by Gary L. Evans
(revised 7/29/2023)
Romans — Part 18
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
What is the conclusion from all this? If God is on our side, who can effectively fight against us? Nobody. Don’t misunderstand, because as individuals, we can be killed, or our lives destroyed. But as a movement, nothing can stop God’s Plan for The Ages which He works through us.
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
We are in line to inherit all things.
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
The word “elect” is from the Greek “ek-lek-tos’” which means “select; by implication favorite.” Our Father does not have respect of persons and treats all of us fairly, but He does have His favorites, His pre-selected ones from The First World.
God is the One Who declared that Abraham was righteous, and Who declares that we are also righteous because we have believed in the Righteousness of God just as Abraham did.
Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Who stands in judgment against us? Satan. But Christ Jesus died and resurrected and ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God Most High, and Who now intercedes as defense attorney on our behalf. So Satan’s condemnation of us has no effect. Where is it written that Satan is our accuser?
Rev 12:9-10 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
John described in his vision of the coming of The Lord’s Day that Satan is our accuser. But he has already been condemned. And we have been redeemed by The Blood of Christ from his control.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
That is a good question. Who will cause us to fall away into apostasy from our faith in Christ? Will trouble in this world cause us to turn away from our God?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Where was this written?
Psa 44:20-22 If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
On an individual basis, we are weak and almost defenseless, and because we choose not to hurt others as they hurt us, we choose not to lie and steal and bear false witness, we choose not to covet the things of others and instead focus our attention on minding our own business. We literally lay down our lives as a sacrifice for the Lord’s Name’s Sake. But what do we gain?
Rom 8:37-39 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our Father’s Love for us is demonstrated by His Divine Plan. Nothing in Heaven or on earth, not even Satan, can stop His Plan from coming to pass according to His Will. And that inevitability operates in our own lives as Christians.
Rom 9:1-3 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
Paul states that he is overwhelmed with sorrow because of his kinsmen, the descendants of Jacob, and could even wish that he was still under condemnation if it would do them any good.
Rom 9:4-5 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
God’s Word came through Israel, and also so did The Messiah. So Israel as a nation was of God’s Election, although they fell away into apostasy. There is a severe warning in this fact.
Rom 9:6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
Not everyone living in the geographical region of Israel were of the twelve tribes. Note that the Kenites dwelt among them and even became among the Scribes at the Temple, and they are the descendants of Cain the first murderer.
Rom 9:7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
Where was this written?
Gen 21:10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
Sarah had had enough of Hagar’s arrogance against her and of Ishmael’s abuse of Isaac who was just a little boy at the time. Ishmael had become quite the bully against Isaac. Hagar was an Egyptian slave woman who had become Abraham’s concubine to bear Ishmael. Sarah insisted on giving her freedom and sending them both away to protect Isaac.
Gen 21:11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
Abraham loved Ishmael, because even though he was born by a concubine, he was Abraham’s first born son.
Gen 21:12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
So not all of Abraham’s descendants are The Children of The Promise God made to Abraham. After Sarah died, Abraham took another wife.
Gen 25:1-2 Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.
So besides Isaac of Sarah who was chosen, there was Ishmael of Hagar and also Midian and his brothers of Keturah, and they were not counted among The Chosen of God.
Rom 9:8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
And of Isaac, Esau was rejected and Jacob chosen. Paul is teaching about Election, which refers back to his explanation that we were foreordained to enter into The New Covenant even before God made this second world.
Rom 9:9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
The Promise was made regarding Isaac who had not yet been born. Sarah was nearly ninety years old at this time, and Abraham was nearly one hundred.
Gen 18:14 Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
And so she did.
Rom 9:10-11 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (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;)
The word “election” is from “ek-log-ay’” which means “(divine) selection (abstractly or concretely).”
Jacob and Esau were just embryos in their mother’s womb, but God had already chosen Jacob and rejected Esau.
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Esau was born a few minutes before Jacob, so he was the firstborn and by tradition was to receive a double portion of inheritance.
Gen 25:23 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.
Rebekah was pregnant with twins, and The Lord told her that the firstborn would be servant to the younger, which was backwards from their tradition.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
God loved Esau less and loved Jacob more thereby choosing Jacob to be The Child of Promise according to Election. How could God love Jacob and not love Esau even before they were born in the flesh? It is impossible to understand until we learn about The First Earth Age. All of us are millions, perhaps even billions of years old. How better could God humble twelve billion angels that had participated in a rebellion that caused the destruction of an entire age on earth than by sending them into animal bodies in a strange world to be tested?
Now Esau would later show no respect for his inheritance and sell it to Jacob for some vegetable soup.
Mal 1:2-3 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.
Many people who have been called have afterward rejected Christ because they considered something in this world as insignificant as a bowl of soup more important than the hope of obtaining Eternal Life. Even after our Lord chose Jacob, whose name was changed to “Israel,” which means “he shall rule with God,” his descendants would eventually fall away into apostasy, desiring the unrestrained (seeming) pleasures of the pagan life-style more than serving God Most High. The Caucasian Christian nations on earth, the “lost” descendants of Israel, are doing precisely the same things this very day. So Jacob in these Last Days is behaving just like his brother Esau throwing away his promised inheritance of Eternal Life for something of no lasting value.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.
