Israel religion rejects Jesus to this day. After Jesus told them off at Matt 23, and knew exactly what they would do to him to have his life ended so horribly. Jesus left the door open to them at Matt 23:39 They must say blessed is he( Jesus) who comes from God.--What a great love, he surely is Gods image. They outright refuse. Let us not forget that Jesus assured them-Your father is the devil. And until they accept Jesus as the Messiah, it remains like that. Still one should never hate any, they all have an opportunity to repent and turn around.
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Israel has NOT lost Gods favor (title edited by mod)
- Thread starter servant1
- Start date
Yet Paul writes this in Romans 11 (NIV) I've bolded the parts that I want to emphasize here:
1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:
3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”?
4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened,
8 as it is written:
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”
9 And David says:
“May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.”
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 full inclusion bring!
13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in 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 brought reconciliation to 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 consider yourself to be superior to those other 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 tremble.
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 and sisters, 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 in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.
32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:
3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”?
4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
6 And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened,
8 as it is written:
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”
9 And David says:
“May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.”
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 full inclusion bring!
13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in 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 brought reconciliation to 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 consider yourself to be superior to those other 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 tremble.
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 and sisters, 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 in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
“The deliverer will come from Zion;
he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is my covenant with them
when I take away their sins.”
28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.
32 For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Israel is not rejected, nor have they lost God's favour. They have temporarily been sidelined in unbelief, but not all of them as Paul makes clear to the Romans (a largely Gentile group that became more Gentile in flavour as the years went by)
Paul points out that many Jews in his time (and in ours) have come to faith in Christ as their Messiah and ours.
Paul explains that because of their sin, salvation came to us Gentiles, but if their sin means riches for the world, and their loss is riches to us Gentiles, then how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring (referencing the time after they call upon Jesus as Matt 23:39 says, and it's referring to the time Zechariah 12 speaks of just as the Tribulation period is ending as they see the one they pierced and mourn.
here below Paul warns us not to consider ourselves superior. We are supported by the root and not the other way around. We should never look down on the Jews for their sins in rejecting Christ.
That hardness in part is temporary. It's while the full number of the Gentiles comes into the church.
Then God turns His focus back on Israel when the church is taken up out of the way. The purpose of the Tribulation is the Salvation of the Jewish Nation as one preacher puts it.
God has mercy on us and them.
No!
Let's not even contemplate such an abhorrent thought.
Because, if Israel could ever loose God's promises, so could we.
God is not fickle. His promises will stand.
Both for Israel and us.
1LoverofGod
Well-known
The rebukes and condemnation Jesus had was for the religious leaders not the Jewish people as a whole.
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."
Matthew 23:13
God is All knowing, He knows the end from the beginning.
He knew that His people would not receive His Son Jesus at His first coming and Jesus was going to be put to death. We know this just by reading the Psalms and writings from the Prophets about the Messiah being put to death.
This all had to happen as it did for both Israel and The Gentiles to be included in God's plan for salvation of the world.
God made a Covenant with His people Israel. A promise He's never considered breaking.
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"
Numbers 23:19
As mentioned above what Paul says in Romans 11 is profound about God's plan to reconcile Israel to Himself has never changed, but God allowed the partial blindness to happen to His people for the rest of the world to have the opportunity to be saved, all part of God's plan...
"through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!"
Romans 11:11-12
"You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either."
Romans 11:19-21
God loves His wife Israel and even after Jesus death and resurrection, God has continued to do miracles for His people Israel.
Look at the regathering and rebirth of the nation of Israel alone May 14, 1948.
Before that happened, the land of Israel was a wasteland, desolate. But just as God had said in Ezekiel
34 The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. 35 So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.”
Ezekiel 36:34-36
"Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 37:5-7
Yes, God's bringing His people back into the land of Israel that had been desolate and God restored it to life, and His people who were not a nation, God gave life to again was a miracle only God could do.
This is not a people who lost God's favor, but God has continued to be faithful to, and All of His people of His Covenant will be saved.
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."
Matthew 23:13
God is All knowing, He knows the end from the beginning.
He knew that His people would not receive His Son Jesus at His first coming and Jesus was going to be put to death. We know this just by reading the Psalms and writings from the Prophets about the Messiah being put to death.
