Faith without religion.
Predestination, Divine Election, and God’s Plan
In a recent teaching, we explored the complex themes of predestination and divine election as seen in Genesis 25 and Romans 9. These passages have long been debated, particularly in the context of Calvinist theology, which suggests that God predestines individuals to salvation or damnation. However, our focus was on understanding God’s actions in history and His overarching plan for humanity.
The story of Rebekah’s twins, Jacob and Esau, serves as a powerful illustration. God tells Rebekah that two nations are in her womb, and the elder will serve the younger. This narrative is often linked to the idea of divine election, where God chooses certain individuals or nations to fulfill His purposes. Yet, it’s crucial to recognize that these choices were not about individual salvation but about God’s plan to bring His Word and His Son into the world.
The biblical narrative shows God selecting certain individuals and nations as a means to achieve His ultimate goal: reconciling the world to Himself through Jesus Christ. This divine orchestration was not about overriding human free will but about setting the stage for His Son’s arrival, fulfilling prophecy, and offering salvation to all.
The teaching also delved into the metaphor of the two trees in the Garden of Eden—the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. This metaphor extends to our lives today, where we are faced with choices that lead to life or death. Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 7 emphasize the importance of discerning true goodness, which comes from God, rather than merely outward appearances.
Ultimately, the message is clear: God’s love and plan for humanity are centered on offering us the freedom to choose life through faith in His Son. This divine love is not about predestining individuals to specific fates but about providing a path to spiritual renewal and eternal life. As we continue to explore these themes, we are reminded of the profound depth of God’s love and the freedom He offers to each of us.
Teaching Script:
Welcome
Prayer
Song
Silence
Okay, before we continue with our verse by verse in Genesis 25 we came across a passages that Paul also appeals to in Romans 9 which has become a “go–to chapter” for Calvinists in their efforts to prove that God predestines all things – including individual people – to heaven or hell.
When we covered Romans 9 back in the day, I think we spent four weeks on the subject and it is there for the taking if you wish to consider it.
So, I am not going to do that again. Instead, I am just going to touch on some simple observances from these passages and then will speak along the way about what God has done verses what God is doing.
Rebekah conceived after what appears to be 19 years and her belly turned into a battle ground and we read that she goes to the LORD and asks Him what is going on?
Then we read verse 23 of Genesis 25 last week, which says,
Genesis 25.23-28
February 19th 2023
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.
Again, we could spend the next five minutes or the next year discussing the notion created by Augustine and promoted by Calvin that goes on about God creating some individuals for destruction and some for salvation, that He is the potter, cite the reformers, and we are the clay, and sometimes he molds beings he loves and sometimes he forms beings that He hates.
This idea is fortified by Paul borrowing from this story of Jacob and Esau, along with somethings that Malaki says and Paul concludes in Romans 9:12-13
“It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
Here is the summary for you to consider and challenge:
When it came to reconciling the world to Himself, and God using the Nation of Israel – beginning with Abraham whom He elected, and then Isaac (who He chose over Ishmael) then down to Jacob (whom He chose over Esau) as a means to bring forth both the written Word to the world and His only Son “the Word made flesh,” God certainly did some selecting and choosing, didn’t He?
This cannot be denied. He said, “no to Hagar and Ishmael and “Yes” to Sarah and Isaac. And from what Malaki writes this was akin to Him hating Esau and loving Jacob.
There is no question that the biblical narrative has God managing (electing/choosing) some things, even some individuals from that time, as a means to bring about His overall plan for the world.
Sometimes He chose individuals and sometimes of whole tribes – even whole nations – listen – as a MEANS to save all – this last line is ignored by the Reformed.
On what basis did God make His choices?
We can make all manner of conjecture whether they be according to His foreknowledge of their choices OR His demonstrable predestining each specific soul to act the way He makes them act, but we cannot truly the basis on which God made His elections – but we can say that they choices were on lines from certain individual, tribes and people.
I suggest that He also chose based on His foreknowledge. But to me the bigger question we must ask ourselves is for what intent and purpose DID God do this?
