Friday, July 16, 2004
Blogswap 2: Tough Truths
Today's guest article is from simplegames.blogspot.com
My post is being hosted on matt-hall.net
Most of my questions about Christian subjects stem from Biblical concepts in the Bible that seem contradictory. One of the first cases of this that plagued me was the story of Jacob and Esau. God favoured Jacob over his identical twin, Esau, even before they came out of the womb.
As it says in Genesis 25:20-26:
And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac intreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren: and Yahweh was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of Yahweh.
And Yahweh said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
The Bible also says that the Father hated Esau. Yahweh doesn't go around hating people for no reason. I believe that He strives to love all men, and is grieved when they make a choice to seek death instead of His love. But there are men so against His nature that He hates their actions and their choices, and they themselves. I have to believe this because the scriptures say it.
Malachi 1:2-4 sets it out clearly:
I have loved you [Israel], saith Yahweh. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith Yahweh: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith Yahweh of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom Yahweh hath indignation for ever.
It would seem an injustice to favour a person before they even had time to be righteous, while condemning the other before they sinned.
But our Father isn't unjust, so there has to be some solution to this mystery. To me, the answer is partially contained in the fact that our God does not operate under time like we do. He is in the present, able to see the beginning and end of a life in one glance. This thought helps to satisfy my mind, in that He saw the actions and decisions of Esau before his birth, and planned accordingly. It's a question involved with free will and predestination. Esau made the choices, but Yahweh already knew what they were.
Another answer in why God chose Jacob rather than Esau, was His sovereignty. This concept is highlighted by Paul, when he explains the Jacob and Esau story in Romans 9:10-22:
And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, 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. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have 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 will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
God made Jacob and Esau. He fit them into a purpose all His own. In His sovereign power, He had mercy on the one who tried lived in righteousness, and condemned the other who chose his own will over his God. He elected Jacob to His service. This is still a hard concept, but He is supreme. He decides. It's a mystery. Thankfully, our Father helps us to the answers to our questions, and improves our faith in His power by keeping us in ambiguity also.
Check out my blog at simplegames.blogspot.com
Would you like to BlogSwap? For more information click visit Challies.com.
My post is being hosted on matt-hall.net
Most of my questions about Christian subjects stem from Biblical concepts in the Bible that seem contradictory. One of the first cases of this that plagued me was the story of Jacob and Esau. God favoured Jacob over his identical twin, Esau, even before they came out of the womb.
As it says in Genesis 25:20-26:
And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padanaram, the sister to Laban the Syrian. And Isaac intreated Yahweh for his wife, because she was barren: and Yahweh was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of Yahweh.
And Yahweh said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
The Bible also says that the Father hated Esau. Yahweh doesn't go around hating people for no reason. I believe that He strives to love all men, and is grieved when they make a choice to seek death instead of His love. But there are men so against His nature that He hates their actions and their choices, and they themselves. I have to believe this because the scriptures say it.
Malachi 1:2-4 sets it out clearly:
I have loved you [Israel], saith Yahweh. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith Yahweh: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith Yahweh of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom Yahweh hath indignation for ever.
It would seem an injustice to favour a person before they even had time to be righteous, while condemning the other before they sinned.
But our Father isn't unjust, so there has to be some solution to this mystery. To me, the answer is partially contained in the fact that our God does not operate under time like we do. He is in the present, able to see the beginning and end of a life in one glance. This thought helps to satisfy my mind, in that He saw the actions and decisions of Esau before his birth, and planned accordingly. It's a question involved with free will and predestination. Esau made the choices, but Yahweh already knew what they were.
Another answer in why God chose Jacob rather than Esau, was His sovereignty. This concept is highlighted by Paul, when he explains the Jacob and Esau story in Romans 9:10-22:
And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, 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. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have 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 will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
God made Jacob and Esau. He fit them into a purpose all His own. In His sovereign power, He had mercy on the one who tried lived in righteousness, and condemned the other who chose his own will over his God. He elected Jacob to His service. This is still a hard concept, but He is supreme. He decides. It's a mystery. Thankfully, our Father helps us to the answers to our questions, and improves our faith in His power by keeping us in ambiguity also.
Check out my blog at simplegames.blogspot.com
Would you like to BlogSwap? For more information click visit Challies.com.
