God Kept his Promises
Notes
Transcript
Israel within Israel
Israel within Israel
True Israel is smaller than national Israel. God never intended that every Israelite would inherit the promise without exception. Rather, only those within Israel that truly demonstrate godly faith will actually benefit from the promises of God. This is the true Israel.
But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Children of Promise within Abraham’s Children
Children of Promise within Abraham’s Children
nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”
But God said to Abraham, “Do not let it be displeasing in your sight because of the lad or because of your bondwoman. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to her voice; for in Isaac your seed shall be called. Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed.”
And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”
Jacob over Esau
Jacob over Esau
And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”
Now notice that when God explains the situation to Rebecca, the children are yet unborn. They are already children with a different identity than Rebecca herself. Life begins at conception. The prophecy Paul quotes is intended to explain why she is feeling such violent kicks. The answer is that (1) she is carrying twins, and (2) they are really different. So different that they are already fighting - battleground Mommy. But it goes beyond that. A modern doctor with an ultrasound could have told her that she had twins and that they were already struggling with each other. But only God could predict that they would be the progenitors of two separate peoples that would also fight.
Notice also that Paul points out that unborn children cannot commit moral actions. They can move, of course. That was the whole reason Rebecca asked God what was going on. But they cannot choose to do either right or wrong. That means that at some point after conception there is an age of accountability. We know that adults are responsible for their actions. Unborn children are not. Somewhere inbetween there, people become responsible.
Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, “If all is well, why am I like this?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her: “Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger.” So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.
The Older shall serve the Younger. This is not referring to Jacob and Esau themselves. Esau never served Jacob. In fact Jacob ended up being terrified of Esau (Genesis 32). Instead it is referring to the peoples - the people that would come from the older twin will serve the people that would come from the younger twin. This did happen in the reign of David
And David made himself a name when he returned from killing eighteen thousand Syrians in the Valley of Salt. He also put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom he put garrisons, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord preserved David wherever he went.
Until the reign of Jehoram
In his days Edom revolted against Judah’s authority, and made a king over themselves. So Joram went to Zair, and all his chariots with him. Then he rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots; and the troops fled to their tents. Thus Edom has been in revolt against Judah’s authority to this day. And Libnah revolted at that time.
The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. “I have loved you,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” Says the Lord. “Yet Jacob I have loved; But Esau I have hated, And laid waste his mountains and his heritage For the jackals of the wilderness.” Even though Edom has said, “We have been impoverished, But we will return and build the desolate places,” Thus says the Lord of hosts: “They may build, but I will throw down; They shall be called the Territory of Wickedness, And the people against whom the Lord will have indignation forever. Your eyes shall see, And you shall say, ‘The Lord is magnified beyond the border of Israel.’
“I have loved you” is directed to Israel only. Jacob and Esau here stand for the peoples they created. God’s “Hate” for Esau means that he did not choose the Edomites the way he did the Israelites. It does not mean God had it in for Esau. Indeed God commanded Israel to avoid harrassing the Edomites when they were coming out the wilderness
“And the Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘You have skirted this mountain long enough; turn northward. And command the people, saying, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. Therefore watch yourselves carefully. Do not meddle with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as one footstep, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink.
So God made Esau into a great nation, just as he did Jacob. He gave the Edomites a land to inherit, just as he did Jacob. and the Edomites quickly turned away from God and worshipped idols. This happened before Israel even got the promised land. But while God repeatedly called Israel back to the true worship of God, he let the Edomites do what they wanted. Just as the sins of the Israelites sent them into exile, so also the sins of the Edomites would do the same. During the Babylonian Captivity, the Edomites sided with Babylon, and captured and delivered Jews who tried to escape through Edom to the Babylonians. So the Babylonians left them alone. However, later the Nabateans overran that area along with some Arab tribes. By the time of Malachi, the Edomites were still a distinct people, but they had been driven away from their ancestral lands. They settled in the southern regions of what had been Judeah, known as Idumea. But unlike Israel, they were never able to return to their inheritance. As they were extremely determined, they held on to a sense of national identity for centuries. But eventually they were absorbed into the surrounding peoples. That’s the difference between Israel and Edom. God continued to work with Israel after she rejected God; he did not with Edom. God returned Israel to her land after the exile; he did not with Edom. God has maintained the national identity of the Jewish people for thousands of years. He did not do this with Edom.
The point of the Jacob/Esau story for Paul is that it is about God’s free choice of Jacob over Esau that made all the difference. It was not about the determination, goodness, or anything else of one or the other; it was because God choice Israel. And while this election is God’s choice to make a nation out of someone, I think Paul intends us to see that God’s choice to salvation is exactly the same way. God didn’t choose Jacob because he was better. God choose Jacob and worked with him to make him what he wanted him to be. God didn’t choose you because you were better. He choose you and worked with you so you would see the truth, believe it, and become what he wanted you to be.