“…this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son…it was said to her, THE OLDER SHALL SERVE THE YOUNGER.” (Rom. 9:9-12) This is a quotation from Genesis, and refers to the story of Isaac and Rebecca, and their two sons, Esau and Jacob. Esau and Jacob are twins, and when Rebecca is pregnant with them, it is prophesied that the “older shall serve the younger.” This was completely against the customs of that time and place, in which the older child inherited everything from the father, and in the case of Judaism, received the father’s blessing.
In the natural this is referring to Esau the older son, serving Jacob the younger son. You see Jacob persuaded Esau to trade him his birth right for a bowl of soup. Many of these Old Testament examples were types of what would happen in the New Testament. David wrote, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.” (Psa. 51:5)
Because of Adams sin JUSTIN, we are all born sinners, “for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Rom. 3:23) When we come out of our mother’s womb, our “natural” man is alive and our “spiritual” man is dead. “you were dead in your trespasses and sins…even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)…” (Eph. 2:1, 5) When we are born again our “spiritual” man comes alive, “…consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 6:11) For example when I was saved at 29 years of age, my natural man had been in charge for all those years but when I was born again my spiritual man came alive and then the OLDER began to serve the YOUNGER, not very happily I might add, especially at first. “…the natural man DOES NOT RECEIVE the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are SPIRITUALLY DISCERNED (understood).” (1 Corin. 2:14)
“…God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that NO FLESH SHOULD GLORY IN HIS PRESENCE.” (1 Corin. 1:27-29)
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham