Romans 11:25-36
Notes
Transcript
Israel’s future Restoration Part 2
Israel’s future Restoration Part 2
After all we studied about Israel in chapters 9-11, the main point to remember is that Israel is the root of our Christian faith not the other way around. After all, it was Yeshua who said “salvation is of the Jews”. The Jews are the reason we have bibles, because they gave great honor to what was written. Something we tend to take for granted!
While I don’t encourage best selling books that promote sensationalism, or even subjective stories, historical books like this one would be a better use of your time.
Just to read about how these scribes copied the scrolls is amazing, how the books of the Bible were compiled, and how we can be sure that the Bible is God’s authoritative word!!
The scriptures were carefully written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek under intense scrutiny through centuries.
They meticulously counted lines, letters, words, and paragraphs. Every letter had to have some space around it. If one jot or tittle was wrong, it was thrown out! Each time YHWH was copied they would set down their pen, wash their whole body and begin again! YHWH chose the right people for this job!
Our bibles are virtually what the Jewish scribes preserved with amazing accuracy!! Dead Sea scrolls prove this.
Having said all that, God still knew Israel’s stubborn and rebellious nature. After 430 years in Egypt, the children of Israel were accustomed to all the idols of Egypt.
Yet YHWH called Israel his firstborn! Like us Gentiles, he knows our sinfulness but he cherishes us as His own sons and offers us a more abundant life!!
After escaping Egypt, Israel was supposed to take a three day journey into the wilderness and
then meet with God somewhere in Horeb or Mt Sinai in Arabia not in Egypt. But their journey was filled with many challenges where they had to trust the Lord to provide food and water but sadly what was supposed to be a three journey ended up being 40 years of wandering in the wilderness! Yet even in that Nehemiah had this to say how God cared for them.
“Indeed, forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, and they did not lack; Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell.
So too, Egypt is a type or picture of this world that we escaped from thru Yeshua Who promised the gate we must go through was narrow and difficult was the way and few be there that would find it & yet it would lead to life. So many believers are not aware of this and are still wandering today because they are taught the “whole” story. It’s true, we are liberated by the Spirit but we’re also warned not to use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh. True, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus who do not walk according to the flesh.
God called Moses up to Mt. Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments and God’s instruction otherwise known as the TORAH on how Israel should live before other nations. The first three commands were “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of creation and “You shall not worship them....
but in 40 days Aaron felt the pressure by the nation to make some thing they worshipped, a golden calf breaking all three!
It’s no wonder Moses, along with young Joshua smashed the two tablets of commandments on the ground in outrage! What good were they if Israel was so quick to disobey or ignore them? But up to this point, their hearts were used to the idolatrous ways of Egypt and God was so angry at their impatience He was ready to start over with Moses, but Moses interceded for Israel and God accepted it. The problem remained however: Israel was delivered from Egypt but the idols of Egypt stayed in their hearts until their captivity in Babylon!
So too, as believers we can’t just say “we believe” and continue to worship our golden passions listed in Galatians 5:19-20 and ignore the warnings to flee such things but realize that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are to bear the fruit of the Spirit, by continuing to fight to good fight of faith, stay firmly grounded in His word and not be moved away from the hope of the gospel! Indicating we can lose control, give up the fight, stray from His word, and lose hope in the gospel.
And still, God had a special purpose for Israel to follow Him and be a light to the Gentiles 500 years before Yeshua was born.
He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to cause the preserved ones of Israel to return; I will also give You as a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
This was a word of prophecy about their Messiah but also the reunion of the ten lost tribes of Israel and Judah! Yeshua came but this reunion of Israel and Judah won’t happen until the tribulation. Revelation 7.4-8 You see, God wanted Israel to represent Him on the earth by giving them an opportunity to deliver the Gentiles and lead them to YHWH. But when the Messiah came, He didn’t fit their image and they rejected Him. Yet God is not done with Israel because He already knew they were stubborn and stiff-necked!
Keep in mind, before Yeshua was crucified, He promised His disciples “I won’t leave as orphans but I will send a Helper” He referred to Him as “the promise of the Father” or “God the Holy Spirit” to give the gospel message to those nations! After His Resurrection, he teaches his boys for 40 days about the kingdom.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, [the Gentiles] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
The gospel of Luke and Acts 1 :6-8 says they asked Him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?” But He answered, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set by His own authority; but behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you, and you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to THE END OF THE EARTH.”
And 50 days after Passover, it was the feast of Pentecost which celebrates the wheat harvest, the anniversary of the giving of the law by offering two “leavened” loaves of bread to the LORD. Tradition states that these loaves represent the two tablets/ten commandments. But the the Law of the Lord is perfect and leaven speaks of pride, corruption and sin! What do these loaves represent? The sins of both Jew and gentile! So when the Holy Spirit came upon the 120 speaking in unknown languages, it was a message understood by the fifteen Gentile nations who were there as converts to Judaism. The heard the wondrous works of God in their own language. God is sovereign, Man is responsible. This was the same mission YHWH gave to Israel but failed, the same commission Yeshua gave His disciples but stalled! Which is why Yeshua chose the least likely candidate of all! Saul of Tarsus who became Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles in about 14 years because of Barnabas according to Galatians 1:16-2:1
You see, God’s mission has never changed! He so loved the world that He gave Himself! Yeshua became the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
And now as His church we have opportunities to follow that same mission! Now we have a choice. Free will to serve Him or walk away! Yet God knows His own beforehand!
