Join us as we explore biblical insights that transcend cultural and religious barriers, highlighting the inclusive nature of divine salvation. Discover how the message of God’s love encompasses not only the chosen but extends to all nations, as foretold by the prophets. We also reflect on the historical and spiritual significance of Israel in God’s redemptive plan, emphasizing the ongoing fulfillment of divine promises and their relevance in contemporary faith practice. This episode encourages us to embrace a faith journey characterized by openness, compassion, and constant wrestling with God’s challenging yet transformative love.
So this verse you see that we’ve been looking at in Romans chapter 9, verse 23, says the very opposite of what most people think it says. Let’s read it again. I don’t want to belabor the point, but I’m just reviewing now until we move on. What if God, wanting to show his wrath— and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy. And so, God wanting to show his wrath, which means, again, the desire to hand people over to what they, the idols they choose as alternatives to him so that they can, he can show them how empty their life is and how empty those idols are. Well, he wants to do that, but he restrains himself. Long-suffering is the term here. Why? Because he wants to show them something else first, and that is that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy. That’s you and me. When God brings us to faith, we begin to realize what rich mercy he has shown us. I mean, when I think of my old life now, and I mean my aging life, I don’t mean my pre-conversion life, my age, I’m 85. When I think of that and go back in my mind to the time when he led me to Jesus Christ at the age of 15… I am so thankful, so thankful. Even though there were many and have been many sins in my life and defeats and failures and addictions, nevertheless, I have been saved from them. And I would be dead today. I can assure you I would have been dead on the streets of New York. I believe that in the 70s. Incredible mercy shown to me. Now, that mercy that people see in me, perhaps has an effect upon them, you see. They might say, well, I want mercy like that. And they see me still believing at the age of 85, even when I started believing at the age of 15, and they say, amazing, that guy still believes after all these years of trial and tribulation and disappointments and defeats. Yes. Yes, because belief is a gift from God. It does not come from our willpower. And when they see that, they say, boy, I’d like to have that enduring faith. I want to keep believing like that right to the end of my days. Yes, you do. This is what God is doing, you see. So this verse has the very opposite meaning from what people think. You remember it says here that they are prepared for destruction. Well, who prepared them? Not God. God has elected everyone for salvation, and God has set his heart upon the world to redeem them. What God is doing in salvation is saving us from ourselves. We think, before we’re converted, that God’s going to damn us all. The fact is, we are damning ourselves, and God is saving us all from our own self-damation. That’s what’s really going on. And so, Paul says that God would like to, and in fact will, in future, bring the world under his wrath. Remember, wrath is loving wrath. Wrath is motivated by love. That wrath is to hand people over to the powers they choose as alternatives to God so that they can see how empty and fraught with meaninglessness is their lives. He does that in order to bring them to the place where they come to an end of themselves and seek for mercy. But what he would rather do, and this is what he does in these verses, is to show his mercy upon whom? Upon those others over there that we look to and we say, What makes those Christians tick? Why are they so joyful or peaceful or calm or not angry like we are? And we see these things in Christians, and though they are very imperfect, Christians are, nevertheless, there’s something special about them, and we want to be like that. You remember the son of Hamas who became a Christian. He was in jail in a Jewish prison with lots of other Hamas followers and warriors. And he heard—I think I’ve got this story right—he heard a Christian say, God loves his enemies. And that is what converted the man, because he had never heard in Islam that statement that God loves his enemies. Well, he hates his enemies. He’s going to destroy his enemies. No, God loves his enemies. Through Jesus Christ, he’s going to save them too. And so you and I as Christians need to be aware we’re not pious. We’re not self-righteous people. We mustn’t be self-righteous people. We simply lean heavily upon God’s love and mercy because we know we need it so much. We’re willing to testify of him, to speak of his mercy to us, his grace to help us in daily needs. We are willing to speak of how we can talk to him in prayer because he is a very approachable heavenly father. We’re willing to say all these things. We’re willing to be compassionate to those in need because that glorifies God and that makes these vessels of wrath great. jealous. Remember that, because I pointed out yesterday in Romans 11, verse 11, that people get jealous of those who are blessed by God, and that is part of God’s