Jesus the Jewish Messiah and the Wisdom of God;
(being the third part of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, part 1 http://colinbarnesblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/jesus-jewish-messiah.html and part 2, http://colinbarnesblog.blogspot.com/2021/08/jesus-and-jewish-history-quickre-cap-we.html)
The conundrum of a rejected messiah
Daniel 9:26
"Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have
nothing,
Isaiah 53:3-5 He was despised and rejected by
men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide
their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our
infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our
transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought
us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
Psalm 118:22-23 The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone; the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our
eyes.
Zechariah 12:10 They will look on me, the one
they have pierced,
Luke 24:25-26 He said to them, "How
foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have
spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his
glory?"
Acts 3:18-26; But this is how God fulfilled
what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would
suffer.
Acts 26:22-23 I stand to this day testifying
both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said
was going to take place; that the Messiah was to suffer.
So,
Jesus was rejected, just at Isaiah foretold, and that rejection resulted in the
loss to Israel of all three messianic offices, just as Hosea 3 prophesied.
Jewish history ever since has been lived out in the reality of that loss. Even
if we can accept all that, the central question remains;
Why did the messiah have to be rejected?
A rejected Messiah is on the face of it a very strange idea.
After the initial offer of salvation had been rejected by the Jewish people, a second, post resurrection offer was made and likewise rejected. Paul states that this second rejection contained both human and divine components, and that it was in fact necessary for Gentile salvation and (counter-intuitively) for the salvation of the Jewish people themselves. .
Jesus the Twice Rejected Messiah and the Wisdom of God;
It is this second, ongoing rejection, borne witness to throughout the book of Acts (e.g., 13:45-49, 18:4-8, 28:24-28) which Paul addresses in Romans 9-11 (“At this present time…to this very day … if they do not persist in unbelief … Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in”). This rejection clearly follows on from but not identical to the original one. After that rejection, Jesus prayed “Father forgive them.” Likewise, after this rejection, God sent Jesus first to Israel to bless them (Acts 3:26) – no divine rejection is evidenced here. Romans 11 states that God has not rejected his people, but then continues to teach that while the elect were saved, the others were hardened for the sake of the Gentiles. This hardening references the rejection by the Jewish people of this post resurrection offer of salvation.[1] Paul teaches that this hardening is temporary, incomplete and necessary. Their stumbling is not beyond recovery. As to the divine role in this, note that the dreams which God sent to Joseph, which were true and vital, also hardened the brothers against him (Genesis 37:5, 19). God’s intervention exaggerated the divisions already present, and led to Joseph’s rejection. Presumably the brothers did not then spend every day concentrating on Joseph, that they indeed tried to forget him, but the reality of what they had done left an enduring knot of grief, horror and loss in them that would only be removed when they looked upon him whom they had pierced and wept for him. One imagines something very similar has occurred re the ongoing hardening of Israel. In Romans 11:8-17, Paul attributes the present state of Israel both to their own transgression (twice, in verses 11 and 12) and also to divine action, branches being cut off, and God giving them a spirit of stupor (Romans 11:8, 17).[2] The extent of this divine hardening must remain speculative, except to note that the veil is lifted when anyone turns to the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:13-16), and in every generation there are a remnant saved by grace. Indeed, these verses overflow, not with condemnation, but with boundless hope in Israel’s future, and repeated present hopes for the salvation of Jewish people.
Now, the rejection which led to Jesus’ death was clearly needed to purchase our salvation. That is, while still deeply tragic and mysterious, we can at least make pragmatic sense of it, and Christian theology rejoices in its outcome. Jesus had to die, his sacrificial death bringing salvation to the world, restoring to humanity everything which Adam had lost. The Messiah had to be rejected because it was necessary that he “die for the Jewish nation” and “for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one” (John 11:52). So this first rejection is embraced by Christian theology, and the negative role of the Jewish people in it is looked on with either sorrow or anger. For much of church history, the foundational nature of this event meant that Jewish identity itself became a static, theological construct. “What had been, for Paul, their error became, for the Church Fathers, their nature”[3].
But that never meant that the Jewish people were called to kill God’s own son and then disappear from salvation history! God called them in love, to be a blessing. He longs for them, and they remain “beloved for the sake of their fathers”!!
He therefore had to be initially rejected, but why was it then necessary for that rejection by the bulk of the Jewish people to continue on/ be reconfirmed after his resurrection? After the resurrection, there was indeed immediately a renewed offer of repentance given to Israel! See Acts 3:18-26.
This post resurrection offer would be repeatedly made and repeatedly rejected by the Jewish leadership throughout the rest of the book of Acts (e.g., Acts 13:45-49 "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles”, 18:4-8 "Your blood be on your own heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles." and 28:24-28 "Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles,”). In Acts 7 Stephen likewise specifies that as well as rejecting Moses initially, that even after the Passover deliverance, the Jewish people again rejected him; "He was in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to us. But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.” God could simply have assumed this second rejection as the logical continuation of the first – ‘you rejected and killed my beloved son, in the absence of national repentance, I will assume that still stands, and therefore I will send the message of salvation to the Gentiles.’ Instead, God did the exact opposite, sending the resurrected Jesus first to them to bless them.
This second rejection of Jesus after the resurrection, this doubling down on their earlier rejection, was, like the first, never total (“I myself am an Israelite,” “a remnant chosen by grace”). The Jewish people as such, however, continue to live in the shadow of that choice, just as God prophesied in Hosea. So, why was this continued rejection post resurrection necessary, and part of God’s good and perfect plan (Romans 11:33-36)?
There are two profound answers to this question, and the second answer cannot be understood without the first, and both may surprise you!
Answer 1 So that the Gentiles could be brought in!
The salvation of the Gentiles was always in God’s plan;
Genesis 12:2-3 “and you will be a blessing. … and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
Genesis 18:18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
Genesis 22:18 and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."
Acts 26:22-23; “I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, stating nothing but what the Prophets and Moses said was going to take place; that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He should be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
Equally, the conversion of the Gentiles was always centered on the Messiah.
Isaiah 49:6 he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."
Romans 15:8-9 “For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: ‘Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name.’"
Romans 15:12 And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him."
Now, just as the death of Jesus was fully human and fully divine, so the rejection of Jesus by the Jewish people was both fully human and fully divine and necessary in the plan of God.
Paul stresses that God in turn has not rejected the Jewish people, rather the opposite, and that Jesus came to confirm the promises God made to the patriarchs (for just one of these, see Psalm 105:8-11). Again, look at the why! Why did Jesus confirm the promises made to the patriarchs? “so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles.” Paul then gives the longest list of Old Testament scriptures in all his writings to affirm this.
Now, bringing in the gentiles is one thing, but it turns out that so doing required the temporary rejection of the Gospel by the Jewish people. Their rejection of their messiah has lasted for a very long time! We need to examine this more closely!
Jewish rejection – Its first purpose – to bring salvation to the Gentiles
Why did the Gentile mission require the rejection by the Jews?
Joseph had to leave his own family in order to save the Egyptians.
In the Old Testament, from Genesis 12 onwards, there is what can be called a Jewish focus or Jewish priority in the revelation of God. There are a remnant of Gentiles such as Rahab, Ruth, and others in Exodus 12:38 and Esther 8:17 who are saved, and this involves joining themselves to Israel. The Temple was likewise given to all nations, but placed in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:41-43). In the New Testament, we see this reversed into a Gentile priority, with a Jewish remnant being saved and incorporated into a Gentile church (Romans 11:30-31). And so the Gospel has spread first to Europe, and from there to Africa, the Americas, Asia etc. And all the while the Jewish people remained largely unreached.
Four times in
Romans 11, Paul declares that the post-resurrection Jewish rejection of the
Gospel has worked to the spiritual benefit of the Gentiles. A number of
commentators see this as referring primarily to Paul’s own experiences in Acts.
Here he repeatedly offered the Gospel to the Jews, who then generally rejected
of it, leading to him going, as a consequence, to the Gentiles. While these
experiences may well have provided the initial impetus, we also know that Paul
was deeply scarred by their rejection of the Gospel, and spent much time in
prayer and thought, wrestling with God concerning it (Romans 9:1-3). In Romans
11:25, Paul calls it a mystery he does not want the Gentiles to misunderstand,
and proceeds to share the fruit of his wrestlings with us. These stretch far
beyond the immediate, and indeed conclude with the Parousia.
Paul clearly
states here that this Jewish rejection was in fact necessary for the Gospel to
spread to the Gentiles.
Romans 11:11 because
of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles
Romans 11:15 For
if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world,
Romans 11:28 As
far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake.
Romans 11:30 you
who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result
of their disobedience,
What amazing words!
In Romans 9:17-18 God hardened Pharaoh’s heart “that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." (Romans 9:17). That is, a Gentile was hardened so that Israel could be saved. An Israel through whom the universal savior would come. In Romans 11:25-26, a hardening has come upon part of Israel so that the Gentiles can be saved, and so that all Israel can be saved. “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved.” (Romans 11:25-26). The motivation for God is the same; “that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."[4] Clearly the second part of 9:17 fits in perfectly here - Paul is saying that because of Jewish hardening, the Gospel has been proclaimed to the Gentiles (“because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles”). This parallelism therefore begs the question, how does the partial hardening of Israel serve to display God’s power? Paul’s focus in these verses is eschatological, (Romans 11:26 “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.” Romans 11:12 “But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!” Romans 11:15 “what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”) God’s power will be displayed “in all the Earth” when he comes to rescue (and save!) Israel at the end of the age. When all the nations of the world are gathered against Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:3), when God destroys those armies in the sight of the nations (12:9, 14:3, 4, 9). This cataclysmic event also proclaims the way of salvation to all the nations (12:10-13:1, 14:9). “that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
Because of their transgression, salvation has come to the gentiles, as a result of their disobedience, gentiles have received mercy! Indeed, Paul goes so far as to state that their enmity to the Gospel blesses Gentiles! Now, while we might see some need for a push to get the Jewish Christians out of the door and on the road to tell Gentiles about the Good News, and Jewish rejection/persecution provided that push (Acts 8:1, although see Matthew 23:15), in Romans 11:25 we read “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.” That is, this partial hardening was not limited to the initial push out the door, but has already lasted for over 1900 years! Jewish priority also lasted a long time (Matthew 1:17), but this prolonged hardening, this enduring grief, what are the reasons for it? Paul’s personal experiences in Acts are in no way sufficient to justify the profound linkage evidenced in these quotes. Deeper thinking is required here.
The first thing we
need to do is to acknowledge that, on the face of it, these comments are
profoundly disturbing and strange. Why should Jewish rejection favor the growth
of the Gospel among the Gentiles? Many trace the church in Rome back to the
original visitors to Jerusalem in Acts 2:10-11, both Jews and Gentile
proselytes to Judaism. They may well have returned to Rome prior to any Jewish
persecution, and established a church made of both Jews and Gentiles – that is,
Jewish belief, not rejection may well have been the basis of their own
ecclesia. Jewish persecution did lead to the establishment of the church in
Antioch, but here again, it was founded by believing Jews. Paul’s own
missionary practice was to offer salvation first to the Jewish community. He
clearly saw no conflict between this and his mandate as the apostle to the
Gentiles. Even after his expulsion from the synagogue in Corinth, his first
named convert is Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household.
Beyond this
ambivalent history lies the more fundamental question, why would Jewish
rejection aid the spread of the Gospel among the Gentiles? Again, this is an
intensely strange idea. If you are preaching that the Messiah longed for by the
Jewish people has come, wouldn’t it help if the Jewish people backed you up on
this? As Paul preached in Pisidian Antioch "We tell you the good news:
What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by
raising up Jesus.” (Acts 13:32-33) How does their rejection of this message (Acts 13:44-45) help? Why not have the Gospel spread
from Jerusalem to the synagogues (Acts 15:21 “For Moses has been preached in
every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every
Sabbath.") through the God fearers to wider Gentile population? Why
cultivate olive branches except for them to bear fruit?
This is the heart
ache of John 1:11. He came to his own, “but his own did not receive him.” It is
the tragedy of the Pharisee and the sinful woman in Luke 7. He spent his life
working for a Godly society (Romans 10:2 “For I can testify about them that
they are zealous for God,”), while she spent hers in sin. Yet she recognized
Jesus and was forgiven, while he did not. It is the same mystery “That the
Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness
that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not
attained it" (Romans 9:30-31). Beyond even that, it is as if Jesus then
said that his very rejection by the Pharisee aided the sinful woman to
recognize him!
