GOD’S PLAN OF REDEMPTION INCLUDES ISRAEL – PART 2 (Romans 11:11-24)
INTRODUCTION:
Last week we began looking at a new section of Romans 11 in which Paul begins to show us that God’s eternal plan of redemption includes the nation of Israel. Israel as a nation has been set aside temporarily and partially. We learned in the first 11 verses that God has always preserved for Himself out of the nation a remnant of believing Jews even to this day. He will continue to preserve this remnant until the nation recognizes that they crucified the Messiah and they repent and are saved. We also learned in those first 11 verses that those who rejected Jesus Christ and crucified Him, God hardened them to His grace because of their unbelief. He gave them a spirit of stupor and let their eyes be darkened to see not.
In the two verses that we looked at last week we learned that God had a determined and definite purpose in setting Israel aside, His objective was two-fold. First, their transgression which caused them to be set aside brought salvation to the Gentiles, what they forfeited, salvation by grace through faith was offered to the Gentiles. Second, God did this so that the Jews would become jealous of God’s blessings to the Gentiles and would want that blessing too and would repent and in faith receive God’s salvation by grace through Jesus Christ. I finished up speaking of the spiritual riches we, as Gentiles, have received because of Israel’s transgression and failure, and how the riches that the world and the Gentiles have received now will not even compare to the blessings that God will pour out on the earth when Israel repents and is saved, then will be the glorious millennial kingdom with all its riches and blessings.
This morning we want to continue in this passage first looking at Paul’s ministry as an apostle and how he views and uses his role to witness to Jews and Gentiles. Then Paul uses two examples to show that God must fulfill His promises to Israel. Then he expands on the second example to warn Gentiles, and to show again that the nation’s rejection by God is only temporary. Let’s pray and get into our passage.
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans 11:11-24, I will read the whole passage again to pick up the context. If you are able, please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Romans 11:11-24,
“I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?” (Romans 11:11–24, NASB95)[1]
APOSTLE OF GENTILES (Romans 11:13-15)
We looked last Sunday at the purpose or the objective of the temporary setting aside of the nation of Israel. I said it was two-fold, so that by Israel’s transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles and so that the Jews might become jealous of the spiritual blessings being poured out on the Gentiles. Paul continues this thought of the jealousy of the Jews and it being used to bring them to salvation, but in verse 13 he approaches from a different angle. Paul wants to make clear to his Gentile readers that he has a deep burden for his own people, but in doing so he wants to make certain that they understand that he also has a deep concern and burden for their souls. He writes in verse 13, “But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,” (Romans 11:13, NASB95)[2]
Paul had been called by God to be the apostle to the Gentiles and that was a role that he took very seriously and never wanted those to whom he ministered to ever doubt his sincerity towards them and his desire to see them come to faith in Jesus Christ. When he says that he magnified his ministry, he meant that everywhere he went he emphasized that calling that he had received from Christ. In the opening chapter of Romans he mentioned that he was set apart as an apostle “to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles…” (Romans 1:5b, NASB95)[3] Paul speaking of his calling wrote to the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:8, “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,” (Ephesians 3:8, NASB95)[4] Paul in his letter to Timothy when writing concerning salvation wrote in 1 Timothy 2:7, “For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.” (1 Timothy 2:7, NASB95)[5] Everywhere that Paul went he emphasized this calling as an apostle to the Gentiles. But he also knew that Jesus had told the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:22 that “…salvation is from the Jews.” (John 4:22b, NASB95)[6] Paul was always aware of his calling by God to be the apostle to the Gentiles, but he also had a great love and a burden for his own people and their salvation. He had already expressed this love and burden for them in chapters 9 and 10 offering if it were possible his own salvation if it meant the salvation of his Jewish brothers and sisters.
Paul’s call by God to be the apostle to the Gentiles and his love and desire to see unsaved Gentiles brought to salvation was in no way reduced or minimized by his love for and desire to see his unsaved fellow Jews come to salvation in Christ and his people as the nation of Israel to come in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ, their Messiah and Savior. Because of this Paul makes known to his Gentile readers that part of the reason he magnifies his ministry to them is to provoke to jealousy some of his countrymen. He writes in verses 13-14, “Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.” (Romans 11:13–14, NASB95)[7] Not only did Paul want to see Gentiles come to faith in Jesus Christ, but like God, he wanted their salvation to be God’s way of provoking Jews to jealousy that they too might be redeemed by God’s grace.
Paul then hammers home his point concerning God’s purpose in setting aside the nation temporarily. He writes in verse 15, “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:15, NASB95)[8] Paul again speaks of Israel’s temporary rejection as bringing about the offer of reconciliation with God to the rest of the world. Paul had already spoken of this reconciliation in chapter 5:8-11, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (Romans 5:8–11, NASB95)[9] Because Israel rejected God’s offer of reconciliation, to restore the harmony between Israel and God that was destroyed by Israel’s rebellion and rejection of God’s Son, that reconciliation that was brought about by the death of Jesus Christ is now available to all by faith. This word translated reconciliation is a word in Greek that means “to change completely,” Christ’s death on the cross changed the world’s relationship with God completely, a world that had been unsavable because of sin, became savable by Christ’s substitutionary death on our behalf and as the message of reconciliation is proclaimed to the world and a sinner repents and believes that Jesus Christ died for him, suffered God’s wrath against sin for him, paid the penalty required for his sin, which is death and was buried and rose from the dead on the third day proving that His death was accepted by God, then the enmity which existed between man and God goes away as that person is changed completely by having his sins forgiven, by being declared righteous in Christ, that person is reconciled to God, the peace and harmony of God is restored between God and His new son or daughter. This is what Israel’s rejection is for the world, reconciliation.
