Romans 9:4-5 “What Matters”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁴ones who are Israelites, of whom [is] the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the [temple] service and the promises. Of whom [are] the fathers, and out of whom [is] the Christ (that [is], according to the flesh), the One being God upon all, blessed into the ages. Amen.

The passage before us generates a lot of interesting observations. First I want to note that, in these words, we should realize Paul is drawing back the curtain of his heart. He is passionately expressing what his eyes see as of great value in this world, and in so doing, he would allow us to see our world through Jesus’ eyes.

What does this world value? Gold, diamonds, palatial mansions, physical beauty, athletic ability, luxurious clothes, delicious food. In Rev. 17ff, we see the drunken harlot of Babylon, and how is she described? “The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held in her hand a golden cup, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries” (17:4). The book of Esther opens with Ahasuerus throwing a 6-month long party and we’re told “For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty” (1:4). Our world treasures everything the Great Harlot offers!

However, look again at our passage. What are the great benefits Paul would attribute to the Jewish people? Notice, as usual, he lists seven – in this case, the first being that they are “Israelites” and the seventh being that theirs is the ancestry of none other than Jesus the Messiah Himself! I find great value in pausing and realizing that this world sees no value whatsoever in any of these seven blessings! What about me? What about my heart? Which do I see as of greater value? It is true that there is great beauty in this world and there in nothing necessarily wrong in enjoying that beauty, but the question is, “What do I value?” I want to be like Paul and see “the promises” as far greater riches than gold and silver! Moses did. Heb. 11:24-26 would tell us, “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”

As our Bibles lie there open to Romans chapter 9, these two simple verses call out and challenge us all to pause and ask, “What do I really value?” Can I look at the seven blessings listed and say, “Yes, those are things that I see as priceless”? Would I rather have any one of them than all the gold in the world? Thanks be to God that, in the Word, He helps you and me to see the things that truly matter in this life. He would help us to live lives where we accumulate true blessings, not the ashes and straw of this world’s treasures. “Oh, to die the death of the righteous!” exclaimed Balaam. Oh, to die, surrounded by a loving family, with a heart filled with memories of kindnesses and hours spent investing in the lives of others, and knowing that my very next step is to enter the presence of Him who has been all these years my Shield and my exceeding great reward!

This passage calls us to remember what matters!

 

Romans 9:1-4a “Hearts”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹I am speaking truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit, ²there is to me great grief and unceasing pain in my heart, ³for I could wish I myself to be accursed from Christ on behalf of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, ⁴ones being Israelites…

As I’ve been pondering these verses, I find they lead in two directions, both of which I believe are worthy of serious consideration. First of all, there is the obvious challenge I hope we all feel. Paul is actually saying he’d give up his own salvation if only it would bring about the salvation of others. It has been shocking to me to read many, many commentaries on this passage and how many of the authors barely pause to even consider this. A few of the old reformers do and I really like what godly old Robert Hawker wrote (ca. 1798): “Perhaps no passage in the word of God is more difficult to apprehend, than the one at the opening of this Chapter...I must leave the passage as I found it, for I am free to confess it is attended with too much difficulty of apprehension for me to explore.”

I couldn’t have said it better. It is almost hard to believe, yet Paul certainly couched it in certainty with his assertions of “I am speaking the truth in Christ, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit…” Moses was of the same spirit when the Lord would destroy the Israelites after the golden calf incident and he prayed, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed…but now, please forgive their sin – but if not, then blot me out of the book You have written” (Ex. 32:31,32).

These two men would challenge us all to plumb the depths of our own hearts and consider the depth of our love to others around us. The nearest I can find such feelings would be to my children and grandchildren. Would I give up my own salvation and spend eternity in hell, cut off from Christ, if that could guarantee that all of them would choose life and be born again? I want to answer yes, but I find my soul hesitating at the brink, and wonderfully thankful there is no such possibility. As the Lord sternly told Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me I will blot out of My book. Now, you go…” I am glad that is true, that I don’t need to even consider that choice, but it bothers me that my soul hesitates at the brink, when Paul is saying he would!

