Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Apostle Tom <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 13:43:36 -0500
To: <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Subject: Morning Manna (Mar. 10); BP: Rom. 9:6-29; RBTTY: Mk. 12:1-27; Dt.
March 10 “God’s Purpose and Ways”
“So, then, it is not of him that wills nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.”
Romans 9:16
In our pain and perplexity—where no “light of understanding” is forthcoming—we must continually say, “God is good. . .all-loving. . .and will work all things together for my good and His glory.”
Without a doubt, there’s no single passage of Scripture in God’s Word that’s more difficult for us to understand than the one in which today’s Manna is found (Rom. 9:6-29). If we had not the benefit of the whole of His Word to help develop a systematic understanding, we would constantly be like those who heard Jonathan Edwards’ sermon that day on “Sinners in the Hands Of An Angry God.”
Even a casual reading of vv.6-29 leaves us trembling, especially when we read Paul’s quote of the prophet Malachi—“Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” (v.13; Mal. 1:2-3)—and God’s words to Moses where He said, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and compassion on whom I will have compassion” (v.15; Ex. 33:19). . . UNLESS we read it in light of God’s entire Word.
In the case of Jacob and Esau, Paul prefaced his remarks in our Manna with the words “But when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac—for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calls—it was said unto her, ‘The elder shall serve the younger’” (vv.10-12; cf. Gen. 25:23).
Even then, we can’t grasp this until we understand the word “hated” in God’s words about Esau come from the Greek word “miseo” and also basically means “to love less (by comparison).” This is the same word Jesus used in Lk. 14:26 where He said, “If any man comes to me and hates not his father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters—and, yea, his own life also—he cannot be My disciple.”
In both cases, does that mean to “despise or treat one as a mortal enemy”?
No, not at all; it simply denotes differing degrees of love that almost seem like love and hate in comparison. Thus, God’s words to Rebecca didn’t mean He hated Esau and was going to ruin his life. A thousand times no! He simply knew Esau’s character was such that he’d trade his birthright—that which should have been supremely important to him as the firstborn—for a simple meal of bread and beans (Gen. 25:34). And, how could such a weak-willed, shortsighted individual possibly be entrusted with preserving and propagating God’s promise to Abraham when the heat was on?
He couldn’t.
So, the Lord God, in His mercy, didn’t allow Esau to be placed in that situation; neither would He have allowed Job to be tempted and tried by satan if he’d succumbed to his wife’s call to “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9; cf. 1:8-12; 2:1-6). He knew Job wouldn’t do it (v.10), even as He knows what we will and won’t do in response to Him even while we’re still in our mother’s womb (Ps. 139:14-18).
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