So again we ask, why does Paul state that the rejection of the Gospel by the majority of the Jewish people was necessary for its acceptance by the Gentiles? To answer this, I will look at three separate but supporting arguments found in theology, history and philosophy. The first of these, based in the words of Scripture, is clearly the most dependable. The second is granted through the wisdom of hindsight, and the third likewise relies upon fallible human logic.
- Theological considerations;
Romans 11:19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in."
Look at how Paul answers the Gentiles’ self-aggrandizing assertion; Romans 11:20-29 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.
1 Paul agrees with their assertion that "Branches
were broken off so that I could be
grafted in." – “granted.” He accepts their logic here,
rather than offering up a counter argument, such as the tree has grown bigger
and is therefore able to sustain more branches (as made available by Matthew
13:31-32 – i.e., such an option did exist, but Paul chooses not to employ it).
He agrees that Jewish rejection was necessary for Gentile salvation.
2 he warns the believing Gentiles not to be
arrogant, but rather, to be afraid. (This is the first of two warnings to smug/self-aggrandizing
Gentiles in this short passage.)
3 he explains the basis on which the Jews were
rejected; “they
were broken off because of unbelief,
and you stand by faith.” Jewish
unbelief has highlighted the importance of faith. It proves/proclaims that
their genuine advantages are irrelevant when it comes to salvation if they
exist in the absence of faith. Their stumbling proclaims in the clearest way
possible that salvation is by faith alone! This in itself clarifies the nature
of salvation, and in that way aids gentile conversion. It is not about being
Jewish or Gentile, it is about grace working through faith.
4 he then uses the very same basis to then hold
out hope for the Jewish people; “And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in.” We already know their rejection
is not total (due to the existence of the remnant saved by grace) and here we
find the rejection of the hardened majority is also not fixed, or necessarily
permanent, rather the possibility/hope of salvation is also held out to them,
and again on the basis of it being met with faith. This could include both the
inclusion of more individual Jews by faith into the remnant, or also through
the final salvation of all Israel as referenced at the conclusion of the
passage.
5 Paul concludes the metaphor by again referencing Jewish advantage – “how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!” The Jewish people are cultivated olive branches! This reminds us of his early discussion;
Romans 3:1-6 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?
Here again Paul is saying that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable (“Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all!”) The contrast between the faithlessness of some Jews, and God’s faithfulness again serves to confirm God’s promises to the circumcision (Romans 15:8). More than that, look at the line; “our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly.” This is also, given its immediate proximity to “What if some did not have faith?” another indication of how, in Romans 11 Jewish unbelief has aided Gentile conversion; it shows God’s righteousness and the singularity of faith as the means of obtaining salvation more clearly.
Romans 3:9-10
What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already
made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. As it is
written: "There is no one righteous,
not even one;
Romans 3:21-24 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.)
So Paul is saying that, in light of their undoubted advantages, Jewish unbelief has highlighted God’s righteousness more clearly. A “righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” That is, it highlights the basis of the Gospel, by faith alone, and the extent of the Gospel, to all who believe.
In Romans 2:17-3:9, Paul is dealing with Jewish unrighteousness, just as he has earlier established Gentile unrighteousness. This more general discussion clearly establishes general principles which apply in the more specific case of Romans 11 (just as 2:28-29 inform Romans 9:6-8). To continue;
Romans 3:27-31 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Does this mean God had to shoot the messenger to clarify the message, and for the message to be acceptable to the Gentiles? (because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles. …they are enemies on your account; … you [gentiles] who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their [the Jewish people’s] disobedience, …"Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in." Romans 3:7-8 Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" Why not say--as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say--"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.)
The fact that Jewish unbelief has had this positive effect does not mitigate the seriousness of the offence, or Jewish responsibility for Jewish unbelief. Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Note also, in this passage dealing with Jewish advantage and Jewish failure, Paul has his imagined Jewish listener reply that Paul is arguing that Jewish unbelief has enhanced God’s truthfulness and increased his glory! It is only the proposed corollary to this that Paul refutes.
There are two issues at stake here, and both raised by the election of Israel. The first, God’s righteousness, impacts initially on Gentiles. The second, God’s faithfulness, initially on Jews. Both address the character of God; He is one and his virtues are not in conflict, and both have ramifications for salvation history.
The first addresses God’s justice/righteousness. This question is asked by Israel’s election; does God play favourites? and answered by God’s righteous judgement upon those who did not have faith.
Amos 3:2 You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins. Romans 2:11 For God does not show favoritism.
So, Jewish rejection has highlighted the righteousness of God. He does not play favourites, (Romans 2:11, Acts 10:34). It also highlights the singular necessity of faith in salvation for all, which blesses gentiles, (just as the re-grafting of Israel in again on this basis will also do!). In choosing Israel to bless the world, God always left himself open to the charge of playing favourites. This however was never the case – see Deuteronomy 10:14-19. Here God says; I chose you above all the nations, I do not show partiality, love the alien.
Again, God is one. These ideas are not in conflict. He has chosen Israel because he loves everyone, he has not rejected Israel because he is faithful. Israel have stumbled because of lack of faith, that stumbling has blessed the gentiles, and in the end, all Israel will be saved.
The second question raised by God’s choosing of Israel concerns God’s faithfulness. It is asked by Israel’s rejection of Jesus (will God now likewise in turn reject them, in spite of all his promises to them?) and answered by the salvation of all Israel. God is faithful! This affirmation is initially a blessing to the Jews; Malachi 3:6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Romans 11:28-29 as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. Romans 3:3-4 Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. Romans 15:8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs.
How did Israel stumble?? Given their very real advantages, and the fact that they were wanting to please God and looking for the Messiah, how did they stumble?
Romans 9:30-33 That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
They stumbled because they pursued righteousness is if it were by works!
Why did they do this?
Romans 10:1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them."
