Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving

This is the time of year when we reflect on God’s mercies and give thanks to him. In Romans 9:25-29, Paul gives reasons why we can thank God.

Only true Christians have reason for unending thanksgiving. That is because of the miracle of grace that brought about our eternal salvation. Elsewhere Paul declares, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15). He is speaking about the gift of Jesus Christ and his righteousness. An unbeliever only thanks himself for his good harvest; we thank God, not only for material benefits, but especially for our great salvation through Christ. The Bible says, “He who has the Son has life,” meaning eternal life (1 John 5:12).

We were like Sodom and Gomorrah, fit for total destruction. But because of God’s mercy and the miracle of divine grace, we have been spared.

Mercy there was great and grace was free,

pardon there was multiplied to me,

there my burdened heart found liberty,

on Calvary.

Therefore we give unending thanks for undeserving mercy. We do so now, and will do so in heaven, as John reveals: “In a loud voice they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!'” (Rev. 5:12); “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!” (Rev. 7:12).

In Romans 9 we read how Paul was grieved because the vast majority of his fellow Jews rejected Jesus their Messiah. They were outside of the kingdom of God and under divine wrath. But did God’s promise to them fail? Did God’s covenant with them fail? Did God himself fail? Paul says, “No,” to all of these questions and then he gives the reason: “All Israel is not Israel” (see Rom. 9:6).

All Jews are not children of promise, elect vessels of mercy prepared in advance unto glory. Even so, all professing Christians are not true Christians. Most Christians and Jews are objects of wrath. All Israel does not belong to the remnant that alone experiences divine salvation.

Salvation is of the Lord and is according to God’s purpose in election. God’s mercy does not come to all sinners, for the Lord said, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy.” Salvation does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy alone. Thus, on the vast majority of sinners, whether Jews or Gentiles, God will display his wrath as he did upon Pharaoh. They are vessels of his wrath prepared for destruction. Only a few are chosen from all eternity according to his purpose to be vessels of his mercy prepared in advance for glory, “even us-whom he also called, not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles” (Rom. 9:24).

This salvation from the Lord does not depend on our physical descent, ethnic connections, or even our faith, but upon God’s discriminating, saving mercy. Israel’s presumption was that all Jews, as descendants of Abraham, would be saved (John 8). They also presumed that all Gentiles, whom they considered sinners and dogs, would not. But God’s will is revealed in Hosea 2:23, 1:10, and Isaiah 10:22-23 and 1:9, which Paul quotes in this passage.

These scriptures tell a different story from what Jewish people thought God would do. They agreed with the reality Paul himself had witnessed as people responded to the gospel:

On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'” When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:44-52)

Here we see many Gentiles believing the gospel while only a few Jews embraced it. In Romans 9 Paul says we should not be surprised because this reality was prophesied years ago by prophets Hosea and Isaiah. The view of the Jews that they would all be saved, while no Gentile would experience salvation, was a grand delusion.

Likewise, most professing Christians are not going to be saved on the last day. Their lives and doctrine prove this. They are foolish virgins for whom the door will be shut (Matt. 25:1-13). Those who travel on the broad way will not arrive at the kingdom of God; instead, they shall hear the terrible command: “Depart from me, you wicked rebels!” Jesus said only a few will be saved-the elect, the vessels of mercy who are watchful in their lives and doctrine. He exhorted, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt. 7:13-14).

If we are true Christians, let us thank God today because we are objects of mercy prepared in advance unto glory. Friends, our destiny is not hellfire, agony, or torment such as the rich man experienced in Luke 16. Our destiny is eternal life, joy unspeakable and full of glory. We are destined and invited to the celestial feast with God triune, of which John writes, “Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready'” (Rev. 19:6-7).

Paul says God made the riches of his mercy known even to us, “whom he also effectually called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles” (Rom. 9:24). God’s original plan included Gentiles as well as Jews. When God chose Abraham, he told him that in his seed, Jesus Christ, all the elect of all the families of the earth would be blessed with eternal salvation. So Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations. Christ died and rose again so that repentance and forgiveness of sins be preached to all nations, “even us,” Paul says, both Jews and Gentiles. The church consists of all the elect of all the world.

