Are There Still Unfulfilled Promises for Ethnic Israel?

Are there still unfulfilled biblical promises to ethnic Israel? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THECR.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and of course you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. Now, on yesterday's program, we had a call from a woman named Mrs. Glover. She is an elderly shut-in, is unable to attend church, and she called in and talked about her loneliness and the fact that unfortunately no churches in her area were willing to send people over to read the Bible with her, pray with her, and so Adriel had a chance to counsel her and offer her some comfort and pray with her. Adriel, I wanted to let you know, after the program yesterday, we received a whole bunch of calls and emails from concerned listeners who want to help out Mrs. Glover. Wow, that's awesome.

Let me just read a few of the comments here. Tom and Julie say they were really moved by the phone call. They would love to call her and perhaps pray with her, even do maybe a Bible study over the phone.

We have Ed called in. Linda Gloria says she does Bible studies via mail with various people. And then Kimberly says, I was hoping you could be instrumental in helping me reach out to Mrs. Glover. She says, I heard her question. I have a mission, I feel, to study with her.

I understand how she feels. I have a thing going on in my church where once a month we carpool over to a shut-in's home and sing hymns outside on their lawn. Isn't that great? It just shows you how, when our listeners hear about a need, they really jump to it.

They really come to the forefront. And I'll tell you, I was just so touched by that yesterday. Yeah, praise God. And we're so thankful for our listeners and how they engage with the broadcast and even pray for each other. I know oftentimes we'll bring someone up for prayer. And I know that you all pray, too. And so what a beautiful thing it is for us as the body of Christ to be able to come together and in particular to come around someone who's going through great difficulty. So do remember, Mrs. Glover, in your prayers and excited for another day of answering questions about the faith. Well, here's a voicemail that came in from one of our listeners, Adriel. This is from Karen.

I have a question regarding blasting the Holy Spirit, as well as who has more power, God or the person? And I do know that there is a view of irresistible grace. And the reason that I'm asking is because I have an old friend who contacted me and said that he had three months to live. He's had cancer for the last five years or so. He's a radical atheist. He was brought up in the church, got baptized when he was 12.

The question is that I just wonder, I want to have hope for him. I'm continuing a dialogue with him. He knows the Gospel. But with all that said, that verse about blasting the Holy Spirit, if you can explain that more, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you. Well, the idea of the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit comes from the Gospels, and in particular an interaction that Jesus had with the religious leaders. It's very important for us to understand the context there, because a lot of Christians, people who have faith in Jesus Christ, actually are concerned that at one point or another in their lives, they blaspheme the Holy Spirit. They've sinned in this way again and again. Maybe God has done with me. Maybe I've committed the unpardonable sin.

That kind of a thing. But in the context there, when Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders, they had just accused him of essentially casting out demons by the hand of Satan. They're saying, Jesus, you're under the influence of the devil.

You're maybe possessed by the devil. Jesus gives them a stern warning there, because he responds to them by saying, look, all manner of sin will be forgiven people in this life, all manner of blasphemy. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, because they said that he had an unclean spirit. My take is that the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is this sort of continued rejection of the gospel, so much so that there's such a disdain for the truth, a disdain for Jesus Christ. An individual is even willing to say, oh, that's evil. Jesus is the devil. It's this confusion, this diabolical confusion about who Jesus is.

We don't know if an individual has done that. There are atheists who reject Jesus for years and years and years, and then all of a sudden the lights come on and they realize, what have I been doing? The Spirit of God works in their lives. I would say with your friend, it's not up to you to conclude or to think this person is too far gone.

I would say right now, it sounds like you have an opportunity and a door of communication has been opened. I would say take that opportunity to share the love of Jesus with this friend. If he's an ardent atheist, that doesn't make a difference. You're sharing the gospel with this individual because he needs hope. Maybe as he gets closer to death, he'll recognize that he doesn't have all the answers. Certainly, when it comes to the issue of death, Christianity is the only religion that can give us a firm answer because we believe that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead.

