Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter
11 as we continue our study through Paul’s letter to the
church in
Last time we were able to get through Romans 11:25 as we looked at this issue of God working again through the nation of Israel, that they will be restored. Now we will finish up looking at the next two verses this morning, but before we get to our text, let me share with you this story from Charles Swindoll. He wrote:
A few years ago, an angry man rushed through the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam until he reached Rembrandt’s famous painting “Nightwatch.” Then he took out a knife and slashed it repeatedly before he could be stopped. A short time later, a distraught, hostile man slipped into St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome with a hammer and began to smash Michelangelo’s beautiful sculpture The Pieta. Two cherished works of art were severely damaged. But what did officials do? Throw them out and forget about them? Absolutely not! Using the best experts, who worked with the utmost care and precision, they made every effort to restore the treasures.
By His sovereign grace, God can bring good out of our failures and even out of our sins. J. Stuart Holden tells of an old Scottish mansion close to where he had his little summer home. The walls of one room were filled with sketches made by distinguished artists. The practice began after a pitcher of soda water was accidentally spilled on a freshly decorated wall and left an unsightly stain. At the time, a noted artist, Lord Landseer, was a guest in the house. One day when the family went out to the moors, he stayed behind. With a few masterful strokes of a piece of charcoal, that ugly spot became the outline of a beautiful waterfall, bordered by trees and wildlife. He turned that disfigured wall into one of his most successful depictions of Highland life.
- Charles Swindoll, The Quest For Character, p. 49
Folks, God has done the same with our lives, He doesn’t throw us away because we are damaged, but restores us, just as He is going to do with the nation of Israel. If you are struggling with this issue, God restoring the Jews, please listen to what I have to say, what the Scriptures say, because there are many ideas that are not based in Scripture out there regarding the Jews that have come down through history, as Martin Luther and others saw God being done with the Jewish people because of their rejection of the Messiah, but that is not that case as we will see this morning. With that said, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 11, starting in verse 25 and see what the Lord has for us this morning!
Last time we were in the middle of looking at a prophecy given to the prophet Daniel in Daniel chapter 9 and we saw that the focus is on the Jewish people and God’s holy city, Jerusalem in the last days. We saw that 490 years are determined on the nation of Israel to complete the work that God is doing in them and through them. We also saw that 483 of those years have been completed already with the coming of the Messiah. Remember, Daniel was told that after the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of the Messiah would be 173,880 days! So if you counted from the starting point, you would know the exact day that Jesus was to come.
The starting point was March 14, 445 B.C. and if you count off 173,880 days from that point you would come to April 6, 32 A.D. or as we know it, Palm Sunday, the only day in Jesus’ earthly ministry when He was proclaimed as the Messiah the king! Remember that there is still the last 7-year period of time left, only 69 of those 70 seven year periods have come to pass. What happened with the last one? It has not taken place yet and I will show you why in a minute.
Now before we dig into these verses here in Romans, let’s finish up looking at Daniel chapter 9, specifically verses 26 and 27, but lets back up and start in verse 25 where we are told, “Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.” Daniel 9:25-27.
Remember that it is after the 483 years or 173,880 days from the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of the Messiah, that the Messiah was to be “cut off.” These words come from the Hebrew word KARAT, which means “to kill, to destroy, or the execution of a criminal.” Literally it speaks of a person who is being punished with death by piercing! You see, Jesus was executed for a capitol crime. By the Jewish leadership, it was blasphemy. And for the Romans, it was for the insurrection He caused against the Roman Empire. Both of these are capital crimes or are punishable by death.
Now this phrase, “But not for Himself” speaks that He was not guilty of these crimes that were laid at His feet. He was innocent. It is as Peter said “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” I Peter 3:18. And as Daniel tells us, the Messiah was cut off without receiving His kingdom.
