A faithful remnant1So I ask, has God rejected the Jews? Not at all! I am a Jew myself. I am descended from Abraham by birth, from the tribe of Benjamin.2God did not reject His chosen people; He came to them. Surely you know what the scriptures say about the way Elijah complained about Israel.3He said: "Lord, they have killed those You sent to them as prophets. They have desecrated Your places of worship. It seems I am the only one who remains faithful to You, and they are trying to kill me too!"4How did God answer him? "I have seven thousand that I have kept faithful, who have refused to worship the false gods."5The same is true today. There is a remnant, a small number of Jewish people whom God has chosen to know and receive His grace.6They understand that it is only by His free gift of grace, and not by their own works, that they have been made one with the Lord. They know that if they could achieve what they have received by their own efforts, God would not be the God of grace!7So what conclusion do we reach? What the Jewish people longed for they did not receive. But those God has chosen to know His grace did receive what had been promised. Those who refused to accept Jesus as God's Son did so because of the hardness of their hearts.8This is why it is written that God caused them to be spiritually blind. They did not have eyes that could see or ears that could truly hear. And it is the same to this very day!9David prayed prophetically by suggesting that their religious ways would become a trap for them. Their self-righteousness would be a stumbling block that would result in punishment.10They deserved to be spiritually blind and to remain so. They deserved to remain overburdened forever!11There is another question we need to consider. Did the Jewish people fail to such an extent that they could never recover their place in God? Definitely not! It was because of their sin and rejection of the gospel that so many non-Jewish people are now being saved, and this should make the Jews jealous of what they have received.12But think of this: if their failure has brought God's great riches to others throughout the world and their emptiness has resulted in non-Jewish people receiving the great riches of God's grace, how much more wonderful will it be when they do enter into their inheritance and receive the fullness of God's life in Christ!Gentile believers grafted in13Yes, I am now addressing those among you who are not Jewish. God has made me an apostle to the non-Jewish nations; He has sent me and given me this ministry among all these peoples.14I want to make the most of this calling, trusting that in doing so I will cause my own people to think again because they see how others are being blessed by God. Instead of being jealous, I want at least some of them to receive the salvation God wants for them.15I have to admit that their present rejection of the gospel has enabled many throughout the world to be reconciled to God; yet I am excited about the prospect of what will happen when they accept Christ. Instead of the death of trying to please God by their own efforts, they will receive the free gift of His life!16If one part of the lump of dough is considered holy, then the whole lump is holy! If the root of the tree is holy, then so are its branches!17Israel can be likened to an olive tree; some of the original branches have been broken off. You non-Jewish believers were once wild olive shoots that have now been grafted into this tree. You are nourished by the sap that flows through your lives from the roots.18So you have no cause to boast or think that you have nothing to do with Israel. It is obvious that you do not give life to the root; the root gives life to you!19You could say that the unbelieving branches were cut off so that you could be grafted into this olive tree.20That is true. But you are only where you are by faith, not by your own accomplishments. So you have nothing to boast about. Rather, you should be in awe of what God has done.21If He dealt so strongly with the unbelieving branches, He will deal just as strongly with you.22You see, God is both kind and strict. He enforces His judgments strictly on those who reject His grace, but is kind to those who believe, on the understanding that they will continue in faith and so continue to be objects of His mercy. You do not want to fall into unbelief and be cut out of this tree, do you?23If the Jewish people do not continue in their unbelief, they will be grafted back into the tree. God is surely able to do such a thing!24If He could cut you out of a wild olive tree and graft you into the tree He Himself has cultivated, how much easier it must be for the branches that rightly belong to His tree to be grafted back into it! After all, it was originally their tree!
Scripture quoted by permission. The passage above is taken from THE TRUTH VERSION. Copyright © 2009 by Colin Urquhart. All rights reserved worldwide. (The Truth New Testament)