However, the greatest example of endurance is Jehovah God, who has long endured rebellion against his universal sovereignty and will continue to do so until he acts to settle the issue of sovereignty with finality.

³ Jehovah has endured in an exemplary way in matters where his dignity and his keenest personal feelings are concerned. He has restrained himself in the face of great provocation and has restricted himself from taking action against those who have reviled him​—including Satan the Devil. We are grateful for God’s endurance and for his mercy. Without these, we would not have enjoyed even the briefest existence. Indeed, Jehovah God has distinguished himself beyond all compare by his endurance.

4, 5. (a) How does Paul’s illustration of a potter show God’s endurance and his mercy? (b) How will God’s mercy prove not to have been misspent?

⁴ The apostle Paul points both to the endurance and to the mercy of God when he says: “Does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for an honorable use, another for a dishonorable use? If, now, God, although having the will to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, tolerated with much long-suffering vessels of wrath made fit for destruction, in order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, namely, us, whom he called not only from among Jews but also from among nations, what of it?”​—Romans 9:21-24.

⁵ As these words show, during this present period of his endurance, Jehovah proceeds with his glorious purpose and shows mercy upon certain human vessels. He prepares these vessels for everlasting glory and thus defeats the wicked purposes of his great opposer, Satan the Devil, and of all Satan’s cohorts. Not all of humankind have turned out to be vessels of wrath, deserving of destruction. That speaks well of the patient endurance of Almighty God. His mercy will not be in vain. It will result in (1) a glorious Kingdom family in the heavens under Jehovah’s beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and (2) a recovered and perfected race of human creatures on a paradise earth, all inheritors of everlasting life.

In order that the issues of universal sovereignty and of man’s integrity could be decisively answered, Jehovah did not spare himself. He has endured unpleasant things even though he could have blotted them out instantly.