Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Bible Truth #302 - Romans 9:19-24

Romans 9:19-24
19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
22  What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23  And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24  Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

I’ve written about verses 19-21 before (Bible Truth #74) but I wanted to include them for context. I now want to continue the thought into verses 22-24.

God is willing to demonstrate His wrath and make His power known but He is exhibiting much patience by tolerating the daily activities of those He hates - the “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction. Where do I get that? Please read verse 22 again. The combination of those words produces a simple thought. It only gets complex when those who believe in decisional salvation perform eisegesis (read into) the verse to make it fit their ill-conceived, man-centered idea of free will. Add to that fact the truth that God hates those whom He did not choose (Bible Truth #66) and you should easily understand that He has prepared, appointed, destined, determined these people for the Lake of Fire.

Why? Why would He do that? Why would He not even give these people a chance?

Easy. God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). But you don’t have to speculate or keep guessing as to why - read verse 23. He tells us very clearly why. He did it to make known to us, His Elect, the riches of His glory. And He prepared us for glory before the foundation of the World!

He called a people for Himself; not only Jews, but He also called people from among the non-Jews, i.e. Gentiles. All of those who believe, and those who will believe, were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). Those chosen were given to Christ and Jesus said in John 6:37 that all those the Father has given to Him WILL come to Him. There is no way that won’t happen. How will it happen? The Father drags (Strong’s G1670) them to Christ and those the Father draws, Jesus will raise up - every single one (John 6:44). Doesn’t that tell you that God does NOT draw every man to Christ?

And to those who try to say that God drags because man resists I say God drags not because man is resisting, but because he is dead. A spiritually dead man is not able to resist his spiritual rebirth any more than Lazarus was able to resist his physical resurrection.

Now a phrase that many overlook when reading this passage. Read v23 again and this time pay closer attention to “which He had afore prepared unto glory.” Paul is referring to God’s Elect and is confirming the idea that our salvation was determined, appointed, ordained of God long before we were ever born. We were prepared by God (we were clay, remember?) as vessels of honor. God will not take a vessel of honor and use it for dishonor, nor will He take a vessel He prepared for dishonor, and use it for honor. The point is, He has prepared beforehand every vessel for one or the other, honor or dishonor.

Bottom Line - God is holding back His wrath, enduring the stench from those He has destined to the Lake of Fire simply to show His Elect the riches of His glory, which He prepared for glory beforehand!

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