Salvation of Israel

இஸ்ரவேலின் இரட்சிப்பு

Abraham David John • 26 July 2023

Romans 11:15-29

Salvation of Israel.

Romans 11:25-29, For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; ²⁷ For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” ²⁸ Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

There is no better proof of the faithfulness of God than the redemptive history of Israel. No single thing more demonstrates God's faithfulness to His promise than His unfailing love for the nation Israel! A nation which in fact did everything to negate those promises, everything to violate that love. Still God is true to His promise and true to His love, unchangingly and unwaveringly.

In spite of their sin, rejection, and unbelief, there is still a place for the nation Israel in the plan of God. That is the reality of Romans chapters 9, 10 and 11. Paul has been dealing with the place of Israel in the saving plan of God. He has been answering the questions.

If the gospel is true and the Jews have rejected it, aren't they permanently set aside from God's plan? Romans chapter 9 "The rejection of Israel is true but not contrary to God's plan." Romans chapter 10 Israel's rejection was due to their own unbelief. They were set aside because they were disobedient.

Romans chapter 11. Through the blindness of Israel, through the hardness of the hearts of Israel, through their rejection of Jesus Christ, God is working out a marvellous plan which will lead to the salvation of Gentiles. Ultimately to the salvation of the Jews. Finally to the blessing of the world in the millennial kingdom.

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

Israel will be restored, Israel will receive fully the promises. 1. Only partial. Not all Jews are set aside. Paul gives us three indications that the setting aside of Israel is only partial.

a) The writer.
b) The remnant.
c) The revelation.

2. Temporary

a. Purpose,
b. Forewarning,
c. Promise.
a) Purpose

i. Gentile salvation. V 11, I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. God even overruled the Jewish unbelief.

ii. Jewish jealousy. "To provoke the Jews to jealousy." When the Jews stumbled the purpose in God allowing them to stumble was not to destroy them forever, but to bring about Gentile salvation, which would in turn provoke them to jealousy that they too might be saved.

iii. World blessing. V 12, Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! If a negative can produce such results, what can a positive produce? Paul says they did not stumble that they should permanently be destroyed, they stumbled for three reasons,

Gentile salvation which provokes,
Jewish jealousy and
brings world blessing.
b) Forewarning.

If one portion of the Jewish people are consecrated to the Lord, then all the rest must be also. God said, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob"due to that consecration He has in them consecrated the whole. If God has set apart the patriarchs as the first fruit of the root, then He has also set apart the lump and the branches. The final restoration of Israel is guaranteed by the consecrating love of God for Abraham. It is implied in God's love of Abraham and His setting Abraham apart as a covenant progenitor.

Gentiles are going to get the same thing Jews got. The only people who maintain their place in the trunk of blessing are the faithful Jew and Gentile, the physical and the spiritual seed of Abraham. So, the blindness of Israel is only temporary, and it has a definite purpose and a definite warning.

c) Promise.

V 25, For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

3. Purposeful.

Israel has been set aside for the time being because of unbelief,
Ignorant of the righteousness of God,
Ignoring the grace of God,
Rejecting the Messiah of God, and
Misunderstanding the law of God.

But their setting aside was only partial, temporary, and purposeful. The setting aside of the nation Israel had a great purpose. God worked it to the ultimate blessing of the world. Even that had a purpose, and the purpose is for the glory of God.

V 36, For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Paul brings to this pinnacle of the entire passage on the salvation of Israel. Apostle Paul has been taking us to the place where we would recognize that the purpose of God in salvation of Israel and the Gentiles is His own glory.

We are reminded of an essential reality. ✓ The goal of everything that happens in the universe is the glory of God. ✓ The reason God set out to redeem man, both Jew and Gentile, and to bring the kingdom that He promised was that He might be glorified.

✓ The ultimate purpose is not salvation that is only a means to the ultimate purpose, which is the glory of God. ✓ The ultimate purpose is not the bringing in of the nation Israel that is a means to the glory of God. ✓ It is not Gentiles come together in the church that is a means to the glory of God.

✓ The ultimate end of God's redemptive plan is not the glory of His eternal kingdom that is only a means to His glory. ✓ God’s glory is the mysterious, awesome, wonderful, and all-surpassing reason for everything.

