Romans 11: God's Actions in History, How He Spares His People Through His Own Gracious Choice.

I'm Rich Pierce, and this is Let the Scriptures Speak. The book of Romans is rightly referred to as the Gospel according to the Apostle Paul. However, it is much more than that. The book serves to teach us how we are to be thinking in a kingdom-driven mindset.

Paul teaches us by using fact statements that establish eternal truth. He explains the Old Testament scriptures, both historically and theologically. In this book, the Apostle bridges generations of time in order to bring vital truths to the people of God, as well as to the lost and dying world around us.

In this book, we find the Christian worldview—how we look at God, how we look at man, and how we understand what God has done for man, and why. This particular study will begin in chapter 11, so a chapter summary of what has come before can be helpful.

Chapter 1 begins by telling us of the wrath of God that is being revealed and that man is without excuse. Chapter 2 explains the significance of the breaking of the law and focuses on the guilt of the Jews.

Chapter 3, that God's law condemns everyone and that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And Paul presents the law of faith concept. In chapter 4, he presents the crediting of faith as righteousness, and he uses Abraham as his example.

In chapter 5, the reconciled enemies of God through Christ discussing federal headship, Adam versus Christ, death is tied to the fallen and to Adam, life is tied to the resurrection of Christ. In verse 20, we are told that the law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Chapter 6 describes the slavery to sin versus the slavery to righteousness. It is a juxtaposition of the wages of sin, death, versus the gift of eternal life as a gift of God. Chapter 7 describes the human nature, the struggle of the believer, serving the law of God on the one hand versus the law of sin on the other.

The true struggle is between that which is spiritual and that which is flesh. Paul uses his own struggle as an example, his desire to do that which is good, but then he does what he hates. Chapter 8 tells us that nothing can separate us from God's love because God is the one who justifies.

Chapter 9 explains the sovereignty of God in salvation. This bigger, wider picture comes into play. We see in verse 18,. So then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. He gives examples of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Esau, even the Pharaoh in verse 17, giving an ongoing testimony through time.

Each are presented as instruments in the hands of God. Verse 23 tells us all of this is that he might make known the riches of his glory upon the vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory.

And then chapter 10 tells us about the preaching, hearing, confession and belief as God's process of bringing about faith and conversion of his people. Verse 17 specifically says so faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ.

Has God Rejected His People?

And in chapter 11, Paul, using Elijah as his example, goes deep into the true disposition of Israel, explaining who God's true people are, always have been, and why. As we begin this study, it is important to note that this text is abused from several perspectives.

Two to note, one view outright ignores its backstory and the impact that it has on the apostolic message, while another view, driven by the fever dreams of an idyllic world vision, wants to bring that backstory forward and implement it in our day.

As we are about to see, the message found in this text won't allow for either to prevail. With that said, let's dig in. Now, Paul has already set the stage for our study here in chapter 9, the beginning portion of chapter 9.

I want to remind you that in verse 1, he explains his desire, his feelings, his wanting, Israel, to be saved. Let me read that for you. In verse 1, I am telling the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit that I have a great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, the glory and the covenants, and the giving of the law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is God over all, blessed forever, amen.

Hear this. Hear this carefully. Verse 6, but it is not as though the word of God has failed. I'm going to read that again, it is not as though the word of God has failed, for they are not all Israel, who are descended from Israel, nor are they children, because they are Abraham's seed, but through Isaac your seed will be named, he quotes Genesis 21 -12.

So how can this be? How can they not be the children because they're Abraham's seed? Isaac's seed, well, he's Abraham's seed, I don't understand. And now Paul delivers us a fact statement in verse 8. We need to understand verse 8 top to bottom.

That is, the children of the flesh are not the children of God. I'm going to read that again for you. The children of the flesh are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are considered as seed.

So keep that in mind as we move forward with the study. Now, a key question to this day is the question we have right here in verse 1 of chapter 11. And I'm going to go ahead and read this for you. So let's go ahead and break it down.

I say then, has God rejected his people? May it never be. May it never be. Now, we've seen this in Romans before, this phrase, may it never be. Meganoita is the Greek. Meganoita. It is a statement of strong negation.

