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Articles 2024-2026
I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites…
How Paul loved his countrymen, the people of Israel. How he wanted to see them come to know their Messiah. Of course, he knew that giving up his salvation could not and would not save anybody. But speaking hyperbolically in order to make the point of his great love for his nation, he stated that while he did not wish so, he could wish to relinquish his salvation if somehow that would help them. And so, he carried in his heart a great and continuing sorrow on their behalf as he sought insight into God’s purpose for those:
who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.
When God adopted His people, it revealed His great love and mercy because He placed into His family those who were estranged from Him. We see this when we read about Him calling out to Abraham in order to bless the nations through him. And we see it when we read of how God chose Israel out of all the nations to be His special treasure, His holy priesthood, His holy nation (Exodus 19:5 - 6).
Among the people of Israel was where the Lord revealed his glory. We read of pillars of cloud and fire. We are stunned at Elijah calling down fire from heaven to consume a sacrifice. And then we are amazed at the cloud of glory filling Solomon’s temple.
The Scriptures also reveal that God made covenants with His people in the days of Noah, Abraham, Moses, and King David. Finally, He promised to make a new covenant with them where He would write His laws upon their hearts (Hebrews 8:8 - 13).
And along this line, pointing toward the new covenant, He came down in the days of Moses in great power upon Mount Sinai and gave to His people His laws written upon stone.
Clearly, to Israel was given the privilege of serving Him in His house and in His purpose for the nations.
Because of His great love, He also made many promises. One significant promise was that He would give to Israel a land. But He would drive them out of that land if they rebelled and then He would bring them back because of His eternal purpose. It would be there in that land that the Messiah would be revealed and the Holy Spirit would be poured out.
Finally, Israel existed because God had called the fathers – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to hear his voice and to follow Him. And today, Abraham is the father of all who believe.
But Paul’s great grief centered around the fact that most of the nation rejected the Lord Jesus as their Messiah. So, had the words of God to Israel simply fallen to the ground?
But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel,
Just because people were descendants of the fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not mean that they were living according to their calling. Over many centuries, there were many Jews who lived just like the nations – as idolaters, or thieves, or fornicators, etc. And Scripture makes clear what it meant to be a true Israelite. God’s people were to be circumcised not just in their flesh but in their hearts (Jeremiah 9:25 - 26). Paul picks up on this thought in his letter to the Romans.
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Authentic Jewish identity would only be realized if those who were descended from the fathers lived wholeheartedly for the Lord. A circumcised heart meant that it was cut all the way around so that no part was left attached to the things of this world, to idolatry of any kind. Today, the nation of Israel by and large does not understand her true identity. It will only be found in her Messiah, the Lord Jesus.
nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
Abram’s name meant exalted father. But then God changed his name to Abraham which meant father of a multitude (Genesis 17:5). Which was all well and good. But in order to have a multitude of descendants, you had to start with at least one child. And Sarah was barren. So, she suggested that her husband become involved with Hagar, her maidservant. And Ishmael was born.
After many years had gone by, the Lord’s servant became more settled in the thought that Ishmael was the key to fulfilling God’s promise of many descendants. But Ishmael was the result of what was possible through the strength of man. And God’s kingdom is rooted in Himself and what He has promised – even, perhaps especially when the promise seems totally impossible. How possible was it that Israel could escape from the great empire of Egypt? How possible was it that Gideon with three hundred men could defeat thousands of Midianites? How possible was it that a virgin could bear a son?
So, not all the descendants of Abraham were children of promise. Though Ishmael was a son of Abraham, he was not the son that God had referred to in His promise.
For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”
The nation of Israel was rooted in promise and impossibility. Both Abraham and Sarah began to laugh when God made it clear that His promise would not be fulfilled through Hagar and Ishmael but through Sarah and a son that she would bear. How impossible!
Today, God has made many promises both to individual believers and to His corporate people. And while some might seem totally impossible, we need to face that impossibility and begin to laugh, to worship with joy. After all, the name Isaac means laughter. Gaze upon the present condition of God’s house. And consider Christ’s prayer that His people would become perfected in such oneness that the world would then know that He had been sent by the Father and that we are loved by God even as He was. And then we need to gather in joyful worship before Heaven’s throne and celebrate the emerging miracle.
And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”
Of the two sons of Isaac and Rebecca, Paul mentions how Esau was given the privilege of serving the work of God in his brother Jacob. Here is what the Kingdom of God looks like. We are called to serve the work of God in the lives of those to whom He sends us. Such is how our King lived two thousand years ago in Israel. He came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
Who knows the glory that Esau would have inherited if he had simply walked in the calling of God. Through Jacob God had determined to bring forth the nation of Israel and then through Israel to bring forth His Messiah, His Anointed, the One sent to bring salvation to the whole world. Esau’s life and the lives of his descendants could have served that.
Instead, Esau’s descendants, the Edomites became known not only for their rejoicing over Israel’s suffering at the hands of her enemies but also for assisting those enemies in their violence. As a result, God prophesied their complete destruction while at the same time promising salvation for the Jews (Obadiah 1 - 21).
Many years after Jacob and Esau had died, in looking back on their lives and the lives of their descendants, God made this comment: Yet Jacob I have loved; but Esau I have hated, and laid waste his mountains and his heritage… (Malachi 1:2 - 3).
The judgments of God upon the Edomites had indeed been severe. Esau could have rejoiced over God’s call on his brother, but he didn’t. In establishing His purpose among men, God had made choices. People could either rejoice in those choices or resist them.
In Paul’s day, most people in Israel were rejecting God’s choice, even Jesus, His Chosen Messiah. If only they would respond and serve what He was doing in the lives of those turning to Him both in Israel as well as among the Gentiles, great blessing would come. But if like Esau, they rejected God’s choice, great destruction would come.
And so, encapsulating Esau’s life from conception all the way until many years after his death, Paul’s words make clear that God’s purpose among men will be established both through great mercy and also through great judgment (Romans 9:11 - 13).
Donald Rumble – April 2025
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