Paul goes on, “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:15, NASB95)[10] In other words, Paul is saying that if the tragedy of their rejection can lead to the reconciliation of the world to God, then even far greater and more glorious will be their acceptance, it will be life from the dead. Paul in using this phrase “life from the dead” is not talking about the future bodily resurrection of believers, but in reference to individual Jews he is referring to their receiving spiritual life as a gracious gift by faith, being raised from spiritual death, which is the wage of sin and the condition that each person is in before salvation. Paul stated it clearly for us in Ephesians 2:1, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,” (Ephesians 2:1, NASB95)[11] Only by grace through faith can we have life from the dead. In regard to the nation of Israel, Paul was speaking of their eventual rebirth, which will result in the whole world being reborn in the glorified millennial kingdom of God. Paul had spoken of this glorious day earlier in Romans 8:21 saying, “that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” (Romans 8:21, NASB95)[12] Isaiah speaks of the creation after it is set free from its slavery to corruption, he writes in Isaiah 11:6-9, “And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:6–9, NASB95)[13] I could take you to other places in Isaiah that speak of the earth becoming fertile and blossoming, but for sake of time let me just give you one reference that you can look up: Isaiah 35:1-10. That future day when the nation of Israel will recognize that they crucified their Messiah and will repent and turn to Him in faith will be for them like life from the dead, for the earth also as the curse is lifted and it is transformed will be like life from the dead, like a most glorious Spring after more than 6000 years of the most terrible winter. This is just a glimpse of what will happen when Jesus Christ returns and sets up His glorious, millennial kingdom and reigns over the earth in righteousness and fulfills all the promises of God to Israel.
Paul moves from speaking of Israel’s rejection and eventual salvation to give us two examples of why God in His holiness cannot reject Israel completely and permanently, why His rejection of the nation of Israel is only temporary. Paul writes in verse 16, “If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.” (Romans 11:16, NASB95)[14] His first example has to do with dough. To understand this fully you must understand a little about Israel’s religious system, all of this would have been truly clear to Paul’s Jewish readers. The phrase translated “the first piece of dough” is a single word in Greek that means “firstfruit.” If you are using the KJV Bible that is how it is translated. The offering of firstfruit could be any kind, it could be an animal, it could be grain, it could be fruit, it could be a cake baked from the first of the bread made from a new harvest. Firstfruit was an offering that was set aside specifically for the Lord, from the first of your livestock to the first of your harvest.
In reference to this dough, God had commanded it through Moses when He had delivered the people out of the land of Egypt, He had commanded in Numbers 15:19-21, “then it shall be, that when you eat of the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the Lord. ‘Of the first of your dough you shall lift up a cake as an offering; as the offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up. From the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord an offering throughout your generations.’” (Numbers 15:19–21, NASB95)[15] These cakes that were made from the first of the dough were given to feed the priests, those who served in the tabernacle and later the temple, their service represented the Lord in their unique ministry, they had been set apart for the Lord for this ministry. So, before any bread could be eaten by a household from the flour of a new harvest, a special portion, the first of the dough, was first consecrated and presented to the Lord.
Even though only a portion of the dough was given, it represented the whole lump, in this way all of the dough was acknowledged as being from the Lord. The people of Israel were giving back to the Lord a portion of what He had given to them. It is for this reason that the lump is also holy (set apart) because all that they had was from the Lord.
Paul then uses another example, that of roots and a tree. He says if the root is holy, then the branches are too. In other words, if the foundational part of the plant (the root) is holy, then all that it produces must also be holy.
Paul uses these two examples to make a point, to teach us a truth. The truth is that if the firstfruits and the root of Israel which are symbolized by the first patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, if they are holy, if they were consecrated or set apart to the Lord, then so are all their descendants, the people of Israel. If this is true then God cannot reject Israel completely and permanently because to do so would mean that He would not fulfill all of the promises of the covenant that He made with the patriarchs who were set apart to Him, this is something that His holy character will not allow. For God to be faithful to His own Word, His own promises, He must provide a future salvation for the nation of Israel.
CONCLUSION:
I’m going to stop here this morning. We will finish this up next Sunday, Lord willing. Paul in this chapter is showing us that God’s eternal plan of redemption includes Israel. He has shown us this in the fact that God has always preserved for Himself a remnant of faithful, believing Jews. Even though God hardened those Jews who rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and set the unbelieving nation aside for a time, the nation still has a future. God set them aside and hardened for a determined purpose, so that salvation might come to the Gentiles and that this would provoke the Jews to jealousy and they too would repent and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. Paul showed us that even though we are enjoying the blessings of salvation right now, how much more when Israel turns to the Lord and the blessings of the millennial kingdom are poured out on the earth, then even creation will be restored to its former glory.
Paul then gave us two examples that showed us that God in His holiness cannot reject Israel completely and permanently, because to do so would be unfaithful to the patriarchs who He set apart to Himself and made promises of blessing to them that have not yet been fulfilled, the promise to redeem and restore Abraham’s descendants. If Abraham and the patriarchs, the root is holy, then the branches, their descendants are holy too. In other words, they were divinely called before the foundation of the world and God’s work with those branches will not be complete until they produce the spiritual fruit that He intends to produce in and through them. This will happen in the end of the age, during the millennial kingdom, when they become the holy people they were destined to be. They were consecrated or set apart as a people of God in the consecration of Abraham. His promises to Israel are unbreakable because He established them with Israel through His covenant with their forefather, Abraham.
[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.