The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Genesis 25:23,
“The Lord said to her [Rebekah], ‘Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.’”
Like Sarah before her, Rebekah was barren. Isaac prayed on her behalf and she became pregnant with the twins, Jacob and Esau. While pregnant the babies “jostled each other within her.” When she asked the Lord about it (there must have been significant “jostling” going on!), he told her the two were nations that would be separated and that contrary to the cultural conventions of the day in a patriarchal society, the “older will serve the younger.” The two nations of course would be Israel and Edom. Edom became a nation that often battled against Israel. The conflict within Rebekah’s womb was a foreshadow of what would take place in the history of these two peoples.
The significance of the answer to Rebekah’s prayer that entirely transcends the prophetic aspect of the “jostling” within her womb is that she was told the “older will serve the younger.” Here, Paul makes an observation that pierces our assumptions about God, our theology and what we often expect from him. Paul points to this prophecy about Esau serving Jacob as a revelation that our God makes his own choice about things and it has nothing to do with our heritage or our performance. There are some things that God has decided and it has had nothing to do with how good or bad we have been or who our family ties are with.
In Romans 9:6-16 we read, “It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. For this was how the promise was stated: ‘At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.’ Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ Just as it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.”
Note Paul’s words, “It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” And, “Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’” God makes his own choices and the purposes of his choices trump any and all efforts to the contrary. Paul’s point in Romans 9 is that God has decided who will be declared righteous, who will be saved, who will enter into the resurrection of life! Just as God has the right to determine that an older sibling will serve a younger sibling apart from anything they may do, so he has the right to decide who will be saved.
And, just who will be saved? Who is it he has chosen? It won’t be anyone simply because he is a physical descendant of Abraham. And it won’t be anyone simply because he has desire or makes an effort. God has decided, he has chosen, it will be those who have obtained “a righteousness that is by faith”, Romans 9:30. Those who attempt to establish a righteousness by being good, “as if it were by works” stumble. “The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Romans 9:30-33. As Paul puts it in the next chapter, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Here is the main point behind the book of Romans, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” Romans 1:17.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!
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