39 Israel’s Rejection Not Absolute – Part 2

Romans chapter eleven began with Paul starting to show how God had not cast away His people of Israel, even though they had continued in their rebellion and unbelief in Jesus being the only way of salvation.

Paul would continue building upon that in the second portion of the chapter, by showing that the Lord would continue working in Israel, while at the same time working in the church.

Previously, Paul had previously applied words David had spoken about Israel’s enemies, to the situation with Israel’s own unbelief:

Romans 11:10

And since Paul understood that many of his fellow Israelites would struggle with that application, he anticipated some of the questions they might eventually ask:

1 Why Did Israel Stumble?

Romans 11:11-12

Paul made an important distinction between “stumbled” and “fall.” Stumbling speaks of losing one’s balance, and whereas even if they experience a slight fall, they are able to regain their footing.

Whereas, falling points to someone who has completely lost their footing, and may have great difficulty, or even the inability to regain their balance.

Therefore, Paul was showing, that the unconverted Jews had only stumbled, and not completely fallen, which would have meant that they would no longer have a place in God’s plan. However, since they had only stumbled, effectually a temporary situation, the Lord still had a plan for them.

Paul then showed how God would use Israel’s stumbling for the benefit of the Gentiles, and amazingly for their own:

Romans 11:11b

Through His sovereignty, the Lord would accomplish His plan of salvation for both Israel and the Gentiles.

By seeing how God had brought salvation to the Gentiles, Israel would be provoked to jealousy, in effect desiring that same personal relationship with Him.

Paul further developed that thought further in verse 12.

2 A Message for the Gentiles

Since Paul had spent considerable time (and would continue to do so) addressing his fellow Israelites, he then felt it necessary to briefly address Gentile believers:

Romans 11:13-14

Paul had already expressed that his deep desire had been the salvation of his fellow Israelites:

Romans 10:1

Yet, Paul understood, and embraced the reality that the Lord had called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles.

By taking Paul out of his comfort zone being among his countrymen, the Lord was showing that everything was being accomplished by the Holy Spirit.

In verse 15, Paul once more spoke of his desire to see his fellow Israelites provoked to jealousy, when seeing the Gentiles accept the Gospel.

Therefore, Paul was showing the Gentile believers, that they not only had the greatest blessing of being saved, but at the same time, they were being used by the Lord to reach His people Israel.

3 God’s Process of Grafting

To illustrate how the Lord would bring both Gentile and Jewish believers together into one, Paul used the illustration of “grafting” as when one would graft two plants together:

Romans 11:15-18

The Lord would therefore, use a remnant of Israel, combined with Gentile believers to form one saved unit, the church.

For Israel to be used in that manner, it would in essence, be them experiencing “life from (death)”.

Paul then used an agricultural expression, as he referred to the first believers (who were all Jewish) as the “first fruits”.

He then spoke of how, if those men were “holy” (literally set apart for God) – then how much more would that apply to those who had come to faith based on their teaching and witnessing.

That statement spoke of the vital part the early Jewish believers had in the conversion of Gentile believers.

In Paul’s illustration, he showed how the Lord cut away the “failing” (unbelieving) shoots from Israel, and then grafting in wild shoots (Gentile believers) therefore to promote one healthy plant.

In verse 17 and 18, Paul both encouraged and admonished the Gentile believers who had been grafted in, to be on guard that they don’t take their position for granted.

He spoke of how they shouldn’t take their position for granted, nor should they look down upon the “failing branches” (unbelieving Israelites) since they as Gentiles are not the root but had only been a branch which had been grafted into the tree.