With Christ as my witness, I write with utter truthfulness. My own conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and endless grief for my Jewish friends and neighbors. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. They are the descendants of the people of Israel, chosen as God’s adopted children (Ex 4:22). God revealed His glory to them many times over. He made covenants with them and it was to them that He have the Ten Commandments through Moses (Deut 4:13). He gave them the privilege of worshipping Him and receiving His wonderful promises (Deut 7:6). They can honestly say that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ Himself was an Israelite Jew as far as His human nature is concerned. And He is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise (I John 5:20)!
So does that man that God has failed to fulfill His promise to Israel? No, because not everyone who is born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! Being descendents of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. Doesn’t the Bible say in Genesis, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendents will be counted” (Gen. 21:12), even though Abraham had other children (Ishmael, for one). This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. Remember, God promised Abraham, “I will return this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” (Gen. 18:10 & 14)
Their son together was Isaac, of course. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins (Gen. 25:21). But while she was still pregnant, before the babies were even born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to His own purposes; He calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will server your younger son.” (Gen. 25:23) As God said to the prophet Malachi, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.” (Mal. 1:2-3)
Are we saying, then, that God is unfair? Of course not! Remember what God said to Moses:
“I will show mercy to anyone I choose,
and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”
So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.
The Bible says that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying My power in you and to spread My fame throughout the earth.” (Ex. 9:16) So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and He chooses to allow others to become so stubborn that they refuse to listen or as the Bible puts it, “hardens their hearts.” (Josh. 11:20).
Right now you’re probably thinking, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what He makes them do?”
Don’t think that! Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God (Job 40:2)? Should the thing that was created say to the One who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” (Is. 29:16) Using Isaiah’s potter illustration, when a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have the right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar as a decoration and another to throw garbage into? In the same way, even though God has the right to show His and anger and His power, He is very patient with those on whom His anger falls, who are destined for destruction. He does this to make the riches of His glory shine even brighter on those to whom He shows mercy, who are prepared in advance for glory. And we are among those whom He has selected, both from the Jews and from the rest of the world.
God talked about the rest of the world to Hosea:
“And to those I called ‘Not my people,’ I will say, ‘Now you are my people.’ And they will reply, ‘You are our God!’” (Hos 2:23)
And,
“Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’” (Hos. 1:10)
The prophet Isaiah also talked about Israel specifically when he cried out,
“But though the people of Israel are as numerous
as the sand of the seashore,
only a remnant of them will return.
The Lord has rightly decided to destroy his people.” (Is. 10:22)
Isaiah also spoke about Israel in the beginning of his book:
“If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
had not spared a few of us,
we would have been wiped out like Sodom,
destroyed like Gomorrah.” (Is. 1:9)
Okay, but what does all this mean? Even though the rest of the world outside of Israel were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. But the people of Israel, the Jews, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by their works, by how well they kept the law instead of by trusting in Him. They stumbled over that great rock in their path. God warned about this in the Bible when He said,
“I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.” (Is. 28:16)
That may seem a bit harsh, but I promise you my friends that the sincere longing of my heart and my constant prayer to God is for the Jewish people to be saved. I know what great enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. They don’t understand God’s way of making people right with Himself. Refusing to accept God’s way, they cling to their own way of getting right with God by trying to perfectly keep the law. But Christ has already accomplished the purpose for which the law was given and as a result, ALL who believe in Him are made right with God.
Have a blessed weekend!
Paul
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