The 4 Wittnesses Part 2
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In our study on Israel and the church we have come to Romans 11.
In this final chapter Paul calls 4 wittiness to testify about Israel: Specifically God’s future dealing with Israel.
Each witness makes the same point: God is not done with Israel.
The first witness was Paul Himself and said:
1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? Far from it! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
The second witness was the Prophet Elijah and it said:
2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
Now Paul calls up the 3rd witness and it the odd one out.
The first 2 and the last 4th are all Jewish witnesses: Paul, Elijah and the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The 3rd wittiness is the outside: Its you and me: Its the Gentiles who have been saved by their Jewish Messiah!
The Gentiles
The Gentiles
11 I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? Far from it! But by their wrongdoing salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.
12 Now if their wrongdoing proves to be riches for the world, and their failure, riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!
13 But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Therefore insofar as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
14 if somehow I may move my own people to jealousy and save some of them.
15 For if their rejection proves to be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
When the Jews rejected the Gospel, God sent it to the Gentiles and they believed and were saved.
Three tragedies occurred in Israel:
The nation stumbled.
The nation stumbled.
11 I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? Far from it! But by their wrongdoing salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.
The nation failed.
The nation failed.
12 Now if their wrongdoing proves to be riches for the world, and their failure, riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!
And the nation rejected God.
And the nation rejected God.
15 For if their rejection proves to be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
In any other situation these would constitute an irrecoverable failure.
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But God has a habit of turning failures into victories.
In fact right from the beginning of the bible God makes it clear than He is an expert on transforming human failure into divine providence.
Examples:
1:
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive.
This verse is from Joseph's story, where his brothers' betrayal and selling him into slavery.
A story of failure.
yet this failure eventually leads to God’s greater purpose of saving many lives.
2:
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.
This passage emphasizes the transcendence of God's plans and how they may differ from human expectations.
Our plan would have never had Israel fail, but God’s plan was to use their failure to reconcile the whole world to Himself!
15 For if their rejection proves to be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
3:
21 Many plans are in a person’s heart, But the advice of the Lord will stand.
This verse underscores the sovereignty of God's purposes over human plans.
Not in direction men to failure but rather including the potential REDIRECTION of failures toward His intended outcomes.
4:
11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Though spoken to the people of Israel in a specific context, the principle of God's plans for redemption and a hopeful future are seen as coming from God’s grace not man’s effort, thus man’s failure cannot nullify God’s promises.
5:
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
This verse expresses the idea that God works in all circumstances, even those that may initially seem like failures, for the ultimate good of those who love Him.
6: last
9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
In this passage, Paul acknowledges weakness, and God's response is that His power is perfected in weakness, highlighting the transformative nature of God's plans.
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Back to our passage:
So Israel failed terribly.
But the amazing thing is that through Israel’s fall, salvation came to the Gentiles.
How does Salvation coming to the Gentiles testify that God is not done with Israel?
How does Salvation coming to the Gentiles testify that God is not done with Israel?
God promised that the Gentiles would be saved:
23 “I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they will say, ‘You are my God!’ ”
God promises this 1000 years before the NT and and He kept His promise.
Will He not also keep His promise to the Jews?
Absolutely!
God reveals a Mystery:
God reveals a Mystery:
It is important to understand that the Old Testament promises to the Gentiles were linked to Israel’s “rise”—her entering into her kingdom.
Prophecies like Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 60 make it clear that the Gentiles will share in Israel’s kingdom.
10 Then on that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal flag for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.
3 “Nations will come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.
But Israel did not “rise”; she fell!
What would God then do with the Gentiles?
God introduced a new factor—the church—in which believing Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ.
Now that you know this look how much sense Ephesians 2 makes to us gentiles:
11 Therefore remember that previously you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision” which is performed in the flesh by human hands—
12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the people of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who previously were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,
15 by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace;
16 and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility.
17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;
18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household,
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
In Ephesians 3, Paul called this new program “the mystery,” meaning “the sacred secret” that was not revealed in the Old Testament.
Always remember that whenever you see the word “mystery” in the NT it always refers to a revealed secret not to an “unknown” factor.
In fact the Greek word “mysterion” literally means secret.
And the bible makes it clear that God has revealed all mystries/secrets to the church!
27 to whom God willed to make known what the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles is, the mystery that is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
If you come across a biblical mystery with no answer you are reading that passage as a hardened Jew and not a born again christian!
I have proof:
In fact Paul says that only if you understand Romans 9-11 can you understand most of his writings!
4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
5 which in other generations was not made known to mankind, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,
Does this mean that God has abandoned His kingdom program for Israel?
Does this mean that God has abandoned His kingdom program for Israel?
Of course not!
Israel is merely set aside until the time comes for God’s plans for Israel to be fulfilled.
Paul stated that the Gentiles had a vital ministry to Israel.
Today, the saved Gentiles provoke Israel “to jealousy” (see Rom. 10:19) because of the spiritual riches they have in Christ.
Explanation of our Ministry:
Explanation of our Ministry:
Israel today is spiritually bankrupt, while Christians have “all spiritual blessings” in Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
If an unsaved Jew visited the average church service, would he be provoked to jealousy and wish he had what we have?
The word for Jealousy refers to envy: We must make Israel envious of what they rejected.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
There is a future for Israel.
Today, Israel is fallen spiritually, but when Christ returns, the nation will rise again.
Today, Israel is cast away from God, but one day they shall be received again.
God will never break His covenant with His people, and He has promised to restore them.