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Democratic societies, such as the
United States, are most clearly distinguished from other totalitarian
forms of government by the individual rights granted to each citizen.
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When contrasted to the oppression
experienced by those whose lives are dominated by despotic rule, the
freedoms afforded by a democratic form of government seem priceless,
indeed.
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In a Democratic system, however,
the broad rights granted to the individual citizen often make it very
difficult for society at large to impose even the most reasonable
standards of conduct or other restraints upon its constituency without
being challenged on the issue of individual rights.
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In the USA, for example, the right
of society to establish any kind of moral standard has been all but
completely surrendered to the anything-goes right of the individual.
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Anyone familiar with the efforts of
the American Civil Liberties Union can certainly attest to the extent
to which these alleged rights are often defended.
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Many such rights are predicated on
ownership.
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"I'll do whatever I want
because it is my land," or "it's my property," or its
my body," or "it's my life."
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This is the essence of the current
debate over abortion rights.
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The most vigorous defense offered
by the "Pro-choice" side is that a woman should be able to
decide what she wants to do with her own body.
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This same argument is also being
advanced by those who wish to have euthanasia legalized.
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"If I want to die, it's
nobody's business but my own - after all, it's my life!"
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When it comes to ownership, the
Bible teaches that all things in heaven and earth ultimately belong to
God.
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It also teaches that God, as the
Creator of all things, has the absolute right to do whatever He wishes
to do with His own property.
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While these truths are plainly
taught in God's Word, every professing believer does not always
receive them with the same kind of enthusiasm.
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The believer's reaction to such
teaching seems to be influenced by his or her attitude toward
individual rights.
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It is somewhat paradoxical, in
fact, that believers who enjoy the greatest measure of individual
rights tend to resist teaching about God's rights, while those who
find themselves under the sway of totalitarianism seem better prepared
to accept the fact of God's absolute sovereignty as the Creator of
heaven and earth.
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As with all other Biblical
teaching, truth is truth whether believed or not.
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As the following passages will
demonstrate, the teaching regarding God's absolute rights as the
Creator of all things is not based on a few isolated Scriptures, but
rather on a theme that can be found in almost every book of the Bible.
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Nor is this teaching based on
questionable interpretation, but rather on some of the plainest and
most boldly stated truth in all Scripture.
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The problems associated with the
teaching of these precious truths do not lie with the Biblical
evidences, therefore, but rather with the natural resistance of the
human mind to accept the absolute sovereignty of God.
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It is my prayer that those who
already believe will be further enlightened by the study of the
following pages, and that those who have previously resisted such
teaching will finally accept the truths which God Himself has made so
clear.
1.
God is the Creator of all things in heaven and in earth.
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Gen. 1:1 - In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth
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Neh 9:6 - You alone are the Lord.
You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all
their stary host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all
that is in them. You give
life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.
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Psalm 148:4-5 - Praise him, you highest heavens and
you waters above the skies. Let
them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were
created.
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Isa. 40:26, 28a - Lift your eyes and look to the
heavens: who create all these? He who brings out the starry host
one by one, and calls them each by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them
is missing. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the
everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth.
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Isa. 45:18 - For this is what the Lord says - He
Who - created the heavens, He is God: He fashioned and made the
earth, He found it; He did not create it to be empty, but for it to be
inhabited - He says: "I am the Lord, and there is no
other".
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Isa. 48:12-13 - Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel,
whom I have called: I am He; I am the first and I am the last.
My own hand laid the foundations of the earth, and my right
hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they all stand up
together.
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Jer. 32:17 - Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the
earth by your great power and outstretched arm.
Nothing is too hard for you.
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Rev. 4:11 - You are worthy, our Lord in God, to
receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and
by your will they were created and have their being.
2.
Creation Itself Bears Witness To The Creator
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Psalm 8:3-4
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What I consider your heavens, the
work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in
place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man
that you care for him?
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Psalm 19:1
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The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim
the work of his hands.
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Psalm 148:4-5
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Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the
skies. Let them praise the name of
the Lord, for he commanded it and they were created.
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Rom. 1:20
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For since the creation of the
world, God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine
nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has
been made, so that men are without excuse.
3.
As Creator Of All Things, All Things Belong God.
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Deut. 10:14 - To the Lord your God belong heavens, even the highest
heavens, the earth and everything in it.
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1 Sam. 2:6-8 - The Lord brings death and makes
alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up.
The Lord sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the
ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of
honor. For the
foundations of the earth are the Lord's; upon them he has set the
world.