Psalm 19:1, The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Isaiah 43:20-21, The beast of the field will honour Me, The jackals and the ostriches, Because I give waters in the wilderness And rivers in the desert, To give drink to My people, My chosen. ²¹ This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise. All that is created in the universe is for the glory of God. Even the beasts of the field are for the glory of God.

When the angelic hosts stood outside the place of the birth of the Saviour on a Bethlehem hillside and made their great announcement, they gave glory to God in the highest.

Luke 2:13-14, And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

1 Corinthians 10:31, Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

The surpassing purpose in everything is God's glory.

Romans an outline of the doctrine of redemption and how it relates to the Jew and the Gentile. "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." Westminster Catechism.

What does it mean to glorify God? There are two aspects of God's glory.

a) God’s intrinsic/nature glory.

This glory, which is His own by nature, that which belongs to Him.

Acts 7:2, And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran,

Isaiah 6:3, And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” He is called the God of glory.

Exodus 33:18-19, And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be

gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” Moses said, "Show me Thy glory” and He said, I will let My goodness and mercy and kindness, and so forth, pass before you. His glory is that intrinsic holy character.

His glory could be equal to His attributes, to His nature. It is the very essence of who God is. He is glorious. A man's honour could be taken from him. Simple way to illustrate it would be to say that naked a king and a beggar are indistinguishable, because a king's glory can be taken from him.

But God has a glory that cannot be stripped and so at all times He is the ever-glorious God. It is His essential being. We can't add to it and We can't diminish it. But we must recognize it. Give glory to God. It doesn't mean add to His attributes, it means recognize them.

b) God’s extrinsic/image of glory. ➢ it is that we are recognizing it. ➢ It is that we are affirming it. ➢ It is that we are praising it.

That is the honour which we give Him for His intrinsic worth. When we glorify God, it isn't that we are adding to His character, Scripture is filled with passages.

1 Chronicles 16:7-36

There is a command repeatedly to "Give glory unto the Lord." One of a myriad of passages that call us to the same thing, and in those cases, we are to give honour to the one who intrinsically is worthy of our honour, of our praise.

Man's chief duty indeed is to recognize the infinite holy majesty of God and to praise Him in everything. Instead, so much of the time we question Him, pull Him down to our level and make demands on Him. But we are called to glorify Him.

Not to glorify God is the single greatest crime in the universe.

➢ Hell is filled with beings who did basically one thing wrong that is they failed to glorify God. ➢ Heaven will be filled eternally with beings who gave glory to God.

Romans 1:18-21, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹ because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, ²¹ because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. God's condemning judgment falls on those who fail to give Him glory.

Jeremiah 13:11, For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’ Give glory to God or else you will be judged.

In Daniel chapter 4 Nebuchadnezzar, failed to give God the glory and decided that he would take it for himself. God turned him for seven years into a raving maniac whose nails grew like bird's claws. He lived out in the wild and was covered with the dew that covered the ground. Not until he came to his senses and recognized that the Lord of glory controls everything did God give him back his sanity.

In Acts chapter 12 Herod decided to declare his own glory. God smote him and he was eaten by worms and died because he gave not God the glory. All throughout redemptive history God has called for men and women to give Him honour, to give Him praise, to give Him glory, to ascribe to Him the worth, the value, and the honour which He intrinsically is due as an infinitely holy and majestic God.

So, the purpose of all things, the universe, angels, men, creatures, Scripture, life, death, heaven, hell, all of it is for the glory of God.

Ephesians 3:21, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Everything that God has ever done is to bring Him glory, to bring Him honour. This is especially true of His work with Israel.

The reason God will ultimately redeem Israel is the same reason He redeems us so that we might be to the praise of His glory.

Isaiah 43:21, "This people have I formed for Myself they will show forth My praise." That is His redemptive purpose. Paul calling us to glory for God, who is worthy. The whole amazing redemptive plan was to bring us to the point of giving

God glory. Now Paul has talked about so many things, but he now is going to narrow down into his conclusion. He wants us to glorify God. So, in order to do that he focuses on the character of God and gives us four attributes of God at the conclusion of this section.

1. God's sovereignty, 2. God's integrity,

3. God's generosity, and

4. God's incomprehensibility. Instead of questioning God and His plan for Israel and setting aside, we are to glorify God for the manifestation of His glory in His redemptive plan.

