As one follows the Bible narrative they will see after the Messiah’s first visit to His chosen people Israel, Old Testament prophecies would then begin to be fulfilled concerning the spreading of God’s covenant message among the Gentile world. Israel was getting ready to go dormant as the baton was being temporarily passed on to those who had previously been alienated from the Lord’s plan. Another convincing argument of the Bible’s authenticity is not just that this actually happened, but that it was accurately predicted centuries before it transpired.
God plainly said to Israel, “From among all the families of the earth, I chose you alone. That is why I must punish you for all your sins …. But always, first of all, I will warn you through my servants the prophets.”3 He cautioned through the prophet Moses, “If you disobey me, you will quickly disappear from the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will live there only a short time; then you will be utterly destroyed. For the Lord will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive.”4 The world has a well-documented history of this happening. But the Lord made another amazing prediction. He said of the Hebrews, “They have roused my jealousy by worshiping non-gods; they have provoked my fury with useless idols. Now I will rouse their jealousy by blessing other nations; I will provoke their fury by blessing the foolish Gentiles.”5
Paul’s Mission and Message
This prophecy lies behind the apostle Paul’s calling, mission, and message. In fact, in his letter to the Gentile believers in Rome Paul quoted this very verse from Deuteronomy.6 God gave him the daunting task of explaining to Gentiles how their eternal salvation derived from a homeless Jew whom the leadership of His own people had rejected. Yet Paul was not deterred, because He understood the historical certainty of the consummated promises God had made to his people—the Jews—particularly those relating to the Messiah. He started by giving the Gentiles a history lesson of the Hebrew people. “They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s special children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave his law to them. They have the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.”7
To the church at Ephesus Paul differentiated between Israel’s calling and that of his Gentile audience. He reminded them, “Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth …. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from God’s people, Israel, and you did not know the promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you belong to Jesus Christ. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood [covenant] of Christ.”8
The apostle explained that the Lord was including them into His spiritual family without abandoning the covenant promises He made to Israel. “Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews to show that God is true to the promises he made to their ancestors. And He came so the Gentiles might also give glory to God for his mercies to them. … Rejoice, O you Gentiles, along with His people, the Jews.”9
Ethnic Israel is the lure God uses to catch and net Gentiles. Jesus told His first followers, who were all Jews, “Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people.”10 In Paul’s day, the Jews in Judea had a type of national pride that caused them to despise the Gentiles. So, along with telling Gentiles a door of adoption into God’s spiritual family had opened for those who believed, he also had to inform the Jews that though God continued to work through their corporate disobedience, it did not guarantee them individual salvation. They were to receive it like anyone else, the same way their father Abraham did—through faith!
To the natural eye, God may appear unfair in singling out a certain ethnic group to call His chosen people. However, spiritual vision reveals God’s fairness. “Nowhere is it suggested that Israel’s advantageous position guaranteed salvation to all members of the nation, neither did it exclude that Ishmael and those who did not descend from Isaac and Jacob, could experience salvation. On the contrary, according to the terms of the covenant, the blessing of salvation was to become available to all families of the earth through the elect nation of Israel (Genesis 12:3; Isaiah 49:5,6; Galatians 3:8-14).”11
After asking “has God failed to fulfill his promise to the Jews?” Paul explained this puzzling concept this way: “No, for not everyone born into a Jewish family is truly a Jew! Just the fact that they are descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, ‘Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,’ though Abraham had other children, too. This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. It is the children of the promise who are considered to be Abraham’s children.”12 And, just who are the children of the promise? “The only way to receive God’s promise is to believe in Jesus Christ. … There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. … you are one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are His heirs, and now all the promises God gave to him belong to you.”13 Many have used this passage of Scripture as an argument to prove that no longer any distinction exists between Jew and Gentile, thereby suggesting God’s promises to the Jewish nation are no longer relevant. However, upon closer examination, and in the same context, there are still free people and those in bondage, and there obviously remains a physical distinction between males and females. The verse is not talking about blurring the lines between identifiable traits of ethnicities, status, or gender, but simply that God accepts anyone from any background who comes to Him by faith.
Let’s try saying it this way. While a Jew’s biological DNA may have come from Isaac, that does not mean all of them will be a part of Isaac’s spiritual family if they reject the Messiah. In like manner, though a Gentile’s biological DNA didn’t come from Isaac, some of them will be counted as part of Isaac’s spiritual family, because of their faith in Christ.
Paul knew giving this empowerment of gospel privilege to the Gentiles would be a slippery slope. Just as the Jews became proud and jealous about their calling from God, would Gentiles react any different to their invitation to join God’s family? Human nature is human nature. That is why Paul gave stern warnings to the Gentile believers in Rome. He knew that in their infantile faith they would have a tendency to think that since the Lord had now chosen them, it must mean He had abandoned His devotion to the Jews. He told them, “No, God has not rejected his own people [Jews], whom he chose from the very beginning. … God has put them into a deep sleep.”14 He explained that “the Jews’ rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the [Gentile] world,” and “this will last only until the complete number of Gentiles come to Christ.” After this, there will be a resurrection [awakening] of Israel, and God says then, “I will keep my covenant with them [by sending the Messiah] and take away their sins.”15 Then the apostle spoke with blunt language, “Many of the Jews are now enemies of the Good News. … Yet the Jews are still his chosen people because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.”16
Did you catch the full impact of what Paul just said? The very people whom God designated as His “chosen,” the natural offspring of Abraham, He declares to be the enemies of the gospel of Christ! But he states more. Though enemies they are “still His chosen people,” because of the covenant promises He made with their ancestors. Not only that, but God can never withdraw His initial choice of the Hebrew people. Honestly, all prejudices aside, if we don’t understand this fact about God, then we can’t understand who He really is, or what He plans to do. All the prophets, both major and minor, indicate that God will restore His people Israel unto Himself. If this is untrue, then it is up to the Gentiles to strategize their own way to the eternal kingdom.
Taken from the book Why Israel
- 3. Amos 3:2-7
- 4. Deuteronomy 4:26, 27
- 5. Deuteronomy 32:21
- 6. See Romans 10:19
- 7. Romans 9:4
- 8. Ephesians 2:11-13*
- 9. Romans 15:8-10
- 10. Mark 1:17
- 11. Ronald E. Diprose, Israel and the Church, pp. 16, 17.
- 12. Romans 9:6-8; see also Genesis 21:12
- 13. Galatians 3:22-29
- 14. Romans 11:2-8*; see also Isaiah 29:10
- 15. Romans 11:15; 25-27*. This is in keeping with Isaiah 59:20, 21 in which God promises to “buy back those in Israel.”
- 16. Romans 11:28, 29