Again, the reason so many Christians are clueless on the subject of Israel and her purpose is because many pastors and denominations believe the church replaced her!
Last week we learned we were the wild olive tree that was grafted in but if we separate from the root, we are no longer connected to God’s true purpose from the scriptures!
It doesn’t mean we become Jewish but we become like their Messiah!
Israel is the root of everything regarding our Christian faith!
And just as the Jews erred through their traditions, much of the church has done the same thing.
In the meantime, in God’s sovereignty, Israel’s rejection was our salvation!
SO as Paul asked in Romans 11:1 “has God rejected His people? No way”!
Now remember these final verses 25-35 we’re to the Gentile churches in Rome as stated in Romans 11:13–14
But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them.
And while there a many questions on how this restoration will work is unknown but the prophet Zechariah gives us a glimpse of when all of Israel will be delivered! But it doesn’t mean every Jewish person will be saved throughout time. But we know 2/3 will be cut off before Yeshua returns.
Paul gives a few warnings to the church what not be be ignorant or unaware of.
Verse 25-29 - For I do not want you, brothers, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening [see 11:7] has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and so all Israel will be saved; [lit. delivered] just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” [Isaiah 59:20] 27 “And this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”[Jeremiah 31:33] 28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, [the church currently] but from the standpoint of God’s choice or as NKJ says “according to election” they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
1] Don’t be ignorant of the mystery - Israel’s national stumbling is temporary and partial, not permanent. The fullness of the Gentiles is the clue when Israel is grafted back in.
What I do know is, we need to be informed regarding Israel’s place in God’s plan and not to be wise in our own opinions!
The Greek word is musterion “previously hidden truth now revealed” This means these truths were always there in the scripture but are now revealed through the revelation of Christ.
Paul states that God will complete His divine purpose in bringing in the Gentiles [non-Jews] who get saved now as Christians but will also be saved as Saints during the tribulation period and once that final Gentile is saved, God’s plan for Israel kicks in gear and significant prophecies regarding Israel will unfold quickly as seen in the book of Revelation and Old Testament prophets!
This is how Jesus told Israel about the kingdom to come. It was a mystery! Unto You has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom. So often we like to take the parables He shared and place the church in them but they were really about Israel’s future kingdom of which we will be involved in so we can glean from them. But Paul was blessed by God to comprehend many mysteries in his letters concerning not only Israel, but the catching away, the resurrection, the mystery of iniquity, our faith, the church, Christ, the gospel, godliness. Now we can see these clues as we read the Old Testament by using the filter of the cross.
2] Don’t be surprised at their response to the gospel - Jews struggle with the standpoint of the gospel right now, because most are raised to reject Yeshua as Messiah from childhood. Regardless, God chose many in Israel who will be beloved for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samuel and David...because He knew before the foundation of the world just as He knew the Gentiles who would believe!
just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love...
God wanted Israel to accept His Son much sooner and though they were disobedient and too stubborn to reach the Gentiles and believe in their Messiah, God didn’t give up on them! Just as we resisted His Son being disobedient and rebellious, yet He didn’t give up on us, He kept drawing us!
Why? Because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Which means God’s promises cannot be changed or reversed because He is sovereign and has always known who are His! KJ says the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. So God will not be sorry to turn His eyes back to Israel. Many Jews will accept their Messiah.
Verses 30-32 For just as you [Gentiles] once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience [Israel], 31 so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. [Paul is referring to verse 11 through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles]. 32 For God has shut up all or [committed all people] in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. [That is to humanity, for all have sinned and fallen short of His glory]
3] Don’t forget we were all in the same boat!
I love the final verses here because it caps off the idea of God’s sovereignty and Man’s frivolity.
Verses 33-36 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him that it might be repaid to him? 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
3] Don’t put God in a box! To me, this says it all. His ways are higher, His thoughts are higher.
This eliminates the need of trying to put God’s salvation plan in an intellectual box be it TULIP or FACTS, Calvinism or Arminianism. Eternal security or losing your salvation.
Everything is from Him! Our very ability to think and calculate ideas come “from Him”. He doesn’t need our advice or counsel, His wisdom and knowledge are beyond our understanding, His decisions will always be just and in perfect timing. He’s our creator, we are sustained by Him because He’s eternal, and we exist for Him not the other way around!
Don’t be ignorant of the mystery [of Israel], Don’t be surprised at their response to the gospel,
Don’t forget we were all in the same boat [both Jew and Gentile], Don’t put God in a box. [God doesn’t need our counsel!]
Yes, He invites to reason with Him, Yes, He wants us to be students of scripture but He’s not asking us to figure everything out. Remember what John said in
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written one after the other, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
So let’s come to the table and enjoy God’s mercy on us - For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen
AFTER COMMUNION
2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
