Welcome to Day 2 of Week 1 of my newest blogging series, working through Part 2 of the Not Ashamed of the Gospel Bible Study from HelloMornings.
Today's passage of Scripture is Romans 9: 6 - 13...
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
The opening sentence of today's devotional says this: "Sometimes, God does things in ways we don't expect." As this is literally the story of my life, I wrote in the margin of my study guide: "Ha!"
But seriously, that's the theme of today's verses. The Jewish Believers were feeling like they should be superior to the Gentile Christians, and they were wondering how the Gentiles got into the church in the first place, because salvation and sonship were promised to the Jews - in their minds, anyway (see yesterday's post for more on this).
Paul astutely uses examples from the Jews' own holy texts, the Torah, to prove that God wasn't doing a new thing by using and choosing the unexpected to fulfill His purposes, but actually it's something He specializes in!
Paul's first example was Isaac and Ishmail - the Scriptures don't tell us about anything innately good in Isaac or innately wicked in Ishmail, so one would expect the oldest son, Ishmail, to continue the lineage of Abraham's family. And yet, contrary to expectation, God prefers Isaac for the role of heir.
In the same way, one would have expected Esau, the first born twin, to become Isaac's heir, but God rejects him, through no fault of his own, before he is born, and selects Jacob to continue the family lineage.
This is good news for anyone who feels inferior or unqualified to be a Christian, or to do anything important for God's Kingdom - God doesn't follow man's rules or man's ways! God selects, and promotes, and blesses who He sees fit, and He always looks at a person's heart for faith and love, not for good deeds and worldly status.
Photo credit: Wham3622