Romans 9:10-13, “God’s Purpose Will Prevail.”
11.08.15 ~ Romans 9:10-13, "God's Purpose Will Prevail.”
Last week we looked at several sections of verses in Genesis, and from them we learned the following:
Abraham was 75 years old when God called to him and told him to go, although, God did not specify where it was he would be going. Abraham obeyed God, leaving his homeland to go where God would lead him. God promised to make make Abraham into a great nation, from which all the people of the earth would be blessed.
When Abraham was 85 years old, God told him his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens, even though Abraham did not yet have a son. About this same time, Sarah, who had not conceived any children for Abraham, gave her maidservant to Abraham, and he slept with her and she conceived and gave him a son, who Abraham named Ishmael [God hears].
When Abraham was 99 years old, God told him Sarah would give him a son next year, he was to be named Isaac [he laughs, Abraham and Sarah laughed when God told them they would conceive in their old age [Abraham 100, Sarah 90].
God’s promise to bless all people through Abraham, would come through Isaac, as an everlasting covenant.
God promised (Genesis 3:15) to send through the seed of a woman, the Savior, who would be called “Immanuel [God with us]” (Isaiah 7:14), and given the name Jesus [God’s Salvation] (Matthew 1:22-23).
God’s promised Holy One would come through the blood ancestry of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and King David; He would be born in Bethlehem, yet He existed long before this (Micah 5:2), for “He is Christ the Lord,” (Luke 2:11), and (Isaiah 9:6) Almighty God, Eternal Father, Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace.
From the very first couple (Adam & Eve), God purposed to eventually raise up a Savior of the World; through a specific lineage (Matthew 1:1-16; Luke 3:23-38), from Adam’s son Seth, up through Noah’s son Shem, Abraham’s son Isaac, Isaac’s son Jacob, and his son Judah, on and on through David’s sons Solomon and Nathan, right up to the fathers of both Mary (the birth mother of Jesus) and Joseph (the legal father of Jesus).
This is just amazing! God worked through generation after generation to bring about His plan, purpose and provision of salvation through His very own Son.
At last Wednesday night’s Bible Study, we looked up many passages of Scripture where God’s character was clearly and repeatedly revealed and proclaimed, and what we found is that our God is loving, kind, compassionate, generous, nurturing, and protective; and that He removes the penalty for our sins from us, by taking upon Himself (through Christ the Lord) our punishment.
By God’s grace we do not get what we deserve (eternal suffering in hell, separated from God); but instead, He lavishes on us incomprehensible rewards and riches that we do not deserve (eternal life in heaven with God, where there is no more crying, or mourning, or pain, or death).
God has sovereignly determined all of this, and His plans cannot be destroyed or deterred, for God’s purposes will prevail just as God has determined. God is complete, perfect, eternal and perpetual, as the “omni” attributes of God express:
God is omnipresent [all here]. A.W. Tozer writes, “God is always here, close to everything, next to everyone; God is unlimited with respect to space.”
God is omniscient [all knowledge], Tozer describes it this way, “God knows every possible item of knowledge concerning everything that exists or could have existed anywhere in the universe at any time in the past or that may exist in the centuries or ages yet unborn.”
God is omnipotent [all power]. Tozer says, “God can do anything He pleases and is never exhausted. His power is unlimited in regard to both its extent and its magnitude. Nothing is too hard for Him. Furthermore, anything can be done as easily as anything else, and all acts are done effortlessly.”
Read Romans 9:7-9... Notice (v. 7) it is through Abraham’s son Isaac that God’s Promised One would come; and (v. 9) God says He is sovereign in bringing forth the child to be born to Sarah and Abraham, for Isaac will receive the blessing, not Ishmael.
Paul says, remember how Sarah was barren, and yet, in her old age God blessed her womb and she gave birth to Isaac, through whom the nation of Israel would come; but more importantly, a son of Israel, who would also be God’s One and Only Son, our Savior and Lord.
Are you beginning to see the significance of all this? You really need to read Genesis 24-35, in order to begin to understand the depth of this sovereign working of God through specific individuals, from the time of Abraham until 2000 years later, when God’s Promised One, Jesus, the Christ, would be born to Mary, fulfilling what had been said to Satan in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring [seed] and her offspring [seed]; He [her seed, Christ] will crush your head, and you [Satan] will strike His heel.”
