-14-
Separated, Replaced, Merged?
Romans 11
Up to this point Paul has been using 'words' to try to get something across to us. In this chapter Paul is going to paint us a picture. And his reason is simply to give us a clearer understanding of a biblical truth than what we could have received by just seeing words.
The painting is that of a huge Olive tree. At the base of the tree are a lot of old dead branches. And by looking closely we discover that the caretaker has grafted in many small shoots. Paul wants us to notice that these shoots are clearly from a wild Olive tree.
In Paul's analogy he says that the root is holy. And, in this picture, he speaks as if the branches are directly connected to the root. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let's begin by addressing the first five verses of the chapter.
11:1-5 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
Paul ended chapter 10 by offering a number of Old Testament scriptures. The summary of them seems to be that God, after reaching out to the nation of Israel and calling them to faith, but after having the majority of them ignore His message of faith and grace, He was going to leave them and turn to the other nations. He would deal with the gentiles directly and in the process, provoke the Jews to jealousy.
So now Paul asks the question, “Did God reject His people?”.
He answers his own question … “By no means!” He then refers to his own Jewish roots: A descendant of Abraham, and more specifically, from the tribe of Benjamin. What is he implying? Simply: 'Look at me, I'm a Jew … and I am a Christian, so God could not have thrown the Jews away … at least not entirely'.
But as he continues his explanation, he makes it clear that God never rejects faith. Anyone who comes to God on the basis of trust or faith is received. Anyone who insists on coming to God on their own terms … such as being a good person, gets rejected and hardened.
The reason that Paul has to address this at all is the double role that the Jews found themselves in. As I stated before, they were a 'people within a people'.
First of all, they were chosen to be a physical race of people through whom God would reach out to the other nations. So God made physical promises to them. He gave them a physical territory. From there, they were to try to influence the surrounding nations with the truth about who the real God is, and what His will is. The ministry that they were to perform as an outreach to the surrounding nations is not that different from what the church is supposed to be doing today.
The confusion developed over how the average Jew looked at themselves. As Paul just looked at himself, he could claim connection to Abraham through his family tree. But he will go on to show that merely belonging to Israel, merely being a Jew, does not make one a child of God. He points out that there is a remnant … a smaller portion of Jews, who actually are saved, born again, spiritual children of God. And if we remember what the writer of Hebrews, (Paul?) said earlier about this, he said … “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it”. Heb 4:2
Let's look at the next section of this chapter:
So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”
And David says:
“May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.” 5-9
Paul says that Israel earnestly sought after being the children of God and to be considered the commissioned people and representatives of God, but, for the most part, they didn't make it. Why? They were trying so hard. That is the problem … God wants trust and faith, not effort.
The 'elect among them' did find eternal life. What does it take to be one of the elect? Jesus said that many are called but only few are chosen. God chooses ALL who believe in Him. ALL who answered His invitation to believe in Jesus, that He indeed was and is the Messiah …. the Saviour. And all the others, the ones who are just trying so hard to be God's people … He had to reject because, instead of believing and trusting in the coming Christ, they were just trying to be good people.
Paul says that God 'hardened' them. In what sense? God gave them a spirit of stupor. It is as if a cloud sort of covered their minds. This tells us that at one time their minds were not 'clouded'.
God does the same thing today. He gives unbelievers ample opportunity to receive the gospel message. Their minds are clear enough. But a time comes to every one of them … when God says that it is not fair to keep on bombarding them with the gospel. There comes a time when the call of the Holy Spirit ceases. We read words in the first and second chapters of Romans which said that God 'gave them over' to their own devices. He gave up on them.
But what we are reading here, is that God has given up on the Jews as a whole … as a nation. This puts them in the same boat as all the other nations. There are no special privileges or offers to receive the gospel. Now it is on a one by one responsibility to turn ones eyes to God. There used to be a national 'privilege'. Prophets preached, reminded, coaxed. The sacrifices that they were required to bring were designed to speak clearly about the Lamb of God who was to come. But no more. Now they are just like all the rest of us.
Like all the rest of us … except in one area. God made promises to the nation of Israel in regard to their physical place of living. He said that they would be scattered all over the earth … and it happened. He said that one day He would call them from the four corners of the earth and bring them back into their land … and it is happening as we speak. But that is physical - only. God has future plans for the nation. Various Old Testament prophesies and the Revelation, in the New Testament show us that God will give Israel a special place one again, during a period of time we call the Millennial Reign. In the few short years before the Millennial Reign actually begins, God will be shaping and preparing Israel for the future thousand year period. He will 'hand-pick' 12,000 Jews from each of the 12 tribes, for a total of 144,000 people. We are not told much more about these people. Some have surmised that they are 'missionaries'. That is possible, but scripture is not clear on their ministry as such.
