The Unexpected Patriarch

STUDY ON THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM The Unexpected Patriarch Genesis 25:19-23, Romans 9:1-15 STUDY (1) Rev (Dr) Paul Ferguson Calvary Tengah Bible Presbyterian Church Shalom Chapel, 345 Old Choa Chu Kang Road, Singapore 698923 www.calvarytengah.com www.oldfaith.wordpress.com 24 March 2013

Election A Question of Choice (Genesis 25:19-23, cf. Romans 9:1-15) Jacob is one of the most interesting of Bible characters. One half of the book of Genesis is used to recount his life story so it clearly has significance. We read of his birth in Genesis 25 and his burial in Genesis 50. Jacob s story attracts our attention because there is something very human about his life. Many believers struggle to identify with the heroic faith of Abraham as God s friend or Moses who the Lord spoke face to face with. But almost every saint can identify with the chequered pilgrimage of Jacob. He lived just like us fighting the flesh from the beginning to end. Even in his better days he seemed to take two steps forward and one step back. Jacob was a man who experienced great failures and spiritual struggles, yet he ultimately prevailed with God. Despite the low points, he made it into the hall of faith in Hebrews 11 Esau did not. The schemer who fought against God s will is finally molded into a true worshipper. Indeed, God often revealed Himself as the God of Jacob as well as the God of Abraham. There is both warning and encouragement in his life for the discerning reader. We have a God who cares and uses the Jacobs of this world as well as the Abrahams. The reality is that the life of Jacob is a triumph of grace. God s love, mercy, and grace are the glory of this story. For Jacob s heart is seen clearly to be deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9). Only God s grace could call such a man and make him into what he eventually became. He was the most unexpected of patriarchs. But he was one. SOVEREIGN ELECTION The doctrine of election has been a point of much controversy down the centuries. However, it is a debate that must be reasoned through only from Scripture and with humility (cf. Rom 9:30, 11:33). Fallen human nature hates the idea that it cannot control its destiny. Pride wants us to usurp God s position in the universe. The unbeliever believes in the sovereignty of the sinner but the Bible teaches that only God is truly sovereign. In the life of Jacob, we run headlong into this question once again. God chose Jacob over Esau while the twin boys were still in the womb of Rebekah, For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth (Rom. 9:11). The Westminster Confession sets forth this doctrine clearly, Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, has chosen, in Christ, unto everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto; and all to the praise of His glorious grace. This doctrine teaches that God in His perfect wisdom and justice did choose out an elect people for salvation before the foundation of the world, According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Eph. 1:4). This choice was a sovereign one according to God s own will and His own purpose, Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved (Eph. 1:5-6). God does exactly what He purposes to do in salvation Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from 2

ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure (Isa 46:9-10; cf. Psa. 33:11). This election to salvation was uninfluenced by any other person, or by anything anyone does, Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began (2 Tim. 1:9). God does not choose any man on the basis of any foreseen obedience or merit on his part. Indeed, if God were to simply exercise justice, all would perish in hell for their sins. Election is unconditional, because it does not depend on anything outside of God, such as good works or foreseen faith, So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy (Romans 9:16). The elect are chosen unto good works (Eph. 2:10) but not because of good works. So faith and subsequent obedience of good works is the result of divine unconditional election, not the cause of it (1 Pet. 1:2; 2 Pet. 1:3; 2 Tim. 1:9). God had to exercise sovereign unconditional election because if He did not do so no one could be saved. Because of the totally depraved nature of fallen man, we are born dead in trespasses and sins and fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath (Eph. 2:1, 3). The natural man regards the preaching of the cross as foolish and has no desire for spiritual things, There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God (Rom. 3:11). So even if God allowed us to choose Him, we would always make the wrong choice. Because no sinful man could choose God, then God must choose man. Jesus Christ affirmed clearly, No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him (John 6:44). It is true that we must choose to repent and love Christ but only after He has first loved and chosen us. A dead man cannot raise himself and a blind man cannot make himself see. As John put it, We love Him, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Only the doctrine of sovereign election can solve the problem of man s total depravity and inability to seek spiritual truth. Believing in the Scriptural teaching on election does not solve every problem in our minds. God does not provide all the answers. However, none of the problems we have are a problem to God. There are things that only God can understand (cf. Rom. 11:33). He is not in a dilemma or confused like we are. Since God is infinite in knowledge and wisdom so we have to let Him harmonise all of these matters. We must be content to believe what the Scripture clearly reveals. A sovereign God does what He does because it in the end gives Him glory. He has every right to glorify Himself in His wrath as well as in His righteous grace by choosing some and passing by others for salvation. John MacArthur points out, The ultimate question of why God chose some for salvation and left others in their sinful state is one that we, with our finite knowledge, cannot answer. We do know that God's attributes always are in perfect harmony with each other, so that God s sovereignty will always operate in perfect harmony with His goodness, love, wisdom, and justice. And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham s son: Abraham begat Isaac: And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. (v19-21) Isaac and Rebekah had been married for twenty years but they had no children. By contrast, Ishmael had many sons that founded a number of nations. But like his father before him, Isaac 3