(long beat)
Taking the whole of scripture to interpret all the various parts we can read the first five words from the all familiar John 3:16
And get some very clear insight on God’s intentions when John cited Jesus saying;
“FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT . . . ”
He selected this person
THAT he chose that person
THAT He sent His only Son . .
In other words, God, as a means to bring about His grand will in a world that in that hands of our first parents only introduced us to sin, death, Satan and hell, God stepped in and through His only begotten Son and “righted” all the factors that tripped our forefathers up and infringed upon their liberty to truly live and make choices – which is something our first parents had.
This would require God to somehow weave in and out of human history, not despotically but rightly, and arrange it (so to speak) as a means to overtaking all that went wrong in the Garden.
This meant bringing in the Last Adam, His only Son, His Word (which is Spirit, and Light, and Love) through a line that would allow His arrival to meet all righteousness, fulfill all prophecy and overcome all the deleterious effects of what our first parents caused.
God is love – He does not act impetuously but patiently and with longsuffering. He is love – He does not hate, so that passage needs to be revisited. And His is NOT a respecter of persons – these things the scripture makes clear.
But He is God, and He does love this world, and His plan to give all of us choice WITHOUT any infringing impediments to our making them.
So to remedy what our first parents introduced, He certainly, in establishing the line through which His Son would come, chose, elected, used, aligned and disarded certain peoples and who came from them as a means to bring about His Word, and therefore prophesy and ultimately a PERSON – Yeshua.
This is the OVERALL CONTEXT behind every passage in the Apostolic Record that speaks to election and/or predestination – again! – God working in and through certain individuals/tribes and nations that He chose/elected/used as a means to bring about His goodwill and victory for the world that He so loves!
Without getting deeper into the weeds of this subject (which we did in our study of Romans) our Calvinist friends (many of whom are devout and diligently seek God) take the passages of scripture that speak to all I just said and make a couple errors – in my estimation – which include:
That God’s “election” and “love” and choice of Jacob but His “hatred” for Esau is literal –
That God literally LOVED JACOB BUT HATED ESAU??
(This position is incongruent with the whole of scripture) AND
That the way God hardens Pharoah’s heart and elects or chooses Esau for hatred and Jacob for love is via predestinational forces that overwhelm the freewill of those involved, and 3, (and most egregiously)
that the models and descriptions of His electing some (which we read about in Romans 9 and Ephesians 1) should be applied to every individual and their salvation instead of the Nation of Israel and its players.
The bottom-line reality is that the passages that speak to predestination or election of the Nation of Israel CANNOT reasonably or contextually be hijacked and then assigned to the destination of every soul and their freedom to choose which is the failure Reformers make.
All we have to do, friends, is look to the conditions of what God did initially in the creation of human beings and the conditions surrounding that state before it fell into corruption when God Himself called the whole thing VERY GOOD as a means to see what God desires for every human being –
To give us life, to bless us unconditionally, and to give each of us the utter freedom to choose “life” or “death.”
In order to return the world He loved to this spiritual (not physical but spiritual state) condition He had to bring Himself into this fallen realm in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
And in order to do that rightly, things had to be aligned. So, He freely wisely created a path and this created path was no different than how He first created the Garden environs. They were according to His will, His ways, and His power.
The created path (which God would freely develop to reconcile the world to himself) has nothing to do with the election of individual human beings to heaven or to hell just but only evidences the loving will of a holy God to bring the world He loves back to a place spiritually that can be considered VERY GOOD.
THIS is the world we live in now – it is VERY GOOD because all of the impediments and obstacles (OUTSIDE of each individuals free will) have been removed by the Victory of His Son –
Sin, Satan, Death, Hell
And every single person has ever since been invited and instructed to eat of any and every tree they desire on this earth, especially the Tree of Life (which is the Life of His Son given on a Tree) OR to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil which in the end leads to death.
Since we are here I want to point some things out about these two trees that all of us have the choice to eat from in our lives.
Jesus taught some amazing principles in in Matthew 7 beginning at verse 15 where he says
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Notice that we have false prophets that appear in “sheep’s clothing” but inwardly they are ravening wolves?
