Romans 9:19-33.
Romans 9.19-33
God's Anger and Mercy
Someone may ask, "How can God blame us, if he makes us behave in the
way he wants us to?" But, my friend, I ask, "Who do you think you are
to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he
shaped it the way he did? Doesn't a potter have the right to make a
fancy bowl and a plain bowl out of the same lump of clay?" God wanted
to show his anger and reveal his power against everyone who deserved
to be destroyed. But instead, he patiently put up with them. He did
this by showing how glorious he is when he has pity on the people he
has chosen to share in his glory. Whether Jews or Gentiles, we are
those chosen ones, just as the Lord says in the book of Hosea,
"Although they are not my people, I will make them my people. I will
treat with love those nations that have never been loved. "Once they
were told, 'You are not my people.' But in that very place they will
be called children of the living God."
And this is what the prophet Isaiah said about the people of Israel,
"The people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand along the
beach. But only a few who are left will be saved. The Lord will be
quick and sure to do on earth what he has warned he will do." Isaiah
also said, "If the Lord All-Powerful had not spared some of our
descendants, we would have been destroyed like the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah." Israel and the Good News What does all of this mean? It
means that the Gentiles were not trying to be acceptable to God, but
they found that he would accept them if they had faith. - It also
means that the people of Israel were not acceptable to God. And why
not? It was because they were trying to be acceptable by obeying the
Law instead of by having faith in God. The people of Israel fell over
the stone that makes people stumble, just as God says in the
Scriptures, "Look! I am placing in Zion a stone to make people stumble
and fall. But those who have faith in that one will never be
disappointed."
God bless you.
God's Anger and Mercy
Someone may ask, "How can God blame us, if he makes us behave in the
way he wants us to?" But, my friend, I ask, "Who do you think you are
to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he
shaped it the way he did? Doesn't a potter have the right to make a
fancy bowl and a plain bowl out of the same lump of clay?" God wanted
to show his anger and reveal his power against everyone who deserved
to be destroyed. But instead, he patiently put up with them. He did
this by showing how glorious he is when he has pity on the people he
has chosen to share in his glory. Whether Jews or Gentiles, we are
those chosen ones, just as the Lord says in the book of Hosea,
"Although they are not my people, I will make them my people. I will
treat with love those nations that have never been loved. "Once they
were told, 'You are not my people.' But in that very place they will
be called children of the living God."
And this is what the prophet Isaiah said about the people of Israel,
"The people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand along the
beach. But only a few who are left will be saved. The Lord will be
quick and sure to do on earth what he has warned he will do." Isaiah
also said, "If the Lord All-Powerful had not spared some of our
descendants, we would have been destroyed like the cities of Sodom and
Gomorrah." Israel and the Good News What does all of this mean? It
means that the Gentiles were not trying to be acceptable to God, but
they found that he would accept them if they had faith. - It also
means that the people of Israel were not acceptable to God. And why
not? It was because they were trying to be acceptable by obeying the
Law instead of by having faith in God. The people of Israel fell over
the stone that makes people stumble, just as God says in the
Scriptures, "Look! I am placing in Zion a stone to make people stumble
and fall. But those who have faith in that one will never be
disappointed."
God bless you.
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