That leads me back to Robert Hawker’s words, “Perhaps no passage in the word of God is more difficult to apprehend, than the one at the opening of this Chapter...I must leave the passage as I found it, for I am free to confess it is attended with too much difficulty of apprehension for me to explore.” I agree. I guess we can observe that out of the entire human race, only one man was ever truly given that choice and thank God, He did love us that much. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13). “All we, like sheep, have gone astray…and He has laid on Him the iniquity of us all...By His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5,6).

Certainly Paul’s and Moses’ spirit is the spirit of Christ, the spirit of self-sacrifice for the good of others, and certainly we ought to all find our hearts driven to do all the Lord would have us do for the salvation and the good of others. I would pray at this point for the Lord to help me have that spirit, but, again, if I try to push it to such a point as Paul expresses, I have to run back to Hawker’s words: “I must leave the passage as I found it.” Give up my own salvation? Burn in hell forever? “I must leave the passage as I found it.”

Just so it’s said, I am very aware of the many ways people play down the straightforward meaning of these verses, and perhaps in heaven we’ll find out they were right. However, personally I will retreat back to the old adage, “If the plain sense makes good sense, why make any other sense?” As difficult as the straightforward understanding of this passage may be, I feel like all the other attempts to explain it fall into what I call “hermeneutical gymnastics,” – something I sincerely try to avoid. As John Eadie warned, “Interpretations are generally false in proportion to their ingenuity.” I will leave that discussion at that.

The other observation I want to make is to consider our attitude toward the Jewish people themselves. Here in America, it is generally true that those of us who call ourselves Christians hold the nation of Israel in high regard. We should note that has not always been the case. For centuries and including right down to the some of the great reformers like Luther and Calvin, what came out of the Church has been an ugly spirit of animosity toward the Jewish people. “Christ-killers,” they’ve been called. Theologically, the claim has even been made (or at least intimated) that the Jewish people have been forever rejected, and today “God’s people” have become the Church. So, in those people’s minds, the Jewish people today are just a bunch of rejected Christ-haters who no longer own any special place in this world and certainly not in the great eternal plans of the Lord.

It's hard to believe that people who think like that read their Bibles! Ought not the Church exhibit the spirit of Paul that we see here in Romans 9? Looking ahead, an even cursory glance would tell us that the Jewish people not only always have, but always will, hold a place of prominence in the heart of God and His plans for eternity! Unbelievable. I once heard someone say, if you visit the Holy Lands, you should identify yourself as an Evangelical, not as a Christian. Apparently the history of the Church has been toward the Jewish people so vindictive, they assume anyone who calls themself a Christian hates them. They know the “Evangelicals” from America love them, but they see us as someone different than “Christians.” How sad is that?

I think it important to note that the foundation of the Jewish people was the Abrahamic Covenant, which was unconditional and eternal. God promised to bless Abraham and his descendants forever. The Mosaic Covenant is the one that was conditional. In Deut. 28, the Lord promised blessings if they obeyed and warned of terrible curses if they did not. Today, it is that Mosaic Covenant that is in abeyance, not God’s love for Abraham’s descendants. In fact, what Jesus will bring to the Jewish people is the New Covenant, which will then be itself unconditional and eternal.

I also want to note that the Lord promised that Abraham’s descendants would not only be blessed but that they would themselves be a blessing. Many, many of the inventions and technical advances we’ve all enjoyed actually came from Jewish people. Also, while the Lord promised to Abraham, “I will bless them who bless you,” He went on to say, “And I will curse them that curse you.” Personally, I want to respect and appreciate the Jewish people because their presence in this world usually spells blessings for all the rest of us, but I also want to note I certainly don’t want to join the sad group of people who will be cursed by God for how they’ve cursed Israel!

Would that the Church (and people who call themselves “Christians”) had displayed down through the centuries something of the spirit of Paul expressed here in Romans 9. Far from hating the Jewish people, Paul could long to see them saved (just like us) and honor them for their place in the heart and plans of God.

May we who call ourselves Christians exhibit that same spirit.

And Lord, search us and know our hearts,,,and see if there be any wicked way in us, and lead us in the way everlasting. Give us Your heart and lead on, O King Eternal!

