Israel’s Unbelief and the Prophets of God
September 25, 2024
Dr. Bradford Reaves
Crossway Christian Fellowship
Romans 9:25-10:4
www.mycrossway.org
We come back to this marvelous passage of Scripture of Romans 9. Over the last few weeks, we’ve covered what I believe is Paul’s answer to help the Jews understand the Gospel. Paul is talking about Israel’s unbelief being part of God’s sovereign plan. We know Israel has a unique place in God’s plan of redemption for mankind. The Old Testament tells us that God set apart the nation of Israel and gave them covenants, promises, and blessings so that they could present to the world Messiah Yeshua.
Yet now we come to a fascinating question that Paul is answering because when the Messiah showed up, God’s chosen people rejected Him and the message of the Apostles who proclaimed the Gospel. The question that Paul is answering through chapters 9 – 11 is, if the Gospel is true, how can the people of God reject it? So, what we have here is an apologetic of the Gospel and how Israel did and still fits in with God’s plan, and if you remember that, I said Paul is presenting four main points in Chapter 9.
First, in Romans 9: 6-13, Paul points out that Israel’s unbelief does not violate God’s promise. Here, he uses Isaac and Jacob as illustrations.
Secondly, verses 14 through 24 demonstrate that the unbelief of Israel does not violate God’s person. In other words, God is not being unfair or unjust. If he were just, we all would be condemned. Paul uses two scriptures to explain his point: Exodus 33: 19 and Exodus 9: 16, which talk about the pharaoh. All of those points to God’s sovereignty. In other words, it’s his mercy that saves us. We have no right to ask for salvation nor deserve to get it from God. We are recipients of God’s mercy & grace.
Mercy is rooted in God’s compassion (eleos), and grace is rooted in God’s favor (charis). Mercy is the act of withholding deserved punishment, while grace is the act of giving unmerited favor. In his mercy, God does not give us the punishment we deserve, namely hell. In grace, God provides us with the gift we do not deserve, namely eternity.
For the Jews, this was hard to accept because they were the covenant people of God. How can God exercise mercy on Gentiles if Israel is the apple of God’s eye? Paul explains here in Chapter 9 that the unbelief of Israel does not violate God’s promise to them; it does not violate God’s person, and the nearer we draw to God, the better we understand that. This brings us to the Third Point that the unbelief of the Jews does not violate God’s plan.
5 As he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’” 26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’” 27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, 28 for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” 29 And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.” 30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 9:25-10:4)
In this passage, Paul is referencing 2 Old Testament prophets in a very systematic way: Hosea and Isaiah.
In verse 25, Paul paraphrases Hosea’s chapter 2. Hosea is a very interesting prophet. God called him to marry a prostitute, Gomer. Through her, Hosea has three children: the first son is named Jezreel, which means “scattered.” The second child born is a girl named Lo-ruhamah, which means “pitied.” The third child, a son, is named Lo-ammi, “not my people.” All of this is a picture of Israel.
Hosea marrying a prostitute is the picture of Israel worshipping false gods, which gives birth to them being scattered, pitied, and not my people. This is the image of adulterous Israel and the children of unfaithful Israel. And when you think about it, this is the picture of Israel today. Scattered. Pitied. And not God’s people.
But there’s an important point in all of this: Hosea, too, says that God will bring them back. This is the important picture.
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her (Hosea 2:14)
And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness, justice, steadfast love, and mercy. (Hosea 2:19)
So Hosea says that Israel will not be God’s people for some time, but there will be a day when they will be brought back to being the people of God. What the prophet is talking about is Israel’s judgment and then their restoration. And Hosea lived to see some of that. He lived to see the northern Kingdom conquer the Assyrians. God took his hand off the nation. They were scattered, and God brought them back, didn’t he? God brought them back and gave them their land, temple, and identity. What Paul is doing here is to provide double fulfillment for Hosea. Here is a prophecy related to Israel being scattered, no longer pitied or cared for by God, and no longer having a relationship with Him, yet someday being brought back from that and becoming a people God intended them to become.
