Romans 11
McGeeCHAPTER 11THEME: Remnant of Israel finding salvation; remainder of Israel blinded; reason for setting aside the nation Israel; restoration of the nation Israel; reason for restoring the nation IsraelWe will see that God has a future purpose with Israel. In chapter 9 we saw God’s past dealings with Israel. In chapter 10 we saw God’s present dealings with Israel: a remnant of Israel is finding salvation. Perhaps you are saying, “Well, it must be a very small remnant.” It is larger than you might think it is. It is estimated that there are about fifteen million Jews throughout the world, and the percentage of those who are believers is probably much higher than that of the gentile world with its four billion people. We have seen that the nation rejected Christ and the “by faith” righteousness of God in Christ which was offered to them. And now God has rejected them temporarily as a nation. Two questions naturally arise: Has God permanently rejected them as a nation? In other words, does the nation of Israel have a future? Secondly, are all the promises of the Old Testament nullified by the rejection of Israel? Remember that God had promised primacy to Israel in the Old Testament. He had said they would be the head, not the tail, of the nations (see Deu_28:13). My friend, all the promises of the Old Testament will have a literal fulfillment. Paul will make that clear.
Romans 11:1
REMNANT OF ISRAEL FINDING SALVATIONWhat people is Paul talking about? Israel. In case the amillennialist might miss this, Paul is very specific. Paul himself is present proof. He is a true Israelite of genuine stock. He is descended from Abraham; he is from one of the twelve tribes of Israel, Benjamin, one of the two tribes that never seceded from the nation. He was 100 percent Israelite. “God forbid” is more accurately, Let it not be! It is a strong negative. Even the form of the question demands a negative answer. God has not cast away Israel as a nation.
Romans 11:2
Paul uses old Elijah as an illustration, and he makes a good one. Elijah stood for God, and he stood alone. How I admire that man standing alone for God against 450 prophets of Baal. And Elijah goes to the Lord to complain. He says, “Lord, I am all alone; I am the only one left.” God says, “Wait a minute, you think you are alone, but you are not.”
Romans 11:4
Elijah was totally unaware that God had been working in the hearts of seven thousand men. If there were seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to Baal, then it follows that there were about twice as many women who did not bow the knee either, if you go by percentages. For the northern kingdom this was a sizable remnant in the day of Ahab and Jezebel.
Romans 11:5
God always had a remnant in Israel. That remnant today is composed of those Jews who have come to Christ. This is the reason Paul will say later that all Israel is not Israel.
Romans 11:6
In other words, grace and works represent two mutually exclusive systems. They are diametrically opposed to each other. The remnant at this time is composed of those who are not saved by works or by merit; they are saved by the grace of God. The future purpose of Godfrom the day Paul wrote down to the presentconcerns those who will accept Christ. What about those who do not accept Christ? Well, the remainder of Israel is hardened.
Romans 11:7
REMAINDER OF ISRAEL BLINDEDIt is important to notice that they were hardened because they failed; they did not fail because they were hardened. A lot of folk get the cart before the horsein fact, they get the horse in the cart, and it doesn’t belong there! Did they fail to come to Christ because they had been blinded? Oh, no. They had been exposed to the gospel as no other people have been exposed to it. God said, “All day long have I stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Rom_10:21). He has been patient with them. Now they are blinded because they would not accept the light He gave them.
Romans 11:8
They had rejected, you see. When a man rejects, he becomes the most difficult to reach with the grace of God.
Romans 11:9
This is a quotation from Psa_69:22 which says, “Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.” The table has reference to feasting, which is representative of material prosperity. The children of Israel had great feasts at which they were actually guests of Godthey did not invite God to their feasts as the pagans didrather, God invited them. The Passover was a notable example. The thought here is that they were feasting in a conceited confidence which was entirely pagan. Their carnal security deceived them as to their true spiritual ruin. They trusted the things they ate without any true confidence in God.
My friend, this is the condition at the present moment of multitudes of church members. They come to the Lord’s Supper without a spiritual understanding.
