Further Observations on Reprobation
Part 3
God’s purposes are eternal, infallible and immutable.
They
will come to pass.
God is not like a man who throws out a ‘trial balloon’ to see how things go before he sets things officially in motion.
He knows exactly what, where, when, how and why certain specifics are needed to make the end of a thing infallibly to come to pass.
(
N.B. Adam’s trial was not for the edification of God. Rather, it was for the edification of Adam, Eve and all mankind. Lesson to be learned: Man needs more than commandments as motivation to render obedience. Man needs the effectual grace to actually comply.)
Only the true God is capable of executing His eternal will precisely as purposed, though it may be several thousands of years before its final and ultimate accomplishment.
‘Failure’ is not in God’s vocabulary, nor is it an attribute which can be assigned Him without blaspheming and excoriating His glorious perfections.
Our Pelagian/Arminian/non-Cal friends refuse to acknowledge the fact that by preaching a God who sends His Son for the alleged express purpose of saving every human being ever born through an alleged universal atonement, they preach a Savior whose perfections and shed blood are insufficient to achieve God’s purpose.
Furthermore, they preach a God whose eternal plan is doomed to failure because He evidently did not take into account all the means necessary to achieve the end, which is salvation.
For many lack the necessary faith and repentance conducive to salvation.
The beginning of the means to the end which is salvation is faith in the perfect work and person of Christ Jesus.
And that saving faith comes by hearing the Word of God.
And yet the Word of God was purposefully not preached to the OT Gentiles, which guaranteed their damnation (Acts 14:16).
Today the Word of God is preached to all, yet rejected by most.
Though Scripture is abundantly clear and explicit that God will infallibly achieve all His purposes (Isaiah 46:10; Psalm 33:11; Daniel 4:35; Proverbs 21:30; Ephesians 1:11), our adversaries would preach a God and Savior who falls disastrously short of achieving the very pinnacle of His purpose in creation: the salvation of mankind procured by His Son Jesus Christ.
But rather than ignore the extremely disturbing fact that many professing Christians would preach such a false view of the true God, thereby allowing this false teaching to proliferate without counter arguments, the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Paul, dispels such abhorrent teachings in Romans 9.
Any honest Christian will admit the fact of Israel’s rejection of Christ to be quite alarming on several levels.
First, it speaks to the willful blindness and depravity of men evidenced in the killing of the promised Messiah.
Secondly, and more importantly, it speaks to the apparent failure of God to save His chosen people.
Paul readily acknowledges, Israel, and Israel alone, was privileged to having been given the revelation, care and love of the true God.
Yet they killed Christ, both the true Son of God and true Son of man.
Paul is not willing to allow such a seeming paradox to remain unexplained:
Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel (verse 6).
Paul refutes the notion that God has failed in His purpose to save all Israelites.
It was never God’s purpose to save all Israelites.
Rather, Paul makes the distinction between Israel of the flesh and Israel of the promise.
The true children of God are those whom God chooses.
It is those and only those whom God purposed to save.
His choice is not based on their birth status.
Though Ishmael was equally the son of Abraham according to the flesh, it would be Isaac to whom was given the promise of eternal life as a chosen child of God (verses 7-9).
Furthermore, Paul eliminates any controversy over possible favoritism or other cause for choosing one over the other.
For some, desperately seeking a reason for God’s choice, may be inclined to think that since Ishmael and Isaac had two different mothers, God possibly favored Sara because of positive feelings He may have had for her, thus causing Him to choose her son, Isaac, over Ishmael.
Thus, Sara was probably the cause of His choice.
Or some others may reason that possibly God’s rejection of Ishmael was attributed to his unholy behavior which God observed as he was growing up, long before the birth of Isaac.
Thus, Ishmael’s evil works were probably the cause of God’s choosing Isaac over Ishmael.
But Paul puts to rest these two humanist, rational explanations by examining the case of the next Patriarch, Jacob.
Jacob and Isaac were born of the same mother, Rebecca, and the same father, Isaac.
The distinction of two mothers was eliminated.
And since the boys were born at the same time, it was not possible Esau’s bad behavior was exhibited for years before the birth of Jacob, thereby potentially influencing God’s decision to choose Jacob over Esau.
Paul explains how God made His choice of Jacob:
For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth (verse 11).
Though both boys were made of the same sinful lump, from the same sinful mother and father, Jacob was chosen for salvation according to God’s eternal electing purpose.
The purpose of election is to infallibly secure the end, which is salvation.
The means to infallibly achieve that end is included in the decree of election.
God predestines the means to the end.
The cause of election has nothing to do with foreseen faith or good works.
Rather, its cause is in the ineffable, impenetrable mind and will of God’s good pleasure.
His will has no cause outside Himself.
Both His will and Being are eternal.
That which is eternal has no cause.
The love of God for Jacob is eternal.
The love of God for all His Elect is eternal.
God’s love is eternal.
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee (Jeremiah 31:3).
God’s love is not due to foreseen faith or love on our part.
Rather, we love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
His love for us caused Him to will our salvation.
in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will (Ephesians 1:4-5)
To that end He sent Christ to save His people (His Elect, the children of promise) from their sins. (Matthew 1:21).
Christ has saved and will continue to save all those chosen and given Him by the Father (John 17).
The necessary means to that end are freely given the Elect, according to His perfect time and place, in order to infallibly achieve their salvation.
And that purpose to save certain, specific individuals was eternal, as was the purpose to give them the necessary saving graces in Christ Jesus before the world began (2 Timothy 1:9; Phil. 1:29; Acts 13:48).
Conclusion
It was never the eternal purpose of God to save all people ever born.
Had it been His eternal purpose, all would be saved because God cannot fail in executing His purposes.
God has never and will never fail to secure the salvation of His people, the true Israel of God, consisting of Elect Jews and Gentiles.
Reprobation is the eternal purpose of God to reject, hate and eternally punish certain specific men for their sins.
The Reprobate, who sinned in Adam as did the Elect, God determined to pass by and reject before they were born, before they had personally done evil.
Their destiny, the Lake of Fire, was determined by God from eternity.
They will be eternally punished for their willful sins, whether in word, thought or deed.
All men have predetermined ends.
Some are destined to eternal joy.
Most are destined to eternal misery.
Double predestination proves both the goodness and severity of God (Romans 11:22).
To be continued………..
