Welcome to my thoughts concerning my daily devotions. I hope something that I receive from the Word may, in turn, be somewhat of a blessing to you also. May the Lord bless you this and every day as you love and serve Him.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Jacob Have I loved!
Romans 9:13 Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.
A few thoughts here. The word “hated” here in Romans is the Greek word “miseō” which is a comparative word meaning “to despise” or “to love less”. In the context of the passage, God, through Paul, is showing how God chose Jacob over Esau as the one through whose seed the Messiah would come. There is no doubt that God loved Esau’s soul, but He despised his ways, i.e. selling his birthright for a bowl of soup. God was in no way pleased with the chicanery of Jacob either, but He looks beyond what we are and sees what we can become.
Because God is love, that does not mean He cannot hate. If we do a study of the things and even the people God hates in the Bible, it is a bit shocking for the weak of heart. But we find that perfect love demands a hatred toward that which is destructive toward the objects of His passion.
Fast forward a few millennium and look at the harm inflicted upon the apple of God’s eye, the chosen people, by the offspring of Esau (and Uncle Ishmael) and we can better understand how He “loves less” or even “despises” those who seek to annihilate them. Think: Nazis, Communists, mass murderers and their ilk. Think: Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot, Charles Manson, Lenin, etc.
God loves these abusers enough to save their souls, if they would but repent and trust in His Son. But when they continue in their bent to destroy God’s work and His people, they place themselves in the path of God’s despite.
But I digress. The passage in question deals more with God’s unconditional choice, that is, Jacob over Esau, than it does the acts and emotions of love and hatred.
SURE, THIS IS CALLED TO THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. God is sovereign and can execute their will. HE IS GOD .... SO THAT SIMPLE.
ReplyDelete.
Isa 46:9 Remember the former things of old times, for I am God, and there is no God, and there is none like me,
Isa 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and do whatever I want;
Isa 46:11 I call the bird from the east, and from a far the man of my counsel. I have said, I will come, I've thought, and I will.