Romans 11:10
God gives light in order that men might see, but if they are blind, they will not see. The light reveals the blindness of multitudes today. I am amazed that so many intelligent people do not seem to understand what the Bible is all about.
Romans 11:11
REASON FOR SETTING ASIDE THE NATION ISRAELThe nation Israel was set aside for the salvation of the Gentiles. Paul deals with this in the following section. In other words: I say then, did they stumble in order that they might fall? Away with the thoughtthat’s not it. But by their false step, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke Israel to jealousy. Now Paul opens this verse with the same engaging inquiry as he did verse Rom_11:1. Do you remember that he raised the question, “Hath God cast away his people?” (v. Rom_11:1). Rejection is only partial and temporary. His question is, “Have they stumbled in such a way that they will not rise again?” The answer is an emphatic negative. Their fall has enabled God through His providence to open the gates of salvation wide to the Gentiles.
The Jew will see the reality of salvation of the Gentiles, that they are experiencing the blessings of God which the Jew thought could come only to him. This should move him to emulation, not jealousy as we define it. In our trips to Israel, we have had several guides who were Jewish. They were puzzled that we were so interested in things that are Jewish in the nation Israel. They marveled at that. I have visited other countries and enjoyed them.
I enjoyed England because some of my ancestors came from that area. In Egypt I saw the pyramids and that great hunk of rock there, and now that I have seen it, I don’t want to see it again. But I have an interest in Israel that is not equaled in any other nation. The Jewish people don’t understand this. One Jewish guide talked to me about it. He said, “I want to know why these things are so important to you.”
Romans 11:12
Israel has been set aside; that is, God is not dealing with them as a nation at this time. When God does begin to deal with them, they won’t have any problem with the Arabthat conflict will be completely resolved. Israel will not live in fear, because God has made it very clear that every man is going to dwell in peace and tranquility. “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it” (Mic_4:4). Now since their setting aside has brought the grace of God to Gentiles, what about the grace of God toward the Gentiles after the Jews are received again? It will be multiplied. James made this clear at that great council at Jerusalem. He said that God is calling out from among Gentiles a people for His name just as He is calling out Israelites. Then God says, “After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things” (Act_15:16-17). This is my reason for periodically making a statementthat sometimes puzzles folkthat the greatest “revival” took place on this earth before the church got here. (I use the word revival in the popular sense of a turning to God.) A man by the name of Jonah went into the city of Ninevah and saw the entire city turn to God.
It is true that there was a great turning to God on the Day of Pentecost (which marks the beginning of the church), but what was the percentage? Pentecost was a feast in Jerusalem to which all male Israelites were required to gothere must have been several hundred thousand Jews in the environs of Jerusalem. How many were saved? Well, judging from the record, there were probably about ten thousand who were saved after the first few days of preaching. That is actually a small percentage. And the greatest revival since then took place in the Hawaiian Islands.
The percentage there was probably 50 percent. But that was small in comparison to the days of Jonah. And I believe that the greatest revival will take place after the church leaves this earth. Actually, the church has not done too well. I believe that after the church has been raptured, multitudes of Gentiles will turn to Godnot only in the Great Tribulation period, but in the Millennium. Gentile nations will enter the Millennium, and a great many of them are going to like the rule of Christ, and they will turn to God during that period.
I believe this with all my heart.
Romans 11:13
Perhaps my translation will help you in the understanding of these two verse: “But I speak to you, the Gentiles. Inasmuch, then, as I [Paul] am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry, if by any means I may move to emulation, that is, provoke to jealousy them of my flesh, and may save some of them.” In other words, Paul says, in effect, “I am an apostle to the Gentiles, and I rejoice in that. But as I preach to the Gentiles, I hope it will move many of my own people to turn to Christ also.” Paul, you remember, wrote to the Corinthians, “And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law” (1Co_9:20). This is the reason Paul went to Jerusalem with his head shaven and under an oathhe was trying to win his people to Christ. Should he have done this since he lived under grace? Living under grace means that he could do it if he wanted to. In his letter to the Corinthians he continued, “To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law” (1Co_9:21). In other words, he was obeying Christ. Then Paul says, “To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1Co_9:22).
