Posted on 02/22/2015 10:27:36 PM PST by pastorbillrandles
I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.(Romans 11:1-6)
Romans chapters nine through eleven are meant to be understood as one unified whole. If you were to just read Romans 9 and 10 and not eleven, you would be tempted t think that the God of the Bible is finished with His ancient people.
Romans 9 tells us that only a small believing remnant of Israel is Israel anyway, and as for the rest of the physical seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they are sinker to Pharoah in that God has hardened their hearts, after years of their own resistance to His will.
Romans 10 tells us that Israel for the most part has stubbornly refused the free gift of Righteousness by faith in Jesus Messiah, instead seeking to establish a righteousness of their own, more in keeping with works based, self salvation. Furthermore Romans 10 tells us that Israel has no excuse, for the prophets, Apostles and the Messiah himself were all sent with the message of Righteousness by faith and substitutionary salvation, but Israel stubbornly refused to hear it.
Instead, Gentiles, who weren’t looking for Righteousness, have found it, when they heard the preaching of the Jewish Messiah, who loved them and gave himself for our sins. Now the Gentile world is flocking to the Jewish God, and drinking from Him, the “Fountain of Living Water”, whole the nation of Israel itself is drinking out of “broken cisterns” that hold no water.
But All day long the LORD hold’s out his hands to the disobedient and back talking Son, Israel.
But thankfully this passage which is a revelation of God, and a prophecy of the history which we are currently living, Doesn’t end with Romans 10.
“Has God cast away His people(utterly)”?
Perish the very thought of it! God is not through with the nation which is estranged from Him, He has a plan for them ,”For good and not evil, to give them an expected end”, as Jeremiah 29 prophesied.
Read the Song of Moses, or the 26th chapter of Leviticus, and see that God foresaw when he called Israel into existence that they would defect from Him, and go prodigal for centuries, and in the end return to Him to fulfill His plan for the world!
For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.(Hosea 3:4-5)
Remember Elijah? He thought he was the last faithful Israelite, but God assured Him that HE(God) himself had reserved to himself seven thousand who would not bow the knee to Baal.
Of course Israel doesn’t deserve these favors! Israel is a microcosm of the whole world. If Israel doesn’t deserve grace, neither do you and I? If anyone has a problem with Israel, they have a problem with the grace of God.
This is the grace of God, in love choosing and preserving a believing remnant and insuring the survival and integrity of the holy nation forever. Obviously the church hasn’t replaced Israel! God knew all along what was going to happen. The climax of History will be the restoration and reinstatement of Israel as the sacred nation of Priests and teachers of the whole world. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it!
Read and understand well the prophecy of Jeremiah,
Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.(Jeremiah 33:20-27)
It would be more likely that the sun not rise and the stars not shine, than that God should ever cast away the “Seed of Jacob and David” his servant.God has a beautiful plan for Israel, and which will involve blessing and restoration to them and to the whole world.
“God has a beautiful plan for Israel, and which will involve blessing and restoration to them and to the whole world.”
His plan was completely fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection, and eternal reign of Christ at the right hand of the father.
15 Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. (Galatians 3)
The early Church was all Jewish for about a dozen years - this is the holy remnant of Israel. Then, over time, non-Jews were “grafted into” the fellowship of these early Christians. Why look for more? The Church is the promised seed of the covenant!
look at the scriptures I cited in Jeremiah and Hosea.
“However, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’ 15 but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ For I will restore them to the land I gave their ancestors."
There are also numerous other prophecies concerning Israel that are either being fulfilled or are soon to be fulfilled. How can you say God's plan for them ended with Jesus's death?
The early Church was all Jewish for about a dozen years - this is the holy remnant of Israel. Then, over time, non-Jews were “grafted into” the fellowship of these early Christians. Why look for more? The Church is the promised seed of the covenant!
The obvious cluelessness of some of you Catholics just astounds me...Is it ignorance or deception??? And why look any further??? Because God comdemns your religion and he does happen to put the truth in the scriptures...All you have to do is look a little further...
Gen 15:3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
Gen 15:4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
Gen 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life
Here's a REAL example from every day life...
When I used to go to the mill and buy some corn seed, I never came back with just one kernel...
The seed spoken of are the physical descendents of Abraham's sons...NOT any church...
First, your assumption that I am a Catholic is incorrect. I just believe what the Bible says, and it says the Christ is the seed of Abraham, and we in Christ are the inheritors of that Covenant. Read ALL of Galatians - its really very short. Paul is very clear on this point. I can see no other way to understand the fulfillment of the Old Covenant in the New Covenant. In the first chapter of Galatians Paul says that this did not come to him from man, but by revelation. And this revelation puts all the parts in place - in really is a beautiful picture!
“God has a beautiful plan for Israel, and which will involve blessing and restoration to them and to the whole world.”
His plan was completely fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection, and eternal reign of Christ at the right hand of the father.
Well said my friend~
“...for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.”
This is a prophecy of their return to the land after the Babylonian captivity: a captivity that was decreed to end under Cyrus. This has nothing to do with an “end-time Israel” scenario as you describe it.
“There are also numerous other prophecies concerning Israel that are either being fulfilled or are soon to be fulfilled.”
Not according to Christ:
Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Matthew 24:34-35
Luke also writes this:
For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. Luke 21:22
“Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Luke 21:32
“All these things” and “this generation” refer to the people and events living at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 AD. That is the “end of the world” about which all the NT writers wrote.
There is no prophecy left to be fulfilled, either in the OT or the new. What wasn’t fulfilled at the cross was fulfilled in the vengeance Christ prophesied and promised would fall upon those who slew their king and persecuted His messengers.
Thank you for posting that. There are a lot of people that need to study and understand God’s plans for the nation of Israel.
Not if you don't believe God's promise to bring the nation of Israel back to their land and turn them to Him.
>>and it says the Christ is the seed of Abraham,<<
But not the seed of Isaac.
>>and we in Christ are the inheritors of that Covenant.<<
Not the covenants made with Israel.Supersessionism is NOT from scripture.
Tell us the dimensions of the Temple that was destroyed and the Temple that is commanded still to be built and if they are the same.
What generation?
Revelation was written in 96AD
Matthew 24:34 - “Verily I say unto you, This generation (not 40 years, but rather the stock, the race) shall not pass, till all things be fulfilled.”
Satan has tried since Genesis 12:1 to destroy God’s Covenant people. At times, it seemed he nearly succeeded. Today we wonder how they can survive, not only the pressures from the outside world, but their constant in-fighting - secular against reformed and Orthodox; Orthodox against reformed. But, as the sun will not fail, neither will the Nation of Israel. Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, Psalm 122:6. Since there will be no Peace for Jerusalem until Christ returns, when you pray for the Peace of Jerusalem, you literally pray for the Lord’s return.
“Revelation was written in 96AD”
Nope. It was written no later than 68AD.
Any chance John wrote Revelation before the destruction of the temple?
“>>Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.<<
What generation?”
The generation Jesus addressed when He walked the earth. The same people to whom He said this:
“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” Matthew 16:28
The generation of His contemporaries: those who lived when He was with them.
That generation. Any other reading of the text is what a liberal does to the Constitution when they read it. LOL!
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