My dear readers,

Hath God Cast Away Israel?

Romans 11:1-5: “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”

To be a “castaway” is a harrowing experience we wish upon no one, not even our worst enemy. The word implies a relationship beforehand, but now the relationship has ended, and the relationship has soured so badly that the parties are now enemies, or in the case of one who offered his friendship to another but is cast away, i.e. pushed away. He does not wish to have anything to do with the person who offered his friendship. The feeling of being unwanted by someone we love or respect highly is painful to the entire being of the person’s soul since man is made with a need to be loved and accepted. For example, when children seek their parents’ love and approval and are categorically cast away like in a divorce, their home i.e. supposed to be a fortress of solitude and safety, is destroyed. They feel lost, alone and unwanted. How much more when God is the one who has cast away someone!

Did God cast away Israel now that the church has replaced Israel as His new witness for Christ? God's relationship with Israel began with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (3^rd century B.C). After over two thousand years of bearing the holy responsibility as God’s only witness for Christ, the rejection must have been extremely painful! Every Jew who understood this two-thousand-year-old privilege might have felt the hurt and the pain. They might have even felt anger toward the Christians who now claim to be the new people of God. Some may think Israel’s days of being God’s witness are over for good. Sadly, some Gentile believers believe this notion of a permanent replacement. God corrected this error in Romans 11.

Asking the rhetorical question “Hath God cast away his people?” to correct a wrong understanding, God’s resounding affirmative reply is “God forbid”. God forbid that anyone should think that Israel has been permanently cast away, including the Gentile believers and all New Testament church witnesses! Paul cited himself as the example, being an Israelite from the seed of Abraham and the tribe of Benjamin. In other words, if God can save Paul, who was as hard-hearted and stubborn against Jesus of Nazareth the Christ as any Israelite, God can save anyone! Salvation is still very much available to the Jews as much as it is available to all the Gentiles.

Another reason given by God is His “foreknowledge.” The foreknowledge of God means that God knew before He brought Israel into existence that Israel would one day reject Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ at His first coming! Despite this foreknowledge of God, He still called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees and brought Israel out of Egypt into the Promised Land. The LORD continued to prepare Israel to enter the Promised Land with the laws of Moses, including the Levitical system of worship regulating their behaviour and teaching her how to be a holy witness for Christ. The LORD knew of the divided kingdom after King Solomon’s reign, the Assyrians' destruction of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. and Judah in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians. The LORD knew of the return of Judah from captivity in 536 B.C. in the time of Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest, to rebuild the temple and the city of Jerusalem. The LORD knew about the betrayal of Christ by Judas Iscariot, the persecution, crucifixion and His atoning death and the rejection of Israel’s Messiah. Despite all these, the LORD still brought Israel into existence! Do not at any time think that the LORD was caught off guard when Israel rejected Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ and that He was surprised by the church witness. All things are under God’s sovereign control and foreknowledge.

The Bible cites Elijah as an example to highlight the truth of His foreknowledge in that man’s view of things, even of Elijah, is faulty. Elijah thought that since no man came to his aid when Queen Jezebel wanted to kill him in Israel, so he was the only faithful believer in Israel. The LORD told him that there were seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed their knees to Baal. Man thought that since Israel rejected Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, there would never be the nation of Israel again who would believe in Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ! They are very wrong. Revelation 7 reveals that the LORD will save the nation of Israel made up of at least 144,000 Isarelites, twelve thousand from each tribe (cf. Revelation 7:1-12). They will make up a nation of Israel who will begin the Millennium with Christ ruling as the King of kings and Lord of lords. The remnant referred to by God in Romans 11:5 is the 144,000 Israelites and more.

God brought Israel into existence like a mother giving birth to a son. Despite Israel’s repeated failures and sinful behaviour throughout the centuries, the LORD said that Israel as a nation exists because of His grace toward her and not based upon her godly conduct or otherwise! God deals with the rest of the world according to His great grace and mercies. He dealt with and will deal with Israel based upon this same grace and mercies!

If we as a church think that we are better off than Israel since we are the New Testament witness that has replaced Israel, we need to be humbled by the truth that we are a temporary replacement. We need to count it the highest honour that God would make us His people when we were once full of sin and idolatry, and enemies of God far away from Him and worse than being castaways!

Let us fulfil this God-given duty of being a holy witness for Christ by courageously standing up for Christ’s holy Name and His perfect Word in obedience and earnestly contending for the faith once delivered unto the saints.

Let us not fail the Lord and learn from the failures of Israel rather than look down on them or disparage them for their blindness in their rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ. We are able to see Jesus of Nazareth as the Christ because it is all of God’s grace and nothing of us. One day, in the last day, the LORD will open the eyes of His Israel to save His people as a nation of believers. For the first and only time in human history of this present heaven and earth, Israel will be a nation of believers who will enter into the new heaven and new earth and reign with their Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, for 1,000 years, by the grace and mercies of God!

God will never cast away Israel, for Israel will forever be God’s nation and always loved by Him. Amen.