ISRAEL’S PLACE IN GOD’S PLAN OF REDEMPTION PART 3 – ISRAEL’S UNBELIEF PREDICTED (Romans 9:25-29)
INTRODUCTION:
Over the past several weeks we have been looking at Israel’s place in God’s plan of redemption. In chapter nine Paul has been dealing with Israel’s unbelief and how that fits into God’s plan of redemption and he has shown us that her unbelief does not change God’s promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David but they will all be fulfilled in the future. We learned that they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. God sovereignly chose Isaac and Jacob (Israel) to be the sons of promise, God did not choose Ishmael and Esau. So, in this we saw the sovereign election of God choosing some, but not others. Then for the last two weeks we looked more closely at God’s sovereign election and learned that Israel’s unbelief does not change God’s person, He remains the same, He continues to be righteous and just. He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. And as creatures of His creation we cannot question His sovereign election of some and not all. Both will demonstrate His glory either through the display of His wrath and power in judging sin or through the salvation of those He chose beforehand for glory.
This morning we will look at the third part of this chapter again dealing with Israel’s unbelief. In this part of this chapter Paul shows us that Israel’s unbelief was predicted by the Old Testament prophets, so her unbelief is consistent with God’s plan of redemption. Let’s pray and then read our passage for this morning.
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles again this morning to Romans 9. This morning our focus will be on verses 25-29, but I will read the rest of the chapter, Romans 9:25-33. Please, if you are able, stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Romans 9:25-33,
“As He says also in Hosea, ‘I will call those who were not My people, “My people,” And her who was not beloved, “beloved.” 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 the living God.’ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, ‘Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved; for the Lord will execute His word on the earth, thoroughly and quickly.’ And just as Isaiah foretold, ‘Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, We would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah.’ What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.’” (Romans 9:25–33, NASB95)[1]
ISRAEL’S UNBELIEF PREDICTED IN THE OLD TESTAMENT (Romans 9:25-29)
Paul in this third part uses two quotes from the prophet Hosea and two quotes from the prophet Isaiah to show us that Israel’s unbelief fits into God’s plan of redemption because it was predicted by the Old Testament prophets. Hosea and Isaiah were contemporaries and prophesied during the time leading up to the captivity of both the Northern Kingdom of Israel to the Assyrians and the Southern Kingdom of Judah to the Babylonians. These two prophets show that the Jews unbelief and their rejection of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ fits into what was revealed to them from God.
HOSEA
Paul does not quote word for word from Hosea in this first quote, but paraphrases under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit what God spoke through the prophet Hosea. He paraphrases from Hosea 2:23 and writes, “As He [God] says also in Hosea, ‘I will call those who were not My people, “My people,” And her who was not beloved, “beloved.”’” (Romans 9:25, NASB95)[2]
You must have some background on Hosea to fully understand the truth that Paul is trying to teach us here. Hosea in the first chapter in the opening verses where he is introduced was told by God to take a wife of harlotry, or take a prostitute for his wife and this was to be a picture of the people of Israel who were committing flagrant spiritual harlotry, forsaking the Lord and going after the idols of the people around them. The passage in Hosea one is not clear whether Gomer, Hosea’s wife was a harlot before Hosea married her or if she became one after they were married. Whether before or after the marriage, Hosea was commanded to keep her as his wife, even after she committed adultery. This woman bore three children to Hosea in chapter one and each was given a name that meant something. She first bore a son who was named Jezreel which means “God scatters” or “God sows”; next she had a baby girl who was named Lo-ruhamah which means “not pitied” or “no mercy or compassion”; third she gave birth to another son and he was named Lo-ammi which means “not my people.” During this time Gomer’s unfaithfulness to Hosea was a vivid picture of Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness to God. The names of Hosea’s three children represented the attitude of God toward Israel. Because of their unfaithfulness God would scatter them like seeds sown in a garden, they would be scattered in the nations, they would be unpitied by the world, and they would be forsaken by God, not His people. The Lord goes on speaking through Hosea and says that His people will not be permanently forsaken by Him. God speaks of bringing them back to Himself and back to their land. If you read through the first three chapters of Hosea you will read of this scattering, of the Israelites not pitied by the world and forsaken by God. Hosea’s marriage was the same, even though Gomer played the harlot, Hosea loved Gomer and protected and supported her, even during the time that she lived as a harlot and one day Hosea bought her as a slave who was for sale in the open market, naked and full of shame. He bought her and brought her back into his home. God will do this same thing one day and redeem His people Israel from the slave market of sin.
Until that day, the children of Israel will not only be treated as not belonging to God’s family, but God will treat the Gentiles, who were not His people as His people. This is the truth that Paul is making in this paraphrase of Hosea 2:23, “‘I will call those who were not My people, “My people,” And her who was not beloved, “beloved.” 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 the living God.’” (Romans 9:25-26, NASB95)[3]
After 70 years of exile in foreign nations God through Cyrus brought His chosen people back to the land of promise, the land of their inheritance. They physically returned, but the day is yet future when God will redeem them from the slave market of sin. Just so it is clear, because otherwise it can be misunderstood, Paul here is not speaking about individual Jews, there are individual Jews who have put their belief in Jesus Christ as their Messiah and have been saved. Here Paul is talking about the nation of Israel and it is the nation of Israel that he will be writing about to the end of chapter 11. As I have already stated, Israel’s unbelief did not catch God off guard it and in no way changes His plan for His chosen people, the nation of Israel, or His plan for the world.
