18 So then He has mercy on whomever He wills (chooses) and He hardens (makes stubborn and unyielding the heart of) whomever He wills.
The Truth that is shown to us in verse 18 is why we do not condemn or judge anyone. We don’t condemn because our Father is doing what He will’s through each of us. Faith in this Truth has to come to us directly from the Holy Spirit. He has to show us that our Father is love and that His purpose and plan is for everyone to come to the knowledge of the Truth. The Holy Spirit has to show us that our Father will allow everyone, regardless of what they have done, to bow their knee’s and confess with their mouth’s that Jesus is Lord and thus be saved. If it were true that our Father would harden a persons heart and then make them suffer for all of eternity in Hell, we could never have any peace whatsoever with Him. Our Father would not be love either, He would be a sadistic evil being. But our Father is love and He loved the world so much that He gave it Jesus. Our Father will cause us all to believe on Him and we will all be saved.
19 You will say to me, Why then does He still find fault and blame us [for sinning]? For who can resist and withstand His will?
The Truth is that no one can withstand our Father’s will. All things exist by Him, for Him, and through Him, Colossians 1:16. But what brings us joy and peace with our inability to withstand our Father’s will is that Jesus did away with all laws that could convict us of sin. There is now no longer any blame for committing sin. There are no longer any laws to be broken that we can be faulted with. Grace is now applied to all; even when sin is abounding in a person, grace now much more abounds. All things now work together for our good. Our Father has made some of us to be Brides and some of us to be guests of the Bride. Some of us will be the first and some of us will be the last, but eternity is a celebration and there isn’t a bad seat in the house. All things work together and we are all in Christ and we all will be for all of eternity.
Does this make us robots or puppets of God? Is your arm a robot or puppet of your head? Was Jesus a puppet of our Father? No, this makes us all one with our Father. We are all a unified body that has an intimacy and oneness that most people do not understand. The glory for us is that as Jesus is, so are we in this world. We are not robots, we are the body of Christ!
20 But who are you, a mere man, to criticize and contradict and answer back to God? Will what is formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?
This is where the Holy Spirit gives us peace. The Bride is now able to see the love of our Father and have peace that passes our understanding with Him and all of His decisions. The guests are not yet empowered to see that all that our Father does is love. Ego and pride still blind them to judge our Father and find fault with His plan as they condemn the people that He is using to do what they feel is sinful. They will see it one day and they will live in the power and peace of Christ for all of eternity. They will never be condemned for anything, our Father’s Grace will not allow it.
When the guests hear about our freedom in Christ they have fear. They believe that it will inspire people to go and sin. But it won’t, Romans 7 teaches us that when we realize that we are free from all Laws, sin looses its appeal to us. I have lived a long time now and I have seen that giving people laws to follow never stops sin. The Truth is what sets us free and the Truth is we are completely free in Christ.
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