Has God Rejected His People?
Romans • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
I. The Case for Remnant Theology
I. The Case for Remnant Theology
A. The Personal Evidence
A. The Personal Evidence
I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
Thus says the Lord: “If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lord.
B. The Theological Evidence
B. The Theological Evidence
God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,
I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.
Think about what God had to do to carry out his promise! (1) supernaturally grant rejuvenated life to Abraham and Sarah so they could have Isaac when Abraham was 100 and Sarah 90. (2) Make it possible for Isaac and Rebekah to have twins when Isaac was 60. (3) prevent Jacob’s stupid conniving from getting himself killed and also give Jacob the resources and wives to have a large family despite his miserly and dishonest uncle Laban. (4) work out a plan to preserve Israel by allowing Joseph’s brothers to sell him into slavery, then giving Joseph a supernatural ability to interpret dreams so he could become the second in command of Egypt and save his brothers and move Israel to Egypt. (5) Rescue Israel out of Egypt four centuries later by totally dominating the most powerful country in the world. (6) somehow turn this ragtag bunch of former slaves into a people holy enough that they could be close to God without getting themselves killed again. (7) wield this disparate group of tribes into a coherent people at Mount Sinai. (8) Preserve the nation during the period of the judges despite their disobedience. (9) continue to do so in many ways throughout history.
C. The Scriptural Evidence
C. The Scriptural Evidence
God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
Elijah thinks that he is the last faithful remnant. Why? (1) he spent the last three years in solitude because he prayed down a drought in Israel. He was first in the wilderness with no human contact; then God directs him to go to a foreign city and perform a miracle of provision to a widow to survive. (2) he had obviously put all of his hopes at persuading Israel to worship God totally on one dramatic action.
And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.
And it seemed to work.
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.
Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”
But it didn’t. Jezebel still devoutly worshipped Baal, and she was able to replace the prophets of Baal who had been killed in short order. She then attacked Elijah, proving that ultimately the dramatic miraculous show had accomplished nothing.
And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.”
(3) Elijah had recently expended vast amounts of energy on that failed endeavor. Not only was he alone promoting the true worship of God, but at the end of the show, he prayed fervently and brought rain again, then was given supernatural power to run ahead of Ahab’s chariots for the entire 17 mile journey to Jezreel
Then the hand of the Lord came upon Elijah; and he girded up his loins and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.
The solution -
let him rest and eat (1 kings 19:4-7) to recover his strength
Show him that God does not only work in big dramatic moments. He can also use many little things to influence big events.
Give Elijah something to do to carry on the fight.
Then the Lord said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.
Tell him that he is not alone, but that there are 7,000 men who still truly worship God alone.
Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
So, what percent of Israel is 7,000?
D. The Contemporary Evidence
D. The Contemporary Evidence
Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law;
So Israel in Paul’s day was actually doing very much better than they did in Elijah’s. But the majority still rejected Christ, as they do today.
II. The Case for Rejection Theology
II. The Case for Rejection Theology
What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
A. Hardening as Punishment
A. Hardening as Punishment
Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.”
For the Lord has poured out on you The spirit of deep sleep, And has closed your eyes, namely, the prophets; And He has covered your heads, namely, the seers.
The context shows that God is proclaiming that Jerusalem will be judged in the coming Assyrian invasion, even though Judea won’t be conquered. Yet God declares that he has judged Israel by depriving the wise of their wisdom. No one believes that disaster is coming, because they do not really worship God. Fake worship results in phoney wisdom, every time. Notice, however, that God has blinded Israel. Not by conspiring against her, but by not rescuing her from her own stupidity.
Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day.
Moses here reminds them of all the miracles that God did to Egypt, and the continuous miracles over the last 40 years that have kept the nation alive, and their victory over Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan. A slave people with no fighting experience can only win if God enables them. All these wonderous things should prove that God is worthy of worship, that when God demands exclusive worship, it is in your best interest to listen. It proves that God is trustworthy, able to meet every need you could ever have; and that he loves Israel and is powerful enough to protect her. But Moses knows that many people still worship idols. The only explanation is that the people are blind to the obvious truths in front of their face, because they have not committed to worshipping God alone. Moses notes that ultimately God has not chosen to take the drastic steps necessary to open their eyes. Remember that the close relationship with God that made Israel special has already nearly killed the entire nation three times. God did not open their eyes because doing so would probably wipe out the nation.
B. Hardening as Retribution
B. Hardening as Retribution
And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, A stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, And bow down their back always.”
David complains that his enemies have dishonored and shamed him; they refused comfort and tried to poison him. This is the cry for justice, that they not prosper because of their iniquity. their “table” would be their own food. He asks that their very prosperity be their undoing. He asks that they not be able to figure out what is going on, and that they be always terrified because they have attacked him. It’s not about getting revenge; its about the bad guys not getting away with it. And the people David refers to - his enemies - were for the most part fellow Jews.
Let their table become a snare before them, And their well-being a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; And make their loins shake continually.