A statement of strong negation. Now, you may have heard phrases like perish the thought or something along those lines. Don't think that way. This is much more than that. It is an idea of let it not even have a beginning of life.

Let it not have any genesis whatsoever. Let the thought never exist in anyone's mind. So has God rejected his people? Paul's answer to that is Meganoita. May it have no genesis. For I too, he says, am an Israelite.

So he appeals to his ancestry. There I am. I've got some new toys here I'm playing with here. So I got to be able to learn how to point at things so that I'm... There we are, right there. Still, you know, it's the weatherman thing.

I'm trying to figure out where the green screen is and all this and get the text right. Well, I'll get there.

I promise.

So he makes an appeal to his ancestry. But there's a context to his appeal. I too am an Israelite, a seed of Abraham. So he's using that word again, seed, of the tribe of Benjamin. And he quotes Psalm 94, 14.

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. This is, again, another fact statement. Psalm 94, 14. So the question now is, who are his people? Who is he talking about? Is he talking about ethnic Israel?

Well, he's already talked about that because he's appealed to his ancestry here. Okay, so how does that fit in? We're going to find out. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the scripture says in the passage about Elisha, how he appeals to God against Israel?

Now, this is... Don't get confused here. So he's appealed to his ancestry. He's appealed to being an Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin. Okay, but now he's pointing us to a text of scripture that goes to Elisha and Elisha's plea against Israel to God.

Okay, don't you know about this? Well, he's going to give us a summary of that coming up. Lord, he says, Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have torn down your altars. And I alone am left and they are seeking my life.

Well, who's they? They, the citation comes from 1 Kings 19 .10. And we're going to look at that in a moment. I've got that right here for you. Okay, kind of cool. They're seeking my life. But what does the divine...

The Complaint of Elijah

What does the divine response say to him? The divine response. This phrase, you really need to tattoo this on your brain as we move forward. Keep asking yourself, what is the divine response? The divine response is, as he quotes, I have left for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

And that's found in 1 Kings 19 .18. So it is this particular verse in Romans 11 is often referenced as God's mercy as he has bestowed it upon his chosen people. And that's very true. But some might say that only this verse is in play here, that there's nothing around the source in 1 Kings that we need to be concerned with.

The problem with that is the way in which Paul has invoked these two passages. And so let's put this in perspective here. Again, or do you not know what the scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?

Against Israel. Now, these are bookends. So on the one hand, the complaint, all right. Elijah's complaint is found in 1 Kings 19 .10 and 14. The response, that divine response is referred to is found in verse 18.

What's in between that? Well, what's in between in verses 15 through 17? And they are key verses and we need to understand that. So when we talk about invoking here, what we have here, I'm going to get this, I really am.

What we have here and what we have here are what is known as bookends. He didn't quote the whole thing, but the fact that he's bookended it, gives us an idea that we need to go back and look at the backstory.

We need to look at all of what's been in between the bookends so that we see the bigger picture, okay? And we're going to do that today. So let's take a look at 1 Kings 19 verses 9 through 18. Just to set the stage for you in the divine response concept here.

Elijah has killed the prophets of Baal and now Jezebel is hunting him after swearing to take his life. Jezebel is the queen of Israel, by the way. Ahab's the king of Israel. It seems as though Jezebel tends to be a little bit more aggressive in her role as queen as we read about the two of them than Ahab the king is.

So keep that in mind as we move forward. So Elijah, he's running, he's fleeing for his life and he's on the run and ends up hiding in a place called Horeb. And so let's begin the text here. Verse 9, then he came there to a cave and lodged there and behold the word of the Lord, the word of Yahweh came to him and he said to him, Elijah, what are you doing here?

Boy, I've got New American Standard tattooed on my brain so much I'm flipping things around here. So I'm going to start over here. Let's go back. Then he came there to a cave and lodged there and behold the word of Yahweh came to him and he said to him, what are you doing here, Elijah?

And he said, I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts, for the sons of Israel. Remember I asked that question, who they are? That's who they are. The sons of Israel are the they, okay? The sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, pulled down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword and I alone am left and they seek my life to take it away.

So he said, go forth and stand on the mountain before Yahweh and behold Yahweh was passing by and a great and strong wind was tearing up the mountains and breaking into pieces the rocks before Yahweh.