He was first of all fulfilling his office as an apostle to the Gentiles, and in so doing, he was trying to move his Jewish brethren to turn to Christ. Some turned to Christonly a fewbut some. In all of this Paul was fulfilling his ministry, and God was accomplishing His purpose in this age with both Jew and Gentile. I understand the satisfaction Paul felt in doing what God had called him to do. God has a place for you, my friend. He may want you to get busy and teach a Sunday school class, do personal work, or reach people through a business enterprise. Or He may want you to support another who is really getting out the Word of God. Whatever it is, you will experience great satisfaction in doing what you are confident God has called you to do.
Romans 11:15
It is wonderful to anticipate the future. I think the greatest days are ahead of us. From man’s point of view, the future is dark. Man has gotten his world in a mess. I felt sorry for a businessman to whom I was talking in Hawaii. We started chatting on the golf course. He told me that he was a businessman from Chicagoa vice-president of some concern. Obviously he had money, but, oh, how pessimistic he was about the future. Many thinking people are very pessimistic about the future of our civilization. But my God is on the throne, and He is going to straighten it out. The greatest days are yet in the future. Oh, the glorious future a child of God has. If I were not a dignified preacher, I would say Hallelujah!
Romans 11:16
You may recall that in the Book of Numbers, God said, “Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD an heave offering in your generations” (Num_15:21). “Dough,” of course, is bread dough! A part of the dough was offered to God as a token that all of it was acceptable. The “firstfruit” evidently refers to the origin of the nation: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. “Holy” has no reference to any moral quality, but to the fact that it was set apart for God. Now if the firstfruit, or the first doughthat little bit of doughwas set apart for God, what about the whole harvest? Since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were set apart for God, what about the nation? It all belongs to God, you see. God is not through with the nation Israel.
Romans 11:17
You and I benefit because of the nation Israel. That is the reason I could never be anti-Semitic. I owe too much to them as a nation.
Romans 11:18
The “olive tree” is a picture of the nation Israel, and the “wild olive” is the church. Everything you and I have is rooted in the fact that God called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and that out of the nation Israel He brought Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord.
Romans 11:20
The important thing is that they were set aside because of their unbelief. Oh, my Christian friend, you do not stand before God on your merit, your church membership, or your good life. You stand on one basis alone: your faith in Jesus Christ. Now Paul gives a word of warning.
Romans 11:21
Since God did not spare the nation Israel when they apostatized, the argument is that He will not spare an apostate church. I am more and more convinced that the church which is based on a philosophy or ritual or some sort of gyroflectionthe type of church which was designated in the third chapter of the Book of Revelation as the church of Laodiceawill go into the Great Tribulation. As Dr. George Gill used to say, “Some churches will meet on the Sunday morning after the Rapture, and they won’t miss a member.” That’s Laodicea. In contrast to this, He says to the church of Philadelphia, “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation [that is, the Tribulation], which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth” (Rev_3:10). He promised to keep from the Tribulation that church which has an open door before it and is getting out the Word of God. My friend, I belong to that church; I hope you do also. It is an invisible body of believers. This is the church that will be taken to meet Christ at the time of the Rapture, which precedes the Great Tribulation.
Romans 11:22
RESTORATION OF THE NATION ISRAELNow we shall see that the restoration of the nation Israel will bring the greatest blessing. These are stern words. Paul calls upon the Gentiles to behold two examples. Rejected Israel reveals the severity of God, but to the Gentiles who have turned to God, the benevolent goodness of God is revealed. These two sides of God need to be revealed today: the judgment of God against the rejection of Christ against sin, and the grace of God to those that will trust Christ. Paul did not have the complete picture of the severity of God toward Israel. The history of Israel in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and all that succeeded it is a terrifying story. My friend, let’s not trifle with the grace of God. It is grace which has brought us into the family of God and granted us so many privileges. After over nineteen hundred years the gentile church is as much a failure, if not more so, than Israel.
