Daily Scripture Reading Romans 9:14-33
We humans like to think we are powerful and important. When we look around planet earth, we are the most intelligent and creative creatures. No animals are able to create the buildings, artwork, and machines which are built by humanity. We can manipulate trees, plants, and minerals to do phenomenal things.
In today’s passage we will learn that we should have the opposite opinion of ourselves. We are mere pawns in the hands of the Creator.
At the end of the passage we read yesterday, Paul recited some Old Testament history. Abraham had multiple children, but God determined that his descendants would be named through Isaac, even though Isaac was not the firstborn. Before Jacob and Esau were born, God declared to Rebekah that the older would serve the younger, even though at that point neither one had done anything good or bad to earn that future.
Rom. 9:14 ¶ What shall we say then? Is there any unrighteousness with God? May it never be!
The natural human reaction to God determining a person’s future before the person has done anything good or bad is to accuse God of being unfair and unrighteous. However, that is not the case.
Rom. 9:15 For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.”
This is a quote from Exodus 33:19. Yahweh said this when Moses was on Mount Sinai and asked Yahweh to show him His glory. Yahweh had the power and authority to do anything He wanted; however, Yahweh was not going to show His face because no human can live after seeing His face.
Rom. 9:16 So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy.
We humans like to think we have control, but Yahweh created us. He can create us any way He desires. The amount of skill and intelligence possessed by any person is the result of God’s sovereign choice.
Rom. 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, IN ORDER TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND IN ORDER THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.”
This is a quote from Exodus 9:16. Pharaoh was the ruler of Egypt. Many Egyptians considered Pharaoh to be a god. Pharaoh was resisting the demand to release the Israelites from slavery, so Yahweh told Moses to tell Pharaoh that the only reason Pharaoh was still in power was so that Yahweh could demonstrate His superior power.
Rom. 9:18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
Rom. 9:19 ¶ You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
Rom. 9:20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? WILL THE THING MOLDED SAY TO THE MOLDER, “WHY DID YOU MAKE ME LIKE THIS”?
Notice the words “molded” and “molder”. An inanimate object does not talk back to the intelligent being which molded it. Likewise, humans should not talk back to God.
We humans like to think we are something. When we look around planet earth, we are the most intelligent and creative creatures. No animals are able to create the buildings, artwork, and machines which are built by humanity. We can manipulate trees, plants, and minerals to do phenomenal things.
However, just as all the animals which are harnessed by humans cannot resist humanity, and just as all the lifeless materials which are reshaped by humans cannot talk back to those who reshape them, so too humans have no right to talk back to the Creator of the universe, the One who created us and gave us each and every bit of knowledge, intelligence, and skill which we possess.
The lesson is humans are nothing compared to God. We are just as helpless compared to God as a piece of cloth is helpless in the hands of a human.
Rom. 9:21 Or does not the potter have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
Rom. 9:22 And what if God, wanting to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath having been prepared for destruction,
Rom. 9:23 and in order that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory—
Rom. 9:24 even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles?
We humans cage animals, build buildings, and create machines to serve us, and proclaim our power and prestige on earth. Likewise, Yahweh creates humans and determines their destiny in order to serve Him and proclaim His glory.
Rom. 9:25 As He says also in Hosea,
“I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ‘MY PEOPLE,’
AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, ‘BELOVED.’”
This is from Hosea 2:23. At some point in the future God will exercise His sovereign right to give grace to a people of His choosing.
Rom. 9:26 “AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’
THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.”
This is from Hosea 1:10 and is another example of God foretelling His sovereign decision.
Rom. 9:27 ¶ And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED;
Rom. 9:28 FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE LAND, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.”
Verses 27-28 are from Isaiah 10:22-23. Isaiah said only a remnant would be saved. In the opening verses of chapter 9 Paul had mourned the fact that many Jews were not saved even though the Israelites had the covenants and temple.
Rom. 9:29 And just as Isaiah foretold,
“UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A SEED,
WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.”
This is a quote from Isaiah 1:10 in which Isaiah recognized that the only reason the sinful Israelites survived was because Yahweh preserved them.
Rom. 9:30 ¶ What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, laid hold of righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith;
Rom. 9:31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not attain that law.
Rom. 9:32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
Rom. 9:33 just as it is written,
“BEHOLD, I AM LAYING IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE,
AND THE ONE WHO BELIEVES UPON HIM WILL NOT BE PUT TO SHAME.”
We humans have a high opinion of ourselves. However, just as all the animals which are harnessed by humans cannot resist humanity, and just as all the lifeless materials which are reshaped by humans cannot talk back to those who reshape them, so too humans have no right to talk back to the Creator of the universe. He created us and gave us each and every bit of knowledge, intelligence, and skill which we possess. He has the right to do to us or with us anything He chooses.
How does today’s passage change your opinion of humanity?
How does it change your opinion of your place in the universe?
Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. If you have already joined my email list, thank you and please tell others about Bible Mountain. If you have not joined my email list yet, please do so now. In order to join, go to Bible Mountain dotcom, click on subscribe, and that will take you to a page where you can sign up. Your email address will not be sold nor given away. Once again, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain.
“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”