Is God finished with Israel? Welcome to the Line of Fire. This is Michael Brown delighted to be with you today as we stand with you on the front lines as every single one of us today stand in the Line of Fire. We are here to equip you and empower you and help you engage so that we can see Jesus, Yeshua, exalted. We can see the Jewish people turn to him and recognize him.
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We can't wait to get it into your hands. So this month we're talking about Jewish roots of the faith. We're talking about why Christians should care about the salvation of Israel.
And I want to address an important question today. Namely, is God finished with Israel? There are those who teach that with the destruction of the Temple, God was saying it's over for Israel.
And there are Christian brothers and sisters who hold to these views. For example, one Bible teacher, David Chilton, put it like this. This is a brother in the Lord with whom I have a difference. He said, the Book of Revelation is not about the second coming of Christ. It is about the destruction of Israel and Christ's victory over his enemies in the establishment of the New Covenant Temple. Revelation prophesies the judgment of God on apostate Israel. And while it does briefly point to events beyond its immediate concerns, that is done merely as a wrap-up to show that the ungodly will never prevail against Christ's Kingdom. So this is, in his view, the final destruction of Israel.
It's over for Israel as a nation. Individual Jews might be saved, but there will be no national restoration of the Jewish people back to the land. Dr. Gary DeMar, with whom I've had a couple of friendly debates, a brother in the Lord with whom I have these differences, says there is nothing in Jesus' teaching in this Gospel, meaning Matthew, which suggests that after this period of judgment there will be a restoration. The apocalyptic discourse, chapter 24, moves away from Jerusalem. Does the Bible, especially the New Testament, predict that the Temple will be rebuilt?
He said it does not. To make the Temple of Stone a permanent structure in the light of Jesus' atoning work would be a denial of the Messiah and his redemptive mission. Now, of course, the cross is the center of God's Atonement and the finality of God's Atonement.
And there is nothing that needs to be added to the cross for our forgiveness of sins, ever, through all eternity. But that does not mean that there cannot be a future Temple where people come from around the world to worship the God of Israel. And certainly it doesn't mean that the Jewish people cannot be restored back to their land. In fact, I can show you scripturally that the Messiah does not cancel the promises God gave to the patriarchs.
Rather, he confirms them. I saw a website, and it was about God's wrath on Israel being executed in the year 70, so with the destruction of the Temple. And it quoted from Romans chapter 11, beginning in verse 7, and ended in verse 10. It's really quite remarkable that it had 7 through 10 and didn't go on to the next verse, and didn't look at previous verses in the chapter. It is one of the most grotesque, pulling a passage out of context examples I could think of, because the very next verse refutes the argument the person's trying to make. So Paul writes in Romans 11, verse 7, what then?
Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened. As it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day. And David says that their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them, that their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever.
He stops there. Well, what does Paul say in the very next verse? Romans chapter 11, verse 11. The very, very next verse. I've got a bunch of translations.
I'll start with the complete Jewish Bible. In that case, I say, isn't it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away? Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary. It is by means of their stumbling that deliverance has come to the Gentiles in order to provoke them to jealousy.
I'm just going to read it from some other translations. The NET. I asked then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they? Absolutely not.
NIV. Again, I ask, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all. NLT. Did God's people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not. Here's an amplified translation.
Again, just adding to, expanding to explain what's there. So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall to their utter spiritual ruin irretrievably? By no means. CEV. So I'm asking you, they haven't stumbled so that they've fallen permanently, have they? Absolutely not.
CEV. Do I mean that the people of Israel fell never to get up again? Certainly not.
GW. God's word. So I ask, has Israel stumbled so badly that it can't get up again? That's unthinkable.
TLB. So the old classic living bible. Does this mean that God has rejected his Jewish people forever?
Of course not. That's a paraphrase. The paraphrase of the message.
Just to show the literal translations, the paraphrases, different ones, they're understanding this the same way. Next question is, this is the message. Are they down for the count? Who? The Jewish people, the nation of Israel. Are they out of this for good?
And the answer is clear cut, no. Ironically, when they walked out, they left the door open and the outsiders walked in. But the next thing you know, the Jews were starting to wonder if perhaps they had walked out on a good thing. Now, if they're leaving triggered this worldwide coming of non-Jewish outsiders to God's kingdom, just imagine the effect of their coming back.
