Romans 11

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, "LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life?" But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written:
"God has given them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that they should not see
And ears that they should not hear,
To this very day."
And David says:
"Let their table become a snare and a trap,
A stumbling block and a recompense to them.
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see,
And bow down their back always."
I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fulness! For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
"The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins."
Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake: but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
"For who has known the mind of the LORD?
Or who has become His counselor?
Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?"
For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

As Christ spoke to us in parables of seeds and sowing, let's look at what He spoke of as the harvest. The harvest comes when the season of growth is just ending, when the nutrition from the land and the energy of the nearness of the sun have peaked and the grain is fat but will get no fatter. Looking at the world, we see that the harvest approaches. Christianity spread: as Christ said, the gospel has been preached to the nations. Now it has almost reached its limit. As America lost its frontier spirit when it reached the west coast, so Christianity has nearly reached its geographical borders at this time.

Judaism rejects Jesus completely. Any attempt to claim He was "a good man" but not Messiah is to ignore everything He said and stood for, like saying Martin Luther King, Jr. was a good man but not interested in civil rights. So, what does that say about Judaism? Is it the evil that medieval Christianity said it was? What began as a mystery expounded by St. Paul is now being revealed. Having expanded to its limit in the world, the Holy Spirit is returning to Its place and people of origin (in the world- Its true place of origin being Heaven).

In this 11th chapter in his epistle to the Roman church, Paul speaks to the newly ordained. He warns them against highmindedness in their new faith. Paul knows that the Jews will continue to reject faith in Christ, but he recognizes that this is according to God's plan. The real danger is that the wild branch grafted onto the olive tree will imagine itself better than the natural branch, but Paul says that if the natural branch comes to faith, it will have twice as much right as the wild branch, so the wild branch would be better to fear and tremble. Persecuting the Jews (or the Moslems, or anyone) rather than patiently exhorting them is not a sign of Godliness. This is very clear, so I won't repeat what Paul says, but the main point, and this should be stressed to nonJewish Christians, is this- let's connect this chapter of Romans to Mark 11:10-12:

But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable . And He said to them, "To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so
`Seeing they may see and not perceive,
And hearing they may hear and not understand;
Lest they should turn,
And their sins be forgiven them [from Isaiah 6:9,10].'"

Why in the world would He want the people not to be forgiven of their sins?

For the sake of the Gentiles. If the Jews had accepted Christ, they and only they would have been saved. But they were committed to disobedience so that God might have mercy upon all. This is the double-edged sword of the Gospel.

What do we see of God in the history known as the Bible? God is the Creator, the Absolute Monarch of the universe. His anger, His jealousy, His justice and His power are all absolute- beyond any and all others. He could be, as many people believe He is, the Despot of the universe- the Dictator of His creation. He is, in essence, just such a terrible ruler to the Jews- His chosen people. He exacts retribution upon them for their infidelities and infractions of His law. He allows the world to bully and terrorize and nearly annihilate them, to vilify and slander and accuse them of everything from drinking the blood of baptized babies to stabbing the transubstantiated Host to attempting to take over the world via the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. For all this, however, the Jews have a sure reward- as we can see in this chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans. But for humanity entire, God sends a Savior. An intercessor for our sins. Someone to plead our case before the terrible and omnipotent King. As Moses interceded for the Israelites, so Jesus is Intercessor for us all. This is what I mean when I say the creation needed the crucifixion: the terrible power of God needs Himself as mitigator. When He came down to earth to see for Himself what His creatures saw, He felt what they felt and understood their despair- but He also knew He was bringing them hope- hope against death. The general lived the life of a private, and was killed on the front lines, but through that action, the war was won.

The key to the whole enchilada, to really mix metaphors, is patience and love and charity and exhortation, and not war and strife and hatred and bigotry. If God says He hates a certain practice then let Him hate it and just hope He doesn't find a cause to hate you, rather than figuring you're doing Him a big favor by helping Him persecute people. We are all on much shakier ground than we think, and the only thing we've got going for us is faith in the Risen Christ. That's it. Let the unsaved fight it out for their precious spot in the worldly hierarchy. So, then why write a book about the Jews' right to Israel? Because it's Truth, and the whole thing is meant as a sign for people to see and repent and believe. If I can speak to academics and historians who think they know it all and yet reject God, by challenging them about this copper scroll theory, then I'll do that. But I won't go charging the temple mount over it, and no one reading this should do any such thing, either.