Thankfully, Some Things Just Never Change
Typically, when comparisons are made between current events and past events, the result is a realization that things are worse today or that negative realities of the past have been perpetuated. Rarely do we find ourselves recognizing improvement or encouragement through the passage of time, whether it be centennial retrospectives or otherwise. However, in the purpose of God, whether we are speaking of the past, present, or on into the future, we can safely conclude that God always has and always will love Israel. In this we find that rare encouragement. Jeremiah the prophet tells us that God loves Israel with an everlasting love (31:3). That has been true since the beginning and certainly was true in 1919, and it remains true today. He will never, ever cease to love the people of Israel because they are His chosen people through which He carries out and finally completes His redemptive plan! Therefore, it is good in this case that, thankfully, some things just never change!
God’s Chosen People
There are several biblical components that describe our Lord’s love for Israel, not the least of which is His choosing her to be the nation through which His redemptive purposes would be fulfilled (Deut. 7). Romans 9 is one of the key biblical references where we find a tremendous explanation of God’s sovereign and irrevocable love for and choice of Israel. This chapter follows after the great justification truth (Rom. 1–5) and sanctification truth (Rom. 6–8) aspects of our salvation are dealt with by Paul. Romans 9, however, is not dealing with either of these truths. Rather, it is an explanation of how Israel is God’s channel of salvation blessings to the world, and yet for the most part, she herself remains spiritually unblessed. Since Scripture teaches that God loves Israel and chose her to bring the light of salvation to the nations, how do we reconcile that truth with the sad reality of Israel’s current spiritual condition?
God’s Selection
The way we accomplish that is by understanding the true focus of this special chapter, especially in light of the fuller message of Romans 9–11 and allowing Paul to explain it to us. It is essential to note that this chapter is not about God’s choosing certain people to save, but that God chose the nation of Israel to serve. To truly understand what God is teaching through the apostle, it is essential, and worth repeating, that we understand that the selection spoken of in Romans 9 has nothing to do with God’s choosing of certain individuals to eternal salvation but rather the nation of Israel for His service. This chapter is all about God’s selection of a remnant of Jewish people, chosen out of the majority of Jewish people, to be the means whereby His eternal purpose would be fulfilled through the nation of Israel. The divine selection here is therefore a choosing to service of a small segment of Israel and not the selection of any single person to salvation. The whole emphasis is a missional theme, rather than a soteriological one. This is vitally important to keep in mind when reading Romans 9. Therefore, the people that are named in this chapter represent nations. For example, when God said that he loved Jacob and hated Esau, He was simply saying that He chose the nation of Israel instead of Edom (9:13).
Remnant Truth
The verses following that statement, which make up the rest of the chapter (vv. 14–33), anticipate and answer objections to the Lord’s choice in executing His redemption goals for the nations through Israel. In addition, Romans 9:6 reveals that the Lord chose only a remnant of Israel to accomplish this. A remnant is a small surviving group representing a segment of a larger entity. It is this remnant of Israel that ultimately inherits the Abrahamic covenant that enables a remnant from the nations to receive the spiritual blessings promised through the Seed of Abraham. This is, of course, accomplished through the “grafting” spoken of in Romans 11, which beautifully retains the missiological message of the section as it speaks of the provocation of Israel to salvation by the very Gentiles who respond to the message of redemption.
Israel’s Survival
If God did not preserve this remnant of Israel, not only would there be no more Jewish people, there would be no such thing as the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is made up of both Jews and the nations (Gentiles) united in one glorious Man (Eph. 2:15). Through the centuries, the Lord has used various people and institutions to protect Israel, out of which this surviving remnant emerges. Believers are often His chief means because they love what God loves, and He loves Israel with a love that has never fluctuated and never will.
Rees Howells
One specific example of the love of believers for Israel is evident in a wonderful little biography written many years ago by missionary Norman Grubb. The book title is Rees Howells: Intercessor. It’s the amazing story of a Welshman who was saved as a result of the 1904 Welsh revival and whose influence spread worldwide. Rees was the epitome of a man who walked by faith and made simple believing prayer his way of life. Perhaps he is best remembered for the prayers he led during World War II. Some believe that this intercession accomplished more for the resulting Allied victory than all the military might exerted in the war combined.
Howells started a Bible college in Wales and taught his students how to intercede in prayer for victory. He and the students fought great battles on their knees, not just for freedom, but to remove the roadblocks to getting the gospel to the nations. Hitler was standing in the way of evangelism and missions, so he needed to be defeated. Their main concern was for the gospel, so they were greatly burdened for the Jewish people, because they believed in the biblical precept that the gospel is “to the Jew first.” Howells realized that if the Jewish people were destroyed, they could never return and be restored in their ancient land as the prophets predicted. That would also mean that Jesus could not return, because he knew the Bible taught that God’s chosen people must be back in their own land before the Second Coming. He saw the anti-Semitism of Hitler and Mussolini as a way that God was sending His people back to their own land and part of the fulfillment of prophecy. Rees asked God to lay the burden of the Jewish people on him, longing to help them return to their land. Their many months and years of intercession for Israel were followed by the actual return of the Jewish people and the establishment of the State of Israel. This type of love for the lost sheep of the house of Israel is a tremendous example to us all, and it is born out of and sustained through a recognition of God’s unwavering commitment to this people through the ages.
As Then, So Now
Anti-Semitism is once again becoming more rampant all over the globe. It is no longer led by the Nazis but by an unholy alliance between the hard left (including some Protestant denominations and deceived evangelicals) throughout the Western world and jihadists. Now seventy years after its re-establishment as a state, Israel’s survival is once again being threatened. This is not new. The world has seen this before. This time, however, will we stand idly by and allow them to attempt to accomplish what Hitler and others like him failed to achieve? Or will we rise up to stand for God’s chosen remnant, asking God, like a Rees Howells did, to lay a burden for them on us? Are we part of a godly remnant who knows our Savior’s heartbeat because we are staying close, like John, who leaned on His breast? Let us determine right now that in the little time we have left we will make up the hedge and stand in the gap through intercessory prayer for God’s chosen people. These people God loves with an everlasting love. His enduring commitment to them gives assurance to all believers that He is God and that He keeps His promises. While we may be discouraged by many things staying the same, this reality is surely not one of them. This leads me to say one more time in closing, that, thankfully, some things just never change!
Jim Bickel is a church planter and senior pastor of Bethel Baptist Fellowship in Brooklyn, New York. He has over thirty-five years of ministry experience and is a New York State representative of FBFI. He also serves on the board of Shalom Ministries Inc.
(Originally published in FrontLine • November/December 2018. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.)
photo from PxHere