Bible Questions & Answers

BQA10

Israel’s Future

Jews can trace their lineage back thousands of years to one man, Abraham. It was into the Jewish tribe of Judah that the Son of God was born.

God Has a People, Chosen by Grace
Paul begins with a question: “Has God rejected his people?” After all, they have stumbled over the stumbling stone (9:32). Is it over? Is hope gone? Answer: “Absolutely not!” God will never reject Israel totally.

Paul’s question (Romans 11:1), “Has God cast away His people completely? That is, has every single Israelite been cast off?” Certainly not! The point is that although God has cast off His people, as is distinctly stated in Romans 11:15, this does not mean that He has rejected all of them.

Paul himself is a proof that the casting away has not been complete. After all, he was an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, and of the tribe of Benjamin. His credentials as a Jew were impeccable.

So, we must understand the first part of this verse as saying, “God has not completely cast away His people whom He foreknew,” The time of Elijah, the nation had turned away from God to idols. Conditions were so bad that Elijah prayed against Israel instead of for it. But the picture wasn’t as dark and hopeless as Elijah feared. God reminded the prophet that He had reserved for Himself seven thousand men who had steadfastly refused to follow the nation in worshiping Baal.

God has not rejected his people Romans 11:2. God did not reject his people in the days of Moses, nor in the days of the prophets. And he is not rejecting them now. Regardless of Israel’s unfaithfulness, God always keeps his promises.

Samuel told Israel, “For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own” (1 Samuel 12:22).

Psalmist wrote, “For the LORD will not reject his people; he will never forsake his inheritance” (Psalm 94:14).

Prophet Jeremiah prophesied, “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,’ declares the LORD, ‘will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me.’ This is what the LORD says: ‘Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 31:36-37).

God chose Israel to be the people through whom all other nations of the world could know him. He made this promise to Abraham, their Father (Genesis 12:1-3). Israel didn’t have to do anything to be chosen. God had given them this privilege because he wanted to, not because they deserved special treatment (Deuteronomy 9:4-6). God knew beforehand that Israel would be unfaithful; if God’s faithfulness to Israel was going to be dependent on their faithfulness, God would never have chosen them in the first place. God will remain faithful to his promises to Israel, despite Israel’s failure and unfaithfulness (Romans 11:2).

What was true then is true now: God never leaves Himself without a witness. He always has a faithful remnant chosen by Himself as special objects of His grace. God doesn’t choose this remnant on the basis of their works, but by His sovereign, electing grace.

These two principles—grace and works—are mutually exclusive. A gift cannot be earned. What is free cannot be bought. What is unmerited cannot be deserved. Fortunately, God’s choice was based on grace, not on works; otherwise no one could ever have been chosen.

The nation suffered what might be called judicial blindness. Refusal to receive the Messiah resulted in a decreased capacity and inclination to receive Him. God abandoned them to a state of shock in which they became insensitive to spiritual realities. Because they refused to see the Lord Jesus as Messiah, now they lost the power to see Him. Because they would not hear the pleading voice of God, now they were smitten with spiritual blindness. That judgment continues to this very day.

What has happened to Israel is all a part of God’s plan, and He knows what He is doing. The hardening (Rom. 11:7) of Israel as a nation is not final. It is partial and temporary. How long will it last? “Until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in” (Rom. 11:25). Today, God in His grace is visiting the Gentiles and taking out a people for His name (Acts 15:12-14). Individual Jews are being saved, of course, but this present age is primarily a time when God is visiting the Gentiles and building His church. When this present age has run its course, and the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then God will once more deal with the nation of Israel.

As a result of Israel’s rejection of the gospel, the nation was set aside and the gospel went out to the Gentiles. In this sense the fall of the Jews has meant riches for the world, and Israel’s loss has been the Gentiles’ gain (Romans 11:12). But if that is true, how much more will Israel’s restoration result in rich blessing for all the world! When Israel turns to the Lord at the close of the Tribulation, she will become the channel of blessing to the nations.

Apostle Paul reveals that the future restoration of Israel is not only a possibility but is an assured reality. What Paul now reveals is a mystery—a truth hitherto unknown, a truth that could not be known by man’s unaided intellect, but a truth that has now been made known (Romans 11:25).

This mystery is as follows: Blindness in part has happened to Israel. It has not affected all the nation, but only the unbelieving segment. That blindness is temporary. It will continue only until the fullness of the Gentiles arrives. The fullness of the Gentiles refers to the time when the last member will be added to the church, and when the completed Body of Christ will be raptured home to heaven (Romans 11:25).

