Romans: Israel Provokes Gentiles to Grace

Jesus mourned over the Jewish people when they refused to acknowledge their Messiah for who He was.

Luke 19:41-44: “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

God had planned that Israel would be the world’s light for God’s Word and provide a means to reach the entire world with His standards and laws. But instead, they became isolationists and separated themselves from the world, and worse, they looked down on the rest of the world’s peoples and refused to be a light to them.

God knew this would happen and had a final plan all along (not plan B as we might do things, but the ultimate plan of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of the world). With the birth of the church (started first with Jewish believers – see, His plan to reach the whole world did indeed use Israel – but just a remnant of them) that remnant was used by God to spread the gospel. But the rejection of the rest of Israel to accept the Messiah also resulted in the Holy Spirit turning to the Gentile nations to carry out the message of His salvation through Christ. Let’s see what Paul is saying . . .

Israel’s Rejection – Gentile Acceptance

Romans 11:7-15:

What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always. I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

First – Israel’s Blindness is the Blindness of the Lost

Verse 7 Notes: “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.”

What then? – What is the result of all that the apostle has been saying? It is this: Israel as a nation hath not obtained righteousness, of which it was in search, but the election (selected) among them, that is, those individuals whom God has quickened – the chosen remnant reserved by God spoken of in verses 1-6. They have obtained salvation because they did so by faith and not by works. Look again at Romans 9:31:

- Romans 9:31: “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.”

Now look at what Jesus said on Palm Sunday as He overlooked the city of Jerusalem:

- Luke 19:41-42 (bold added): “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.”

There are those who are open to the gospel because they realize their sinful, hopeless condition before God – hopeless, that is, outside of God Himself saving them.

The rest are blinded. Unable to see their need and hopeless condition. Perhaps blinded by pride since Romans 9:31 reminds us that the vast majority of Israel hoped to obtain righteousness on their own merit by the keeping of the law.

Perhaps blinded by unbelief that such as gift was made available by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Some today are blinded by their own delusion that they are evolving into a god themselves and have no need of the desert God of Israel.

Some are likely blinded by the lie that there is no God, and they simply have no need of salvation from this judgmental God the Christians have made up.

Some are blinded by willful ignorance.

Others are blinded by apathy.

Some are blinded by what they consider to be their own goodness. Their good deeds will outweigh their few, and not so egregious, bad deeds. After all, they don’t do drugs, get drunk, steal, commit adultery, have not killed anyone, give to various charities and causes, pay their taxes, etc.

Verse 8 Notes: “(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.”

Paul is once again referring back to Old Testament prophetic proclamations that the Roman Jewish believers would readily understand.

Isaiah 6:9-10: “And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”

Interestingly, Isaiah also prophesied an outcome different than spiritual slumber when Jesus is king in their lives:

Isaiah 32:1-4: “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken. The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.”

Unto this day: Paul is less than one hundred years out from Israel’s rejection as a nation of their Messiah, and he says they are still blinded. We look back to nearly two thousand years, and we can still say Israel, as a nation, is blinded unto this day.

Beloved, it is a woeful thing to reject the claims of Jesus Christ and to be one day cut off from ever believing and that without remedy: Proverbs 6:15 and 29:1.

To this point of blindness, do not wholly assume that God blinded their eyes and stopped their ears and is, therefore, to blame. Time will tell, and it will be revealed at the judgement that they willfully blinded their eyes and stopped their ears to the gospel.

Verse 9-10 Notes: “And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always.”

Psalm 69:21-23: “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.”

Their table speaks to their abundance and prosperity which blinds them by causing them to think all is well. They have no needs, thus trapping themselves in blindness to their spiritual needs.

Second – Israel’s Blindness Brought Salvation to the Gentiles

Verse 11 Notes: “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.“

Having proved that God has not cast away His people by referring to the fact that, even then, a remnant according to the election of grace, was preserved, Paul supports his denial of their rejection by the consideration that in process of time the whole nation shall be restore. This restoration, as has been already remarked, forms the subject of nearly the whole remainder of the chapter.

Did Israel’s blindness cause them to stumble so that they as a nation would fail, fall, be deceived, reject their Messiah, lose any chance for salvation? Did their stumble cause their fall, or did they fall and, thus, stumble in the process? They staggered at the promises of God and His Messiah.

Isaiah 8:13-15: “Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.” (Also 1 Peter 2:8).

What has been a result of Israel’s blindness stumbling and falling as a nation (but not all individuals)? The Gentile nations have sought God and found salvation in the Jewish Messiah.

And what has been the result of Gentiles following after Jesus Christ, the Jewish Messiah? Is it not the provoking of Israel to jealousy? Such a jealousy that will one day bring the entire nation to salvation.

What form is this jealousy?

Parazeloo: Strong’s G3863: two Greek words:para (G3844) means from beside, vicinity of, proximity with; and zeloo (G2206): to have warmth, to covet, to envy, to desire. Together they imply jealousy, provoke to action, excite to rivalry, stimulate alongside, provoke to emulate.

One day, Israel will cry out for their Messiah, and it will be the entire nation that does so – an unprecedented event.

What is our task in all this discussion? Same as Paul’s: Ephesians 3:9-11 (bold added): “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:”

Remember, we are talking about the nation being blinded and not individuals that have been saved and continue to be saved by he election of grace so that God will have His remnant. No other nation has ever been in this special situation.

Third – Wait until the Entire Nation Gets Saved!

Verse 12 Notes: “Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?“

Paul has made his argument that it was the failure of the nation of Israel to recognize their Messiah that resulted in God turning directly to the Gentiles and extending to them salvation in Jesus Christ. Please remember that originally Abraham was to produce a nation that would bless all nations. Part of that blessing was the law and the example that Israel was supposed to provide as a holy nation blessed by God to provoke the Gentile nations to jealousy and seek Christ.

That didn’t work out so well.

But what Paul is now saying that since we Gentiles have reaped tremendous benefits from Israel’s failure to accept the Messiah as a nation (but not the many individuals who shared the gospel) and God turned to the Gentiles, imagine the benefits and blessings the world will experience when the entire nation gets saved!

Verse 13 Notes: “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:“

Paul spends a lot of his letter to the Romans speaking to the Jewish faction. But now he turns to the Gentiles with the authority of the apostle to the Gentiles as commissioned by God. Doing so and seeing the response of so many Gentiles getting saved has done honor to his office as the Gentile apostle.

Verse 14 Notes: “If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.“

To the end that Paul reaches Gentiles and leads them to Christ, it is his hope that the jealousy he spoke of earlier will provoke many individuals of the Jewish people (i.e. his flesh) to salvation in Jesus Christ.

Verse 15 Notes: “For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?“

Final argument for the day is this: If the blindness of the nation of Israel has resulted in the salvation of so many in the world among the Gentiles as they are reconciled to God through Christ, can you imagine what will be the effect when Israel repents and calls for their messiah?

Here Paul further explains and illustrates the argument he had employed in the twelfth verse. The gospel was preached to the world only after Israel rejected it. This was not the result of accident; it was according to the fixed purpose of God. The middle wall of partition was then broken down. The command was given to preach the gospel to every creature. After the great sacrifice had been offered, it was no longer to be limited to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Imagine what will happen when Israel’s promised fullness comes in!!! It will seem that the dead nation of Israel has been raised from the dead!

Pray for that day when an entire nation gets saved, and see what God will do then.

May God Bless you!

Maranatha!

Bro. Joe

References

Strong, J. Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries. Meyers, R. (2005). e-Sword. [computer software] . Franklin, TN: Equipping Ministries Foundation. (Original work published 1539)

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