GOD AND ISRAEL (2)

Romans 11:1 “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”

One of the great questions in Christian circles today is what about Israel?

Let me put to rest a heresy that is going around. There is theology going around called replacement theology. It says that the church of the New Testament has replaced Israel, and the promises God made Israel that remain unfulfilled will instead be given to the church.

I want you to know that replacement theology is wrong theology. God has made promises to Israel, and God has made promises to the church. There are many Old Testament promises concerning Israel that are yet to be fulfilled. Today, we know that God’s attention is not on Israel. Israel is on the back-burner as God is working through the church, but God has not forgotten about Israel. He still has His eye on them.

Zechariah 2:8 “For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.”

Psalm 121:4 “Behold, he that keepeth Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.”

God has not forgotten about Israel, and as a matter of absolute fact, Israel will never again cease being a nation. God will not let it happen again.

From 70 AD-1948, Israel was scattered abroad. When President Truman officially recognized Israel on May 14, 1948, the fig tree officially bloomed, but what is happening with Israel today?

1. A remnant of Israel is finding salvation.

Romans 11:1 “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.”

Romans 11:5–6 “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”

In verse 1, Paul asks a poignant question. Has God cast away Israel? His answer was a resounding no.

As proof of that fact, Paul offers his own salvation.

Paul was a true Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, yet he was saved. If you look at Romans 11:2-4, Paul even says that other Jews were being saved, and he compared that with the events surrounding Elijah.

Romans 11:2–4 “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 altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 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.”

Elijah thought he was confronting Ahab and the prophets of Baal by himself, but God had 7,000 other men, and that is not counting women and children, who had remained faithful to God.

Elijah was unaware of that 7,000, but God always has a remnant who worship Him, and that includes a remnant of Jews. The remnant of Jews today is composed of those Jews who have come to Christ.

The Jews that are saved today were saved the same way you and I were saved. They were saved by God’s grace and their faith in Jesus Christ. National Israel has rejected Christ. Nationally, Israel is spiritually blind, but God will never cast Israel away as there is a remnant of Jews being saved today.

The Jews that are saved today will be raptured just like the rest of us who makeup the body of Christ.

2. The remainder of Israel is blinded.

Romans 11:7–8 “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.”

Verse 7 is the key verse in understanding what’s going on in Israel.

Israel was blinded or hardened because they failed. They did not fail because they were blinded or hardened. What do I mean?

God’s grace is universal, but salvation is not.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

God’s grace is offered to the entire world. For salvation, however, that grace must be accepted in faith whether you are a Jew or a Gentile. The Jews became hardened or blinded to the truth because they had rejected God’s grace which was offered by Christ’s atoning work on Calvary.

I believe I can show you scripturally when Israel, as a nation, was blinded.

Acts 7:54–56 “When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.”

Acts 7:57–58 “Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.”

I believe God was giving national Israel one last chance to repent and to accept Jesus Christ, and instead of accepting God’s grace, they stopped up their ears refusing to listen, and they stoned Stephen to death, but Stephen’s death led to the salvation of Paul. I believe in glory, Paul’s soul is on Stephen’s scorecard.

What happened to national Israel is perfectly explained in the Bible.

Proverbs 29:1 “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, Shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”

Israel had been exposed to the gospel as no other nation had been exposed.

Romans 10:21 “But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.”

God had tried and tried. He had been extensively patient with Israel, but today, nationally, Israel is blinded because it has refused to accept the light God gave them.

Luke 12:48 “But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”

We make a mistake when we say God treats everyone the same. Israel was given much light. The United States of America has been given much light, as a result, much more is required of Israel and the United States of America.

As I type this message, I see the United States of America becoming spiritually blind, and that spiritual blindness is affecting younger Americans disproportionately. Listen to this survey done by Barna. They surveyed 1,005 teenagers in 2015.

Barna research of 1,005 teenagers:

Only 43% of those surveyed believed that Jesus was the Son of God. Of those surveyed, 53% thought it was morally wrong not to recycle, but only 32% thought it was morally wrong to watch pornography. There is a spiritual disconnect somewhere.

