Romans 11:11-26

• 11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
• 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fulness bring!
• 13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry
• 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.
• 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
• 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
• 17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,
• 18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
• 19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in."
• 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
• 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
• 22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
• 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
• 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
• 25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
• 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

INTRODUCTION:

Why do we have hundreds of denominations? Why do people disagree about baptism, the Lord's supper, speaking in tongues, church government, Calvinism and Arminianism, Pre-Mil vs A-Mil, Covenant theology or Dispensationalism? Why can't we all agree?

One reasons is that God has intentionally made the Bible very difficult to understand. The plain Gospel is pretty easy. But the details of theology, and prophecy, are extremely difficult and even OBSCURE. The details are intentionally difficult. God doesn't want everyone to understand His Word. Jesus and the prophets said so:

• 10 The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"
• 11 He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
• 12 Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
• 13 This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
• 14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
  (Matthew 13:10-14)

Jesus also told His disciples not to cast their pearls before swine. And if their message was rejected in a particular village, they were to knock the dust off their sandals and leave that village, and move on to the next one. Paul said that when the Jews read the Bible, there is a spiritual veil over their eyes. They cannot see Jesus, and they cannot understand the message. The same thing is true for most Gentiles. Paul told the Corinthians that the Gospel was a stumbling-block to the Jews, and FOOLISHNESS TO THE GREEKS.

In the past 100 years especially, there has been a growing confusion about prophecy and the nation of Israel. It has reached a fever pitch in this decade, largely because of events in the Middle East.

Today the Church is surrounded on every side by popular TV preachers and prophetic ministry people who teach that Christians should support the present day nation of Israel, which was formed by the United Nations in 1948. Multitudes of pastors and churches are jumping on this deceptive bandwagon. We are told forcefully and loudly that PRESENT DAY ISRAEL is the chosen nation of God. We are told that we must support PRESENT DAY ISRAEL or we will be fighting against God, and that God will judge us and bring horrible destruction on the United States. Christians who don't go along with this view are being called arrogant, and anti-semitic.

In a CNN interview in Israel in 2002 one famous Christian leader said:...."And what we don't realize is that Israel is the pupil of God's eye. These are his chosen people. And because they are his chosen people, God says that if you do not bless them, I will not bless you. God has chosen Israel above all the nations of the earth, and because I love God, I have to follow God's heart and be dedicated to the land and the people of Israel ...If I had to choose between America and Israel, I would choose Israel."

Pat Robertson (who owns the Christian Broadcasting Network - CBN) said: "...The survival of the Jewish people is a miracle of God. The return of the Jewish people to the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a miracle of God. The remarkable victories of Jewish armies against overwhelming odds in successive battles in 1948, and 1967, and 1973 are clearly miracles of God. The technological marvels of Israeli industry, the military prowess, the bounty of Israeli agriculture, the fruits and flowers and abundance of the land are a testimony to God's watchful care over this new nation and the genius of this people....Ladies and Gentleman, evangelical Christians support Israel because we believe that the words of Moses and the ancient prophets of Israel were inspired by God. We believe that the emergence of a Jewish state in the land promised by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was ordained by God. We believe that God has a plan for this nation which He intends to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth...the continuation of Jewish sovereignty over the Holy Land is a further bulwark to us that the God of the Bible exists and that His Word is true."

John Hagee of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio Texas is the leader of the Evangelicals who demand political action in Washington on behalf of Israel. Hagee says:

"It's a direct commandment that Christians should be supportive of Israel. It's the only nation that God ever created. It's the only nation that Christians are told to pray for, and therefore, because the Bible is the compass of our faith, we do what it says....God blesses those who bless Israel and curses those who curse Israel...I believe that every Jewish person who lives in the light of the Torah, which is the word of God, has a relationship with God and will come to redemption" (Houston Chronicle, April 30, 1988). "I'm not trying to convert the Jewish people to the Christian faith... In fact, trying to convert Jews is a waste of time. Jews already have a covenant with God and that has never been replaced by Christianity." (Houston Chronicle, April 30, 1988, sec, 6, pg. 1)...We support Israel because all other nations were created by an act of men, but Israel was created by an act of God! The Royal Land Grant that was given to Abraham and his seed through Isaac and Jacob with an everlasting and unconditional covenant."