So with all this in mind we will look at what Paul is saying when he uses terms such as 'broken branches' and 'fullness of the Gentiles'.
Ingrafted Branches
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. (Rom 11:11-16)
Jesus, in having a conversation with the Samaritan woman who was drawing water from Jacob's well, made this statement to her. He said, “ You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. John 4:22
Salvation is from the Jews. They were the ones to dispense it, or give it out, or spread it around. They had the message of salvation and they were commissioned to give it out. This is what they have lost. And this is what will make them envious, when they see Gentiles taking over their job. The church … which is world wide, has the job to bring salvation to the unbelievers in the world. The Jews would see this as a Gentile church. And by the way, that is how Paul is presenting it here. Paul says, 'Salvation has come to the Gentiles'. Gentiles could always be saved, right from the beginning of time. So what Paul is really saying here, is that Salvation, as a message to distribute, is now up to the Gentiles. Which gentiles? The church of Jesus Christ. Paul said in 2Co 5:18 … “Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation”. This ministry is considered to be a gift … it was taken from Israel and given to us, the gentile church.
At the end of verse 16 Paul mentions a 'holy' root producing holy branches.
Reading on … If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. (17-21)
Let's take a close look at this picture. Some branches have been broken off. One possible conclusion as to what this could mean, is that some Jews were connected to the root … they had eternal life … then they stopped believing and lost their salvation … thus the breaking off of the branches.
I don't think this is what is meant here. Paul DOES say, in verse 20, that they were broken off because of unbelief. But to take this to mean 'loss of salvation' does not fit the picture properly. Why not? Because the whole nation got cut off. As I said before, they are cut off in the sense of having been 'De-commisioned'. They are no longer suitable to spread the message of salvation because when the Saviour actually arrived, they refused to believe it. John said it this way;
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. John 1:11
As it stands today, the Lord's church has the commission… and the Lord's church is not ethnic specific even though it is called by Paul, a gentile church. Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Mt 28:18 - 20
Even though the Lord's church was made up of Jews only when He spoke these words, He pointed out that it would not be made up of Jews for very long. He added this … Ac 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Jesus, the root of the tree … is Holy. All of us who have recognized Jesus to be God … the one who came to earth through the virgin birth, lived a sinless life, died the death of a criminal, taking on your sin and mine, rose to life after three days, ascended up to heaven, presently is in heaven interceding for us and is about to return as King of Kings and rule on this earth … all of us who recognize these things are His commissioned agents. We are connected to Him. We are His branches, reaching out into a dark and hopeless world to bring them to Jesus, the light of the world.
Being connected to Jesus and commissioned by Him is a gift. It is a blessing. It is an honor. It is an incredible act of kindness on God's part to graft us in to this blessed privilege.
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! 22-24
Paul says that God is ABLE to graft them in again … if they do not persist in unbelief. There will be more about this a bit later, but the reason Paul says this is to create in us a proper attitude. The Jews had an attitude problem with regard to gentiles. It was an attitude of superiority. It was an attitude of contempt. Paul recognizes that our own attitude can change. It can start with a great appreciation that God commissioned the church and made it to be mostly gentile. But the attitude of appreciation can become old and well worn. Soon we fail to appreciate the great gift and ourselves can start to act superior. It would have been very easy for the church in the first and second century to speak derogatorily of the Jews. It was the Jews who first persecuted the church. It was the Jews who got wiped out of Jerusalem in ad 70 and then dispersed over the whole earth. It would have been easy for those early Christians to say, “Served them right!” Paul strongly advises against such an attitude.
All Israel Will Be Saved
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” 25-27
In a previous verse Paul said that God is ABLE to graft the natural branches back if they would not persist in unbelief. But here he states … this is exactly what IS going to happen. He says the hardening … the cloud will remain on them until the gentile church has effectively spread the gospel to the whole world. At that time He will graft the Jews back into the stock. Then, for a period of time, both Jews and Gentiles will be combined in the same stock. Are we saying that the church will become Jewish at that time? Definitely not. The church will remain what it is. The Jews will have to come to Christ is exactly the same way that we do. They will submit to believers' water baptism, just like we do. They will become a part of the church. There will not be two churches, functioning side by side … a gentile church and the Jewish church. The two groups will be one body. Paul expressed this so very clearly in Ephesians.
When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are (actually: should be) fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Eph 3:4
So that's how it is now. We, the gentiles have the privilege and the commission to spread the gospel. Jews can become believers and become part of the non-ethnic church. But there is coming a time when the 'blindness', the 'hardening', the 'cloud' will be removed from the hearts and minds of the Jewish people. At that time God is going to do a marvelous thing. He, as I mentioned earlier, is going to seal and bless 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. The church at that time will be comprised of Wild and Tame branches … commissioned together to do a final push of the gospel.
Paul calls this a mystery. Jews and Gentiles finally together. He stated that God revealed this specifically to him.
Then in the book of Revelation we are told of the final winding up of this oneness between gentile and Jew.
“ … but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” Re 10:7
In the near future, I believe, trumpets will sound. Will we hear them from down here on earth? Probably not. We can read all about the final gospel push. One trumpet after another sounds. Very few seem to respond to the gospel at that time. And then the seventh trumpet sounds and the church – both Jew and Gentile, is raptured in heaven. The 'mystery' referred to by Paul and John, now completely fulfilled.
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." Re 11:15
What is the earthly perspective after this trumpet blast?
Anger because God's wrath is about to come upon them. But what about the heavenly perspective?
Re 11:18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth."
At the seventh (and last) trumpet it is time for:
1. The dead to be judged. This means that a resurrection takes place. (All the dead are judged? No, this is not
the final White Throne Judgment. That comes a thousand years later.)
2. The giving of rewards. To whom? Prophets and Saints, God fearing people. (also called the Judgment Seat of Christ)
3. God to destroy the destroyers of the earth. This is not 'ecological' emphasis. These are the wicked unbelievers
who have been 'destroying' and persecuting believers.
So, to repeat verses 26, 27: …. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
So here is the bottom line of what Paul has been saying in this chapter: Presently Israel has been de-comissioned … the church (non-ethnic) is presently God's commissioned agent to reach the lost.
Eph 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
And here is Paul's 'summation'.
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. 28-32
Paul says that God has a plan and a purpose and He never 'goes back' on his plan. Some of us may be still around when 'the fullness of gentiles' is complete. The rest of us will observe this from heaven. It is understandable that the Roman church would see the Jews as their enemies. The Jews were hostile toward all Christians. We, in our present time, don't see them as quite as hostile toward us. But one day soon there will be a revival … Jews coming to Jesus and His church that will be quite astounding.
Paul closes this section with this Doxology
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. 33-36
The painting is that of a huge Olive tree. At the base of the tree are a lot of old dead branches. And by looking closely we discover that the caretaker has grafted in many small shoots. Paul wants us to notice that these shoots are clearly from a wild Olive tree.
In Paul's analogy he says that the root is holy. And, in this picture, he speaks as if the branches are directly connected to the root. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let's begin by addressing the first five verses of the chapter.
11:1-5 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
Paul ended chapter 10 by offering a number of Old Testament scriptures. The summary of them seems to be that God, after reaching out to the nation of Israel and calling them to faith, but after having the majority of them ignore His message of faith and grace, He was going to leave them and turn to the other nations. He would deal with the gentiles directly and in the process, provoke the Jews to jealousy.
So now Paul asks the question, “Did God reject His people?”.
He answers his own question … “By no means!” He then refers to his own Jewish roots: A descendant of Abraham, and more specifically, from the tribe of Benjamin. What is he implying? Simply: 'Look at me, I'm a Jew … and I am a Christian, so God could not have thrown the Jews away … at least not entirely'.
But as he continues his explanation, he makes it clear that God never rejects faith. Anyone who comes to God on the basis of trust or faith is received. Anyone who insists on coming to God on their own terms … such as being a good person, gets rejected and hardened.
The reason that Paul has to address this at all is the double role that the Jews found themselves in. As I stated before, they were a 'people within a people'.
First of all, they were chosen to be a physical race of people through whom God would reach out to the other nations. So God made physical promises to them. He gave them a physical territory. From there, they were to try to influence the surrounding nations with the truth about who the real God is, and what His will is. The ministry that they were to perform as an outreach to the surrounding nations is not that different from what the church is supposed to be doing today.
The confusion developed over how the average Jew looked at themselves. As Paul just looked at himself, he could claim connection to Abraham through his family tree. But he will go on to show that merely belonging to Israel, merely being a Jew, does not make one a child of God. He points out that there is a remnant … a smaller portion of Jews, who actually are saved, born again, spiritual children of God. And if we remember what the writer of Hebrews, (Paul?) said earlier about this, he said … “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it”. Heb 4:2
Let's look at the next section of this chapter:
So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”
And David says:
“May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.” 5-9
Paul says that Israel earnestly sought after being the children of God and to be considered the commissioned people and representatives of God, but, for the most part, they didn't make it. Why? They were trying so hard. That is the problem … God wants trust and faith, not effort.