This means that they have the appearance of being good, the appearance of truth and light, but they are inwardly very very selfish, predatory and their hearts are focused on death – your death because inwardly they are ravening wolves.
There are two presentations from the one – they appear as one thing but are really another. They appear good but are inwardly evil.
Jesus goes on and says
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Now, we automatically take this statement and think that Jesus is talking about people who outwardly produce fruits that appear good, you know, feeding the poor and the like.
But in the context of scripture this is a mistake. Remember, outwardly these false prophets LOOK good. That means outwardly their fruits would look good too.
Not the fruits Jesus is talking about assessing people by fruits that originate from God – NOT FRUITS THAT ARE PRODUCED BY THE WILL OF MAN.
Think on this for a minute.
A false prophet IN sheeps clothing would naturally appear to look Good by doing what men think doing good looks like.
But the good fruit of doing the will of God alone in spirit and truth is what Jesus is describing! Remember this. And then listen carefully to what Jesus says next
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
In other words, a single tree, if it is good (and of God) cannot bring forth anything but “good Godly fruit.” Trees don’t produce good fruit on some branches and bad fruit on others. Jesus just said this!
A bad tree, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, is a ravening wolf and it will kill you, no matter what it looks like outwardly! So, a good tree can ONLY bring forth Good Fruit.
Now listen.
God told Adam NOT to eat of the TREE (singular) of Knowledge of GOOD AND EVIL because in the day that they did they would surely . . . DIE!
It is a single tree, but it provides KNOWLEDGE of both GOOD (what?) and evil?
But God said to eat of it, again the fruit from a tree of KNOWLEDGE of GOOD AND EVIL would KILL THEM!
We must ask, Is it possible to consume knowledge of Good and die as a result! It is! Because a single tree can only produce either Good or bad fruit.
If the fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good AND Evil leads to death, then the knowledge of that Good is bad! It will kill you in the end!
Jesus said of beware of false prophets because they appear good. They promote Good. In their wolves clothing they give knowledge on how to be and do good, but to eat of that will result in death.
The false prophets come AS sheep – they offer knowledge of Good. Save your money, eat healthy foods, stay out of debt. Get an education. Get and stay married. Only get one piercing. Make your marriage and family numero uno. Learn to discipline yourself.
All “good things,” right? In this world, yes. They are good. They even work. But they wind up leading to death. WHY? Because they are NOT from the single source of Good that God wants to feed His children – the fruit from the Tree of Life – they are the philosophies from the tree that will amount to death.
Jesus continues at verse 19 and says
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Then listen to what he says next
21 Not every one that saith unto me, “Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
This is eating fro the fruit of the Tree of Life – doing the will of the Father, which is to believe and have faith on His Son and to love – that is the good fruit, as directed by Him.
The other fruit from the forbidden tree is to obtain knowledge of Good and evil without the imput of God, the Spirit, and His Will in our lives.
It is actions and advice (good and evil) without the mind of God involved! It is the product of the spirit of Man and it will only and always LEAD TO DEATH.
Jesus adds
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Are not these things that Jesus just listed – prophesying in His name, casting out devils, doing wonderful works – wouldn’t religious people describe these as good fruits?
But from what Jesus tacitly suggests is such things come from eating of the tree of knowledge of (BOTH) good and evil and they mean nothing!
Jesus greatly narrows the field of those who are His, who eat from the Tree of Life when He adds
24 Therefore . . . whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
The Rock is of course Jesus – build upon Him and Him alone. Eat of Him and Him alone. He is the Bread of Life. He is the living water. Eat of that Tree. And do not worry about building on the fruit of Good (and of course evil) perpetrated by the minds and wills of men but build on the Rock – Him – in faith, through love.
Notice that sand is nothing but pulverized Rock. False prophets will use some of Jesus here, some of Jesus there – it looks something like Jesus, this sand – in their promotion of being Good, doing Good – but their admixtures of Jesus and Man will never support them standing before God seeking entrance to the Kingdom.
I appear to sometime preach religious pluralism in the ministry. If I am taken out of context (and that is a context is spread out over years and years of teaching) it appears that I endorse and support the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil as what justifies us before God.
