You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” 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?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor--Romans 9:19-21
The question here is if God is sovereign than how can we resist His will. If we do resist, what right does He have to judge. Who are we to question God. Does not God have power over us to form one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? God is holy, just and righteous. He cannot perform an unjust act or have an unjust purpose. Again though, looking through the human perspective it seems to us sometimes that He does. He had mercy on Moses but condemned Pharaoh. He elected Israel and rejected other nations. Is this just?
First, who are we to question God. Like clay in the hands of the potter we are the work of His hands. We are different from clay, however in that we have emotions, intelligence and free will. We can resist Him if we choose. God, however, chooses our parents, where and in what time frame we are born, our genetics...etc. The fact that He is sovereign does not excuse us from responsibility. As was said in the previous post, Pharaoh had the same opportunities as Moses but chose to harden his heart against the things of God.
Divine sovereignty does not rule out personal responsibility. I really cannot grasp the concept, but I see it all around me. People choosing to look to the things of God and people choosing to turn away from them. I also see it through the eyes of what I know about God's love for us. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. I read about the opportunities that Judas was given as well as the thief on the cross. I read about Peter's struggle and restoration. Through it all I see God reaching down in love...always always for our good and with our best in mind. I see Jesus' mercy, love and compassion in each and every interaction He had with the people around Him. Read the gospel accounts...see what He wept over. He wept over the city of Jerusalem. Why because they did not recognize their Messiah. He told the women on Calvary Road not to weep for Him but to weep for themselves because they did not understand what lay ahead for the city. Jesus wept for us...for our unbelief. Jesus is for us not against us...the One who created me...loves me and has my best interests at heart. I can trust Him to be my Potter and mold me however He desires. He loved me enough to die for me....I can trust Him with my life.
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, 23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, 24 even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?--Romans 9:22-24
Love (God) suffers long and is kind. 2nd Peter 3:9 says that God is not slack concerning His promises. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." Pharaoh had opportunities to be saved as did Judas as do all of us. Warren Wiersbe says the word prepared or fitted for destruction in verse 22 does not suggest that God made Pharaoh a vessel of destruction. "The verb is in what the Greek grammarians call the middle voice, making it a reflexive action verb. So, it should read: “fitted himself for destruction.” God prepares men for glory (Rom_9:23), but sinners prepare themselves for judgment. In Moses and Israel God revealed the riches of His mercy; in Pharaoh and Egypt He revealed His power and wrath. Since neither deserved any mercy, God cannot be charged with injustice." Let's look last at Romans 9:25-29.
As He says also in Hosea:
“ I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
26 “ And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘ You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:
“ Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness,
Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.”
29 And as Isaiah said before:
“ Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
We would have become like Sodom,
And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”[
I love Warren Wiersbe's commentary on these verses and I will end with it. As I contemplate this I am amazed at the awesomeness of our God...indescribable...
"First Paul quoted Hos 2:23, a statement declaring that God would turn from the Jews and call the Gentiles. Then he cited Hos 1:10 to prove that this new people being called would be God’s people and “children of the living God.” He then quoted Isa 10:22-23 to show that only a remnant of Israel would be saved, while the greater part of the nation would suffer judgment. Rom 9:28 probably refers to God’s work of judgment during the Tribulation, when the nation of Israel will be persecuted and judged, and only a small remnant left to enter into the kingdom when Jesus Christ returns to earth. But the application for today is clear: only a remnant of Jews is believing; and they, together with the Gentiles, are the “called of God” (Rom_9:24). The final quotation from Isa 1:9 emphasized the grace of God in sparing the believing remnant.
Now, what does all of this prove? That God was not unjust in saving some and judging others, because He was only fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies given centuries ago. He would be unjust if He did not keep His own Word. But even more than that, these prophecies show that God’s election has made possible the salvation of the Gentiles. This is the grace of God. At the Exodus, God rejected the Gentiles and chose the Jews, so that, through the Jews, He might save the Gentiles. The nation of Israel rejected His will, but this did not defeat His purposes. A remnant of Jews does believe and God’s Word has been fulfilled."
SEE HOW OUR GOD WORKS...EXCEEDINGLY ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE COULD ASK OR THINK!
Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
Isaiah 55:9 “ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.
Israel’s rejection had not canceled God’s election; it had only proved that He was true to His character and His purposes.
Love
Mom