The 'elect among them' did find eternal life. What does it take to be one of the elect? Jesus said that many are called but only few are chosen. God chooses ALL who believe in Him. ALL who answered His invitation to believe in Jesus, that He indeed was and is the Messiah …. the Saviour. And all the others, the ones who are just trying so hard to be God's people … He had to reject because, instead of believing and trusting in the coming Christ, they were just trying to be good people.
Paul says that God 'hardened' them. In what sense? God gave them a spirit of stupor. It is as if a cloud sort of covered their minds. This tells us that at one time their minds were not 'clouded'.
God does the same thing today. He gives unbelievers ample opportunity to receive the gospel message. Their minds are clear enough. But a time comes to every one of them … when God says that it is not fair to keep on bombarding them with the gospel. There comes a time when the call of the Holy Spirit ceases. We read words in the first and second chapters of Romans which said that God 'gave them over' to their own devices. He gave up on them.
But what we are reading here, is that God has given up on the Jews as a whole … as a nation. This puts them in the same boat as all the other nations. There are no special privileges or offers to receive the gospel. Now it is on a one by one responsibility to turn ones eyes to God. There used to be a national 'privilege'. Prophets preached, reminded, coaxed. The sacrifices that they were required to bring were designed to speak clearly about the Lamb of God who was to come. But no more. Now they are just like all the rest of us.
Like all the rest of us … except in one area. God made promises to the nation of Israel in regard to their physical place of living. He said that they would be scattered all over the earth … and it happened. He said that one day He would call them from the four corners of the earth and bring them back into their land … and it is happening as we speak. But that is physical - only. God has future plans for the nation. Various Old Testament prophesies and the Revelation, in the New Testament show us that God will give Israel a special place one again, during a period of time we call the Millennial Reign. In the few short years before the Millennial Reign actually begins, God will be shaping and preparing Israel for the future thousand year period. He will 'hand-pick' 12,000 Jews from each of the 12 tribes, for a total of 144,000 people. We are not told much more about these people. Some have surmised that they are 'missionaries'. That is possible, but scripture is not clear on their ministry as such.
So with all this in mind we will look at what Paul is saying when he uses terms such as 'broken branches' and 'fullness of the Gentiles'.
Ingrafted Branches
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. (Rom 11:11-16)
Jesus, in having a conversation with the Samaritan woman who was drawing water from Jacob's well, made this statement to her. He said, “ You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. John 4:22
Salvation is from the Jews. They were the ones to dispense it, or give it out, or spread it around. They had the message of salvation and they were commissioned to give it out. This is what they have lost. And this is what will make them envious, when they see Gentiles taking over their job. The church … which is world wide, has the job to bring salvation to the unbelievers in the world. The Jews would see this as a Gentile church. And by the way, that is how Paul is presenting it here. Paul says, 'Salvation has come to the Gentiles'. Gentiles could always be saved, right from the beginning of time. So what Paul is really saying here, is that Salvation, as a message to distribute, is now up to the Gentiles. Which gentiles? The church of Jesus Christ. Paul said in 2Co 5:18 … “Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation”. This ministry is considered to be a gift … it was taken from Israel and given to us, the gentile church.
At the end of verse 16 Paul mentions a 'holy' root producing holy branches.
Reading on … If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. (17-21)
Let's take a close look at this picture. Some branches have been broken off. One possible conclusion as to what this could mean, is that some Jews were connected to the root … they had eternal life … then they stopped believing and lost their salvation … thus the breaking off of the branches.
I don't think this is what is meant here. Paul DOES say, in verse 20, that they were broken off because of unbelief. But to take this to mean 'loss of salvation' does not fit the picture properly. Why not? Because the whole nation got cut off. As I said before, they are cut off in the sense of having been 'De-commisioned'. They are no longer suitable to spread the message of salvation because when the Saviour actually arrived, they refused to believe it. John said it this way;
He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. John 1:11
As it stands today, the Lord's church has the commission… and the Lord's church is not ethnic specific even though it is called by Paul, a gentile church. Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Mt 28:18 - 20
Even though the Lord's church was made up of Jews only when He spoke these words, He pointed out that it would not be made up of Jews for very long. He added this … Ac 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
Jesus, the root of the tree … is Holy. All of us who have recognized Jesus to be God … the one who came to earth through the virgin birth, lived a sinless life, died the death of a criminal, taking on your sin and mine, rose to life after three days, ascended up to heaven, presently is in heaven interceding for us and is about to return as King of Kings and rule on this earth … all of us who recognize these things are His commissioned agents. We are connected to Him. We are His branches, reaching out into a dark and hopeless world to bring them to Jesus, the light of the world.
