Romans 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

“Revealing” is from the same Greek root word that is used of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

We are the “sons of God” in this verse – all those who will one day be resurrected.

The final “revealing of the sons of God,” that moment in which all believers in Jesus Christ will have been resurrected and are in their glorified, eternal bodies – that’s what life is about!

God’s creation is said to have an “earnest expectation” with regards to our being revealed.  It means that God’s creation, what we might call the universe, is moving toward a definite purpose.  The universe isn’t a random result of some big bang.  No, it was created with purpose and is now on track for that purpose to be realized and fulfilled.

Creation “eagerly waits” for God’s sons to be revealed.  I used to “eagerly wait” for Christmas morning, to be able to open my gifts, to see them ‘revealed.’

Paul wasn’t getting weird or New Age-ish, but the idea here is that the very universe is looking forward to the consummation of God’s plan for us.

God’s “creation” was good until Adam and Eve sinned.  Then it began to feel the effects of their sin.  Now it awaits the unfolding of God’s plan of redemption.

I like to point out that the universe only exists as a place for God to meet with mankind.  It’s pretty elaborate; it’s rather extravagant.  It’s all there only to reveal God’s great love for us.

It’s good to be reminded that we live in a fallen world.  When people wonder why God allows so much suffering the answer is that man sinned.

I read of a newspaper that invited folks to write letters answering the question, “What’s wrong with the world?”

G.K. Chesterson sent a letter to the editor.  His answer to their question, What’s wrong with the world?”, was, “I am.”

The state of the universe is our fault.  How so?  Adam was representing us in the Garden of Eden when he willfully sinned.

Theologians call this representation by Adam the Federal View of the Fall.  This view teaches that Adam acted as a representative of the entire human race.  With the test that God set before Adam and Eve, he was testing the whole of mankind.

Adam’s name means man or mankind.  Adam was the first human being created.  He stands at the head of the human race.  He was placed in the garden to act not only for himself but for all of his future descendants.

When Adam sinned, the repercussions of the sin were felt throughout the whole of God’s creation.  We’ve already seen this previously in Romans.

In Romans 5, for example, Paul makes the following observations:
“Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin” (v12).
“By the one man’s offense many died” (v15).
“Through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation” (v18).
“By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners” (v19).

When Adam sinned, God came to him and laid-out for him the plan of redemption.  God preached the Gospel to Adam in the Garden, letting him know that He would come to redeem the human race.

God is still moving to correct what we have distorted.  One day creation will be renewed.

Romans 8:20  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope;

“Creation” was tied to our decision in the Garden of Eden.  When we fell into sin, sin affected all of creation.

God made it that way; He made it subject to our decision.  But He “subjected it in hope.”  Things won’t always be as they are.  The future is full of hope.

I’d say that the only hope, really, is the future redemption of creation once God is through dealing with the sin issue.

I think we ought to be good stewards of God’s creation and even more so in light of its fallen condition.  But ultimately only God can resolve the issues of nature and the environment.

And He will:

Romans 8:21  because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Jon Courson:

Creation is hurting. Julie Andrews notwithstanding, the hills may be alive with the sound of music – but they’re singing in a minor key. Why? Because all creation was cursed when man sinned in the Garden of Eden. Consequently, the more you study nature, along with its beauty, the more you see its cruelty. We enjoy the delicate flower, but shudder at the devastating flood. Earthquakes and tornadoes, thunder and avalanche are as much a part of nature as gentle streams and peaceful meadows. That is why nature groans and waits for the day when the King comes back and for the day when the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Once we receive new bodies we enjoy “the glorious liberty” God intended for our first parents and their offspring.  We will be free to love God and fellowship with Him forever.  We will be free to enjoy His created universe as children enjoy an amusement park.

Everything will be an E-ticket ride and there will be no lines!

Romans 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

You may have encountered the phrase, “the throes of death.”  Even though fallen, creation is not in the throes of death but rather “in labor with birth pangs to be delivered”!

The worst is yet to come.  You can read about it in the Revelation.  But just like the birth of a baby, once delivered the pain gives way to joy.

“Until now” means during the current age in which we live and until the Lord returns.

