Israel is GODS chosen people no matter what some may say yes there will be some that will not make it to heaven according to the bible ,, but that is why we are to pray for what is happening in Israel today,, there are some that do not believe in Jesus,, but we must remember that God made a covenant with Abraham, and told him that he would have many descendants, and as we read through the bible we see that Moses,, Isac,, Jacob , Joseph ecct are all the linage of CHRIST himself,, the bible says Isaiah 49:22–23. I continue in my quest to fill in the background of Romans 11 with the earlier promises of the Hebrew Bible. As I said in a recent post, Paul’s explanations in Romans 11 of Jewish “unbelief”, of Gentiles coming to God through Jewish revelation, of Gentiles drawing Jewish people to God and Messiah, and of a day when all the Jewish people will be saved, is nothing new. Paul was applying what the Hebrew Bible already said to a faith issue of his time. The book of Isaiah declares, again and again, that God’s repairing, healing, restoring, forgiving hand can be seen in world events. Though many terrible things happen the direction is toward redemption. Disciples can choose to see the progress of the promise even in dark times. In Paul’s context, he must have been emotionally broken at times that the fulness of the Jewish people did not occur in his day. To have a message of such beauty and to see it rejected had to hurt. “My heart’s desire and my prayer for them [his own Jewish people] is that they might be healed,” said the Jewish apostle (Rom 10:1). “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart,” he reveals, “I could wish that I myself were accursed” (Rom 9:2-3). Where do disciples turn in the face of great disappointment? How can faith survive when the beauty of the promise meets the reality of changelessness, of the grim ignoring of covenant and Messiah and a renewed earth? The book of Isaiah takes up these themes. In the time of the prophet of the second part of Isaiah (chs. 40-55, the Babylonian exile) and the third part (chs. 56-66, after the exile), the greatest act ever to that point in history of divine salvation occurred. Jerusalem was rebuilt and the exiled people returned and became a people again. And this is whey we are to pray for the return of Gods holy people When the lord your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and occupy, he will clear away many nations ahead of you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These seven nations are greater and more numerous than you. 2When the lord your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy. 3You must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters, 4for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you. 5This is what you must do. You must break down their pagan altars and shatter their sacred pillars. Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols. 6For you are a holy people, who belong to the lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure. 7“The lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! 8Rather, it was simply that the lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. 9Understand, therefore, that the lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands. 10But he does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject him. 11Therefore, you must obey all these commands, decrees, and regulations I am giving you today. 12“If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the lord your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you, as he promised with an oath to your ancestors. 13He will love you and bless you, and he will give you many children. He will give fertility to your land and your animals. When you arrive in the land he swore to give your ancestors, you will have large harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and great herds of cattle, sheep, and goats. 14You will be blessed above all the nations of the earth. None of your men or women will be childless, and all your livestock will bear young. 15And the lord will protect you from all sickness. He will not let you suffer from the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all your enemies! 16“You must destroy all the nations the lord your God hands over to you. Show them no mercy, and do not worship their gods, or they will trap you. 17Perhaps you will think to yourselves, ‘How can we ever conquer these nations that are so much more powerful than we are?’ 18But don’t be afraid of them! Just remember what the lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the land of Egypt. 19Remember the great terrors the lord your God sent against them. You saw it all with your own eyes! And remember the miraculous signs and wonders, and the strong hand and powerful arm with which he brought you out of Egypt. The lord your God will use this same power against all the people you fear. 20And then the lord your God will send terror to drive out the few survivors still hiding from you! 21“No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the lord your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God. 22The lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, otherwise the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you. 23But the lord your God will hand them over to you. He will throw them into complete confusion until they are destroyed. 24He will put their kings in your power, and you will erase their names from the face of the earth. No one will be able to stand against you, and you will destroy them all. 25“You must burn their idols in fire, and you must not covet the silver or gold that covers them. You must not take it or it will become a trap to you, for it is detestable to the lord your God. 26Do not bring any detestable objects into your home, for then you will be destroyed, just like them. You must utterly detest such things, for they are set apart for destruction.PAUL, THE GENTILES, JEWISH SALVATION “Have they [the Jewish people] stumbled so as to fall?” Paul asks (Rom 11:11). It is not the first time a major act of healing the world has failed to arouse Jacob. The human heart is hard. God draws people with signs and promises and occasional, millennia-apart acts of wonder. It seems the drawing intentionally requires a human response, that God is teaching, not pushing faith. The coming of Yeshua was far from an obvious sign. The vast majority of promised messianic renewals did not happen. God will say he gives Israel up, “You are not my people and I am not your God,” (Hos 1:9). But he says, “How can I give you up, O Ephraim?” (Hos 11:8) and “where is was said ‘not my people,’ it will be said to them, ‘sons of the Living God’” (Hos 1:10). Israel stumbles, but cannot fall. And in Israel’s stumbling, as in the past, when the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the return of the exiles failed to cover the earth with God’s reign, healing revelation flows out from the Jewish people to the Gentiles. Within Israel a remnant grows. Outside of Israel, Gentiles see what many in Israel do not. As Paul puts it, “through their [that of Jewish people in Pauls day] trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles” (Rom 11:11). There is a progression in history says Paul. Jewish stumbling brings blessing. Jewish fulness brings the greatest blessing poets and prophets and visionaries have ever dreamed of. “How much more will their fulness bring!” (11:12). 1The lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 15:49:17 +0000
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