Remnant of Israel
Romans 11:2-6
Remnant of Israel proves Gods Promise
Romans 11:1-10, I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3 “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? 4 But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. 7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.” 9 And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, A stumbling block and a recompense to them. 10 Let their eyes be
darkened, so that they do not see, And bow down their back always.” Bible makes it very clear that God can be trusted. God keeps His word. God speaks the truth and God keeps His Word. Is it true that because Israel has rejected the Messiah God has cancelled all His promises to them?
V1, I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Has God permanently set aside Israel because of their unbelief? Paul has been presenting justification by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has been giving this tremendous message in the book of Romans about salvation by grace through faith, justification through the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ.
If the Jews have rejected Christ, then aren't all the promises cancelled to them?
They have rejected Christ. They have been set aside from blessing. They have rejected the gospel. God knew that and God planned for that, that's all a part of His sovereign plan.
Has God cancelled His promises to Israel? “No” is the answer. Chapter 11 can be divided three ways to understand better.
1. Partial V 1-10
2. Temporary V 11-25
3. Purposeful V 26-36
The theme of the chapter is very clear. Israel will be restored, Israel will receive fully the promises. Their setting aside is only partial, not all of them. Only temporary, not permanent. Purposeful, it has a goal, it has an object, it has a reason.
1. Only partial. Not all Jews are set aside. In any generation from the time of Christ until the coming of Christ in His Second Coming and at any point in time we will find some Jewish converts, who have embraced the Saviour.
Precisely Paul's argument in verses 1 to 10. Paul gives us three indications that the setting aside of Israel is only partial.
- a) The writer.
- b) The remnant.
- c) The revelation.
- a) The writer.
V 1, I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. Are all Jews becoming victims of a comprehensive, sweeping totality of judgment that encompasses every Jewish offspring?
No, it can't be.
Why? Because Paul is saved, ➢ Paul is transformed. ➢ Paul belongs to God. ➢ Paul is come to the Messiah. ➢ Paul is in the kingdom. ➢ Paul is an Israelite. Though contemporarily the nation rejects, not all do because I don't. I am an Israelite. The unbelief of Israel, their rejection of Christ, their hatred of the gospel was never more demonstrated than by Paul.
If there ever was a hater of the gospel, it was Paul. Paul killed Christians. He was a blasphemer. He was injurious.
1 Timothy 1:13, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. He persecuted Christians.
- b) The remnant.
V 2, God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, He has not. He makes an emphatic statement. God has always had a faithful group of people in His nation.
It's never been the whole nation.
Romans 9:6, But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, It's always been selective.
It wasn't all the children of Abraham. Not the children of Ishmael but the children of Isaac. Jacob and Esau illustration. It wasn't the children of Esau but the children of Jacob. So, it never was all those out of the loins of Abraham, it was always selective.
Romans 9:27, Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved. It's always been a small group, always been a remnant.
Romans 9:29, And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.” Of course, were so totally sinful that they were destroyed. Always been a godly seed, a remnant.
Romans 2:28-29, For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God. A true Jew is one who is a Jew inwardly, whose heart is circumcised. Always been a remnant of true believers. Why should we say now that Israel is set apart and Israel is cast away because the nation in general rejected Christ?
It has always been a remnant. There was a remnant at the time of Christ that believed in Him, and they were led by the apostles. Except for a few times of great revival and times under the judges immediately after their great victories, Israel kept going into apostasy all throughout its history.
God says, "All day long have I stretched forth My hands to a disobedient and contrary people." Always only been a remnant. Even at the cross it was only a remnant, but God never said it would be other than that until ultimately all Israel shall be finally saved.
So, it's very important to understand the doctrine of the remnant.
Romans 9:27, Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea,
The remnant will be saved.
- The remnant concept of 9 is to show that not all Israel will be saved.
- Remnant concept of chapter 11 is to show that not all Israel will be lost.
