[Chapter 11] Will Israel be Saved?
Romans
11:1 says, “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!
For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of
Benjamin.” God did not, in other words, abandon the Israelites, for Paul
himself was also an Israelite.
God
says in Romans 11:2-5, “God has not cast away His people whom He
foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he
pleads with God against Israel, saying, ‘LORD, they have killed Your
prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek
my life’? But what does the divine response say to him? ‘I have reserved
for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.’
Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the
election of grace.”
As
God told us that there would be many Israelites coming back to Him by
believing in Jesus, many Jews will be saved from their sins. We must
believe that when the end of time comes, a great number of Gentiles will
be redeemed of their sins by believing in the righteousness of God and
coming to Jesus Christ.
Paul
asked, “Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah?” Here, Paul
is referring to the fact that there will eventually be many Israelites
who will trust in the righteousness of God that would take away their
sins. With the Word of God spoken to Elijah, the Scripture tells us that
many among the Israelis will accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. We
believe in this Word.
In
the Scripture, the number “7” symbolizes completeness. God created this
world in six days and rested on the seventh day. God promised to have
reserved seven thousand people who would not kneel down to Baal. This
meant that there would be many Israelites who would receive salvation
from their sins by accepting Jesus Christ as their Savior.
In
explaining the relationship between the Israelites and the Gentiles,
Paul believed that many among the people of Israel would be saved.
Did they stumble to fall?
Paul
said in Romans 11:6-12 that if the Israelites had fully accepted the
fact that Jesus was their Savior, there would not have been the era of
the Gentiles’ salvation. Because the Israelites did not accept Jesus as
their Savior, God allowed the Gentiles to have a chance to be saved by
the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By this, God intended for the
Israelites to be jealous of the Gentiles, who believed in Jesus and
became His children. The Israelites would then begin to accept Jesus
Christ as their Savior and eventually accept the fact that Jesus Christ
is indeed their Messiah.
The root is sacred thus the branches are sacred
Romans
11:13 states, “For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle
to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry.” Paul said that he magnified
his ministry as an apostle of the Gentiles. He wanted to save the people
of his own flesh and blood by provoking them to be jealous of the
born-again Gentiles.
“For
if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will
their acceptance be but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit is
holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the
branches” (Romans 11:15-16). This passage means that if Abraham, the
root of the Israelites, was saved and earned the righteousness of God by
believing in His Word, then it was still possible that the Israelites,
the branches of Abraham, would be saved.
At
the same time, Paul warned the born-again Gentiles that they should be
not boastful because they became the holy people of God as broken
branches of a wild olive tree are given new life by being grafted into a
cultivated olive tree. As Romans 11:18 states, “Do not boast against
the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the
root, but the root supports you.”
We
became God’s people because we were saved from our sins by believing in
the righteousness of God, but if we abandon God’s righteousness, we
will also be abandoned. We cannot do this because Jesus Christ has
fulfilled all the righteousness of God to save us from all our sins, and
because we indeed have been saved from all our sins. We have been saved
by our faith in the absolute righteousness of God, not by our own
works. We, the Gentiles, became His people through our faith in His
righteousness, being substituted for the broken branches of the
Israelites.
We can stand firm because we believe in God’s righteousness
Therefore,
by believing in God’s righteousness, both Christians and Jews can be
grafted into Jesus as His people. If we do not believe in God’s
righteousness, we will surely die because of our sins by His just
judgment. Paul warned this to the Israelites first, but we are not
exempt from the warning either.
God
took pity on us, the Gentiles, and completely saved us with His
righteousness. Those who know and believe in God’s righteousness are
saved from all their sins. All of today’s Christians will be put to
destruction if they do not believe in the righteousness of God that has
saved them perfectly, even if they confess that Jesus is their Savior.
Romans
11:23-24 says, “And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief,
will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you
were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted
contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will
these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?”
God, in other words, has the power to lead everyone to have faith in His
righteousness. That power is promised in the righteousness of God
through the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
For
both the Israelites and the Gentiles, their deeds do not lead them to
become God’s children. Rather, they can become God’s children by
believing in His righteousness and His promise to make them His people.