Romans — Part 19
Rom 9:14-15 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Where was this written?
Exo 33:18-19 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
The Lord shows favor on whomsoever He chooses. And it would be a serious error for any of us to think that God was somehow being unfair in this, because only God is Righteous. His thoughts and His ways are far above our comprehension, but we can be certain that He is fair and just in all of the decisions He makes.
Rom 9:16-17 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Where was this written?
Exo 9:13-16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
Even Pharaoh, king of Egypt at the time of Moses, was selected for an evil mission, to persecute The Children of Israel, and also so that God would be glorified among all the nations of the world when He destroyed Pharaoh. Note also that in secular history, it is apparent that that same Pharaoh wrote The Book of The Dead which became The Satanic Bible to this day.
Exo 7:10-12 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.
So Pharaoh’s “wise men and sorcerers” performed their magic and turned their rods into venomous snakes in a similar way as what Aaron had done. Satan is a cherub, higher than angel, and Pharaoh worshiped Satan. But our God is The Most High.
Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Our Father has both a positive side to Election and a negative.
Rom 9:19-20 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
This is a quote from Isaiah.
Isa 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
God made us all. It is a stupid thing to do to argue with God.
Rom 9:21-22 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
Ultimately, Satan, alias Lucifer, and all who follow in his ways until the very end will be cast into The Lake of Fire and will consume to ashes from within, and never will they exist again forever.
Eze 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.
Satan will consume to ashes from within, so we know what The Lake of Fire will accomplish.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Rev 20:14-15 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Our Father has shown much patience with The Children of Disobedience, permitting them much time to repent if they will. But at the Set Time the unrepentant will be exterminated, which is The Second Death.
Rom 9:23-25 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
Paul quotes from Hosea.
Hos 2:23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
So our Father intended to call the Gentiles into His Kingdom from In The Beginning. They are of The Election also.
Rom 9:26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
This is quoted also from Hosea.
Hos 1:8 Now when she had weaned Loruhamah, she conceived, and bare a son.
Loruhamah means “not pitied.”
Hos 1:9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.
Loammi means “not my people.”
Hos 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
Israel is as the sand of the sea for multitude in these Last Days, but the Gentiles who were not pitied and not God’s people until after Christ died and resurrected, are since then also part of The Election to enter into The New Covenant. And note that Israel was scattered among the Gentiles and have forgotten their heritage, so it seems that Israel is also among those “not pitied” and “not My people” who will be called The Children of The Living God.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.
Romans — Part 20
Rom 9:27 Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
Only a small number of Israel returned to the land of Judea. All the rest were scattered among the Gentiles.
Rom 9:28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.
Paul quotes from Isaiah.
Isa 10:22-23 For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness. For the Lord GOD of hosts shall make a consumption, even determined, in the midst of all the land.
The word “consumption” is from the Hebrew “kil-law-yone’” which means “pining, destruction.”
Rom 9:29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.
The word “Sabaoth” is from the Greek “sab-ah-owth’” which means “armies; sabaoth (that is, tsebaoth), a military epithet of God.” So this phrase is “The Lord of Armies.”
This is another quote from Isaiah.
Isa 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Israel would have ceased to exist in the memory of history except for the small number of the tribes that returned to rebuild Jerusalem. And even with that remnant that did return so that we still have the record of them, most of the twelve tribes of Israel have forgotten who they are and have forgotten their heritage.
Whenever you see a Caucasian, nine times out of ten you are looking at an Israelite, a descendant of Jacob, or at least a descendant of Abraham. The men still undergo circumcision as a miraculous sign for everyone to acknowledge in these Last Days. And isn’t that strange? Circumcision was to seal The Covenant of Abraham with God. So are most of the white people in this world today with their foreskins cut off descendants of Abraham? Gentiles don’t do that. Think about it. The tribes of Israel are not lost, they just don’t know who they are anymore.
Rom 9:30-32 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
Israel was given The Law but would not obey it from the heart, and eventually fell away into apostasy. But the Gentiles who never heard of the righteousness taught in God’s Law have now entered into The New Covenant.
Rom 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
Paul quotes again from Isaiah.
Isa 28:16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
Christ, The Word of God, is that Stumbling Stone and Rock of Offense. Everyone who trusts in Him will be saved.
Rom 10:1-3 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
Israel did not acknowledge in their hearts God’s Righteousness, which Abraham had acknowledged. Instead, they thought to try to make themselves appear righteous outwardly by practicing their religion by rote ritual rather than from the heart.
Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Christ Jesus is the culmination of what God’s Law was supposed to achieve in the minds of the people, The Living Word of God. But of course, this level of maturity would require the people to obtain a New Heart and Mind.
Whosoever has eyes to see and ears to hear, let him hear.