God and Israel

Israel and God’s plan

Romans 9: 1-16

When God called Abraham and Abraham obeyed, God established a covenant with him that he would, first, make him the father of many nations, and second, that he would give him the whole land of Canaan as an everlasting possession.

Genesis 17:6–8 “I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.””

In these troubled and troubling days we have to ask if that covenant has any relevance in the current situation. Where is God in this? Where are God’s people in this? Indeed who are God’s people? Is it Israel or has that name “my people”, to quote from Hosea, been given over to those who follow the Messiah as Lord, in other words the church? And if that is the case, does God have any plan at all for Jewish people today, especially those who now live in that land today?

In the Middle East the small nation of Israel is surrounded by enemies, some of whom would deny its right to exist and over recent years have, by propaganda and by violence, acted on that belief. It is no surprize, therefore, that Israel is determined to defend itself. But what does shock us is the level of destruction and the loss of life that the conflict has caused. And no one, it seems, can find a path that will lead to a solution. We see a mindset among many leaders in the world that declares that by violence and war their aims can be achieved and the suffering of the innocent is a price that must be paid.

What does scripture say about God and his people.

Deuteronomy 7:6–8 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

They were a people whom the Lord loved. More than that; he referred to them as his firstborn:

Exodus 4:22 “Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son,”

Israel is his firstborn son. Has God now cast him off?

When I was with you last we followed that young nation as they moved out of the wilderness and into the promised land, where it started well:

Joshua 21:43–44 “So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hands.”

However it wasn’t long before it all went wrong, because several of the tribes did not take complete possession of the land that they were allocated. The surrounding tribes and those other peoples living among them became thorns in their sides:

Judges 2:3 “And I have also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; they will become traps for you, and their gods will become snares to you.’ ””

Despite their disobedience God did not reject them:

1 Samuel 12:22 “For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.”

We saw the nation in decline until at the time when Rehoboam was king, Jeroboam was king among the northern tribes, who broke away from the tribe of Judah.

1 Kings 12:16 “When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: “What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse’s son? To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house, David!” So the Israelites went home.”

Two kingdoms now, and neither kingdom faithful to God. Kingdoms that would end in defeat by foreign powers and in exile.

Was God going to abandon them now? Here is what we read in Hosea and in this passage Ephraim is a term that is often used to refer to the nation Israel.

Hosea 11:8–9 ““How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man— the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities.”

God’s love is constant and he does have a plan for his people. We have to go back to Deuteronomy 30 to see that plan

Deuteronomy 30:1–6 “When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors. The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.”

Many of the prophets also spoke of this restoration of God’s people to obedience and to the inheritance of the land, but I want to take us now to the Apostle Paul

When we think of the apostle Paul, we consider him to be the first of the leaders of the early church who did most to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. The majority of his missions were to the Gentile world and the letters that he wrote were directed to the churches in that Gentile world.

It is surprising — although it should not be — when you read these words from his letter to the Christians in Rome.

Romans 9:2–5 “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.”

Paul longed to see his own people, the Jews, turn to Christ as their Messiah, but his experience had been that those very people were opposed to what he was preaching. Wherever he went, as far as possible, he took the message of the Gospel to the Jewish synagogue if there was one. Here is what took place in Antioch in Pisidia.

Acts 13:44–47 “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy. They began to contradict what Paul was saying and heaped abuse on him. Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “ ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’””

Had God rejected Israel and turned his favour on to the Gentiles? By no means. It was God’s plan from the beginning that, though the descendants of Abraham would be central to the work of salvation, it would extend to all nations.

Genesis 12:2–3 ““I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.””

And from those Israelites God would always preserve a remnant.

Paul goes on to explain what he means by Israel. He says in verse six: “not all who are descended from Abraham are Israel.” Abraham had two sons Ishmael and Isaac, but it was Isaac who was the son of the Promise. Paul says: it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s children. Paul gives a second example of the twin sons of Rebecca. They both had the same father, but it was the younger son, even before they were born, who was chosen by God. Does that make God unjust or unfair? Not at all:

Exodus 33:19 “And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

Romans 9:27 “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.”

Paul goes on to explain that though the Israelites were zealous for God, they were seeking to establish their own righteousness by their adherence to the law and failed to comprehend that righteousness comes from accepting that Jesus, their Messiah, has done all that was necessary to make them right with God. Their failure to see that became a stumbling block to them.

Romans 9: 33

As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble

and a rock that makes them fall,

and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

Paul declares that the message of the gospel is plain

Romans 10:9 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Paul says:

Romans 10:11 “As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.””

Romans 10:12–13 “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.””

God had not rejected Israel, but Paul explains in verse 16 that not all the Israelites accepted the good news.

verse 18: Did they not hear? Of course they did.

verse 19: did Israel not understand?

God was constantly calling to his people. You can feel God’s anguish in verse 21

Romans 10:21 “But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.””

Jeremiah expressed the same sentiment when he wrote:

Jeremiah 3:19-20 “I myself said,

“ ‘How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land,

the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’

I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.

But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,” declares the LORD.

God is still holding out his hand to his people.

In the next chapter, eleven, Paul refers to the prophet Elijah

Romans 11:2–4 “God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.””

And Paul says this:

Romans 11:5 “So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.”

Paul, probably reflecting on his experience over the years of travel and mission, where he was rejected in synagogues, saw this as part of God’s plan to bring the gospel to the Gentile world. His hope is that when his own people see that Gentiles are being saved it might arouse them to envy and thereby be saved themselves.

He uses the example of the olive tree to show that the gentiles are like wild branches grafted into the tree where some of the original branches had been broken off.

Talking to the gentiles, he says that you grafted in branches are sustained by the root, so you have no reason to be arrogant. If the original branches that were broken off because of their unbelief, were to repent, the God is able to graft them in again.

Romans 11:23 “And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.”

and how much more readily will these natural branches be grafted it to their own olive tree.

God does have a plan. Quoting Isaiah and Jeremiah again Paul says:

Romans 11:26 “and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.”

How will that come about? Paul says that as far as the gospel is concerned, the people of Israel are enemies, but God loves them no less than before. The faith of Gentile Christians will be an important factor in bringing Israel back to God. Verse 31 is the key:

Romans 11:31 “so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.”

That is an important phrase : ‘as a result of God’s mercy to you.’ There are some who believe that God has rejected Israel and that the christian church has replaced it and become the new Israel. Not so. God’s love for Israel is as it was when he first chose them to be his people. One of the responsibilities of the Christian church and of all christians is to recognize the love that God has for Israel and to be at least part of the means by which the Israelites can come back to a true faith in God.

What can we do? When we look at what is going on in the Middle East, we feel helpless and that there is nothing we can do. We groan in pain at the suffering of the innocent and we cry out in anger at the evil men who commit such atrocities. We need to recognize that behind these evil men there is a power at work, a spiritual power and we can pray against that power.

Ephesians 6:12 “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Then follows that section that begins: “Therefore put on the whole armour of God”

but here is an essential verse:

Ephesians 6:18 “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”

Pray in the spirit. What does that mean? More often than not, when we pray, we don’t really know what to pray for, or even how to pray. That’s okay, for God knows our heart and he knows our weakness. If we are Christians, then we have God’s Spirit to help us. Let’s go to Romans chapter 8.

Romans 8:26–27 “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.”

Be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.