1. God's sovereignty

Paul has been talking about the fact that Israel was set aside, and Gentiles were grafted in to the tree of blessing. But Gentiles, that is the church, better not be proud, and not look down on Jews. It is a warning against Gentile pride and anti- Semitism.

The warning is given because the day is coming when Israel is going to be back in the place of blessing and the church is going to be cut off. We have not been grafted in because we are better than Jews, but because we have believed, and they have not believed.

But the day is going to come when the church ceases to believe and the apostate church will be cut off and Jews will believe, and Israel will be grafted back in. V 22-24 warned against pride and despising of the nation Israel and the Jews. We need to be reminded then that blindness in

part is happened to Israel only until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. God is not finished with that people. It's only until a certain event takes place. We are not to be ignorant of that. Romans chapter 9, he was full of sorrow and heaviness of heart.

Romans chapter 10 he was talking about the great zeal that he had for the salvation of Israel. Romans chapter 11 Paul with great joy has now arrived at the moment where he will present the single, most hopeful truth that he carried in his heart.

It has been a mystery. "I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery." This has been hidden in the past.

What is a mystery? Something hidden in the past and now revealed. Don't be ignorant of it. Certainly, don't be foolishly wise in your own conceit. Thinking too highly of yourselves.

Making an undue estimate of your knowledge and importance not based on fact but based on your own self-conceit thinking "know-it-all." This mystery God will reveal and don’t be ignorant of it.

Romans 16:25-27, Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began ²⁶ but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith— ²⁷ to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. A mystery is something that's been hidden in the past and is now revealed in the Scripture.

What was hidden in the past was that Israel would be set aside, cut off from blessing, Gentiles grafted in, ultimately Gentiles cut off, and Israel grafted back into the place of blessing. That mystery we are not to be ignorant of.

That mystery has now been revealed through the apostle Paul.

What is the mystery specifically? Two-part mystery.

Blindness in part is happened to Israel. The mystery is that the Jews would not believe. The word "blindness,"by the way, is really the word "hardened."It's the word hardened, resistant. Blindness "in part"was partial. The nation was partly blind, that is, there were some who were not blind. There was always a believing remnant.

It is temporary. Until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. "Until"indicates time. "Fullness"indicates number of completions. It is only temporary. So, the mystery was that Israel was set aside partially and temporarily.

The Jew in the Old Testament never saw that. They saw the nation Israel going along as the blessed people of God and someday the Messiah would come and establish His kingdom. They didn't see their total rejection and their being cut off the place of blessing and a new country or a new nation or a new people being grafted in. The church becoming the source of witness in the world.

The Jews being cut off by apostasy and being grafted back in when the fullness of the Gentiles had come in. This is the mystery that Paul is unfolding.

What the fullness of the Gentiles? This is the standard term for entering the kingdom. It is for those who enter in through the narrow gate. The Jews are partially set aside until the time when the number of Gentiles is complete that is intended to enter the kingdom.

Jewish unbelief will last only until that time when the complete number of Gentiles who are entering the kingdom have come to know the Lord, the number of completions.

Romans 15:16, that I might be a minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Paul saw himself like a priest gathering the Gentiles to offer them up to God. When that collection of Gentiles is complete, when the fullness of the Gentiles has entered into the kingdom and God will gather together the Gentile church to Himself and set out then to graft Israel back in.

The great event of the rapture of the church, where the Gentile fullness has arrived. They are embraced to offer up to God as that full and final sacrifice. Brought into His presence and then comes His work with the redemption of Israel.

So, the fullness of the Gentiles, that great event will signal the beginning of God redeeming Israel. This is the mystery that Israel would be set aside partially and temporarily until God turns to redeem His people.

Romans 11:12, Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

The fullness of the Gentiles, that is when the full number of Gentiles are redeemed will bring the salvation of Israel. The fullness of Israel will bring the kingdom. We have the fullness of the Gentiles and then they are raptured out. God redeems Israel and when the fullness of Israel is redeemed, the kingdom comes.

With great joy Paul does predict that this tremendous event will bring about all Israel shall be saved, after the fullness of the Gentiles have entered in.

Acts 15:12, Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders

God had worked through them among the Gentiles. ¹³ And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, “Men and brethren, listen to me: ¹⁴ Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. ¹⁵ And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: ¹⁶ ‘After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; ¹⁷ So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who does all these things.’