But Yahweh was not in the wind and after the wind an earthquake but Yahweh was not in the earthquake. Then after the earthquake a fire but Yahweh was not in the fire and after the fire a sound of a thin gentle whisper.

Now it happened that when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold a voice came to him and said, what are you doing here, Elijah?

Then he said, I have been very zealous for Yahweh the God of hosts for the sons of Israel have forsaken your covenant, pulled down your altars and killed your prophets with the sword and I alone am left and they seek my life to take it away.

And Yahweh said to him, so we've heard Elijah's complaint. This is going on and consider the picture of what he's saying. They killed everybody and it's me against them. I'm the last one of your people that's left.

Well, what about those people? They're the sons of Israel and in the communication with Yahweh, Elijah is saying to Yahweh, I'm the only one that is true to you. I'm the only real one. Keep that in mind as we move forward.

So Yahweh said to him, go return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. So here we have in the divine response, verse 15, it's that 15 through 17 part that isn't part of Paul's narrative or is accounting.

Okay, but it's there, it's bookended. Okay, this is God giving Elijah orders, marching orders. Okay, go to the wilderness of Damascus and you will arrive and anoint Hazael king over Aram.

Wait, what?

You want me to do what? Aram is an enemy of Israel. Go and anoint an enemy king is the first command, the first order. Okay, go do that. Okay, and then Jehu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint king over Israel.

Okay, so we got an enemy nation Aram, you're going to go and anoint this guy king over them and now you're going to anoint Jehu, the son of Nimshi, as king of Israel. Who's king of Israel right now? Oh, Ahab.

And the queen is? Oh, Jezebel. Yeah, and so we have this situation here where basically God is, not basically, God is telling Elijah, I want you to go and you're going to appoint the king who will overthrow the king.

I believe we call that a coup. God is ordering a coup. We're going to cover the details of that on a later episode. But for now, let's continue on. Okay, Elijah, let's see, where am I here? And Jehu, the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint king over Israel.

And Elijah, the son of Shaphat, of Abba Mahaloah, you shall anoint as prophet in your place. So, why? Why would God have him appoint a new king over an enemy nation? Why would he have him appoint a new?

Well, we get the idea of why he would appoint a new king over Israel because the current one's corrupt as they get. Okay, and now your successor. So, why all of this, though? What's coming next is God explaining the judgment to come.

This is God giving orders. And this is God telling Elijah, this is what I'm about to do with these men. They are the instruments in the hands of Yahweh. Verse 17, and it will be that the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu, will put to death, shall put to death.

And the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha, shall put to death. Yet I will, there's the quote, there's the bookend. Yet I will leave 7 ,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.

So while Elijah believed that he was the only one left, he didn't know that there was 7 ,000, but God did. Okay, so keep in mind here as we look at this, look at the picture. God, Yahweh, is about to wage war upon the people of Israel, the ones who have apostatized.

They have apostatized and they've gone over to this enemy deity, this false god, and they've bowed the knee to Baal. Why did they do that? Because their king led them there. Their king led them there, and the punishment for that is to die.

They are all to die. And there are three instruments in the hand of Yahweh that will accomplish those deaths. They are Heziel, Jehu, and Elisha. And that's what he's just explained here. So let's see this unfold.

The Divine Response and the 7,000

1 Kings 19, chapter 19, verse 19, the next verse. Okay, we have Elisha coming into the picture here. First stop, Elijah goes to Elisha. So he went from there and found Elisha, the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with 12 pairs of oxen before him.

And he was with the 12. And Elisha passed over to him and threw his mantle on him. Now, the significance here should be clear. But if you're not clear, the idea here is the act of taking his mantle and giving it to Elisha is basically taking his office of prophet and giving it to this other man.

And anointing, this is the same thing as anointing him. So God gave Elijah the order to go and anoint Elisha prophet in his place. And that has just now happened. Okay, so verses 20 and 21 tell us that Elisha says goodbye to his parents.

In the process, he sacrifices a couple of oxen, feeds the people, they have a celebration. And then from there, verse 21b, he arises and followed Elisha and ministered to him. Elijah and ministered to him.

Okay, so he goes along with him. And we move along from there. So now let's turn to 2 Kings chapter 8, specifically more verse 7. The focal point here is 11 through 13. But I want to read the whole thing into your hearing here so you get an idea of what's going on here.