Daniel 9:15-19 “Living for His Glory”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁵And now, Adonai our God, who brought out Your people from the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made to You a name as [it is] to this day, we have sinned, we have acted wickedly. ¹⁶Adonai, like the all of Your righteousnesses, may (nah) Your anger and Your fury turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain. Because [of] our sins and the perversions of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people [have become] a reproach to all of ones around us. ¹⁷And now, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant and his requests and cause Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary, the desolate, to the sake of Adonai. ¹⁸Incline Your ear, my God, and hear. Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called [by] Your name on it, because not upon our righteousnesses we cause to fall our requests to Your face, [but] because upon Your great mercies. ¹⁹Adonai, hear! Adonai, forgive! Adonai, give attention and act! For Your sake, my God, do not tarry because Your name [is] called upon Your city and upon Your people!

Finally, Daniel comes to his actual request. Up to this point, his prayer has been consumed with acknowledging God’s greatness and the depth of the Jewish people’s sins.

As I read this prayer, one of the first things that strikes me is how much Daniel knew his Bible. It’s perhaps not as easy to see in English, but in Hebrew there are several places where there is no doubt in my mind Daniel is actually quoting Scriptures. I don’t mean, obviously, that he quotes chapter and verse, but what I do mean is that the particular words and phrases reflect a man who knew his Bible so well, when he speaks, his sentences simply come out in terms which you can find in exactly that order in exactly that context in other places in the Bible. He’s so full of the Scriptures, when he speaks, it comes out Bible!

Just as an example, in v.17, when Daniel says, “And now, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant and his requests…” those are the exact same Hebrew words and in the same order as Psalm 143:1, “Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy…” Not so obvious in English, but it’s there in Hebrew – I am quite sure Daniel has prayed the prayer of Psalm 143 many, many times, so that, when he himself prays, those words come out. Then when he says, “Make Your face to shine on Your sanctuary…” those are the familiar words of the Aaronic Benediction in Numb. 6:24-26, “The Lord bless us and keep us, the Lord make His face to shine upon us...” Those kinds of little bits and snatches of Bible words and phrases are laced all through Daniel’s prayer.

I’m reminded again that, when he said back in verse 2, “I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures…” it wasn’t some isolated case of him opening a scroll. Daniel was a man who regularly had his Scriptures open in front of him, reading and studying and pondering, and that so much that his mind was full even of simply Bible terms. If you and I would have the faith of Daniel, may we realize we need to imitate his Bible study habits before that will ever happen. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” Strong faith grows only in the soil of much Bible reading and study.

All that said, however, I believe Daniel has opened my eyes to something I am not sure I’ve ever really seen before. Read these verses over and over and over and over and probably, like me, you’ll begin to notice something that strikes us as strange. You would think his prayer would read something like, “Lord, You see how much we Your people are suffering here in Babylon! Please bring an end to this awful captivity and let us Your people return to our home! Free us from the rule of these Gentiles and let us again be a strong, independent nation! Help us and free us, Lord!”

If your first thought is, “That’s basically what he’s praying,” go back and read it a few more times. Can you see, too, that Daniel’s greatest concern is not for the suffering of his people, but instead for the glory of God??? What bothers Daniel most about the downtrodden condition of his people is not their suffering but rather the disgrace it brings to the name of the Lord! What bothers him most about the desolation of Jerusalem is how it degrades the name of the Lord. The reason he’s praying for it all to end is to once again show the world that our God is a great God, that He is glorious!

Let me inject that there is nothing wrong with praying specifically for an end to the people’s suffering. The poor leper said to Jesus, “If You are willing, You can make me clean,” and what was Jesus’ answer? “I am willing. Be clean.” Our larger problem in this world is our sins and our sinfulness, yet Isaiah specifically said, “By His stripes, we are healed” (53:5) and much of Jesus’ earthly ministry was giving sight to the blind, healing the sick, and even raising the dead. “As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him” (Psalm 103:13). The Lord Himself tells us we should be “Casting all your cares upon Him, for He cares for you” (I Peter 5:7). That last phrase says literally, “for it matters to Him concerning you.” Jesus cares. Pray on, though your prayers be the senseless babbling of a 2-year old. Your Father just loves to hear your little voice. Just spill your heart.

