Psalm 130
A song of ascents
1 Out of the depths I call to
you, Lord!
2 Lord, listen to my voice;
let your ears be attentive
to my cry for help.
3 Lord, if you kept an account of
iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
so that you may be revered.
5 I wait for the Lord; I wait
and put my hope in his word.
6 I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning—
more than watchmen for the morning.
7 Israel, put your hope in
the Lord.
For there is faithful love with the Lord,
and with him is redemption in abundance.
8 And he will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.
Getting Started
What is one insight/word of comfort/challenging idea that
you held onto from last week?
Did any lesson from last week’s session impact your life?
9:10-13
And not only that, but Rebekah conceived
children through one man, our father Isaac. 11 For
though her sons had not been born yet or done anything good or bad, so that
God’s purpose according to election might stand— 12 not
from works but from the one who calls—she was told, The older will
serve the younger. 13 As it is written: I
have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.
Malachi 1:2-3 - “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s
brother?” This is the Lord’s declaration. “Even so, I loved
Jacob, 3 but I hated Esau.”
This is an uncomfortable word.
-
Love and Hate as opposites in modern language.
-
Love – agapé – a specific type of love.
-
Hate
– perhaps not the best translation of the word.
o
Genesis
29 – Jacob, Rachel and Leah.
o
Jacob
loved Rachel.
o
Jacob
hated Leah? (Gen 29:31 & 33)
§
Yet
Jacob had six sons with Leah.
§ He protected her when they were
coming to Esau.
§ Genesis 30:15-17
-
The comparison is what is important to highlight
God’s choosing.
-
Spurned might be a better translation.
o
Deuteronomy 21:15-17 – “If a man has two
wives, one loved and the other neglected (literally - hated), and
both the loved and the neglected bear him sons, and if the neglected wife has
the firstborn son, 16 when that man gives what he
has to his sons as an inheritance, he is not to show favoritism to the son of
the loved wife as his firstborn over the firstborn of the neglected wife. 17 He
must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the neglected wife, by giving him
two shares[a][b] of his estate, for he
is the firstfruits of his virility; he has the rights of the firstborn.
o
Luke 14:26 – “If anyone comes to
me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters—yes, and even his own life—he cannot be my disciple.”
o
John 12:25 – “The one who loves his life
will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will
keep it for eternal life.”
o
Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two
masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
Key understanding from this passage:
-
In this context “love” and “hate” are not God’s
emotions toward Jacob and Esau.
o
The contrast is about who receives the Promise
and covenant of having the Messiah as a direct descendant.
-
“Love” and “hate” are not about election or
predestination.
o
Note that in Malachi 1 the verbs are past tense
“loved” and “hated/spurned”.
-
Ishmael and Esau – both rejected regarding being
bearers of the Promise – still lived in God’s merciful care.
o
God made Ishmael into a great nation. (Genesis
17:20)
o
Isaac blessed Esau (Gen 27:39-40)
o
Genesis 36 – Esau’s descendants become a nation
called Edom.
o
Deuteronomy 23:7 – God commanded Israel, “Do not
despise an Edomite, because he is your brother.”
-
The rejecting/hating/spurning is in regard to
being in the line of those who bear the Promise.
Romans 9:14-18
14 What should we say then? Is
there injustice with God? Absolutely not! 15 For
he tells Moses, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I will
have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So
then, it does not depend on human will or effort but on God who shows
mercy. 17 For the Scripture tells Pharaoh, I
raised you up for this reason so that I may display my power in you and that my
name may be proclaimed in the whole earth. 18 So
then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants
to harden.
More uncomfortable words.
-
Exodus 33:18-23 – 18 Then
Moses said [to the LORD], “Please, let me
see your glory.” 19 He said, “I will cause all my
goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name ‘the Lord’
before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But
he added, “You cannot see my face, for humans cannot see me and
live.” 21 The Lord said, “Here is a place
near me. You are to stand on the rock, 22 and when
my glory passes by, I will put you in the crevice of the rock and cover you
with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will
take my hand away, and you will see my back, but my face will not be seen.”
-
Exodus 9:13-17 – 13 Then
the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and present
yourself to Pharaoh. Tell him: This is what the Lord, the God of the
Hebrews says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 14 For
this time I am about to send all my plagues against you,[a] your officials, and your
people. Then you will know there is no one like me on the whole earth. 15 By
now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a
plague, and you would have been obliterated from the earth. 16 However,
I have let you live for this purpose: to show you my power and to make my
name known on the whole earth. 17 You are still
acting arrogantly against my people by not letting them go.
v. 16 is Key – “It does not depend on human will or effort,
but on God who shows mercy.”
What do we assume about the human condition?
-
All Dogs Go to Heaven, but what about people?
To understand hardening we need to go back to Romans 1:18-32.
Romans 9:19-21
19 You will say to
me, therefore, “Why then does he still find fault? For who resists
his will?” 20 On the contrary, who are you, a human
being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed
it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 Or has the
potter no right over the clay, to make from the same lump one piece of pottery
for honor and another for dishonor?
-
Jeremiah 18:1-12
-
Isaiah 64:8 – Yet Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we all are the work of your hands.
-
Genesis 2:7 – Then the Lord God formed
the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life
into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
Creature to Creator
People mix up the 1st Commandment
Romans 9:22-24
22 And what if God, wanting to
display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much
patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And
what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory on objects of
mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory— 24 on
us, the ones he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the
Gentiles?
v.22-23
Objects of Wrath and Recipients of Mercy
-
Ephesians 2:1-10
v. 24
He’s telling you your story.
Wrapping Up
What is one insight/word of comfort/challenging idea that
you hope to hold onto from these verse?
How will the lessons learned from these verses impact your
faith life?
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