The Unfailing Word and the Unxpected Israelite

Introduction

Last week we examined Paul’s lament over the unbelief of ethnic Israel. We considered Paul’s lament in light of it’s Biblical context, through the connections to the lament of Jeremiah. We established that the grief and sorrow of Paul is an extension of the grief and sorrow of Jeremiah. We saw that the plight of Israel observed by Jeremiah, that aliens and strangers had received Israel’s inheritance, is exactly the same plight that Paul observes. The blessings and benefits of the covenant have now been extended to the whole world, to those once known as aliens and strangers.

We looked to Paul as an example for how we should feel about the lost in our own day. We saw that Israel is not to be despised, but to be valued as the prototype of God’s blessing and benefits for his covenant people. We saw that just as Paul honored the prototype, so we also should honor the prototype, by honoring God’s Word in the Old Testament, and we looked at four ways to do that.

Now today, Paul is going to demonstrate to us that, despite the unbelief of Israel, God’s Word has not failed. And he is going to prove that to us by invoking the Old Testament to demonstrate that true Israel is synonymous with ethnic Israel, though true Israel certainly relies on and includes portions of ethnic Israel.

On a theological level, Paul is laying the groundwork for the doctrine of God’s sovereign and saving grace, which he will demonstrate in the verses we will examine next week.

Today’s study will be in two heads: the unfailing word and the unexpected Israelite.

The Unfailing Word

Paul’s statement here is seemingly given in answer to an implied objection to what he has just said, or perhaps more accurately, given in defense of an assumed attack on God’s character.

Paul has spent five verses explicitly lamenting the unbelief of Israel and implicitly stating that their blessings have been given to strangers and aliens, specifically strangers and aliens in the church at Rome. A logical implication of those five verses is that the covenant promises God made with Israel have not come to pass. They do not reside in peace in their land, they have not received blessing and prosperity as promised by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They are dispersed throughout the world, with some of the exiled tribes having never returned to Israel even up to the days of Paul. There is no glory, the covenant has been abandoned, the law has been defiled, along with the temple, and the promises seem at this point in time to remain unfulfilled.

So the question that arises out of that reality is this: Has God’s Word failed? And by extension, has God himself failed? Paul is quick to refute the questions. The answer is no. God’s word has not failed. God himself has not failed.

Now Paul, by asserting the infallibility of God’s Word in this manner, is alluding to a pattern set by the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 54 and 55. The key text here as regards Paul’s reference to the infallibility of God’s Word comes from Isaiah 55:11

Isaiah 55:11 NASB95

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

Isaiah proclaims what Paul proclaims: God’s Word does not and cannot fail. For Isaiah, not only is he asserting that God’s Word is truthful, without error, and without capability of error, he is also asserting that it is absolutely and ineffably successful in what God has determined that it will accomplish. In other words, God’s Word will complete it’s mission successfully.

But Paul and Isaiah are in the same stream of consciousness, using the same language to speak of the same concepts in the same manner, beyond just a powerful assertion of the infallibility and ineffability of God’s Word. In other words, by invoking Isaiah here, Paul is not just using Isaiah 55:11 as a nice proof text to footnote his seminary essay. He is invoking the entire argument of Isaiah that simply culminates in 55:11 and the declaration of God’s unfailing purpose in his covenant word.

So let’s spend some time digging into Isaiah 54 and 55 so we can understand exactly where and how Paul comes up with his ideas in Romans 9.

Isaiah 54 and 55 in Romans 9:6

Isaiah 55:11 is the climax of two chapters of prophetic material in which Isaiah is addressing a barren and divorced woman. This woman is to be understood figurally and typologically, in other words, in other words, she is not an actual biological human being, she stands for something greater than herself. Isaiah implores this woman to shout for joy and cry aloud, for two primary reasons: the Lord has removed her barrenness and given her children, and he has restored her from rejection and divorce.

Barrenness

Let’s look first at the barren aspect of Isaiah’s joyful woman. In verse 1 she is barren, has no child, and has not travailed, literally she has not experienced the pain of labor, and she is desolate. Four terms to reinforce in our minds the woeful state of this woman. She has no children, nor any hope of children.