At the same time, however, our Father does want us to grow up. For myself, I believe what I’m seeing in Daniel is the realization that there is a much larger issue at stake here, even in my suffering, and that is the glory of God. I would suggest it’s easy to say I want the Lord to be glorified. I would suggest statements like that have even become cliché in the Church today. However, do we really mean it? Is that truly what we care most about? For myself, I don’t know that I’ve ever really seen that. Have I ever really done what I did because I sincerely cared about the glory of God? I’m afraid the honest answer is no. Like I said, I feel like Daniel’s prayer has cracked open a door I’ve never really known was there. It opens a window through which I’m not sure I’ve ever really peeked.

Note how he says things like: “O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteousness, turn away Your anger from Jerusalem, Your city.” He says, “Our sins have made Jerusalem and Your people an object of scorn to all those around us.”  He says, “For Your sake, O Lord, look with favor on Your sanctuary.” Finally he concludes with, “For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”

While I am quite sure Daniel was deeply grieved by the oppression and sufferings of his people, he could lift up his eyes and see there was a much larger issue at stake. Just so it’s said, I also am quite sure Daniel understood that God’s glory is always the greatest good of His people. For the Lord to be glorified would indeed result in blessing on His people. However, Daniel could see that it was truly God’s glory that was most at stake and that, it turns out, was the sincere focus of this great model prayer.

Obviously, for us all, maturity will mean learning to actually value God’s glory even above our own suffering. That is no doubt part of the “secret” of what made Daniel who he was. No wonder Daniel is praying this prayer, even though he himself is probably 85 years old and cannot ever see the benefits that will come as the Babylonian Captivity ends! No wonder. It’s not so much an end of the suffering that concerns Daniel, but rather the glory of God in this world – which is by its very nature timeless (and has nothing to do with his age, or even his presence)! No wonder Daniel seems so calm, so resolute in his faith regardless of his circumstances. His heart has moved on to the much larger issues of God’s glory in the events of his life.

 Wow. I have a LOT to learn. I do want to be more like Daniel. Studying his prayer greatly encourages me to just keep studying the Bible, but now he’s challenging me to take what I would call a step of maturity, to actually make choices sincerely moved by the glory of my God. That seems almost insurmountable to me. On the other hand, knowing the Lord, I am sure if we would ask Him, He would be more than happy to teach us! May we truly learn what it means to live for His glory! Daniel did. We can too!

 

Daniel 9:11-14 “Even More on This Business of Doing Wrong”

 Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹¹and the all of Israel has overstepped Your law and turned aside, not hearing/obeying in Your voice, and the curse has poured out on us and the oath which [is] written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, because we have sinned to Him. ¹²And He has confirmed His words which He spoke (intensely) against us and upon our judges who judged us and to bring on us a great evil which has not been done under the all of the heavens like it has been done in Jerusalem. ¹³Just as [it is] being written in the Law of Moses, the all of the evil in this has come on us and we have not entreated the face of the LORD our God to turn from our iniquities and to give attention in Your truth. ¹⁴The LORD watched on the evil and He brought on us because the LORD our God [is] righteous on the all of His doings which He does and we have not listened/obeyed to His voice.

Continuing to ponder on this neglected subject of our doing wrong – I think some things are worth noting, particularly as regards our sinfulness and how we deal with it. In v.11, Daniel says, “All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.” Note this is a case where, as Daniel says, “,,,the curses and sworn judgments…have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.”

 The case before us is one where the person(s) very specifically and deliberately violated what they knew to be the Lord’s way, and they are now suffering very specifically for those sins. This is the same situation David found himself in, confessing his sins regarding Bathsheba, “Against You, and You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight…” (Ps. 51:4). Nathan told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you…’” David very specifically sinned and would be very specifically punished for that sin. We should note that, when he replied, “I have sinned against the Lord, the same God told him, “The Lord has forgiven your sin...but because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die” (II Sam. 12:11-14).

