God’s Mercy, Compassion, and Hardening

What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.' So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.' Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He will He hardens.

How can God choose some to carry His plan and still be perfectly just? Paul answers the charge that God is unfair.

Created for Good Works and for His Glory

In Ephesians 2:8, Paul wrote a passage many of us know well: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Salvation is granted by grace, through faith—not by works we have done, nor even by works our ancestors accomplished, so that no one can boast in his own greatness. Those who believe are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for a purpose. We are created for good works that God has already ordained and planned that we should walk in. It is not automatic that we will walk in them; we are called to walk in them, and we recognize there are ways we don't. But the works are prepared.

This is true not only for those created in Christ, but for all of creation, because all things were made by God and for Him, to fulfill His purpose and bring Him glory.

God's Strategic Plan from the Beginning

At the beginning of creation, God had a strategic plan through which all things would ultimately bring Him glory. God is the great artist—"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the earth shows forth His handiwork." Any artist creates not just for the art itself but because it displays his skill. So God created in such a way that we would glorify Him.

Creation is now under a curse because of sin and the fall, but even in the fall, God's aim is to bring Himself glory. The Scriptures reveal God had a redemptive plan laid out before the fall ever happened, for He knew it would come to pass according to His foreknowledge. And in His manifold wisdom, God chose to use the crowning glory of His creation—humanity, made on the sixth day in His image—to accomplish His eternal purpose. The chief end of man is the glorification of God.

Free Will and Stubborn Rebellion

In creating man in His own image, God gave us volition, freedom, and will. And in His sovereignty, God has elected to respect the free agency of humanity—even when man's choice is against God's perfect will, even when man walks in rebellion and stubbornness.

Unfortunately, we—us included, in this room—regularly and consistently opt to walk in stubborn rebellion toward God. We sing a song here that says, "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love." Part of our heart accords with that, because "all we like sheep have gone astray; we've turned, every one, to his own way."

But even in man's hard rebellion, God will get glory. Solomon writes in Proverbs 16:4, "The Lord has made all things for Himself, yes, even the wicked for the day of destruction." It is a sad reality, but the glory God gets from one who refuses His free gift of grace is the glory of His power, His justice, and ultimately His wrath. This is not God's desire; He "is not willing that any should perish but that all would come to repentance." But upon those who refuse, God will still be glorified, because He has created all things for Himself.

God Sought a Loyal Heart

In history past, God surveyed the landscape of humanity, seeking an individual whose heart was loyal to Him, that He might show Himself strong on that one's behalf and execute His glorious plan. Second Chronicles 16:9 tells us this. In our last study of Romans 9, we saw who that individual was—a sinner like any other, yet called by the Lord, who responded with faith. And through that man and his descendants, God began to work out His redemptive plan.

That plan of salvation was to come about in three ways: by God's promise, through God's power, and according to God's foreknowledge. God called a man named Abraham in Genesis 12. Through Abraham came Isaac, the son of the promise. Through Isaac came Jacob, who became Israel. From Israel came Judah; through Judah, Perez; then Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, and then David, the great king. From David came Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, and on down through the ages, zeroing in on the fulfillment of God's salvation plan, coming all the way down to the Man, Jesus.

You can read this genealogy in Matthew 1. It begins with Abraham, runs through David, and comes to Jesus—the fulfillment of God's promise that through Abraham all the nations of the world would be blessed. That blessing is ultimately Jesus. Even though those people in the line had more than one child, God's calling was through a specific line, because He had a very specific and strategic plan for His glory.

Does God Play Favorites?

If you compared those chosen individuals to their siblings and to others alive during their time, you might think God was playing favorites—that they were more loved than the others. That is what we looked at last week in Romans 9:13, where God declares, "Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated," or loved less.

This raises the question of Romans 9:14: "What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?" Is God unfair? Is God unjust? It seems a logical response when we see that God chose one people out of all peoples to accomplish His plan. Although each of us would like to be someone's favorite, we don't think it's fair when there's a favorite and it isn't us. If we are the favorite, of course, we rejoice in that.

Abraham's descendants believed themselves to be God's favorite because God chose to use their family. But God repeatedly reminded them that He chose them not because they were greater, lovelier, or less sinful than other peoples—only because He said, "I love you and I chose you for My purpose, to bring forth a blessing to all nations." Israel's failure was forgetting that they were to be a conduit through which blessing would come to all peoples. Instead they thought, "God has selected us as His favorite, and is giving the blessing only to us."