The underlying assumption of these verses is that both you and creation will suffer more-and-more until the coming of the Lord.

The horrible tragedies, both natural and those men inflict upon other men, are not God’s fault.  They are not even God’s judgment.  They are the inevitable result of sin entering God’s creation by our choice.

Yes, it was our choice – mine and yours.  Adam and Eve represented each of their offspring.  They chose for us and we reap what they sowed.

But Jesus chose for us, too.  He chose obedience and to die on the Cross in our place.  With His representation we have become new creatures and await the final redemption of our bodies and the creation of a new universe.

Wait for it!

All In The Roman Family (Romans 8v12-17)

While we in America continue to struggle with what legally and morally constitutes the family unit, Paul’s first century readers understood it very well.

The Roman familia, with it’s pater familias (head of the family), was deeply ingrained in their minds.

We’re going to see Paul appeal to the Roman family to make an incredible claim to Christians in God’s family.

Romans 8:12  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors – not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.

Paul said we are “debtors.”  There is something we owe; something we are obligated to pay.  But there is also a creditor that tries to collect when we have no obligation.

This wasn’t the first time Paul used the term “debtor.”  It might help us to understand who or what we ought to be in debt to.  In the first chapter of Romans he said,

Romans 1:14  I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise.
Romans 1:15  So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.
Romans 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

Paul thought of himself as having a debt to pay.  He was talking about his calling as an apostle.  This obligation arose from the favor that God had shown him in appointing him to this work.  He was specially chosen as a vessel to bear the gospel to the Gentiles and he would not feel that he had discharged the obligation until he had made the Gospel known as far as possible among all the nations of the earth.

There is also a debt we should not pay in verse twelve – “to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.”

As we press forward in the Christian life we are hindered by a disturbing creditor.  It is the flesh – that principle within us that tends toward satisfying natural lusts in sinful ways.  Like any creditor who hasn’t been paid the flesh seems to bother us and harass us all the time – at home, at work, in school.

We no longer owe anything to the flesh!  It no longer has a valid claim on us.  Why not?

Death cancels your obligations to creditors.  My death with Jesus Christ cancelled any obligations I have to satisfy my flesh.

When you are tempted by the flesh to give in to its demands you can tell yourself you are under no obligation and ignore its demands.  You’re dead!

Romans 8:13  For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

In what sense will you die if you “live according to the flesh?”  Here are a couple of ways we can understand this:

Paul might be reminding us that before we were saved we had no choice but to live according to the flesh.  We were headed toward death.  We were going to die physically and then die a second death at the Great White Throne Judgment.  We would have been cast alive for eternity into the Lake of Fire.
Paul might be telling us that when we, as Christians, are debtors to the flesh what we bring forth through our lives kills rather than blesses.  It is dead works.

When the flesh ‘calls’ demanding to be paid, by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body.  You follow the influences and impulses of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  You refuse to do the deeds the flesh is demanding.

You can refuse because, as we saw last time, the Holy Spirit who is in you is powerful.  We think of the outcome of the struggle between the flesh and the Spirit as doubtful when in reality the flesh is no match for the Spirit.

Unless we decide to yield ourselves back as debtors!

“You will live,” Paul said.  He was talking about really living – living the way God intended for a man to live.

To describe the kind of living Paul meant he drew from an analogy his readers would understand perfectly but that we do not.  He compared believers to children who were adopted into the Roman familia.

Romans 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

Paul wasn’t suggesting you cease to be a “son of God” if you yield to the flesh rather than be “led by the Spirit of God.”  No, he was saying that since you have God the Holy Spirit in you, and can be led by Him, it is evidence you are “sons of God” in a very special sense.

He gives you that very special sense of sonship in the next verse.

Romans 8:15  For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

I found a very informative article on Roman adoption.  Let me give you the highlights.

[In Rome] the patria potestas was the father’s power over his family; that power was absolute; it was actually the power of absolute disposal and control, and in the early days it was actually the power of life and death.

In adoption a person had to pass from one patria potestas to another.  He had to pass out of the possession and control of one father into the equally absolute control and possession of another.

