Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Rom 11:1 and following. Indeed, despite its disbelief, Israel was not definitively rejected. The apostle himself was a witness to what grace could still accomplish on behalf of the rebellious Jew. Already in the days of Elijah, elijah was mistaken in thinking that the whole people had abandoned Jehovah. In his discouragement, poor Elijah had gone so far as to “appeal to God against Israel(Rom 11:2, 3). But what grace in “the divine answer:”I have reserved for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed their knees before Baal.” For the Lord has always reserved for himself a faithful residue who refuses to bow down before the idols of the world. Are we part of it in the present time (Rom 11:5)? And this example of what these idols can be: the pleasures of the table become a trap for the unbelievers and, adds Ps 69:23-24, “what tends to prosperity” is a net for them.
After multiple appeals, Israel was finally blinded to the benefit of the nations. But the apostle’s ardent desire remained this: that the jealousy of the Jewish people towards the new beneficiaries of salvation (jealousy from which he himself had suffered so much: Acts 13:42-47; Acts 17:4-8; Acts 22:19-24) prompts him to seek the grace he had hitherto despised (Rom 11:14; Rom 10:18-21). May the sight of our Christian blessings awaken the envy of all those around us!
To illustrate the respective question of Israel and the nations, the apostle takes the image of a cultivated olive tree that represents the Jewish people. Part of its branches were torn off “because of disbelief” (Rom 20) and instead branches from the wild olive tree of nations were grafted. But everyone knows that a gardener always does the opposite. He grafts on the wild tree the offspring of the species he intends to harvest. This “unnatural” introduction (Rom 11:24) of the Gentiles on the trunk of Israel thus underlines the immense grace that has put us, who are not Jews, to the benefit of the promises made to Abraham. To feel pride in it would be the greatest of inconsequences.
So when God “preconceived Israel,” did he not know in advance the evil ways the people would follow, their rebellion and wickedness? Certainly! Despite this, he had elected and called him, and then often chastised him. Would he have rejected it? Impossible! The apostle gives three proofs of this. The first: he was also an “Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin”. In his zeal for God, he had even persecuted the congregations and forced believers to blaspheme. Nevertheless, God had manifested all the riches of his grace and long-suffering towards him; he had saved and established him in service, he, who was previously a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and an outrageous, the most bitter enemy in the name of Jesus (1 Tim 1:13). If God had rejected His earthly people, the judgment should have reached Him, the very first.
And as it was in the days of Jezebel, so it is today: “Thus, in the present time too, there is a residue according to the election of grace” (Rom 11:5). If even the general state of the people in the time of the apostle as in the past, was characterized by hardening and blindness, there was nevertheless a residue, “election” as the apostle calls it (Rom 11:7). Israel, as such, had not obtained what it was looking for (9:31). The mass of the people was hardened, but a residue, chosen by God, had obtained it; certainly, not by virtue of legal works (the apostle notes at every opportunity the contrast between law and grace) but by virtue of a sovereign and unconditional grace. “Now, if it is by grace, it is no longer on the principle of works, since otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom 11:6).
For in the past, the pagans had lived in darkness, far from God; they had not believed God. But now, through the disbelief of the Jews, they had become objects of mercy and participated in a grace to which they had no rights. The same was true of the Jews: unbelievers like the Gentiles, they themselves had refused grace and they rejected with horror the thought that nations could be put to the benefit of this grace. They had lost all right to the fulfillment of promises, so that they were in the same situation as the nations: only an unconditional grace could save them. The only resource of both was god’s mercy. Any confidence in one’s own justice was thus excluded. Jews and Gentiles were all together closed by God in disobedience, so that He could manifest His grace to all. In all this, we see not only God’s invariable faithfulness, but also His unfathomable wisdom, and this is what the Apostle brings out in the following verses.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
- Israel, the name given to God’s chosen people
Ex 6:7 I will take you for my people, I will be your God, and you will know that it is I, the Lord, your God, who will set you free from the works entrusted to you by the Egyptians. Nb 23:9 I see it from the top of the rocks, I contemplate it from the top of the hills: It is a people who have their home apart, and who are not part of the nations. Dt 4:37 He loved your fathers, and he chose their seed after them; he himself brought you out of Egypt by his great power; 2 S 7:23 Is there on earth a single nation that is like your people, like Israel, whom God has come to redeem to form his people, to make a name for himself and to perform miracles and wonders on their behalf, in favor of your country, by driving out before your people, whom you have redeemed from Egypt, nations and their gods? Ps 135:4 For the Lord chose Jacob, Israel, to belong to Him. Isa 43:1 Thus now speaks the Lord, who created you, O Jacob! He who formed you, O Israel! Fear not, for I redeem you, I call you by name: you are mine! Is 45:4 For the sake of my servant Jacob, and of Israel, my chosen one, I called you by name, I spoke to you kindly, before you knew Me.