Why did they do that? Because that's our flesh. We love to be the favorite, the greatest, the special ones. And this applies to us Gentile believers too. We can start to think we were less sinful than other sinners, more special than other people, that of course God would choose us. But the reality is God loves the whole world; His desire is for all people. And He wants to impart that same heart for all people to us.

Certainly Not—The Judge of All the Earth Does Right

So is God unjust to use one vessel over another for His strategic plan? Paul's answer is at the end of verse 14: "Certainly not!" This is the eighth "Certainly not!" in Romans—Paul uses the expression ten times—anticipating the objections of his readers.

God chose Abraham over others, then Isaac instead of Ishmael, Jacob instead of Esau, Judah instead of his eleven brothers, Perez instead of Zerah. Is that unfair? Remember what we are seeing here is not the selection of an individual for salvation and the damnation of others. That is not the scope of Romans 9. God is choosing these people to be the conduit through which salvation would come to all who believe. There is a real danger of reading Romans 9 as God selecting one for salvation and the rest for damnation—this text is often used as a proof for that belief, but that is not what is happening here at all.

Daniel gives us insight. Daniel 9:14 says, "The Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does." That is hard for us to comprehend, because we are not just in everything we do.

Sodom and Gomorrah: He Will Not Destroy the Righteous With the Wicked

In Genesis 18, God revealed His plan to judge the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham had a nephew, Lot, a righteous man, who lived there. So Abraham interceded: "God, what if there are fifty righteous people? Will You spare the cities?" God said, "Yes, I will spare them for fifty."

Realizing there probably weren't fifty, Abraham asked about forty, then thirty. And in the middle of this, he declared something profoundly true in Genesis 18:25: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" If One is to judge all humanity, He must be just. Abraham continued—twenty, then ten—and God agreed each time to spare the righteous.

The answer came when God destroyed the cities: He first removed the righteous remnant before His destruction fell. Why? Because God is just, and He will not destroy the righteous with the wicked.

So is God unjust? Certainly not—may it never even enter our minds as a question. Yet why does it? I suggest it arises because we are unjust. We make unjust judgments and project our feeble failings onto God. It's hard for us to fathom One who is perfectly just. Isaiah 11:3–4 says God does not judge by the seeing of the eyes or the hearing of the ears, but with righteous judgment. So when we ask, "What about those in Indonesia who've never heard the Gospel? How will God deal with them?"—we don't know all the ins and outs, but we know this: God is righteous, and He will deal justly with those who haven't had the same access we've had.

Mercy on Whom He Will: Moses at Sinai

Paul continues in verse 15: "For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.'" Paul takes us back to the Old Testament, because as he says, it was written as instruction for us. Specifically, he takes us to Exodus 33.

By this point Israel had seen God bring plagues on Egypt and free them from over four hundred years of slavery. They had seen Him part the Red Sea and feed them miraculously. At Mount Sinai, after they declared three times in Exodus 19, "All that You command us, we will do," Moses went up and received the law. He came down with the Ten Commandments, then returned to the mountaintop for forty days and forty nights.

While he was there, the people made a golden calf and danced around it, breaking the first two commandments. God sent Moses down; he cast the tablets down, and they broke. God told Moses He would judge the people for their sin—which He would have been completely just in doing. But Moses interceded, and God relented, showing grace and mercy. Seeing this, Moses said in Exodus 33:18, "God, show me Your glory." And God responded in 33:19, the very passage Paul quotes: "I will make My goodness pass before you... and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

Not of Him Who Wills, But of God Who Shows Mercy

Paul concludes in verse 16: "So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy." When it comes to God's blessing, provision, and salvation, it is not of human willing or running—it is of God who shows mercy. We're saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves, the gift of God, lest anyone should boast.

Israel was wholly guilty before God and worthy of His just judgment. He would have been righteous to judge them. Why didn't He? Because He shows mercy and compassion to those He wills.

And to whom does He will to show mercy? In Exodus 20:4–6, after forbidding carved images, God says He visits iniquity "to the third and fourth generation to those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands"—to whom?—"to those who love Me and keep My commandments." This is restated in Deuteronomy 5:10, and Deuteronomy 7:7 reveals God chose Israel because He loved them, not because of their greatness.

So why did God show mercy to sinful Israel? Because there is no unrighteousness with Him, and because there was a remnant in the camp who loved God and kept His commandments. Some were bowing to a golden calf, but a remnant loved Him. God, who is just, would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. He did judge those who had sinned—He does not acquit the guilty—but as He reveals Himself in Scripture, God is chiefly merciful. If we could write down every attribute of God and ask Him to place one above them all, His self-revelation in Exodus 34:6 names mercy first.