We have great evidence to support that. The eyewitness testimony of the disciples of the apostles, you think about what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15. There was something else that you asked there in your question that I just want to touch on. You said, who's more powerful? Is it God or is it the individual? Does the individual have the power to just say no and resist? At the end of the day, God is just going to say, okay, well, whatever. The way it works, I believe, is the Spirit of God is stronger than our broken wills. It's only by the Spirit of God that anyone is able to see, one, that they're a sinner and, two, that Jesus is the Savior of sinners. I think, Karen, in this time, what you want to be doing is praying that the Lord would do that mighty work, what only He can do, in opening the eyes of the blind and softening the hard heart of this friend of yours. You can pray with confidence that God is able to do that, that God is the only one who really can do that because we've seen that happen so many times in scripture.

I'll give you just one example. When Stephen was being stoned in the book of Acts and he cries out to the Lord, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing, essentially just echoing the words of Jesus when Jesus was on the cross. Do you know who was there helping those who were stoning Stephen? It was Saul of Tarsus, a man who was hard-hearted against the faith, an enemy of Christ. Yet that same man is redeemed, saved, knocked off of his horse a little bit later in the book of Acts. Jesus appears to him and says, Why are you persecuting me, Saul, Saul? Well, that was an answer to Stephen's prayer. Stephen's praying for these enemies of the faith, these enemies of Jesus. God softened their hard hearts and Jesus answered that prayer and brought Saul of Tarsus into the kingdom.

How? By renewing his mind, by opening his blind eyes. God can do that and I would encourage you to pray for your friend. Let's just take a moment, brothers and sisters, to pray for Karen and to pray for her friend. Father, for Karen, we ask that you would fill her with your spirit and that you would give her wisdom in knowing exactly how to speak to this friend of hers.

Give her the words to say, the scriptures, Lord, even to share with him about you, Lord Jesus, and what you've done to redeem sinners and to conquer death. And for this individual, Lord, this man who's an atheist, would you, Jesus, open his eyes? Would you help him to see that you are the way, the truth, and the life?

Would you soften his hard heart? Would you grant him the gift of faith? And would you bring him to yourself in this, maybe his final hour, if you will, of life? We pray also for your healing and your mercy to be poured out upon him. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you for that, Adriel, and thanks for that great reminder about Stephen and Saul of Tarsus, who later became, of course, the Apostle Paul. So powerful.

This is CORE Christianity, and if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, we would love to hear from you. Here is the phone number. It's 833-843-2673. You can also spell it out on your phone.

It's 833-THE-CORE. We'll be taking your calls for the next 15 minutes or so, so jump on the phone right now. By the way, if you've ever wondered about this, what is the Bible's view of marriage? What is the meaning and purpose of marriage according to the Holy Scriptures? Well, we have a wonderful booklet that dives into that topic. We'd like to make that available to you today.

Yeah, that's right, Bill. I think it's really important for us to ask, why did God create marriage in the first place? Is marriage just a vehicle for meeting our individual needs, desires?

Is waiting to get married and to have a family just sort of an outdated teaching? Is the biblical view of marriage itself outdated? That's what a lot of people today believe, and we seek to answer these questions and many more in our new booklet, Why Would Anyone Get Married? More than ever, we as believers in Jesus Christ should be able to answer difficult questions like these and to share about the beauty and wonder of God's design for marriage. And so we create resources just for this reason to help you navigate these important discussions with your family and friends so that they can see how the Bible's view of marriage not only helps human flourishing, but reflects and glorifies God as well. And you know, when you purchase these resources from us, you support our work to create more resources and Bible studies that help other Christians everywhere answer those tough questions about all kinds of important topics.

You can get a copy of this particular booklet, Why Would Anyone Get Married? for a donation of any amount, and you can find it by going to corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers to look for that booklet. Well, here's a voicemail we received from one of our listeners, Adriel.

This is from Eddie. I'm calling regarding Romans chapter 9 and 11. I'm of a millennial view, but as I read in these chapters, I'm wondering if there is a continuing definite plan for ethnic Israel.

So if you can answer my question, I'd really appreciate it. I'll keep you guys in prayer, and I think you guys are doing a great job. You have been a great blessing for me and my family.

