Study Desk

^(C1)You will say to me then, "^(C2)Why does He still find fault? For ^(C3)who has resisted His will?"

On the contrary, who are you, ^(F1)(C1)you foolish person, who ^(C2)answers back to God? ^(C3)The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?

Or does the potter not have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one object ^(F1)for honorable use, and another ^(F2)for common use?

^(F1)What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with great ^(C1)patience objects of wrath ^(C2)prepared for destruction?

And He did so to make known ^(C1)the riches of His glory upon ^(C2)objects of mercy, which He ^(C3)prepared beforehand for glory,

namely us, whom He also ^(C1)called, ^(C2)not only from among Jews, but also from among Gentiles,

as He also says in Hosea: "^(C1)I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, 'MY PEOPLE,' AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, 'BELOVED.'"

"^(C1)AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, 'YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,' THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF ^(C2)THE LIVING GOD."

Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "^(C1)THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL MAY BE ^(C2)LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, ONLY ^(C3)THE REMNANT WILL BE SAVED;

^(C1)FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, ^(F1)THOROUGHLY AND ^(F2)QUICKLY."

And just as Isaiah foretold: "^(C1)IF ^(C2)THE LORD ^(F1)OF ARMIES HAD NOT LEFT US ^(F2)(C3)DESCENDANTS, ^(C4)WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE ^(F3)BEEN LIKE GOMORRAH."