Turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:6-13, our passage for this morning. Please follow along and listen as I read Paul’s word written by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 9:6-13,

“But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: ‘through Isaac your descendants will be named.’ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.’ And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ Just as it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’” (Romans 9:6–13, NASB95)[1]

GOD’S WORD HAS NOT FAILED (Romans 9:6a)

This is not an easy passage and the rest of this chapter is not easy. God is infinite and we are finite and even when we come to the end of this chapter in a few weeks we will not even have begun to plumb the depths of God’s infinite wisdom and knowledge. I admit that I do not understand all of this passage, but I will try to teach you what I have learned.

Paul in the first five verses of this chapter assured his Jewish relatives, his people of his deep love for them and his great concern for their souls. He reminded them of the blessings that were theirs because they were God’s chosen people. Paul is now about to tell them that none of those blessings would be a benefit for them before God if they rejected His own Son whom He sent to be their Savior and Lord. In other words, Paul was saying that because they rejected Jesus Christ, they had in fact, rejected God and their status as God’s chosen and blessed people was temporarily lost. No longer would they enjoy God’s blessings of care and protection. What does this mean? Does this rejection by God mean that His unconditional promises are no longer in effect? Does this rejection by God mean that He is no longer faithful and trustworthy?

Paul declares to his Jewish readers that Israel’s unbelief as a nation was perfectly in line with and did not in any way violate God’s promises made in the Old Testament. In other words, their rejection of Jesus did not prove that He was not the Messiah, nor did it nullify God’s Word. Paul begins verse 6 by stating, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed.” (Romans 9:6a, NASB95)[2] Their unbelief and rejection of Jesus Christ had not in any way invalidated or nullified the ultimate fulfillment of God’s unconditional promises to Israel. They are simply put off to a future time for a future remnant. Jeremiah spoke of this in Jeremiah 32:42 when he wrote, “For thus says the Lord, ‘Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them.” (Jeremiah 32:42, NASB95)[3] The Lord speaking of His own faithfulness and trustworthiness in fulfilling the word of His promise said through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 55:11, “So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11, NASB95)[4] In all that has happened to Israel and the many times that she has gone into exile because of her unbelief God has never allowed Israel to lose her distinction as a people, God has always kept a remnant of Jewish people and in 1948 God allowed the Jewish people to again claim a portion of the land God promised them for themselves and to again establish themselves as a nation. This does not mean, however, that Israel has come under God’s blessing again, the nation of Israel as we know it today is just as godless as any other nation. And, as I have said before, just because you are physically descended from Abraham this does not make you a member of God’s holy family. But as we will learn, a future day is coming when Israel’s salvation will come and with it the kingdom that God promised.

NOT ALL ABRAHAM’S DESCENDANTS (Romans 9:6b-8)

As we continue to read Paul’s words, he explains how the Jews unbelief does not dishonor or make void God’s Word. Paul writes, “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: ‘through Isaac your descendants will be named.’ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.” (Romans 9:6–8, NASB95)[5] Paul writes that even being in the line of Isaac through Jacob, who God later renamed Israel, does not make you a true child of promise. They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. Not all physical Israelites are true heirs of the promise. Paul takes us back to Genesis to make his point. If you remember Abraham’s first son was Ishmael, he was the son of Sarah’s maid Hagar. Trying to help God fulfill His promise Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham as a wife so that he could father a son through her, since Sarah was barren she thought this was the only way that Abraham would have a son to be his heir. As soon as Hagar became pregnant Sarah became resentful. Ishmael was born, and had he been Abraham’s only son he would have been heir. But God promised Abraham a son by his true wife Sarah, the son from Sarah would be the son of promise, the son with whom God would establish His covenant that He had made with Abraham. Paul quotes from Genesis 21:12 that it is through Isaac that his descendants will be named.

God blessed Abraham’s son Ishmael, but he would never be the heir to God’s promise made to Abraham. After Sarah died, Abraham took another wife and had six other sons by her, but like Ishmael, none of them could be heirs to the promise. None of the children of Abraham’s other sons could ever be the children of God’s promise. Not even all the descendants of Sarah through Isaac could become full heirs of the promise simply because of their physical lineage.

