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-73-
The God Who Is
Someone will ask, "But, why did He hate Esau when the Scriptures say, `The children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil?' Why did He hate him? `Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid'" (verse 14). Perish the thought! Do not talk like that! "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 showeth mercy.
"For the scripture saith unto Pharoah, `Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.' Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth" (verses 15-18). Note that it is a sure sign that the judgment of God is upon a person when he is not concerned that he may be under God's judgment. "Thou wilt say then unto me, `Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?' Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" Who is man that he thinks to judge God? The apostle Paul continues, "Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, `Why hast thou made me thus?' Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?" (Romans 9:19-21). Cannot God make one man honorable, and another man dishonorable? Does He not have that right? And, is God unjust because He makes a person dishonorable?
"What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?" (Verses 22-24).
What then is the basis by which God elected Jacob but did not elect Esau? What is the basis by which He loves some and hates others? What is the basis by which He reveals to some and hides from others? It is the will of God. "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will" (Ephesians 1:5). The standard by which some men are predestinated unto salvation is not their will, but rather is the good pleasure of His will. The will of God governs predestination.
In Ephesians chapter 1, in verse 11, we read, "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." They insult God who deny that He has the right to be Sovereign over all His creation.
Reprobation
Although God chose some men and angels to eternal life, He ordained others to condemnation. "The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil" (Proverbs 16:4). Jude warned the early church saying, "There are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 4).
Note again, I Thessalonians chapter 5, in verse 9: "God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." Note that although God has not appointed his people to wrath, yet others are left to suffer His wrath. If God has made the wicked "for the day of evil," then the wicked are wicked by God's ordination, and are appointed unto wrath. "Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy" (Isaiah 54:16).
Consider Acts chapter 13, beginning in verse 44: "And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
"Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, `It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.' And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (verses 44- 48).
Note, "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed." First, only those people ordained to eternal life believed. Second, others who were made "for the day of evil" did not believe; nor did they care. And third, from these words, "As many as were ordained to eternal life believed," it is evident there is a particular number of believers. The redeemed are a certain number. Heaven will not have standing room only, and neither will there be any empty places at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Heaven is a prepared place for a people who have been prepared.
The apostle Paul wrote in Romans chapter 8, beginning in verse 28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow," or set His affections upon, "he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified" (verses 28-30).
Jeremiah testified, "The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, `Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee'" (31:3). The foreknowledge of God is not simply a knowledge beforehand. Instead it is an intimate knowledge such as implied in Genesis chapter 4, in verse 1: "And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived ..."
The foreknowledge of God concerns the everlasting love that God has set upon His people. These are the people He has come to save, i.e. to deliver, from their sins (Matthew 1:21). He is not going to attempt to save them, but as the angel told Joseph, "Thou shalt call his name `Jesus' for he shall save his people from their sins."