Pharaoh: Raised Up to Display God's Power

Verse 17: "For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, that My name may be declared in all the earth.'" We must interpret verses 17 and 18 in light of who God has revealed Himself to be. Exodus 34:6–7 says, "The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, by no means acquitting the guilty." God does not clear over guilt, but chiefly He is merciful. I'm grateful for that, because I need His mercy every single day. Mercy is not receiving what I deserve.

Here Paul contrasts two leaders: Moses, of Israel, and Pharaoh, of Egypt. He quotes Exodus 9:16. By that point, six of the ten plagues had already come. Each time, Pharaoh would ask his magicians if they could replicate the plague; they would, and he'd shrug it off and harden his heart.

But after the sixth plague—boils from head to toe on all the Egyptians, even Pharaoh's magicians—the magicians could do nothing. So God told Moses to stand before Pharaoh the next morning and say, from Exodus 9:15, "If I had stretched out My hand and struck your people with pestilence, you would have been cut off from the earth." In other words, "If I wanted to, I could wipe you all out, just like Sodom and Gomorrah. But I haven't." Why? Verse 16: "But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up." Pharaoh thought he ruled Egypt by his own power and ingenuity, but God said, "I raised you up... that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth."

If you are a hater of God—a "hatetheist," not an atheist—and you refuse to submit to Him, and then God tells you, "Even in your rebellion I will glorify Myself through you," that will make you furious. God did not destroy Egypt as He did Sodom and Gomorrah, because among the Egyptians were righteous people who sought Him. We know this because when Israel left, they went out as a mixed multitude, and some Egyptians went with them. God is righteous in all He does and would not destroy the righteous with the wicked. Instead, He hardened the heart of a rebellious, hardened man to further His salvation plan.

Redemption by His Power

God had promised redemption for all humanity in Genesis 3:15, and He purposed to bring it to pass by His power through the descendants of Abraham. To do so, He called His people out of bondage in Egypt, revealing His great power. This is an illustration for us, church. We were under a severe, wicked taskmaster—the taskmaster of sin—and God redeems us by His strong arm. That is the picture He drew through Pharaoh and Egypt.

To accomplish His salvation strategy, God further hardened the heart of a hard king who refused to submit to the King of kings. God allowed him to be strong in his rebellion, that God might glorify Himself over wicked Pharaoh, thus furthering the redemption of Israel.

Mercy and Hardening: Whom He Wills

Verse 18: "Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens." Some take this to mean God elects some for heaven and others for hell, but that is not what is in view here.

Moses believed God's promise—evidenced by his obedience at the burning bush in Exodus 3 and 4. Before that, Moses was a murderer and a fugitive from justice, a wicked man. But he put his faith in God and obeyed. God was merciful to a sinner just as wicked as Pharaoh—because Moses believed, trusted, and obeyed.

Pharaoh was hard and unyielding. God brought His word and revealed His power to him through Moses, and Pharaoh refused to yield and repent. He was further hardened by God to reveal God's exalted power over him. This is not about God hardening Pharaoh unto damnation; Pharaoh was already a wicked, impenitent wretch. God simply said, "In your wickedness I will still be glorified." To accomplish His salvation strategy, God showed mercy—even to one who seemed undeserving—and hardened Pharaoh—even where the hardening may appear unfair to us. He does this among whom He wills, because He is working out His plan.

The Heart of Romans 9—and Our Application

What does this have to do with the overarching narrative of Romans 9? At the beginning of the chapter, Paul reveals his deep-seated desire for the salvation of his people, Israel. Israel was afforded great blessing as the people through whom God planned to reveal His salvation. As a result, they were perfectly positioned to be beneficiaries of God's grace—and to be the channel through which it flowed to the world. Grace was not only for them; it was through them to all peoples, including themselves.

Having Abraham as their father was not a guarantee of salvation. Israel mistook their blessings as eternally secure, but their place as Abraham's children did not assure them salvation. They stumbled at the fact that God's plan through them was for all people.

How do we apply this as the church in 2013 in Southern California? The best application comes from Hebrews 3:7: "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.'" Moses heard God's voice, repented, believed, and followed—and received mercy. Pharaoh received revelation, hardened his heart, stood in stubborn rebellion, and received wrath. The word of the Lord to us today is: "Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your heart." Amen?

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You for Your word. We pray that You would help us to apply it today. Lord, we thank You for the illustration You've given us in the Scriptures. The Old Testament is filled with pictures to show what this all means. In the midst of it, help us not to lose sight of Your great character as You've revealed it—that You are merciful and gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth, having mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. But You will not acquit those who are guilty, who refuse to repent. Lord, help us to walk in faith toward You this week, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.