had to wait by faith on God s timetable. He knew it was God s perfect will for him to have an heir as that was part of the revealed Abrahamic covenant. Isaac demonstrated that he was a man of faith by seeking the intervention of Jehovah to deal with this concern. As a miracle child himself, Isaac would have known of God s power in this area. Doubtless, Abraham prayed, too, because he was alive at this time. Isaac did not make the mistake of his father in taking a concubine like Hagar to produce an heir. Finally, 15 years before Abraham s passing, twin sons were born. It is interesting to note in passing the involvement of God once again in the conception of a child. It is further of interest to note the link between prayer and God granting conception. The text emphasises that God can guide and bless couples in this area. It is not simply a matter of luck or simply biology. This 20 year wait would have tested this couple s faith and ensured that when the children were conceived that God would get the greater glory. Our times are in His hands and His timings are never wrong. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. (v22-23) Rebekah noted there was something unusual about this pregnancy. No doubt the spiritual battle to conceive had made her more spiritually conscious. She would have been cognisant that this was a divinely assisted pregnancy. By checking with the Lord, she discovers something that no doctor could have revealed by a scan. The Lord revealed something about the future of these two boys, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. God had already chosen Jacob before they were even born. A number of things should be noted about this: (i) Jacob and Esau were twins they had the same mother and father. (ii) Esau was the firstborn. Indeed, he was his father Isaac s preferred choice to receive the spiritual birthright. (iii) Esau was a wicked man but so was Jacob. God could not have chosen Jacob because he was good. Just read the Genesis account! Note carefully how God chose Jacob to be heir of the promises of God, The elder shall serve the younger. This would eventually lead this equally wicked man, Jacob to one day by faith embrace and persevere in Christ s bestowed grace with its attendant privileges and blessings here and hereafter. God revealed to Rebekah that He sovereignly chose Jacob over Esau while they both were still in the womb. This was a reversal of the natural order where the firstborn had the right of inheritance, and he ruled over the younger members of the family. Once God had made this decision no one or anything could frustrate His sovereign purpose. Isaac and Esau tried but the narrative shows how God overruled them. One eventually went his own way the other went God s way. Paul will reveal in Romans 9 that the story of Jacob and Esau is a picture of God s electing works in the lives of individuals. He will use it to explain why natural born Israelites as children of the flesh (Rom. 9:8) perish in their sins as For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel (Rom. 9:6). 4

