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Has God rejected Israel? Paul gives the answer “By no means!”, and proceeds to present some evidence to prove his emphatic answer.
Using his own conversion as evidence, Paul writes, “I am an Israelite myself.” Here, he is saying that if God has rejected Israel, how is it that he, a Jew has come to believe? He is arguing that like him, whilst his people may now be in rebellion, they will see Christ at His second coming in glory, and will then also believe.
On the second evidence, Paul suggests that God has always had a faithful remnant even in times of greatest unbelief. In fact, when we examine Israel’s history, we must agree that it has always been the remnant that God has been using and blessing. So, Paul argues that if He is still saving Jews in the present church age when Israel is blind, how much more will He do for the salvation and blessings of Israel when she is restored! History has, Paul is saying, shown that God has not forsaken Israel. Meanwhile, with Israel in unbelief, God is sending the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentile nations for their salvation.
Paul’s next evidence is the condition of the Jews. In Rom. 11:7-10, he points out that Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ has been the final result of her people’s hardness of heart. She has time and again refused to believe God’s truth and, because of this, God has hardened her people’s hearts to that point that when the Truth (Christ) came, He was beyond their recognition. Since their unbelief in the past has never cancelled God’s promises to them, their present rejection of Christ will not also cancel them.
Has God rejected Israel? Those who think so have not understood that for 2000 years God has been using her unbelief to reach the Gentiles and build Christ’s church. A day is coming when Israel will embrace Jesus as Messiah as she realises that Gentiles are enjoying the salvation blessings she has been rejecting. That day is coming – all signs point to it. Let us stay faithful to Christ, and make pleasing Him our goal in life. He will definitely return not only to restore Israel but also to come for us who are alive so that we can be with Him forever.
