We are still studying the deep subject of God's foreknowledge and of His special calling on those whom He knows will have hearts for Him. Paul knows some of his readers will accuse God of making them the way they are (rebellious and sinful) but he puts forth a very logical argument against such thinking.
When we concluded yesterday we found Paul quoting God's words to the wicked pharaoh of the exodus. God said of him, "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." Did God cause the king of Egypt to be a wicked man? No. Did God prevent him from coming to repentance? Of course not, for it isn't the will of God that any person should perish but that all would come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9) But Pharaoh was God's chosen leader in a time when He intended to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. Pharaoh had a choice: he could continue to be wicked and resist the Lord, causing the Lord to perform many signs and wonders in the land; or he could acknowledge the Lord as God and not only let Israel go but turn the entire nation of Egypt to the Lord. Either way, the Lord was going to display His power while this particular king sat on the throne. Did God know Pharaoh was going to resist Him? He did know it, but this doesn't mean He wanted it to happen. God would far rather have had Pharaoh repent, and the whole nation repent, than to have to deal harshly with their rebellion. Egypt was an idolatrous land, perhaps the most idolatrous of any ancient kingdom, and they needed the Lord. He would have loved for them to turn to Him and become His people.
Since none of us deserves mercy, mercy is the gift of God. He chooses to dispense it according to His will and according to His foreknowledge of us. "Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden." (Romans 9:18) Paul uses the same Greek word, "miseo", that he used when speaking of Esau earlier in our chapter. It is the same word that is often translated as "rejected", as in, "The Lord rejected Esau." Paul is saying, "The Lord rejected Pharaoh. Just like God knew Esau's heart, God knew Pharaoh's heart. It wasn't God's desire that Pharaoh would reject Him, but since he did, God rejected Pharaoh in turn. God rejected this man as someone who could lead Egypt to the Lord. Because Pharaoh kept resisting the Lord, the Lord brought judgment on him and on the land. God was patient with Pharaoh for a while, but in the end He could not extend much mercy to Pharaoh because Pharaoh was not willing to accept mercy from the Lord's hand."
Paul knows some are going to argue with him. They are going to blame the Lord for the softness or the hardness of the heart. "One of you will say to me: 'Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist His will?' But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?" (Romans 9:19-21) Paul knows some will say, "God made me this way. It's not my fault I'm stubborn and rebellious. He shouldn't find fault with me; I can't help it."
But do any of us really believe Pharaoh, for example, was forced by God to be a stubborn and rebellious man? It would have brought God far more glory if Pharaoh had fallen to his knees and given his heart to Him. It would have brought the Lord great joy if the nation of Egypt had thrown their idols in the landfill and had decided to follow only Him. It's not God's fault Pharaoh was wicked. It's not God's fault that any world leader has ever been wicked. It's not His fault when you or I behave wickedly either. God has been patient and merciful to us, and we have rewarded His love and goodness with rebellion and hard-heartedness. As the prophet Jeremiah observed, "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail." (Lamentations 3:22) God has the right to give up on us for our repeated waywardness, yet He keeps calling to us with love and He keeps offering us mercy and forgiveness.
"What if God, although choosing to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the objects of His wrath---prepared for destruction? What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory---even us, whom He also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?" (Romans 9:22-24) The wording of this passage is complicated, but I will try to paraphrase it as best as I can understand it. God knew before any of us were ever born which of us would accept Him and which of us would reject Him. Yet He didn't wipe from the earth those He knew would reject Him. He bore them "with great patience". Though He knew some would remain rebellious against Him, He treated them with mercy anyway. He kept making His invitation to them even though He knew they would never accept it.
I'm going to use an example from gardening here to see if it will help us. In a garden we have plants that are going to be useful to us, but things also grow in the garden that are not useful. We often deal with this problem by chopping or uprooting the weeds. But have you ever grabbed hold of a weed and pulled a useful plant out of the ground along with it? Have you ever been chopping away at weeds with a hoe and accidentally cut your tomato plant down too? Have you ever tried spraying weed killer on the weeds only to have some of the spray go onto the good plants too? Wiping the wicked from the earth in a fearsome judgment could have caused the remaining population to be so offended at God that they would have turned from Him. They might have been so horrified by His wrath, and so terrified by His power, that they wouldn't dare seek a personal relationship with a God who wields such might. As the Lord Jesus said in the parable of the wheat and the tares, it's best not to uproot the wicked like weeds, "'No,' He answered, 'because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into My barn." (Matthew 13:29-30)
Paul says in verse 22 that destruction is prepared for the wicked. In verse 23 he assures us that glory is prepared for those who love the Lord. Our destination is up to us. God created us for a relationship with Him. Why then would He create any of us with an inability to love Him? He didn't! If we don't enter into the glory prepared for the children of God it will be our own fault.
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