Romans 11:22-29 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

We’ll come back to this verse in a bit.

Israel, and the battle that nation is having with Hamas (a terrorist organization) and the Palestinians is in the news. Around 1139 people were killed when Palestinian armed forces went from the Gaza Strip into the Gaza envelope of Southern Israel. One source noted:

“One of Hamas’s goals was simply to kill Israelis—many of them. The Washington Post reported that instructions found on dead Hamas fighters included, “Kill as many people and take as many hostages as possible.” Among other weapons, Hamas also equipped its fighters with thermobaric grenades, which can quickly cause massive fires in a home. The fighters also had enough ammunition and food to keep going into Israel if they were able to do so, as well as maps, suggesting an even higher death toll was possible.”

This is not the only time in history that the nation of Israel has been attacked. Israel has been bullied and attacked throughout history. And yet God has promised “ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED”.

Why Has Israel Been So Often Attacked By Other Nations? Because Israel Has Not Honored God.

Davidic Covenant: When God made His Covenant with King David (Davidic Covenant, 2 Samuel 7:8-29; 1 Chronicles 17:11-14; 2 Chronicles 6:16), He established Judah as the ruling tribe of Israel, and David’s line as the line where the kings of Israel would be chosen. Speaking of the king of Israel God said:

2 Samuel 7:14-15 (ESV) I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him…

When the King of Israel led his people to love and cherish the Lord, they enjoyed the blessings of God and relative peace in the land. But when the King and Israel departed from honoring God, the Lord “DISCIPLINED WITH THE ROD OF MEN, WITH THE STRIPES OF THE SONS OF MEN”. Beginning with Pharaoh and Egypt, God allowed Israel to be enslaved in Egypt around 400 years (Genesis 15:13; Acts 7:6). When Israel cried out to God in faith, He raised up a redeemer (Moses) who led them out of Egypt. When Israel refused to give God glory, God allowed Babylon to rise up and conquer Israel:

Jeremiah 29:4, 10-13 (NKJV) Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon … 10-13 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

God caused Assyria, then Medo-Persia to attack Northern Israel because of their idolatry. God prophesied:

Hosea 11:5 (ESV) They {Israel} shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.

Northern Israel thought that they could make an alliance with Egypt, and escape Assyrian dominance. But God gave Assyria power over them because Northern Israel refused to worship in Jerusalem, and created their own system of worship and nation-state in Samaria. God prophesied of His people:

Isaiah 10:5-6 (NKJV) Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation. 6 I will send him against an ungodly nation {Northern Israel}, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.

Though God would raise up and use Assyria against Israel, He foretold that He would also punish Assyria for the same arrogance Israel had. God said:

Isaiah 10:10-13 (NKJV) As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, Whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria, 11 As I have done to Samaria and her idols, Shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?’ ” 12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Lord has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, “I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.” 13 For he says: “By the strength of my hand I have done it…

Every time Israel walked away from God, in time God raised up nations to punish her until she repented and returned by faith to the Lord Who saved her. I believe it is Biblically correct to say,

Every time Israel departs from the God Who saved her, He raises up nations to punish her and bring her to a state of repentance. God, in turn, punishes the nations that He used when they arrogantly believe it was their strength that caused them to overcome Israel. Israel is God’s nation!

Israel The Nation Is Special To God
Because God Is Faithful

When God called Abraham to follow Him, God made certain promises to him, unconditional promises. God promised Abraham:

Genesis 12:2-3 (NKJV) I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Abraham’s descendants were given the land of Canaan (Genesis 12:6-7), the land that Israel claims as her own today. Though Canaanites lived in the land, God owns the earth. He gave it to Israel. It was through the nation of Israel that God promised, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”.

Because of this promise God made to Abraham, an unconditional promise, the nation of Israel were God’s Chosen people. God told Israel that when they went into Canaan to take it, that they would destroy false gods, idols, and pillars. Israel was not to intermingle with the pagan world, but was to consider themselves a people who belonged to God. God said:

Deuteronomy 7:6-8 (NKJV) For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

The nation Israel had been chosen by God as “a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth”. Over and over again, Israel was told that they were unique as a nation. When King Solomon dedicated the Temple at Jerusalem to God, he prayed for Israel, telling the Lord:

1 Kings 8:53 (NKJV) For You {O Lord} separated them from among all the peoples of the earth to be Your inheritance, as You spoke by Your servant Moses, when You brought our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord God.”

Israel belongs to God. When Israel wandered from the God Who loved it, God punished them severely. He said in

Amos 3:1-2 (ESV) Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: 2 “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Why Is Israel So Important To God?
Because “Salvation Is Of The Jews”

When our Lord Jesus walked the earth, He traveled through Samaria and met a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well. As Jesus talked with this woman, she said:

John 4:20-22 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. 21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

In these 5 words “SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS”, Jesus explains why Israel is so important to God. Only TWO books of the Bible were written by non-Jews: the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts. These books were written by the Physician Luke, and he wrote these books as they were dictated by the Jews. The Pentateuch, also called the Torah or the first five foundational books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) were written by Moses, a Levite, a Jew. Without the Jews we would have no Bible whatsoever.

“SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS”. When Adam sinned and brought the whole world under the mastery of sin, God foretold that He would bring the Messiah into the world to save it. Called the Protoevangelium or the“First Gospel”, God promised the serpent (Satan, Revelation 12:9) that:

Genesis 3:15 (KJV) I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The Messiah would come as “THE SEED OF THE WOMAN”, which foretold the Virgin Birth of the Messiah. Women do not have “seed”, but eggs. But the Messiah would come supernaturally through the woman, without the intervention of fallen man. The Jewish Prophet Isaiah wrote of this miraculous birth:

Isaiah 7:14 (ESV) … the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Matthew 1:23 tells us that “IMMANUEL” means “God with us”. God would come into humanity through a virgin woman. When God came, He would come as a Jew, of the Tribe of Judah, of the lineage of King David, in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. The Bible tells us of the Messiah Jesus:

Galatians 4:4-7 (ESV) … when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

The Messiah would be “BORN UNDER THE LAW” of Moses, born a Jew. Israel is special unto God because of her relationship to the promises of God and the Savior, the Messiah Jesus.

My commentary notes:

“Jesus Christ is the ultimate reason why God chose Israel to be His special people. God did not need to have a chosen people, but He decided to do it that way. Jesus had to come from some nation of people, and God chose Israel.

However, God’s reason for choosing the nation of Israel was not solely for the purpose of producing the Messiah. God’s desire for Israel was that they would go and teach others about Him. Israel was to be a nation of priests, prophets, and missionaries to the world. God’s intent was for Israel to be a distinct people, a nation who pointed others towards God and His promised provision of a Redeemer, Messiah, and Savior. For the most part, Israel failed in this task. However, God’s ultimate purpose for Israel—that of bringing the Messiah into the world—was fulfilled perfectly in the Person of Jesus Christ.”

What Did God Mean By “all Israel shall be saved”?
Do Jews Automatically Upon Death Go To Heaven?

When Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion Of The Christ came out, the Jewish communities in America were upset by it. Some Jewish communities consider any attempt to share the Gospel of Christ with them as an act of anti-Semitism, for the Jews are “God’s People”. Some within the Jewish community believe that they will automatically go to Heaven upon death because “ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED”. What does the Bible say?

In John chapter 8 Jesus is debating with the Pharisees, a strictly religious sect of Jews. Jesus told the Pharisees that “the FATHER SENT ME” (John 8:16). To this, the Pharisees asked:

John 8:19 (KJV) … Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.

Jesus was very clear. In order to know the Father (God), you must know the Son (the Messiah). Jesus told these religious, Jewish Pharisees …

John 8:21 … (AP) {you} SHALL DIE IN YOUR SINS. Where I am going, you cannot come.

Jesus is going back to the Father, back to Heaven. These Pharisees and Scribes, Jews well schooled in the Law of God, cannot come to Heaven with Jesus. Why? Because they do not know Jesus. The Pharisees then argue that they are of the lineage of Abraham. Jesus replies,

John 8:39 (KJV) … If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham.

Then Jesus makes it even plainer.

