10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children had one and the same father, 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.”
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
The example of Isaac in regards to election was a good one. But this one is even better. Even though Isaac was a child of the promise, not even all of Isaac's children were!
God specifically chose Jacob, not Esau, to be a child of the promise. He did not choose the firstborn as we naturally would have - which shows, once again, that God doesn't have to choose what we would choose. As God, He has that prerogative.
Not all natural children are children of the promise. It wasn't that way with Abraham's sons and it wasn't that way with Isaac's sons. And that's why it shouldn't be a surprise to the Jews that not all the Jews believe.
MacArthur makes a great point....
[Esau] was the one who was first born. He was not chosen of God. And his life confirmed that, didn't it? You see, when God chooses that's only part of it. God rejected Esau as the line of promise. And Esau also rejected God. And you can be sure that God only rejects those who reject Him and only chooses those who choose Him, that's the divine mystery. The other one was Jacob, he was the younger. And verse 12 says that the text said the elder shall serve the younger, you can read it in Genesis 25, God said that. The elder is going to serve the younger. He bought the birthright from Esau. He received the blessing. Oh, he received it by deception, didn't he? He pretended to be Esau. His mother put him up to it. Stupid. What would Rebecca do that for? She knew God said the elder will serve the younger. She knew God said Jacob is the one I choose, why do you do that? Why don't you trust God if He says it's going to be that way that He'll make it happen without being a deceiver? Isn't it sad the way people take things into their own hands? His mother put him up to it in spite of the Word of the Lord. All they had to do was wait and God would have worked it out that he receive the blessing, but they tried to deceive and get it on their own. And consequently poor Jacob had a life of pain and sorrow and trouble.
Jacob did seek God. He's the one who wrestled with an angel and out of that wrestling God changed his name from Jacob to what? To Israel. And he did seek God. He had a heart for God. But he suffered because of his sin. He was chastened by the Lord. He was hated by his brother. His life was full of pain and sorrow. But he did seek God and there was a righteousness in him. And he was God's chosen child. So the point that Paul is making is the same point only he's using a different illustration. When it came to Jacob and Esau, God made a choice, too. So it shouldn't be surprising to us that all of the Jews don't believe, why all of Abraham's sons weren't chosen as children of promise nor all of Isaac's either....
When it says the elder shall serve the younger, I don't think it's talking simply about Jacob and Esau. I think it's talking about what's going to come out of their loins, the nations. Out of the loins of Jacob came the nation what? Israel. Out of Esau came...do you know who came out of Esau? ...we know of no account in the life of Jacob and Esau where Esau actually served Jacob. We don't know of any incident. But it's two nations that are in view. Esau never personally served Jacob. But Edom was the nation that came from Esau and Edom was put in servitude under Israel.....Israel, coming from the loins of Jacob, was the chosen nation. Edom, from the loins of Esau, the object of wrath. And what it's saying again is God is selective. Two sons born of Isaac, and Isaac was the child of promise, but even again God chose...God chose. This was God's choice.
Here's what MacArthur says about v13 - I really appreciated his insight into this shocking verse - 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
I do not believe that this is a primary reference to the individual Jacob and the individual Esau, I don't think that's the point. Because that's never said in the Old Testament. That is never uttered in the book of Genesis. God never says when those young men are born "I hate Esau." He never says it during the life of Jacob and He never says it during the life of Esau. There's no such statement made. In fact, it is probably nearly a thousand years later when the prophet says "Esau have I hated." And the Esau of His hatred is the idolatrous pagan kingdom of Edom that's come from the loins of Esau. And the Jacob He loves is the Israel, the Israel of God, His people, His nation...the people of blessing.....
He hates evil and He hates idolatry and He hates paganism and so He hates Esau.....
So the Lord's selective and out of the birth of twins Esau chose against God, God chose against Esau. Jacob chose even in spite of his sin for God, God chose Jacob. Both were born of Abraham, both were born of Isaac, both were not children of promise. And out of their loins came two nations, one the people of promise, one the people of eternal indignation, judgment and wrath.
God chose between Jacob and Esau before they were ever born. God chose them before they ever did any good or any evil. That's right. It's election, folks. God chose...God chose. You say, "That's a hard thing for me to understand." Of course it is, but does it help you to see that when they lived their life the one that God had chosen demonstrated that he too chose God? And the one that God had rejected demonstrated that he too rejected God? Does that bring some balance? It does for me. But the point here is this, that before either one of them were born God chose and He did it before they were born in order that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not through their works but of Him that calls. What's the point? The point is this, if God chose you because of what you did, then who gets the glory? You do. But the purpose of God is to glorify Himself...mark that down...that the purpose of God...what is that?...to glorify Himself. And the way that He glorifies Himself is to be the sovereign who chooses, not because of what you do but because of His own sovereign calling. The purpose of God is to exalt His sovereign purpose. And so He chooses before we've done anything good or bad, before they were born He chose, before they had done anything good or evil He chose...that the choice might redound to His glory.
Every person chosen to salvation whether in Israel or in the church is chosen by God before the person is born. The Bible says your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the world. And you will in life confirm that choice by believing. That's a mystery...that's a mystery...
we are so used to man‑centered theology that if it doesn't start with us, we can't understand it. We're introduced to the fact that God chooses between Jacob and Esau before they were born and we think that's unfair. Why? Because we are so proud, we are so self‑centered, we are so man‑centered even in our theology that if it doesn't start with our choice we can't handle it. And we want to start with us and try to work our way back to God and hope He makes sense from our view. God does the choosing.