Being connected to Jesus and commissioned by Him is a gift. It is a blessing. It is an honor. It is an incredible act of kindness on God's part to graft us in to this blessed privilege.
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! 22-24
Paul says that God is ABLE to graft them in again … if they do not persist in unbelief. There will be more about this a bit later, but the reason Paul says this is to create in us a proper attitude. The Jews had an attitude problem with regard to gentiles. It was an attitude of superiority. It was an attitude of contempt. Paul recognizes that our own attitude can change. It can start with a great appreciation that God commissioned the church and made it to be mostly gentile. But the attitude of appreciation can become old and well worn. Soon we fail to appreciate the great gift and ourselves can start to act superior. It would have been very easy for the church in the first and second century to speak derogatorily of the Jews. It was the Jews who first persecuted the church. It was the Jews who got wiped out of Jerusalem in ad 70 and then dispersed over the whole earth. It would have been easy for those early Christians to say, “Served them right!” Paul strongly advises against such an attitude.
All Israel Will Be Saved
I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” 25-27
In a previous verse Paul said that God is ABLE to graft the natural branches back if they would not persist in unbelief. But here he states … this is exactly what IS going to happen. He says the hardening … the cloud will remain on them until the gentile church has effectively spread the gospel to the whole world. At that time He will graft the Jews back into the stock. Then, for a period of time, both Jews and Gentiles will be combined in the same stock. Are we saying that the church will become Jewish at that time? Definitely not. The church will remain what it is. The Jews will have to come to Christ is exactly the same way that we do. They will submit to believers' water baptism, just like we do. They will become a part of the church. There will not be two churches, functioning side by side … a gentile church and the Jewish church. The two groups will be one body. Paul expressed this so very clearly in Ephesians.
When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are (actually: should be) fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Eph 3:4
So that's how it is now. We, the gentiles have the privilege and the commission to spread the gospel. Jews can become believers and become part of the non-ethnic church. But there is coming a time when the 'blindness', the 'hardening', the 'cloud' will be removed from the hearts and minds of the Jewish people. At that time God is going to do a marvelous thing. He, as I mentioned earlier, is going to seal and bless 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. The church at that time will be comprised of Wild and Tame branches … commissioned together to do a final push of the gospel.
Paul calls this a mystery. Jews and Gentiles finally together. He stated that God revealed this specifically to him.
Then in the book of Revelation we are told of the final winding up of this oneness between gentile and Jew.
“ … but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” Re 10:7
In the near future, I believe, trumpets will sound. Will we hear them from down here on earth? Probably not. We can read all about the final gospel push. One trumpet after another sounds. Very few seem to respond to the gospel at that time. And then the seventh trumpet sounds and the church – both Jew and Gentile, is raptured in heaven. The 'mystery' referred to by Paul and John, now completely fulfilled.
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." Re 11:15
What is the earthly perspective after this trumpet blast?
Anger because God's wrath is about to come upon them. But what about the heavenly perspective?
Re 11:18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth."
At the seventh (and last) trumpet it is time for:
1. The dead to be judged. This means that a resurrection takes place. (All the dead are judged? No, this is not
the final White Throne Judgment. That comes a thousand years later.)
2. The giving of rewards. To whom? Prophets and Saints, God fearing people. (also called the Judgment Seat of Christ)
3. God to destroy the destroyers of the earth. This is not 'ecological' emphasis. These are the wicked unbelievers
who have been 'destroying' and persecuting believers.
So, to repeat verses 26, 27: …. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
So here is the bottom line of what Paul has been saying in this chapter: Presently Israel has been de-comissioned … the church (non-ethnic) is presently God's commissioned agent to reach the lost.
Eph 3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
And here is Paul's 'summation'.
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. 28-32
Paul says that God has a plan and a purpose and He never 'goes back' on his plan. Some of us may be still around when 'the fullness of gentiles' is complete. The rest of us will observe this from heaven. It is understandable that the Roman church would see the Jews as their enemies. The Jews were hostile toward all Christians. We, in our present time, don't see them as quite as hostile toward us. But one day soon there will be a revival … Jews coming to Jesus and His church that will be quite astounding.
Paul closes this section with this Doxology
Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. 33-36