In our own lives, someone came and spoke the gospel to us and we heard God’s effectual call. God granted us repentance and faith, and we repented and believed. Now we are justified and adopted into the family of God. So we pray, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.”

Inclusion of Gentiles

The first point is the inclusion of many Gentiles (vv. 25-26). To make his point, Paul quotes from Hosea 2:23 and 1:10. The Jews excluded the Gentiles, even though God called them to be a light to the Gentiles (Isa. 49:6). But Paul says, “You Jews may discriminate and exclude, but God does not. He includes all the families of the earth. There is a wideness in God’s mercy.” Jesus himself said, “God so loved the world.” May God help us to open our hearts wide to love God’s church, all whom God loves, and shatter all prejudices that restrict us.

When we read these Hosea texts in context, they speak of the salvation of the ten tribes of Israel. How could Paul use them to prove his point? First of all, we must acknowledge that the same Holy Spirit who inspired Hosea also inspired Paul. So the apostle is giving us the true meaning of these texts, which speak of the salvation of Gentiles.

The prophet Hosea had been asked by God to marry a woman of ill repute. Gomer was an unfaithful wife who bore three children to Hosea. The first one was a son named Jezreel, which means “scattered.” The second was a daughter, Lo-Ruhamah, meaning “Not loved.” The third was a son, “Lo-Ammi,” “Not my people.”

Then Gomer left Hosea, lived a wicked life, and was reduced to extreme poverty. She found herself as a slave to be sold in the slave market. To demonstrate his love for unfaithful Israel, God asked Hosea to go and buy back his wife. People were bidding for her, and Hosea was the highest bidder. The redemption price was fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethek of barley. Hosea brought his wife home, told her to live faithfully with him, and loved her.

All this demonstrates God’s love for wandering sinners. God loves sinners. Jesus came to seek and save only sinners. Unlike Hosea, he did not use silver and gold to pay the redemption price. Instead, he paid with his own precious blood. Now he invites weary sinners to come to him that he may give them the rest of eternal salvation.

Paul therefore applies these Hosea passages to the salvation of Gentiles because it is the correct, Holy Spirit-intended meaning. Paul’s argument is that if God saved Israel, who became pagan, apostate, and even worse than the Gentiles, he can also save Gentiles.

In fact, we see the salvation of Gentiles throughout the New Testament. Jesus saved the Canaanite woman as well as the Gentile centurion and remarked about the great faith of both of these Gentiles. The Philippian jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul responded, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved” (Acts 16). Whether we are Jewish sinners or Gentile sinners, there is only one requirement: Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.

Israel became pagan, idolatrous, apostate covenant-breakers. They became “Not my people” and “Not my loved one” because of their rebellion. So all Jews and all Gentiles stand equally before God as sinners-helpless, ungodly, enemies of God. All are Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi. But to the same sinful people, God shows mercy to the elect among them. Some who were called, “Not my people” are becoming “My people”; some who were “Not my loved ones” are becoming “My loved ones.” From all the families of the world, Gentile as well as Jewish sinners are being saved by divine mercy.

In Luke 14 Jesus tells about a feast given by a person who invited certain people. Those invited, representing the people of Israel, refused to come to the feast. Self-satisfied and self-righteous, they had their excuses. Even today, the self-sufficient and self-righteous reject the call of the gospel. Like the Laodiceans, they say, “We are rich and we lack nothing.” So God invited to the feast the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame, symbolizing the Gentiles. They came to enjoy the banquet of salvation, which Jesus prepared by his life, death, and resurrection. Their sins were forgiven and they were justified, adopted, and destined for eternal glory.

Peter also applied these Hosea texts to the salvation of Gentiles, writing, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Pet. 2:9-10); “As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. . . . For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers. . . . You have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do-living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Pet. 1:14, 18; 4:3-5).

Look at what Paul wrote to the Gentile believers of Ephesus: “Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (that done in the body by the hands of men)-remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. . . . Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. . . . This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:11-13, 19; 3:6).

Jesus saves sinners. He saves only sinners, he saves Jewish and Gentile sinners, and he saves only the worst sinners. Praise God that he saved us!

