Slides: Did God Reject Israel?

Did God Reject Israel?
Romans 11:1-24

Absurd to hate Jews

Absurd theologians defend hatred for the Jews. ... What Jew would consent to enter our ranks when he sees the cruelty and enmity we wreak on them—that in our behavior towards them we less resemble Christians than beasts? (Martin Luther, 1519)

Sympathy for Jews

If I had been a Jew and had seen such dolts and blockheads govern and teach the Christian faith, I would sooner have become a hog than a Christian. They have dealt with the Jews as if they were dogs rather than human beings; they have done little else than deride them and seize their property. (Martin Luther, 1523)

Humility toward Jews

If the apostles, who also were Jews, had dealt with us Gentiles as we Gentiles deal with the Jews, there would never have been a Christian among the Gentiles ... When we are inclined to boast of our position, we should remember that we are but Gentiles, while the Jews are of the lineage of Christ. (Martin Luther, 1523)

Love for Jews

We must be guided in our dealings with them not by papal law but by the law of Christian love. We must receive them cordially, and permit them to trade and work with us, that they may have occasion and opportunity to associate with us, hear our Christian teaching, and witness our Christian life.  (Martin Luther, 1523)

Are Jews devils?

Dear Christian, beware of the Jews… you can see how God’s wrath has consigned them to the Devil... Thus, when you see a real Jew you may with a good conscience cross yourself, and boldly say, “There goes the Devil incarnate.” (Martin Luther, 1543)

Are Jews mad dogs?

We are at fault in not slaying them…  set fire to their synagogues or schools… I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed… all cash and treasure of silver and gold must be taken from them… They must be driven from our country… we must drive them out like mad dogs. (Martin Luther, 1543)

Are Jews the Devil's filth?

Jews are full of the Devil’s shit… which they wallow in like swine… they idle away their time… feasting and farting… The Devil has emptied his stomach… He stuffs and squirts them so full… of pure Devil’s filth, yes, it tastes so good to their hearts, and they guzzle it like sows… Jews are a base, whoring people, that is, no people of God. (Martin Luther)

Did God reject Israel?

¹ 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. ² God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew.

God’s own people

For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own. (1 Samuel 12:22)

For the LORD will not reject his people;  he will never forsake his inheritance. (Psalm 94:14)

 
If Jews won’t believe

• Don’t hate; show God’s love.
• Don’t give up; trust God’s grace.
• Don’t brag; fear God’s sternness.
• Don’t presume; know God’s plan.
• Don’t ignore; enjoy God’s feast.

Pity party “I’m the only one left.”

Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”?

Remnant chosen by grace

⁴ And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. ⁶ And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

What Elijah forgot

• God’s faithful were in unlikely places, even in Ahab’s and Jezebel’s palace.
• God had other prophets: at least 100.
• God’s grace always keeps a remnant—and it may be bigger than it seems.
• 7,000 never bowed to Baal at all.
• Maybe others turned back to God.

Chosen or hardened

⁷ What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, ⁸ as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day.”

Table becomes trap

⁹ And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. ¹⁰ May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”

• If you don’t trust Jesus and follow him, you don’t stay the same. You become harder, and blessings make you worse.

Fallen beyond recovery?

¹¹ 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. ¹² But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!

Israel’s hardening

Hardening of most Jews did not mean God totally rejected Israel. Hardening is:

• Partial: remnant chosen by grace
• Purposeful: gospel riches for Gentiles
• Temporary: future recovery & fullness

Enviable salvation

¹³ I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry ¹⁴ in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.

Holy root

¹⁵ For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

Brag over the broken?

¹⁷ 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, ¹⁸ do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

Be afraid, not arrogant

¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

Kind and stern

²² 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. ²³ And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

Wild or cultivated

²⁴ 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!

• Israel is the root that supports every other nationality connected to Christ.
• Unbelief is what breaks off branches.
• Faith is what connects branches.
• It’s easier and more natural for God to include a Jew than a Gentile.

All Israel will be saved

²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And so all Israel will be saved…

If Jews won’t believe

• Don’t hate; show God’s love.
• Don’t give up; trust God’s grace.
• Don’t brag; fear God’s sternness.
• Don’t presume; know God’s plan.
• Don’t ignore; enjoy God’s feast.