God’s Plan for Israel

1948

We have a few in our congregation this morning that are older than the current nation of Israel. In 1947 when the UN General Assembly proposed partitioning the British Mandate for Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state the Jews accepted the proposal. The surrounding Arab states rejected the plans and launched a war. Miraculously, the nation of Israel survived. The Arabs were subsequently defeated in the 1947-1949 war that followed the UN proposal and the British withdrawal. They would have to fight for their existence again in 1956, 1967 (the 6-day war), and in 1973.

Of course, Israel is much older than anyone now living. Archaeological evidence shows the earliest Israelite settlements emerging in the hill country of Canaan. The Merneptah Stele, an ancient Egyptian inscription from around 1208 BCE, contains the earliest known mention of "Israel" as a people.

If your image of Israel is that it is a nation of church going people who love Jesus…it isn’t…at least not yet.  It is primarily Jewish 73.5% (do not believe in Jesus as the Son of God), Muslim 18.1%, Christian 1.9%, Druze 1.6%, other 4.9% (2022 est.)

1948 was an eye-opener for Christians. Israel had not existed for 1900 years following the destruction of Jerusalem when over 1.3 million Jews were killed by the Romans. The Jewish people had dispersed all around the world. 2 World Wars had occurred. Millions of Jews had been killed during the Holocaust and those who survived were little more than living skeletons. The world had seen the power of a nuclear bomb. Yet Israel stood up again!

Ezekiel 37:11–14 NIV

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’ ”

How does this intersect with Paul’s letter to the Romans? Paul is addressing both the Jews and the Gentiles and the elephant in the room is this question, “If God’s chosen people rejected Christ, does that mean His promises failed?” Romans 9-11 will show that God is faithful to His covenant purposes – past, present, and future. and All of us can know that if God’s sovereign plan for Israel demonstrates His faithfulness, we can have confidence that His promise to us will never fail.

Israel: Past, Present, and Future

Israel’s Beginnings

Romans 9:1–7 MSG

At the same time, you need to know that I carry with me at all times a huge sorrow. It’s an enormous pain deep within me, and I’m never free of it. I’m not exaggerating—Christ and the Holy Spirit are my witnesses. It’s the Israelites … If there were any way I could be cursed by the Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I’d do it in a minute. They’re my family. I grew up with them. They had everything going for them—family, glory, covenants, revelation, worship, promises, to say nothing of being the race that produced the Messiah, the Christ, who is God over everything, always. Oh, yes! Don’t suppose for a moment, though, that God’s Word has malfunctioned in some way or other. The problem goes back a long way. From the outset, not all Israelites of the flesh were Israelites of the spirit. It wasn’t Abraham’s sperm that gave identity here, but God’s promise. Remember how it was put: “Your family will be defined by Isaac”?

Paul celebrates the things that made Israel unique: adoption to sonship, divine glory, covenants, receiving the law, temple worship, promises, and the ancestry of the Messiah. The problem was not God’s; the problem was a heart issue. Notice verse 7 and how Paul points out that it was never about genetics, it was about the heart.

Later in the chapter Paul will remind the Romans that the promise was always greater than the pedigree. It was Isaac that God sovereignly chose instead of Ishmael. It was Jacob (the second child), not Esau who received the promise. Although not mentioned we see that Jacob’s hands crossed as Manasseh and Ephraim received the blessing. It was Ephraim on which Jacob placed his right hand. The ancestry of Jesus reveals both Ruth (a Moabitess) and Rahab (the Canaanite prostitute who hid the spies).

Strictly following the Law instead of looking for the promise caused the people of Israel to miss the Messiah. Instead of embracing Jesus, they crucified Him. But, it also was a part of the plan of God to bring the Gentiles into the New Covenant. The Promise is greater than the Pedigree.

Paul asks the question, “Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use (vs 21)?” Of course He does! He is sovereign! Paul sums up these thoughts with this:

Romans 9:30–32 NIV

What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

Salvation is always rooted in God’s mercy, not human effort. This humbles us—reminds us that we are saved by grace, not heritage, morality, or willpower.

Israel’s Present: A People Stumbling but Not Forsaken

Romans 9 helps us understand Israel’s past. In Romans 10 we see Paul’s heart for present day Israel:

Romans 10:1–4 NIV

Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

Clearly, it is Paul’s desire that Israel be saved. Paul’s longing: “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved” (10:1). Sadly, they have a zeal for God but have missed the fact that Christ was the promised Messiah. Paul links their stumbling to the prophetic Word in Isaiah:

Romans 9:33 NIV

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.”

This is where Israel is today. It explains why only 2% of Israel calls Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior. As with all of us, the pathway for salvation lies in believing in Jesus. This passage completes what many people refer to as the Romans Road. A simple explanation of salvation from Romans:

1. Admit

Romans 3:23 NIV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

2. Believe

Romans 5:8 NIV

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

3. Commit

Romans 6:23 NIV

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Promise

Romans 10:9–10 NIV

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. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

Romans 10 teaches us that religious zeal is empty without the ‘stone’ of Christ. Only Christ can save us. As we enter into September as a month of emphasis on missions, this is a challenge to remember that people all around us – even religious, moral, or “good” people – still need Jesus. Our challenge is now and will forever be “Everyone Reach One”.

Israel’s Future: God’s Faithful Restoration

In Romans 11 Paul turns to the future of Israel. Has Israel failed so miserably that they should be cursed? History has shown us that many have believed that. Is the modern Church…Israel? (Replacement Theology)? Let’s see what Paul says…

Romans 11:1–5 NIV

I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 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.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

Paul begins by saying that even in his lifetime there is a remnant, just as there was in the days of Elijah. It is by God’s grace. Let’s jump to verse 11.

Romans 11:11 NIV

Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.

God’s plan continues to unfold. According to Paul, he was living in (and we continue in) a time when salvation has comes to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. Did you know that Christian missionaries from around the world are being sent to Israel? Let’s jump a little further down…

Romans 11:25–29 NIV

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 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. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

So, there is currently a “winter” going on with Israel, a ‘hardening…until the full number of Gentiles has come in’. Remember, the nation of Israel did not exist before 1948. Could it be today? We don’t know but Paul indicates that there will be (1) a hardening of Israel, (2) the salvation of Gentiles, and (3) the salvation of Israel.

The End is Near!

I can’t help but think about Romans 9-11 and get excited about where we are right now in history. We know that the hardening of Israel has occurred already. We know that salvation has been happening among the Gentiles since the days of the apostles. We know that Israel has reconstituted and is in the headlines of our news. What is next?

Paul concludes with this:

Romans 11:33–36 NIV

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Watch Israel! Pray for Israel! But even more importantly, trust the Lord, especially in these days as we near the end.