Because it's actually quite fascinating to see Elisha, not Elijah, Elisha carrying out the next portion of this. I'm sure that Elisha really had a wonderful idea about going over to Aram, but Elisha does.

Okay, and here we go. So Elisha came to Damascus, verse 7. Now Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, was sick, and it was told to him, saying, the man of God has come here. Now, I want you to take notice of the duplicity going on here as this unfolds.

And the king said to Haziel, take a present in your hand and go to meet the man of God and inquire of Yahweh by him, saying, will I be restored to life from this sickness? Enemy king who worships a fake deity.

And he found out that a Jewish prophet is in town. He's sick. And he sends his aid over to talk to him whether or not he's going to get over this. Okay, so Haziel went to meet him, picking up at verse 9, and took a present in his hand, even every kind of good thing of Damascus, 40 camels, 40 camels loads.

And I tripped over that, 40 camels loads. And he came to and stood before him and said, your son, Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to you saying, will I be restored to life from this sickness? And Elisha said to him, here's the duplicity, go, say to him, you will surely be restored to life.

How nice. But Yahweh has shown me that he will certainly die. So go tell him he's going to live, even though we know he's going to die. And he fixed his gaze steadily on him until he was ashamed. And the man of God wept.

Why would he weep? Oh, it's going to tell us. Then Haziel said, why does my Lord weep? Then he said, because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel. So Elisha tells Yahweh, all the sons of Israel are looking to kill him.

They've done all these terrible, horrible things. Elisha has to know all these things. But yet he mourns what's to come, the judgment to come anyway. What's interesting here is this. Elisha calls what Haziel is about to do evil.

But yet that evil, that judgment, that evil for Haziel that he will carry out is at the order and command of God. God's commanded this to be done. These are the kinds of things that we describe as God using means.

It's the same kind of concept that we see in Genesis 50 -20 when Joseph's brothers come to him in fear that he's going to punish them or have them all killed. In Genesis 50 -20, Joseph answers them. It says, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.

So in the same scenario here, we have Elisha identifying the evil that Haziel will carry out as he does these terrible things. And he's going to explain this. But the evil that Haziel will intend, God means for good, even the good of judgment, because God is glorified in judgment.

So let's continue on with the text, because I know the evil that you will do to the sons of Israel. Their fortifications you will set on fire and their young men you will kill with the sword. Their infants you will dash in pieces and their pregnant women you will rip up.

Now, if you don't believe me on this, if you think this is just a little too much, that I'm putting Yahweh together with Haziel in these acts, I want you to consider here the idea that we're in 2 Kings chapter 8.

In chapter 10, verses 32 through 33, it reads this, in those days, Yahweh began to cut off portions from Israel. In those days, Yahweh began to cut off portions from Israel. How did Yahweh cut those portions off?

And Haziel struck them throughout the territory of Israel from the Jordan to the east toward the sunrise, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, the Reubenites, and the Manassites from Arur, I can't pronounce that word, which is by the valley of Arnon, even Gilead and Basham.

Who did these things? Yahweh did these things. Who did these things? Haziel did these things. The acts of man are compatible with the acts of God. This is what we're explaining to you. These things are right here.

You can't get around that. Oh, Rich, but it doesn't really mean that Yahweh did this. Oh, Rich, but you can't be saying that this or can't be saying that that. Look, it says what it says. I have to deal with it.

Just because you don't like it, doesn't give you permission to ignore it. You have to confront it. Verse 32, in those days, Yahweh began to cut off portions of Israel and the instrument in his hand, that blunt instrument in his hand is Haziel.

It's just there. There's just no getting around it. And again, we come back to the idea here, this is why Elisha weeps before Haziel because he knows that he's going to do this. We'll connect it back.

Who chose Haziel? Yahweh did. Who sent Elisha to go anoint Haziel? Yahweh did. Why did he choose him to do these very things?

It's all there.

It's very explicit. You can't get around it. Yahweh is in control of all of it, okay? Keep that in mind again as we move forward. So here's Haziel's response. Then Haziel said, but what is your servant who is but a dog that he should do this great thing?

