Last week, we established that God could not ever turn His back on Israel. We ended our journey in Hosea last week, and in that book, we are reminded that even though Israel has prostituted herself with other gods, they are still loved by God, and one day He will redeem them. God put Israel back in the Promised Land in May 1948, and they will not be moved again. In fact, Jesus will come and reign from Jerusalem itself. But as yet, there is a wall between them and God, a roadblock that hampers them, and that roadblock is Jesus. So, this week we will take a look at the issue at hand.

Vs 1-3, there is a zeal for God; this is the problem with a lot of religions. They have a seal for God, but they want to do it their way. SDA churches, Mormons, Catholics, Church of England and others all have a zeal for God. But sadly, the zeal is not according to knowledge. When we meet Paul in Acts 9, he too had a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge; Paul is the human picture of Israel the nation. But as we know, Paul was saved, and so too will Israel be one day.

Vs 8-13, we will see that there is a huge difference between those with religion and those in relationship with God. There are those with zeal who are trying to work their way to Heaven. Entering into the abyss or heaven refers to those that would do all kinds of grandiose things to be saved. Some, like the Seventh Day Adventists, want to be Jews. They observe Sabbaths and all the rules they think, but obviously ignore others. They are sure that keeping the Law will get them to Heaven. The Jews are the same to this day.

Even in the days when Jesus walked the earth, their big thing was ‘we are children of Abraham.’ Jesus kept telling them, and He is still telling them that salvation is by faith only. We need to stop, and the Jews as well need to stop trying to buy God’s favor. Once we get to the end of our works, then end of our efforts, then we see that we need to simply fall on God’s mercy and grace. Faith in the person and work of Jesus is all, and the only way of salvation. Some folks would rather work to go the Hell than trust Jesus and go to Heaven.

Once Paul became a believer in Jesus, he immediately began to preach Jesus to others, Acts 9: 20-22. One of the greatest signs that you are saved is the desire to share the Good News with others. You desire to share that Jesus is God, and you want to help others know about what you have as well. It is hard to keep it inside. One day soon, the Jews, as recorded in the Revelation, will be our calling other Jews to Jesus. Sadly, for now, the Jews are still blind. We are promised in Zechariah 12:10-13 that one day soon they will see and recognize Jesus. They will cry out to Him and weep over Him.

There are ministries like ‘Jews for Jesus’ that actively pursue Jews with the Gospel. God is calling still, reaching out still, and like He promises in 2 Peter 3:9, He is patient and wants all, not only Jews, to repent.

seangooding@yahoo.ca

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario

It would appear that Paul, as he is led by the Holy Spirit, makes a sharp turn here. Go and read Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore…” This beseeching can flow naturally from the end of Romans 8 into Romans 12. But Paul makes a clear and deliberate turn from the flow; for the next 3 chapters, he focuses on God and Israel, and he answers the question of ‘Is God done with Israel?’ The emphatic answer is ‘No, He is not!’ But Paul will help us to see that as we journey through chapters 9-11.

There is a heresy in many local churches and denominations that says that God has replaced Israel with the church. We are about to find out that this is not true and simply not possible. Come with me for the journey.

Verses 1-5: Paul wishes that he could be accursed – go to Hell – if this would bring Israel to salvation. If we go back to Exodus 32:32, we will find a similar spirit in Moses as he asked God to curse him and save Israel. We can see, and we are reminded that the very core of the Gospel is a Jewish one. Jesus is a Jew, the King of the Jews; Abraham was a Jew; the life of Jesus was lived in Jerusalem; the vast majority of the Bible writers are Jews; Jesus is coming back to live in Jerusalem and rule the world from Jerusalem. It would seem that if God were done with the Jews, there would be some issues in Jesus’ return and subsequent kingdom reign.

Verses 6-13: There are a lot of Jews, descendants of Abraham, that are not the chosen. Abraham, we can recall, had a son with Hagar (Ishmael), then he had a son with Sarah (Isaac). Then, after Sarah died, he married Keturah, and with her he had 6 other sons and daughters (Genesis 25). So, there are descendants of Abraham that are not the sons of the promise. Even in the sons of Isaac, Esau and Jacob, there are children of Esau that are not children of the promise. Only the children of Jacob are the children of the promise. So yes, there are many ‘Jewish’ people that are not children of the promise.

Some will say that Israel has been unfaithful to God and that, as such, their sins are so evil that God has rejected them. God dealt with this in the book of Hosea; Paul recalls this in Romans 9: 25-26. In this prophetic book, God tells the prophet to marry a ‘harlot,’ a prostitute. He knew what kind of woman he was marrying, as did God when He called Israel his own. After he has children with the harlot, she leaves Hosea and finds another man, picturing the way that Israel would follow after other gods. Then, in Hosea 3:1-3, God once again tells Hosea to go and get his wife back from the other man. In verse 2, he buys her back, and in verse 3, Hosea tells his harlot wife that ‘she will not play the harlot, not have another man.’

One day God will redeem Israel, and she will remain with God forever. Paul then points out in Romans 9:27-29 that the prophet Isaiah makes it clear that God will have a remnant in Israel. He will not allow them to be totally destroyed.

Paul reminds us in verse 30 that we Gentiles figured out that salvation is by faith, and many of the Jews are still trying to keep the law and earn God’s favor. The law is still a stumbling stone with the Jews, and it blinds them to Jesus.

I see countless interviews with devout Jews; they simply cannot see Jesus in the Old Testament, and they refuse to read the New Testament. Jesus is that ‘stumbling block’ in Romans 9:33; He tripped up the Jews when He faced them on Earth in Jerusalem. They could not see that He was and is God; they thought they could shut up Jesus by killing Him. But His resurrection caused such a boldness in His followers that the very first converts, the first huge revival, was right there in Israel on the Day of Pentecost.

The Jews shipped the Gospel all over the world from Jerusalem. So, no, God is not done with Israel. We will explore this more over the next couple of weeks.

seangooding@yahoo.ca

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario