Rom 11:11-15 | KingComments | STEP | . If God elects a remnant, it is by grace, not because that remnant deserves anything. This is how it was with you. Israel looked for an opportunity to build up its righteousness before God, but they didn’t receive it because they failed. God has given this grace to the elect. All others have been hardened. God only hardens someone if not a single opportunity to bring someone to repentance is left. . In a threefold testimony from the Old Testament, Paul makes this hardening evident. He quotes texts from the prophets ( ), the law ( ) and the Psalms ( ). In Isaiah and Deuteronomy it is God Who exercises this judgment of hardening by giving “them a spirit of stupor”. God’s patience will end. In Psalm 69 David asks for God’s judgment upon Israel because of their rejection of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. Such statements are not fitting for us. We live in the time of grace and we ought to ask God to forgive our enemies. This is what the Lord Jesus prayed while on the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” ( ). Therefore, grace can be offered now to the worst of sinners. Of these, Paul considers himself the most prominent example. He says that to him, the foremost or chief of all sinners, mercy was shown ( ). To the remnant grace has been shown through the intercession of the Lord Jesus at the cross according to the election of grace. But all others will fall under the judgment that God must bring over them because they put the Lord Jesus to death. It was proper for His earthly people (in the Old Testament as well as in the future when the church has been taken up) to ask God to punish evil. And God will do that. He is the God of justice Who will bring about this justice for His elect. Later, when in the great tribulation (the church having been taken up and we thus in heaven), the believing remnant will suffer terrible persecution and the Lord Jesus will return to earth to save them ( ). He will do this by judging the persecutors. In many psalms the feelings of the believers in those future days resound with their desire for deliverance, imploring God to judge their enemies. In essence, this is what David does here. . Now you may wonder if all this happened to Israel with the goal of allowing them to fall. But once again this idea is taken away when Paul says: “May it never be!” or: “Certainly not!” They didn’t stumble to be rejected. But once they had stumbled, God offered His grace to the nations. He did so with the purpose of provoking Israel to jealousy. You must not restrict the sense of jealousy to a grudge, as if Israel would envy the nations because grace was offered to them. The sense is, it would cause Israel to long for the salvation that was offered to the nations. . It is good to realize these riches have come to us as a consequence of Israel’s transgression. Salvation wasn’t offered to us because we were better in any respect. It is through Israel’s transgression and loss, which is negative, that such riches have gone out toward the world. What blessing for the world then will result from Israel’s conversion and restoration! Then a wonderful blessing will go out from this people in which all the nations will share. This will be the situation during the millennial reign of Christ ( ). . Although Paul was the apostle to the nations, he was still connected with his people in both heart and soul. He had an eye for their present state of hardening. He also had an eye for their future restoration. His commitment in his Lord’s service was closely connected with these people. When he speaks of “some of them”, this means he didn’t think he could bring all the people to conversion. He saw it as a magnification of his service if he could save “some” out of Israel. The individuals who are now converted out of Israel form the remnant according to the election of grace in this present day. Now read Romans 11:7-14 again. Reflection: What is your attitude toward Israel?

‏ Romans 11:11-15

The Fall and Acceptance of Israel

Rom 11:7. If God elects a remnant, it is by grace, not because that remnant deserves anything. This is how it was with you. Israel looked for an opportunity to build up its righteousness before God, but they didn’t receive it because they failed. God has given this grace to the elect. All others have been hardened. God only hardens someone if not a single opportunity to bring someone to repentance is left.

Rom 11:8-10. In a threefold testimony from the Old Testament, Paul makes this hardening evident. He quotes texts from the prophets (Isa 29:10), the law (Deu 29:4) and the Psalms (Psa 69:22 ; 23). In Isaiah and Deuteronomy it is God Who exercises this judgment of hardening by giving “them a spirit of stupor”. God’s patience will end. In Psalm 69 David asks for God’s judgment upon Israel because of their rejection of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

Such statements are not fitting for us. We live in the time of grace and we ought to ask God to forgive our enemies. This is what the Lord Jesus prayed while on the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34a). Therefore, grace can be offered now to the worst of sinners. Of these, Paul considers himself the most prominent example. He says that to him, the foremost or chief of all sinners, mercy was shown (1Tim 1:13-16). To the remnant grace has been shown through the intercession of the Lord Jesus at the cross according to the election of grace. But all others will fall under the judgment that God must bring over them because they put the Lord Jesus to death.

It was proper for His earthly people (in the Old Testament as well as in the future when the church has been taken up) to ask God to punish evil. And God will do that. He is the God of justice Who will bring about this justice for His elect. Later, when in the great tribulation (the church having been taken up and we thus in heaven), the believing remnant will suffer terrible persecution and the Lord Jesus will return to earth to save them (Zec 12:1-4 ; Zec 14:1-4). He will do this by judging the persecutors. In many psalms the feelings of the believers in those future days resound with their desire for deliverance, imploring God to judge their enemies. In essence, this is what David does here.