And Elisha said, oops, go back. And Elisha answered, Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Aram. Yahweh has shown me that you will be king over Aram. More duplicity coming. So he went from Elisha and came to his master and he said to him, what did Elijah say to you, okay?

And he said, he said to me that you will surely be restored to life. It's all wonderful. King, it's gonna be great. Here we go. Now it happened that on the following day, he took the cover and dipped it in water and spread it on his face.

So he died. What just happened here? So we have a situation where Haziel has told the king he's gonna live. And that's what Elisha told him to tell him. He's gonna live. But Elisha also said he's gonna die.

Well, we have a situation here where it would appear that Haziel hastened things.

Hastened things.

He took the cover and he dipped it in water and spread it on his face. He smothered the man. The water bordered him to death, maybe. I don't know. I don't think that's probably not a good comparison. But essentially, Haziel hastened his death.

And in this manner, in this duplicitous manner, Haziel became king in his place. Next stop, Jehu. Elisha's servant now anoints Jehu. Now this is interesting to me. Remember something. Number one, Elisha has already explained in his testimony before Yahweh that all the prophets have been killed.

All the prophets of Israel have been killed by Ahab, Jezebel, and the prophets of Baal. Okay, so let me read this first. In 2 Kings chapter 9, so 8, 9, stuff in 10. In chapter 9, actually all of this goes through chapter 9 and 10.

But chapter 9, verse 1, Now Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, so when we identify a son of the prophet, this is one of the young men among the prophets. Well, his dad's dead.

So who would be in charge of his destiny or his well-being? It would be Elisha. He's the only prophet left. And he said to him, Gird up your loins and take this flask of oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-Gilead and you will come there and look there for Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi.

And you will come in and bid him arise from among his brothers and you will cause him to come into an inner room. Then you will take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king over Israel.

Then open the door and flee and do not wait. How interesting. Well, what do we have in verse four? So the young man, the young man of the prophet went to Ramoth-Gilead. Then he came and behold, the commanders of the military were sitting.

And he said, so we've got a group of commanders. This is the officers club, so to speak. These are all the commanders of Israel's armies and they're having a meeting, okay? Maybe this is the Pentagon.

Think of it that way. They're having a group meeting in the Pentagon in Israel, okay? And so the commanders of the military were sitting and he said, I have a word for you, O commander. And Jehu said, for which one of us?

And he said, for you, O commander. So I'm kind of picturing this of Jehu would be the head general, the guy in charge of all of the officers, all of the commanders. But Jehu's the head guy. And the message here is for you.

And he arose and came into the house and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, I have anointed you king over the people of Yahweh, even over Israel. Now, before we move on to that, the next verses are fascinating because the young man does that.

He opens the door and he flees and he does not wait, okay? He takes off, okay? So he does what he's told. And Jehu comes out and the other commanders want to know what happened. And Jehu's, oh, well, you know, this nutcase of a prophet's son came and he poured oil on my head and he told me this mumbo jumbo stuff, blah, blah, blah.

What'd he tell you? He told me that I'm king over Israel. And the generals stood with him and they herald him as king over Israel. The coup, the coup happened right there, right then. Okay, with all of this read into your hearing, okay?

We have an idea here of Elijah's servant appointing Jehu, Elisha, Elisha's servant appointing Jehu, anointing Jehu, Elisha appointing, anointing Hazael over Aram and Elijah passing his mantle to Elisha, okay?

So we've got all of these things in a row. Now let's go back to, again, Romans 11, where we started, okay? And let this thing, oh, there we go. So we now have a bigger picture about what the divine response involved.

It wasn't just the sparing of the 7 ,000. The divine response is all of these things and Yahweh's involvement in all these things. You see, God was the chooser then. He's the one that chose them. He's the one that decreed the things that were to happen after that and the things that they were to do, okay?

All of that is poured into this concept of the divine response. But what does the divine response say to him? I have left for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Now this next phrase is really important.

In this way then, and now, at the present time, the example is presented and explained. In this way, the means by which God chooses is grace. So we have the 7 ,000 who've been spared. They did not bow.

They use reserve. He chose them. He's the one that has kept them for himself, okay? He's the actor, all right? He's the one acting. They're the ones passive in this, okay? In this way, at the present time, a remnant, according to God's gracious choice, has also come to be.