God has not cancelled His promises to them, there will be a remnant. They all not all be lost. In chapter 9 they were saying, "if this is the truth, why doesn't all Israel believe?" Paul's answer to that is because there's only a remnant that believe. By God's design and plan.
Because only a remnant believes, does that mean God has cancelled the promises? No, because a remnant believes it shows He hasn't cancelled the promises. How do we illustrate this concept of a small group or a remnant? V 2, God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, Paul quotes Elijah, that great prophet of God, as his illustration of remnant truth.
This is what the Scripture tells us about Elijah.
What was the answer of God unto him?
V 4, But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Elijah didn't understand the doctrine of the remnant. God says, "No, I have seven thousand who haven't bowed the knee to Baal."There is always a remnant.
1 Kings 19. They were dark days in Israel, tragic days in Israel. Apostasy had taken over. A disastrous burden was wrought upon the people by a very vile, wretched, evil queen whose name was Jezebel. Jezebel was the queen of Israel and the priestess of Baal at the same time.
How did she get to be queen? She married Ahab. Ahab was the king of Israel. Ahab was in the line of the kings. He was a wretched king. He was an evil king. He did evil in the sight of God.
He married this wicked, Baal-worshiping priestess by the name of Jezebel. There are two names you will never find people using for their children: Judas and Jezebel. Elijah became the focal point of Jezebel's anger and hatred because he represented God. She despised that prophet of God, Elijah.
Elijah wanted to call the country back to God and so he said, "You are all out there worshiping Baal and I want to have a contest."
1 Kings 18:19, Now therefore, send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” She was feeding all these prophets. She was Satan's woman.
The reason Ahab married her from his viewpoint was he liked the way she looked, and he wanted to make some kind of political alliance. But from hell's viewpoint, she was in there to corrupt the nation.
She was there eating with 850 priests, infiltrated Israel, that got the people worshiping the Baal. Elijah calls for a confrontation of the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of idols and they come up to Mount Carmel.
And you remember the confrontation. Elijah says, now you prove that your god is God, you burn up this sacrifice. They had an altar there of stone and they had a sacrifice. All day long these priests cried out and screamed and cut themselves.
Elijah stood around saying, "maybe you better yell a little louder, he might be asleep."He taunted them, or, "Maybe he's on a vacation."Infuriated them. When it was all done and they had gone through all their histrionics, absolutely nothing happened.
Elijah called for water, and they drowned the whole thing and cried to God. God sent fire, burned up the water, burned up the altar, burned up the sacrifice and everything in sight. Elijah affirmed that God is God. That was a great victory.
1 Kings 18:39-40, Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!” 40 And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there. A massacre, about a thousand feet down to the foot of the mountain and he just massacred all these prophets. That was a great moment!
What Elijah expected? Immediate revival and immediate restoration to the worship of the true God. Elijah expected a national repentance. He expected everything to take place instantaneously. Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. How he had slain all the prophets with a sword.
Jezebel told by Ahab, what he's done.
1 Kings 19:2-3, Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” 3 And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and
went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. He ran all the way to Beersheba. Now this is an old man, and God never intended old prophets to run to Beersheba. It's hot down there. We have got a guy who is not afraid of 850 men, but one woman totally terrorizes the man.
Elijah was in the place of God's power. God used him to accomplish mighty things. But when he stepped out of that, he was just a normal person. He was just like anyone else, just as vulnerable, and just as weak. He ran for his life.
He was so despondent. Because he thought this great victory is going to bring a great revival and this is the start of a turning around of the people. He would have poured out his heart, won the greatest spiritual victory of his lifetime and he expected to see revival and he never saw it.
Elijah went a day's journey.
1 Kings 19:4, But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he prayed that he might die, and said, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” He was way out in the desert, already one day beyond Beersheba. He requested that he should die. Very depressed.
Then he prayed against his people.
