The potter over the clay Romans 9:19-33

picking up the pieces

Rom 9.19-23 ~ 24-26 and 27-29 ~ 30-33

Romans 9:19–23 ESV

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—

What shall we say?

What’s the first response Paul would get once we’ve made it through this airtight reasoning pointing out that God is the sovereign one, God is the chooser, and it’s up to God who is Moses or who is Pharaoh. We would say “If God picks how can anyone be wrong if God choose who the people of his covenant were?” Here, Paul un-apologetically says who do you think you are to talk back to God. You see God is the only one with enough perspective to see the best plan to accomplish His own Goal. God is smarter, wiser, and more loving than we can even fathom. Notice what else Paul DOESN’T do, He doesn’t say that’s a false assumption with the question that raised this objection. If the choice were up to man and not God Paul would have corrected the wrong supposition built into that question, but he didn’t. Paul brings it back to us in the next verse

Romans 9:24–26 ESV

even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ” “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”

Okay, again big hyperlink here let’s go back and get a picture of Hosea to understand this a little better.

Hosea 1:2–11 ESV

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son. And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.” She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.” When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son. And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.” Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Jezreel זרע and יִזְרְעֶאל אל to sow and god

No Mercy לֹא רֻחָ֑מָה

Not My People לֹא עַמִּי

We then get through chapter two a poem of sin, destruction, and God calling back Israel to himself let’s pick up there.

Hosea 2:14–23 ESV

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord. “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ”

This is again the same story of a people who have rejected God, yet that God calls them back to himself. In calling back God’s people all people are brought in. God had a purpose even in Israel’s rejection of Himself.

Next Paul brings up Isaiah let’s read in vs 27

Romans 9:27–29 ESV

And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.”

We’re going to look at Isaiah 10:22-23 but also notice this same phrase we read earlier also in Hosea 1:10 “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”” If you did the homework and read through these verses and went and read enough of a chunk of Hosea and Isaiah to get the context you’d’ve noticed a lot of similarities and themes there. That seems right because these prophets were alive and prophesying in the same time period.

We’ll pick up Isaiah 10:12-13

Isaiah 10:12–13 ESV

When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding; I remove the boundaries of peoples, and plunder their treasures; like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.

What work? the work of the judgment of Assyria. But let’s also not forget Assyria is there as judgment against Israel for their turning from God. We see that continue through verses and get to Isaiah 10:20-27

Isaiah 10:20–27 ESV

In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth. Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. And the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”

This came true in history and Also we see as God had predicted in Isa 1:9 “If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.” that is, utterly destroyed without a remnant left.

So let’s wrap up Chapter 9 with yet another what shall we say then?

Romans 9:30–33 ESV

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Paul rounds off the points made several times here, and clarifies the law again. The law was good to those who obeyed by faith, those are the same that would have turned and followed Jesus. Too many however thought it was about the works of the law itself that saved. They fell for the trap of self reliance just like Adam and Eve in deciding to trust their own wisdom. Here Paul it taking pieces from Isaiah and possibly a Psalm to articulate his point. God lays the foundation, it is a stone people will stumble over and be offended by. But those who trust Him will not be put to shame.