ISRAEL’S REJECTION IS TEMPORARY - Romans 11:1-10
INTRODUCTION:
Three weeks ago, we finished up Romans 10, which is the second chapter of three that Paul devotes to the nation of Israel and her part in God’s plan of redemption. By the end of chapter 10 it looks bleak for the nation of Israel. In the end of chapter 9 we learned that Israel stumbled over the stumbling stone, which is Jesus Christ, they chose not to believe in Him and rejected Him as their Messiah. In chapter 10 we learned that Israel did not know about God’s righteousness by grace through faith and sought to establish their own righteousness according to their own standard. In the end of chapter 10 we learned that God’s offer of salvation was for all mankind and that He had held out His hands all the day long to receive His people and they were a disobedient and obstinate people, and they rejected Him and His offer of righteousness by grace through faith. God would be fully justified if He rejected His people forever. Israel’s unbelief and rejection of Jesus Christ was more than enough for God to condemn His chosen people completely and forever. In this book, however, Paul makes it abundantly clear that Israel’s unbelief and rejection of Jesus Christ did not catch God by surprise but was a primary part of His eternal plan of redemption. Not only that, but Paul also makes clear that Israel’s rejection and unbelief of Christ was by her own rebellious choice and the Lord holds her fully responsible for her choice. In this again we see what seems to our finite minds but not to the infinite mind of God, the seemingly contradictory connection between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility.
We know from history and from God’s Word that Israel as a nation rejected Jesus Christ and the salvation He offered. From Scripture we also know that God set Israel, His chosen people that He loved, aside. But is this setting aside forever, is God done with the nation of Israel? If He is, then there are promises that He made to Israel that will never be fulfilled and contrary to some who believe that the church replaces Israel, the fact remains and Scripture bears out that some of God’s promises to the nation of Israel have not yet been fulfilled and fulfilling them for the church does not fulfill them for the nation that received the promises. God is faithful and He is trustworthy and His promises to the nation of Israel will be fulfilled. Paul in chapter 11 make it abundantly clear that the setting aside of the nation of Israel is temporary, that God is not finished with His chosen and beloved people yet, they still have a future as the people of God. Paul shows us that God’s setting aside of the nation is only partial and he does this by using himself as an example, by showing how God has always preserved for Himself a believing remnant in Israel, and by showing us God’s revelation in the Old Testament of the unbelieving Israelites whose hearts are hardened to God’s grace. Let’s look to the Lord in prayer and then get into our passage.
--PRAY--
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans 11:1-10, our passage for today. Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word, His Word written to us.
Romans 11:1-10,
“I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ‘Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.’ But what is the divine response to him? ‘I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’ In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, ‘God gave them a spirit of stupor, Eyes to see not and ears to hear not, Down to this very day.’ And David says, ‘Let their table become a snare and a trap, And a stumbling block and a retribution to them. ‘Let their eyes be darkened to see not, And bend their backs forever.’” (Romans 11:1–10, NASB95)[1]
A LIVING EXAMPLE (Romans 11:1)
Paul begins this chapter by asking a rhetorical question, possibly a question that he heard often from Jews reflecting their confusion and misunderstanding upon hearing Paul speak of the righteousness that is by grace through faith alone. Paul begins, “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He?” (Romans 11:1a, NASB95)[2] The Greek word translated “rejected” is a verb that means “to push or thrust or cast away.” When it is used in New Testament writings as it is here in the middle voice in Greek, it is to show that it is a thrusting or casting or pushing away of something from oneself. Why is this important? Because Paul is not asking if God has refused to receive His people to Himself, but rather he is asking whether or not God has thrust or cast away from Himself the people He received long ago as His own? Paul, in other words, is saying, God has not thrust away or cast away from Himself His chosen and beloved people, Israel, has He?
Paul immediately answers his own question, and again he uses that phrase which was the strongest negative in the Greek language. My Bible translates it, “May it never be!” the King James Bible translates it, “God forbid!” This was the only answer for this question, this should have been the answer on the lips of all Paul’s readers who understand and know the character of God and understand His promises to Israel. This answer to this question sets the stage for the rest of this chapter, Paul will show us the impossibility of this question that he posed for us. The very idea that God would break His unconditional promises to Israel goes against the very character of God, it goes against His holiness, His righteousness, His faithfulness and His trustworthiness. It goes against all that God is and would show that He is a God not to be trusted, but that is not the case, as Paul makes abundantly clear by his use of this phrase, “May it never be!” for his answer.