So, why did they pursue righteousness as if it were by works?? Because God gave them the Law, and Moses said “the man who does these things will live by them.” Well might the Jewish people echo the words of Paul; Romans 7:10 “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.” And no, God did not set them up to fail! (Jeremiah 4:10 Then I said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, how completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem.”) As we have already seen in the first article, the Law was always intended to be temporary. It taught us about the reality and extent of sin, and also of our inability to keep it – that was why the whole sacrificial system within it was required! It was a misunderstanding of the nature of God’s gift, and a concurrent failure to emphasize justice and mercy which led to the Jewish people stumbling. See also the previous article, Jesus and Jewish History, for its impact on the fall of Jerusalem.
So, looking at the question theologically, Jewish unbelief and consequent judgement has vindicated God from the charge of favoritism, just as the salvation of all Israel will vindicate him from the charge of deceptiveness and unfaithfulness. God is both righteous/impartial and faithful! Both of these qualities make God worthy to judge. Romans 3:4 As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."
Romans 11:32-36 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
- Historical considerations
As well as this primary theological concern, are there other, more practical considerations? Once again, can history inform our discussion? Here we will look both at Biblical history, recorded in the book of Acts, and then at post-Biblical history, always a more opaque undertaking.
Biblical history In Acts we repeatedly see the Jewish people rejecting the Gospel, and it going to the gentiles as a result.
Now, had the Jewish people accepted Jesus as their messiah, the synagogues would have become the means by which the Gospel reached into the gentile world (as indeed, Paul tried). then all the new gentile Christians would have flooded into the synagogues, where there would have rightly been neither Jew nor Gentile, and within a short time, the Jewish people as such would have simply disappeared. As it is, and as prophesied in Hosea 3, the Jewish people have been preserved, kept almost in spiritual suspended animation, with neither king, sacrifice or priest, but also without the prince, sacred stones or idols. Unlike other nations, Israel has not decayed and withered, and since the exile in Babylon, they have not fallen back into idolatry. They have indeed endured many days of being without David, and without idols. They are unknowingly waiting in hope, until as Paul tells us, the full number of gentiles are saved. God still has a redemptive purpose for the nation of Israel. More than that, more even than the oaths and promises he made to them, they continue to be “beloved for the sake of their fathers.”
Luke 5:37-38 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.
One of the reasons Jesus gives for the use of new wineskins is so that the old wineskins are not ruined. This did not have to be the case. Jesus could simply have referenced the loss of the new wine in order to justify not placing it into old wineskins, but he explicitly references the loss of the old wineskins as another important consideration. God is not finished with national Israel! Jeremiah 31:35-37 This is what the LORD says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar-- the LORD Almighty is his name: "Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the descendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me." This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD.
Words of hope! Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
The Jewish people had been called by God to bless the world. Through them, the messiah had come. Had they then taken this message to the rest of the world, the world may then have viewed them as the real spiritual aristocracy, and the gentiles as Johnny come latelies. And this for a saving message which is by grace alone through faith alone. There could be no more powerful and drastic demonstration/evidence of this truth than the cutting off of natural branches who did not have faith. This vindicates God’s righteousness, enhances his truthfulness and increases his glory.
God has shown no favouritism. The natural branches which did not believe have been cut out. In a real sense this clears stones away from the path and makes straight the way of the Lord for Gentiles. Romans 11:30-31.
All of Jewish history proclaims to the world that it is by faith and faith alone that salvation is to be found. It shows the impossibility of reaching God through good deeds, as even laws given by God himself proved unable to accomplish this. It shows the depth of human depravity, the wages of sin, and finally, the free gift of God. Jewish advantage, Jewish failure and the salvation of all Israel proclaim the Gospel to all humanity.
We will now look briefly at continuing historical reasons, but in the section after that, we will see that its purpose has always been for the salvation of all Israel. In Romans 11:11-26, which discusses this hardening, every phrase ends with the hope of Jewish salvation. With that hope firmly in mind, we will now press on.
Post-Biblical
history
A further historical consideration is that Jewish rejection of Christianity did indeed aid the spread of the Gospel among the Gentiles.
From the mid 60s through to the aftermath of the Bar Kochbar revolt, pagan Rome was in conflict with Jews and Judaism. It fought three bitter wars against the Jews during this time, the first Jewish War (66-73 AD), the Trajan or Kitos war, (115-117 AD) and the Bar Kochbar Revolt (132-135 AD). At the same time, the wave of anti-Jewish writers[5] included Quintilian[6], Martial[7], Plutarch[8], Persius[9], Seneca the Younger[10], Tacitus (“The apogee of pagan antisemitism was reached in Tacitus”[11]) and Juvenal[12]. Vespasian placed a special tax on all Jews[13], while popular feeling towards the Jews was so strong after the Jewish war (66-74 AD) that Titus was forced to cancel his marriage to Bernice[14]. The Jewish Diaspora uprisings of 115-117 AD (the “Trajan war[15]”), greatly increased the popular resentment of Jews generally[16]. Hadrian also came to be anti-Jewish[17], re-imposing the Jewish tax, and outlawing the Jewish feasts, Sabbaths, and Torah study[18].
While there were also definite philo-Semitic sentiments within the Roman empire, with both converts and God fearers (Matthew 23:15, Acts 13:26), due to the attractiveness of a God who was holy and just, in general Jewish customs were not liked. If Christianity had been spread from and centered in the synagogues, the new faith would have been seen as promoting Jewish national interests and culture at a time when these were largely rejected. At a time of three wars between Rome and the Jewish people, this would certainly have impeded the spread of the good news.
