Did God reject the man of faith, Abraham and his descendants? No, Paul is saying. Abraham’s faith in God’s mercy and grace gave him a mission on Earth. His people, the Jews, were God’s chosen to bring grace and mercy to the whole world through the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The Jews were promised a special land, but first they had to go through a period of 400 years of slavery. They experienced in Egypt what all people on Earth experience: slavery to a dark spirit, Satan. Mankind, made in his image, fell from his grace and mercy through their disobedience in the Garden. They immediately fell into slavery to Satan when they left the Garden. We see their first example of darkness and obedience to evil when Cain killed Abel. This act was so unnatural to God’s intentions for his creation that he says Abel’s blood cries out to him or the disobedience of man cries out to him. From that time on man’s nature manifests itself through his evil thoughts and deeds. People knew what was righteous and good, but they chose to follow the evil and waywardness in their hearts. With their disobedience to God’s nature came the wrath of God. Romans 1 describes this well: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (18-20) God selected Abraham to lead mankind out of darkness. He believed in God’s promise to him to be the father of many nations even though this promise was not evident in his circumstances. When God gave him the son of promise, God asked for this one son as a sacrifice. In obedience, Abraham placed this son of promise on an altar. But God spared his son, honoring Abraham’s faith in God’s goodness and grace. Isaac was spared and a great nation came through his lineage, eventually known as the Israelites. Abraham’s faith in God’s promise seemed to be totally snuffed out in the land of slavery. The Israelites were a product of their slavery: subservient even to the Egyptian gods. But God called another man of faith: Moses. He was prepared by God in the house of Pharaoh to lead the Israelites out of slavery to a land promised to Abraham. Moses battled the Israelites unruliness in the wilderness, but he accomplished the task of delivering them to Canaan. After they took possession in Canaan, they lived in a wayward manner, accepting other gods, humiliating the God who led them out of slavery. Although the Jews possessed a land of promise, God had greater plans for them—a plan he would fulfill in Jesus Christ. The Promised Land is an eternal plan, one that can be gained only by faith; the same kind of faith that Abraham placed in God. Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. (Romans 4:3) In today’s verses, Paul tells us that only a few of the Jews understood this plan of God to bring eternal life to all men and women who put their faith in the works of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The majority of the Jews had stopped ears to this message of redemption for all people. They had eyes only for their land, their destiny, their plans. Consequently, only a remnant of Jews believed in Jesus as the Messiah.
Later on in Romans 11, Paul exclaims, I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. (13) Even though the Jew’s fixation on their earthly dwelling place is so strong, Paul ministers to them about heavenly things, about a new kingdom that God has prepared for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord. Most of the Jews vehemently rejected the message of Christ and his redemption for all people. But Paul still ministered to them, holding out hope that some would have ears to hear this message of faith in Jesus as their redeemer. He was not just sitting back and saying that whosoever God wants in his kingdom will come to the realization that Jesus is Lord. No, he was seeking their salvation. He understood the heart of Jesus who told the story of the shepherd going out for the one lost sheep and ended it with: In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. (Matthew 18:14) Paul experienced much persecution from the Jews because he told them of the truth of the Kingdom of God. The early church, consisting mostly of Jews, faced horrendous persecution from unbelievers, but they faced this persecution with a strong testimony of Jesus as their Lord. The hardness of the hearts of the majority of Jews probably emanated from their great disappointment in Jesus. He was lifted up by the crowd as their savior from the oppressive yoke of the Romans; instead, they later believed He betrayed them by meekly going to the cross supposedly dying for their sins. How could He be someone they should trust in completely? No savior of their people and their land would ever be arrested and hung on a cross. They were looking at existence on Earth as the only real existence. Their ears were closed to the message of eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord. But Paul and others working for the Lord were seeking for the Jews and the Gentiles that would have ears to hear and minds to believe in the Good News. The Jews who were hearing and accepting the Good News began to preach to others. Peter preached to Cornelius and his family. In Acts 11 we see Jews from Cyprus and Cyrene preaching to the Gentiles in Antioch, and we read how God revealed to Peter his plan to bring the gospel to Jews and Gentiles. In every land, all people were presented with the Good News, so that some might put their trust in the Lord God of Israel. When the people heard what Peter had to say, they said, “So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:18)
There has always been a remnant in every land who believe in the eternal Lord and his Son, Jesus. When we as Christians search history, we find very few who truly believe in living by faith in a holy God. We are nearly faceless in history. If spoken of at all, Christians remain mostly misunderstood and misrepresented. Jesus explained how the world would not accept believers. If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. (John 15:18) Jesus has placed us as lambs among wolves. We are to love our enemies, not kill them. Looking at history, we see established religions of all sorts, mostly building influence and kingdoms on Earth. In European history, we see nations and institutions that claim to be Christian but were really ravenous wolves of power, using the name of Christ to gain earthly influence and authority. With their power, these institutions willingly hurt others to establish their kingdoms. But the reality of Christianity is that the kingdom of Heaven is not built by power and influence, it is built by faith in Christ. The Bible says, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty. (Zechariah 4:6) The kingdom of God is a heavenly kingdom, eternal, gained only by faith in Jesus Christ. Even today, people are trying to establish a kingdom of God on Earth. Abraham and his descendants never really made much impact on the world physically. They have been and always will be a small ethnic group. But their spiritual impact through faith in the Jew, Jesus Christ, as Lord has been huge. Many people from all ethnic groups and from all races have trusted him as their gate to eternal life. Jesus said we must be born again. Many have experienced the transformation of the soul to new life. Abraham’s trust in God is the same trust that is needed by anyone to experience a new life IN CHRIST. Those who are born again are peculiar people, aliens, strangers to this earth for this is no longer their home. People who trust in Jesus as Lord seek a city not made by human hands. We who are IN CHRIST are those who have been chosen for eternal life. We are the ones who sing to God, praise his name, just because He is, not because of what he has done for us, but just BECAUSE HE IS. God is worthy of all praise. Praise him today for He is alive in you. Jew and Gentile are one IN CHRIST. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:21-24) We all wear the white robes of the redeemed. We are standing with all the brothers and sisters through the ages with our beloved Apostle Paul: Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the God and our Savior Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. (Titus 2:13 KJV) Amen!
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