Notice that after this period of time, after the coming of the Messiah and His death, there is a break between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel. This break between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel is known as the “church age” or the “age of grace” where the Holy Spirit is drawing out a bride for Christ. God in all His grace and mercy towards us has allowed this period to go on for some 2,000 years, but this age will come to an end and then the 70th week of Daniel will begin. You see, God deals with the church and Israel separately. So before the 70th week of Daniel begins, that last 7-year period of time known as the Tribulation Period, the church will be with the Lord!
And that is what Paul tells us in Romans 11:25 when he writes, “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” When that last Gentile gets saved, when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then the Lord will call His Bride home, we call it the Rapture of the Church and then God will deal with His people, the Jews once again as well as pouring out His wrath upon a Christ rejecting world! As I said last time, the Church is mentioned here in Daniel, we are the space between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel!
Then Daniel speaks of “the people of the prince who is to come.” The “people” are the Romans, who in 70 AD under the Roman general, Titus Vespasian, destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the second temple. The historian Josephus dramatically records for us that the city was burned to the ground and millions of Jews were killed, they were cannibalized or starved to death. The end of the nation was to come with a dispersion of the Jews. And that is what took place!
Now the “prince who is to come” is not speaking of Christ but of the Antichrist who will come out of the revived Roman Empire and in Daniel 9:27 we see more spoken of this person known as the Antichrist!
The Antichrist will enforce A specific treaty or covenant with THE many, which is a idiom for the nation of Israel. This treaty is the beginning of the seventieth week of Daniel or that last 7-year period of time that God spoke of as He is dealing with His people, the Jews. Thus, as the Antichrist comes on the scene to solve not only the problems in the Middle East, but the world it is this treaty that is the focus. And Paul tells us in I Thessalonians “For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.” I Thessalonians 5:3.
This man that comes on the scene is an imposter but the Jews will herald him as their Messiah. You see, the Jews are looking for their Messiah to come, even today. There was a sign, I am not sure if it is still there today but when we were in Jerusalem several years ago there was this yellow sign with red lettering opposite the Wailing Wail that said, “PREPARE, MESSIAH IS COMING!” And they are not looking for God to become flesh and free them, but they are looking for a man, much like Moses, to deliver them. This man will be the Antichrist. Jesus even warned them when He said, “I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.” John 5:43. And this man will deceive the people into trusting him.
Now, what is the treaty or this covenant that Daniel is speaking of in which the Antichrist sets into motion? I believe it deals with the rebuilding of the temple and the starting up again of the daily sacrifices in the temple. And they have the plans drawn up, the articles of the temple are made, the priests are being trained, and they could put this structure together in just a few months! They are all set to go, only the so-called Palestinians will not let them build it on the temple mount, the site of Solomon’s temple, for they claim this as their holy site!
Now why do I think the temple will be rebuilt? Not only does the book of Revelation speak of this but also here in Daniel. You see, Daniel tells us that as great as this man of peace may seem, at the end of the 3½-year mark of the 7-year Tribulation Period, he comes into the rebuilt temple and demands to be worshiped as god! The word “sacrifice” or ZEBAH speaks of a bloody sacrifice, while “offering” or MINHAH speaks of a non-bloody sacrifice or a grain sacrifice. So to stop this activity means that the temple must be rebuilt for apart from the temple being rebuilt, these sacrifices can’t be offered up. It was only in the temple the sacrifices were made and by the priests, the descendants of Aaron!
And Paul tells us how this man puts an end to the worship of God that will be going on in the temple. He says “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” II Thessalonians 2:3-4. These things will come to pass!
So God has appointed 490 years of special focus upon Israel in His redemptive plan. Only 483 years have been fulfilled so far, we have now entered a pause or the Church Age because of Israel’s rejection of Jesus. And as we look at what is happening in the world, God is preparing to fulfill that last 7-year period of time so that He may redeem His people, the Jews.
And remember what the fulfillment of these 490 years will bring in. We are told in Daniel 9:24, “Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.” That has not happened yet but this will begin when the fullness of the Gentiles comes in and the Tribulation Period begins and will culminate with the Jews receiving Jesus as their Messiah at the close of the Tribulation Period.