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Job 12:10, 13-16, 23 - In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath
of all mankind. To God
belong wisdom and power; council and understanding are his.
What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man he imprisons
cannot be released. If he
holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they
devastate the land. To
him belong strength and victory; both deceived and deceiver his. He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges
Nations and disperses them.
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Psalm 24:1-2 - The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world,
and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the season
established it upon the waters.
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Psalm 50:9-12 - I have no need of a bull from your
stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is
mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the
field are mine. If I
were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all
that is in it.
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Col. 1:15-17 - He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn overall creation.
For by him all things were created; the things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or
authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
He is before all things and in him all things hold together.
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Rev. 4:11 - You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things,
and by Your will they were created and have their being.
4.
As Owner Of Creation, God Does What He Pleases With His Own Property.
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1 Sam. 2:6-8 - The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to
the grave and raises up. The
Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the
ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit the
throne of honor. For the
foundations of the earth of the Lord's; upon them he has set the
world.
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1 Chron. 29:11-12 - Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and
the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything
in heaven and Earth is yours. Yours,
O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.
Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all
things. In your hands are
strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
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Job 12:10, 13-16, 23 - In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath
of all mankind. To God
belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man he imprisons
cannot be released. If
he hold back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they
devastate the land. To
him belong strength and victory; both deceived and deceiver are
his. ...He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges
nations, and disperses them.
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Prov. 16:4 - The Lord works out everything for
his own ends -- even the wicked for the day of disaster.
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Isa. 45:5-7 - I am the lord, and there is no
other; apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so
that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting man may
know there is none besides me. I
am the lord, and there is no other.
I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and
create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things
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Isa. 45:9-12 - "Woe to him who quarrels with
his maker. To him who is
but a potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the Potter, "What are you
making?" Does your work say, he has no hands"? "Woe
to him who says to his father, "What have you be done?" or
to his mother, "What have you brought to birth?" This is
what the Lord says -- the Holy one of Israel, and its maker:
"Concerning things to come, do you question me about my children,
or give me orders about the work of my hands? It is I who made the
earth and created mankind upon it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshalled their
starry hosts. "
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Jer. 27:5 - With my great power and
outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that
are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.
5.
As Creator, God Has Determined The Place, Purpose And Destiny Of All
Mankind.
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Gen. 2:7-8, 15-17 - The Lord God form of a man from the
dust of the ground and breed into his nostrils the breath of life, and
the man became a living being. Now the Lord God had planted
a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
The Lord God took man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work
it and take care of it. And
the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any
tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely
die".
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Gen. 3:22-23 - And the lord God said, "The
man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.
He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from
the Tree of Life and eat, and live forever". So
the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work to ground
from which he had been taken.
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1 Sam. 2:6-8 - The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to
the grave and raises up. The
Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the
ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of
honor. For
the foundations of the earth or the Lord's; upon them he has set the
world.
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Job 12:10, 13-16, 23 - In his hand is the life of every creature in the breadth
of all mankind. To God
belong wisdom and power; Council and understanding are his. What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man he imprisons
cannot be released. If he
hold back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they
devastate the land. To
him belong strength and victory; both deceived and deceiver are his.
He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations,
and disperses them.
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Job 14:5 - Man's days are determined; you
have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot
exceed.
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Job 38:1-4, 33-36 - Then the lord answered Job out the
storm. He said: "Who
is this the darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Pressure
selfish man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
Where were you when I lead years foundation? Tell me, if you
understand. To you know
the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?
Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the
mind?"
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Psalm 33:12-16 - Blessed is a nation whose God is
the Lord, the people he chose for his inheritance.
From heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from his
dwelling place he watches all who live on earth -- he forms the
hearts of all, He considers everything they do.
No King is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by
his great strength.
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Psalm 100:3 - Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people,
the sheep of his pasture.
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Psalm 139:11-13 - If I say, "Surely the darkness
will hide me and the light become night around me," even the
darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like day, for
darkness is as light to you. For
you created my innermost being; you put me together in my mother's
womb.
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Prov.
16:4 - The
Lord works out everything for his own ends -- even the wicked for a
day of disaster.
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Prov.
22:2 - Rich
and poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all.
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Isa.
42:5-9 - This
is what God the Lord says -- he you created the heavens and scratched
about, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who
gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it:"I,
Lord have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I
will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a
light for the gentiles, to open the eyes the blind, to free captives
from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
See, the former things have taken place, and new things I
declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you".
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Isa.