Not so.
There is only one way into the Kingdom of God. And that is in and through His Son, the Tree of Life. It is not by what appears to be Good. Not by what seems like a reasonable amalgamation of Him and our own flourishes.
And this thought brings us back to God rightly doing what was in His Goodly power to rightly bring us into His kingdom which comes about ONLY in choice, only in liberty and freedom of such, and only through each persons individual desire to truly eat of the Tree of Life and to reject the fruit of knowledge of both “apparent GOOD” and obvious evil.
There is a doctrinal foundation and summary.
To prove the summary we need to see that God is always, always always working through one means in scripture to bring about His singular will.
The one means was there in the Garden – freely eat of the Tree of Life if you want.
It continues on through the text – get on the ark – or die.
The means was one couple, Abraham and Sarah, not two, Abraham and Hagar.
Isaac not Ishmael.
Jacob not Esau.
No amalgamations. Not sharing or mixing good and evil. Only the Tree of Life freely eaten and NEVER the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
In the end we ought to see, then that it is only ONE nation, and Only ONE Messiah of only ONE kingdom, and ONE true and living God who, via his election and choice, brought the world He loved back to the place He said was VERY good.
There is no “Jesus and” folks. One faith. One Lord. One baptism – not several.
Relative to our text today – which is what Paul appealed to in Romans 9, we (again) read:
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.
Like the two trees in the garden, one that brings life and one that brings death, there were two children in Rebekah’s womb whom God himself described as two NATIONS.
Again, one would represent life and one would represent death.
They war with each other, as we war within ourselves, or as Paul so poignantly says about himself as an apostle in Romans 7 beginning at verse 22
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
The word choice of, “two nations” says it all here as we too, are dualistic in our natures, and too are trying to decide which ONE will reign and live.
We will continue to read about the ways and means God will lead, direct, guide and choose some things over others as he prepares the way for His having victory over all things in and through this Nation and what they contribute to the overall cause.
But for now let’s read on and finish the chapter with the getting some insight on these two nations represented by these in utero two boys. (verse 24)
Genesis 25:24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.
31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.
Alright, back to verse 24 where we read
24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
The twins who will be named Esau and Jacob are particularly important here because they generally represent for us our make-up as individuals from the womb.
Notice they come from one womb, from one woman, twins, as it were, and in these we have a picture of what Paul describes himself as “one man” with an inward man (which will become Jacob but was not born good) and the outward man of flesh depicted by Esau, who is the natural man, wild, ferral, strong and older (because that is our first nature – natural from the womb and it arrives before the second nature from above – which is spiritual if it is changed from above like Jacob will be later in his life.)
But from this singular womb Jacob, through whom the promised Nation will come, we have a very interesting individual – one who is born a trickster and a deceiving heel-catcher.
So again, we too are one Tree – full of capacity and ultimately knowledge of producing what the world sees as both Good and Evil – from birth.
Religions focuses on the “so called Good” (which again, leads only to death) and renounces the evil, making it a thing to overcome, shun and avoid.
In fact, religion reigns over the world as a so-called “Good fruit” but it is, in most cases, a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and evil. To eat of it will only lead to death.
No, from birth, both children were deficient. That is why God does not speak to these children as individuals, but speaks to them as nations.
The second nation will walk by faith while the first never does. So in the life of who will ultimately become a “regenerated Jacob” we see the fulfilment of Hebrews 11:6 that plainly says, “it is impossible to please God but by faith” and in the life of Esau we see the reality of the natural or carnal man, of natural nations, natural knowledge, all of which are fruits of the tree of knowledge of Good and evil and therefore amounts to nothing more that an enemy to God.
From the Garden to all of Judaism, through the Apostolic period and out through to this very day, the means by which human beings please God is by faith, walking with Him in faith and loving Him and others through faith.
This God loves.
It is not by the arm of the flesh or a combination of the arm of the flesh and Him.
It is not standing on the sandy soil of this world’s ways. Not by works of might, not by our wisdom, not by artful expressions or by armies – it is the faith to both stand on the Rock and to then allow the Rock, the Tree of Life, the living water to course through and out of us.