Romans 11:23
Since God accepted Gentiles who had no merit, surely God can restore Israel who likewise has no merit. “Again” is the key word. God will again restore Israel. The Old Testament makes it very clear that Israel is going to turn to God again. As an example, read Jer_23:3-8, which is one of the many remarkable prophecies of the restoration of Israel. Zechariah speaks of this: “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn” (Zec_12:10). This will be the great Day of Atonement. They will turn to God in repentance, and God will save them just as He saves usby His marvelous, infinite mercy and grace.
Romans 11:24
Paul continues the illustration of the olive tree. The olive tree is Israel with Abraham as the root. Some of the branches were cut off. The nation, as such, was rejected. God grafted in Gentiles, but not by their becoming Jewish proselytes, which would mean they would have to adopt the Old Testament ritual. Rather, He cut off Israel and grafted in the churchincluding both Jew and Gentiledirectly and immediately upon Abraham by faith. If God could and did do that, it is reasonable to conclude that He can and will take the natural branches and graft them in again. In other words, He will not cast Israel away permanently.
Romans 11:25
“The fulness of the Gentiles” began with the calling out of the church. “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name” (Act_15:14). It will continue until the rapture of the church. Blindness and hardening of Israel will continue as long as the church is present in the world. The word mystery needs a word of explanation. In the ancient world of Paul’s day there were mystery religions. Today it applies in a popular way to a story that has an unrevealed plot or person. It is used in Scripture in neither of these ways. In the New Testament the word is used to refer to that which had been concealed but is now revealed. The mystery here is the identification of the fullness of the Gentiles, which was not a subject of revelation in the Old Testament.
Romans 11:26
When Paul says “all Israel shall be saved,” he does not mean every individual Israelite will be saved. It is the nation he has before us in this chapter. In every age, only a remnant is saved. The quotation Paul uses is from Isa_59:20 in the Old Testament: “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.” The message to the individual is that he will have to “turn from transgression” to the Lord. There will be a remnant that will turn to Him. All of them will be saved. He speaks of the saved remnant as the nation Israel. There is always only a remnant that is saved. There was a remnant in Elijah’s day; there was a remnant in David’s day; there was a remnant in Paul’s day; there is a remnant in our day; and there will be a remnant during the Great Tribulation period.
Romans 11:28
In other words, with reference to the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes; but with reference to the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts of grace and the calling of God are without repentancewithout a change of mind. Paul is summing up the preceding discussion. There have been two lines of thought which are seemingly in conflict and contradictory, although both are true. In the first place, Israel is regarded as an enemy for the sake of the Gentilesthat is, so the gospel can go to the Gentiles. On the other hand, they are beloved for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Therefore, a Christian cannot indulge in any form of anti-Semitismthat is a point I have made before, and continue to make it. The failure of Israel and our failure likewise do not alter the plan and purpose of God. “The gifts” are not natural gifts, but the word has to do with grace. The “calling” is not an invitation, but it is the effectual calling of God, which is “without repentance.” In other words, God is not asking even repentance from an unsaved person. The “calling of God” does not require any human movement. From God’s viewpoint it is without man’s repentance or change of mind. Some folk think they have to shed tears in order to be saved. Now certainly the shedding of tears could be a by-product of an emotional person who turns to Christ, but the tears have nothing in the world to do with your salvation. It is your faith in Christ that saves you. And neither is your faith meritorious. It is Christ who is meritorious. Your faith enables you to lay hold of Him.
Romans 11:30
You see, Paul is writing to Gentilesthe church in Rome was largely composed of Gentile believers. By this time, many Gentiles were being saved. He is drawing a contrast here between the nation of Israel and the Gentiles. In times past, the Gentiles did not believe, but now a remnant of the Gentiles have “obtained mercy.” During this same time period Israel as a nation, which formerly believed, does not now believe. Paul puts down the principle by which God saves both Jew and Gentile: it is by mercy. Just as God showed mercy to the Gentiles, He will show mercy to the nation Israel.
Romans 11:32
Both Jew and Gentile are in the stubborn state of rebellion and aggravated unbelief. Because of this, by grace we are saved, through faith; and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any of us should boast (see Eph_2:8-9].
