lmorovan said in post #857:
God is God, and He does what is always the best
And the best is what pleases Him: "Thou art worthy,
O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for
thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure
they are and were created" (Revelation 4:11). "The
LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even
the wicked for the day of evil" (Proverbs 16:4).
As Creator, God can do with His creatures whatever He
wants: "God hath from the beginning chosen you to
salvation" (2 Thessalonians 2:13); "... many are
called, but few are chosen" (Matthew 22:14); "strait
is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew
7:14).
"Not as though the word of God hath taken none
effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of
Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of
Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, They which are the
children of the flesh, these are not the children of
God: but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this
time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. And not
only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by
one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or
evil, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth)
It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the
younger.
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As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have
I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to
Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth
mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for
this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might
shew my power in thee, and that my name might be
declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he
hardeneth.
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Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find
fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O
man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall
the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast
thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the
clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God,
willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power
known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make
known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy,
which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom
he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the
Gentiles?
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As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people,
which were not my people; and her beloved, which was
not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the
place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my
people; there shall they be called the children of
the living God. Esaias also crieth concerning Israel,
Though the number of the children of Israel be as the
sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he
will finish the work, and cut it short in
righteousness: because a short work will the Lord
make upon the earth. And as Esaias said before,
Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had
been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha"
(Romans 9:6-29).