1 Kings 19:10, So he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.”
- Nobody spiritual is left,
- Nobody cares anymore,
- They just murder the prophets,
- They tear down the altars, and
- They forsake the covenant.
1 Kings 19:14, And he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; because the children of Israel have
forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life.” Elijah was repeating himself with passion, with intensity. He prays that God would do something. He prays, as it were, against his people who are so apostate, so evil.
Paul picks up in Romans chapter 11 as his illustration of a man who needs to understand a remnant. V 3, “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”?
Romans 11:3 a paraphrase of 1 Kings 19:10 &14.
They have killed the prophets. They have torn down the altars. I am the only one left and They seek my life. Jezebel killed an awful lot of prophets.
1 Kings 18:4, For so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water.)
After the degeneracy and apostasy of the ten tribes and many altars were erected in secret locations by the faithful and used as places of worship. They were permitted by the prophets, apparently, but apostate haters of true worship destroyed them.
So, Elijah calls for judgment. He feels everything is over, everything is gone. He had just had a great victory that actually resulted in nothing happening that he could see in the nation.
What was God's answer? V 4, But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.
1 Kings 19:18, Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.” In Romans Paul quotes that passage, refers back to that passage. It is a quote out of the Greek text of Old Testament of 1 Kings, the Septuagint.
God rather has reserved seven thousand who have not bowed to Baal.
Elijah thought he was the only person left in the nation that was true to God. God says not so, there are seven thousand that I will protect because they have not gone into apostasy and idol worship. Baal is a term referring to the Phoenician deity called Baal. The Chaldeans called him Bel, that's why some of their kings were called Bel-Shazar and so forth.
Baal and Bel are associated with the female god Ashtaroth, with the Greek Astarte and with the Queen of Heaven and with Venus. So, Baal appears in all different kinds of pagan forms. Sometimes Baal appears male, sometimes female and that's consistent with the switching of gender among the false deities.
God says I have seven thousand that have not bowed their knee to Baal. “Reserved to Myself.” Sovereign preservation. Sovereign election. God always keeps a remnant. The nation may be apostate, God keeps a remnant.
In Elijah's time there were seven thousand in the remnant. In Isaiah's time there was a very small remnant. God says to Isaiah, "You go out and preach the message and know this, that their ears will be fat, their eyes will be blind, their minds will not understand but you preach anyway till all the cities are laid waste, until there is no inhabitants in the land.
Isaiah 6:11-13, Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered: “Until the cities are laid waste and without inhabitant, The houses are without a man, The land is utterly desolate, 12 The Lord has removed men far away, And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 But yet a tenth will be in it, And will return and be for consuming, As a terebinth tree or as an oak, Whose stump remains when it is cut down. So the holy seed shall be its stump.” Because when it's all said and done you will find a tenth and they will be a godly seed. In Elijah's time it was a remnant. In Isaiah's time it was remnant. In the captivity, when they were in Babylon, there was a small remnant.
The remnant was people like Daniel, Ezekiel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Mordecai, Esther, they were part of the
remnant in captivity, while the rest of the people were rejecting the truth of God. When they returned to the land, a remnant returned under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah. In Malachi's time, there was a remnant and that remnant sought to have their names written in God's book of remembrance.
Malachi 3:16, Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, And the Lord listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the Lord And who meditate on His name.
God had His remnant in Malachi's time. When Jesus came, the whole nation of Israel was apostate, but He had His remnant. His remnant was John the Baptist and his followers. His remnant was Anna. His remnant was Simeon, and those who looked for the redemption of Jerusalem.
There was always a remnant.
In Paul's time?
V 5, Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. Even in the time of Paul the whole of Israel hadn't rejected. There was a remnant. There were the apostles. There was the church at Jerusalem.
Three thousand people converted at the day of Pentecost. Thousands and thousands more in chapters 4 and 5. Acts chapter 8 they fill Jerusalem with their teaching. There are more and more Jews being converted, there was a remnant of tens of thousands of them.
