Romans 9.28-Paul Cites Isaiah 10.23 To Warn Unregenerate Israel Of Impending Judgment
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday April 19, 2009
Romans: Romans 9:28-Paul Cites Isaiah 10:23 To Warn Unregenerate Israel Of Impending Judgment
Lesson # 321
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 9:1.
This morning we will study Romans 9:28 in which Paul cites Isaiah 10:23 to warn unregenerate Israel of impending judgment.
Let’s read Romans 9:1-29 and then concentrate on verse 28 for the rest of the morning.
Romans 9:1-29, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but: ‘THROUGH ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED.’ That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise: ‘AT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON.’ And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, ‘THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER.’ Just as it is written, ‘JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED.’ What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be! For He says to Moses, ‘I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.’ So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH.’ So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires. You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’ On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use? What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. As He says also in Hosea, ‘I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ‘MY PEOPLE,’ AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, ‘BELOVED.’ AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’ THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.’ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, ‘THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED; FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.’ And just as Isaiah foretold, ‘UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.’”
Now in Romans 9:28, Paul quotes from Isaiah 10:23 to warn unregenerate Israel of eternal condemnation.
Isaiah 10:20-23, “Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant within them will return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. For a complete destruction, one that is decreed, the Lord GOD of hosts will execute in the midst of the whole land.”
Romans 9:28, “FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.’”
“FOR” is the “emphatic” or “intensifying” use of the post-positive conjunction gar (gavr), which introduces a statement that advances upon Paul’s statement in Romans 9:27 and in fact intensifies it by addressing specifically those in Israel who the Lord will judge.
“THE LORD” is a reference to the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ since the word is always used in the book of Romans of Jesus Christ.
When the noun kurios is applied to Jesus Christ it indicates the following: (1) His equality with the Father and the Spirit. (2) His joint-rulership with the Father over the entire cosmos. (3) His highest ranking position as Chief Administrator in the divine government. (4) His absolute sovereign authority as Ruler over all creation and every creature. (5) His strategic victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness in the angelic conflict.
In His deity, Jesus Christ is “Lord” (See Luke 20:42), however in His human nature He received this title as a result of His obedience to the Father’s will, which called for Him to suffer a spiritual and physical death on the cross as a substitute for every member of the human race-past, present and future (See Philippians 2:5-11).
In Romans 9:28, Paul employs kurios, “Lord” rather than “Jesus Christ” or “Christ” or “Christ Jesus” in order to emphasize the incarnate Son of God’s sovereign rulership over His moral rational creatures that is manifested by His executing the sentence of eternal condemnation at the Great White Throne Judgment.
“WILL EXECUTE” refers to the judgment of unsaved Israel by the Lord Jesus Christ and means, “to execute.”
He executed judgment on the Northern Kingdom of Israel when it fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. and was taken into captivity.
He also executed judgment against Judah when it fell to Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon in 605 B.C. and the nation along with Daniel was taken into captivity.
The Lord executed judgment upon Israel again in 70 A.D. when the Roman armies under the command of Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple and led the nation into captivity and from that time was dispersed throughout the nations until 1948 when they returned to their homeland.
He will execute judgment upon those in Israel who reject Him as Messiah during Daniel’s Seventieth Week and at His Second Advent.
Lastly, this word also speaks of the Lord executing the sentence of eternal condemnation upon those in Israel who rejected Him as their Messiah.
Romans 9:28, “FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.’”
“HIS WORD” is the accusative masculine singular form of the noun logos (lovgo$) (log-os), which refers to God’s Word but in the sense of His word of judgment upon unregenerate Israel since in context Paul is speaking of the judgment of the nation of Israel.
In Romans 9:27, Paul speaks of only a remnant in Israel being delivered from eternal condemnation, which obviously implies that the majority in Israel will suffer eternal condemnation.
Therefore, the noun logos in Romans 9:28 speaks of the execution of the sentence of eternal condemnation for rejecting Jesus of Nazareth as Savior.
It is in the emphatic position in the sentence in order to emphasize with Paul’s readers solemnly the seriousness of unregenerate Israel’s present state.
“ON THE EARTH” does not refer to planet earth but rather it is used in a territorial sense for the land of Israel since in context, Isaiah was speaking to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in Isaiah 10:23 and Paul is using this quotation to warn the nation of impending judgment in his day.
The word also contains the figure of metonymy where the land of Israel is put for her unregenerate Jewish inhabitants.
“THOROUGHLY” is the nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb sunteleo (suntelevw) (soon-tel-eh-o), which means “thorough” in that this judgment of unsaved Israel will be fully carried out or executed meaning that no one will escape it.
“QUICKLY” is the nominative masculine singular present active participle form of the verb suntemno (suntevmnw) (soon-tem-no), which means “decisively” since Paul is translating the Hebrew verb charats, which means “to be decisive” in Isaiah 10:23.
The verb of course is used in relation to the Lord executing the sentence of judgment upon unregenerate Israel in Paul’s day through the Romans in 70 A.D. and more importantly executing the sentence of eternal condemnation at the Great White Throne Judgment.
This word emphasizes the “decisiveness” by which this judgment will be executed by the Lord Jesus Christ.