As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved (Romans 9:25)
So listen, when Hosea wrote, that had an immediate historical fulfillment, didn’t it?? e people were severed from God and carried off into captivity, from which eventually God brought back the Southern kingdom and a Kingdom of the Northern Kingdom. , the Kingdom was historically fulfilled in the restoration after the Babylonian captivity. That was only the first historical fulfillment. Ere was yet a future prophetic perspective. d Paul here identifies it with the unbelief of the Jews during the time of Christ. What happened to Israel in 70 A.D.? They were scattered, pitied, and not His people. However t, this isn’t permanent. S, the unbelief of Israel fits in with the plan of God.
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? B no means! F r I am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin (Romans 11:1)
And in this way, all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; 27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” (Romans 11:26-27)
Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:10)
23, and I will sow her for myself in the land. A d I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God (Hosea 2:23)
Paul’s point is that the future restoration of Israel demands a fall of Israel. Y, you can’t restore what hasn’t been lost. P ul is saying we’re not shocked by Israel’s unbelief because the prophets said this time would come. B t God is a God of restoration. In other words, Israel’s unbelief was planned and prophesied, and it was God’s plan that one day, the Jews would be restored from their unbelief.
So, Paul chooses another prophetic verse from Isaiah in verse 27, Isaiah 10:22-23.
Isaiah is talking about a remnant that will be saved. In other words, Israel may be scattered, pitied, and not considered God’s people, but a remnant remains. Today, we would call them Messianic Jews.
Therefore, thus says the Lord God: “An adversary shall surround the land and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered.” Amos 3:11
Here again, Paul is saying that Israel’s rejection of the Gospel is no violation of God’s plan. Hosea and Isaiah predicted Israel’s rejection of the Gospel. So, was God’s plan interrupted? No, not at all. The plan was fulfilled just as God had said it would happen. And to wrap it all up, Paul quotes from Isaiah again in verse 29:
And as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah (Romans 9:29)
I love how Isaiah contrasts this: if God had not left Israel a remnant, they would have been no better than Sodom and Gomorrah. Quoting Isaiah 1:9, Paul is saying that the Lord of hosts has a plan for Israel because if God were done with Israel, they would have ended up like Sodom and Gomorrah. In other words, they would be desolated, literally burned to extinction. If the prophets are saying this, there has to be a plan. Pa l is showing the Jewish believer all of that using Scripture.
The unbelief of Israel does not violate the prerequisite of God.
The unbelief of Israel does not violate the prerequisite of God. So, what is God’s prerequisite for a relationship with Him? Fa th. He said that we still need faith in the divine election of God’s sovereignty. The re is a paradox in God’s plan for Israel and humanity. It's faith. What a thought. Before the world was formed on its foundation, God’s sovereignty was not an opposition to our society. They’re in perfect harmony and the catalyst to all that is found in one simple word.
Paul is saying that Israel’s unbelief was due to their rejection of what God put in place for them. Their guilt is their responsibility because of their own belief. So, what does that have to do with us? Our salvation is no different. We, without God, we are without hope. That takes us right back to Romans 1, where we are given over to our lust, evil, and immoral minds. The point that Paul is making is that the greatest obstacle to salvation isn’t sin.
The greatest obstacle to salvation is self-righteousness, thinking we can obtain salvation through good works. Th’s been the point of Romans. It's the heart of the Gospel. We are justified through faith. The Gentiles are saved because they are elected; they have faith. Go elected Israel, and they missed it because they didn’t have faith. Lo k at the close verses where Paul again quotes from Isaiah 8:14-15, Isaiah 28:26, and Psalm 118:22.
30 What shall we say, then? The t Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. The y have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” (Romans 9:30-33)
Jesus himself quotes from these references in Matthew 21:42. Am zing. The s brings Paul around full circle
1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God is that they may be saved. Two or I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. Three or, being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 or Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:1-4)
My friends, tonight's message is very clear. Do you believe it? Are you resting in God’s salvation? Or are you full of fear and gripped with anxiety that you are failing Him? Listen to me; you alone are unrighteous.
Some of us are going down the road of life 100 miles an hour, saying to ourselves I’m OK. Je us will step out in the middle of your road and say, “No, you’re not. You are a wretched Sinner, and all your self-righteousness adds up to filthy rags because you can’t get to God through your works.” And he will make you stumble, and all, and offend you to abandon toolishness and put your trust in him—the justification of which is by grace through faith.
If you’re sitting here under the weight of condemnation, I want to urge you tonight to put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. It's not up to you. Put your faith in God through Jesus Christ, take up your cross, remove your self-righteousness or self-condemnation, and follow him. All right
