Studies in Romans by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 1, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 27.

Studies in Romans

By T.

Abraham's Faith and Pharaoh's Stubbornness.

"For this is a word of promise, According to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, even by our father Isaac—for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee My power, and that My name might be published abroad in all the earth. So then He hath mercy on whom He will, and whom He will He hardeneth. "Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth He still find fault? For who withstandeth His will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus? Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction: and that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles? As He saith also in Hosea, "I will call that My people, which was not My people; And her beloved, that was not beloved. And it shall be, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, There shall they be called sons of the living God." Rom. 9: 9-26.

THE foregoing quotation begins by referring to the "word of promise" that was made to Abraham that "Sarah shall have a son." When this promise was made to Abraham, he was about ninety years old, and Sarah was an old woman. And then after the promise was given to him there was a long period of waiting and testing. It was not finally fulfilled until Abraham was a hundred and Sarah was ninety. It was the believing of this simple promise of God when everything from the natural and scientific standpoint would have said to him, It is impossible for it to be carried out, that gave righteousness to Abraham. Abraham believed God. He could not conceive of God as promising an impossibility. There is where the great success in Christian life and Christian experience is to be found. It is in taking the word of promise just as it comes to us from God and standing upon it. To those who do this, God will fulfil His word every time.

God's power enables Him to tell the character of individuals before they are born, and therefore He can tell what they will do. He was able to say of the sons of Isaac before they were born that "the elder shall serve the younger." And knowing what their characters would be He could love Jacob and hate Esau. But notwithstanding all this foreknowledge, the Lord does all that infinite power can do to help the very characters that He hates. For if Esau will yield as does Jacob, the Lord will be able to give him the righteous character the same as He has given it to his younger brother.

"He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." This text standing alone might lead a person to think that God's salvation is an arbitrary matter, but a careful study of the illustration that is made of the case of Pharaoh will help us to see the facts. "For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee My power, and that My name might be published abroad in all the earth." God desired to have His name published abroad in all the earth. He came to the powerful and influential King Pharaoh to offer him the privilege of doing it, but he refused to acknowledge Jehovah.

The Lord did many mighty things in the king's presence that were intended to inspire faith in the true God, and that would have resulted in his complete conversion. But instead of allowing these things to influence him as the Lord desired that they should, Pharaoh hardened his heart. He resisted the very influences that were sent from heaven to save him, and in resisting those influences he cut himself off from doing the work for the salvation of men in the world that he might have done. For if the king of Egypt, with all the influence he had in his realm, had proclaimed in favor of the true God, as did Nebuchadnezzar with a similar opportunity, there is no telling how many of his subjects might have been turned into the ways of salvation; and besides the king himself could have been saved.

God knew the opportunities the character of Pharaoh would afford for manifesting the divine power to the world, and for this purpose the Lord raised him up. That is, He raised him to the throne of Egypt at that time, or as suggested by some of the best commentators, He caused him to stand there. Pharaoh was used by the Lord to show His power, and in this way to reach and save men. The Lord is intent on reaching and saving people, and He will use any instrumentality that will serve this purpose the best. In that particular time it was Pharaoh.

"What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction: and that He might make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom He has called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?" The Lord had to endure the character of Pharaoh. He had to suffer long with the stubbornness and wickedness of the rebellious king of Egypt. The Lord manifested infinite patience in making one display of power after another in order to induce him to allow His people to go peaceably. If Pharaoh had heeded these entreaties and warnings, he would have been saved much suffering and affliction, both for himself and also for his nation. But he was stubborn and refused to yield, or to be entreated of by the divine messengers.

All these things are placed in the Bible for lessons for us who are living in these days. God is entreating you now to turn to Him with the whole heart. Will you heed the entreaty? or will you resist it as Pharaoh did?