Child of Theos

 

 

ISRAEL AND GOD’S PLAN

By

Patrick Neiswinger

Introduction

No doubt one of God’s greatest treasures is His chosen people, Israel. To Abraham, God established his unbreakable and everlasting covenant. God said to Abraham in Genesis 17:7 “And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for and everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.” The Jews have a very special place in God’s heart. Many times throughout the Bible they are referred to as the “apple of his eye.” Deuteronomy 32:8-10 says, “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.” Zechariah makes mention of this as well. “For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that thoucheth you thoucheth the apple of his eye.” (Zechariah 2:8)

            Shortly after the time of Christ a great deal of anti-Semitism came about. This resulted in tremendous persecution of the Jews. Through this rise of anti-Semitism, there came about a heretical doctrine known today as replacement theology. What is replacement theology? Dr Renald Showers says that replacement theology is:

 

A theological view of the world that claims God is forever finished with Israel as a nation. Therefore, God’s promise in the Abrahamic Covenant to give the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob the land of Canaan as an eternal inheritance is no longer in effect with national Israel.[1]

Replacement theologians say that the church of today has replaced Israel; therefore God’s plan for them is no longer in effect. Dr. Showers further explains:

They (Replacement [Covenant] Theologians) claim that because the majority of Israel failed to embrace Jesus Christ during His First Coming, God forever rejected Israel as a nation. They believe God repealed or terminated the Abrahamic Covenant, that Israel has forfeited ownership of the land, and that the Covenant’s everlasting nature was abrogated.[2]

The apostle Paul, in Romans chapter 11 shows this to not be the case. Israel has not been rejected and the church has not replaced Israel. The apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, gives three evidences to prove that the Church indeed has not replaced the nation of Israel (God’s chosen people).

 

Testimonies of God’s Faithfulness

Testimony of Paul

            The apostle Paul begins chapter 11 by asking a very pointed question. “Hath God cast away his people?” This question is asked in such a way as to get a negative answer. In the original this question is framed so as to have no as the answer. To illustrate this point Paul gives his personal testimony.

            Paul reminds the readers that he is indeed a Jew as well. He speaks that he too is of the seed of Abraham. He also mentions that he was of the Tribe of Benjamin. There was no way that God had cast out his people because Paul himself was a Jew and God had not cast him away. His very life testified that God was not yet finished with Israel. To further illustrate this truth, the apostle Paul then gives the testimony of Scripture.

Testimony of Scripture

Intercession of Elijah

            The apostle Paul makes mention of the intercession of Elijah which is recorded in 1 Kings 19. Romans 11:2-3 says, “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? How he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine alters; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.” In the Kings passage, word reaches Jezebel about Elijah’s success at Mt Carmel. She sends messengers to him telling him that she was planning to take his life. Elijah hearing this decides to flee. He travels for about a day and then rests under a juniper tree. While there, angels minister to him by giving him food to eat. He then goes to a cave and the Lord comes to him and says, “What are you doing here?” He responds by saying, “I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine alters, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” (1 Kings 19:10) Elijah has a pity party with God and moans because he is the only Jew still alive and was on the verge of being killed himself, so he thought. God then reminds him that this was not true. God says, “Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” (1 Kings 19:18) In verse four of Romans 11, Paul quotes this Old Testament verse. He says, “But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.” God reminds Elijah that He had preserved a remnant of seven thousand men that had not bought into this false religion. This remnant would be saved and not utterly destroyed.

            Paul then reminds the readers that like Elijah’s day there is a remnant of people whom God would protect and not allow to be utterly consumed. He says, “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”  Those who had put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ were saved and therefore a part of the remnant. John Phillips said that “God’s remnant has always been those who have accepted the principles of salvation by faith through grace.”[3][1]

Intercession of David

Paul then looks that the other side of the coin. He looks at the nation as a whole and says that those Jews who rejected the message of the gospel were blinded. In other words their hearts became hardened to it. John Phillips said, “The passion of the Greek was for knowledge; the passion of the Roman was for power; but the passion of the Jew was for righteousness. They missed their national goal by missing Christ and so were hardened, except for the elect remnant.”[4][2] To illustrate their hardness of heart Paul quotes from Isaiah 29:10, “For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.” God gave them “the spirit of slumber” so they could not see or hear the message of God.

