- God pardons the sinful Israel with His amazing mercy: (9:15-16): Mercy is not that what we deserve. God is never ‘less than fair’ with anyone, but more than fair with every individuals as He chooses.
Paul quotes God’s word to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (9:15; Ex.33:19). God can show mercy on anyone whomever He wishes without being unfair to others. If God acted only on the basis of righteousness, nobody would ever be saved. It’s a matter of mercy, not justice. The surprise is not that some people are left out and the miracle is that some people are chosen. Further God’s mercy and compassion are extended according to God’s will and not according to man’s will. All of us deserve condemnation, because we were by nature the objects of wrath (Eph.2:3b). When Moses was on the mount receiving the Law, the whole Israel nation was doing the most wicked thing of idolatry and deserved punishment (Ex.32:22-30). That day about 3,000 people were perished. Of course the warning was given by Moses: “whoever is for the Lord, come to me” only the Levites rallied to him. So it does not depend on human desire or our works to be on God’s favour, but purely depends upon God mercy. Salvation is by grace, not by our works. His mercy is simply out of His desire to show mercy.
Ex: The Lord Jesus also spoke of His mercy in the parable of ‘landowner’ in (Matt. 20:1-16).
- God punishes wicked Pharaoh with His judgement.(9:17-18): God tells Pharaoh: “I put you in a position and strength that I could show the world that I have far more power and thereby glorify Himself.” God sometimes glorify Himself through showing His mercy and sometimes through man’s hardness.
When we look at both Moses and Jew, both were sinners, both were murderers and saw God’s wonders. Pharaoh was a ruler and Moses was a slave. Both were used to show God’s mighty acts to the entire world. Moses was used to deliver the people of Israel. But Pharaoh was lost. The scripture says: Pharaoh’s heart was hardened. The word ‘hardening’ occurs more than 15-times. Sometimes, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Ex.9:12; 10:1, 20,27) and sometimes Pharaoh hardened his heart (Ex.8:15,19,32). But we must understand that God gave enough opportunity to repent, instead he hardened his heart. God simply allowed or gave freedom to Pharaoh to pursue its natural inclination. For everything, God has a purpose in it. Moses experienced the mercy and compassion of God. So God’s selection is not a matter of righteousness, but of the sovereign will of God.
Ex: i). Pilate’s handing over the Lord Jesus in place of Barabbas.
ii). The sunlight melts the ice and the same sunlight hardens the clay.
- The example of Potter and clay: (9:19-21):
It is all a matter of God’s choice. Who can resist His will? Once again Paul refers to what the prophet Isaiah said: “Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “He did not make me. Can the pot say of the potter, He knows nothing?” (Isa.29:16b; 45:9). The creator has every right to make in whatever manner He thinks. He has the control over the created objects. Further God can change His plans for us depending upon how we respond to Him. Again Paul points out to the prophet Jeremiah when he went to visit potter’s house, “the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to Him”(Jer.18:4).
Many people in this world ask, that the clay has no life, no feelings. But we have the life and feelings and God has given us the freedom, we can question God. Oh! man, can you go against God? It is God who determines whether a man will be a Moses or a Pharaoh. No man or woman can select their parents. It is God who controls the birth and death of individuals. Pharaoh had enough opportunities to know the true and almighty God, yet he failed. In God’s sovereign choice, God gives enough opportunities for every individual.
- The example from Hosea: (9:22-26):
God did not enjoy watching a tyrant like Pharaoh. He waited patiently enduring the antagonism to Him. Those who reject Him are prepared for eternal condemnation. They are storing up God’s wrath against themselves (2:5). He does not delight in wrath, nor He never chose some people deliberately to go to Hell. He is patient and long suffering. He gave enough opportunities to Pharaoh. The apostle Paul elaborates this thought saying: God prepares men for glory, but sinners rejected Christ to prepare themselves for judgement. To Moses and Israel God revealed the riches of His mercy and for Pharaoh and Egypt, God revealed His power and wrath. God waited patiently.
God is willing to make known the wealth of His glory on the objects of mercy that He has prepared beforehand for glory not only for the Jews and even for the Gentiles. If God is patient with those who oppose him, how much more is He patient with those who turn to Him? It is the greatness of God. To Abraham God says: “to the fourth generation of your descendants will come back here, for the sins of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure” (Gen.15:9). Even in the case of destruction of Canaanites, God allowed Israel to wander through the desert for their disobedience for 40 years until the sins of Canaanites were ripe. Then God commanded Israelites to wipe off the Canaanites.
While continuing this thought of God’s purpose, Paul moves to the fairness of God’s calling. He refers to the prophet Hosea in (Hos.2:23; 1:10) who expressed God’s intention of restoring the people of Gentiles along with Jews as a part of His overall plan. Right from the O.T. that God is not only saving the Jews but also the Gentiles. When Jews have rejected the Gospel, Paul went among the Gentiles for the fulfilment of the prophecy. Paul adopted this prophecy to Gentiles. God can reject Israelites who persistently reject Him, they are in the same category as Gentiles. So, if God can make these rejected Israelites as His own people again, then He can choose the people (Gentiles) He previously ignored. What God did with the Jews, He can also do with everyone else. God extended all the promises given to Abraham to the Gentiles through faith. God cannot stop coming to Him any sinner however big sinner he is or whichever origin he may belong to. This is God’s nature and character. In this very life and the very place, we will be called the ‘sons of the Living God” (9:26c).