Paul then immediately launches into his first example, a living example, that God has not thrust away or cast away Israel completely and permanently. Paul’s first example that he uses to prove that God has not rejected His chosen people was himself. Not only was Paul a believer in Jesus Christ and called by Him to be an apostle, he was an Israelite. If you remember before his conversion, Paul, then called Saul, was the most zealous Christ-hater around. Paul hunted down those who had turned to Jesus as their Messiah. He arrested them, had them thrown into prison, called for their deaths, zealously and relentlessly persecuting the early church. If such a Christ-hating and Christian-hating Jew as Paul was could be brought to faith in Christ, then the Gospel has the power to save any Jewish person. Paul’s point here, however, is that his own conversion made it clear that God could not and did not reject all Israel. He was living proof, and just as he has taught in this book already that God’s promises to Israel do not include all individual Jews, in the same way God’s rejection and judgment of Israel also does not include all individual Jews. Do you honestly believe that Paul would devote the rest of his life to the proclamation of the Gospel and even risk his life many times, if he knew that he was excluded from the promises?
Paul goes on to establish his identity as an Israelite, he was not a convert to Judaism, he was a Jew by descent, he was a descendant of Abraham, he goes into even more detail to prove his identity as an Israelite by stating that he was of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the twelve tribes that came from the 12 sons of Jacob or Israel, the twelve tribes that make up the nation of Israel. Paul is making a point here that God has not thrust away forever the nation of Israel, but even now makes the offer of salvation available to all on an individual basis, the nation He has temporarily set aside, but He is still saving individuals who come to Him in faith receiving His grace, Jews as well as Gentiles.
AN HISTORICAL EXAMPLE (Romans 11:2-5)
Paul moves on in verse 2 to give us another example that God’s setting aside of Israel as a nation is only temporary and partial. His second example is to show to us that the Lord has always preserved a remnant of believing Jews for Himself. The church from its inception on the day of Pentecost right up to our present day has always had within it believing Jews.
Paul begins verse two by giving another answer to the question he asked in verse one. In answer to: “God has not rejected His people, has He?” (Romans 11:1b, NASB95)[3] Paul now answers: “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” (Romans 11:2a, NASB95)[4] Again this word rejected means to cast off, rejecting what once had been received. Those whom God foreknew from eternity past and whom He received to Himself as His people through His covenant with Abraham He will never permanently and completely cast off. The Lord speaking through the prophet Samuel said to the nation of Israel when they wanted an earthly king to reign over them in 1 Samuel 12:22, “For the Lord will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for Himself.” (1 Samuel 12:22, NASB95)[5] The psalmist wrote in Psalm 94:14, “For the Lord will not abandon His people, Nor will He forsake His inheritance.” (Psalm 94:14, NASB95)[6] Now understand that “His people” in Romans 11:2 and in the 1 Samuel 12:22 and Psalm 94:14 that I just quoted for you does not refer to individual Jews, but to the nation of Israel, the people of the nation of Israel as a whole. This is who Paul has been referring to throughout these three chapters.
This word translated “foreknew” as used in Scripture means more than just to be aware of something beforehand but also means to determine beforehand that it will come to pass. For God, to foreknow is to predetermine. Israel as a nation is the only nation that was foreknown and predetermined by God to be His people and the receivers of His love and grace. Moses declared to the nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 7:6-8, “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:6–8, NASB95)[7] The phrase “to know” in Scripture often has the meaning of knowing someone intimately, like the relationship of a husband and wife, an intimacy which is defined by devotion and love. Because God foreknew His people, He loved them and predetermined to love them before they were ever created not because of anything they did or would do, but because God predetermined it to be so. The fact that God has continually kept a remnant of people for Himself is the greatest proof that He has not abandoned or rejected the nation of Israel forever. Never will there be a time when the earth lacks a remnant of believing Jews from the time that God called Abraham and made His covenant with Him until Jesus Christ returns to set up His kingdom and reign as King on David’s throne over His people, the nation of Israel.