So first there is the gathering out of the Gentiles. Then there is the redeeming of the Jews. Then there is the glory of the kingdom. As it is seen in the New Testament and by the prophets even of the Old Testament, as we find from that testimony of Peter.

V 26, And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; There is no way to interpret that other than as the nation Israel will be redeemed. It cannot refer to a Jewish remnant.

It is set in contrast to the doctrine of the remnant, which has already been given. Paul confirms that there has always been a remnant and there's always been a group of Jews redeemed but someday the nation will be redeemed.

Any other viewpoint does terrible injustice to the text. The time will come when all the nation, not just some elect Jews from a future remnant, but all. The nation itself will be grafted back in. When we say "all"we mean the nation Israel, but that does not mean every single individual Jew alive at that time will be saved.

There will be some rejecters. But the great mass of them will believe and the small group will be those who refuse to believe. We know that because of the prophecy of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 20:33-38, “As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will rule over you. 34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with fury

poured out. ³⁵ And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face. ³⁶ Just as I pleaded My case with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will plead My case with you,”

says the Lord God. ³⁷ “I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; ³⁸ I will purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the country where they dwell, but they shall not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

So, in that day when God reaches out to redeem His re-gathered people, everyone will pass under the rod. The vast majority will believe and embrace the Messiah and be saved. But the rebels there will be, and they will be purged out. At the time of the salvation of the nation Israel in general is indeed coming to pass. It must be so.

It is the promise of Jeremiah in those great passages where he speaks of the new covenant.

Jeremiah 31:31-34, “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My

covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. ³³ But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴ No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

God is going to make a covenant with them that isn't going to be like the last one which they broke. It isn't going to be with the remnant, but with the nation, the covenant. The New covenant and it was made to Israel. You cannot bypass the fact doctrinally that ultimately God will redeem the nation, Israel. Not just a Jewish remnant, not just the church who are the spiritual seed of Abraham, but the nation itself. So promises the Word of God.

Jeremiah 32:38-40, They shall be My people, and I will be their God; 39 then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. 40 And I will make an everlasting covenant with

them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. The difference between the new covenant and the old is the old was on the outside the new is on the inside. It is salvation.

God will redeem the nation. God will bring them to the place of blessing promised to them in the Old Testament scriptures. The Old Testament prophecies that cause us to believe that there must be in the future salvation to the nation Israel.

Anything else does not do justice to the biblical text. It is a major Old and New Testament theme. Now the purpose of all of this is to put God's sovereignty on display. God controls history. This is the evidence of His sovereignty.

Sovereignty means to be in control, to be in charge. Human history is moving unwaveringly and inexorably on a track that God has established. The nation of Israel are already there in the land, gathered together as a nation. While all of their neighbours have

centuries ago passed from human history, they still remain, the pure stock of Abraham. God has kept them because He is not through with them. He controls history in every detail at every juncture at every point, moving to work out His sovereign will with infinite power.

Paul helps us to see that Israel is going to be saved and in so seeing that to know that God is the sovereign controller of history. What a comforting thing that is and what cause it is to give Him glory. ✓ God is no victim.

✓ God is not reacting to man's acts. ✓ God is not adjusting to what happens in the world. ✓ God is not replanting and tearing up the old drawings. ✓ God is controlling history. He is the sovereign God. Understanding of God's sovereignty in regard to the salvation of Israel which He is working to perfect, that causes the apostle to cry, "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God."

What an infinite mind to control history to this end.

2. God's integrity. In saving Israel God reveals Himself to be a God who keeps His promises. God who keeps His promises.

Hebrews 10:23, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

2 Peter 3:9, The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward [c]us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. God's promises have not been cancelled. Has God cancelled those promises given in Jeremiah 31:32,

Isaiah 62 etc? Those promises given to the people have been cancelled. "I am the Lord, I change not." Paul called Him the God who cannot lie. To demonstrate the integrity of God.

V 26, And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; Paul again goes back to the Old Testament for support. Refers to Isaiah 59:20-21, “The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,”

Says the Lord. ²¹ “As for Me,” says the Lord, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the Lord, “from this time and forevermore.”

The promise of Isaiah 59:20-21 is that God is going to save Israel. He is going to turn away ungodliness or lawlessness. He is going to take away their sin.