The fullness of the Gentiles must be distinguished from the times of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24). The fullness of the Gentiles coincides with the Rapture. The phrase “times of the Gentiles” refers to the entire period of Gentile domination over the Jews, beginning with the Babylonian captivity (2 Chron. 36:1–21) and ending with Christ’s return to earth to reign.

The Gentiles were once an untamed, disobedient people, but when Israel spurned the Messiah and the gospel of salvation, God turned to the Gentiles in mercy (Romans 11:30).

While Israel’s judicial blindness is removed at the time of the Rapture, that does not mean that all Israel will be saved right away. Jews will be converted throughout the Tribulation Period, but the entire elect remnant will not be saved until Christ returns to earth as King of kings and Lord of lords.

When Paul says that all Israel will be saved, he means all believing Israel. The unbelieving portion of the nation will be destroyed at the Second Advent of Christ (Zech. 13:8, 9). Only those who say “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” will be spared to enter the kingdom.

“All” Israel, then, must refer to the forgiveness of the whole people or nation, the whole ethnic group in contrast to the saved remnant of Jews in Paul’s day and ours. It is the whole people, rather than a small part, that will be converted to the Messiah.

This is what Isaiah referred to when he spoke of the Redeemer coming to Zion and turning transgression away from Jacob (Isa. 59:20). Notice that it is not Christ’s coming to Bethlehem, but His coming to Zion—that is, His Second Coming (Romans 11:26).

So, we might summarize Israel’s present status by saying first that concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake. They are enemies in the sense of being cast off, set aside, alienated from God’s favor so that the gospel might go forth to the Gentiles. But that is only half the picture. Concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers—that is, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Romans 11:28).

The reason Israel are still beloved is that God’s gifts and calling are never rescinded. God does not take back His gifts. Once He has made an unconditional promise, He never goes back on it. He gave Israel the special privileges listed in Romans 9:4, 5. He called Israel to be His earthly people (Isa. 48:12), separate from the rest of the nations. Nothing can change His purposes.

God’s promise

The olive tree (Romans 11:16-24). This is a symbol of the nation of Israel (Jer. 11:16-17; Hos. 14:4-6).

No matter how far Israel may stray from the truth of God, the roots are still good. God is still the “God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:6; Matt. 22:32). He will keep His promises to these patriarchs. This means that the olive tree will flourish again (Romans 11:16-21).

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! The riches of God! He is rich in mercy, love, grace, faithfulness, power, and goodness. The wisdom of God! His wisdom is infinite, unsearchable, incomparable, and invincible. He knows everything: everything possible, everything actual; all events, all creatures, of the past, the present, and the future.”

His decisions are unsearchable: they are too deep for mortal minds to fully understand. The ways in which He arranges creation, history, redemption, and providence are beyond our limited comprehension (Romans 11:33).

There is a lesson about grace. God’s relationship to Israel is a tremendous illustration of his grace. Chosen, yet frightfully disobedient, even to the point of rejecting and actually killing the very Son of God sent to them, Israel nevertheless has been loved by God, continues to be loved by him, and will one day be brought back to God—because God is gracious. This is our God, too. The New Testament calls today the day of God’s grace. But this day of grace will not last forever, and the regathering of Israel in her own land may indicate that God’s days of grace are fast drawing to a close.

Where do you stand in your relationship to Jesus, who came into this world and died on the cross to save you? He is coming again! Will you be ready for him when he comes?

The Bible says, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” (Heb. 2:1–3).

Commentator Donald M. Williams writes a powerful description of the present state of Jerusalem and her glorious future:

Today Solomon’s temple lies in ruins, buried under the Dome of the Rock, the Muslim mosque, which dominates the Old City. Today the Jews weep over their sins at the Wailing Wall, the last remaining remnant of the Second Temple. Today Jerusalem knows little peace as Christian sects haggle over the shrines there, and Arab and Jew are at each other’s throats….When this age is complete, the New Jerusalem will be revealed as the restored center of the presence and worship of God (Rev.21:2). This city is the church made glorious by His unfailing presence in the perfection of the new creation. As we pray for the peace of Jerusalem today, we pray for the peace of God’s church and we pray for the prosperity which is to come when Jesus returns and establishes His reign on this planet. The redeemed will then stand before Him with shining faces reflecting His very glory (Donald M. Williams).

©alexanderthomas.org

Sources:
Preacher’s Outline and Sermon Bible (POSB)
The Bible Knowledge Commentary (BKC)
Believers Bible Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary
The Life Application Bible Commentary
CSB Ancient Faith Study Bible
Analytical Bible Expositor
Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture (CCSS)
Crossway Classic Commentaries Series Collection
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance