What shall we then say to these things? is the question which the Apostle Paul poses to his readers in Romans 8:31. These things are the things that we have been considering in the past three verses. We saw in Verse 28 that God is at work for the good of those who love Him and Verses 29-30 show us that God has been at work on our behalf since before the world began and that He will continue to be at work on our behalf until the end of this age. He foreknew us before we were created and He will glorify us, resurrecting our earthly bodies, at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. What shall we say, indeed!
God’s providential caring for His children is far more inclusive than we can ever imagine and, in light of the measures that our Heavenly Father has taken in order to conform us to the image of His Son, the question is asked rhetorically: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Who, ultimately, can frustrate the purposes of God; who can oppose His plans? How easy it is for the Christian to lose sight of Who it is we serve! When we face hardship, adversity, and the attacks of the enemy, we sometimes forget that greater is He that is in us… (1 John. 4:4). This chapter concludes with a list of all who would oppose God, everything that could possibly work against us and tear us away from the safety of our precious Savior…and nothing, nothing is able to do so.
“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
We tend to look at ourselves with the acute awareness of just how short we measure up to God’s holiness. Feelings of inadequacy can cause us to fail to see just what value the Lord of Heaven might find in us. “What is man that Thou art mindful of him?”, the Psalmist ponders (Psalm 8:4). Yet when we consider the price that God paid for our Salvation, that He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, we catch a glimpse of how great of love He has toward us.
If God was willing to give the Lord Jesus that we might be saved, if He unhesitatingly paid such a high price for our redemption, will He not do what is necessary to hold onto us? What weakness do we have that God cannot overcome? What sin can we commit that the Lord cannot forgive? What railing accusation can the devil bring against any of us that can persuade God Almighty to cast us away? If God be for us, then who can stand against us?
Our Heavenly Father has provided the Way for any who will trust in Jesus Christ to be saved and He foreknew those of us who would do so since the very beginning. He stayed the hand of Abraham, preventing him from sacrificing his beloved son (Genesis 22:12), but His own Son spared He not. What God has done that we might live is wholly and completely beyond our comprehension. No one can ever overturn what the Lord has done for us.
To God goes all glory. In service to Him,
Loren