By the time the apostle Paul penned the epistle to the Romans. There was even then a remnant of believing Jews, according to the election of grace. The church at Jerusalem was growing under the leadership of James. They even founded a church in Antioch. Then that church sent out apostles, Paul, and Barnabas to found churches all around the world.
Any city they went to the Jewish synagogue. Jews were being saved all around. So, there was a remnant according to the election of God's grace. Today, there is a remnant. There are believing Jews today. In the future there will be a remnant of believing Jews.
There will be those who reject the activity of Antichrist. There will be in the nation Israel believing Jews who will be converted. There will be the 144 thousand Jews sealed so that they cannot be killed and sent out as missionaries to reach the world with the gospel during the tribulation.
There will always be a remnant. There always has been a remnant. Ultimately Romans 11:26, "All Israel shall be saved." Finally, and ultimately God's going to save that nation. But until then it's always a remnant! The remnant says Paul is proof positive that God has not cancelled His promise to Israel.
He continues to perpetuate through the remnant a godly seed so that ultimately, He can redeem the whole nation.
God has set aside Israel, but only partially. There is always a remnant.
James 1:1, “a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting."
1 Peter 1:1, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, Jews who were scattered, who were sojourners, outside of their land, Peter wrote to them.
The book of Hebrews is written to the Jews, who believe in the Saviour. So says Paul, notice it in verse 5, at this present time there is a remnant. There is a remnant, a spiritual group, and a chosen group. They are saved not by their own will but by the will of God.
They are saved not because they chose God but because God chose them, and they responded in faith. They are saved because God elected them.
Were they elect because they were worthy?
No, it was the election of grace. God predetermined before the foundation of the world to choose some Jews on which to set His saving love and His saving blessing which would be His remnant. So they are elect, according to His grace, not of works lest any man should boast.
Salvation is as always, the election of grace. Unconditional, undeserved, unearned grace resulting from the sovereign free choice of God. So, all through history God has kept choosing out a remnant. V 6, And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
The election of grace is what chooses the remnant. If it's grace, then it's no more works. Otherwise, grace isn't grace if you earned it! Salvation is by grace. God's grace and man's works are mutually exclusive. God has a remnant according to grace.
Romans 5:2, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:20-21, Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul has been saying all along, salvation by grace.
It is true in the case of the remnant as well. Paul, who was a member of that remnant, gives his own testimony.
2 Timothy 1:9-10, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, 10 but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, If you are a Christian, it is because God chose you before the foundation of the world and it was made manifest in your lifetime.
The remnant is elected by grace, it is all of God's sovereign love, all of God's sovereign will, has nothing to do with human performance and that's what Paul is saying. God has elected His remnant. God has chosen His remnant in every time.
Romans 9:11, (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),
The salvation of the remnant, like the salvation of everyone else, is wholly based on God's free gift of sovereign grace. God chose a nation graciously, sovereignly. He determined by His own will to love that nation. Therefore, in every period of time out of that nation He determines to love a remnant of people.
Don’t be confused, that that choosing is not without the response of faith, but it is initiated by the sovereign choice of God. All men deserve death, none of us has a right to be saved, no Jew has a right to claim salvation, but God graciously grants it.
God is not finished with the Jews.
He is not cast off the nation of Israel, as Paul's conversion proves, verse 1. The remnant proves, verse 2 through 6. There always will be a faithful group. There always will be a believing remnant to fulfil the Word of God.
He continues to collect a remnant.
Has God cancelled His promises? No. The writer, The remnant proves it.
Conclusion
There are three different Hebrew expressions translated into the English "the apple of His eye."
Deuteronomy 32:10, “He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. In Hebrew, "little man of the eye."Israel is the little man of the eye. When you get close enough to someone to look right into their eye, you invariably see a reflection of yourself.
As you see a reflection of yourself in the eye, you see yourself reduced to a very small stature. One way that the Hebrews used to describe the pupil is little man of the eye. That is that part of the eye in which you appear to be very small by reflection.