Yet she is to shout for joy, why? Because the Lord has declared that her children will be more numerous than the sons of the married woman. Isaiah goes on with poetic clarity to describe the dwelling place of the sons of the barren woman as requiring expansion in all directions in order to accommodate all her sons, who will possess nations and resettle desolate cities.

Rejection

Second, let’s look at the rejected aspect of Isaiah’s joyful woman. The language of verse 4 implores this woman to shake off the shame, humiliation, disgrace, and reproach of rejection and widowhood, why? Because her husband is her Maker, the Lord of Hosts, and her redeemer is the holy one of Israel. According to verses 6-7 she is forsaken for a moment, but will ultimately be gathered back into the eternal covenant compassion of the Lord her redeemer.

Isaiah then invokes Noah to declare to this woman that, as Yahweh declared in the days of Noah, He will honor His covenant and will establish her in peace, strength, wisdom, and prosperity.

Covenant Joy for All who Thirst

The illustration changes for Isaiah in chapter 55, but the concept does not. As Isaiah declared covenant joy and prosperity to the barren and rejected woman in 54, now in 55 that same covenant is declared to everyone who thirsts and hungers. This covenant is unconditional, and may be entered into without money or cost. This covenant according to verse 3 is an eternal covenant of mercy, mercy as was shown to David. The call becomes even clearer in verse 6: seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is hear, and when all is said and done, in this free and abundant covenant, the wicked will forsake his wicked ways and the unrighteous man will forsake his unrighteous thoughts, and both will return to the Lord and bask in his compassion and pardon.

This mercy, this compassion, shown to the barren and rejected woman and then to everyone who thirsts, is so great, so majestic, and so mysterious that it cannot be comprehended. It is a thought of the mind of God that defies logic. Barren women do not bear children. Divorced and rejected women are not restored. Covenants have nothing to do with mercy, and are not offered unconditionally to anyone who wants one. And yet we see all three of these things happening here. It is beyond human comprehension, but that means nothing to God and to his unfailing word, which according to verse 11 will not come up short in achieving the purpose for which God has decreed it: communication of this surprising covenant to all mankind, and efficacious application of the mercy contained therein. In other words, God’s word is the Amazon Prime delivery van bringing the two-day shipped gift of the gospel to the barren woman, to the reject woman, and to the whole world, and come rain or shine, fire or flood, God’s Word can not be stopped. It will not fail. It will do what God has decreed it to do.

So by saying that God’s Word will not fail in the same way that Isaiah said it would not fail, we must understand that Paul intends to communicate the same reality that Isaiah intends to communicate: the barren woman will bear children, the rejected woman will be restored, and as one entity, they will be eschatologically established in peace and prosperity. This establishment of joy and peace will be offered to all who hunger and thirst, to all who seek the Lord while he may be found. That is the word that has not failed. But how has it not failed?

In order to answer that question, we need to dig into Isaiah a bit deeper and understand what exactly he is saying, so we can understand what Paul is saying.

The Sarah-Isaac-Barren Woman Pattern

First, what is going on with the barren woman?

The language Isaiah uses here is directly reminiscent of language Moses uses in Genesis to describe Sarah, the barren wife of Abraham. In fact the first line of 55:1 is a direct quotation of Genesis 11:30. The tent-pitching language os verse 2 is used on numerous occasions in the Abraham story to describe the prosperity of Abraham, and the language of verse 3 is also directly quoting Genesis 28, both in reference to the spread from right and left, and to the posession of nations. God, through the mouth of Isaiah, renews and recapitulates His covenant with Sarah, but now applies the covenant mercies and covenant benefits to all who thirst and hunger, to all who will come to him in repentance and faith.

So Sarah represents God’s people here as a type. The barren woman who now bears children speaks symbolically of God’s people.

The Hagar-Ishmael-Rejected Woman Pattern

Secondly, we need to figure out what is going on with the rejected woman.

There is an even more interesting parallel here to the Genesis narrative with Abraham and Sarah. The rejected woman is not connected to Sarah but is in fact connected to Hagar. The language Isaiah uses to describe the rejected woman is the same type of language used in Genesis 21 to speak of the way Abraham and Sarah send Hagar and Ishmael away.

