In The Word
Read: Romans 9:1-13
Paul’s Anguish Over Israel
9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race,4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants,the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised!Amen.
God’s Sovereign Choice
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.”
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
Today we hear the heart of the evangelist Paul. His desire was that his kinsmen, the Jews, would realize that Jesus is the Christ and would stop rejecting Him. In fact, it is this rejection that caused great sorrow and grief to Paul. I can envision him pleading with God to open their hearts to the point that, if he could, he would have given up his eternal inheritance for their salvation. This rejection of the awaited Messiah was the problem. But what caused this rejection? Paul clarified that just because they were the decedents of Abraham and Isaac did not ensure that they would be the children of God. Nor did the Word of God fail in its promise, but it was the unbelief of the individual that proved to be the problem. God fulfilled His promise to provide the Chosen One. It was down to the chosen people to believe in Him. Paul lamented over those who, by unbelief, rejected their own salvation in Jesus the Christ.
This same division exists in our lives today. By faith we chose to be children of the promise or the children of the flesh. We have all been given access to God through Jesus Christ, but we must enter by faith. I, like Paul, desire every person to become a child of God, but it is not a choice I can make for others. What personal choice have you made today? Choose by faith to be a child of the promise and not of the flesh.