Yesterday at our mid-week Bible study on Romans 9, we watched as Paul conveyed to unbelieving Jews of his day (and our day) to look at the jar of God's blessings not as half empty, and even not just as half full, but as filled to the brim and overflowing. To look at it half empty, they will only see the bad news: God has cast away (temporarily) the Nation of Israel and put His Prophetic Program on hold, and now He is working with only a very small remnant of believing Jews, who are in the process of diminishing and will soon die off the scene completely. Rather, Paul wants them to understand that there is a way to look at the glass not only as half full, but filled to the brim and overflowing with Good News!
He does this by taking them back to two major events in their ancient history to show that God is doing something similar today through the apostleship of Paul (Rom. 9:14-18). At the Golden Calf Incident, when God would have been right to go down the Mount in His wrath and judgment and consume ALL the Israelites, every single rebel, and start over with only Moses (Ex. 32:7-10), God INSTEAD used Israel's sinfulness, rebellion and unrighteousness as an opportunity to display His Mercy and Grace, Goodness and Kindness (Ex. 33:19).
Paul's point is that today God is doing something similar. When Israel joined hands with the Gentiles and crucified their Messiah, King and Creator, God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, God would have been right to go down in His wrath and judgment and consume all His enemies, every single rebel, but instead He decided to use Israel's sinfulness, rebellion and unrighteousness to display the Riches of His Grace and Mercy, the Riches of His Goodness and Kindness, Longsuffering Forbearance. And what is He doing during this time of His Longsuffering Kindness? Instead of destroying ALL unbelieving sinners on earth (every last one), He is now offering through the apostleship of Paul salvation to ALL unbelieving sinners (every last one, Rom. 11:32; 3:21-23).
But this is not all. Paul then takes the Jews back to the Exodus account and reminds them how at that time God postponed His deliverance of national Israel while He carried out another purpose to make His Name and Power known on earth that even Moses didn't know about (Ex. 5:22-23, 9:16). Paul's point is that God is doing something similar today through his apostleship. Today, God has postponed His deliverance of national Israel while He carries out another Purpose that He had kept secret since the world began: His Mystery Program for the Body of Christ through which He will fulfill His Purpose to re-establish His Glory in the HEAVENLIES. The Jews needed to realize that, yes, God has set aside His Program with the Nation of Israel (temporarily). That's the bad news.
But what they also needed to know is that He also started a new Purpose with the Body of Christ, AND ALL PEOPLE—JEWS AND GENTILES ALIKE—are invited to participate in that, simply by believing Paul's Gospel, the Good News of the Death and Resurrection of Christ. While for the Jews God's Grand and Great Prophetic Program with the Nation of Israel to re-establish God's Glory on Earth has been taken off the table (temporarily), God is inviting them to be involved in an even Grander and Greater Mystery Program with the Body of Christ to re-establish His Glory in the Heavenlies. Whereas the Jews in Israel's Prophetic Program would participate in the breaking of Satan's rule on Earth, NOW God was giving them the opportunity to participate in the breaking of Satan's rule in the Heavenlies!
No, the glass isn't half empty. It's not even half full. It's filled full and is overflowing with His Grace and Mercy, Goodness and Kindness toward sinners. Rather than attacking the Apostle Paul, the Jews should receive his God-given message in faith and THANK GOD FOR IT!!
This generated a discussion about how you share with someone that God is now dispensing the Riches of His Grace, Peace, Kindness and Goodness when there is so much evil in the world. To the natural mind it is counter intuitive. Well, it is only so because unbelievers (and far too many believers!) don't appreciate the sinfulness of sin. The natural mind says, I am basically good, so if God just got rid of the really bad people (like Hitler and Stalin, etc.) the world would be a good place. But this completely ignores what God and His Word say. We are all born into the world as sinners on enemy status before God. And when God comes to “fix” the world, He will have to destroy ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, ALL UNBELIEVING SINNERS, not just some or just the worse by human standards. Yes, He would destroy the Hitlers and the Stalins, but He will also have to destroy every other unbelieving sinner, as well, for they have rejected Him and His Word of Grace they would have led to salvation in unbelief. You know these people. They are people like your unsaved relatives, friends and neighbors. People like your co-workers and the really nice cashier at the supermarket and, yes, even the little old lady next door, who makes the most delicious pies.