How can I be sure of this? Again, listen to what Paul tells us in Romans 11:26-27 and then we will dig into these last two verses to show you that this is speaking of Israel and not the Church. Paul tells us, “And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.’”
Regarding what Paul has said here, James Montgomery Boice had this to say:
We have already made that point several times over in the studies that have been leading up to this one, but what is unique about verse 26 is the fact that here at last Paul proves his argument from the Old Testament. This has been his pattern before, as I have already pointed out several times. Paul’s pattern is to make his argument first and then, when he has completed it, to nail it down with one or more Old Testament citations. He did this in chapter 3, after having argued the case for human depravity. He did it again in chapter 4, after explaining the gospel at the end of the previous chapter. The same pattern was followed in chapters 9 and 10.
This is opposite to the pattern followed by the apostle Peter, to give just one contrary example. In his sermon on Pentecost, Peter first gave his texts and then argued from them, rather than the other way around. He did this three times, expounding Christian truth on the basis of Joel 2:28–32, Psalm 16:8–11, and Psalm 110:1 (cf. Acts 2:14–41).
In Romans 11, Paul proves his argument concerning Israel by a quotation from Isaiah 59:20–21. Isaiah 27:9, Jeremiah 31:33–34, and Psalm 14:7 may have also been in his mind, since he seems to have included wording from those additional verses in his quotation.
However, there are two ways in which this quotation can be taken, and, not surprisingly, they correspond to the two ways of looking at what Paul is saying about Israel, which I have already examined. The text could be saying that the Redeemer will emerge out of Israel in order to take away the people’s sins by his death on the cross. In that case, it would be a reference to Jesus’ first coming and earthly ministry. Or else it could be saying that Jesus will come out of heaven to Israel in order to turn the hearts of the people from unbelief to faith. In this case, it would (or could) be referring to a time of future blessing. Those who do not believe in a future period of national conversion for Israel naturally incline to the former interpretation. Those who think Paul is prophesying an age of future blessing choose the latter.
I have already indicated my reasons for choosing the second of these views. I add here that in my judgment the emphasis in Paul’s quotation of Isaiah 59:20 is on the future tense of the verb “to be,” that is, the words “will come.” From Isaiah’s point in history, to say that the Messiah “will come” could be a reference only to Jesus’ first coming. But from Paul’s vantage point, which followed that first coming, the verb must be looking to a period still future, and Paul must be thinking of it
- James Montgomery Boice, Romans Volume 3, pp. 1376-1377
I agree with what Boice is saying here, that Paul must be speaking of a future event, the future restoration of Israel to God! And here is how I believe it is played out. At the time of the Rapture of the Church Israel’s judicial blindness will be removed but that does not mean that all Israel will be saved at that point, not right away. The Jewish people will be converted throughout the 7 year Tribulation Period, first by the two witnesses, then by the 144,000 Jews who were saved and sealed by God and I believe it is as they are there in the rock city of Petra, having fled there at the 3½ year mark of the 7 year Tribulation Period, they will come to Jesus and receive Him as their Lord and Savior!
And it is important to note that Paul, in referring to Isaiah chapter 59 here, says that the Redeemer will come out of Zion. Why is that important? Think about it like this. When Jesus came the first time where did He come from? It was from Bethlehem and thus, what Paul is speaking of here can’t be of Jesus’ first coming when He came to take away the sins of the world, but it must be related to His second coming as He is coming out of Zion to take away the sins of His people, the Jews!
Now when Paul says that all Israel will be saved, what does he mean? It can’t mean unbelieving Jews; those that refuse to come to Jesus will be saved. In fact, in Zechariah 13:8-9 we see this played out for us as we are told, “‘And it shall come to pass in all the land,’ Says the Lord, ‘That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, “This is My people”; And each one will say, “The Lord is my God.”’”
So two-thirds of the Jewish people will be destroyed in unbelief in the Tribulation Period. There are approximately 13.3 million Jews in the world today and thus, if two-thirds will be destroyed during the Tribulation Period in unbelief, that means 8.9 million! Keep in mind that during the Holocaust there were only 6 million Jews killed! But also keep in mind that 4.4 million will be saved, they will receive Jesus as their Messiah.
You see, Zechariah tells us that God will bring the believing Jews through the fire of judgment and they will be His people because they will say, “The Lord is my God” or they will come to saving faith in Jesus! And don’t come to the conclusion that God is unfair or He is being cruel to those Jews who will be cut off and die. He has given them the opportunity to turn to Him and it is their choice to reject Jesus or accept Him! And, as I have said before, I believe that this is a necessary condition for the return of Jesus Christ. I do not believe Jesus will return again until God turns His focus back upon them and Israel responds to God through Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 23:37-39 Jesus tells us, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Jesus is telling the Jewish people that judgment is coming upon them because they have rejected Him. That their house will be left desolate until they repent and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And, the prerequisite to His Second Coming is seen here as Jesus told the Jews that they would not see Him until they say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” or they call upon Jesus!
Now we have talked about this before but let me once again make this point. The reason I believe we see anti-Semitism on the rise throughout the world is that this is Satanic in origin. I realize that for some of you that is a difficult one to take but I believe it is correct. Do a search in the Scriptures and you will see the all out satanic effort to prevent the coming of the Messiah the first time.
In the book of Genesis we see Cain kill his brother Abel as Satan thought that this Messiah would come through Abel but God was going to work through another son of Adam and Eve, Seth. We see the world infected with evil so much so that God had to destroy it except for Noah and his family! We see Satan try to destroy the sons of Jacob but that did not work. During the time of Esther, Haman was able to get an order from the king to destroy every Jew, but that backfired on him. And there is much more but even at the birth of Jesus, Herod killed all the children in Bethlehem from 2 years old and under trying to destroy this child king, and again this was satanic in origin! And you can look at the Scriptures and see this repeated over and over again, that Satan tried to prevent the coming of the Messiah and he failed!
Now, I believe that Satan is trying to prevent the Second Coming of Jesus and how will he try to do that? By destroying the Jews, because, like I have said, they will be the ones who will petition Jesus to return! And folks, we are seeing today the rise of anti-Semitism, more so today than at any other time in history. Let me share with you this article from Articles of faith, by Ruth Gledhill. We are told:
‘What we are witnessing today – and which has been developing incrementally, sometimes imperceptibly, and even indulgently, for some thirty-five years now – is a new sophisticated, globalizing, virulent and even lethal Antisemitism, reminiscent of the atmospherics of the 30s, and without parallel or precedent since the end of the Second World War,’ he says.
‘The new anti-Jewishness overlaps with classical Antisemitism but is distinguishable from it. It found early juridical, and even institutional, expression in the United Nations’ ‘Zionism is Racism’ resolution but has gone dramatically beyond it. This new Antisemitism almost needs a new vocabulary to define it; however, it can best be identified using a rights-based juridical perspective.’
Below is a partial list of key antisemitic incidents that have taken place around the globe during 2008. Included in this are incidents showing a resurgent right-wing neo-antisemitism, particularly in Eastern Europe.
Australia
30 May (Yokine) – Four Jewish teenagers were physically and
verbally assaulted by a group of youths who shouted antisemitic
slurs and punched and kicked the victims while walking home from
Sabbath services.
Belarus
20 April (Slutsk) – On the anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s
birth, a Holocaust memorial was defaced with swastikas and graffiti.
Belgium
28 December (Anderlecht) – Five stores were spray-painted
with swastikas, stars of David, and death threats against Jews.