The Exclusion of the Vast Majority of Jews

Paul’s second point, then, is that the vast majority of the Jews are rejected by God and excluded from this great salvation. To prove his point, he quotes Isaiah 10:22-23 and Isaiah 1:9. Paul is grieving over his people, but he is not surprised why few Jews believed in their Messiah. He says that this reality was also prophesied by Isaiah, a contemporary of Hosea.

Eighth-century BC, when Hosea and Isaiah were ministering, was the golden age of both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. People were being devoured by the termites of moral and spiritual depravity. The disease of material prosperity was killing them off spiritually. The people of God were fascinated with paganism and idolatry, especially sexual immorality. They forgot the God of the covenant and rejected the Bible outright. Their culture was similar to ours.

But the prophet saw bad times coming and cried out as he saw the approaching judgment that would wipe out the vast majority of God’s people. The promise to Abraham had been fulfilled and his descendants had become like the sand on the seashore. Now to this vast multitude of people, watchman Isaiah was declaring: “Danger! Danger! Sword and destruction!” True pastors like Isaiah still cry out with great passion and clarity: “Danger! Repent and be saved!” That is what parents should do also, as they see what is going to happen to their children.

Isaiah was warning that only a remnant would be saved from the coming wrath and divine judgment. The remnant is that which remains after the harvest, such as the few olives that remain on the top branches that people failed to harvest. (PGM) They are the elect of God, like the seven thousand in Israel who did not worship Baal but remained faithful to Yahweh (1 Kings 19:18).

Only the remnant will be saved from the danger of divine judgment. Paul writes, “So too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace” (Rom. 11:5). We are impressed when forty thousand people come to hear man-exalting positive sermons of a false preacher who tells them how to achieve success by making more money. Such ministers say, “You need happiness. Make more money, because money will buy happiness.” What really happens is that these false ministers take the money from people and enjoy a good life totally unaware of the danger that is coming.

The prophets of old preached the truth and were killed for it. The vast multitude of so-called Christians will not be saved in the end. This text in Romans says that only the remnant who believes the true gospel and lives holy lives will be saved. Therefore, rise up, O preachers! Cry out this truth and command the remnant to repent and be saved.

If you are the elect remnant, chosen by grace, then you will be saved. You will not bow down to Baal, to money, to power or to the prestige this world gives. Instead, your knees will bow to Jesus Christ, the Lord of the universe, and your mouth will boldly confess him alone as Lord of your life. You will delight in his preceptive will revealed in the Bible. Together with other saints, you will travel on the highway of holiness until you arrive in Zion, the city of the living God.

Isaiah named one of his sons Shear-Jashub, which means “A remnant shall return” (Isa. 7:3; 10:21-22). A remnant shall be saved. Are you a remnant? Do you repent and believe? Do you delight in the gospel? Do you live a holy life? That is the issue. Or are you confused about the gospel? Do you think that everyone is a Christian, that every church is God’s church, and that all people everywhere are going to be saved? A famous preacher said that all people unconsciously believe in Jesus. That is not true.

If you are part of the remnant, I urge you to return to mighty God in repentance and he will receive you. The multitude may call themselves the people of God, but God will say to them: “Lo-Ammi, Lo-Ruhamah.” Yet to the remnant, God will show mercy. God saves them because Christ paid fully for their sins.

Jesus came to his own, but his own received him not (John 1:11). Eventually, what Isaiah predicted was fulfilled: “For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality” (Rom. 9:28). The elect look forward to glory, but the vast majority of God’s people, those who are not the remnant, will experience complete and utter destruction, as has already happened several times in history: 721 BC, 587 BC, 70 AD, and 132 AD.

By nature, all who are sons of Adam are sinners under God’s wrath. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. By nature, we are not very nice people. Just read Romans 3:10-18, where Paul proves the utter depravity of every son of Adam, saying, “There is no one righteous . . . there is no one who understands . . . there is no one who does good . . . there is no one who seeks God . . . there is no fear of God before their eyes.” The wages of sin is death. The vast majority of people (whether Jews, Gentiles, or Christians) will never experience salvation. That is why Peter exhorts, “Make your calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 2:10).

