Romans: Chapter 11

Israel’s Future ~ God’s Sovereignty

God’s future plans focus on Israel! God’s entire plan for the earth will be implemented when Jesus comes back to rule the earth for 1,000 years!

11:1-2

Paul asked the question his readers might now ask: Has God now rejected Israel? He assures us absolutely not! He reminds us that he himself is an Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin, a descendant of Abraham. (2.) God has not rejected His people He had foreknown from before time began. God’s Sovereignty is once again shown. This Truth is ignored by those who claim the Church replaces Israel; that is a false and dangerous belief. Many refer to this as Replacement Theology. This information is given so that you can be discerning.

11:3-6

Elijah had pled with God, believing he was the last True Jew faithfully obeying God. (4.) Yet God assured Elijah that there were 7,000 faithful Jews who had not bowed down to Baal. (5.) Even as it was then, so it is today, there is always a remnant of True Faithful believers; this remnant are those who accept God’s Mercy and Grace and appropriate it to their lives. (6.) It is always Grace, never works, that bring us to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. If our salvation depended on us it would not be Grace! We should be eternally thankful that our salvation does not depend on us; because we would fail!

11:7-8

We learn that the ‘chosen’ are those who respond in obedient Faith to God’s Truth. Notice that our Faith is determined by our Obedience. Faith and Obedience go hand in hand. If we are not obedient, we are not exercising our Faith. Anyone who does not respond in Faith is allowing themselves to be blinded! Blinded by whom? The evil one, Satan. (8.) The Scripture foretold that the unbelievers would have a spirit, or attitude, of stupor. Even though they have eyes and ears, they would not be able to see, or understand, or hear, and comprehend. This ‘blindness’ has continued down to our day. The Jews are blinded to the truth that Jesus is their Messiah!

11:9-10

King David foretold that the feasting would become a trap and a just retribution coming back upon them. Their eyes would be blinded to the Truth, and they would suffer under their burdens because of their inability to see the Truth. Truth matters! Remember, anything not of the Truth, is a LIE! Living outside of the Truth, is living outside of Reality. The Truth is this: NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER, EXCEPT THROUGH JESUS! The father of lies is Satan; as he does not want those who are lost and dying to see and accept the Truth of Jesus as Lord, God and Savior. Do you have a heart for the lost? Do you seek to share the Truth with those who are dying? You should! Think about it, others, including Paul, had a heart for YOUR Salvation; otherwise you and I would still be lost and dying, doomed to hell.

11:11-12

Although Jews have stumbled over the Rock of Jesus, they will not all fall. Through their stumbling, we, the Gentiles have become believers. This, in turn, is meant to make the Jews jealous, to see what they have lost. (12.) So this falling away of the Jews has had the blessed result of bringing the riches of the gospel of salvation to the Gentiles. Think how much richer we will all be when the Jews are brought to the Truth and reinstated!

11:13-15

Now Paul specifically states that he is speaking directly to us Gentiles; acknowledging that God had sent him to be an apostle to the Gentiles. (14.) He, Paul, still hopes to stir up some of the Jews to recognize what they have lost and encourage them to seek their Messiah and yet be saved. (15.) Since the Jew’s rejection of Jesus has allowed the World to be reconciled to God; how much more of a blessing will it be when they accept Jesus as Messiah; It will be like returning from the dead. Remember, Jesus did NOT come to make bad men good; He came to make DEAD MEN ALIVE!

11:16-17

The First Fruits are holy ~ Jesus is the First Fruit~ then the entire nation of Israel will be made holy; this will occur only when they accept Jesus. The root of Abraham is consecrated; true Biblical Judaism; and those branches that are broken off are the unholy (non-fruit bearing) branches. As they are cut off, the ones that are grafted onto the root are also considered holy. Those grafted in are the True Faithful, obedient believers, who produce Eternal fruit. So we are grafted into the root of True Biblical Judaism. Christians are True Biblical Believers, who accept Jesus as their Messiah; Savior and Lord.

11:18-20

So, you who are grafted into the root may not brag; remember, you did not save yourself, it is the ‘root of God’, Jesus, who supports you, you do not support yourself. (19. – 20.) There is no arrogance or bragging allowed, as the Jews were cut off because of their unbelief. You are grafted into Christ Jesus because you do believe. Yet, that Faith to believe is a gift of God. So True believers must remain humble and stand in awe of what God has done for them.

11:21-23

Remember if God did not spare His Chosen People, and cut them off because of unbelief; He could also cut off you for the same reason. (22.) Therefore, you who have received God’s gracious kindness, must show appreciation and continue in His Grace and abide in Him, by your Faithful obedience; otherwise, you will be severely pruned. (23.) Even the fallen branches, the Jews, if they chose to believe; God has the power to graft them back into the Root ~ the Body of Christ. We see this very thing happening in our day; Messianic Jews becoming part of the Body of Christ! How exciting, pray for all Jews to accept their Messiah, Yeshua!

11:24

Think about it, if you, who were from the ‘wild Gentiles’, can be grafted into the True Olive Tree, how much easier will it be for God to graft the natural Jews back into their own Olive Tree. The Olive Tree represents True Biblical Judaism, and those who become part of the True Root, Jesus, or Yeshua, in Hebrew; are the true Believers.

11:25

Since I do not want you to be wise in your own conceit; I tell you a hidden Truth and Mystery: The hardening and insensibility of Israel has temporarily befallen a part of the Jews until the full number of the ingathering of the Gentiles has been completed; ~ This means there is a specific number of Gentile Believers who must be saved ~ There are many other scriptures that allude to this Mystery of the “Fullness of the Gentiles” Notice that this is not the same as the TIME of the Gentiles. The Fullness refers to the Gentiles who are the Body of Christ, His Church. Once this Fullness is completed; according to scriptures, then the Rapture occurs!

11:26-27

And then all Israel will be saved. The Deliverer will come from Zion and He ~Yeshua -Jesus~ will remove all ungodliness from the Jews. Most believe that this will happen at the end of the 3 ½ year Tribulation period. Remember, the first 3 ½ years are a time of false peace, then the antichrist demands worship and then the worst and final Tribulation occurs. That horrible Tribulation will take the lives of 2 of every 3 Jews on the earth. The Holocaust took 1 of every 3 Jews on earth. The final Tribulation will be so horrible millions and millions of people will perish. Note the second portion of Isaiah 61:2 “…and the day of vengeance of Our God, to comfort all who mourn.” Do we realize that God will take VENGEANCE on evil unbelievers? Lots of scriptures point to this time: Isaiah 59:20-21; Zechariah 13; 1, 6, 8-9; 14:1-14, Jeremiah 31:33-34, Revelation and others. (27.) This will be My Covenant Agreement with them when I take away their sins. Note that Jews MUST accept Yeshua, (Jesus) as their Messiah for the forgiveness of their sins.

11:28

From the point of view of the Gospel, The Jews, at present, are enemies of God; which is for your ~ you Gentile Believers~ advantage and benefit. But from God’s point of view, they, the Jews are still the beloved chosen people and are dear to Him for the sake of their forefathers. God has promised that the Jews would always be His chosen people, despite their unbelief. Thus He will bring them into His Kingdom. This will be His earthly Kingdom, known as the Mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven. This Kingdom will be the Millennial Kingdom on earth.