Because of sin, because man is born dead in trespasses and sin, God always knew that all Jews would be spiritually dead and cut off from the promise and from salvation. That is why Paul writes, “nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants,” (Romans 9:7a, NASB95)[6] Paul is restating the same truth. Because of the Jews unbelief and rejection of Jesus, this in no way is a reflection upon God’s integrity or faithfulness. God always knew there would be unbelieving Jews throughout the history of Israel. In Genesis 17 God made clear to Abraham that he would have a son named Isaac through his wife Sarah and God would establish His covenant with Isaac. Isaac was Abraham’s only child of the divine promise given in Genesis 17. That is to say, that Abraham’s descendants through Isaac only are the true children of God in a racial sense. The entire nation of Israel was chosen by God and brought into divine favor.

CHILDREN OF PROMISE ARE BY FAITH (Romans 9:8-9)

Paul goes on in verse 8 “That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.” (Romans 9:8, NASB95)[7] The children of flesh refers to the other children of Abraham by Hagar and Keturah; the children of the promise are the descendants of Isaac, the son of promise. Paul’s point in all this is that just as not all of Abraham’s physical children are to inherit the promise of belonging to the people of God physically, but only those who are the children of Isaac, so in the same respect, not all of Abraham’s children through Isaac belong to the people of God spiritually. The unbelief, the rejection of Israel toward Jesus Christ is not proof that He is not the Messiah. In fact, just the opposite, those who rejected Christ and remain in their unbelief fit perfectly with God’s promise, which anticipated that not all Jews would believe in Jesus and be saved.

We see this truth over and over in the Old Testament, that not all Israel believed in God, not all Israel came to God in faith. God had established shortly after Adam and Eve sinned, long before God made His covenant with Abraham, that the only way a person can be righteous before God is by faith. Read Hebrews 11 and you will see that each person that is mentioned there was righteous before God by faith.

Isaac is for us a wonderful example of the true child of God. Long before Isaac was even conceived, he was chosen by God from among all the sons of Abraham to be the heir of promise. Just as Isaac birth as a physical descendant of Abraham was supernaturally and sovereignly preordained by God, so also his becoming the spiritual child of God to was by the sovereign election of God. God’s sovereign preordained choice, which is made effective by faith, is true of every person who has ever been saved whether that was before the time of Isaac or after Isaac lived.

That Paul is speaking of spiritual children of God here in Romans 9 was made clear when he wrote the Galatians some years earlier. He wrote in Galatians 3:6-7, “Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham.” (Galatians 3:6–7, NASB95)[8] Paul point in the rest of this chapter is that Israel’s rejection of Jesus did not proves that He is not of God, but again just the opposite it proves that unbelieving Israel and Israelites were not of God. Also, their rejection and unbelief did not nullify God’s promise but gave further proof that God’s promise had always been for those who had faith like Abraham’s faith, not those who were only his physical descendants. Paul declared this truth in the end of Galatians 3 when he wrote in verse 29, “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:29, NASB95)[9]

You must understand that the character of God seen in the fact that He is just and righteous and faithful and true does not allow Him to fail in any of His promises. Besides being sinners and having no faith, many Jews, certainly the majority of unbelieving Jews both of Paul’s day and of our day fail to understand the true meaning of God’s promises. Just as God made clear to Abraham that Isaac only of all of Abraham’s sons was the chosen or the elect son of Abraham who would be the physical heir of promise, in the same way the Old Testament prophets made clear that a divinely chosen or elected remnant would be the recipients of God’s promises to Abraham. For example, God speaking through the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23:3 says, “Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply.” (Jeremiah 23:3, NASB95)[10] And in Isaiah 37:31-32 the Lord says, “The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” (Isaiah 37:31–32, NASB95)[11]

Paul finishes this section on Isaac as the son of promise by quoting again from Genesis, “For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.’” (Romans 9:9, NASB95)[12] God declares that the fulfillment of the promise will be seen when Sarah has a son. This would be at the right time in God’s plan, He would raise up this son of promise to fulfill His purpose even though Sarah was old and past the age of child bearing as Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 11:11, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.” (Hebrews 11:11, NASB95)[13]

GOD’S PURPOSE WILL STAND (Romans 9:10-13)

Paul is not done illustrating this truth for us and he gives us a second example. “And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.”” (Romans 9:10–12, NASB95)[14] God chose Rebekah to fulfill His purpose, she was living in Padan-Aram and you can read the remarkable account of how God brought her from there to the land of Canaan to be the wife of Isaac. (Genesis 24) She not only became Isaac’s wife, but she also bore for him twin sons. God in His purpose did not allow the two sons of Isaac to be equal heirs of the promise, but the Lord sovereignly chose Jacob over Esau to be the son of promise. He chose Jacob and passed over Esau even though technically he was the oldest being born before Jacob.