43:6-7 - I
will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south,
"Do not hold them back".
Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the
earth -- everyone was called by my name,
whom I created for my glory, whom I formed an made.
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Isa.
45:5-7 - I
am the lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I
will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that
from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know
there is none besides me. I
am the Lord, and there is no other. I
formed the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create
disaster; I, the Lord, to all these things.
-
Isa.
45:9-12 - "Woe
to him who quarrels with his maker, Woe to him who is but a
potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the Potter, "What are you
making?" Does your work say, "He has no hands"?
Woe to him who says to his father, "What have you
begotten?" or to his mother, "What have you brought
forth?" This is what the Lord says - the Holy One of Israel, and
its maker: "Concerning the things to come, do you question me
about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands?
It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshalled their
starry host".
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Acts
17:24-28a - The
God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and
earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything,
because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From
one man he made every nation of men, that they should have at the
whole Earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact
places where they should live. God
did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and
find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
For in him we live and move and have our being.
6.
Jesus Christ is identified in Scripture as the creator of all things.
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Isaiah
44:24 - This
is what the Lord says-your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:
"I am the lord, who has made all things, who alone stretched out
the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself".
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John
1:1-3 - In
the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word
was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. Through
him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been
made.
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Romans
11:36 - For
from him and threw him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever!
Amen.
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Colossians
1:15-17 - He
is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or
authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
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Hebrews
1:3 - The
Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his
being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the
right hand of the majesty of heaven.
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Hebrews
2:10 - In
bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and
through whom everything exists, should make the author of their
salvation perfect through suffering.
7.
Election and Reprobation are justified by God's right as the Creator of
all.
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1
Samuel 2:6-8 - The
Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and
raises up. The Lord sends
poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the
ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit the throne
of honor. For the
foundations of the earth are the Lord's; upon them he has set the
world.
-
Psalm
100:3 - Know
that the Lord is God. It
is he who made us, and we are His; we are his people, the sheep of his
pasture.
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Proverbs
16:4 - The
Lord works out everything for his own ends - even the wicked for a day
of disaster.
-
Isaiah
42:5-9 - This
is what God the Lord says - He who created the heavens and stretched
them out, who spread out the earth and all that comes out of it, who
gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it; "I,
the Lord, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your
hand. I will keep you and
will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the
gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
See, the former things have taken place, and new things I
declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you."
-
Isaiah
43:6-7 - I
will say to the north, "Give them up!" and to the south,
"Do not hold them back".
Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the lands of the
earth - everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my
glory, whom I formed and made.
-
Isaiah
45:5-7 - I
am the lord, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so
that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting man may
know there is none besides me. I
am the lord, and there is no other.
I formed the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and
create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.
-
Isaiah
45:9-12 - "Woe
to him who quarrels with his maker, Woe to him who is but a
potsherd among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the Potter, "What are you
making?" Does your work say, "He has no hands"?
Woe to him who says to his father, "What have you
begotten?" or to his mother, "What have you brought
forth?" This is what the Lord says - the Holy One of Israel, and
its maker: "Concerning the things to come, do you question me
about my children, or give me orders about the work of my hands? It is
I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshalled their
starry host".
-
Acts
17:24-28a - The
God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and
earth and does not live in temples built by hands.
And He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything,
because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should
inhabit the whole Earth; and he determined the times set for them and
the exact places where they should live.
God did this so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out
for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.
For in Him we live and move and have our being.
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Romans
9:11-24 - Yet,
before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad - in order
that God's purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him
who calls - she was told, "The older will serve the
younger". Just as it
is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated".
What then shall we say? Is God unjust?
Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have
compassion". It does
not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
For the scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raise you up for
this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my
name might be proclaimed at all the earth".
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he
hardens whom he wants to harden.
One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame
us? For who resists his will?" but who are you, O man, to talk
back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, "Why
did you make me like this?" Does not the Potter have the right to
make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and
some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make
his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his
wrath-prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches
of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in
advance for glory - even on us, whom he also called, not only from the
Jews but also from the gentiles?
8.
Believers and their destiny are also creation of God
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Isaiah
65:17 - Behold,
I will create new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to
mind.
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2
Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;
the old is gone, the new has come!
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Ephesians
2:10 - For
we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
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Hebrews
4:12-13 - For
the Word of God is living and active.
Sharper than a double-edged sword, it penetrates even to the
dividing of soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts
and attitudes of the heart. Nothing
in all creation is hidden from God's sight.
Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to
whom we must give account.
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