Canada
16 August (Sainte Agathe, Quebec) – A 23-year-old Hasidic
Jew was assaulted while walking to synagogue with his father and
younger brothers. The assailants shouted antisemitic slurs at
the victim and his family. After being confronted, one of the
youths punched the victim, cutting his face with his ring.
Denmark
31 December (Odense) – Two Israeli vendors were fired on at a shopping mall, reportedly by a group of Arab men. One victim was hit in the hand and the other in the leg.
France
27December (Villeurbanne) – A Jewish student wearing
a yarmulke was walking with his fiancée in the town center,
when they were attacked from behind by three youths. The student
suffered a broken nose.
19 August (Marseille) – A 67-year-old shop owner was attacked with by a knife-wielding man, who called him a “dirty Jew.” The victim suffered stab wounds in the arm and was hospitalized.
21 June (Paris) – A teenager was in critical condition after a violent assault by a gang of youths who beat him with metal bars after apparently identifying him as Jewish. The 17-year-old youth suffered several broken ribs and a fractured skull. Police arrested two men, who were charged with attempted murder with the aggravating circumstance of antisemitic intent. President Nicholas Sarkozy condemned the attack and called on France to renew its determination to fight racism and anti-Semitism in all forms.
8 February (Amiens) – Three policemen were suspended after making Nazi salutes and shouting anti-Semitic and white supremacist slogans in a local bar. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie confirmed the incident and condemned the attack, stating, “this intolerable behaviour ... is in total contradiction with the police force’s code of ethics.” The police inspector-general launched a disciplinary investigation.
Greece
4 November – The mainstream Greek broadsheet Avianai publishes
an article in the run up to the U.S. presidential elections with
the headline, “The anticipated victory of Obama in US elections
signals the end of the Jewish domination…”
31 December, 2008 (Volos) - A synagogue was defaced with graffiti that read: “The state of Israel murders – whose side are you on?”
Hungary
23 December (Budapest) – Neo-Nazis screamed antisemitic insults
at several hundred Hungarian Jews who were attending a public
Chanukah celebration. The extremists also raised a flag that was
used by a national socialist party during World War II.
2-3 February (Kaposvar) – Two teenagers, ages 15 and 16, spray-painted swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans on 24 graves in a local Jewish cemetery. The boys also admitted to defacing a Holocaust memorial and a store owned by Chinese immigrants.
India
26-27 November (Mumbai) – two heavily armed Islamist extremists
storm the Chabad-Lubavitch’s Nariman House Jewish community
centre. They murder six people, four of them Israeli citizens,
including the centre’s director, American-Israeli Rabbi Gavriel
Holtzberg and his pregnant wife, Rivka.
Lithuania
9-10 August (Vilnius) – During Tisha B’Av, a traditional
Jewish day of mourning, vandals covered the Jewish community centre
in Vilnius with swastikas, depictions of concentration camps,
and calls for Jews to leave Lithuania.
20 May (Varnika) – Vandals burned a Holocaust memorial monument in the Varnika forest, where 1,446 Jews from the surrounding villages were murdered at the hands of the Nazis during World War II.
Poland
22 May (Warka) – A group of teenagers allegedly attacked
an Orthodox American Jew as he was visiting a Jewish cemetery
this suburb near Warsaw. The perpetrators allegedly mocked their
victim, asked him for money and shouted “Jew” in Polish
before punching him in the face.
9 February (Krakow) – The Committee Against Defamation of the Church and For Polishness and Radio Maryja held an antisemitic meeting at a local Catholic Church. Posters for the event stated, “The kikes will not continue to spit on us.”
Romania
22 October (Bucharest) – Vandals knocked over more
than 100 gravestones, smashing many, at the largest Jewish cemetery
in the Romanian capital. A spokesman for the Jewish community
said the vandalism affected some of the most valuable monuments
of the cemetery and caused nearly $1 million in damage.
Russia
24 November (Ryazan) – a statue of Vladimir Lenin in the
central square was painted with swastikas and crossed-out Stars
of David and then blown up with explosives.