Speaking to men of the flesh verses men of faith, Malaki had God say the following about Jacob and Esau in the first chapter of his book
Malachi 1:2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
These terms are meant as expressions of attention and His benevolent hand to the Nation that came from Jacob proving that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him through faith and how the end results of all that the nation Esau brought forth would wind up being “waste for the dragons of the wilderness.”
Listen to how Moses describes this first born son at verse 25
25 And the first came out red, all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.
The name Adam means red clay and I think there is no mistake that this name was given to this natural man. The name is tough in terms of etymology and only leads to conjecture, but it is thought to have been given because as a specimen he was impressive compared to the physical state of his brother. (Verse 26)
26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
Yaccob, actually means, “to defraud, deceive, to supplant, i.e., to overthrow a person by tripping up his heels.”
Again, both boys were natural, both appeared Good and Evil, and both in this state, were unacceptable to God – but the Nations that would come from them would be different because in time we will see that the younger will come to faith and the other will continue on eating from the tree of knowledge of Good and evil.
27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
Esau – a man’s man and all that this world desires. And Jacob is described as a plain man and seems to speak of Him being complete, perfect and upright.
Well, at this point Jacob was anything but these things and they would only come around in Genesis 32 so it is believed that outwardly Jacob appeared good, respectable, orderly and perhaps refined in some ways relative to day to day existence.
28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.
Interestingly, Isaac had a selfish reason from loving Esau – he fed him great food from hunting.
But Jesus teaches that eating of this worlds food will only lead to death, but as the bread of life who provides the world living water, to eat and drink of Him will result in life eternal.
Interestingly, Rebekah loved Jacob – the reason is not given. But lets wrap our time up today by considering what some Jewish scholars have to say about this.
Interestingly, some Jewish scholars suggest that the vast differences between the two boys was the result of parenting.
I recently read from Rabbi Samson Hirsch the following in his commentary on Genesis 25:27:
“The striking contrast in the grandchildren of Abraham may have been due not so much to a difference in their temperaments as to a mistake in the way they were brought up.
It goes on saying –
No attention was paid to their differences while they were little; both were given the same teaching and educational treatment. Had Isaac and Rebekah studied the nature of Esau and spoken to that nature, who can say how different the history of the ages may have been recorded.”
The articles reminds us about something we will read later when it says, “Later in our Torah portion, when Isaac asks Esau to hunt for him so that he [Isaac] may bless him [Esau], he says:
“Take your quiver and your bow and go out into the field and hunt game for me. Prepare for me a tasty dish like I love and bring it to me so that I may eat and so that my soul may bless you before I die.” [Genesis 27:3-4]
Three verses later, when Rebecca recounts this conversation to Jacob, she has Isaac saying, “that I may bless you in the presence of God before I die.”
Then Again, when Jacob, dressed to appear before Isaac like Esau, speaks of God, Isaac responds,
“The voice is the voice of Jacob but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
Then they point out that most reliable commentaries interpret Isaac’s comment, “the voice,” as referring to Jacob’s use of the name of God,” meaning, Jacobs including God in his conversation.
So it could be that Isaac and Rebecca speak of God when talking to Jacob but not when talking to Esau.
That they deem Jacob as being the one who loves God but automatically deem Esau as just a godless man of the earth and that perhaps this parental response to the two boys contributed more to their ways and the ways of the Nation than we might believe.
And we might see ourselves as guilty of this too. That we have children that we favor and relate to based on their proclivities while ignoring the fact that all children ought to be similarly instructed and spoken to in terms of the Living God and His ways.
Perhaps from the get go Esau’s parents considered him as “earthy,” and therefore the father of the older who would become lesser, and treated Jacob as the lesser who would rule the older, and the boys played their respective roles as conditioned.
Perhaps, in their respective attempt to “engage” and relate to each son on their own terms, did they fail to challenge them both to consider God.
It’s an aside, but adds some insight into the end-results of these two babes born to Isaac and Rebekah.
We will continue with this story next week.
Comments/Questions/Answers
Prayer
David
Eric
My family
All others