As we have gone through the Book of Romans, we have seen so much material that addresses these ideas. Paul repeats himself often, and so we have come to a passage today which again takes up the question of the identity and salvation of Israel.

I. This passage says that the Church/Israel pre-dates the New Testament era.

The idea that the Church began at Pentecost (or thereabouts) lies at the root of our present day problem with understanding the nation of Israel. Dispensationalism insists that Israel is not the Church, and the Church is not Israel. They are seen as distinctively different organizations, and shall continue to be distinctively different organizations. That is the position of Dispensationalism, and that is the position of those who say that Christians today need to be full-throttle in support of the present day Israeli nation in modern Palestine. This concept got heavy support early in the 20th century through the Dispensational notes of the Scofield reference Bible.

But what does the Bible say about the origin and nature of the Church? I will try to show you that while Israel and the Church are different organizationally, spiritual Israel and the Church are one and the same, and always have been.

In Romans 11, Paul uses two metaphors to describe the Church. (In using a "simile" we say that something is "like" something else. In a metaphor, we say that something "is" something else. Paul says that the Church IS a single piece of dough (Romans 11:16); and that the Church IS an olive tree (Romans 11:16-24).

There are not two loaves of bread; and there are not two olive trees. There are not two Churches. There are not two peoples of God. There is only one root, and there are branches which are grafted in, or removed. The unbelieving Jews were removed from the root. The believing Jews continued in the root. Believing Gentiles are grafted into the same root as believing Jews. There is only one Church, and Jews and Gentiles are together in it.

When did this olive tree root and branches come into existence? It includes the Jewish believers of Old Testament days, so it did not start at Pentecost. It was already in existence when Jesus was born, and when He died for our sins. No new Church was started then. Gentile believers are grafted into the same root that held Adam and Noah and Abraham and Moses and King David.

Dispensationalists, people who keep the Jews and Gentiles separate, and who say that the Church must support modern secular Israel, are missing the fact that THEY THEMSELVES are now a part of that Israel root. They are part of the Israel of God. And it is this spiritual Israel that is important to God, not secular Israel. Nothing TOTALLY new began in the New Testament era, but a New Covenant with spiritual Israel began at that time.

The Church did not begin at Jesus' birth. The Church did not begin during the ministry of Christ. The Church did not begin at the cross. The Church did not begin on the day of Pentecost. The Church did not begin at the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the temple in 70 AD.

What is the Church, and when did it begin? The Westminster Confession of Faith from the 17th century explains the Church very clearly:

"The...universal church...consists of the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ the Head...and is the spouse, the body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all..."

The Bible says that Israel of the Old Testament was the Church.

• 37 "This is that Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.’
• 38 He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us.
  (Acts 7:37-38)

The word "assembly" in verse 38 (NIV translation) is "ekklesia" in the Greek, and is translated as "church" in the King James Bible. NASB says "congregation."

The most popular version of the Old Testament in Apostolic times was the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation. Over and over again, the Greek Old Testament uses the word ekklesia to designate the Old Testament people of God (see http://home.att.net/~kmpope/ReligionStudies/EkklesiaLXX.html). When the Apostles quoted the Old Testament, they usually quoted from the LXX.

Moses, David, Elijah, Daniel, etc., etc., they were all in God's Old Testament form of Church. The Church did not begin at Pentecost. The Church began with the first person ever saved by the blood of Christ, probably Adam and Eve. (Old Testament saints were not saved by keeping the law. They were saved by faith in God, just as we are today. We just know more about it, than they did, because we have the New Testament.) The Church includes EVERYONE of any era who is under the blood. Everyone who is saved by the death of Christ on the cross.

Paul makes this extremely clear in the Book of Ephesians:

• 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
• 14 ¶ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
• 15 by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,
• 16 and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
• 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
• 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
• 19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household,
• 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
• 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
  (Ephesians 2:13-21)

The Church has always existed, but in different forms. In Old Testament days, almost all the members of the Church were Jewish. When the Jews abandoned God and turned to idols, and turned to legalism for salvation, most of the Jewish branches were broken out of the root. Then in the Apostle's time, many Gentile branches were grafted into the root, because the Gentiles were coming to God, through faith in Jesus Christ. The Church did not replace spiritual Israel. Spiritual Israel, the Church, never went away. The stump and some branches were still there, and Gentiles were grafted in. The words "church" and "Israel" were interchangeable in the Old Testament era (as used in the LXX), and Church and Israel mean the same thing today, too. Remember, it is not the Jewishness of the person that makes him/her a part of Israel. It is the faith they have.