God is sovereign. That means quite simply that God is God. He is in control of everything. He does exactly what He wants to do, regardless of our opinion on it. He is free to do whatever He wants according to His own good pleasure. And everything God chooses to do is right, is true, is just, is good.
God chooses. And we think it's unfair.
V14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust?
It is human character to question God's fairness. We somehow think we know better than God. That sounds incredibly audacious (and it is!) when we put it that way, but that's really what we're saying when we say something He does is unfair, or that we can't believe a certain doctrine (election!) because it seems unfair to us.
Paul answers the question - no, no, no, no, no way, no how!
But that's not enough for us. So he simply takes two proofs, two quotes of Scripture. First he quotes Moses from Exodus 33:19 and then Exodus 9:16.
MacArthur points out...
We would expect him to wax eloquent with some philosophical apologetics. We would expect him to go into some deep profound reasoning. He doesn't do it. He ignores the human mind. Why? It's the human mind that got us into the problem to begin with. It's our inability to expand our mind to comprehend God's elective right that made us ask the question, and our human mind isn't going to get the answer for us. So he bypasses all of that and goes immediately to the revelation of God
15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
The context for those verses? Israel had just been punished for worshiping the golden calf and Moses was discouraged. He needed his faith strengthened and he asks God if He will be gracious to him, and asks to see His glory.
if I'm going to get in to Your service, Lord, I want to be sure You're going to be gracious to me cause I'm a sinner, too, and I just soon not get killed. He really wants to know that God will be gracious to him. He is personally concerned because he's seen God's wrath just annihilate 3,000 people. And in response to that, in Exodus 33:17 God says to him, "You have found grace in My sight...I'm going to be gracious to you."
Well, Moses says I appreciate that...but could You prove it? Could You...could You show me that? I mean, could You...cause I don't want to live my whole life in fear. Could You just show me that You're going to be gracious? Could I see Your glory?
And in Exodus 33:19 this is what God says, "I will make all My goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."
That is a formal declaration of the divine prerogative. He says I'll show you My grace, I'll show you My mercy and remember, I reserve the right to be gracious to whom I will be gracious and to be merciful to whom I will be merciful. In other words, God says I'll show you My sovereign grace, I'll show you My sovereign mercy which I dispense as I will. It is My right as God to judge 3,000 and My right as God to choose to be gracious to you. That's divine prerogative.
And since all of us are sinners and all of us deserve judgment, none of us can claim a right to grace and none of us can claim a right to mercy, then none of us is wronged if mercy and grace are withheld, right? And so it is not unrighteous. God is God, all men deserve judgment. Exodus 33 God says, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." And remember that God chooses to be merciful in Himself, not because of something worthy in the sinner. He chooses because of something in Himself.
Now we don't want to split hairs, Paul sort of uses his own terms in referring to Exodus 33:19, he uses the term "mercy" and "compassion." We don't want to split hairs too much on that but I think it would be best to see that in these terms. Mercy is the action, and compassion is the feeling behind the action. When God desires to be compassionate, He acts in mercy. So the Lord then is not unrighteous in electing because the Scripture says He has a right to do that, and that's Paul's answer....
Mercy doesn't come because men desire it. Mercy doesn't come because men work for it. It comes because God predetermines to give it....
God chose Isaac but by faith Isaac. God chose Jacob but by faith Jacob. I want you to keep this in mind that while God is doing the choosing and the choosing is predetermined by His elective sovereign majesty, it is nonetheless confirmed by what? Faith. And that always has to be there. The other side of it, tragic side of it is that the Bible says Esau couldn't receive the blessing, the promise, even though he sought it with tears.
So the salvation of any man is not due to his own good desire. It's not due to his own diligent seeking, but solely the pleasure of God...the pleasure of God.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
God brought Pharaoh to the forefront of history in order that He would be glorified. God controls history and God purposefully put Pharaoh in that position.
It was because Pharaoh oppressed the people of God, it was because Pharaoh wouldn't let them go that God brought the miracles and the plagues, right? It was because of Pharaoh that the Exodus occurred, that the Red Sea parted, that the whole Egyptian army was drowned. In other words, God really put Himself on display because this man stood in the way. He was used by God for God's own display of His glory.
And, as a result - God's name was glorified like no other time in history. Moses penned Exodus 15, the Hallelujah Chorus of the Old Testament. The Passover was celebrated. God's reputation spread throughout the earth. God hardened Pharaoh's heart to put His glory on display.
But notice this too....
it says that ten times in those chapters in Exodus...ten times, God hardened his heart, God hardened his heart, God hardened his heart. By the way, it also says several times, less times but several, "Pharaoh hardened his heart." It is not that God alone does it but that man confirms that by his own act and therein lies the irreconcilable tension between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. It's like Judas. Judas was appointed before he was ever born to betray the Lord Jesus Christ, yet bore the guilt for it himself. And so as Moses emphasizes mercy in the sovereignty of God, Pharaoh emphasizes hardening.
The passage is saying that God will give mercy to whom He will and He will harden whom He will. He is sovereign God. That's a strong statement...strong statement. But what Paul is trying to say is, "Look, don't you come to God with any of this it's not fair, God, it's unrighteous, it's not right that You should choose some to be saved. The answer is it is right because God is a righteous God." And the only answer you'll ever get out of Paul is that the Bible says that God said, "I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy, and I'll harden whom I will." And if God says it, that's the end of the discussion, right? And if we try to use our little pea brains to figure it out, we'll blow our fuses long before we get there and we'll wind up accusing God of injustice which is madness and blasphemy.
Like I said yesterday, we need to align our truth with God's truth because He is truth - yesterday, today and forever.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Romans 9:19-21
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