The Tragedy of Israel's Unbelief

When people reject Grace Alone, is sorrow consistent?

Romans 9:1–2 NKJV

I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.

When family rejects faith alone, it is OK to sorrow

Romans 9:3 NKJV

For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh,

When people reject great blessings, it is all the more tragic

Romans 9:4–5 NKJV

who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

The Adoption

Paul talked about our adoption earlier. It is not the same as Israel’s adoption. Our adoption is as individuals. We each become individually children of God when we are saved, and then are incorporated into the Church.

Romans 8:15–16 NKJV

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

But Israel was adopted as a nation. No other people group on earth was ever adopted as God’s son. As much as I would like America to turn to God, America is not the people of God and never has been.

Exodus 4:22 NKJV

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.

The Glory

The Glory in the wilderness; in the tabernacle; it moved to Solomon’s Temple; it exited in Ezek 8-11 and never came back. Therefore the Glory is indeed only a blessing Israel enjoyed.

The Covenants and the Promises

A Covenant is a formal, legal agreement between two parties that obligates at least one of them to do something.

Ancient Covenants had several parts. (1) the terms of the Covenant were laid out, and had to be accepted. (2) There was an oath taken by the gods to bind the parties to perform the Covenant (3) a sign similar to a handshake or signing your signature was done to ratify the Covenant. (4) Covenants could obligate both parties, thus making it conditional; or just the higher authority, thus making it unconditional. The word “contract” is not out of place, except that ancient contracts always had a religious element, and in Israel this meant bringing God into the picture. Also, contracts are usually two-way, but some covenants were one-way.

It is best to only call a Covenant what the Bible refers to as a Covenant. The first covenant in the Bible is the Noahic Covenant in Genesis 9. But it belongs to the whole human race, not to Israel specifically.

The first Covenant with Israel is the Abrahamic Covenant. It was repeated many times in Genesis. Genesis 15 is the formal ratification. Terms - God makes Abraham’s descendants into a great nation. It was unconditional. There is a sacrifice where God walks between the divided animals. Abraham agrees, and it becomes active. The Abrahamic Covenant is made again with Isaac, and Jacob, narrowing the recipients to Jacob’s(Israel’s) descendants.

The Second Covenant is the Mosaic Covenant (exod 19-24). The terms - God obligates himself to make them a people and give them the Land of Israel. The People obligate themselves to keep the Law. If they keep it, they will be blessed, if they break it as a nation, they will be cursed. Break it long enough and they will be expelled from the land. This does not nullify the Covenant, since it includes curses as well as blessings. It is conditional. It is ratified in Exodus 24 with a sacrifice and an oath.

Some make the Deuteronomic Covenant a separate covenant. It does have its own separate ceremony under Joshua. No need to split hairs. Israel as a nation needed a land, and this was the provision for it. The terms of the Deuteronomic Covenant was keeping the Mosaic in order to retain control of the land. find it in Deut 30.

The third Covenant is the Davidic Covenant. in 2 Sam 7 God promises David that his descendants would reign over Israel forever. It was unconditional. God would punish descendants that refused to obey God, but he would never remove them permanently. David’s line would last forever. In This covenant God obligates himself to send the Messiah, once Israel is exiled and the Throne of David is vacated. It’s a literal throne in Israel, and of course, Jesus Christ is the one and only eternal Son of David.

The final covenant is the New Covenant. Jer 31; Ezek 36. There God unconditionally promises to write the Law of God on their hearts.. that is, he will truly regenerate the entire nation. He also promises to bring all of them back to their land forever, in peace and prosperity. Jesus came preaching the gospel of the Kingdom. He said that his blood was the blood of the New Covenant. But a covenant has to be formally accepted to be active. Israel rejected her Messiah, so the New Covenant is not yet active. The terms were stated, the sacrifice made, but the final piece has yet to happen. The modern nation of Israel does not include all Jews everywhere, and they certainly are not at peace, neither do they occupy all of the promised land. Israel has also not accepted her Messiah, and she has not received a regenerate heart.

The Giving of the Law and the Worship

This is part of the Mosaic covenant. God gave Israel his good law, so that they had a better idea of God’s moral standard than any other nation on earth. As part of that he gave them many rules for worship. This meant that Israel was the only place on earth one could go to rightly worship God for 1500 years.

The Patriarchs and Jesus

The final advantage is heritage. The great stories of Abraham Isaac, and Jacob are not just nice stories, they reveal something about God. And they are Jewish tales.

Jesus himself is a Jew. Paul here perfectly points to the humanity and deity of Jesus. He was a man with ancestors - Jewish ones. But he is also God blessed forever.