Treasures New and Old
Treasures New and OldRomans: Who Are God’s People?
Can Gentiles Be of the Seed of Abraham?
The above subtitle should not seem like a difficult question to answer. Nevertheless, it can be. Were I to ask a Jewish person at random their answer would be a solemn no. Clearly only those born among the Jewish people may be called the seed of Abraham. In fact, there are laws within Israel that are designed to help determine whether a person is Jewish enough to be called Jewish and allowed to be a citizen of Israel, to make aliyah to the country.
Many people have done DNA tests to help prove that they have a certain amount of Jewishness in their background, while others have taken DNA tests to help prove that they do not have Jewish blood in their background.
But that’s not what Paul is talking about. In this section of Scripture, he is asking about the spiritual Abraham. Who is of the spiritual seed of Abraham, not the physical seed of Abraham? We will learn while studying these verses to be a spiritual member of Abraham is to exhibit faith like Abraham did. So, let’s dig in and start with the question who are God’s people?
Who Are God’s People?
Romans 9:25-29:
As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth. And as Isaiah said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah.
1. Saved Gentiles Were in God’s Plan All Along
- God had a plan all along to provide salvation not just to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. Even provisions in the law allowed for the conversion of Gentiles to Judaism. See Exodus 20:10; 23:12; 12:19; 12:48; Deuteronomy 5:14; 16:11-14; etc.
- Remember the Old Testament concealed, New Testament revealed? God has always intended for the light of His word (which was supposed to be lifted up by the Jewish nation) to attract and provide light and salvation to Gentile peoples and nations. Unfortunately, the Jewish nation became inclusive and refused to be that light and, therefore, found themselves judged as a result. Worse, the Jews, instead of influencing the Gentile nations around them with God’s righteous law, became corrupted by the Gentile idols, and gods, and pagan ways which again resulted in loving judgement.
Verse 25 Notes: “As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.”
Hosea 2:19-23:
And I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
2. Abraham, the First Saved Gentile
Galatians 3:6-9: “Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. 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. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.”
Galatians 3:27-29: “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Verse 26 Notes: “And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.”
Hosea 1:10: “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.”
3. God Has Had to Judge Israel Many Times
Verse 27 Notes: “Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:”
Isaiah 10:20-22: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall not more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall overflow with righteousness.”
4. But God Has Always Left Himself a Remnant
Verse 28 Notes: “For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.”
- Paul is referring to the judgements that God carried out on Israel to bring them back to repentance, as well as the closing of God’s direct working with the nation of Israel, and the period we now call the time of the Gentiles and the church age. God will finish the judgement but will cut it short so as to save to Himself a remnant.
- Short work is not a call for swift judgment as much as a reminder that it will be a merciful work and short in duration. Which slides us into the next verse, that of a reference to seed or remnant left as God’s portion.
5. Israel is Full of Sinners Like the Rest of the World
Verse 29 Notes: “And as Isaiah said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we have been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah.”
Isaiah 1:9: “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”
- The “Lord of Sabaoth” and the “Lord of Hosts” mean the same thing. It comes from an ancient Hebrew word, tsaba (Strong’s H6633). It means armies, military, war, battle, soldiers, etc. Many, not just one as it is a plural word. Jesus is the Lord of Armies. Remember Joshua and the Captain of the Hosts commanding the strategy for destroying Jericho.
- Except the Lord Jesus, Captain of the Hosts, had left a remnant, a small seed from which to germinate a people, Israel would be in ruins and a wasteland like Sodom and Gomorrah. This is referring back to the Jewish people and the many times Israel as a nation had to be judged for their idolatry and straying from the Lord.
- Jesus even mentioned this himself:
Matthew 10:14-15: “And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.”
Matthew 11:21-24:
Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for thee.
Matthew 7:21-29:
Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not; for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these saying of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Isaiah 42:6-7: “I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.”
Isaiah 49:6: “And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”
6. Who Then Are God’s People?
Mark 8:34, 38: “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me . . . Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generations; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
1 Peter 2:4-10: “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ . . . But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”
7. Gentile Jews: Those Who Accept Christ as Lord and Savior
Romans 2:28-29: “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”
I hope I didn’t confuse you with all my notes and Bible verses inserts. It is very noteworthy that long before the Law of Moses (some five hundred plus years) and the Hebrew nation of people emerged from Egypt as “Jews”, Abraham was counted worthy by God not for obeying a law that did not yet exist, but for simply having faith in God’s promises. So, too, we are invited to become engrafted into the vine (which we now know is Jesus Christ) by faith. Accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savor makes us all the spiritual seed of Abraham, the first “Jew” by faith.
May God Bless you!
Maranatha!
Bro. Joe