The righteousness of God completely excludes the righteousness of the
Law. Through the righteousness of God, both the Israelites and the
Gentiles throughout the world will be saved by their faith. This is the
blessing of the great salvation of God that will be fulfilled through
the gospel spread by us. This power of God is His promise of faith made
in His righteousness.
Let us take a look at Romans 11:26-27, “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.’”
God
has promised that He will eventually save the Israelites at the end of
time. As such, God Himself promised to rid the evil and filth from the
minds of the Israelites and to make them believe in Jesus Christ as
their Savior. Although they had faithful ancestors, the Israelites
themselves have not received salvation. But God has willed them to be
saved in near future by touching their hearts and making them believe in
His righteousness.
God has committed us all to disobedience, so that he might have mercy on us all!
Let
us read verse 32, which is a very profound verse. “For God has
committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.”
Everyone rebels and stands against God. None can completely obey Him,
but the reason that God has committed us all to disobedience is so that
He could give us compassion and love. This is a very surprising and
amazing truth.
Through
this passage, we can understand why God had confined humans into
disobedience. How amazing His Providence is! God has placed us as
disobeyers in order to clothe us in His perfect righteousness and
merciful love. We can only believe and thank Him for His amazing
purpose. God even committed the Israelites to disobedience to grant them
the love of His righteousness. The Israelites still look down on Jesus,
regarding Him as a low-life from Nazareth, while many of the Gentile
Christians use Him as a means of making money.
Those
who disobey God’s merciful love have no choice but to be sent to hell.
God has already prepared the burning hell for them, but He cannot bear
to see people going to hell, for He has great pity on them. “How can I
send you to hell?” After the full number of the Gentiles has come into
His salvation, many of the Israelites will believe in Jesus as their
Savior, when the anti-Christ persecutes them during the last half of the
seven-year tribulation. In the future, a countless number of believers
who confess Jesus as the righteousness of God will rise among the
Israelites.
“For
God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on
all.” This amazing passage explains that God has allowed all sinners to
be saved by believing in His righteousness.
God
told Paul that He would make the Israelites repent and believe in
Christ when a sufficient number of the Gentiles became martyrs during
the tribulation. As Paul says in Romans 11:33, “Oh, the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His
judgments and His ways past finding out!”
All
true wisdom and divine providence come from God. He made all humans
insufficient beings from the beginning. This shows God’s wisdom, which
allows us to receive His salvation. Because of this, believing in Him
during the last days will save even the Israelites. All of us had no
choice but to be thrown into the trash and the fire, but God saved us
from all our sins with His righteousness planned and accomplished by
Him. God has willed for all sinners to be saved by Jesus’ baptism and
blood, according to the sacrificial system of the tabernacle in the Old
Testament, when all of humanity became sinners by being tempted by Satan
and breaking the Law of God.
How,
then, can anyone dare to stand against God’s wisdom? “For of Him and
through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”
Who can comprehend this truth, that God has confined us to disobedience
in order to give us His mercy? How dare anyone say that He is wrong for
doing that? No one! All glory and divine providence is His forever and
ever.
The
Apostle Paul, being filled by the Holy Spirit, wrote, “For who has
known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor? Or who has
first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him? For of Him and through
Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen” (Romans
11:34-36).
Although
we are full of shortcomings, we live to spread the gospel of the
righteousness of God. Those who stand against this gospel of the
righteousness of God are His foes. That’s right! Such people can rise
even among us, and so we should pray and be aware so that none of us
would fall into such temptation. Not under any circumstances should we
ever stand against the gospel. We must never turn against the gospel of
the water and the Spirit with unbelieving hearts. Those who turn against
it will be destroyed in this world and the next.
The
time for the Israelites to believe in Jesus is near. How wonderful
would it be if the six billion people on this earth would come back to
God and received salvation? The righteous, who believe in God’s
righteousness, should not only look at the present situation, but also
look at the work of God planned for the Israelites and prepare their
faith to enter and live on a new heaven and a new earth. The righteous
should always live by faith and hope.
I thank God, for I know that the day the Israelites will believe in Christ as their Savior is near.
Come soon, Lord Jesus!
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