John 8:42-45 … If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

Do Jews get an automatic pass to Heaven? Absolutely not. Salvation is of the Jews, yes, and the Messiah came to us through Israel. But unless a person receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, that person is NOT SAVED.

Ephesians 2:13 (ESV) But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Romans 10:12 (ESV) For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him.

Salvation comes to everyone, regardless as to whether they are Jew or Gentile, the exact same way. We must receive Jesus Christ as the Messiah, our Savior and Lord. The Gospel of Christ is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Romans 1:16, ESV). You must believe in Jesus to be saved. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”. Though Israel is God’s chosen nation, only those who have believed on Jesus have salvation. No one will come to the Father “but by the Son” (John 14:6). Idolatrous Jews will be sent to eternal damnation alongside of Idolatrous Gentiles. There is no automatic ticket to Heaven because of nationality, bloodline, or denomination. You must receive Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior.

God Has A Future Plan For Israel:
All Israel Will Be Saved

When we started this discussion today I quoted:

Romans 11:22-29 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulLness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

As God spoke to the Gentile Church at Rome, He warned the Church not to become arrogant against Israel. It was always God’s intention to save both Jew as well as Gentile through Christ. God tells the Church:

vs 22 if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off

Israel throughout its history has been “CUT OFF” from the blessings of God because they turned from God to idols and worldliness. They rejected the Grace of God for the titillation of sin. God’s standard has always been “Follow Me” (Matthew 16:24-26; 10:38; John 8:12; 1 Chronicles 16:11; Romans 12:1-2; Proverbs 3:5-6). Noah followed God. Abraham followed God. Moses followed God. Salvation entails that we follow God. God says of Israel:

vs 23 if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again

Salvation is of the Jews. God grafted the “wild olive tree”, the Gentiles, into the promises of God made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We were grafted into the promises because we received the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jew who receives Christ, the “olive tree”, can be grafted back in. The reason that the nation of Israel is largely blind to Christ is for the Gentiles sake.

Vs 25 blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in

When the early Church started, it was largely comprised of Jews. But as the Church grew and reached out, Gentiles began to come into the Kingdom of God. This was according to the eternal plan of God. God still has a plan and a purpose for Israel, and it is all related to the Messiah, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Vs 26-27 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

Who is this “DELIVERER” Who will come out of Zion? We are told in

1 Thessalonians 1:10 (NKJV) {we} wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

The Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ, will one day come from Zion (the Heavenly Jerusalem) to banish ungodliness from Jacob. He will save Israel from the wrath which is to come. As Pastor John Piper stated:

“… let the point be made clearly and soberly today: Salvation comes to Israel and to Gentiles in the same way — through faith in the Deliverer, Jesus the Christ, or it doesn’t come at all.”

vs 28-29 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

Though at the time of the writing of this text, Israel as a nation was attacking the Church, the Lord wanted the Church to understand that God still has a purpose for Israel. God promised that at the end of time Christ Jesus will return to this earth, and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords over Israel and over the whole world. When Jesus returns and reigns from Israel, He will bring unprecedented peace on the earth. The Scripture says:

Isaiah 2:3-4 … For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.

Isaiah 42:1-4 (NKJV) Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. 2 He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth. 4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, Till He has established justice in the earth; And the coastlands shall wait for His law.”

The reign of Christ on the earth – called the Millenniumof the Millennial Kingdom – will be 1000 years of peace on the earth (Isaiah 11:6-9; 32:18). Satan will be bound and cast into a bottomless pit (Revelation 20:1-3). People will worship Jesus, the King of Creation (Isaiah 2:2-3), and as God promised “all Israel shall be saved”. God is not done with Israel. He has a plan for His nation, and we would be wise to pray for Israel, to evangelize Israel, and to get out of God’s way.

But Beloved, the Jew is not automatically saved just because they are Jews, no more than the Baptist is automatically saved because we are Baptists. Who are the true sons of Abraham, the children of God?

Galatians 3:6-9 (KJV) Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Children of Abraham love Jesus. Children of Abraham receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. “They which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham”. May God the Holy Spirit lead you to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior this very day. Amen and Amen.