Behold our God, seated on the throne, come let us adore him.
”As You meet with me now be reminded that it is not just a verbal concept that I am seated on the throne, but a symbol of the reality that dispels what may appear in the physical world. I am ruling over the whole universe, over this world, over all the nations and of course over you personally and all those who read this blog. So it is appropriate to bow down and adore me, just as I am continually showing my love for you all. Remember the greatest sign of my love is Jesus on the cross, having given him to you all, how much more will I give you all things.”
We continue today with this rather enigmatic, but most important thread of teaching as Paul addresses the problem of unifying the Jews and Gentiles in one church. We saw last time that he starts with affirming God’s right to make souvereign choices in His creation. But is that fair?
Read Romans 9:14 – 29. So the immediate answer is for Paul to point out that God’s souvereignty is always applied with mercy. Basically the thought is that everyone deserves God’s wrath because of our rebellion against Him. Yet He chooses to show mercy on some. The emphasis then in this teaching is on God’s mercy.
Paul then goes on to draw from Isaiah the concept that God is the Potter and it is His right to make whatever He wants from the clay.
He then states that God has every right to show His wrath against everyone, whom he describes as everyone prepared for destruction. That, far from being unfair or unjust, His actions actually should highlight the riches of His glory, against the background of what we deserve, His mercy in choosing some actually shows His glory.
He then goes on to cite a number of references from the Old Testament to show that, from the beginning, God was only going to save a “remnant”. If He had not actively intervened, everyone would have fallen under judgement like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Now friends, just as Paul does not seek to explain this difficult teaching, we should not attempt to “defend” God, as it were in any discussion we may have. On the contrary, we should embrace it as an affirmation of God’s commitment to each one of us. In Ephesians 1:4 Paul makes a simple statement for he chose us in Him before the creation of the world…Taking all this teaching together in one simple sentence as an affirmation that in Jesus we have received every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.
I trust that as you digest this, what has often in the past been considered controversial teaching, that it will rather strengthen your faith as we think back of the end of ch 8 and the affirmation that nothing can separate us fro God’s love.
May He bless you all till next week.