Paul then quotes from the Psalms and gives one of David’s prayers. Verses nine and ten are a quote from Psalm 69:22-23. There is a lot of Messianic Prophesy in this Psalm, so in the context it probably refers to those who reject the Messiah. The verse previous to the ones that Paul quoted from give the prophesy of the offering of gall and vinegar for Christ to drink, “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” (Psalm 69:21) So the pronoun they is prophetically referring to those whom would reject Christ. The word table in verse nine is a very interesting word. In the original it refers often to “the table in the temple at Jerusalem on which the consecrated loaves were placed.”[5][3] David prays that the religious practices of those Jews who rejected the Messiah would become a trap and a stumbling block to them. He prays that their eyes would be blinded and they bow down their back. This is an interesting phrase in the original as well. Metaphorically it means “to subject one to error and hardness of heart, a figure taken from the bowing of the back by captives compelled to pass under the yoke.”[6][4] Having shown the first evidence proving that the Church has not replaced Israel, the apostle Paul moves on to the second evidence, which is the Temporary Focus on the Gentiles.

Temporary Focus on the Gentiles

The Fall of Israel

The Objection

            In verse 11 the apostle Paul presents an objection. “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall?” Essentially, Paul is asking in the objection, Has Israel stumbled so much that they have fallen completely out of God’s program? This is the very objection that those who embrace Replacement Theology hold to. Dr. Renald Showers says:

They claim that because the majority of Israel failed to embrace Jesus Christ during His first coming, God forever rejected Israel as a nation. They believe God repealed or terminated the Abrahamic Covenant, that Israel has forfeited ownership of the land, and that the Covenant’s everlasting nature was abrogated…According to this view, God will save individual Jewish people, but He has no present or future program for Israel as a nation. He has rejected Israel as His people and replaced Israel with the church.[7][5]

Answer to the Objection

            In response to the objection Paul gives a very sharp answer. Paul says, “God Forbid.” Paul answers the question by saying, of course not. He says that rather, their fall enabled the Gentiles to be saved. This fall was such that those who fell would be provoked to jealousy. Oliver B. Greene in his commentary on Romans said, “God in His providence use the stumbling of Israel as an occasion to bring His salvation to the Gentiles, and this latter as a means whereby He could incite in Israel a desire from the salvation they had rejected.”[8][6]

 

 

Paul continues in verse 12, “Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?” Green explains this verse as follows:

Everything worth-while that has come to the Gentile word has come through Israel; and if blessings such as these have come through the stumbling and the falling of Israel, what wealth is in store for them in the great return, when all of Israel shall be saved![9][7]

The Focus on the Gentiles

The Provocation of Israel

            The apostle Paul then begins speaking specifically to the Gentiles. “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:13-15)

            Here Paul begins by stating his calling. He reminds his readers that he is “the apostle of the Gentiles.” In other words, He is God’s delegate or messenger sent by God to deliver His message of the Gospel to the Gentiles.

            Having stated his calling Paul says that he does honor to his ministry if he can provoke Israel to jealousy and save some of them. Paul again mentions the Jews being of his own flesh and blood. Oliver B. Green put it best, “Paul had a deep burning desire to see his own dear people come to the knowledge of salvation. He was willing to make any personal sacrifice if it would win even just a few of his kinsmen according to the flesh.”[10][8]

            In verse fifteen Paul then asks a question. He says that if the rejection of Israel be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead? The word reconcile in that verse in the original has the idea of “the restoration of the favor of God to sinners that repent and put their trust in the expiatory death of Christ.”[11][9]

           

 

Here Paul is making reference to the nation’s future restoration of which he will speak of in more detail at the end of the chapter. John Phillips puts it this way:

Paul hoped that by throwing himself into his great life’s work of Gentile world evangelism, some of his Jewish brethren would be saved even if jealousy were the motive. Again Paul anticipates the day when the nation of Israel will embrace the Lord Jesus. He likens the resulting world revival to “life from the dead.”[12][10]

The Parable of the Olive Tree

            To further illustrate his point, Paul now begins giving a parable about the natural olive tree and the wild olive tree. He says, “For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: if the root be holy, so are the branches.” (Romans 11:16) What is the apostle Paul talking about in this verse? Kent Hughes explains it this way:

While we may wonder at what is meant here, the Jews had no problem understanding it. Paul is referring to Old Testament offerings and sacrifices, and specifically the offering of the firstfruits. In that offering the priest took some of the dough from the larger lump and offered it to God. Paul reasoned that if the lump offered up to God was acceptable, the rest would naturally be as well. The firstfruit was Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, and he was accepted before God. Thus it is natural for his descendents to be also accepted. Paul is making the point, how natural the Jews’ return and acceptance by God will be…Israel’s origins make her restoration the most natural thing![13][11]

            Paul continues his illustration in verses 17-18a, “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches.” Paul here is speaking of the branches of the wild olive tree (Gentiles) being grafted into the natural olive tree (Israel). Because of the Jews rejection of Jesus Christ as messiah they were being cut off from the tree, except for the remnant of those who believe. The Gentiles that believe on Jesus Christ were being grafted into the tree. John Phillips explains this truth in detail by saying:

The olive tree was one of three to which Israel is compared in the Old Testament. The fig tree symbolizes Israel’s national privileges; the vine, Israel’s spiritual privileges; and the olive, Israel’s religious privileges. This gives the clue to Paul’s warning. The Jew has lost his religious privileges for the time being. In the Old Testament some twenty-five passages threatened the Israelite with the penalty of being “cut off from his people,” judicial death (not necessarily eternal death) being meant. Those cut off, of course, lost all privileges connected with the covenant of Abraham. Except for the believing remnant, this was happening to Israel on a national scale in the time of Paul. This judicial breaking off was the result of unbelief on the part of the Jews.[14][12]

            Paul in verse 18 says that we Gentiles, in spite of the fact that we have been grafted into God’s overall program, should not become arrogant in regard to the Jews. Because we have all the religious privileges as do the Jews, we must beware of religious pride. Paul’s warning in the next verses is very clear. Paul states an argument that we may say that the branches were cut off in order for us to be grafted in. He says rather that because of their unbelief they were cut off and through faith in Jesus Christ we (the Gentiles) were grafted in. Paul says that this truth should not lift us up in pride but rather humble us. He says in verse nineteen that if God did not spare the natural branches they he would have not spared us either. Hughes sums this thought up in these words:

Just as the Jew regards himself as God’s special person, so the Gentile can assume such an attitude, even despising the Jews! Nothing could be more un-Scriptural that discriminating against unbelieving Jews. We who are Gentiles are fortunate to have any part in the tree at all. This is a call to profound humility.[15][13]

            Paul says in verses 22-23, “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise though also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graff them in again” The word severity has the idea of roughness or rigour.[16][14] So those who rejected Christ and fell underwent the roughness of God in that they lost the religious privileges that they held dear. The goodness of the gentiles can be maintained by their goodness toward God, and if not they too could be cut off. Also those individual Jews who decide to trust Christ can be grafted in again into the tree. Verse twenty four sums it up, “For if thou wert cut out of the olive which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?” Paul here is setting the scene for his final evidence to prove that the church has not replaced Israel. Regarding verse twenty four, Albert Barnes says:

The meaning of this whole verse may be thus expressed; “If God had mercy on the Gentiles, who were outcasts from his favor, shall he not much rather on those who were so long his people, to whom had been given the promises, and the covenants, and the Law, whose ancestors had been so many of them his friends, and among whom the Messiah was born?”[17][15]