The second Old Testament expression used in Scripture to be translated "the apple of His eye,"is in Psalm 17:8.
Psalm 17:8, Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of Your wings,
This expression, "the little daughter of the eye." For the women who also see themselves in someone else's eye as very small and miniature. So, both of those expressions describe that part of the eye in which there is a reflection of a person reduced to small size, or the pupil of the eye.
Zechariah 2:8, For thus says the Lord of hosts: “He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.
It is a completely different phrase which means "the gate of the eye."
The portion of the eye which allows the light to come in that visible part of the eye. Whether you are talking about the little man of the eye, the little daughter of the eye, or the gate of the eye which allows the light to go in, when you touch Israel, you poke your finger in God's eye.
You touch Him on that very sensitive spot. All those scriptures are making is that God cares for Israel, that Israel has a very unique relationship to God and when you touch Israel you irritate God in the most irritable part of a human anatomy that is exposed.
What does this say about God's relationship to Israel? They are very precious. The eye is something to be protected because it is very precious. No one cares to lose sight. It is a precious possession. To touch Israel then is to touch a very precious possession of God, which He values very highly, as you would value your own eye.
Israel is easily injured. Of all the parts of the human anatomy that are exposed, that are outwardly exposed, the eye is by far the most vulnerable and the most sensitive. Therefore, can be injured the most readily. So, Israel, as the apple of God's eye, is subject to injury rather easily.
Carefully protected. Of all the parts of the body it has the most natural protection. The eyelid is that which is designed to protect the eye. The eyelashes and the eyebrow, designed to protect dust from getting into the eye. The eyelid allows the system of washing to take place, to cleanse the eye and keep it clean. Even the bones around the eye are to protect it, placing it inward in a socket so that any blow is somewhat deflected by that which surrounds the eye.
So, when Zechariah or Deuteronomy 32 or Psalm 17 says Israel is the apple of God's eye, it is to say that Israel is very precious, very easily injured and very carefully protected by God. Anyone who affects Israel negatively, anyone who harms Israel is as it were poking a finger in the eye of God.
Psalm 105 speaking about God's covenant relationship to Israel.
Psalm 105:8-10, He remembers His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations, 9 The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac, 10 And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, 11 Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the allotment of your inheritance,” 12 When they were few in number, Indeed very few, and strangers in it. 13 When they went from one nation to another, From one kingdom to another people, 14 He permitted no one to do them wrong; Yes, He rebuked kings for their sakes, 15 Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”
The psalmist is saying is that when God called out Israel and established a covenant with them. He built into that covenant protection against Israel's injury and ultimate harm. So that they would not be wiped out and He could fulfil ultimately His promise to them.
So, Israel then is said to be the apple of His eye, is said to be His special anointed. "Touch not Mine anointed." Of all the nations, Israel is to be the unique recipient of divine blessing.
Israel then is the apple of God's eye. Israel is the anointed of God. Israel is by design the head of all nations in terms of special and unique blessing. Now in spite of all of these things and many other prophecies regarding Israel and many other statements of God regarding His special covenant with them, it is still the belief of many people that God has no plan for Israel, that there is no future for that people.
Many believe that God has completely forsaken His disobedient people, His Christ-rejecting people. He has set that nation aside. They are totally forever set aside, and God has cancelled all the national promises to Israel as a nation.
Romans chapter 11 that that is in fact not the case. A common view, that there is no future for Israel, that the church has taken the place of Israel and blessing is for us and the nation Israel has no debt owed to them by God at all because of their disobedience. Yet the Scripture makes it very clear that that is not the case.
Jeremiah 30:11, For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered
you, Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’ God says though I would destroy every nation in the earth to which you have been scattered, I would never ultimately and utterly destroy you. I will correct you and I will punish you, but I will not destroy you, again another confirmation of the fact that God still has a plan for Israel.