But we know that in the midst of all that, God declares a blessing to Ishmael. Though Abraham and Sarah may have rejected Hagar and Ishmael, and Ishmael would not be the child of promise through whom the descendants would be named, God provides for Ishmael and promises to make his descendants a great nation, as he promised to Isaac.

Here’s what is interesting about Ishmael. Moses intentionally connects him at multiple points with Cain. The Cain/Abel narrative in many ways sets the stage for the Isaac/Ishmael narrative. Cain is not pleasing to God, Ishmael is not pleasing to God. Cain despises Abel, Ishmael despises Isaac. Cain is not killed for his sin, but is sent away. Ishmael is not killed for his sin, but is sent away. Despite his sin, God makes a provisional protection for Cain as he is being sent away. Despite his sin, God makes a provisional protection for Cain as he is being sent away.

So the Cain-Ishmael pattern sets a trajectory for future records of rejection-restoration in the Old Testament.

But Moses also does something interesting with Hagar in the Genesis narrative. On four separate occasions Moses intentionally describes her as Egyptian. He is working purposefully to connect her to her home country, Egypt, which becomes the great oppressor and enslaver of Israel.

So even in this narrative, far before the exodus both historically and in the development of the story as Moses tells it, Hagar and her seed are set against Sarah and her seed, and I would go so far as to say that Moses portrays Hagar and Ishmael as the seed of the serpent, and Sarah and Isaac as the seed of the woman, which Moses established back in Genesis 3.

So just as Isaiah has declared God’s covenant with Sarah to be fulfilled as her descendants fill the earth, He also declares that rejected Hagar will be restored.

Now you may say this makes no sense, and indeed it does not. The seed of the serpent, Cain, Hagar, Ishmael, all seem to be outside of grace, beyond redemption. Even Paul himself says in Galatians 4 that Hagar represents earthly bondage to sin, while Sarah represents heavenly freedom and hope. We would affirm all this as true. However, I believe Isaiah’s point is not to contradict Moses and Paul, but to make a larger statement about the nature of salvation that Moses and Paul would certainly affirm, and that is this: no one, not even Cain, not even Hagar, not even Ishmael is beyond the redemptive grace of God. Though rejected, God’s grace can yet redeem, can yet make the rejected forget their shame and disgrace and walk in newness of life, in covenant with their God.

And the availability of this covenant to all who hunger and thirst is what Paul affirms in 9:6 by asserting that the word of God has not failed.

Eschatological Establishment

A third theme emerges through the end of chapter 54, and that is the theme of eschatological establishment, in other words, Isaiah is declaring that in the end, there will be peace for the barren woman and rejected wife, she will be safely protected in a house set firm with precious stones, established in righteousness and defended from her enemies.

So Paul is declaring as well that the God’s word of establishment has not failed. His word of protection and defense has not failed.

How can Paul be so confident? How can Paul say so matter of factly that the word of God has not failed? Has Isaiah 54 really come to pass?

Well let’s consider some facts.

Mary as Part of the Barren and Rejected Woman Patterns

First of all, what type of woman is more barren than a barren woman? A virgin. The story of Mary and the birth of Christ escalates the barren woman theme beyond barrenness and into complete and total biological inability not only to bring forth children, but to conceive at all. And yet God, by the mouth of the angel, declares Mary to be with child, in the only type of birth more miraculous than the one that comes from barrenness. Thus Christ, by virtue of his very birth, brings Isaiah’s word to fulfillment. The one who had borne no child, the one who had not travailed in labor, now brings forth a son, and she shall call His name Jesus.

The pattern-fulfillment parallels become even stronger with the rejected wife theme in the next section. Isaiah’s words to the rejected wife are the very same words the angel proclaims to Mary: fear not! Me phoebeo! The shame of an out of wedlock pregnancy is not shame at all! The reproach has been removed, and in this little baby boy, the reproach of the world will be removed, for He has been born to die, to redeem His bride.