This all had to happen as it did for both Israel and The Gentiles to be included in God's plan for salvation of the world.
God made a Covenant with His people Israel. A promise He's never considered breaking.
“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?"
Numbers 23:19
As mentioned above what Paul says in Romans 11 is profound about God's plan to reconcile Israel to Himself has never changed, but God allowed the partial blindness to happen to His people for the rest of the world to have the opportunity to be saved, all part of God's plan...
"through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!"
Romans 11:11-12
"You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” 20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either."
Romans 11:19-21
God loves His wife Israel and even after Jesus death and resurrection, God has continued to do miracles for His people Israel.
Look at the regathering and rebirth of the nation of Israel alone May 14, 1948.
Before that happened, the land of Israel was a wasteland, desolate. But just as God had said in Ezekiel
34 The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. 35 So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ 36 Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it, and I will do it.”
Ezekiel 36:34-36
"Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. 6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 37:5-7
Yes, God's bringing His people back into the land of Israel that had been desolate and God restored it to life, and His people who were not a nation, God gave life to again was a miracle only God could do.
This is not a people who lost God's favor, but God has continued to be faithful to, and All of His people of His Covenant will be saved.
Greg
Well-known
Israel may have temporarily lost God's favor, but as already been pointed out that's not permanent.
Among other scripture I haven't seen posted yet:
Zechariah 13-14: one third of Israel will be saved and they will be His people and He will be their God.
Zephaniah 3: God will once again accept Israel.
Not quite as obvious, but Revelation 21. The names of the twelve tribes plus the names of the apostles are intricate in the New Jerusalem. I think that's significant.
I really struggle to understand how so many believe God is done with Israel -- you have to set aside or allegorize so much of the Bible to do so. But then many deny inerrancy and a literal understanding of Scripture, so I guess it isn't that surprising.
Among other scripture I haven't seen posted yet:
Zechariah 13-14: one third of Israel will be saved and they will be His people and He will be their God.
Zephaniah 3: God will once again accept Israel.
Not quite as obvious, but Revelation 21. The names of the twelve tribes plus the names of the apostles are intricate in the New Jerusalem. I think that's significant.
I really struggle to understand how so many believe God is done with Israel -- you have to set aside or allegorize so much of the Bible to do so. But then many deny inerrancy and a literal understanding of Scripture, so I guess it isn't that surprising.
Matthew6:33
Set your face like flint - Isaiah 50:7
This belief opens the door to many false teachings.
1LoverofGod
Well-known
I see Israel being in a period of discipline by God. As a parent today may call a "Time Out" to their child to discipline their child, and it's done for their good.
"For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights"
Proverbs 3:12
"Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Hebrews 12:11
"For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights"
Proverbs 3:12
"Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Hebrews 12:11
pixelpusher
Well-known
Am Yisrael Chai!
1LoverofGod
Well-known
Amen
Its not Gods side that failed, Its Israels side that has failed God.
Amethyst
† He hath shed his own blood for my soul
He gave them conditional promises and unconditional promises. The unconditional promises were not and are not dependent on their behavior.
1LoverofGod
Well-known
How much do we fail God every day?
Yet He remains faithful.
His faithfulness to fulfill His promises to Israel is The Same faithfulness He keeps with us.
That's our God of Love
God's words to Israel
For the mountains shall depart
And the hills be removed,
But My kindness shall not depart from you,
Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,”
Says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
Isaiah 54:10
Any who reject Jesus will lose.
Amethyst
† He hath shed his own blood for my soul
If anyone dies rejecting Jesus, yes they will go to hell.
But Israel has not been forever rejected as a nation by God. Those promises are separate.
1LoverofGod
Well-known
Do you know what the Bible says about Jesus return at His second coming For Israel to be saved?
God and his sons love is amazing. That is why the door remains open to Israel=Matt 23:39--They have outright refused to walk through the door for over 1950 years give or take. Until they do, Jesus told them-your Father is the devil.
1LoverofGod
Well-known
Why has God left Israel in a state of blindness?
For the Gentiles to be saved, but once the fullness of the Gentiles is complete, God turns His attention back to His people Israel for their salvation
Read Romans 11
1LoverofGod
Well-known
Jesus told the religious leaders that their father was the devil
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