To conclude our discussion from last week, there was one more part of the sermon.
It’s a part, in fact, that many of us have wondered about for years.
- The Jews were God’s people.
- Many Jews rejected Jesus.
- Are they still God’s people?
- And is there any hope (or role) for them in the future?
I’ll let the Apostle Paul answer! And I invite you to read the next section out loud! like a real letter being read to you. (That always helps me not skip over details.)
Paul says … Romans 9:2 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief 3 … for my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed -- cut off from Christ! -- if that would save them. 4 They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God's special children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave his law to them … 5 and Christ himself was a Jew as far as his human nature is concerned. … 7 [But] the fact that they are descendants of Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children. …
10:2 I know what enthusiasm they have for God, but it is misdirected zeal. 3 For they don't understand God's way of making people right with himself. … They are clinging to their own way of getting right with God by trying to keep the law. [But] they won't go along with God's way. 4 For Christ has accomplished the whole purpose of the law. [And] all who believe in him are made right with God.
11:1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people, the Jews? Of course not! …
11:7 [But] this is the situation: Most of the Jews have not found the favor of God they are looking for so earnestly.
11:11 [But shall] God's people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! His purpose was to make his salvation available to the Gentiles, and then the Jews would be jealous and want it for themselves. …
11:25 I want you to understand this mystery … Some of the Jews have hard hearts, but this will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to Christ. 26 And all Israel will be saved … 28 The Jews are still his chosen people because of his promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 29 For God's gifts … can never be withdrawn. …
11:33 Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are his riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods! …36 For everything comes from him; everything exists by his power and is intended for his glory. To him be glory evermore. Amen.
Re-read 11:25-28 as Jesus points to that awesome day when his covenant people turn to him again in faith …
Matthew 23:37 Jesus said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you… 39 I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
What is the fate of the Jews? Complementing what we’ve already read, the Book of Revelation describes it like this …
- Revelation paints the picture of things getting worse before they get better.
- Early on, during these final days, it says God will seal and save 144,000 Jews (Revelation 7:1-8).
- But then the tribulation will deepen.
- Through earthquakes, wars, famines, and other cataclysmic events, large percentages of the world population will be killed, including two-thirds of the Jews (Revelation 12:13-17 & Zechariah 13:8-9).
- But then God’s covenant people will finally come to the end of themselves and finally wake up to Jesus’ true identity! Then they will turn to God and receive Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah! (Zechariah 12:10 & Romans 11:25-28).
Let us close with these words … written hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth and not yet fully fulfilled …
Zechariah 12:10 And I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.
Jesus was pierced for our sins too. Let us weep alongside our Jewish brothers and sisters for we all are still piercing him.
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