So Mary then becomes an escalated part of the pattern of both Sarah and Hagar as she gives birth to the Messiah, the Suffering Servant, the one whose life, death, and resurrection will eternally establish the covenant Isaiah spoke of.

Christ as Fulfillment of The Patterns

Finally, we see Christ’s life and teaching reflecting Isaiah’s final words here. On numerous occasions, Jesus makes this very same declaration: heaven and earth and mountains and hills may be removed and cast into the sea, indeed the entire created order might cease to exist, but my covenant love and covenant word will not fail, will not pass away. The storm-tossed will be established in Christ, the chief cornerstone, upon whom the prophets and apostles lay their foundation. Though the floods rise, the house build upon this rock will stand. Isaiah further declares that the foundations, the battlements, the gates, the walls will be built in strength and beauty by Yahweh, indeed, by Christ, who builds his church as one builds a house, in beauty and in strength. And all the inhabitants of this house are taught of the Lord, by the Lord, for Jesus taught his followers the things of God, as one who had authority, because whoever knows the Son, knows the Father. Likewise, his command to his disciples was to make more disciples by teaching them of the Son, by the power of the Spirit. Christ in this way establishes his church in righteousness and the gates of oppression, terror, assault, accusations, and hell itself will not prevail against it.

Paul, standing on the shoulders of Isaiah, thus declares that in Christ, the word of God to the barren woman, to the rejected wife, and to the building of God, has not failed.

Paul and Isaiah’s Unfailing Covenant of Grace

But Paul does not only invoke Isaiah 54, he also invokes Isaiah 55, in which Isaiah declares, in light of the covenant faithfulness, covenant love, and covenant word of God in chapter 54, the offer of compassion and pardon is free to all, Jew, Greek, slave, free, civilized, barbarian, male, female. The call is to come, listen, seek the Lord, call upon his name, forsake your wickedness in thought and in deed, and receive compassion! This is the free offer of the gospel, and it is beyond human comprehension, yet nevertheless, it will not fail. It could not fail for Isaiah, and it has not failed for Paul.

Some implications

Now before we examine exactly how Paul will prove that God’s Word has not failed, despite the unbelief of ethnic Israel, we need to pause for a moment and consider the implications of this statement for our lives.

Paul is building his entire argument, and has built his entire life and ministry on this reality: God’s word cannot fail. It cannot err. It will, without doubt, do exactly what God has ordained for it to do: declare and deliver his covenant to his people.

For us in the 21st century, we need to hold as fast to this truth as Paul did.

I think often times today we sort of hold up the Bible as our holy text, our only authoritative rule for life and faith, and do a great job of giving lip service to the word, but sometimes we don’t live like it. I see in myself and in many other Christians the tendency to occasionally operate as if the word of God will somehow fail, and is somehow less than absolutely true.

There’s some low hanging fruit here. The church is rife with people today who roundly discard the Bible’s teaching on the role of women in church leadership. Look no further than a number of prominent figures in the Southern Baptist Convention including Russell Moore and Rick Warren who routinely have women such as their wives take the platform at their church services and preach, in blatant defiance of Paul’s command in 1 Timothy 2:12

1 Timothy 2:12 NASB95

But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.

Warren and Moore and others, at least by their actions, indicate that God’s Word has failed in the area of women’s roles in the church.

The church is also full of people who who want to affirm homosexual lifestyles and other deviant sexual behavior. Look no further than the Revoice “ministry” which exists, and I quote directly from their website: “To support and encourage gay, lesbian, bisexual, and other same-sex attracted Christians—as well as those who love them—so that all in the Church might be empowered to live in gospel unity.” Think about this in the context of any other category of sinful behavior. What if there was a ministry devoted to supporting and encouraging murderous Christians? How about stealing Christians? How about lying Christians? We would say that’s crazy. Yet a growing number of professing Christians and churches are promoting this type of ethical system. Revoice thus believes that God’s Word has failed when it says in Leviticus 18:22

Leviticus 18:22 NASB95

‘You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.

But this is low hanging fruit. I would be surprised if anyone in the room wanted to fight me on this.

But for us today, the unfailing character of God’s word has piercing implications for us.