God sovereignly chose Jacob even before the boys were born and He chose him without any regard for what they might do during their lifetimes, He chose him before they had done anything good or bad. His choice was purely that His purpose would stand with no regard for any human work. Paul’s point is that in the same way God has sovereignly chosen some Jews, but not all Jews, for salvation.

God in His sovereignty unconditionally and completely apart from any consideration of human merit elects those who will become His heirs of promise. Jacob and Esau had the same father and the same mother, were basically born at the same time, Esau was born and Jacob followed right after him, so as I said technically Esau was older but God in His sovereignty told Rebekah that the older would serve the younger.

Esau and his descendants give ample evidence in their lives that they rejected God. Esau never served Jacob in his lifetime but that statement made by God extended to his descendants and later when Esau’s descendants had become the nation of Edom and Jacob’s descendants had become the nation of Israel, Edom was often in direct or indirect service to Israel and in conflict with the nation of Israel during the times of the kings. The nation of Edom, the descendants of Esau became an idolatrous nation and were condemned many years later by two Old Testament prophets, Amos and Obadiah.

Jacob suffered the consequences of his deceit with which he and his mother used to get the blessing of the first-born, but even this act of sin did not nullify God’s promise at all. Those consequences included serving his uncle for many years and being deceived and cheated during all that time. This taught Jacob to seek God and developed a heart for God, but he also struggled because of his lack of trust in God to accomplish His own purposes in His own holy way and in His time.

Paul finishes up this portion of Scripture by summarizing what he had just written by quoting the prophet Malachi and this quote seems quite shocking and for many people this quote seems contrary to their view of the impartiality of God. Paul quotes Malachi 1:2-3, “Just as it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’” (Romans 9:13, NASB95)[15] Again this statement does not seem to be directed directly at Jacob or Esau, but to their descendants. No where in the book of Genesis do we find any mention of God hating Esau, the individual and nothing that God does in Genesis seems to suggest that He hates him. The prophet Obadiah speaks of God’s judgment on Esau or Edom, and it was written over a thousand years after Esau lived and Obadiah speaks of God’s judgment that will come against this idolatrous nation and thus suggests that God’s hatred is directed toward the descendants of Esau because of their idolatry and the violence they did to Jacob when she was under attack by Babylon and being carried into exile. If this is the case for Esau, then the declaration of God’s love for Jacob would refer to His love for Jacob’s descendants, who even though often in rebellion towards God and sometimes turning from God to worship idols, yet they were God’s sovereignly elected people through whom the Redeemer, the Savior of the world would come and because of this He loved them.

CONCLUSION:

Paul using the examples of Isaac and Jacob to teach the truth that from the descendants of Abraham through Isaac through Jacob would come an elect remnant of Jews who are redeemed by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and that other Jews would remain in unbelief and because of their unbelief they will give up the spiritual promises of God that are yet to be fulfilled in the future. Paul clearly showed in this passage that God is entirely justified in choosing Jacob over Esau because His choice was not based on human merit or work or personal characteristics of those chosen, but was based solely on God’s divine and infallible choice which is sovereignly His right. Certainly, as I stated at the beginning of this message, this is a difficult passage of the infinite wisdom and knowledge of God that we can not wrap our finite minds around. From these two men, Abraham, Isaac came two nations, one God chose for His divine blessing and protection, the other was destined for divine judgment.

When we move away from the national aspect of this and look at individuals, Paul had already made it abundantly clear that salvation of an individual requires human faith, Abraham being the father of all those who put their faith in Jesus Christ. But the power of salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace and the primary purpose of salvation is to bring God glory. Man by nature wants there to be something that we do to merit salvation and we try to explain away the truth that God is God and that whatever God does because He is God it is just and righteous and that certainly includes calling some men, women and children to salvation and not calling others. God is completely and perfectly justified in this because He is God. As ones that He has called we can rejoice in our salvation and even though we may not fully understand we can confess with Paul the truth of I Corinthians 1:9, that “God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:9, NASB95)[16]

[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

[16]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.

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ISRAEL’S PLACE IN GOD’S PLAN OF REDEMPTION PART ONE – ISRAEL’S UNBELIEF DOES NOT CHANGE GOD’S PROMISES (Romans 9:6-13)