There were two steps.  The first was known as mancipatio, and it was carried out by a symbolic sale, in which copper and scales were symbolically used.  Three times the symbolism of sale was carried out.  Twice the father symbolically sold his son, and twice he bought him back; and the third time he did not buy him back and thus the patria potestas was held to be broken.

After the sale there followed a ceremony called vindicatio.  The adopting father went to the praetor, one of the Roman magistrates, and presented a legal case for the transference of the person to be adopted into his patria potestas.  When all this was completed the adoption was complete.

There were four main consequences [of adoption].

The adopted person lost all rights to his old family, and gained all the rights of a fully legitimate son in his new family.  In the most literal sense, and in the most legally binding way, he got a new father.
It followed that he became heir to his new father’s estate.  Even if other sons were afterwards born, who were real blood relations, it did not affect his rights. He was inalienably co-heir with them.
… The old life of the adopted person was completely wiped out.  For instance, legally all debts were cancelled; they were wiped out as though they had never been.  The adopted person was regarded as a new person entering into a new life with which the past had nothing to do.
In the eyes of the law the adopted person was literally and absolutely the son of the new father.

This is what Paul had in mind.  Once we were in the absolute possession and power of sin and death but God adopted us as we were.  He has brought us into an entirely new way of living.  Our old way of life, indeed our old life, has no claim upon us anymore.  Debts are cancelled and instead we inherit all things pertaining to our Father.

The word “bondage” (in verse 15) is suggested by the analogy of the Roman household.  Those in bondage were the household slaves.  Paul contrasted the adopted son with the household slaves.  “You did not receive the spirit of bondage” means you are not a fearful slave in God’s household of faith.

So much of what passes for biblical Christianity is really some sort of fear and slavery.  I’d apply this to the Emergent Church.  The Emergent Church is the current movement within Christianity to join a multitude of faiths and denominations in a new ‘reformation’ that challenges the authority of scripture, the traditional structure and doctrines of the Church, discounts prophecy, and encourages a socio-economic agenda above salvation through believing on Jesus Christ.

Part of what is going on in the Emergent Church movement is a return to ritual and ceremony.  But that is not how children discover and enjoy their dads!

It’s not an advance to return to rituals and ceremonies; it’s a retreat into a relationship of bondage and fear.

Yours is a full, and fully privileged, relationship.  You cry “Abba, Father.”

“Abba” is an endearing expression of intimacy.
“Father” is an expression of full adoption.

Even before the recent popularity of the Emergent Church movement there has been a movement towards greater formalism in the church.  I reject it all as a denial of my adopted sonship.

Romans 8:16  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

The presence of God the Holy Spirit in us “bears witness with” our regenerated “spirit” that all these things are true.

Since all this is true, then why is it we sometimes misunderstand or even refuse to be led by the Spirit?  One answer is that we are still on the earth, in the household of faith, and are not yet home with the Lord.  Verse seventeen addresses the tension between what we are and where we are.

Romans 8:17  and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

An adopted child was a full heir of the future inheritance.  Since God is our Father, we are “heirs of God” and are going to inherit Heaven and all that goes along with it for all eternity!

All this was made possible, of course, by Jesus Christ when He came to earth as God in human flesh.  Jesus in His humanity still looks forward to receiving the full inheritance promised Him for His sacrifice on the Cross.

In the Revelation we read,

Revelation 11:15  Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!”

It is in the future that the Lord will receive the kingdoms of this world.  In fact, the Revelation tells the story of how Jesus receives His full inheritance at His Second Coming and (finally) at the creation of the new heaven and the new earth.

In order to claim the “kingdoms of this world” as His own, Jesus suffered as a man.

We can expect no less.  We suffer now, in God’s household of faith on the earth, but will be glorified in the future.

It is the suffering, the distress, the tragedy, the difficulty, that interferes with our receiving the internal witness of the Holy Spirit.

Or I should say, it is what we allow to interfere, thinking that suffering is somehow a strange thing for the believer.

It is not.  It is our portion now and we should understand it.

For example.  When Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, He called Him “another comforter.”
Let me ask you this.  When do you need a “comforter?”  It’s when you are uncomfortable!

The very designation of the Holy Spirit indicates we will be uncomfortable in this life as we journey homeward.

Nevertheless, we are the adopted sons and daughters of God, heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ.