Rejection to Remnant - Romans 11:1-5

Introduction

Last week we considered Paul’s introduction of the concept of the gospel going to the Gentiles as a result of Israel’s rejection of it, as evidenced by the witness of the Old Testament and of Paul’s own ministerial experience.

Paul utilizes the end of chapter 10 to transition into the meat of chapter 11, wherein he brings together all the concepts of chapters 9 and 10 and draws some conclusions about the nature of salvation and the future of Israel.

Our study today will be oriented primarily around Paul’s assertion from verse 2 connected with his assertion from verse 5 that God has not rejected His people, but has saved a remnant. Verses 1-5 contain 3 proofs for this dual assertion.

We will examine an experiential proof, a typological proof, and a theological proof.

To begin with, let’s examine the double assertion itself.

Not Rejected

Paul makes this assertion twice in these verses, first in the form of a rhetorical questions in verse 1, then as a simple statement in verse 2.

It is a simple statement on it’s face, but we need to dig deeper.

“His people” indicates Israel. This much ought to be obvious from the context and our previous studies.

Paul is moving logically through the implications of what he asserted at the end of chapter 10: Israel heard the gospel, they understood the gospel, but they rejected the gospel. If Israel has rejected the covenant, then the next question becomes, did God also reject the covenant? The answer is of course no, and as we saw last week, Paul subtly precludes this conclusion with his quotation from Isaiah 65 to close out chapter 10. A God who has rejected His people does not simultaneously hold out His hand of grace and mercy to them.

Now what is meant by rejection? As we will see as we move through some of the Old Testament texts dealing with this issue, I would define rejection as God’s absolute and final removal of covenant blessings from the other party of the covenant.

With that in mind, we need to make some clarifications and qualifications here.

A survey of the Old Testament reveals that God, quite frequently, declares that He is presently or will in the future reject His people as a result of their rejection of Him.

We can observe 2 Kings 23:21-27

2 Kings 23:21–27 LSB

Then the king commanded all the people saying, “Celebrate the Passover to Yahweh your God as it is written in this book of the covenant.” For such a Passover had not been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was celebrated to Yahweh in Jerusalem. Moreover, the mediums and the spiritists and the teraphim and the idols and all the detestable things that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah purged in order that he might establish the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of Yahweh. And before him there was no king like him who turned to Yahweh with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him. However, Yahweh did not turn from His great burning anger, His anger which burned against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him to anger. And Yahweh said, “I will remove Judah also from My presence, as I have removed Israel. And I will reject Jerusalem, this city which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, ‘My name shall be there.’”

This is a tragic passage. Josiah was fundamentally a good king, and if we are to take the words of the royal historian seriously, he was the best king Israel ever had and the suggestion of the text is that he was an even greater king than David himself. Yet even the righteousness of Josiah was not enough to dissuade the anger of Yahweh which resulted in Israel’s ultimate rejection and ejection from the covenant and it’s blessings.

On a side note, this entire narrative points typologically to Christ. Even the godliest human king was not enough to save Israel, which demonstrates that Israel’s need was not a king who was a godly man, but a king who was the God-man.

Rejection is foretold in Psalm 89:30-32

Psalm 89:30–32 LSB

“If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, If they profane My statutes And do not keep My commandments, Then I will punish their transgression with the rod And their iniquity with striking.

Psalm 89:38–45 LSB

But You have cast off and rejected, You have been full of wrath against Your anointed. You have spurned the covenant of Your slave; You have profaned his crown to the ground. You have broken down all his walls; You have beset his strongholds with ruin. All who pass along the way plunder him; He has become a reproach to his neighbors. You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries; You have made all his enemies be glad. You also turn back the edge of his sword And have not made him arise in battle. You have made his splendor to cease And cast his throne to the ground. You have shortened the days of his youth; You have wrapped him up with shame. Selah.

We see therefore that God rejecting His people is a certain reality for the royal scribe, as well as for Ethan the Ezrahite, a contemporary of Solomon.

Jeremiah also prophesies of this reality:

Jeremiah 31:36–37 LSB

“If these statutes are removed From before Me,” declares Yahweh, “Then the seed of Israel also will cease From being a nation before Me forever.” Thus says Yahweh, “If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also reject all the seed of Israel For all that they have done,” declares Yahweh.

God’s rejection of His people therefore seems to be a certain reality in the Old Testament, or at least a possible reality, conditioned upon the rejection of God and His covenant.

In light of these Old Testament passages, it would seem initially that Paul may be contradicting his own Bible. The Old Testament says God will reject His people, Paul says he won’t. The simple question is: who’s right? The hard question is: why does the Bible contradict itself?

The answer to those questions is actually not an answer at all, but simply that you’re asking the wrong questions. They’re both right, and the Bible doesn’t contradict itself. The right question to ask is this: How are they both right and how do they synthesize together?

The answer lies in the tension between the temporal and the eternal.

What I mean by this is that the rejection spoken of by the prophets and psalmists is temporal. In other words, it occurs in time and has a set chronological limit. Simply put, it happens but then it is removed. Rejection first, restoration later.

When Paul speaks of rejection and says that God has not rejected his people, he means that they have not been absolutely, ultimately, terminally, or eternally rejected.

We will see this borne out in the verses to come, but Paul’s point here is that Israel has been rejected by God for their rejection of Him, but that rejection is not absolute or eternal. In the midst of the rejection there is a remnant.

I want to spend the rest of our time together this morning working through the concept of the remnant. Indeed this is one of the most important concepts in all of God’s Word. We will consider it as Paul does, from the perspective of experience, the perspective of Biblical theology and typology, and the perspective of systematic theology.

The Experiential Proof

Paul’s first proof that God has saved and will continue to save a remnant of ethnic Jews comes from his own life. After denying with absolute vigor the assertion that God has eternally and absolutely rejected His people, he provides the first proof: I am an Israelite.

If we pair this assertion with Paul’s assertion from Romans 1:1, we find irrefutable proof that God has not rejected ethnic Israel absolutely or eternally.

Romans 1:1 LSB

Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, having been set apart for the gospel of God,

Paul is a called and set apart slave of Christ Jesus. Paul is also an Israelite, a seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Therefore, even if Paul is the only Jewish believer on the planet and throughout history, God is still faithful to save a remnant for himself. It may be a remnant of one, but even a remnant of one renders God faithful.

Paul’s identity as an Israelite actually serves a profound theological purpose throughout his writings. It validates his apostolic ministry in 2 Corinthians 11, it exalts the glory of Christ’s imputed righteousness and excludes boasting in Philippians 3, it gives the gospel message credibility among the Jews in Acts 22 and 26, and of course here in Romans it is proof that God will save a remnant of Israel for Himself.

By way of brief applicational comment, I think it’s important to note the principle here that our personal testimony and life story can often serve as sound proof of the truth of a Biblical doctrine or teaching.

Sometimes in the more heady and cerebral circles of Christian thought and life, because we are “people of the Book,” we tend to discount our own experiences or the experiences of others when it comes to grounding our faith, life, and doctrine. This response is not unfounded. We live in a post-truth culture where experiences and feelings dictate truth and ethics. We need to affirm that God’s Word reigns supreme over our experiences. He determines truth, not our experiences. Nevertheless, as Paul demonstrates here, the testimony of a faithful Christian can be a powerful supporting witness to the truth we are taught from God’s Word.

For Paul, he could declare with confidence that God had not abandoned Israel because God had not abandoned him.

Let’s take some of the experiences of our church. We welcomed three new members last Sunday, some of whom are in this room. Richard, Haley, and Andre are living, breathing proof that Christ is building His church. We read the words on the page and that’s one thing. We see people in front of our eyes and it’s a whole different story.

I will single out Judit this morning too. Peter says in 1 Peter 2:2 that the result of longing for the pure milk of the word results in growth in salvation. I see a desperate hunger, a longing in Judit for the pure milk of God’s Word, and in direct proportion to that longing, I see her growth in respect to salvation.

The Proverbs tell me that he who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord. For the first 26 years of my life, I could read the words on the page and affirm in my mind that it was true. Now, at four months with my lovely wife Sarah, my life experience affirms and bears out what I read on the page. I have found a good thing. I have found favor with the Lord.

Paul’s experience confirms the doctrine: God has not rejected ethnic Israel.

But Paul continues. He now turns to prove the same assertion, this time from the typology of the Old Testament.

The Typological Proof

Not only is the remnant proved from Paul’s experience, but it’s proved from the historical realities of the nation of Israel.

Paul invokes the record of one of the darkest times in Israel’s history. He does this not only to prove that the remnant exists, and will exist, but that even in the darkest of times, God will preserve His people and He will be faithful to His covenant.

So let’s look at the historical context of this quote from Elijah.

Elijah served as a prophet, and stands head and shoulders above the rest of the Biblical prophets for good reason. The power of Yahweh was upon him in a unique way. This is why, when we get to the New Testament, Israel often mentioned John the Baptist or Jesus as another Elijah or the second coming of Elijah. Throughout the development of Jewish thought and culture, Elijah’s name had become synonymous with the office of prophet. The gospel writers acknowledge this when they record the vision of Moses and Elijah meeting with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration.

Elijah’s ministry was powerful but his life was also wrought with suffering and trial and hardship, even as Paul’s quote intimates: he alone is left among Israel as a man who fears the Lord.

The reason for Elijah’s suffering and trial and hardship is really a double reason: Ahab and Jezebel, without question or reservation, the two most evil rulers ever set over Israel in the nation’s history.

1 Kings 16:29–33 LSB

Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab the son of Omri did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh more than all who were before him. Now it happened, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians as a wife, and went and served Baal and worshiped him. So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke Yahweh, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

Ahab and Jezebel executed a kind of prototypical persecution of the people of God during their reign, hunting and killing prophets and faithful people throughout the land. This persecution was so severe that Elijah and many of his Godly contemporaries spent most of their lives in hiding and on the run.

Understandably then, when Paul finds Elijah in 1 Kings 19, Elijah is depressed. Philip Graham Ryken says that “On Mount Horeb we find the greatest of saints reduced to the blackest of moods.” Listen to the words of the royal scribe, describing Elijah’s encounter:

1 Kings 19:9–18 LSB

Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” And he said, “I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, pulled down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before Yahweh.” And behold, Yahweh was passing by! And a great and strong wind was tearing up the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before Yahweh; but Yahweh was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake. Then after the earthquake a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a thin gentle whisper. Now it happened that when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” Then he said, “I have been very zealous for Yahweh, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, pulled down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” And Yahweh said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and you will arrive and anoint Hazael king over Aram; and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. “And it will be that the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. “Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.”

Elijah’s mood when he arrives at the mountain of God, the very same place where God revealed the Law to Moses, in many ways seems to match Paul’s, especially when we look back to 9:1-5 and 10:1. There is some solidarity between Apostle and Prophet as they reflect on the wickedness of Israel.

For Elijah, it was an evil king and queen whose bloodlust could not be quenched. For Paul, it was religious leaders who had killed the Messiah and His followers.

But God doesn’t leave Elijah in his depression, and therefore Paul knows that God will not leave him in his.

God promises Elijah that a remnant will be left. Many, and even most of Israel may reject the covenant, but God will not leave everyone bowing the knee to Baal. There will yet be those in Israel who will call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. This is the promise that gives Paul hope.

Israel clearly learned little in the 7 centuries between the ministry of Elijah and the ministry of Paul. They committed great evil. They hated, persecuted, and killed the prophets then and the apostles now. But the still small voice that came to Elijah in the cave is the same still small voice that speaks hope and confidence into Paul. He can therefore testify with assurance that God has not rejected His people, for just as in Elijah’s day, He will save a remnant.

This Biblical theology of the remnant runs deep and wide through the pages of Scripture. God’s Word teaches us that every time judgment is poured out, it is not absolute or universal.

Adam and Eve were banished from the garden,, but they did not lose their lives. They are the remnant.

God covered the whole earth with a flood, yet Noah and his family were preserved in the ark. They are the remnant.

Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone and laid waste. Lot and his daughters escaped under the protection of angels. They are the remnant.

Egypt was ravaged by plagues. Israel walked out in exodus. They are the remnant.

Jericho was flattened in an instant. Rahab hung a red cord from her window and was spared. She is the remnant.

Israel was filled with murderous Baal worshipers. Yet God spared 7000 who did not bow the knee or kiss Baal. They are the remnant.

70 years in exile caused Israel to be either decimated or assimilated. Yet Cyrus sends a group back to the land, led by Ezra and Nehemiah. They are the remnant.

In judgment, God’s mercy still shines through the preservation of the remnant.

This truth is no different for Israel than it is for the rest of God’s people. Just as God has been faithful to retain a surviving remnant in the midst of judgment throughout history, so he will be faithful to retain a surviving remnant of Israel as history progresses forward to the final judgment.

God will not vacate His covenant responsibilities concerning Israel. He will bring a remnant of Israel back into the fold.

This ought to give us great confidence this morning. We serve a faithful God, a God who will not finally, absolutely, and eternally abandon his people. The doctrine of the remnant teaches us that will not let His people go. The church will persevere to glory. You will persevere to glory. God has saved a remnant, His choice few, who will, by His grace, remain and continue in the faith until Christ returns. The wick of the church will never burn down, her light will never be extinguished. As long as time is, the church will persevere.

We can be grateful that our church itself is a testimony to this truth. Even in the midst of a pagan and wicked culture, which calls evil good and good evil, which degrades that which God loves, and presses evil in upon us on every side, this group of people here today are a testimony that God’s preserving grace is at work even in Los Angeles in 2022. He has preserved a remnant in this room, and He will continue to do so until He returns.

Paul’s experience testifies that God will save a remnant of Israel. Israel’s history testifies that God will save a remnant of Israel. Now, let’s consider that God’s character itself testifies that He will save a remnant for Israel.

The Theological Proof

The final proof for the existence of Israel’s remnant comes from verses 2 and 5. The remnant has come to be according to God’s gracious choice, because of His electing foreknowledge.

A remnant of Israel has come to be because God is grace. A remnant of Israel has come to be because God is love. A remnant of Israel has come to be because God has chosen them and elected them and foreknown them.

Paul therefore grounds his assertion of the non-rejection of Israel in God Himself and in the doctrines of grace that we have seen proclaimed so clearly over the course of these chapters.

God will preserve a remnant because He is God. If He is God, then He is grace, and if He is grace, then He will elect and call and preserve His remnant. Paul can speak with confidence not only because of his own experience and his own study of the Scriptures and of history, but because he knows God to be immutable and unchanging in His purpose. In other words, God cannot not help electing and saving and preserving His remnant.

Listen to John Owen:

Works of John Owen: Volume 11 Chapter 3: The Immutability of the Purposes of God

Herein, also, lies the apostle’s second eviction of consolation formerly laid down, even in the indissoluble concatenation of those acts of grace, love, and favour, whereby the persons of God’s purpose, or the “remnant according to the election of grace,” shall be infallibly carried on in their present enjoyment and unto the full fruition of the love of Christ. If we may take him upon his word (and he speaks in the name and authority of God), those whom he doth foreknow, or fixes his thoughts peculiarly upon from eternity (for the term these is evidently discriminated, and the act must needs be eternal which in order of nature is previous unto predestination, or the appointment to the end by means designed), those, I say, he doth predestinate and appoint, in the immutable purpose of his will, to be conformed unto the image of his Son, as in afflictions, so in grace and glory.

The surety of the remnant is as sure as our election, as sure as God’s grace, and as sure as the existence of God Himself.

He will not fail to preserve His people, as He has done throughout history.

Conclusion

So let our hearts be encouraged this morning. We live in dark times. Our culture is rapidly degenerating. Our churches are crumbling. Our young people are wandering. We have Ahabs and Jezebels for rulers.

But God will not fail. Paul’s life proves that. Elijah’s life proves that. The Biblical record fo remnant after remnant being saved out of judgment proves that. The grace of God in election and foreknowledge proves that.

So this week, as we walk into the darkness, let our lights shine with confidence, for we know that God is at work. God is preserving Israel, and He is preserving us, just as He has always done. He will not fail, and because, by Christ’s work and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, as we share in the life of God, we will not fail. We will reach the final shore along with all God’s remnant. May the Lord haste the day, and until then, may we be found faithful.