Do we trust that God’s promises will not fail even for us?

Do we trust that when we’re looking for work that God will provide all our needs according His riches in glory? Or do we toss and turn at night and run the rat race during the day, agonizing over whether or not you’ll find work?

Do we trust that when intrusive thoughts come barging into our heads, creating worst-case scenarios and causing anxiety, we can cast all our cares on Him, for He cares for us? That He will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus? Or do we dwell on those thoughts and allow them to ruminate, further creating anxiety and worry?

Do we trust that the grace of God is great enough to reach into the dead hearts of even our most obstinate family members, and make them alive together with Christ? Or do we stop praying for them and proclaiming to them because they’re a lost cause?

Friends, the unfailing, unerring character of the word of God means we can trust it with all circumstances of our lives. Listen to the words of Joel Beeke:

Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 1: Revelation and God Practical Implications of the Bible’s Veracity

Since the Word of God is pure truth, we can and should place our complete trust in what God has said. To trust in the Bible for truth is to trust in the God who cannot lie. We glorify God when we trust in his Word, especially when everything around us militates against that trust (Rom. 4:19). We honor God by trusting his Word, for we thus treat him as the God who never lies and is able to do what he says. Furthermore, when we trust in God’s Word, we discover that he is a “shield” to us (cf. Gen. 15:1). We experience his saving grace and loving presence with us. Without faith in the Word, it will not profit us, but by faith in God’s Word, we please God (Heb. 4:2; 11:5–6). Inerrancy is not a cold, academic doctrine, but a great encouragement to faith and the foundation of all sustaining comfort and solid hope, for we know that God will never break his promises to us in Christ. The doctrine of inerrant veracity allows us to answer the question When the Bible affirms something, should I believe it? with an unqualified yes.

Paul believed God’s Word could not and would not fail. Do you?

So up to this point, Paul has used the language of Isaiah to indicate that despite the unbelief of Israel, God’s word still stands, and will not fail. But at this point he has merely made the statement. He has not proved it. Now we will turn to the proof that Paul provides.

The Unexpected Israelite

To prove that God’s Word has not failed, Paul makes an earth-shattering statement. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel, and nor are they children because they are Abraham’s descendants.

Redefining Israel

Now the reason that this is a massive statement is that Paul is essentially redefining terms here. He is telling his readers that they need to understand him not in purely empirical or biological terms, but in a different way. This is difficult for many modern interpreters of Scripture who like to apply Enlightenment rationalist rules to Scripture. These types of people will often tout the phrase literal interpretation. We take the Bible literally! Now don’t get nervous. I would affirm with you today that the Bible must be taken literally. The problem is that many modern Christians have misunderstood and misdefined the word literal. In fact, if you get online right now and look up the definition of the word literal, it will say something along the lines of the “simplest and most natural” way of taking the word or statement. This definition pits a literal definition against, for example, a spiritual definition, a symbolic definition, a typological definition, or a host of other “alternative” definitions or interpretations. Here’s the problem with that. That’s not what literal means. Literal means “according to the letter,” or according to what was written. So if you want to take something literally, you’re not necessarily taking it in the simplest or most natural way that it could be understood. To take something literally is to take it according to the letter, or according to what the author intended when he wrote. So we very much believe in literal interpretation, but we believe in according to the actual definition: we are trying to get after the intentions, the mind, the purpose of the author. And Paul is teaching us how to do this here, and he’s teaching us that the simplest and most natural way to understand his own writings is not always the right, and therefore literal way to understand him, and by extension the rest of the Scriptures.

So in essence what Paul is saying here is that literal Israel is not biological or ethnic Israel. Paul is presenting to us the concept of “true Israel.” And for Paul, true Israel is a much different group of people than ethnic or biological Israel.

So how does Paul define true Israel, if they are not biological descendants of Abraham?

True Israel are those who come through Isaac.

Now this would seem to sort of contradict what I’ve been saying up to this point. True Israel comes from Isaac, and Isaac is Abraham’s son, so true Israel is still biologically descended from Abraham.

Yes, but not so fast. Paul clarifies in verse 8. True Israel consists not of the children of the flesh, but of the children of the promise.