Jesus said, “Many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 8:11-12). Instead of Jewish people, think about Christians, for we are subjects of God’s kingdom.

Because of the great wickedness during Noah’s time, God brought a flood, and only eight people were saved. When God rained down fire on Sodom and Gomorrah in judgment, only three people were saved. All people, including the remnant, deserve to be wiped from the face of the earth. Paul quotes Isaiah to tell us that only a few will be saved: “Unless the Lord had spared the remnant, we would have become like Sodom and Gomorrah” (v. 29; Isa. 1:9, author’s translation). Thank God, he spared us by not sparing his own Son.

In the same family, some will be saved and others will not be. What God promises, he fulfills. God does not make empty promises. Yet he does not also make empty threats. Study the history of the world and biblical history. Paul warns, “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off” (Rom. 11:22).

Only the remnant will be saved. Understand this, and tremble before God, for “our ‘God is a consuming fire'” (Heb. 12:29). Yet also consider what John says: “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands” (Rev. 7:9). Heaven will be filled with a great multitude of the remnant, the saved people, from all the families of the earth.

Romans 9:29 tells us that it is God’s sheer mercy that spares the remnant. We were like Sodom and Gomorrah, the most wicked Gentile cities. Israel became like them. In fact, Jesus says, they were worse than Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 11:23-24). Without God’s saving intervention, all of us would be annihilated.

The Lord Almighty, the King of the universe, has saved us by his great mercy and love. This undeserving mercy demands that we live forever in unending thanksgiving. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! In God’s mercy, he saved you and me, the chief of sinners. He will save all, Jew and Gentile, who repent and believe in the only Savior, Jesus Christ. God has a saving plan from all eternity.

Application

The word of God can be trusted and what the prophets prophesied was fulfilled. The view that all Jews, being descendants of Abraham, would be saved, while all Gentiles would not, is false. In the same way, the popular notion that all professing Christians will be saved is also false. Only the elect remnant will be saved. Therefore, examine yourself and see whether you are in the faith. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Enter through the narrow gate of Jesus Christ and travel on the narrow way that leads to eternal life, not the secular way of selfism and self-indulgence. Unlike Demas, fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith. Prove yourself to be part of the faithful remnant.

Second, know that God fulfills what he promises. For instance, Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33, KJV). The psalmist says, “Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing” (Ps. 34:9). The Lord himself said, “Those who honor me I will honor” (1 Sam. 2:30). Believe God’s word. Honor him, and he will honor you. Paul says, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Cor. 1:20).

Like Paul, we must understand that the vast majority of people are not going to be saved. In the same family, God hated Esau but loved Jacob. But those whom God has called will humble themselves and repent when their Christian friends and leaders minister to them.

Stay away from churches where the gospel is not preached and holiness is not practiced, where there is neither orthodoxy nor orthopraxy. Avoid churches where crowds go and are told, “You are very beautiful and brilliant. You are powerful. You can do anything if you just believe in yourself. You all-Hindus, Muslims, Christians, pagans-unconsciously believe in Jesus. So when you die, you all will go to heaven.” Ministers in such churches do not tell you that you are conceived in sin, born a sinner, and practice sin daily. They do not declare that the wrath of God is revealed against you and the only way to salvation is based on repentance and faith in Christ who suffered God’s wrath in your place on the cross. Unlike the prophets, John the Baptist, the apostles, and Jesus Christ himself, they do not demand repentance and faith. In fact, these false ministers may assert that the prophets and others were ignorant of the new truth, that every man is born good and getting better all the time. They will say that we only need to trust in ourselves.

Thank God, we are not included in this unbelieving multitude! Because of God’s mercy, we are the believing remnant. We are those whom God effectually called to his feast. We are the church, the ekklêsia. Once we were not God’s people, but now we are God’s people. Once we were not God’s beloved ones, but now we are the beloved of God, sons and heirs of the living God. Once we were prodigals, lost and dying in a far country, but now we have come home to God our Father. Once we were objects of God’s wrath, prepared for destruction, but Christ suffered in our place, and now we shall never experience God’s wrath. We are vessels of mercy prepared unto glory. May God help us to glory in our destiny!