Tremendous Future Restoration of Israel

The Doctrine Stated

            In verse twenty five the apostle Paul creates a bridge which leads to his final evidence of God’s program with the Jews. He says, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” Paul is saying here that he doesn’t want us to ignorant of the God’s overall program with the Jews and Gentiles. Oliver B. Greene explains the concept of the mystery as follows:

A mystery in Scripture is a “hidden purpose or counsel of God which, when revealed, is understood by the believer.” Paul refers here to “this mystery”—“That blindness in part is happened to Israel…” He says to his brethren in the church (believers) that he does not want us to “be ignorant” concerning why the blindness has happened to Israel, “lest ye (believers) should be wise in your own conceits.” Paul goes on to enlighten us that this blindness is not forever, and that it is only “in part” because there is a saved remnant, even today, and this blindness will continue “until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.”[18][16]

The Fullness of Gentile People

            One day God’s work with the Gentiles will be finished and they will be caught up with the church in the rapture. God will then focus back on the Jews. Green continues his explanation by saying:

When the Church is complete and caught out of this earth to meet the Lord Jesus in the air, God will turn again to Israel; and when they see Jesus whom they pierced, they will accept Him, a nation will be born in a day, and God will save His people, Israel…The term “fullness of the Gentiles” refers to the completion of the body of Christ, made up of Jew and Gentile saved from Pentecost to the Rapture.[19][17]

 

The Fulfillment of God’s Prophesy

            The apostle Paul, then moves on and reminds his readers of the future fulfillment of the New Covenant prophesied in Jeremiah 31.

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make wit the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the last of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.[20][18]

Paul says, in the future, the day is going to come after the time of the fullness of the Gentiles that all Israel shall be saved. A great deal of Jews will perish during the judgment of the Great Tribulation but at the return of Jesus Christ, all of the believing remnant will be saved. Phillips says, “‘All Israel,’ of coarse, does not refer to all the Jews who have ever lived, but to all those alive at the end of the great tribulation. Paul sees in the return of Christ a Christological guarantee that God will restore Israel.”[21][19] To prove his argument, Paul quotes from Isaiah 59:20-21, “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in they mouth, shall not depart out of they mouth, nor out of the mouth of they seed, nor out of the mouth of they seed’s seed, saith the LORD from henceforth and for ever.” This covenant was and is still in effect for God’s people Israel. God has indeed set them aside but has not completely forgotten them. God will indeed one day restore Israel.  God has not forgotten them because of his promise to those who had gone before them.

 

The Doxology Sung

            As the apostle Paul draws chapter eleven to a close he brakes out into a song of Praise. After everything stated in this chapter and chapters previous, Paul praises God for his greatness. Paul says in verse 33, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Paul is humbled and amazed by the wisdom and knowledge of God. His ways are so much higher than our ways; they are beyond anything that we humans can even fathom. Warren Wiersbe put it very well by saying:

Only a God as wise as our God could take the fall of Israel and turn it into salvation for the world. His plans will not be aborted, nor will His purposes lack fulfillment. No human being can fully know the mind of the Lord, and the more we study His ways, the more we offer Him praise. Are we to conclude that God does not know what He is doing, and that the nation of Israel completely ruined His plans? Of course not! God is too wise to make plans that will not be fulfilled.[22][20]

            Paul praises God also by quoting Scripture. “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?” (Romans 11:34-35) These verses are quotes from several passages, Isaiah 40:13, Jeremiah 23:18; Job 36:22, and Job 41:11. When God’s ways were revealed to the apostle Paul and he realized it, his only response could be to fall down and worship. God’s ways are higher than man’s ways. Paul concludes his doxology by saying that “God is the source of all things, God is the channel of all things, and God is the goal of all things; and man’s only proper response to God is to worship Him.”[23][21] God is not finished with Israel. He will one day call up His church, ending His work with them, and return again to work with Israel. This truly is beyond anything we can fathom.