Two thousand years ago, when Israel joined hands with the Gentiles in rejecting God and the Lord Jesus Christ, the world set off a nuclear warhead and aimed it at God. The whole world stood together and declared war against God, making its inhabitants worthy of His Wrath and Judgment (Rom. 1:18). God should have gone down and consumed them once-and-for-all. But instead, in His Longsuffering Kindness, and the Riches of His Grace and Peace, He declared a cease fire and instead of sending His angelic armies of destruction, He sent the Apostle Paul with the Good News that freely gave everyone on Earth an opportunity to be saved from the coming wrath freely by Grace through Faith. God is now holding back His Wrath and Judgment while He dispenses His Grace and Peace to His enemies so that as many as possible can be saved BEFORE He resumes the war and destroys ALL His enemies, ALL unbelieving sinners, yes, even the unbelieving little old lady next door who makes great pies.
We can use a modern war analogy. I remember watching a news story years ago, I think it was in the Iraq war, about the American army encircling a city that had been shooting off rockets. The army was ready and willing to attack the city. Their munitions were on the hills, and their planes, helicopters and soldiers were all pointed toward the city and were ready to reign down destruction on all. Nothing less than complete destruction of all enemies would be accepted. But at the last minute a command came from Washington that declared an immediate cease fire. Simply out of America's longsuffering forbearance, goodness and kindness, mercy and grace, the army general was sent to announce to the residents of the city that anyone who wanted to escape the coming wrath could leave the city for the next 24 hours through the south check point. After that, anyone remaining would perish in the attack. For the people who responded in “faith” to the general's message, that was indeed a day of salvation. To those who refused the general's message, a day of destruction and perishing.
Well, God is doing something similar today. After Israel and the Gentile nations joined hands in rejecting Christ, and the whole world had declared war on God, God encircled the “city” of earth and revealed His Wrath from “hills” of Heaven (Rom. 1:18). God was ready to come and destroy ALL unbelieving sinners for their rebellion against Him in unrighteousness and rejection of His Word in unbelief (Rom. 1:18). But He then suddenly declared a cease fire and sent the Apostle Paul to announce to earth's inhabitants that anyone--ANY AND ALL UNBELIEVING SINNERS—JEWS AND GENTILES ALIKE--could be delivered from the coming Wrath by simply believing Paul's Message, the Good News of the Death and Resurrection of Christ for them. For those who respond in faith, this is what Paul calls: The Day of Salvation (2 Cor. 6:2). For those who don't, it is called the day of destruction and perishing.
For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God (unto salvation) (1 Cor. 1:18 with Rom. 1:16).
This is God's answer to the question of why there is evil in the world. It is there because if He were to remove it, He would have to remove ALL of it, ALL unrighteousness, which would include every unbelieving sinner—that is, all our unsaved relatives, friends, co-workers, and, yes, the nice girl at the checkout COUNTER, and, yes, even the little old lady next door who makes those delicious pies. BUT NOW (and thank God for this!), BUT NOW out of the Riches of His Goodness, Kindness, Mercy and Grace, He is Long-sufferingly offering His Grace and Peace to ALL sinners so that they can be saved before He withdraws the cease fire and resumes hostilities with the inhabitants of earth in His Wrath, Fury and Judgment, from which He will not stop until ALL unrighteousness is removed once-and-for-all. To those who receive this message in faith, this is indeed THE DAY OF SALVATION. To those who reject it in unbelief, it is indeed foolishness, which leads to destruction.