Based on Romans 9:6-29 (New King James Version)
“But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.’ And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, ‘The older shall serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea: ‘I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.’ ‘And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ there they shall be called sons of the living God.’ Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.’ And as Isaiah said before: ‘Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.’”
One of the most important principles that we should understand for our own good is God’s sovereignty. God is supremely sovereign. There is nothing or no one higher, nor more powerful than God. And therefore, nothing or no one can command Him, and far less, judge Him. It is impossible. Unlike our temporary and insignificant world, there is no such thing as democracy in the universe. God was not elected. God is not ruled neither by a people, nor by a senate, nor by a parliament, nor anything like that. God has always been, is, and will always be forever and ever, amen. He is the I AM. And this is the principal theme of this passage, as is practically all His Word in its fulness. It’s all about Him because He is the Supreme of all the universe. It’s simply an irrefutable and unavoidable fact. Everything starts with Him and ends with Him.
Now then, does this passage favor such a thing as predestination, and that everything is predetermined for every human being? If it is taken on its own, of course, but God did not compose His Word so that it can be defined by a few verses. God inspired through the Holy Spirit another 65 books, and much more information (per se) within this same book of Romans. Therefore, for something to be taken as truth, it needs to be compared to the rest of the Word, but not with the goal to find a contradiction, but rather, with having an open feeling through the Holy Spirit to be able to understand the entire issue. A few verses should never be taken to create a whole doctrine out of them because that is where precisely the error starts, and God is not the One that creates contradiction; but rather man. This goes hand in hand with God’s sovereignty. It is not God that needs to accommodate to man, but rather, man needs to accommodate to God, therefore, man needs to put forth the effort to see God’s Truth in its fulness through the Scriptures. We need to always, always, always, bear in mind “Who” things are about. And so, if a person wants to have an encounter with God and come to understand His Truth, it is necessary to have the correct disposition.
Apart from God’s sovereignty, what is the other important issue that is being exposed? That there are certain people that God may have potentially predisposed for wrath? No. What the Word exposes here is God’s mercy, and how God dispenses His grace. And finally, that everything is personal. As we established, God owes no one anything. But, despite that, He under His own will chooses to have mercy, and here we see His great goodness. It is very probable that both the people that received this epistle to start, and all of the time after that up to us that are reading it today, are enjoying God’s mercy, because through this and through so many other things, He is giving us the opportunity to be exposed to His Truth and to be able to understand it. And that is what should matter to you and to me. Whether there may have been others predisposed or predestined for perdition or not, that is their affair. The only thing that should matter to you and me is that God is looking upon us with mercy at this very instant.
Your salvation depends on your personal decision. This same example we see in the Word: “Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’ Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.’” John 21:20-22. “Then one said to Him, ‘Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And He said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from.’” Luke 13:23-25. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Matthew 7:21. So, what matters is what you do with the opportunity He is giving you. Your way is not predetermined. He is giving you a choice, and He says for you to strive to enter, and to do the Father’s will. The Word says this: “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:7-8. Your decision and determination are what will dictate your eternal future. When each of us stand individually before God’s throne, other people will not matter to us. I can assure you of that. Therefore, be wise and worry about yourself, and make sure that you are justified before God, but not based on your own opinion, or by what you prefer to believe, but rather, by what God truly says in all of His Word. God is sovereign and He is not going to judge you based on your opinion. So then, are you truly doing the will of the Father? Lord bless! John