Read Romans 9:10-13... Look again at verse 10, “Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac,” (Paul says, “our” father Isaac, clearly referencing the sovereign work of God in setting apart Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in this great plan of God’s to bring forgiveness and eternal life through His own Son, the Incarnate Christ; and this would happen through the blood line of sinful men and women selected before hand by God, for this special purpose, raised up at just the right time to do what God required of them).
Note: Abraham’s son Isaac didn’t get married until he was 40 years old; he and Rebekah were childless for 20 years, and at the age of 60, Isaac is given twin boys - Jacob and Esau - through Rebekah.
Look again (vv. 11-12, “Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election [lit., God’s purpose according to His choice] might stand: not by works but by Him who calls--she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’”
Even though Esau was born first, God had purposed to continue the line of Promise through Jacob, for Jacob would become the father of twelve sons, who would be the heads of the twelve tribes, through which would come the Nation of Israel; and in fact, it was through Jacob’s son Judah, that the human ancestry and blood line would continue to the very birth of Jesus Christ.
Now, again look at verse 13... Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” This is quoted from Malachi 1:2-3, which was written 1500 years after Jacob and Esau had long ceased to exist. Malachi was looking back over history, being mindful of what had come of Jacob and Esau, and the nations that had been established through them.
Clearly, Jacob’s descendants received God’s provision and protection, while to Esau’s descendants came God’s curse and condemnation.
Jacob's name means "deceitful" or "heel-catcher" [lit., One Who Takes the Heel]. We know that Jacob's name was later changed to "Israel" (Genesis 32:28), meaning, "he struggles with God" or "God's fighter." Jacob's descendants are the son's of Israel to whom the Land of Canaan (Palestine) was given, by God.
Esau means "Hairy." He became the father of the Edomites (Genesis 25:23) and they were a people “always under the wrath of the LORD” (Malachi 1:2-4).
From the time of David there continued a smoldering hatred between the Jews and the Edomites; until after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D, at which time, the Edomites disappeared from history, bringing an end to the descendants of Esau.
Why would God say, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” This is perplexing, especially knowing what we do about our loving, kind, and compassionate God. I believe, when God says (v. 13), “Jacob I loved,” He is talking about the
divinely selected descendants of Jacob (Israel, Matthew 1; Luke 3) through whom the Redeemer and Savior of the world would come, but also all those who would believe in and receive Him.
God loved Israel, He was intimate and proactive with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and on to Mary, for through them would come the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Lord and Savior of the World.
I believe, when God says (v. 13), “Esau I hated,” He is talking about the following:
1. Esau despised his own birthright (Genesis 25:21-34).
2. Esau’s descendants (Edom) were idolators who cursed Israel; they were not
recipients of God’s love because they rejected God (Obadiah 1:10), “Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever.”
Edom, more than any other nation mentioned in the OT, was the object of God’s wrath and a recipient of God’s hate.
Israel, out of all the peoples on the earth, was the object of God’s love; in fact, it was through their human blood line ancestry, that Jesus Christ would come, so that God’s purpose would be fulfilled through God’s Son.
But no human ancestry or birthright can save anyone, for it depends solely
upon the sovereign will and sacrificial work of God.
John 1:11-13, “He came to that which was his own, but His own did not receive Him. Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.”
John 3:5-7, Jesus [said], "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.’”
1Peter 1:3-5, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”
Those who repent of their sin, believe in and follow Jesus, are God’s true children and recipients of God’s love now and forever, through Christ.
Galatians 3:29, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
But it is the Church, the Bride and Body of Christ, the sons and daughters of God through Christ, Christians, who receive the love of God, now and forever.
1John 5:11-13, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
1Peter 2:9, “[For] you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”
God’s purpose in all of this is to receive glory and honor and praise, and to be worshipped forever by all those who are willing to receive the love of God through Christ the Lord Savior: crucified, resurrected, and coming again, to take us to be with Him forever in heaven.
God’s Blessings, Pastor Mike