Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
2 Kings 4:38-44 And Elisha came again to Gilgal: and there was a dearth in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him: and he said unto his servant, Set on the great pot, and seethe pottage for the sons of the prophets. 39 And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage: for they knew them not.
The Apostle Paul is seeking to quell the spirit of unrest, that discontented spirit to question the justice of God. Out of the imperfections of sin and unbelief came the fulfilling of God’s promises to bring forth the Saviour Jesus Christ from the loins of Israel. Although the Jews have largely rejected their Messiah, God’s promise of salvation through the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15) is fulfilled in the fullness of time. God allows within the Jewish people those who would reject their Christ, perishing in sin and unbelief.
The man Pharaoh who resisted God’s command to release His people from slavery did so because God has willed it. It is God who sovereignly chooses Pharaoh to be His instrument of wrath against His people and also the recipient of His wrath. It is God who causes the heart of Pharaoh to be made stubborn that he might disobey His command to release His people. And yet we know that it was Pharaoh who freely chooses to harden his heart to resist the will of God. We marvel at the truth of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility at work simultaneously.
Apostle Paul cited Exodus 9:16, how Pharaoh was raised by God as Egypt’s supreme ruler to declare His glory during the time of Israel’s Exodus. Pharaoh was subdued by the Almighty power of God, demonstrating that the LORD (Jehovah); He is God, the Creator of all things. God shows all the earth that He is greater than great Pharaoh, the self-proclaimed representative of Ra, the sun god.
Matthew 27:45-49 (KJV) 45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 47 Some of them that stood there, when they heard that, said, This man calleth for Elias. 48 And straightway one of them ran, and took a spunge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink. 49 The rest said, Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save him.
God is merciful. It is His character. He saves sinners. There is a way out from the condemnation of sin because God is merciful. He reached out to us through His Son. Indeed, as the Apostle Paul testifies in Romans 10:9-11 (KJV) 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Reading Through the Bible In One Year
It has been more than two months since the launch of the holy endeavour to read through the Bible in one year. How have you been doing? If you have been keeping up with your daily reading, thank God for sustaining you. If you missed some readings, I urge you to set time aside on the Lord’s Day to catch up on your reading. May God grant you His grace to persevere in this resolution.
If God has not extended His mercy upon sinners like us, we would have perished in our sins. He extended His mercy to us by sending His Son to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Can God be charged being uncompassionate? Certainly not. But there are those in Israel who chose to spurn the grace of God through Christ by rejecting the gospel. Are they culpable? Yes, for rejecting God’s love.
Is God unrighteous to choose Jacob over Esau and Isaac over Ishmael? The Apostle Paul is teaching us that He is not unjust to choose one over the other. God knows the beginning and the end. God’s people are to rest on the mystery of God’s wisdom which we may never understand. But we know that He knows what He is doing. And we submit ourselves to His sovereign will for He is God and we are not. We are to exercise faith in His infinite wisdom and goodness.
We have here the fact of election: “He chose us.” Here we have its time: “Before the foundation of the world; its basis: “according to the good pleasure of His will”; and its vehicle: “in Christ”. Here also is its purpose: “that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” And here is the proper response to it: “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” We may quibble all we want about why the Lord would operate in this way, but whether we like it or not, this is His way, as He made abundantly clear in His revelation to Rebekah.”