But it is not as though the Word of God has failed.
Paul is mourning the failure of most of the Jews who were not recognizing Jesus as their Messiah (see blog entries for November 7 and 8, 2019).
For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;
nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but:
Through Isaac your descendants will be named (Genesis 21: 12).Not all of Abraham's children were chosen to carry the Promise God gave to him to posses the Land and produce the Savior. Abraham had Ishmael by his slave girl, and after Sarah died he married Keturah, who gave him six more sons. But Abraham "gave all that he had to Isaac" (Genesis 25: 5).
That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the Promise are regarded as descendants.
Not even all the genetic children were counted as his physical descendants, so also those who would be his spiritual children to be children of God would be further identified.
For this is the Word of Promise:
At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son (Genesis 18: 10).God supernaturally gave Sarah a son from Abraham, when it was physically impossible for them to have a child. So Isaac was a product of God's Promise.
God is the One who planned out how He would have this whole story unfold.
And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;
So now this miracle child is going to have twins, two children; so God will choose which one will be "the one" to officially carry His Promise.
for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls,
it was said to her,
The older will serve the younger (Genesis 25: 23).Not only will the older, Esau, serve instead of lead, his younger brother, Jacob, who will become Israel, but these two brothers will become two different Nations of people, one who will serve the Lord, and the other who will serve other, false gods.
Just as it is written,
Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated (Malachi 1:2-3).By Malachi's time, it was seen how these two Nations have lived, and these two twins, in their personal lives and in their descendants, showed their allegiances, to God and to idols, through time.
What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!
For He says to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion (Exodus 33: 19).God is sovereign and He will fulfill all of His Plan, just the way He wants to. He is God, we are not. And He is a good God, who always does right. He is our standard for wrong and right.
So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh,
For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My Name might be proclaimed throughout the whole Earth (Exodus 9: 16).God saw how the Egyptians were mistreating His covenant people, and when they cried out to Him, He answered (Exodus 3: 7-9; 6: 5). So He already knew how He would do this. He would use Pharaoh, because He knew Pharaoh wouldn't want to cooperate, anyway. God will never violate our will. So He used this king to show His power and authority over all of his gods, and destroyed his little kingdom with all the plagues and the Red Sea (Exodus chapters 5-14).
God knew He would harden Pharaoh's heart, but He let him harden his own heart 6 times before God hardened it. Then he hardened his own heart again a 7th time.
So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
God is God. He gave us the power of choice, and He will not violate our choices. In His foreknowledge, He already knows who wants to come to Him and who is set in their rebellion.
But He does not depend on us, He makes His own decisions, and He decided even before He created, that He would choose the human race to be His children. So He is not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance, and let His Son Jesus be the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice to save them.
O my Father, I thank You, and I praise You for being our good God, our compassionate Father, and our Source of everything.
You have Loved us so much that You gave Your only Son to die to be our Savior, our Messiah, and our Redeemer. You raised Him from the dead with spiritual Resurrection Life to live forevermore.
You have put all of creation into His hand to be Lord over all, and You have done everything possible and impossible to make us fit to live with You where You are, and to rule on Christ's throne with Him, as He rules on Your throne with You.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus of Nazareth is Lord God Almighty, King of the Universe, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
