Lesson 2826

(Lesson 2826)(09-19-19) Romans 9:1-16
    “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this; 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 calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.”

    In today’s quote, Paul relates that the Jews were NOT the chosen in the sense that they would, by their birthright, be the only inheritors of eternal life. But rather, Paul related that the Jews would only provide the lineage through which our blessed Lord Jesus would come to this earth to give His life as a perfect sacrifice for all sin.
    It is my belief that the Jews, as Paul related in the latter part of today’s quote, were, in all their experiences before the coming of Christ, used as guinea pigs to establish once and for all that mankind CANNOT live above sin and therefore needed a sinless redeemer to be sacrificed on their behalf and to fulfill the laws of God.
    There is another important lesson in today’s quote that should be of interest, especially to those who blame God for what happens to those who are, in our eyes, innocent yet suffer horribly.
    Our very existence depends on the mind of God. He is at liberty to do with any of us whatsoever He chooses at any time. We are in no position to judge any decision God might make, no matter how wrong that decision might appear to us. Mankind has NO authority, neither tacit nor explicit, over what God chooses to put us through EXCEPT that which He has promised, which are; eternal salvation to those of us who believe, and rewards for our behavior here on earth. To God be the glory for all things always.~