As a person continues to reject the Gospel, he or she becomes harder and harder to reach. Take a child who grows up in church. The longer that child goes without accepting Christ the harder it becomes to reach that child.

Romans 11:10 “Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.”

God gives light in order that men might see, but if they are blind, they will not see. As a nation, Israel is blind, but there is a remnant of Jews being saved because that remnant is embracing the light.

3. The restoration of Israel will occur at the Second Coming of Christ.

Romans 11:22–23 “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.”

Paul uses some stern words in these verses. He says that blinded Israel reveals the severity of God. To understand, you must understand God’s promise to Israel.

Deuteronomy 11:26–28 “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.”

Israel had not obeyed God, and God dealt with them severely. Israel even thumbed their noses at God further insuring the heavy hand of God falling on them.

Matthew 27:25 “Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.”

The Jews, like Pharaoh of old, pronounced their own curse as Jesus’s blood is still on Israel.

Think about it.

10 years after Paul wrote Romans, Titus, the Roman General, destroyed Jerusalem in one of the most brutal attacks that the world has ever seen. It was said that Titus crucified so many Jews that there were not any trees left around Jerusalem.

Since that point in time in 70 AD, Israel has paid for rejecting and killing Christ.

1 1/2 million died when Titus destroyed Jerusalem. Millions of Jews died during the Spanish Inquisition. 6 million died in Hitler’s Final Solution. Even today, Israel is constantly living under the threat of warfare as evidenced by the Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023.

These things have happened because Israel rejected God’s grace. As Stephen was being stoned and welcomed into glory, the heart of national Israel was becoming as the stones they were throwing at Stephen, but God still has His eye on Israel.

Psalm 121:4 “Behold, he that keepeth Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.”

Zechariah 2:8 “For thus saith the Lord of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.”

Paul, however, did not stop with the severity of God toward Israel. He also describes the grace of God to those that will trust Christ, both Jew and Gentile.

Since God accepted the Gentile who had no merit at all, surely He can restore Israel.

Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, The spirit of grace and of supplications: And they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, And they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, And shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Jeremiah 23:6–8 “In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.”

Israel is going to be restored, but when?

A. When will Israel be restored?

Romans 11:25–27 “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 fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”

Romans 11:28–29 “As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”

Paul says that God does not want Israel to be ignorant of this mystery. What mystery? The mystery of what is going to happen to Israel.

National Israel is going to be blinded until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.

B. What does the fullness of the Gentiles mean?

It actually means two things.

1. The fullness of the Gentiles will occur when the body of Christ is complete, and the minute that happens the Rapture occurs.

1 Thessalonians 4:15–17 “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

2. The fullness of the Gentiles refers to the completion of Gentile governance as the Antichrist comes to power.

Daniel 9:27 “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

God’s attention will fully turn to Israel as this covenant will kick-start the seven year tribulation, a tribulation needed so that Israel will be restored. It literally takes the Tribulation to draw Israel to God’s grace.

Israel is going to receive all that God has promised. It is a matter of God’s timing.

C. What’s going on in Israel now?

Habakkuk 1:5 “Behold ye among the heathen (nations), and regard, and wonder marvellously: For I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.”

What is going on in Israel today? God is working out His master plan. He is moving all the chess pieces into place, and if He told us exactly how He was doing it , we would not believe Him.

From 70 AD until 1948, national Israel did not exist. On May 14, 1948, the provisional government was recognized as a nation first by the United States of America and President Harry Truman.

Israel will never cease being a nation again. As a matter of fact, you and I may see this. Israel is going to be in possession of that entire state with Hamas, Palestine, Hezbollah, and the Dome of the Rock being eliminated.

Ezekiel 38:10–11 “Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,”

Prior to the Russian-led invasion of Israel, Israel will dwell safely in its land setting the stage for Antichrist. Do you know what’s great about that?

When the Antichrist and Israel sign that 7-year agreement, I will be in Heaven with Jesus. AMEN!!!!

I know where I will be as God turns His attention to Israel. Do you know where you will be? Will you be in Heaven worshipping Christ, or will you be on earth worshipping Antichrist?