The impetus
within the gentile church for a differentiation from the Jewish community was
thus an early and major issue for it. Indeed, one of the striking facts about
the early Christian church was its ability to distinguish itself from Judaism
so quickly in the official mind. In Acts 18:15, and possibly at Rome in 49 AD[19], Christianity is seen by Roman authorities as a
Jewish sect having problems within its mother community. By 64 AD, however,
Nero clearly distinguishes between the Jewish and Christian communities of Rome[20]. How lasting this differentiation in the official
minds lasted is difficult to tell. Suetonius’s comment about Hadrian
persecuting those who “without publicly acknowledging it yet lived as Jews[21]” may well refer to Christians, and this may have been
the impetus for further acts of differentiation by the Roman church.[22] What is remarkable is that by 112, Pliny is able to
report the self-description of Christians in
The seriousness of this can be further seen in the increasingly anti-Jewish polemics from within Christian Orthodoxy itself, as well as in the beliefs and successes of the two main threats to that orthodoxy during this time. Jeremy Cohen has said; “the logic of early Christian history dictated the affirmation of Christianity in terms of the negation of Judaism.”[23] Likewise see Longenecker’s interesting point that in the New Testament, the Adversus Judaeos polemic was “an intra-family device used to win Jews to the Christian faith, [while] in the second century it became anti-Semitic and was used to win Gentiles.”[24]
Turning to the two great heresies of the early Church, both Gnosticism and Marcionism based their appeal on a rejection of the Jewish roots of Christianity. Valentinus has been described as a Christian who sought “to set forth the living essence of their Religion in a form uncontaminated by the Jewish envelope in which they had received it.”[25] In the Testimony of Truth, the view that “the orthodox, by still retaining the Old Testament ... were not truly living in ‘the freedom with which Christ has set us free.’”[26] “No Jew [was ever born] to Greek parents [as long as the world] has existed. And [as a] Christian [people] we [ourselves do not descend] from the Jews.”[27] Here the Gnostic writer both affirms his view of himself as a Christian, and denies “any prior connection with Judaism.” As Frend put it; “[anti-] Judaism was to be the one continuous theme through all the variations of Gnosticism.”[28] S. Wilson likewise refers to Gnosticism as “a form of metaphysical anti-Judaism.”[29] Koschorke summarized it; “the reproach of Judaism plays a fundamental role ... in the debates between Gnosis and the church.”[30]
It should again be stressed that members of the Church experimented with Gnosticism and Marcionism at a time when to be associated with Judaism was politically, legally and socially damaging, and that the general anti-Jewish sentiment was shared by those in the Church. It is this desire to distance themselves from Judaism that gives us the motive underlying the movements. It was Christians wishing to escape the reproach of being labeled with Jews that formed the adherents of Marcionism and Gnosticism.[31] The force of such sentiment can be seen from the success of the Marcionite church, which in the 3rd century, was larger in the eastern empire than the orthodox church.
Given
then that anti-Jewish feeling was widespread during its formation, that its new
Gentile adherents to varying degrees shared this sentiment, and that its main
opponents chief selling point was that the church remained too Jewish[32] (largely through its retention of the Old
Testament[33]), imagine the situation if the church had indeed
been meeting in Jewish synagogues, and celebrating its Jewish roots. Tragically,
and reflecting no virtue upon the Gentiles, the Jewish rejection of Jesus, and
the distance that created between them and the early church, did indeed aid the
success of the Gospel among the Gentiles.
- Philosophical considerations
Here we will briefly address the dialectic between the particular and the universal. The particularity of Jewish revelation secures it from ownership by any single Gentile ethnicity (Deuteronomy 32:8). Jesus being Jewish means he is not British, African, Chinese etc. Even with this safe-guard, ideas that “God is an Englishman” or “God is a German”, or “Rome is a holy city” have been pernicious. How much more so if, for example, God had chosen the English to write the Old and New Testaments, if Moses and David were English, and Jesus had indeed walked upon England’s “green and pleasant land.” Think of the numerous heresies that simply trying to be “the ten lost tribes” has spawned! Jewish particularism has been a blessing for the universal gentile mission. The Jewish rejection of Jesus has meant that historically, there have been no specific claims on him, so he is freely accessible to all.
Conclusion
Paul makes a clear causative link between Jewish rejection and Gentile salvation So, how did Jewish rejection aid Gentile salvation?
It showed forth the righteousness of God, clarified the exclusive role of faith in salvation, removed an initial stumbling block for Gentile converts, freed Jesus from ethnic claims, making him a universal saviour, all the while preserving the Jewish people for God’s future blessings and redemptive purposes.
At present, the Jewish rejection of the Gospel is saving Gentiles. Once the full number have come in, then the partial hardening over Israel will be lifted. (So, if you want all Israel to be saved, get out and witness to Gentiles!)
Future salvation of Israel
Jewish rejection has aided the spread of the Gospel. This rejection, like the Law itself, was always intended to only be temporary. God has promised the restoration and future salvation of Israel.
Ezekiel 11:16-20 "Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.' "Therefore say: 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will gather you from the nations and bring you back from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you back the land of Israel again.' "They will return to it and remove all its vile images and detestable idols. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.” (See also Ezekiel 36:24-28.)
This happens when they look to Jesus; Zechariah 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him” When they “return and seek the LORD their God and David their king.” Luke 13:35 you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'
Romans 11:23-26 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved.
All of which leads us to;
The second, even more surprising reason that Israel remains hardened, and the Gospel has gone to the Gentiles. It is because
this is God’s way of saving the Jewish people!!
God also sent Joseph to Egypt in order to save the Israelites!!
In going to the gentiles, Jesus was saving Israel! This is what saving Israel looks like! This is how God has determined that salvation shall come to Israel. This was not God abandoning or replacing Israel – this is God working towards their salvation and full inclusion!
Joseph had to leave his own family in order to save them! Genesis 50:20-21 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.” See also Genesis 45: 4-11.
Romans 11:11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
Romans 11:31 “so they [the Jewish people] too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you [Gentiles].”
We catch a glimpse of this already in the Jewish remnant who, in every generation since the Crucifixion, have been saved by grace (Romans 11:5!) They were saved largely through the example and witness of Godly Gentiles.
Romans 15:8-10 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name." Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people."
God cares about everyone! He cared about the Egyptians, and sent them Joseph, and he cared about the children of Israel, and sent Joseph on ahead of them to preserve them and to save their lives! Joseph went on ahead only because he was rejected by the sons of Israel. Through enormous suffering, he was able to bless those gentiles. Joseph’s going on ahead was also God’s way of confirming his promises to the Patriarchs that he would care for their children and not allow them to perish from the face of the earth.
Look at the prophecies surrounding Jesus birth. They are directed at Israel, and they are joyful! This is God intervening to save his people! Jesus coming (to be rejected and killed) is good news for Israel!
Mary - Luke 1:54-55 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."
Zechariah - Luke 1:68-75 "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us-- to show mercy to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
Simeon - Luke 2:30-32 For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."