We Gentiles are no longer foreigners and aliens from Israel. We have been taken into Israel. Israel never stopped, because Israel WAS and IS the Church. You and I, though we are gentiles, are fellow-citizens with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, and all the rest. We are together with them in the Church, which is spiritual Israel.

Paul, in this passage in Romans is NOT saying that the Church began at Pentecost. He is saying that the Church (Israel) continues. The stump/root is still there; and the ancient Jews and the new Gentiles who believe in Christ are together in the same olive tree.

II. This passage says that ALL ISRAEL shall be saved.

"Israel (national Jewish Israel) has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel (spiritual Israel-all believing Jews and Gentiles) will be saved." (Romans 11:25-26)

Being Jewish physically, or being an Israel genetically, is not what "all Israel" is all about. Paul is crystal clear about the lack of value of having Jewish ancestry in Philippians chapter three, using himself as an example:

• 4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
• 5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
• 6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
• 7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
• 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ...
• (Philippians 3:4-8)

Paul insists that it is a person's faith (not his genes) that makes him a genuine member of spiritual Israel...

• 28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.
• 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.
  (Romans 2:28-29)

• 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
• 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
• 13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
  (Romans 4:11-13)

• 16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring-not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.
• 17 ¶ As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations."
  (Romans 4:16-17)

• 6 ¶ It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
• 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."
• 8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.
  (Romans 9:6-8)

• 6 ¶ Consider Abraham: "He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
• 7 Understand, then, that those who believe are children of Abraham.
• 8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: "All nations will be blessed through you."
  (Galatians 3:6-8)

• 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
  (Galatians 3:29)

Our Savior Jesus Christ also taught that being a physical descendent of Abraham did not make anyone a child of Abraham. It is faith in God, and the receiving of God's Son, that makes you a participant in the Abrahamic Covenant. You don't need to be Jewish.

• 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
• 37 I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word.
• 38 ¶ I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father."
• 39 "Abraham is our father," they answered. "If you were Abraham’s children," said Jesus, "then you would do the things Abraham did.
• 40 As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.
• 41 You are doing the things your own father does." "We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself."
• 42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.
• 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.
• 44 You belong to your father, the devil...
  (John 8:36-44)

• 7 ¶ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptising, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
• 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
• 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
  (Matthew 3:7-9)

One more passage from Paul to the Galatians...Who is the "Israel of God?" All who love Jesus, and who rely on His atoning death.

• 14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
• 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation.
• 16 Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.
  (Galatians 6:14-16)

CONCLUSION: So we see that this passage in Romans 11 teaches two primary truths:

1. The Church has always existed. It did not begin at Pentecost. Israel in the Old Testament WAS the church (the ekklesia). The Gentile Church did not replace Israel. Instead, Gentiles were grafted into Israel's root, and are now fellow-citizens with the great heros of the Bible.

2. The Bible does not teach that a Jewish nation state is still the chosen nation of God. The Bible says that "all Israel" shall be saved, and that this Israel is a spiritual body consisting of both Jews and Gentiles, all who love the Lord Jesus Christ.

Application: The TV and radio preachers who insist that the present day secular, Israeli nation in Palestine is God's chosen nation have mis-interpreted the Bible. That nation is not God's covenant people. You do not need to lobby Congress on Israel's behalf, except as you would for any other nation needing help and justice. You need not send your money to Israeli Political Action groups. It is not the genes of Abraham that make a person Jewish, it is the faith of Abraham. The Church of today is Israel. We are the people of God. We are God's chosen nation. God is in covenant with US, not with that nation over there in the land of Palestine. The Gentiles did not REPLACE Israel, we JOINED Israel's believing remnant. What did the Apostle Peter say to the Church?

• 4 ¶ As you come to him, the living Stone-rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-
• 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
• 6 For in Scripture it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
• 7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,"
• 8 and, "A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message-which is also what they were destined for.
• 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
• 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
  (I Peter 2:4-10)

WE, God's believing people (Jew and Gentile)--WE are God's holy nation, the people belonging to God...not the secular nation of Israel in Palestine.