Thank you so much. Hey, Eddie, thank you for that encouragement, brother. Your question pertains to what we call eschatology, the study of the last things, and in particular, what is God's plan for ethnic Israel, the nation of Israel, Jewish people? There are differences of opinion on this. There are some people in the church who think, well, yeah, there are all sorts of promises. There's going to be a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and animal sacrifices once again.

They sort of picture this kingdom rebuilt here on earth that sort of actually looks a lot like what was taking place under the old covenant. I think that's a misunderstanding of the prophecies that you find in the Old Testament and the way in which we think of their fulfillment under the new covenant in the New Testament. But does that mean that God doesn't have any plan for the future of ethnic Israel?

Again, there has been debate about this. My view is, on the basis of Romans chapters 9 through 11, that God does have a future plan for ethnic Israel, but that that plan is not at all separate from their embracing Jesus Christ. The promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus.

There is no one who is a child of the true and the living God who is not a Christian who doesn't have faith in Christ. We don't have a relationship to God and his promises apart from Christ, and that's one of the things that the apostle Paul makes absolutely clear in Romans chapter 11. In chapter 9, he talked about how it seemed like the word of God had failed because you had all these promises, the Messiah shows up, and yet he's rejected by so many of the Hebrew people. And Paul says, well, boy, did God's promise fail. And he says, no, not all Israel are those who are descended from Israel. He brings out this sort of idea of the remnant and the fact that God's chosen were always a sort of remnant out of the whole. And then he brings up the broader question later in chapter 11 of, well, does that mean that basically God is done with all those who had rejected him? He says in verse 11 of chapter 11 in the book of Romans, so I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall?

By no means. Rather through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel jealous. Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? So right now, we're in the time of the inclusion of the Gentiles, if you will, right? Like God is bringing in the nations.

But it does seem like here, Paul is anticipating this full inclusion of Israel once again. That is their repentance and coming to faith. And so a future promise of a wide-scale revival, if you will, among the Jewish people where they turn and embrace Jesus as the Messiah, as the Savior of the world. And so that's my view, and again, I think it's important to stress, to specify that those promises all come in and through Jesus. And for each of us, that's just the reality. The promises of God mean something for you, not because of you in and of yourself, but because of the one to whom you're united by faith. We are the children of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ, and as the children of Abraham, the promises of God belong to us and to our kids.

What a wonderful thing that is to know. And so definitely the passage you're going to want to sit down and meditate on is that text right there in Romans chapter 11, and I think Paul makes it clear there. Eddie, thanks so much for your question. By the way, we have a wonderful resource that will help you dig into this whole view of the end times some more deeply. It's called, What are the main views of the end times? You can find that at our website corechristianity.com forward slash free downloads. Just look for that one.

What are the main views of the end times? A really helpful resource. Let's go back to the phones. Sue is on the line from Nashville, Tennessee. Sue, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi.

Hi, Sue. So my question is about, what about a spouse who was raised in a household where the father is a narcissist? That can be genetic, from what I understand, or it can be a result of neglect or abuse in children, and a therapist will tell you that there is no cure for that. The Bible talks about narcissism, and what's in that for the spouse? How does the spouse deal with that when the husband is not going directly to God for intervention and assistance with healing? What does God say about the wife in that situation?

The wife who endures all that goes along with narcissism, which is verbal abuse, mental abuse, addictions, attachment disorders, and the list is endless. What does God say about that in relationship to what the wife endures? Well, I just think obviously this is a heartbreaking situation, Sue, and we know what God intends for marriage, and in particular for the husband, and this is what the Apostle Paul says in the book of Ephesians, to model a love for his spouse that's after the love that Jesus has for his bride, and so that's not being selfish and self-seeking and self-focused, but focused on the needs of the other, and this is precisely what the Apostle Paul said. It should be true of all of us as Christians in the book of Philippians in Philippians chapter 2. He says, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others, and again he roots that in the work of Jesus for us. So I think in terms of healing, it does have to be a work of the Holy Spirit, grounded in the Gospel and a clear vision of who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us, but you're right, so often, and especially for individuals who have narcissistic disorders, there's an unwillingness to even see that, and I think therapy and counselors can be helpful. One resource, Sue, that I would point you to is a book that I read that I just thought was really helpful in terms of addressing narcissism. It's written by Chuck DeGroat. It's called When Narcissism Comes to Church, Healing Your Community from Emotional and Spiritual Abuse.