Romans 11:33
REASON FOR RESTORING THE NATION ISRAELWhat is the reason that the nation Israel will be restored? Well, that is locked in the riches of the wisdom of God. My friend, let’s rest on the fact that what God is doing is wise, it is right, and it is the best that can be done. You and I have an old nature that questions God when He makes a decision. I have heard many Christians say, “Why are the heathen lost when they haven’t heard the gospel? God has no right to condemn them!” My friend, God has every right imaginable. He is God. And what He is doing is right. If you don’t think it is right, your thinking is wrong. And if you don’t think He is being smart, you are wrong. God is not stupid. You and I may be stupid, but God is not. Oh, how we need to recognize this! Paul has come to the place of recognizing the wisdom and the glory of all that he has been discussing. Godet’s statement on this section is worth quoting: “Like a traveller who has reached the summit of an Alpine ascent, the apostle turns and contemplates. Depths are at his feet, but waves of light illumine them, and there spreads all around an immense horizon which his eye commands.” This section is pure praise and is no argument at all, yet it is the greatest argument of all. If we do not understand the why of God’s dealings with Israel, with the Gentiles, and with ourselves, it is not because there is not a good and sufficient reason. The difficulty is with our inability to comprehend the wisdom and ways of God. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1Co_2:14). Once, while driving back from Texas to California, my little girl developed a fever of 104 degrees. I took her to a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. She did not understand why I had taken her to the hospital, especially when the doctor probed around and actually made her cry. She said, “Daddy, why did you bring me here?” She did not understand that, since she was sick, I was doing the wisest thing I could do under the circumstances and that I was doing it because I loved her. Oh, my friend, God is doing what is best for us. We may not understand the things that happen to us, but we must believe that it is for our good that God allows them.
We are like little children, and we cannot understand God’s ways. Our circumstances may not always seem to be good, but they come from the “depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.” God says to us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa_55:8-9). Oh, how we need to recognize this fact.
Romans 11:34
These questions that we have here are simple enough, but the answer is not so easy. “Who hath known the mind of the Lord?” Well, no one knows the mind of the Lordthat’s the answer. It was Paul’s ambition to know Him. He says, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Php_3:10). “Who hath been his counsellor?” No one can advise God. I have seen a lot of church boards that felt they were really giving God good advice, but He doesn’t need it. Have you noticed that the Lord Jesus never asked for advice when He was here on earth? One timebefore feeding the five thousandHe asked Philip, “…Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” Why did He ask that question? “And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do” (Joh_6:5-6). He didn’t need Philip’s advice. The fact of the matter is, he didn’t use His disciples’ advice. They said, “Send them away.” He said, “You give them something to eat.” My friend, God does not ask for advice, although a lot of folk want to give Him advice today. “Who hath first given to him?” Have you ever really given anything to God which put Him in the awkward position of owing you something? If you were able to give God something, He would owe you something. What do you have that He hasn’t already given you? I think one reason many of us are so poor is simply because we return to Him so little of what He has given us. To tell the truth, God says He won’t be in debt to anybody. When somebody gives Him something, He turns around and gives him more.
Years ago someone asked a financier in Philadelphia, a wonderful Christian man, “How is it that you have such wealth, and yet you give away so much?” The financier replied, “Well, I shovel it out, and God shovels it in; and God’s shovel is bigger than my shovel!” Oh, my friend, most of us are not giving God a chance to use His shovel! We cannot do anything for HimHe will give us back more than we give to Him.
Romans 11:36
This just lifts me to the heights. Let me give you my translation: Because out of Him, and through Him, and unto Him are all things. To Him be the glory unto the ages. Amen. Alford labeled this verse “the sublimest apostrophe existing even in the pages of inspiration itself.” “Out of Him” means God is the all-sufficient cause and source of everything. “Through Him” means God is the mighty sustainer and worker. “…My Father worketh hitherto, and I work,” Jesus said (Joh_5:17). “Unto Him” means God must call every creature to account to Him. All things flow toward God. “To whom be glory"the glory belongs to Him in all ages. Are we robbing God of His glory by taking credit for things we have no business to claim? The glory belongs to Him. Oh, my friend, what a section of Scripture we have been in, and we leave it reluctantly.