They all look beyond the immediate pain and rejection. Jesus did not come to be rejected and killed! He came to save, to rescue. Being rejected and killed was simply the means by which he did that. God knew that Jesus would be rejected and killed. But before it even happened, God in mercy and tender consideration is already speaking words of mercy and hope. Jesus did not come to condemn, but to save. Look at
The angel Gabriel Luke 1:32-33 The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
Had God said; “and the Jewish people will give him the throne of his father David” then they are in trouble. Because they failed, they rejected him. But knowing beforehand that they will reject him, God cries out to them (Hosea 2:1 "Say of your brothers, 'My people,' and of your sisters, 'My loved one.'”) “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David!” If this doesn’t happen, it is not the Jewish people who will have failed, it is God almighty himself! Think on this! God is sending his beloved son to people he knows will murder him, and the first thing he tells them are words of hope, assurance and love. He knows they also are in for long term pain, but he promises everlasting gain. Jesus coming to Israel and being rejected by them is how God saves Israel. This is what it looks like!
Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Marvel at the grace and mercy of our God! As the incarnation was about to occur, God the Father promised that he himself will guarantee that Jesus will lead them, that their rejection will not stand, that their weakness and sin are not greater than his love, that they will not prevent his good purposes towards them. Malachi 3:6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.” As already seen, the Triune God is one in giving comfort and hope to his own, even as they reject him!
Question; how does God’s mercy to the gentile church facilitate the salvation of Israel??
What is the role of the [gentile] church in the salvation of “All Israel?” Paul and Joseph clearly teach that this is why [in God’s plan] they rejected Jesus. Salvation comes when then look on him who they have pierced. When the redeemer comes from Zion. It is Jesus centered! He is their Messiah!! However, Jesus says; Luke 13:34-35 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' "So, what is the role of the Gentile church in this? This will require a more detailed look at how salvation comes to Israel.
1. The Jewish people must ask Jesus to return!!
Hosea 6:1-3 Then I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me." "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
Acts 3:19-21 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus. He must remain in heaven (“Then I will go back to my place”) until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.
Joel 2:29-32 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.
Psalm 102:15-22 The nations will fear the name of the LORD, all the kings of the earth will revere your glory. For the LORD will rebuild Zion and appear in his glory. He will respond to the prayer of the destitute; he will not despise their plea. Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD: "The LORD looked down from his sanctuary on high, from heaven he viewed the earth, to hear the groans of the prisoners and release those condemned to death” (or “children of death”) So the name of the LORD will be declared in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the LORD.
Psalm 50:7, 15 "Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, … and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me."
2. The role of the Gentile churches in this.
The Jewish people must call upon God. But how will they know to do this? They did not know during the Holocaust, the most awful tragedy imaginable, how will they know at the time of Jacob’s trouble? Israel’s sons knew only that the Egyptians had food! They did not know this was due to their brother Joseph (Genesis 42:8)!
The reconciliation of Joseph and his brothers is prolonged and difficult on both sides. Joseph secretly weeps, the brothers likewise find the process confusing and painful. For Israel, clearly it is hard to walk back from rejecting and killing the messiah God sent them! It is only the extremity of the famine (the time of Jacob’s trouble) which forces them time and time again to go for the riches of the land ruled by Joseph. (Genesis 42:2 "I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die." Romans 11:11 salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.)
The wealth of the Egyptians is vital in this, they know without it, they will die, but the first time they go down, it is difficult and unsatisfying. They take losses (Simeon is imprisoned), and the cost of these riches (Benjamin, their most precious possession) is too high. And all this time they remain unaware of the true identity of Joseph, unaware he is the brother they thought they had killed, but who now rules these blessed gentiles. It is only as the famine becomes even more unbearable that, in fear and uncertainty, they return, unsure what to expect - Genesis 43:8-14 "Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die…. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. … Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved."
Romans 11:11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
The Gentile church has a vital role in this process. Paul sees this future event as already promised in the Song of Moses, in Deuteronomy. Israel needs to call on the name of the Lord, but how will they know to do this? Because God will make them envious by those who are not a nation.
Romans 10:12-19 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our message?" Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, "I will make you envious by those who are not a nation;"
Yes! Paul begins in the present, and describes a pattern which will find its ultimate fulfilment at the end of the age. Romans 11:13-15 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? (This verse is terribly undervalued in much Christian theology! Again, see Acts 3:19-21!)
So, envy for the riches the Gentile Christians have in Christ is how the remnant are saved. Is it also how “all Israel” are made aware of the only name given under heaven by which they might be saved?? Paul’s logic here moves beyond the remnant (“some of them”) and looks to the salvation of all Israel (“their”), and the return of Jesus! And they would not have know who to cry to if the gentile church had not shown them the way! It is the children of Israel, desperate for the food of the Egyptians. This salvation heralds the end of the age, the return of the King, and the consummation of history.
Romans 11:25-6; I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so (in this way) all Israel will be saved.
3. Why must they wait until the fulness of the gentiles has come in?
Because the fulness of the Gentiles will be needed to save all Israel!
It was not just one or two years of harvest that were needed to feed all of the gentiles who came to Joseph and his kinsmen according to the flesh! The whole harvest of the Egyptians was needed to save both the Egyptians and the family of Israel. Note also that Joseph does not simply save his family by himself, by just sending regular shipments of grain to Canaan. Rather, the Pharaoh and the Egyptians are integral to this rescue.
Genesis 45:16-18 When the news reached Pharaoh's palace that Joseph's brothers had come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased. Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, 'Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan, and bring your father and your families back to me. I [Pharaoh] will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.'
Here Pharaoh and all his officials are saving Israel from the famine. “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so (in this way) all Israel will be saved.” Israel is saved by being invited and coming into the land where Joseph rules, by coming into the Kingdom. Note also the beautiful humility of the Gentile leadership!
Genesis 47:7-10 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. … Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.
Hebrews 7:7 And without doubt the lesser person is blessed by the greater.
Romans 11:18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
The Pharaoh understood this truth! We see those who have been saved by Joseph rescuing Israel and being blessed by Israel! What is more, they are delighted when Joseph’s family show up. (Genesis 45:16 When the news reached Pharaoh's palace that Joseph's brothers had come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased.) No jealousy, ‘maybe now he won’t care about us anymore’, just an honest and open delight. They love Joseph and rejoice with him.
The Jewish rejection which led to his death was needed to purchase salvation. The Jewish rejection after his death was necessary for the delivery of that salvation to both Gentiles and Jews.