I want to recommend that you get a hold of that book, again by Chuck DeGroat, and I also want to rope you in here, Bill, because I know you've done a lot of research in this area in particular, and what would you add? Well, I think what Sue said is true. Most therapists, most research would show that narcissism is a deeply ingrained disorder that really begins in early childhood, and it's very difficult to treat, it's very difficult to resolve, and so really what most therapy tends to focus on is those who are in relationship with the narcissist and helping them to put up effective boundaries. You know, the Bible talks about let your yes be yes and your no be no, and in many cases, it really requires setting firm boundaries with the narcissist.

This is acceptable, this is not, and if this happens, this is going to be the consequence. So that's a lot easier to do if you have support, so I think what I would say to Sue is if she's not in a church where she is getting support from others or in a small group, that's probably where God would want her most right now, to find that sort of support in this relationship. And so a church that's supportive, but also a church that has some awareness with regard to this issue, right? In particular, when you're thinking about a narcissistic disorder, because I think that there does need to be accountability. Now Sue, can I just follow up and ask, does the husband here profess faith in Jesus Christ? He was not raised in a church, however, he will attend the church service and seems to connect in a superficial way, because what is well known, narcissistic or not, is people tend to look at their heavenly father the same way as their earthly father.

So if you didn't have a good earthly father, it makes it really difficult to trust the heavenly father, right? Yeah, it sounds like there's a lot of pain here. I know in Chuck DeGroat's book, he talks about how there's just some interesting ties between just shame also and narcissistic behavior.

So it sounds to me like there's a lot of deep work that this man needs to do. We believe in Jesus, we believe in the power of the gospel, and so I always want to hold out hope there for him and for this spouse. But I think it sounds like there needs to be some acceptance of the fact that this is a real issue, and that the husband would need to really, I think, create healthy patterns of saying, I want to work through this, maybe that looks like therapy, maybe that looks like church accountability, so on and so forth. Seeing where the behavior is destructive and harmful and true repentance, and I think that's something for the wife also to hold the individual accountable in. And so, Sue, may God be with you and bless you.

I appreciate this question. Again, I encourage you to get plugged into Solid Community, where you're going to have some of that support that you need, and also check out that book that I mentioned one more time, When Narcissism Comes to Church, by Chuck DeGroat. Sue, thank you so much for your call. We'll continue to be praying for you in that whole situation.

This is Core Christianity. Just to let you know, we're going to be recording a second program today. So if you haven't had a chance to have your question answered, you can call us for the next half hour or so, and we'd love to take your call about the Bible, the Christian life, doctrine, or theology. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Mason from Springfield, Missouri. Mason, what's your question for Adriel? Hey, guys.

I am a big listener to the show. I've called in with a few other questions. This question is going to be a little bit longer, but I'll try to make it brief. So my company that I worked for for about a year and a half, two years now, by God's grace, I'm a high performer there, and I have some pull and some respect there. The company has been leaning towards liberalism, and there's these things called resource groups that they put together for what they call underrepresented employee groups. So we have one for the Pride community, our LGBTQ people. They have one for women.

They have one for people of color, one for veterans, and one for people with disabilities. So I have gone to bat for a Christian resource group because it's for employees who are underrepresented. And I know that may sound silly, but it only sounds silly because we live in the culture that we live in.

I mean, Christians face bullying and persecution. Mason, thank you for your question. I hear what you're saying. Probably what we'll do is we'll pick this question up on tomorrow's episode when we open up. And so maybe give us a call back or we'll just go out based off what you've already shared.

Appreciate you being a listener and calling in, and we look forward to answering this tomorrow at the start of the show. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar. Or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.