JUL 21

Romans 11:1-27
Memorise 2 Samuel 7:12-13
“all Israel shall be saved”

WHY IS ISRAEL A GREAT NATION? (II)

Israel is a great nation not only because she has God’s Law given through her, but also God’s Son. Jesus our Lord and Saviour was born a Jew, through the house of David from the stock of Abraham. The greatness of Israel, as we have observed, is not in her mental powers, but rather in her spiritual heritage. Through her is the Promised Seed given whereby all the families of the earth are blessed (Genesis 12:3). We Christians must remember that we owe the Jews this great debt. Israel was not only, as St Augustine had said, the Librarian to the Christian Church (she has given us by her prophets the Bible). Through her has come to us the Saviour of the world, Jesus Christ, the only way to God. A young Jewess, the Virgin Mary, was the chosen vessel through whom Jesus Christ was born.

But alas! The Jews who were the very recipients of the Salvation of God rejected Christ and had Him crucified. Their Church leaders were not afraid of the guilt of their crime. They even challenged God to take the Blood of the Spotless Son of God upon themselves and their children (Matthew 27:25). Of the Jews that believed in Jesus and were gathered together as a Christian community there were not more than 120. Apart from those 3,000 and 5,000 (Acts 2:41; 4:4) who believed in the Lord at Pentecost, and a sprinkling of converts throughout Paul’s ministry, most of the Jews rejected the Gospel. Therefore the Gospel was preached to the Gentiles. The Jews who rejected Christ were rejected of God. Hence they experienced the Diaspora or dispersion, their scattering, to the ends of the earth. Israel the great nation became a small nation, a stateless nation. By the mysterious decrees of God, Israel, like the olive branch, was cut off when they rejected the Saviour. The Gentiles who believed, like a wild olive branch, was grafted in her place.

Today salvation is still given to the Gentiles, so this Gospel continues to be preached freely and without restraint to us who live in a free country like Singapore. But soon our time will be up when “the fullness of the Gentiles be come in,” i.e. when the predestined number of Gentiles to be saved will be counted. Then Israel, the outcast Olive branch, will be reinstated when “all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26).

Thought: God cannot fail to keep His promises.
Prayer: Lord, I praise Thee for Thou art a covenant-keeping God.