11:29

God’s promise to the Jews is irrevocable. God never withdraws His promises once they are given, and God does not ‘change His mind’ about those to whom He gives His Grace, or to whom He sends His call. Knowing this Eternal Truth, we need to look at the Mysteries involved in His Promises:

1. The Kingdom of God: This is Everything God has created ~ the entire Universe.
2. The Kingdom of Heaven: This is the earthly Kingdom, to be fulfilled during the millennium. When we pray “Thy Kingdom Come” It is the earthly Kingdom Jesus will rule that we are praying for.
3. The Incarnation of God ~ Jesus, becoming fully human, and yet remaining fully God.
4. The Blindness of Israel ~ this is temporary and will be removed when they cry out and acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah and Lord. (Tribulation period)
5. Salvation by Faith alone. No works matter, or are allowed!
6. Gentiles to be fellow heirs with Christ! The Holy Spirit actually indwells us; Sanctification makes us fellow Heirs with Jesus. (Our Faith based works count for this)
7. Mystery of the Seven Churches ~ Revelation; there are four levels of meaning to this Truth: Historically; Prophecy of future of all churches; reflects type of church; reflects our hearts.
8. Mystery of the Rapture of the Body of Christ, known as the Church.
9. Mystery of the Bride of Christ ~ called from the Body of Christ ~ these are the faithful Overcomers.
10. Mystery of Iniquity; wickedness gets worse and worse, unbelievable horror.
11. Mystery Babylon; woman who rides the Beast.
12. Mystery of the Consummation ~ All True Believers will all be gathered together in unison with Christ. This gathering together is so Jesus may present us to His Father!

11:30-32

We, as Believers, were once disobedient and rebellious toward God, but now have obtained God’s Mercy and Grace through, or because of, their disobedience. Even so, they are disobedient, so that one day they may turn to the same mercy we are enjoying, and receive Mercy and Grace; and share that same Mercy and Grace through us, as the messengers of the Gospel. (32.) God has allowed all of us the freedom to be disobedient, so that He may have mercy on us all.

11:33-35

God’s ways are beyond what we can possibly ever understand or comprehend. Paul simply tells us that the depth of the riches, wisdom and knowledge of God are unfathomable and unsearchable. His judgments and decisions are beyond our capability to discern. His methods and eternal plans are mysterious and undiscoverable. (34.) These quotations from Isaiah 40:13; Jeremiah 23:18, are to remind us that we cannot ever know the mind of the Lord, nor ever tell Him what to do; that is, to be His counselor. Ever try to tell God what you want done? (35.) What have you FIRST given God, before He gave you life and existence? That’s right, absolutely NOTHING! We have given God nothing that He hasn’t already given us!

11:36

EVERYTHING in all the universe, both physical and spiritual, were created by God for His Eternal Glory. This is so difficult to grasp because we are finite and operate in time within the physical realm and God is infinite, outside of time and is spiritual. That alone should humble us and cause us to Trust Him no matter what. God’s Truth is Eternal; and His Word never fails. Our reward for being diligent and searching His Word; is we now know how to obey Him; and in obeying Him, we become like Jesus! Notice the progression. The Truth is this: we become like the one we Worship; True Worship means we obey Him. Sanctification is God’s Grace transforming us, day by day, to become the person Jesus meant us to become. So, in order to truly Worship God, we must obey Him! Those who ‘claim’ to worship God on Sunday, or any other time, yet do NOT OBEY HIM, are blaspheming God! God tells us that we think we are honoring God with our words, (and singing), yet our hearts are far from Him, and He HATES IT! See Isaiah 29:13, Matthew 15:7-9, Luke 16:15, Acts 1:24, etc. As we become the unique person God meant us to be, through obedience, we Glorify, Honor and Praise God! This is TRUE WORSHIP! If these Truths don’t excite you, you need to prayerfully read it again and study and pray to understand what God is revealing to you! Alleluia, Praise God!

Everything God does, and allows, in your life is designed and meant to bring you closer to Him. That closeness, or oneness, it meant to transform you into the perfect person you were meant to be! That’s correct; God meant you to become a perfect person; in the image and likeness of His Beloved Son, Yeshua ~ Jesus! So, secretly, would you like to be perfect? Be honest, we all would! So, Your perfect identity, and future; as well as Israel’s, is promised by the very Word of God!