plan, because he wants to bring them to him by any means possible, and one of those means is envy and jealousy. Can you imagine it? Well, so Paul says in verse 23 that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory. You see, those who do not believe are preparing themselves for destruction, though God is going to save them from it. But God has prepared everyone for glory, but has to reveal it at different times and in different ways to different people. But now Paul says, even us, that is we, vessels of mercy, whom he called not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. Now you see, here is Paul building his case for the salvation of all, because God is calling not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles. Now, that statement doesn’t give us, in this 21st century, much surprise, does it? We’re used to Gentiles, that is, non-Jews. The word Gentiles means others, nations rather. We’re used to hearing that they become Christians. But I want you to realize what a shock that idea is to Jewish people in Paul’s day, because they thought that the Messiah was simply coming to save them. They hadn’t much comprehension of the promises that God made. You remember Deuteronomy says, Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people. How strange and interesting. Why would Gentiles rejoice with his people? Because his people are going to bring the Messiah, who is to be a redeemer of the Gentiles as well as the Jews. And God says through Isaiah that it’s not enough that this servant of mine shall raise up the people of Jacob all over again. I want to send him to the far isles, to the ends of the earth, that my salvation may be known. You see then that the Messiah is not only for the land of Israel. I will wipe out the sins of the land in one day, it says in Zechariah 3, verses 9 and 10, referring to the Jewish land of Israel. He’ll wipe out the sins of that land in one day. How? By the crucifixion of Christ. But that message in the New Testament, in the gospel era, becomes the world. For John the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. not just the land of Israel, all the world. So, Paul then says, let’s read verse 24 again, even us, that is referring to us, vessels of mercy, whom he called, not of the Jews, 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, that there they shall be called sons of the living God. Look, I want you to get a clear picture of Israel. If you are one of these evangelical people who say or think, without even thinking, that Israel has been rejected and the spiritual Israel of the Christians has taken over in place of Israel, well, change your mind. It is not true. If I had time, if this program were an hour long and we could study for an hour each day, I could show you very, very clearly from Scripture that the Christian church has not taken over from Israel. This is most clear in the book of Ezekiel. If you read from, let’s say, chapter 30 or so, well, maybe 28, Ezekiel 28 to 35 or 6, you will see that though God punishes Israel, He is going to have mercy on the whole house of Israel. That’s chapter 16 of Ezekiel. And he’s going to raise the whole house of Israel from the dead. That’s Ezekiel 37. Now, get this plan in your mind. God set up Israel and removed the nations from the world that were in that place where he settled Israel because he wanted to set up his name, Jehovah, the creator, redeemer, the one and only God in the earth. Now, granted that Israel failed miserably, but God did not fail, and he’s continuing his plan. Now, though Christians have taken over the mission, they have not replaced Israel. And God will fulfill his promise, as he says in Romans chapter 11, concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, because they have not believed, you see, but concerning the election they are beloved. They’re elected still. And they are beloved for the sake of the fathers, and God will fulfill his promise to them. Now, this is so important because God wants to demonstrate his name through Israel. Now, you know what the word Israel means, don’t you? It means you have fought with God and won. You have wrestled with God, you have struggled with God and won. The whole of Israel was called by that name, even though the experience of struggling with God initially was Jacob’s, you remember, in the book of Genesis. But everyone needs to learn that a confrontation with God involves a struggle. Even as Christians, before we become Christians, before we know Jesus Christ, there is a struggle, isn’t there, as to whether God loves us or not, or whether God has mercy for us, or whether he will save us, or whether we’re too sinful to be saved. And God has to break through that fear of ours and the guilt, and so he thrusts us into a wrestle with him. It is not we who wrestle with God, according to the book of Genesis. It is God who wrestles with us so that we may never give up on him. And that experience of Israel is to be the experience of the whole world. And though Israel has not yet seen Christ, We have seen Israel struggle, and they’re still there. Thank you for joining me today, everyone. Colin Cook here. Please consider a donation. It’s listener-supported radio. You can make your donation online at faithquestradio.com. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