Isaiah 27:9, Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered; And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: When he makes all the stones of the altar Like chalkstones that are beaten to dust, Wooden images and incense altars shall not stand.

Israel's salvation is an absolute necessity as a nation. They are designated as a nation, as Jacob or as Israel. It is an absolute necessity because God promised it. How can we glorify a God who doesn't keep His word? No, God is a God of integrity.

V 27, For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” God makes a promise, He keeps it. This promise is unconditional. Genesis 15. God makes a covenant not like any other covenant, very unique. God says to Abraham, "Get the animals and you lay them on the ground. Cut all the animals half of each on this and that side."

Cut all the animals in half, don't cut the birds. God then gave to Abraham a divine aesthetic and knocked him out and he went to sleep. Abraham fell into a deep sleep and the Lord Himself like a smoking lamp and a burning furnace passed between those pieces.

If you know anything about the culture of the time of Abraham, covenants were cut by blood. When you make a promise to

someone you cut an animal in half and you walked together between the pieces of the animal, that is, you were cutting a covenant by blood and swearing to each other to keep your promise. When God set to make His covenant, He didn't let Abraham go between the pieces. God put him to sleep and went through alone because God was making a covenant not dependent on Abraham.

But a covenant dependent on His own unchangeable nature. ✓ When God set out to redeem Israel, it was to fulfil the covenant which He made with Himself. ✓ When God makes a covenant with God, nobody's going to break it. The redemption of Israel is based upon an unconditional covenant that He would bless the people who came out of the loins of Abraham. Abrahamic covenant eventually passed into the new covenant which is equally unconditional and based upon the sovereign purpose and promise of eternal God Himself, who is unwavering in His ability to keep His promise.

Numbers 23:19, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

V 28-29, Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. ²⁹ For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. The Jews are enemies of the gospel now.

Presently they are the enemies of God. They are not His friends. They have been cast away, as it said in verse 15. They have been put aside because of their unbelief. They are now enemies in relation to the gospel. ➢ On the one hand based on their response to the gospel, they are enemies.

➢ But based upon God's promise when He called them, which promise He gave to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, they are beloved. If you want a good title for Israel, God's beloved enemy. At one and the same time they are beloved and enemies.

Concerning the gospel, they are enemies. By the choice of God, they are beloved for the fathers'sake. The father here is not God, it is plural fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom God made and reiterated the covenant.

When God elected the people Israel and gave promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, He bound Himself to keep that promise.

Elect is simply to choose. God chose them and made the promise to their fathers. Now God will fulfil that. So in terms of election, they are still His beloved, even though at the present they are enemies. Israel is in a very peculiar position.

When we look at the Jewish people, we sense that they are the beloved enemy of God. ✓ Enemies concerning the gospel but ✓ Beloved concerning the election of God. Promised to the fathers to be fulfilled in the future. For the moment there is a hopelessness as we see their enemy profile dominating. We look to the future when their beloved profile will totally dominate in the moment and time of their salvation.

God keeps His Word. V 29, For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Can you earn grace? Then you couldn't forfeit it either.

If you did nothing to get it, you could do nothing to lose it. It's grace. The grace gifts of God and the calling of God, it's the same term as election, can never be changed. God will never regret. God will never change His mind in regard to His promise.

God has integrity. We can give glory to a God who has absolute integrity. He is not like men. Are you weary of the fact that men make promises they never keep? Then look at God in contrast. Men make covenants and break them all the time.

Men make vows and violate them constantly. God has integrity. Bless His name for that.

Conclusion

Isaiah 55:8-9, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. ⁹ “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

God has an incomprehensible mind. No man, however astute, intellectual, spiritual, can fully plumb the depths of the infinite mind of God. God indeed works in ways which are mysterious to man. The story of Israel demonstrates to us that we can the incomprehensibly wonderful mind of God and the wonder of God's unique dealing with that people.

David saw the wonder of God's working with Israel.

2 Samuel 7:19, And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O Lord God; and You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord God?

God so infinitely surpassed any design that David ever knew men might have in the design He had promised for His people.

Psalm 92:5, O Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep.

We rejoice and join with apostle Paul to say that great doxology, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. To whom be glory forever, Amen."

God who is sovereign and He is a God of integrity.