Several things to note, first of all that both Daniel and David were good repenters.  David’s prayer there in Psalm 51 reads the same as Daniel’s here in Daniel chapter 9. In both cases, they both clearly owned their sins, both humbly accepted the just punishments for those sins, and both enjoyed the Lord’s wonderful forgiveness. David was still called “A man after God’s own heart” (I. Sam.13:14; Acts 13:22),  and Daniel was still told, “…you are highly esteemed” (v.23). Both understood what we noted earlier that there is no need for “Denial or Despair,” but that they could thoroughly repent in hope. Paul would later say, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death” (II Cor. 7:10). Lord, help us all to be good repenters!

We should inject here the very Biblical observation that God’s reason for allowing pain in our lives is not always a just punishment for willful sins we’ve committed. Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” and Jesus answered them, “Neither…but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life” (John 9:2,3). Paul said in II Cor. 12:7, “To keep me from becoming conceited…, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.” In the first case, the pain had nothing to do with either the man born blind or his parents, but rather it was for God’s glory. In the second case, the pain was specifically to prevent sin in Paul’s life. In a very context of pain, we read, “And we know that all things work together for good” and that God’s purpose in it all is “that we should be conformed to the image of His Son…” (Rom. 8:28,29). As I read and studied the Bible, I used to keep track of the reasons why God allows pain in our lives, and I believe at last count I was up to twelve!

So let us not think in our lives or the lives of others that whatever pain they suffer must be because they’ve sinned. That is only one out of many reasons why we may find pain in our lives. On the other hand, even at our best, we’re still sinners, both in our very nature and in the choices we make throughout our day. Being a sinner and knowing my heart is “desperately wicked and deceitful above all things,” the possibility that I’ve brought trouble on myself is always an option. Because of that, it is very easy when suffering to fall into the “Despair” option, wrecking our joy and our lives, worrying over “How have I sinned that all this should happen?”

We need to keep that option open and always pray humbly asking the Lord to show us our sins, but here is what I decided many years ago: I do not believe the Lord is One to sadistically bring pain in our lives then play a game of, “It’s up to you to figure out how you must have sinned,” leaving us to wallow in the misery of searching out some “secret sin” we’ve committed. It is interesting that David said concerning Bathsheba, “My sin is ever before me…” (Ps. 51:3). The minute Nathan said, “You’re the man,” David replied, “I have sinned against the Lord” (II Sam.12:13). David knew it all along, he just didn’t want to admit it. I believe, if we suffer in any way, and if it really is because of some specific sin we’ve committed, we’ll know exactly what it was and also there will be a very clear connection between what we did and why we’re suffering.

In other words, the Lord won’t play “cat and mouse” with us. If we’re willing to be humble before Him, that specific sin will be obvious to us and the consequences will be very clearly connected to it. If I say to Him, “Search me, O God, and know my heart, and see if there be any wicked way in me,” He will gladly answer. If I sincerely and humbly (to the best of my ability) pray that prayer and the Lord brings nothing to mind, then I can go on with my life, trying to say to Him, “Then teach me whatever it is You want me learn, or use me however You’re wanting to use me.” I can spend my time in the joy of knowing “All things work together for good,” and that, in it all, His ultimate purpose is to make me more like Jesus, to allow me to “share in His holiness.” Although we are sinners and justly deserve hell all day every day, I would suggest to you that, if you sincerely want to follow Jesus, you’re in the Word, and regularly in prayer, there will actually be few times in your life where you are specifically suffering for specific willful sins. Most of the time, it’s just a matter of being sinners living in a sinful world. God told Adam and Eve, “In dying, you shall die,” and it is true to this day that we literally live dying. However, our great God takes the very sinfulness of our hearts and miseries we swim in to accomplish His great eternal purposes in our lives!

So, Lord help us to be good repenters, like Daniel and David, but also keep alive in us always “the joy of our salvation.” Help us to deal decisively with our sins, but may we also rejoice constantly in knowing we are “dearly loved children,” and hear Him saying, “The Lord your God in the midst of you is mighty; He will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zeph. 3:17).

Daniel could deal decisively with his sins, yet also be a man exemplary for his love and faithfulness. Let us “go and do likewise!”