Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 4 Study # 7
April 15, 2018
Humble, Texas

• I. The Need For Vessels of Mercy Explained by Isaiah.
  • A. The quote of Isaiah 10:22-23.
    • 1. There is a strongly implied "only" before "a remnant shall be saved" by reason of the "Though the number ... be as the sand of the sea ...".
      • a. The implied "only" indicates that God is not going to interrupt the processes of the growth of Sin in the vast majority of the people. Not only will their physical numbers grow exponentially "as the sand of the sea", but the processes of Sin's dominion over the hearts and minds and volitional capacities will also be allowed (with "much" longsuffering: 9:22).
      • b. With men, that the vast majority of Israel will perish under devastating judgment is altogether an indication of impotence and failure, but it is not so with God. He wishes only a viable group of "vessels of mercy" to accomplish His purposes.
    • 2. The context of the quote is God's pronouncement of devastating judgment upon Assyria because of the captivity of the ten tribes known as "Israel" as a contrast to "Judah". The issue is Israel's penchant for relying upon "others" in the stead of "The Holy One of Israel". The declaration is "promise" as the ultimate solution to the extreme depravity of Israel: God is going to reverse that depravity in a "remnant".
    • 3. There are two parts to the quote.
      • a. There is the part that contains the "promise" that "a remnant will be saved".
        • 1) The word Paul used, translated "remnant", is found only here in the New Testament. There is a conflict between the Textus Receptus and the Nestle/Aland 26 as to which form of the word "left over" is used, but the issue is a group being excluded from the destiny of the vast majority.
        • 2) The origin of the word is a word used in 11:14 with the same connotation: "I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal" (Authorized Version).
        • 3) At issue is, again, God's determination to show mercy. He is willing for the vast majority to be destroyed by the processes of the mystery of iniquity, but He is unwilling for those processes to "take all".
        • 4) This is a defense for "faith" in the "remnant" so that they will not be overwhelmed by the appearance of "impotence and failure" and succumb to Satan's boastful taunts. Note, above, how these "appearances" had affected Elijah after his contest upon Mt. Carmel so that he was in deep despair and God came to him with the declaration that He had kept 7,000 for Himself. Now, 7,000 is at once both a significant number and an insignificant number. It is significant in that Elijah thought himself "alone" and he was not because of the 7,000. It is, however, insignificant in the eyes of men when 7,000 is compared to the millions who were faithless. "Though none go with me, still I will follow..." has always been a stronghold for "faith". The same can be said of the "numbers" related to the flood; millions perished, seven survived. Likewise, only two out of millions entered into the promised land of the generation of the unfaithful in the wilderness.
      • b. Then there is the part that contains the declaration of an "overflowing outpouring of destruction". The Nestle/Aland 26 omits the issue of "righteousness". The issue is God's bringing a final destruction upon the earth that will leave "the remnant" as survivors.
        • 1) Paul omitted the Septuagint translation's inclusion of the issues of "righteousness", but the Textus Receptus assumes it was the copyists who did the omitting.
        • 2) Paul's words are "God will do [the] word, finishing and chopping, upon the earth."
          • a) The "finishing and chopping" are participles linked to the main verb "do".
          • b) The "word" is the direct object of the main verb: God will "do" [perform, fulfill] word (anartharous, implying potent emphasis upon what has been said in verbal form).
          • c) The "word" is a pronouncement of disastrous and massive destruction, and the description of how God is going to "do" it is "finishing" and "chopping". The strong implication is that "finishing" has to do with bringing all of the word to pass in history and that "chopping" has to do with how He will do the destroying. There is an echo here of Daniel's prophecy about the Kingdom of Messiah pulverizing the great image of Nebuchadnezzar's vision into pieces so small they are like the chaff on the threshing floor.
        • 2) Paul's point is that God is going to "save" the remnant by absolutely destroying the adversaries.
    • 4. The point in the context is that Paul's "vessels of mercy" thesis is clearly established: God has decreed both "vessels of wrath" to make His "wrath" known and "vessels of mercy" to show forth His "mercy".
  • B. The quote of Isaiah 1:9.
    • 1. Obviously this quote is prior to the one in 10:22-23, and just as obviously Paul rearranges the order to suit his intention.
    • 2. Paul's argument is that God's "chosen nation" is so profoundly morally corrupted that if God did not step into the mess with a genuine solution, the nation would come to both the total moral corruption of Sodom and Gomorrah as well as the subsequent cataclysmic destruction by the judgment of God.
    • 3. Paul had claimed that the "vessels of mercy" consisted of both Jews and Gentiles, and this quote out of the earliest part of Isaiah reveals that, at least on the Jews' side of the thing, it was going to be a major contrary work to "save" a remnant out of a nation of corruption so potent that it was leading straight for the characteristics of Sodom and Gomorrah.