Romans 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
This passage of scripture teaches us of both the call and the decision pertaining to our salvation, which as described above, depends primarily on the fact that God first calls us. The call to repentance and salvation is made to every person, but the decision to comply rests with us, and because God knows the end from the beginning, and the choices some folk will make in the future, He then sets in motion all of the heavenly agencies to ensure that abundant opportunity to be saved is given to those who will be heirs of salvation. This is not to say that those who will be lost are not given the same opportunities, for the Bible teaches us that wherever sin abounds, grace did much more abound. Let's read:
Romans 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
However, it's important to note that God never bypasses the freedom to choose, for the service of love is all that He accepts, but the fact of the matter remains that even though members of the same family might be issued the call to salvation, and even though equal opportunity is granted, yet some may choose life and others may not. It was in this context that the passage for today was written, because earlier on in the preceding verses, the apostle Paul refers to Esau and Jacob as prime examples of what he is speaking about.
Esau and Jacob grew up in the same God-faring household, they attended the same church, with the very same pastor, and they both studied their Bible lessons and memory verses. They were both present during morning and evening worship, and the same spiritual influences, and the same Holy Ghost was available to them, but Esau never came to the point of surrender as did his younger brother Jacob. As a matter of fact when we observe their behavioral patterns, we may even be tempted to conclude that Jacob was more evil that Esau, since it was he, the younger son who practiced fraud and lying and dissembling in different ways, and further went on to have four wives.
But strange enough, it would be Jacob who is saved, whilst Esau will be lost, a fact that was hinted at when Rebekah became pregnant with unidentical twins, who began fighting each other in the womb, long before they were born. In desperation she went to the Lord in prayer seeking answers to this strange phenomenon, and sure enough, God gave her the answer, a reply that sheds great light on the future destiny of many of earth's inhabitants. Let's read:
Genesis 25:21 And Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife, because she was barren: and the Lord was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the Lord. 23 And the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.
This prediction of God however did not bind Esau in an iron destiny from which he could never be freed, for the prophecy was based on God's foreknowledge, not on any preventative action that would be taken to preclude Esau from being saved. In other words, at any given moment God can predict who will be saved and who will be lost, based upon what decisions He sees will be made in the future, and so it was in this context that the prediction was thus made. But the fact is that we as mortals are not privy to this information, thus the decision and the choice to be saved rests squarely upon our own shoulders. If for any reason we choose life, we have the assurance from God that all that can be done to save us will be set in motion, for the heavenly intelligences work untiringly towards this end, as is clearly stated in the book of Hebrews. Let's read:
Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
It thus behooves everyone of us to avail ourselves of God's day of grace, for He has given us the freedom of choice to exercise in choosing either life or death, and it is His will that every "Esau" and every "Jacob" should come to repentance and be saved in His kingdom. We therefore end with a passage of scripture which encourages us to make wise choices, so that Christ's great salvation provided us would not have been in vain. Let's read:
Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
May The Lord add His blessing to the study and practice of His every word. God bless!