ISRAEL: Believing Minority and Blinded Majority (Romans 11:1-16) In this chapter Paul summarizes the condition of and God’s dealings with the Jews based on God’s timeless nature and principles of dealing with people. “God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew … for the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” (v.2, 29) Remember, the whole section of Romans 9-11 deals with a problem presented by Paul’s exultation of nothing being able to separate us from the redeeming love of God (8:38-39). If that is so, what about Israel? They have rejected their Messiah and been rejected by God. In spite of all the promises made and blessings bestowed upon the Jews (9:4-5) they are lost. They are no longer the beloved of God; the Gentile church is. Paul goes to great lengths to prove that Romans 8:38-39 is true in spite of this. He does it two ways: there is an elect Remnant who are now being saved and the nation as a whole (the Rest) will ultimately be saved. All of this proves what he has said in 8:38-38 and he concludes and summarizes it by his statement in 11:29, “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.” And he deals with this whole matter in rather summary fashion in the passage we are now looking at. I. The Remnant, 11:1-10 A. The Believing Minority, 1-8 First, Paul uses himself as an example of the fact that God has not cast away His people, the Jews (v.1). “If God has cast away His people, then why am I being saved? I’m an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” In fact, all the apostles were Jews and the first chapters of Acts proves that God has not cast off His people. Furthermore… Secondly, Paul uses an event from history to prove that God has always had a small believing remnant of Jews who were being saved. He gives a bold statement, “God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.” Foreknew here has absolutely nothing to do with the modern interpretation of that word. God is not some glorified prophet looking into the future (there is no future for Him) finding out things (He is omniscient). Wonder what else he is learning from the future? Foreknow in the Bible means that God set His affections on a certain person or people before they were ever born. He foreknew them, in a Biblical sense. And in this section it specifically refers to His election of His people. A certain phrase in v.2 needs to be highlighted: “what the Scripture says.” Paul always takes his argument from what the Scripture says. Jesus did the same thing. In answering His critics He would often say, “Have you never read?” The Bible is the final word for every true believer. We do not go by human reason, or tradition. We go by what the Bible says. People don’t like some of the things the Scripture says. (I don’t like what it says about hell, but I still believe it.) We don’t get to pick and choose what we believe. We believe what the Scripture says. That may be challenging sometimes, but the word of God is inspired and infallible. It speaks the mind of God. It speaks the truth. This event from history has to do with Elijah, mighty prophet of faith and power. He arrived unannounced in King Ahab’s court one day and said, “It’s not going to rain till I say it’s going to rain.” The king and his court turned from laughing at him to looking for him, when it stopped raining! God provided a brook, ravens and widow to provide for the prophet during the three and a half year drought. But then Elijah came out of hiding and challenged Queen Jezebel’s prophets of Baal to a duel on the mountain. So they met on Mt. Carmel and Elijah’s God won be sending fire out of heaven to consume the sacrifice. Elijah killed hundreds of false prophets that day, but Jezebel kept 400 hidden in the groves and she declared the prophet of Jehovah to be public enemy number one. In a surprising move, Elijah ran. I mean he really ran. A long way, he ran. Finally hidden in a cave, having the biggest pity-party of all, God showed up and talked with him. Elijah prayed against Israel! When the nation turned its back on God, Moses prayed for Israel; but here Elijah (in the same place Moses was) prayed against Israel. He was mad. God rebuked him by telling him he was wrong. He was not the only believer left. God has reserved for Himself 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to or kissed Baal. GOD had reserved for HIMSELF. This was not their doing; this was God’s doing. They were God’s people whom He foreknew. And notice these 7,000 were known by what they did not do. And that’s not a bad thing! Then in v.5 Paul applies the history lesson to the present time. “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” Election is a grace election. If you make election based on anything except God’s unmerited, unconditional grace, you have works. Some people make faith a work, but faith is a gift, not of works (Eph.2:8-9). We are born again, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man (Jn.1:13). Salvation is not of him who wills (decides), nor of him who runs (Rm.9:16). It is of God. We did not choose Jesus; Jesus chose us! (Jn.15:16) Paul hammers this home in Rm.11:6, “And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace.” If we don’t take grace back to election then it is no longer grace. It is of works, something others do to cause God to elect them. That cannot be, because we were all dead in trespasses and sin (Eph.2:1-3). Election is of grace. It is “the election of grace.” Those 7,000 who had bowed the knee to Baal had been reserved by God. “What then?” (11:7) indicates Paul is about to make a summary conclusion, one of his many. The nation as a whole has not obtained what it seeks. Rome sought power. Greece sought wisdom. The Jews sought righteousness. But they sought it in the wrong place. They sought it based on the law. And therefore they missed it. They did not obtain it. “But the elect have obtained it.” That’s his point. Not all Israel is Israel (9:6). Not all church members are church members. Not all Christians are Christians. Not all Israel is Israel. There is an elect within Israel who is Israel indeed. B. The Blinded Majority, 8-10 What about the rest? “The rest were blinded.” The majority was blinded. Blinded is a word that means calloused, leaving one unfeeling and insensitive. Israel has become blinded to the truth. Why? You won’t believe why! That’s why we have to go by what the Scripture says. The rest were blinded because God blinded them. No, it is not that the word of God has taken no effect (9:6). What has happened to Israel (and the Gentiles) had been spoken by the word of God for many centuries. “Just as it is written: God has given them a spirit of stupor.” They are stupid and “stupid is as stupid does.” And Israel has acted as if in a stupor. They have eyes but they are blind. The problem is not that lost people have nothing to see. The problem is they are blind. God has used the god of this age to blind them (2Cor.4:3-4). (There are not two gods - only one.) They have eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear. When Moses tried to use the excuse that he should not be the one to go back to Egypt to tell Pharaoh to let Israel go, God said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?” God has given the unbelieving majority a spirit of stupor so that they cannot see or hear Him. Jesus spoke in parables for this very reason, to hide the truth from the Pharisees (Mt.13). Israel’s relationship with the Lord is symbolized by the table. The book of Leviticus is the worship manual for Israel. And that book is full of sacrifices and offerings which were to be eaten as unto the Lord. The most holy day of the year was a day for eating the Passover. Inside the Holy Place was a table for the bread that could be eaten by the priest right there in the presence of God. Jesus instituted as a perpetual memorial The Lord’s Supper. The table was the place where the people fellowshipped with God. But their table had become a snare and a trap. That which should have been holy to them had become the very thing that ensnared them in unbelief. Isaiah quotes God as saying, “Your appointed feasts My soul hates.” (1:14) God accused them of trampling His courts and commanded them to leave His house. Malachi has God saying, “You offer defiled food on My altar.” By this way they had defiled His holy name. And then God asks, “Who is there among you who would shut the door, so that you would not kindle fire on My altar in vain? I have no pleasure in you.” (1:6-11) Paul is even bolder when he quotes David: “Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see.” God has consigned them to blindness and bondage (bow down their back always). This is God’s judicial hardening of Israel, the nation as a whole, the blind majority. What has happened to Israel and the Gentiles is far from making the word of God of no effect. It has fulfilled the word of God. Let us all be concerned as we see large numbers of church members who have no apparent love for the truth, and we hear the majority call themselves Christians but do not follow Christ. And there seems to be a blindness over them. The heathen are more easily reached than those who have been baptized and are on the roles of churches, but by all outward appearance are not converted. But thank God there is a believing remnant among us who do love the truth and do follow Christ. You can see them at every church service with their Bibles, loving God and people, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and walking in the grace of God. They labor with love to make the Lord known. They are disciples indeed who continue in His word. Praise God! Our responsibility is to make sure we are among them.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 16:17:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015