Slovakia
January 25(Komarno) – A swastika and the number “88,”
a neo-Nazi symbol that stands for “Heil Hitler,” were
spray-painted on a local synagogue two days before the town was
to celebrate International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Switzerland
12 February (Zurich) – An identifiably Jewish 60-year-old
man was stabbed in the neck by an assailant who shouted “Jew”
before fleeing.
Ukraine
22 November (Poltava) – Crosses were erected by a suspected
nationalist group on a plot of land given to the Jewish community
by municipal authorities for the construction of a synagogue and
community center.
11 September (Vinnitsa) – The Chief Rabbi, his three year-old son, and a visitor from Canada, all visibly identifiable Jews, were physically assaulted by three young men who yelled “Heil Hitler!” and “We will kill all the Jews.” The three victims were rescued by woman who stopped her car and took them in.
24 January (Dnepropetrovsk) – A teacher at a Jewish educational centre was severely beaten. Rabbi Dov-Ber Baitman was assaulted after evening classes at the centre by four men shouting anti-Semitic slurs.
United Kingdom
12 January (Manchester) – Three Orthodox Jewish men
were attacked by a group of fifteen white youths. One youth shouted
“dirty [word deleted] Jews” and hit one of the Jewish
men in the face with a knuckleduster, knocking him unconscious.
21 May (London) – Stickers from the extreme right wing group Combat 18 were stuck on the outside wall of a synagogue, and three weeks later, a bag of excrement was left outside its entrance.
29 December (Manchester) – “ Hamas HQ” was written on the wall of a Jewish building, two days after the Gaza conflict began.
7 January (London) – A visibly Jewish man was walking through a park when an Arab man shouted “Hizbollah” and chased the victim, threatening to kill him.
30 December (London) - A bus stop in a Jewish area of north London was daubed with “kill Jews” and “Jihad 4 Israel”, three days after the fighting in Gaza began in December.
- Ruth Gledhill, Times Online, Articles of faith, Anti-Semitism: “New, virulent and lethal.” February 15, 2009
But, as we can see, as much death and destruction that Satan may bring, he will not be successful, the Jews will call upon Jesus to be their Lord and Savior, they will be saved and as Paul tells us, He will take away their sins!
That tells me that their salvation is not based upon the Law through works but by grace through faith in Jesus. And this salvation was not just for Gentiles but for Jews, it is the New Covenant that God spoke of in Jeremiah 31:31-34, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
You see, the Old Covenant could never take away your sins; it only covered them for a time. But now, with the shed blood of Christ our sins have been taken away, they will be remembered no more, they are cast as far as the east is from the west and it is this Covenant that the Jews will receive into their lives! It is not a salvation by works but one that works because it is based upon what Christ has done and not what we have done or will do. This Covenant that God made with Israel He has also made with us and we can rest in that truth.
Now, what about the Covenants of God, can we really trust in them? Listen to what James Montgomery Boice had to say regarding this. He wrote:
My final point is that, therefore, we also are a party to this covenant, if we have believed on Jesus Christ. The Jews are to be brought to faith in the last days. But we stand in that same covenant today, and the attributes of God that have formed the earlier covenants are also for our encouragement. Can’t you see that this is how Romans 11 is ending? Paul has been arguing for God’s faithfulness to the Jews as being consistent with his faithfulness to us, and now, having shown that “all Israel will be saved,” he breaks into praise of God’s gracious attributes, since they affect us also.
In these last verses he is going to praise God’s mercy, knowledge, wisdom, judgments, and paths, and he will close by saying, “To him be the glory forever! Amen.”
When we talk about God’s irrevocable covenant, as we have been doing here, and God’s irrevocable call, which we will do in our next study, we are speaking about God’s immutability. Immutability means that God does not change, and because he does not change he can be counted on.