DID GOD CHOOSE JACOB ON THE BASIS OF FUTURE WORKS? Now why did God make this choice to elect Jacob and not Esau? Was it triggered by God s sovereign choice in eternity past or was it triggered by God s knowledge of the choices and good works that the twins would carry out in time? The latter interpretation means that God made His choice on what man would choose to do, rather than on what God would do. Hence man is sovereign in salvation, as he called according to man s will! But that is not what the Scripture teaches, I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy (Romans 9:15-16). Men have argued over this for centuries. But what saith the Scripture? That will be test. Let s just let the Bible speak, For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth (Romans 9:11). God s sovereign effectual call of salvation was decreed before the birth of Esau and Jacob independently of their future works or choices. So as they were not born, they could not have influenced the decision of God by their works. God is no mere passive spectator or reporter in the great chain of redemption. Paul could not have made it any clearer. It is not of works, but of Him that calleth. And the reason, that the purpose of God according to election might stand. If Paul had wanted to teach that God chose Jacob because God simply foreknew that Jacob would chose Him in the future, Paul could have said precisely that. However, he goes out of his way to teach the exact opposite. These unambiguous words are the words of Holy Scripture. They are not merely the words of John Calvin or the Westminster divines! Now whether you understand or feel comfortable about the difficult implications of such a statement is not the point. Let s accept that is what the Bible explicitly states and submit to that! IS GOD UNFAIR? God s sovereign choice of Jacob over Esau has perplexed many observers. Citing Malachi 1:3 the apostle Paul notes, As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (Romans 9:13). A student once told the theologian, Dr. Griffith Thomas that this verse troubled him. His problem he recounted was that he could not understand why God hated Esau. Thomas answered, I am having a problem with that passage too, but mine is different. I do not understand why God loved Jacob. That s the right perspective and heart to look at a passage like this. God s sovereign and unconditional election ought to produce gratitude, not presumption. There are a number of things we need to keep in mind when we analyse such a verse: (i) Esau deserved to go to hell. He was wicked, godless, and proud. Esau has no grounds for complaint, as he received the wages for his sin. (ii) Jacob equally deserved to go to hell for his sins also. He does not come across as any more righteous or likeable in the Genesis account. Jacob as a slave of sin was not able to free himself by his own efforts. The only way he could be saved is by God extending mercy and grace. However, by extending grace to Jacob, God did no disservice to Esau who got what he deserved. (iii) Ancestry makes no difference in salvation both children came from the same father and mother. (iv) Works make no difference in God s sovereign selection of one over the other. 5

The word hated here can mean to dislike strongly or to love less. The best way to see this in this context is as a relative term meaning to love less. One writer explained it well, Jesus used the same word in a similar way when He cautioned that a man must hate his father and mother if he would come to Christ (Luke 14:26). Obviously Jesus, who was an advocate of the Law (Exod. 20:12), was not encouraging hate in the usual sense of the word. But through a consecrated use of the hyperbole of antithesis, Jesus is saying that the love a man has for Christ ought to dwarf his love for his father to the extent that the latter would seem to be hate by comparison. Hatred in this sense is not absolute but relative to a higher choice. Therefore, God did not hate Esau in the conventional sense of the word. In fact, He greatly prospered and favored him (Gen. 27:38, 39, 40). Esau did receive earthly blessings, as he himself testified (Gen. 33:9.) The two illustrations of God choosing Isaac over Ishmael and Jacob over Esau prove that God gives His salvation promises sovereignly and not on the basis of ancestry, tradition or natural gifts. Indeed, it would be terrible for us as Gentile Christians if God only saved Jews! It would also be disastrous for us if God had not elected us sovereignly for salvation. ON WHAT BASIS DID GOD CHOOSE JACOB? The one question remains. Since the decision to choose Jacob was not conditional on his future actions or choices and was before he was even born, then why was Jacob chosen and Esau overlooked? Paul answers this by a quotation from the OT of God s explanation to Moses, For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion (Rom. 9:15). God does not offer an apology or an explanation for His choice. In other words, God just states it is His Sovereign prerogative to dispense grace and mercy as He sees fit. Remember, He does no one an injustice or cruelty by choosing not to save him or her, as no one is entitled to His mercy. For if mercy was deserved it is no longer mercy but justice. By extending saving grace to the elect does not require that God has to extend it to all. We know that God could save everyone, but He has chosen not to do so. As not everyone will be saved, we can only conclude that God has purposed that to be. People often question why did God choose to create people He knew that He would not elect to salvation. The only certain response is that God does everything for His glory. That glory may be revealed in His eternal judgment on non-elect sinners as much as His salvation of elect sinners. It glorifies God to demonstrate both His righteous grace and His righteous wrath. That is as far as we can go with our finite understanding and knowledge. We must be content to rest in that. 6

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. What positive effects on our lives can occur when we understand divine election? 2. Why is it important that God chooses man in salvation? 3. What examples of divine election can you recall from the Bible? 4. How have you been challenged by this passage? 7