True Israel as Children of the Promise: A Return to Sarah and Hagar

How are we to understand this? We have to return to the story of Sarah and Isaac, and Hagar and Ishmael. Now we already discussed Sarah and Hagar and Isaac and Ishmael a little bit as they relate to Isaiah’s declaration of God’s unfailing word, but they now serve to support Paul’s assertion in an even more explicit way here.

Let’s give you the short version of the story, the full version of which you can read in Genesis 15-17, and again in Genesis 21.

God promises Abraham a son, he and Sarah assume that because of their age and barrenness up to that point, that they will not be able to have a son according to the natural and God-ordained means, so Sarah offers her Egyptian servant Hagar to Abraham as a kind of surrogate. She conceives and gives birth to Ishmael. God comes back and tells Abraham that he will have an heir from Sarah. Abraham asks for the blessing to be given to Ishmael and God says no, he will bless Ishmael and provide for him, but the covenant will be with Isaac.

So what’s the point here? Moses is demonstrating two realities in this narrative, and Paul calls upon those realities to serve his argument.

Reality 1: The covenant is not with children of flesh but with children of faith. We might say that this is a covenant of grace, not a covenant of works. It is based not on the ability of Abraham or Sarah to produce a child, because they can’t, but it is based on the miraculous work of God in creating life out of death, which leads to the second reality:

Reality 2: The covenant is a covenant that brings life out of death. Sarah’s womb is as good as dead, both because of her barrenness and her age. Isaac comes forth alive in accordance with God’s promise, out of that which was dead.

So by calling upon the narrative of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac, Paul is teaching us something critical about how God saves people: He does it by a life-giving miracle, causing what once was dead to live again, causing dead hearts to beat, causing dry bones to walk, causing dead men to cast off their graveclothes and walk forth in victory.

This all comes together for Paul in the teaching of Isaiah, where the life-bearing capacity of the barren woman and the restoration of the rejected woman and the establishment of their protection in chapter 54 are accomplished by the work of the suffering servant in chapter 53, who is the first to fulfill the life-from-death pattern. By the power of God, the child of promise Isaac emerged from the dead womb of Sarah, and by that same power the suffering servant Jesus Christ emerged from the dead tomb of Joseph! And because that life was a free gift of grace, accomplished by nothing more and nothing less than a miracle of God, God can now offer it to anyone he likes, regardless of status or race or gender or age or ability or obedience or anything. Therefore, Isaiah and Paul can declare with confidence, the word of God has not failed. Come to the waters, you who are thirsty, and drink water from the wells of Christ, water that will satisfy eternally. Come to the table, and eat of the bread of his body, and never hunger again, for He is the bread of life. See the marks on his head, his hands, his feet, marks of the blood he shed to ratify the new covenant, the covenant that overflows with the mercies of David. And once you have drunk deeply and eaten til you are satisfied, stand up from the table, forsake your wicked ways, your unrighteous thoughts, and return to the Lord and walk in his compassion and mercy.

That’s the unfailing word to each one of us here today, a group of unexpected Israelites. Israelites not because we are descended from Abraham by flesh, but because we are descended from him by faith. Abraham trusted God to bring life out of death, and so also have we. And as a result of that faith, we are brought into a covenant of grace in which we stand in full assurance that God’s Word cannot fail.

Paul sees no surer evidence than the proliferation of grace to the Roman church that God’s Word has not failed. And for my part, I see no surer evidence than that same grace poured out in each one of you that God’s Word has not failed.

I want to leave you with a single takeaway this morning: your salvation is a miracle from God. Abraham and Sarah were incapable of bringing forth life out of the death of old age and barrenness. You are incapable of bringing forth life out of the death of your sins and trespasses. You require a miracle to live, a miracle of God’s sovereign, saving grace. Do you believe that He will make you live, not only in your spirit today but in your body tomorrow? Today I urge you, as children of the promise, trust that promise!

Next week we will consider Paul’s use of another Old Testament story, the story of Jacob and Esau, to demonstrate a magnificent truth about God: His sovereignty in mercy and in hardening. Join us next week for verses 10-18.