Paul goes on in verse two to give us an historical example of God preserving for Himself a remnant of believing Jews. He writes, “Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?” (Romans 11:2b, NASB95)[8] Paul takes his readers and us back to the Old Testament, to the book of 1 Kings where we find the prophet Elijah. Paul takes us to a passage in 1 Kings 19, this chapter follows right after the events of chapter 18 where Elijah had a great victory on Mount Carmel where God had sent down fire from heaven to consume his sacrifice after a simple prayer after the priests of Baal had spent all morning and into the afternoon trying to get Baal to consume their sacrifice with fire to no avail. The priests of Baal were seized and executed and then God had sent rain on the earth after a three-year drought on the land. Jezebel hears that Elijah has had all the priests of Baal executed, Jezebel was king Ahab’s wife and had introduced Baal worship into Israel, when she hears she vows to execute Elijah for what he had done and he runs for his life. Arriving at Mount Horeb Elijah finds a cave on the mountain to hide in and begins having a conversation with the Lord which Paul records for us. Paul writes what Elijah prayed, “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” (Romans 11:3, NASB95)[9] Elijah in fear and self-pity prays to the Lord that he is the only believer left in Israel, the only one left and they are seeking to kill me now. Paul continues to write and gives us the answer that Elijah received from the Lord by divine revelation, Paul calls it the divine response, “But what is the divine response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”” (Romans 11:4, NASB95)[10] The Lord reassured Elijah speaking to him directly that he was not alone, but that there was a remnant of 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal, the false God that Jezebel and the priests of Baal had led most of Israel to worship.
We have other examples of the Lord preserving for Himself a remnant in Israel. When the people of Judah were taken into captivity to Babylon, most did not turn to the Lord, but there was a remnant including Daniel, Ezekiel, Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah (the three companions of Daniel), Mordecai, and Esther. These and others remained faithful to the Lord. When Jesus Christ came to this earth, the nation of Israel rejected Him and crucified Him, but even during this time there was a godly remnant of Jews that included Zacharias and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, Simeon and Anna, the shepherds who came and worshipped at His birth, later the disciples and after the Lord’s resurrection and ascension on the day of Pentecost 3000 mostly Jews were added to the church and that number continued to increase and Acts 6:7 records, “The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:7, NASB95)[11] So at all times God has preserved a remnant of His people from Israel.
Paul, after speaking of the remnant of 7000 that God had preserved for Himself in Elijah’s day, writes, “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.” (Romans 11:5, NASB95)[12] Remember that Paul was writing this at the end of his third missionary journey and had seen many Jews come to faith in Jesus Christ and knew many Jews who were believers, by this time there was a large remnant of Jewish believers spread across the Roman empire and even possibly beyond it.
This phrase “gracious choice” could be translated and is in the King James version as the “election of grace.” God’s gracious and divine choosing of those who are saved by grace through faith, and as with what is true of all believers in all of history so is true of the divinely elected remnant of Jews during Paul’s day, these Jews were not elected because they were spiritually worthy or because of something they had done or would do, nor were they chosen simply because they were descendants of Abraham, like all believers down through all of history they were chosen, elected according to God’s sovereign, gracious choice. Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus this truth in Ephesians 1:3-4, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.” (Ephesians 1:3–4, NASB95)[13] This is true of every believer, Jew or Gentile, you were chosen by God before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless before Him. God in eternity past graciously and sovereignly chose some of those who were physical descendants of Abraham to become His spiritual descendants. Throughout all of history since Abraham was called and until Jesus Christ returns to set up His kingdom God will preserve a remnant of faithful Jewish people for Himself as proof that He has not rejected Israel forever.
CONCLUSION:
I had hoped to get through these first ten verses this morning, but I should have known better. We got through the first five and I am going to stop here this morning. As we consider what we have learned this morning we understand that God’s rejection of the nation of Israel is only temporary, it is a setting aside during this dispensation of grace, or the age of the church, but Israel as a nation chosen by the Lord does have a future. Paul has shown by his own salvation and by the remnant of Jewish believers that have always existed that God has not completely and permanently cast away from Himself the nation that He chose to be His people. Just as He chose Paul, an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin to be a believer, to be saved by grace through faith, so He has chosen by His grace and sovereignty countless other Jews throughout history to put their trust in Him and receive His offer of grace, to put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord, their Messiah, and their Savior.
As you consider this, consider also that if you are a believer God chose you as well, not on the basis of who you are, not on the basis of your spiritual worthiness, not on the basis of what you have done or will do, but before the foundation of the world He chose you to be holy and blameless before Him. He chose you out of love to become His child. Listen again to Paul’s words in Ephesians 1, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:3–6, NASB95)[14] God graciously and sovereignly chose you in love to be His own, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Remember what Paul told the Romans in Romans 8:29-30, “For those whom He [God] foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.” (Romans 8:29–30, NASB95)[15] Never forget that God chose you in eternity past in love long before you could choose Him.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[11]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[12]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[13]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[14]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[15]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.