So, the final question is, having failed to make Israel jealous for 2,000 years,
How will God use the church to preach the Gospel to Israel?
God is not prepared for the present estrangement to continue on indefinitely. It is he who takes the decisive steps to force the issue. He initiates the crisis that will compel them to seek him.
Genesis 41:25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are one and the same. God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do.
Zechariah 14:2 I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it;
Hosea 6:1 "Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.”
Note also the difference in degree here. God sends a famine, but the result is reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers, between Joseph and his father and between the brothers themselves. The short-term pain is most definitely worth the everlasting result! Hosea 6:2-3 “on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
Jesus says you will not see me until you say, “blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.” This comes from Psalm 118:1 In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free. … All the nations surrounded me (“For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle”), but in the name of the LORD I cut them off. (“Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, 'The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the LORD Almighty is their God.' "On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples,”) They surrounded me on every side, but in the name of the LORD I cut them off. … I was pushed back and about to fall, but the LORD helped me. The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. … I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done. The LORD has chastened me severely, but he has not given me over to death. Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter. I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation. The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; 23 the LORD has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
Israel cries out to God, and God answers their cry. He becomes their salvation. The stone the builders rejected becomes the capstone, and it is marvelous in their eyes. The role of the church here is both vital, and yet strangely distant and incomplete. Their riches have pointed to the one who will save Israel, but they have not revealed his identity, or brought about that salvation themselves. It is only when Joseph reveals himself that they realize who he really is. The grain of the Egyptians brings them close but does not reveal this. It is only when he stands on the Mt of Olives that they look on him whom they have pierced that he becomes their salvation. They are not saved prior to this. That is, they call out in a still unsaved state, in desperation. ("I believe; help my unbelief.")
Genesis 42:23 They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter.
Now, an interpreter is usually a good thing, a vital aid to communications. We are indeed called to such a role;
2Corinthians 5:20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
And this has worked great in bringing the saving new of Jesus to the gentile nations. Europe, Africa, China, the Americas etc. have all heard of Jesus through the lives of his faithful ambassadors. But when it comes to his own Jewish people, the generations of Jacob, the gentile church has largely served not to aid communication, but rather to hide the true identity of the one they represent. Christianity is not a gentile religion for gentile people, Jesus is their long-lost brother.
And so, finally, after confusion and pain, Judah confesses the sin his brothers had been unable to speak;
Genesis 45:1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, "Have everyone leave my presence!" So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.
Joseph dismisses the faithful but ineffective interpreter, and speaks to his brothers himself, in Hebrew. Do we catch a glimpse of the rapture of the church here? In any event, the role of the church in Israel’s salvation remains frustratingly unclear. It is vital, it informs Israel where they must go to, but not to whom. Likewise, they are possibly not even present when Jesus reveals himself to the Jewish people. Why is the church so inarticulate/ineffective? This question is vital to the church today!!!!!
What more do we know about this vital event? Well, it will happen after “the fulness of the gentiles are brought in.” We see this again in Matthew 24:14 “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
It will be the time of Jacob’s trouble,
Jeremiah 30:7-9 'Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob's distress, But he will be saved from it. 'And it shall come about on that day,' declares the LORD of hosts, 'that I will break his yoke from off their neck, and will tear off their bonds; and strangers shall no longer make them their slaves. 'But they shall serve the LORD their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
See also Zechariah 12:9-10, 14:2-4 and Matthew 21-30.
It will be the time of Jacob’s trouble, and it will end in victory (Isaiah 40:9-10, Isaiah 52:7-10).
Conclusion
The second, post-resurrection rejection of Jesus by the Jewish people was part of God’s good and perfect plan for all humanity. At the time, it opened up the way of salvation for the Gentiles and thereby created the very means which will be needed to save all Israel. All the while, a righteous remnant of Jews have also saved in every generation since. That is, Jesus first coming was redemptive at the time, has been redemptive for the Gentiles and Godly remnant ever since, and finally, with the tools which it also created, will be redemptive for all Israel.
Doxology
Paul concludes his discussion of these matters by bursting into spontaneous praise to God. Romans 11:33-36. His very next verse then begins “therefore”, in light of the above, how should we respond to what he has just revealed? Romans 12:1-2 “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
In
light of God’s righteousness and faithfulness, in recognition of his endless
wisdom and love, we should respond with worship and a changed life.
[1] See Moo,
D., (The Epistle to the Romans, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans,
1996), 689, fn 22 and accompanying references commentating on 11:12; “reference
to Jewish responsibility for the crucifixion is unlikely.”
[2] See also
Moo, The Epistle, 693, for a similar view of verse 15.
[3] Carmichael, J., The
Satanizing of the Jews (New York: Fromm, 1992), 31.
[4] Note that
Romans 11 uses a different Greek word for hardness than that used in Romans 9,
where the Greek word for hardness is also the word used for Pharaoh’s heart in
the LXX. This word is also used in Acts 19:9 to describe the hearts of the Jews
who rejected the Gospel, and in Hebrews 3:8, 13, 15 and 4:7 to describe firstly
the Hebrews hardening their hearts in the desert after the Exodus event, where
it is given to us as a warning not to allow either sin or self to harden our
own hearts. The Romans 11:25 word is used only three
times, once in Mark 3:5 (this comment is absent from its synoptic parallels)
and once in Ephesians 4:18 where it describes the natural state of
Gentiles.
[5] For an appraisal of this phenomenon, see Flannery, E., The Anguish of the Jews (New York: Paulist Press, 1985), 24-25.
[6] Bacchiocchi, S., God’s Festivals in Scripture and History (Michigan: Biblical Perspectives, 1995), 175.
[7] Feldman, L., Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and Romans, (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996), 379-80, 387.
[8] Bacchiocchi, God’s Festivals, 175.
[9] Feldman, L., Jew and Gentile in the Ancient world
(New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993) 156, 164. Feldman, L., Jewish Life and Thought among Greeks and
Romans, (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996) 370. For example, in Satires 5.179-184, the Jewish Sabbath is
his first proof that superstition enslaves man. Bacchiocchi, S., From Sabbath to Sunday (Rome: P.G.U.R.,
1977) 174.