Israel’s ultimate act of unfaithfulness was her rejection of her Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as she had been unfaithful and rejected God in Hosea’s day, she rejected Jesus Christ in Paul’s day and it did not change God’s plan. Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ was precisely as the Old Testament prophets had predicted centuries before. God had revealed to Hosea the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel and how God scattered and rejected them at that time. The Holy Spirit working through Paul applied to Paul’s day what Hosea had witnessed and seen concerning Israel in His day. God again scattered the people of Israel in 70 A.D. when Jerusalem was destroyed, and those who did not flee Israel at that time were driven out in 132 A.D. They were scattered throughout the Roman empire and not until 1948 when the state of Israel was formed did the people of Israel have a place of their own. Many Jews still remain scattered around the globe, the nation still does not recognize their Messiah and rejects Jesus Christ and is still as a nation not the people of God. But we will learn later on that God has not permanently rejected His people, but one day those as Hosea said who are called “not my people” will be called by God again, “My people.” As Hosea predicted in Hosea 1:10 which Paul quotes, he does not paraphrase here but quotes word for word, “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 the living God.” (Romans 9:26, NASB95)[4] The place that Hosea refers to is the place where they were scattered, the places among the nations where they were forsaken by God, called not my people, but one day they will in those places where they are located be called sons of the living God. God gathered His people back after He had scattered them in Hosea’s day and He will one day again gather them from the nations where they are scattered today, He will bring them back to the land of promise and to their true Lord and Messiah, and they will be called the sons of the living God. Israel’s redemption will come, it is yet future, but it is promised by God and it will come to pass. Israel’s unbelief at this time or at any time does not change God’s promises made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. Israel’s unbelief was predicted by the prophets.
Even as exciting it is to speak of Israel’s eventual redemption and her being restored to the land of promise, Paul’s focus in this passage is the nation of Israel’s unbelief which has caused her to be alienated from God at the present time. The point that Paul is making is that Israel’s unbelief which is the reason she is alienated from God and scattered did not change or upset God’s ultimate plan for His people. In every way, just the opposite, God knew and through the prophets predicted the nation’s rejection of their Messiah and the consequences they would suffer, centuries before it occurred and God’s plan for Israel has not changed.
ISAIAH
Paul moves from quoting Hosea, to Hosea’s contemporary, the prophet Isaiah. Paul also gives two quotes from Isaiah. Paul first writes, “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, ‘Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved;” (Romans 9:27, NASB95)[5] Paul declares that this statement made by Isaiah was cried out by the prophet, a term used to describe a crying out because of a great emotion. This truth that Isaiah was to declare to the people of Israel, to his people weighed heavy on his heart, he agonized over the truth of it, that out of the vast number of Abraham’s human descendants, those who were through Isaac and then Jacob, a number that is described as like the sand of the sea, I was on the beach this last week, that is an innumerable number, of all these descendants only a small remnant will be saved. Isaiah’s ministry as a prophet was to the southern kingdom of Judah to whom he ministered faithfully for 48 years. He prophesied of their exile because of their unfaithfulness to God, they like Israel in the north, would be conquered, scattered, and for a time forsaken by God.
Paul goes on and quotes from the next verse in Isaiah 10 finishing what he began quoting in 27, he writes, “for the Lord will execute His word on the earth, thoroughly and quickly.’” (Romans 9:28, NASB95)[6] Isaiah was speaking of the swift judgment that would come upon the people of Judah, and when the Babylonians came, used by God to judge Judah, God’s justice was thorough and quick, and from that judgment only a few, a small remnant of true believers survived. The same was true when General Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., only a remnant survived.
To emphasize this point of God’s swift and thorough judgment on Israel’s for her unbelief and rejection of the Messiah, Paul quotes again from Isaiah, from Isaiah 1:9 Paul writes, “And just as Isaiah foretold, ‘Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left to us a posterity, We would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah.’” (Romans 9:29, NASB95)[7] This title “Lord of Sabaoth” is an Old Testament title for God, often translated LORD of Hosts. Speaks of the Lord being a Commander over a well-equipped and trained military, the host of the heavens, the angelic force which no can withstand. This title refers to God’s sovereignty over all that He has created, it speaks of His greatness, that He is the Almighty and that He is the Lord over all creation. The word translated “posterity” is a Greek word that means “seed” which can refer to descendants of both plants and humans. The nation of Israel and Judah in Isaiah’s day rejected God and were judged and in Christ’s day faced terrible judgment for their unbelief and then their rejection of the Messiah. They not only put to death many of God’s prophets in the Old Testament but even worse they killed God’s Son, their Messiah and Savior. Paul in quoting Isaiah was making the point that God graciously left a remnant, a posterity, when He brought His judgment upon the nation. Without this remnant no one would be saved, we would have all become like Sodom and Gomorrah. These two cities during Abraham’s day were destroyed by God because of their wickedness. Sodom and Gomorrah came to represent total destruction, they were basically wiped off the face of the earth. This would be the fate of the whole world were it not for God’s grace.
CONCLUSION:
The only way to be saved from the judgment of the Lord is by His mercy and grace. In His great mercy and grace, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be our substitute and suffer God’s judgment for our sin. Jesus Christ suffered God’s wrath against sin on our behalf, He paid the penalty for sin by dying in our place. He was buried and the third day He triumphed over death, proving that sin was paid for and death was forever conquered. God’s judgment on sin and unbelief is coming, the only way to avoid it is to put your faith in Jesus Christ and His death on your behalf and His resurrection. Israel’s unbelief and rejection of her Messiah did not catch God off-guard, instead God had revealed it hundreds of years before through the Old Testament prophets, they had predicted what would happen in their own lifetime and what would happen in the time of the Messiah. The nation of Israel has been set aside for a time, but they have a future yet to be fulfilled. Paul will speak of this near the end of chapter 11, in verses 25-27 he writes, “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.’ ‘This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.’” (Romans 11:25–27, NASB95)[8] Just as their unbelief and rejection of the Messiah was predicted by the prophets, so also the salvation of the remnant and their restoration is predicted.
[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.