What a homecoming. Paul says that Israel will be saved, that there will be a national turning, that Israel will be restored. So Paul categorically, categorically rejects the view that Israel has fallen beyond recovery. And I find it utterly remarkable that someone could quote Romans 11 verses 7 to 10 and not go on and read verse 11 where Paul says, okay, does that mean it's over? I've just spoken of judgment. I've just spoken of a stupor. I've just spoken of spiritual blindness.
Does that mean it's over forever? That's the next question he asks. And his answer is absolutely not, by no means. Or in King James, God forbid. Don't draw that conclusion is what Paul is saying. Don't think that the rejection is a rejection forever.
It is quite the contrary. Now, let's keep reading. I got into these verses a little earlier in the week. I want to come back to them. Romans 11, verse 11.
I'll be reading now in the ESV. So I ask that they stumble in order that they might fall. Meaning fall beyond recovery.
Fall so you can't get up, as these other translations explain and expand. He says, by no means. Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles so as to make Israel envious. So remember, in the book of Acts, say in the 13th chapter, as Paul is preaching, and he's preaching in the synagogues, preaching in the synagogues, and then ultimately the Jewish crowds reject him. Some follow, but ultimately the Jewish hearers and leaders reject him. He says, your blood be on your own head. I'm going to the Gentiles.
So that's the picture. That's why Paul says in Romans 11, 28 that the Jewish people who don't believe are enemies, meaning enemies of the Gospel, for your sake. That the Jewish rejection of the Messiah now opened up the door for the message to go to the Gentile world.
This is how God worked it. So Jewish leadership and Jewish people sinned. Now, as a result of it, God's a redeemer.
That which is meant for evil, he turns for good. That now opens the door to bring the message to the Gentiles. Okay, you won't hear it in the synagogue. Then we'll go over into the Gentile communities and preach. And then they had much more success preaching in the Gentile world, with many, many more coming to faith. And Paul says as a result of this, this should make Israel envious.
Well, the message that we rejected in the synagogue is now being received by these Gentiles who don't know the God of Israel. They're idol worshipers. They're being changed. They're receiving it. They're being touched. They're being healed. They're being forgiven. We want that.
We want that. Now, he says this, if their trespass means riches for the world and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? So can you grasp what Paul is saying here? Can you grasp that he's saying that through Israel's rejection of the Messiah on a national level, there was always a remnant that believed just like in the Old Testament. But the national rejection of Jesus as the Messiah has brought this message to the entire world. Israel's rejection of the message has resulted in hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of people being saved, hundreds of millions of people being transformed, hundreds of millions of people having their sins forgiven, hundreds of millions of people coming to worship the God of Israel. That's because Israel got things wrong. Paul says, what happens when Israel gets things right?
This is why it's so big. This is why the devil fights against this so assiduously. This is why he so violently tries to wipe out the Jewish people and keep them out of the land and keep them out of Jerusalem where they must welcome the Messiah back before he returns. This is why there's such a battle for Jewish souls. This is why even getting to church to understand this is often a battle because the stakes are that high. And he continues, now I'm speaking to Gentiles and as much as I'm an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous and thus save some of them. So Paul during his life is doing whatever he can to save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
What will it mean but life from the dead? It's the little analogy I gave you of the Jewish guy in Jerusalem praying. Doesn't look like he's doing a lot. A Jewish believer in Jesus praying for the salvation of his people. He doesn't have a big ministry. He's not known on the internet, not known on TV.
Hasn't written any books. But he prays for the salvation of his people and helps usher in their looking to the Messiah as a result of which Jesus returns and hundreds of millions of people are raised from the dead. I mean this is big. Israel's salvation is big. So God cares about every single individual.
Every single individual he cares about. And there's joy in heaven over an idol worshiper that gets saved, over Buddhists who get saved, over an atheist who gets saved, a religious Jew gets saved. There's joy in heaven. And Messiah said it's the same blood for each and has the same love for each.
They're just purposes. And there's a specific purpose because God chose Israel to signal them out. And Paul says no, no, no, it's not over, it's not over, it's not over. Don't let any preacher, pastor, teacher, leader tell you it's over. It's not over. The promises remain and Israel's salvation is key to the ultimate redemption of the world.
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Call 1-800-771-5584, 1-800-771-5584 or online at trivita.com. Okay, there's one more verse I want to look at. First, another friendly reminder, as we stand with you every day on the air to infuse you with faith and with truth and with courage, let us do more to stand with you. Let us do more to help you.
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So go to thelineoffire.org if you're not getting our emails, thelineoffire.org, and we want to get the frontline newsletter out to you. Now, one more verse I want to read, and you don't hear a lot of preaching on this. It is the final verse in this paragraph, as we would divide it logically. Verse 16, if the doe offered his firstfruits is holy, so is the whole thing.
