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"I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them
to anger with a foolish nation" (Deut. 32: 21).
So we see that unbelieving and disobedient Israel will be put to shame by believing
Gentiles who had nothing like the privileges of Israel. All through the Acts period, the
record shows that God's hands were extended in blessing and forgiveness to Israel who
had just committed their climax sin in murdering their King, Saviour and Messiah. The
most important statement of Peter (Acts 3: 19-26) should be carefully considered here.
In spite of this, Israel still refused to respond. They were indeed a disobedient and
contradicting people (verse 21).
Chapter 11: continues with God's purpose for Israel in spite of their failure and
unfaithfulness. We shall see that, although this failure is written all over Israel's history,
yet it was not total failure, for there was always a number, sometimes few, who
responded to the call of God. God always saw to it that there was a faithful remnant in
Israel, so that He was never without a witness in the nation.
On the surface one might think that with all Israel's unbelief and unreliability, God
would cast the nation aside and find other means of carrying out His earthly kingdom
purposes. But no, for chapter 11: commences:
"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. God did not reject His people,
whom He foreknew" (Rom. 11: 1, 2, N.I.V.).
In fact in His foreknowledge He knew that this would happen and so He had provided
for this very thing. God is never taken by surprise. He had not cast away His earthly
people at this point any more than in earlier days when they failed Him. Yet there are a
number who believe that Israel was cast off by God at the cross. In fact this view is very
popular among evangelical expositors. How wrong they are! Such ideas cloud the mind
and the purpose revealed in the Acts of the Apostles and is quite contrary to this definite
statement in Rom. 11:
The Apostle Paul's answer to the question is settled first of all by referring to himself.
"I am", he says, "a true Israelite", and "God has not cast me off", nor for that matter was
this true of numbers of Jews who had responded to the Gospel after the resurrection and
ascension. Later on in the chapter he is going to give the important statement concerning
God and His dealings with men. In verse 29 we read "God's gifts and His call are
irrevocable". That is to say, what He gives in grace in His plan, He never withdraws or
changes His mind, and upon this rock of truth there must be real future of Israel
(Psa.lxxxix.28-37), and in this context we shall be instructed how this is so.
In the days of Elijah, a time of deep national apostasy, there was a faithful remnant of
7,000 who refused to worship Baal. In the A.V. of Rom. 11: 2 "Wot ye not", the word
`wot' is the archaic present tense of the verb `to wit'.
"Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah--how he
appealed to God against Israel: `Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your