Truth #35 - God is to be glorified in our belief about Divine Election!! Romans 9-11

Romans 9:22-24
What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

Perhaps the hardest doctrine in God's Word is what Paul is clarifying in the above verses:  Election.   Election, by most definitions, is the act of God whereby He chooses those He wants to be saved.   Their is not a lot of disagreement that God's Word states that He DOES choose those He wants to save.  You only need to read the entire ninth chapter of Romans and the first chapter of Ephesians.   The largest issue is not IF God chooses those He wants for salvation, but WHEN He chooses and How He chooses and, perhaps, WHY He chooses them.  Does God choose BEFORE man hears the gospel, or does God choose BECAUSE man chooses?  Those are a couple of the tough questions we hear asked and debated ... throughout the ages.   One of the biggest debates asks, "IF God does select those He wishes to save, does He then, in turn, choose the others to destroy?  Is that fair?  Did they ever have a chance IF God choose them for destruction?"   Attempting to answer these questions and many more in this little devotional would be foolish and unwise.  There have been volumes of books written about this subject (see R.C. Sproul's book: Chosen by God, for a good read on this topic).   What we can do in this brief writing is look at what Paul might be giving us that will guide us in our thoughts and discussions about the above questions and many of those not listed.   Notice in the above text that Paul IS stating that God DOES choose some "vessels" (a metaphor for mankind) for wrath (to be destroyed) and some vessels to show mercy (to be provided grace and forgiveness).   Notice that Paul states that God prepared the vessels for wrath "to make know the riches of His glory" to those who would have mercy.   And, He prepared "beforehand" those vessels that would receive mercy "for glory."    Man might argue, debate, deny and/or argue the merits of Divine Election.   However, we better make sure that we read the above passage correctly while engaged in that debate.   These three verses tell us that whatever we think of God's Divine Election God did WHAT He did for His GLORY!!!   The truth is, God choose whom He choose the way He choose to display His great glory to those He choose.    In our confusion and investigation of God's Word we better make sure we start the debate and end the debate giving God the glory He deserves and wanted when He orchestrated His plan.    God is to be glorified in election ... even in our discussions about it.    Fall on whatever side you want of the various arguments.   God is not confused.  He did what He did for His glory and for us to see that glory as a result of His plan.   The truth is God gets the glory for election and we are to magnify Him as a result.