In what ways does God not change? In his popular book Knowing God, English theologian J. I. Packer lists six areas:ÿ
1. God’s life does not change. Created things have a beginning and an end, but God does not. His life is a constant datum [A fact or proposition used to draw a conclusion or make a decision.]. God does not grow old or mature or weaken or grow stronger. God cannot change for the better, because he is already perfect, and he certainly cannot change for the worse.
2. God’s character does not change. One of the most repeated passages in the Bible is Exodus 34:6–7, in which God reveals himself to Moses, saying, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.” That is what God was like in the days of the Jewish exodus, and that is what he is like today. Sickness, old age, or adverse circumstances can destroy our good traits, but nothing like this ever happens to God. He can be counted on to be as kind, gracious, forgiving (and holy) as he always was.
3. God’s truth does not change. This means that the truths of the Bible do not change. What we read in the pages of Holy Scripture is as right and true today as ever.
4. God’s ways do not change. Packer writes: “He continues to act towards sinful men in the way that he does in the Bible story. Still he shows his freedom and lordship by discriminating between sinners, causing some to hear the gospel while others do not hear it, and moving some of those who hear it to repentance while leaving others in their unbelief. … Still he blesses those on whom he sets his love in a way that humbles them, so that all the glory may be his alone. Still he hates the sins of his people, and uses all kinds of inward and outward pains and grief’s to wean their hearts from compromise and disobedience. . . . Man’s ways, we know, are pathetically inconstant—but not God’s.”ÿ [Now, in saying that, keep in mind that there is man’s free will, and man chooses where he will go. God shows the way, He is sovereign, and man has a free will to choose.].
5. God’s purposes do not change. The ups and downs of history do not frustrate God or cause him to alter what he has determined beforehand to do. Has he planned to bring many sons and daughters into glory through faith in Jesus? Then he will do it. Has he purposed to bless Israel in a special way nationally? Then that will be done. What God does in time he has planned in eternity, and what he has planned in eternity is carried out in time.
6. God’s Son does not change. Perhaps most blessed of all for Christian people, the Lord Jesus Christ does not change. He is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8), and it remains true that “he is able to save completely those who come to God through him …” (Heb. 7:25).
When the great protector Oliver Cromwell was dying, he was overcome with spiritual darkness and depression, and in his despair he asked his chaplain, “Tell me, is it possible to fall from grace?”
“No,” said his minister. “It is not possible.”
“Then I am safe,” said Cromwell, “for I know that I was once in grace. I am the poorest wretch that ever lived, but I know that God has loved me.”
Do you remember this question from the Heidelberg Catechism?
Question 1: “What is thy only comfort in life and in death?”
Answer: “That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by his Holy Spirit, he also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready henceforth to live unto him.” That is our God forever! Amen.
- James Montgomery Boice, Romans Volume 3, pp. 1389-1390
As I close this morning, I hope you are clearly seeing that God is not done with His people, the Jews. And yes, not every Jew will be saved, but God will see the nation as a whole come to Him, one-third of the nation will come through the fire of His judgment and will be saved, will come to Jesus. It is as we are told in Genesis 13:15 as the Lord said to Abraham, “for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever.” And in Genesis 17:7-8 the Lord said, “And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” I can’t see how people can say that God is done with Israel, with the Jews when these passages, as well as others seem to be very clear, all Israel will be saved!
May we not be ignorant about this, may we not come to our own opinion or conclusion regarding this matter of the Jewish people, but let the Word of God speak to us and if we do, we will see that, “ . . . all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.’” Romans 11:26-27. May we not forget that, God is not done with His people and because of that, because He will fulfill His promises to the Jewish people, we can rest assured that He will fulfill the promises He has made to us. We are secure in Him. He is faithful!
Once again I hope you have seen clearly that God is not done with His people, the nation of Israel will be saved and Israel’s peace is only going to be found in the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ and that is the peace we truly pray for. Praise the Lord for the Jewish people and all they have given to us and may we give to them what they truly have given to us – JESUS THE MESSIAH!