Readings:
Isaiah 43
Proverbs 18
Romans 9

Isaiah 43

Another promise of future redemption. God promises to preserve the people during their exile, to bring judgment upon the Chaldeans (another term for Babylonians) just like they were the judgment that fell upon the Assyrians.

He says he’ll gather them up from the east and west, the north and south. This comes to pass initially when the Persians allow the Jews to go back to Jerusalem, but fully comes to pass when the Jews from all corners of the globe are in Jerusalem during Passover and hear the preaching of the newly filled with the Holy Spirit saint Peter.

Sometimes the good must suffer along with the evil. Surly not every person in the northern and southern kingdoms were worshiping Baal, but a just like the drought brought on by Elijah and the other calamities that evil men brought on themselves, the good folk had to suffer with them too.

But we know from what we’ve read so far in Romans that suffering is not wasted for the believers, it builds character and endurance and it leads to sanctification.

Romans 9

Paul laments the disbelief in Jesus among the Jewish people, and says he’d give up his own salvation if he could ensure theirs. But he makes a very important distinction here, that not everyone descended from Abraham is a child of Abraham when it comes to the blessings promised throughout the Old Testament, even what we’ve been recently reading in Isaiah about a preserved remnant. All throughout salvation history there’s been some descendants of Abraham that have been chosen by grace to receive and some who’ve been cast out. Those who accepted the graces offered to them became children of the promise, and that is still at work here.

Paul heavily quotes Isaiah in the second half of this chapter to point out that God foretold that he would preserve a remnant and call them according to his purpose.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Isaiah 44
Proverbs 19
Romans 10