Rom 11:11. Now you may wonder if all this happened to Israel with the goal of allowing them to fall. But once again this idea is taken away when Paul says: “May it never be!” or: “Certainly not!” They didn’t stumble to be rejected. But once they had stumbled, God offered His grace to the nations. He did so with the purpose of provoking Israel to jealousy. You must not restrict the sense of jealousy to a grudge, as if Israel would envy the nations because grace was offered to them. The sense is, it would cause Israel to long for the salvation that was offered to the nations.

Rom 11:12. It is good to realize these riches have come to us as a consequence of Israel’s transgression. Salvation wasn’t offered to us because we were better in any respect. It is through Israel’s transgression and loss, which is negative, that such riches have gone out toward the world. What blessing for the world then will result from Israel’s conversion and restoration! Then a wonderful blessing will go out from this people in which all the nations will share. This will be the situation during the millennial reign of Christ (Rev 20:4).

Rom 11:13-14. Although Paul was the apostle to the nations, he was still connected with his people in both heart and soul. He had an eye for their present state of hardening. He also had an eye for their future restoration. His commitment in his Lord’s service was closely connected with these people.

When he speaks of “some of them”, this means he didn’t think he could bring all the people to conversion. He saw it as a magnification of his service if he could save “some” out of Israel. The individuals who are now converted out of Israel form the remnant according to the election of grace in this present day.

Now read Romans 11:7-14 again.

Reflection: What is your attitude toward Israel?

God’s Testimony on Earth

Rom 11:15. The rejection of Israel meant the offer of atonement could go out to the world – to the nations, to the Gentiles. In 2 Corinthians 5 it says: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2Cor 5:19). This does not say the whole world was reconciled to God; it is only true for those who acknowledge the necessity of Christ’s work of atonement for themselves.

There is no such thing as a universal reconciliation – that everyone, even the devil, will be saved. This idea is often justified by saying that God is a God of love, but don’t let yourself be fooled by this. The Bible speaks clearly enough of an everlasting judgment (Rev 20:11-15).

This verse in Romans 11 is about the place before God of both Israel and the world. At the moment, God is not publicly dealing with Israel as a nation. When Israel will be again accepted, this will be “life from the dead”. A description of this is found in Ezekiel 37 (Eze 37:1-14).

Rom 11:16. God desires to have a people on earth to give testimony of Him and proclaim His virtues – these are all His outstanding features. In the past, Israel failed to give a testimony of the only true God, and even today they don’t do so. At the present time, this testimony should be given by Christians. But is professing Christianity doing a better job?

The portion from Romans 11:16 onward, is important. It teaches you to understand something of God’s dealing with professing Christianity. Both from Israel and from Christianity, God expected a testimony to be given of Him in this world.

Through the picture of the olive tree and its branches, Paul shows what came of that. In Rom 11:16 we first read about the “first piece” or “first fruit” and the “lump”. The first fruit are the first fruits collected from the harvest. They are holy, which means separated to the Lord. From these first fruits, for example the first grains of wheat, dough is made. This dough would automatically be holy as well. This thought holds as well for a tree’s roots and branches. These two examples of the ‘first fruit’ and ‘lump’ and the ‘root’ and ‘branches’ speak of the fact that where the origin is holy, anything springing from this origin is also holy.

Rom 11:17. Next we see a wild olive tree of which branches are broken off to be grafted into the good, cultivated olive tree in Rom 11:24. In this way the branches of the wild olive tree could partake of the root and the fatness of the good olive tree. In addition, from the good olive tree, branches have been broken off. This was done to make room for the branches that had been broken off from the wild olive tree. By how Paul speaks of the branches, it is clear this is figurative language speaking of people.

Let’s go back now to Rom 11:16. The root represents the origin from which something grows and becomes visible on earth. In Rom 11:17 the following picture then arises:

1. Some branches (= the unbelieving part of the people of Israel) are broken off (= being put aside by God).

2. Other branches remain (= the faithful remnant).

3. In the place of the branches that are broken off, branches of the wild olive tree (= the believers from among the Gentiles) have been grafted in.

4. As a result these Gentiles – who used to have no right to anything – could partake of the root and the fatness of the olive tree (= could partake of the promises and blessing that belonged to Abraham and his posterity).

It is important to realize that the subject here is God’s testimony on earth and how God judges it. Both Israel and Christianity are responsible for the testimony they show of God. God couldn’t maintain Israel as His witness. Christianity has replaced Israel as God’s witness on earth. But do Christians perform their task any better than Israel? This is what we will see in the next section.

Now read Romans 11:15-17 again.

Reflection: In which way can you proclaim God’s virtues (see 1Pet 2:9).