And if the root is holy, so are the branches. So Paul has just gotten through saying absolutely clearly, emphatically, without any possible question or doubt, he is saying God is not finished with Israel as a nation. He is not finished with Israel as a nation. In Luke 21 24, Jesus says that the Jewish people will be scattered to the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled on until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. So the trampling on the city of Jerusalem, and with that, and you'll be scattered to all nations until the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled, is indicating that when that time is over, Jerusalem will no longer be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, and the Jewish people will be brought back. Those who were scattered will be regathered.
How? By the hand of God, by the promise of God. Well, what does verse 16 mean?
Well, why is it here in context? If the doe offered his firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. There's a popular commentary from many years ago, Jamieson, Fawcett, and Brown, and it's not detailed, massive commentary, but popular, and I was just looking at, I've got a lot of complex, deep commentaries that could take, you know, hours just to sift through everything and share it with you, so I wanted to grab a few quotes that would be representative of solid commentary on Romans 11 16. So Jamieson, Fawcett, and Brown say this, but if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root, so the branches. The Israelites were required to offer to God the firstfruits of the earth, both in their raw state, in a sheaf of newly reaped grain, Leviticus 23, just 10 and 11, and in their prepared state, made into cakes of dough, Numbers 15, verses 19 to 21, by which the whole produce of that season was regarded as hallowed.
It is probable that the latter of these offerings is here intended. As to it, the word lump best applies, and the argument of the apostle is that, as the separation unto God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, from the rest of mankind, as the parent stem of their race, was as real as an offering of firstfruits as that which hallowed the produce of the earth, so, in the divine estimation, it was as real a separation of the mass or lump of that nation in all time to God. The figure of the root and its branches is of like import, the consecration of the one of them extending to the other. So in other words, being set apart is holy here. It does not mean holy in terms of everyone being saved, but holy can also mean set apart for sacred service, set apart for divine service and divine mission, and that's a fundamental meaning of the Hebrew word kadosh, which is set apart, and then set apart for divine purposes. So what's Paul's argument here?
What is this commentary explaining? That just as you set aside the firstfruits, and that then made everything else set apart, the first representative part being set apart to God as holy meant that everything was. Well, and if the root is set apart as holy, so are the branches, then that's the case with the nation of Israel. Even with the Jewish people in their unbelief, Jewish people who need Yeshua to be saved, to be forgiven like anyone else. There's not a separate covenant that God made with Jewish people where they get into heaven and get right with God, apart from the blood of Messiah. No, that doesn't exist, but even the Jewish nation in its unbelief is still set apart for a divine purpose.
You grasp the force of that. That's Paul's argument here, and therefore God will fulfill his purposes for Israel because the nation has been set apart for divine purpose by his calling, by his plan to say it again, not because of Israel's goodness, but because of God's goodness, not because of the faithfulness of my Jewish people, but because of the faithfulness of God. In fact, through much of our history, it's been despite our faithlessness and despite our lack of goodness, God has continued to demonstrate his goodness and faithfulness. He has disciplined us, but he has not destroyed us. He has scattered us, but he is regathering us. Listen to what Charles Hodge said, highly respected, reformed commentator from 100 plus years ago. Hodge said this, the connection of this verse with the proceeding, its import and bearing on the apostles object are therefore clear.
I'm just reading an excerpt of his lengthy comment here. The restoration of the Jews, which will be attendant with such beneficial results for the whole world, is to be expected because of their peculiar relation to God as his chosen people. God and selecting the Hebrew patriarchs and setting them apart for his service had referenced to their descendants as well as to themselves and designed that the Jews as a people should to the latest generations be specially devoted to himself. They stand now therefore and ever have stood in a relationship to God which no other nation ever has sustained and in consequence of this relation their restoration to the divine favor is an event in itself probable and one which Paul afterwards teaches, verses 25, God has determined to accomplish. So that is playing in verses 25 and 26. So the whole nation has been set apart for divine purposes and even in their unbelief God will preserve them until the time of final redemption. No, God is not finished with Israel, God forbid.
So in the present Paul said he does his best to save some of them looking forward to the day when there will be a final turning of the nation. This is Dr. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for tuning in. Just a reminder that we are listener supported. If we have been a blessing to you, if you're being enriched in the word and prayer and your own walk with God through this broadcast then stand with us so that we can reach many many more and bless many many more. Together friends we're making a difference. So go to thelineoffire.org thelineoffire.org and click donate.