It could not be more clear. The means by which God chooses is grace. The means by which God makes these choices is grace. However, lay that down. The remnant, and this is in the context of the remnant, okay?

In this way then, at the present time, a remnant, according to God's gracious choice, has also come to be. So the remnant is so by God's gracious choice. Not anything of themselves. The remnant is so by God's gracious choice.

I can't repeat that enough, but I'm gonna move on. But if it is by grace, it's no longer of works. It's not about the things they're doing. It's not about how really good they are, okay? It's no longer by works.

Otherwise, grace is no longer grace. A phrase that James coined a long, long time ago, in fact, it's the title of one of our tracts, grace plus works is dead, being meaningless. It's either grace or it's works.

There is no both. They're opposite ends of the spectrum, okay? If it's this, that's meaningless. If it's this, that's meaningless. You get the idea, okay? So let's move forward. Verse seven, what then?

What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, all right? Remember, we're back here. I don't wanna lose sight of it. In this way, okay? In this way, right there. In this way. Keep that in mind as we move forward, okay?

So in the same way, okay, as God rejected his people is the question at hand. It's what it started out with, okay? In the same way, what Israel is seeking, it has not obtained. What Israel wanted, it did not get, but the chosen obtained it.

Who are the chosen? The 7 ,000. There's the comparison. That's the parallel. The 7 ,000, why did they obtain it? They obtained it because they were God's choice, okay? But what about everybody else that got slaughtered?

The rest were hardened. Hardened, what's the parallel there? The purging. So those who were slaughtered, those who were killed, that were not spared, between Jehu, Heziel, Elisha, okay? All of those, they are the ones that are being compared to those hardened or purged, all right?

So the rest were hardened just as it is written. How were they hardened? Think on this. How are they hardened? God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.

There it is. That's the same way. In the same way, they were hardened. The chosen obtained it. The rest were hardened. Why were they hardened? How were they hardened? God gave them a spirit of stupor.

So who's the actor here? God gave them that spirit of stupor. He put them in that category, okay? God was the actor when it came to the purge and the warring against them, the coup that took place, and the slaughtering that took place, okay?

They're hardened through a spirit of stupor. So, and by the way, we'll look at this more next time in our next episode. The citation here is from Deuteronomy 29, verse 4, and we'll unpack that in our next episode.

We're going to stop here for today, okay? And as we move forward with this study, I want to discuss the application of it. When you have a situation to where, I talked about the two different perspectives.

One wants to ignore all of that stuff that we just went through, the stuff in between the bookends, and say that just the one verse is in play here, and we need to not look at anything else but the 7 ,000 and the grace that was bestowed upon them, and let's extrapolate all kinds of thoughts from that.

But when you actually look at the full context, you understand that God is the mover in all of these things. He alone is the one who's calling the shots, and He alone is the one using men as instruments in His hand, avenging His prophets, avenging all the things that were done to His people, so that they would start over with 7 ,000.

God is the one, He is the one acting here, okay? But if you put that under the concept of libertarian free will, it becomes a problem. Because even here, as we look at this, if God gave Israel, the Israel that did not obtain what it wanted, if God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that cannot see, how can they see?

Ears that cannot hear, well, how can they hear? If they're in a stupor, they're just wandering around, mind-numbed, well, all that's a spiritual state of being. They have no sensitivities to the things of God.

And the one that put them in that place is God, Yahweh, He's the one doing these things. And you can sit there and pull out all the different philosophies and theological conundrums you want, but you still have it saying what it says right there.

God gave them a spirit of stupor. God is the one who anointed those men. God is the one who drove them to the slaughter. And God is the one who spared the lives of the 7 ,000. This is what we mean when we talk about the sovereignty of God.

Because there's so many different passages that explain this. That when you unpack them, when you just simply read what they're saying, you clearly see what's going on. And it is only the man who cannot handle what is straightforwardly said who runs to libertarian free will, who runs to open theism, who runs to a man-centered worldview that doesn't leave God with any choices or actions in these things, and tries to make excuses for him when he's not making excuses.

He's simply declaring these things, this is who I am. And yet he remains righteous and holy through it all. Again, we come back to refer to Joseph all the time. What you meant for evil, Hazael. What you meant for evil, Jehu.