Whether or not we can provide a self-satisfactory explanation for how it can be that a choice to bestow mercy on one twin and not another before either were born has in it no injustice, there is an appropriate rest in registering the unequivocal answer given, “Is there injustice on God’s part?  By no means!”

At each of the state prison chapels where I have fellowship, my brothers and I have been studying the New Testament letter to the Romans since the middle of October.  In recent weeks we have been slowing the pace to take extra time to reflect on the truths and hope detailed in chapter eight.  It’s no wonder that chapter eight is treasured among the men, when we think of such principles conveyed as…

there being no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus
our having been set free from the law of sin and death
God’s accomplishing for us what the law was powerless to do
having the requirements of the law fully met in us
walking by the Spirit because we are fundamentally of the Spirit and not of the flesh
the Spirit of God in us
life in us because of the Spirit of life and because of Christ’s righteousness
the hope of bodily resurrection
belonging as a child of God, being an heir of God and a co-heir with Christ
the reality that the glory to come far outweighs the sufferings of the present
the hope of the restoration of creation
the Holy Spirit’s help in our weakness, when we still groan under the curse
the certainty of God’s will and purpose to work in all things for the ultimate good of us who love him and to whom has come his saving call
God’s determined will to conform us whom he has known and chosen to the likeness of his Son
the unbreakable connection between predestination, calling, justification, and glorification
the fact that no accuser can bring legitimate charge against those whom God has chosen to justify
Christ’s intercession, as it relates to our justification
the fact that nothing and no one can separate us from the love of Christ

I must admit, though, that it was with some trepidation that I anticipated the questions we would face in chapter nine, which we touched on in each group a week and a half ago.   Chapter nine, of course, has in it the quote from Malachi…
Romans 9:13…“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” [1]
Concerning God’s dealings with Pharoah of old, there is the statement that the Lord…
Romans 9:18…hardens whomever he wills.
The chapter speaks of…
Romans 9:22 … vessels of wrath prepared for destruction…
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What is your own perception of God?  Do you find Him glorious through and in the Lord Jesus?  And isn’t that what we need for salvation and for all the walk of faith?  For repentance. For humility with hope. For worship.  For stability.  For courage. For perseverance.  For gentleness.  For faith’s endeavor.  For generosity.  For compassion.  For mercy and forgiveness.  For purity. We must taste and sense His glory if we are to glorify Him.

The Apostle Paul’s description of God’s grace in his salvation, in 2 Corinthians 4, reveals a most significant truth about what our souls need.  We need to see and know God’s glory through and in Christ.
Believing, hoping, and trusting in God have everything to do with perceiving in Him goodness, worth, majesty, excellence, capacity, holiness, beauty, mercy.   And, of course, not all regard God or His Gospel as glorious.  Pauls’ words in 2 Corinthians 4 are especially helpful, because he reflects first on those among his own kinsmen who were not perceiving the GOOD NEWS as good.  In chapter 3, Paul affirmed that, yes, God had shown himself glorious at Mt. Sinai.  God had delivered His LAW…
2 Corinthians 3:7 …with such, glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ f   ace because of its glory…
But as Paul compared the function and impact of the LAW, which he called a “ministry of death” with the ministry of the Spirit and Gospel, a ministry of life, of conferred righteousness, of freedom and transformation, he held out before them a surpassing glory.
But some were not seeing it.
Even though the very word of God through Moses was being read always in their synagogues, Paul described them like this:
2 Corinthians 3:15 … a veil lies over their hearts.
The Apostle went on to say…
2 Corinthians 4:4 …the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
And here is where the wording touches what is so helpful.  What was it that Satan sought to prevent them from seeing?  Christ’s glory, which is good news.  Christ’s glory was real and objective, seen or not. To hope in it required seeing it, tasting and perceiving Christ’s grace and worth and the goodness of His good message.
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