- Prescience of Christ
Jn 6:64 But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who were those who did not believe, and who was the one who would deliver him. Jn 13:1:11 Before the feast of Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come to pass from this world to the Father, and having loved his own who were in the world, put the height of his love for them. 11 For he knew the one who delivered him; that is why he said: You are not all pure. Jn 18:4 Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to Him, stepped forward and said to them, “Who are you looking for? John 19:28 After that, Jesus, who knew that everything was already consumed, said, that Scripture might be fulfilled: I am thirsty.
- Faithfulness to God, Examples
Nb 12:7 This is not the case with my servant Moses. He is faithful throughout my house. Nb 14:24 And because my servant Caleb has been animated by another spirit, and has fully followed my path, I will bring him into the land where he went, and his descendants will possess him. 1 Kings 19:18 But I will leave in Israel seven thousand men, all those who have not bowed their knees before Baal, and whose mouths have not kissed him. Ne 7:2 Igave my orders to Hanani, my brother, and to Hanania, head of the citadel of Jerusalem, a man superior to the many by his faithfulness and fear of God. 1 Co 4:17 For this I have sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ, how I teach everywhere in all the churches. Col 1:7 according to the instructions you have received from Epaphras, our beloved companion of service, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ; Col 4:9 I send him with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother, who is of yours. They will inform you of everything that is happening here. Rev 17:14 They will fight against the lamb, and the lamb will defeat them, because he is the Lord of lords and the King of kings, and the called, the elect, and the faithful who are with him will also defeat them.
- New Man: Resurrected After Spiritual Death
Ez 37:10 I prophesied, according to the order He had given me. And the spirit entered them, and they came back to life, and they stood on their feet: it was a large, very numerous army. Lek 15:24 for my son here was dead, and he came back to life; he was lost, and he is found. And they began to rejoice. Rom 8:11 And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. Rom 11:15 For if their rejection was the reconciliation of the world, what will be their reintegration, if not a life from the dead? Eph 2:1,6 You were dead by your trespasses and sins, 6 He raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places, in Jesus Christ; Col 3:1 If, then, you are resurrected with Christ, look for things from above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God.
From all of the above, we note that Israel possessed promises made by grace. Now, he had rejected the One in whom only these promises could become Yes and Amen. The Jews had, therefore, placed themselves on a land where only grace could restore them. They were therefore at exactly the same point as the nations; there was no longer any difference between the two. “Justas you once disobeyed God and by their disobedience you have now obtained mercy, so they have now disobeyed, so that through the mercy best of you they may also obtain mercy.” (Rom 11:30-31). For the time will come, after the rapture of the believers, when unfaithful Christianity will be judged in turn; after which all the remnant of Israel will be saved by its great Liberator (Rom 11:26). Thus nations had no right of origin; for Israel had lost its own; all were therefore in the same irremediable state, with no other resource than mercy from above. And the apostle stops with adoration before these unfathomable plans, these “depths of the richness, wisdom, and knowledge of God”(Rom 11:33). It is understandable that the Apostle, after exposing God’s wonderful ways in grace and judgment, in the presence of God’s invariable fidelity, wisdom and holiness, gave rise to the feelings of his heart with this remarkable praise that concludes our sharing: “O depth of riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable his judgments are, and his ways cannot be found! For who knew the Lord’s thought, or who was His counselor? Or who gave him the first one, and it will be returned to him?” Yes, where is there a God, like our God? How unfathomable his ways are! Who advised him when he established them? Who could know the Lord’s mind? And yet, we, weak and mortal beings, are introduced into the knowledge of this thought and the unfathomable ways of the One of whom and by whom and for whom all things are. O depth of riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! To Him be the glory eternally! Amen! Our prayers support you all in the search for divine grace.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow on”Consecration to God, one body many members, multiple expressions of love: “Itherefore exhort you, brothers.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.