[10] Feldman, Jewish
Life, 131, 369. See
also Flannery, The Anguish, 23.
[11] Flannery, The Anguish, 23.
[12] Bacchiocchi, God’s Festivals, 175.
[13] Feldman, Jewish Life, 182. Note that this tax,
the fiscus judaicus, was later
intensified under Domitian, Bacchiocchi, God’s Festivals, 172.
[14] Bruce, F.F., The Spreading Flame: The Rise and Progress
of Christianity from its first beginnings to the Conversion of the English
(London: Paternoster Press, 1958) 267.
[15] Geographically,
the revolt occurred throughout the eastern Diaspora communities, and was
especially severe in
[16] Feldman, Jewish
Life, 191-5. See
also Grabbe, L., Judaism from Cyrus to
Hadrian (London: SCM, 1992) 568-9, 596-599.
[17] Having
started his reign with a respect for the national needs of the provinces, and
even a promise to rebuild Jerusalem, it seems that his pan-Hellenic tendencies
meant that while prospering the provinces, he also came increasingly to oppose
what he saw as foreign. This led him to outlaw circumcision (a measure not
aimed specifically against the Jews), and to plan for a Hellenistic city to
replace
[18] Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 12a, 32b., and Avodah Zarah 17b.
[19] In 49 AD
Claudius expelled the Jewish population from Rome (Suetonius, Claudius 25, as quoted in Feldman, Jew
and Gentile, 47.,
and Acts 18:2) for arguments concerning one “Chrestus”. Note that Tacitus in his report of the persecution of
Nero (The Annals 15, 44) spells the
word “Christ” in the same way, and that Tertullian, in his The Apology chapter three, corrects the pagans, saying, “But
Christian, so far as the meaning of the word is concerned, is derived from
anointing. Yes, and even when it is wrongly pronounced by you ‘Chrestianus’ (for you do not even know
accurately the name you hate)”. If then this argument was between believers in
Jesus and Jews who did not believe in Jesus, (see Feldman, Jew
and Gentile, 47, and
Tomson, P., Paul and the Jewish Law
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990), 61) then by expelling all the Jews from
Rome, the same attitude as evidenced in Acts 18:15 is being shown. Tomson
further argues that while Jewish Christians were expelled, gentile Christians
were not. This would further argue that for the Roman authorities at that time,
arguments about Christ were an internal Jewish matter. Christianity was simply
a Jewish sect.
[20] And not only Nero. Tacitus (The
Annals 15, 44) writes that Nero “inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a
class hated for their abomination, called Christians by the populous”. The
Church Fathers later blamed Nero’s wife Poppea (who was either a Jewish
proselyte or a “God fearer” - see Josephus, Jewish
Antiquities 20.195) for setting him against the Christians. A. Harnack, The Expansion of Christianity in the First
Three Centuries (trans. J. Moffatt;
[21] Suetonius,
(ca.69-ca.150 CE) Life of Domitian
12.2, 365., as quoted by Bacchiocchi, God’s
Festivals, 172. Note that Domitian ruled before Hadrian, that is, before
the Bar Kochbar revolt. For his persecution of those who converted to Judaism,
see Dio Cassius, Roman History 67.14,
1-2., as quoted in Feldman, Jewish Life,
346.
[22] Wilson, S.,
Related Strangers (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995), 12.
[23] Cohen, J., “Robert
Chazan’s ‘Medieval Anti-Semitism’: A note on the Impact of Theology” in History and Hate Editor D. Berger (New
York: Jewish Publication Society, 1986), 69. Note also the beginning of chapter
thirteen of the Epistle of Barnabas, “But let us see if this people [the
Christians] is the heir, or the former [the Jews], and if the covenant belongs
to us or to them”.
[24] Longenecker, R., New Testament
Social Ethics for Today (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984) 40.
[25] Burkitt, F.,
quoted in “Anti-Semitism in Gnostic Writings”, Wilson, R., in Anti-Semitism and Early Christianity
(Editors C. Evans, D. Hagner; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993) 277.
[26] Wilson, Anti-Semitism, 287.
[27] Wilson, Related
Strangers, 201.
[28] Frend, W.
H. C., The Rise of Christianity
(London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1984), 163.
[29] Wilson, Related Strangers, 199.
[30] Koschorke,
K., quoted in Wilson, Anti-Semitism,
277.
[31] “[Basilides]
castigated Yahweh as an aggressive deity and the Jews as a people who took
after him, aspiring to subjugate other nations, an interesting comment perhaps
on the feeling in
[32] “Christians
themselves gave the outside world the impression of being baptized Jews (see
Origen, Contra Celsum 4.23)” Frend, The Rise, 332.
[33] The Old Testament was itself not viewed as a shared heritage with
the Jewish people, but rather, influenced by the prevailing culture, seen as an
exclusively Christian possession. Nicholls, W., Christian Antisemitism (New Jersey: Jason Aronson Inc., 1995), 180-181. “these words ... Are you
aquatinted with them, Trypho? They are contained within your scriptures, or rather,
not yours but ours. For we believe them”. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, A Jew 29. “If we assume that Justin, in the Dialogue with Trypho, uses the Old
Testament material of his lost writing ‘Against
Marcion’, then we can get an idea how he defended the Old Testament as a
book on Christ ... it is mainly with the doctrine of the two Gods and the
rejection of the Old Testament that Marcion for Justin called Christian truth
into question. In Justin's anti- Marcionite polemics, it is ultimately a matter
of defending the Old Testament and its Christian use”. May, G., “Marcion in
contemporary Views: Results and Open Questions” The Second Century 6-3 (1978) 138. Augustine put it this way; “And
so - scattered across the globe - they [the Jews] have become as it were the
custodians of our books, like the slaves who carry their masters' law books to
court - and then wait outside.” Heer, F., God’s First Love (London: Weidenfeld and
Nicolson, 1967), 44. Even this begrudged tie remained problematic for the Early (and
later!) Church. For them, the Old Testament was now (since the Old Covenant was
no longer binding), either typological or prophetic. By affecting the
confiscation in the way they did, Christianity changed the very nature of what
they had taken. “What for Jews is the constitution of a commonwealth now
becomes for Christians a cryptogram for Christ” Nicholls, Christian, 174. Even the pagan critic
Celsus noticed the discrepancy, “How can Christians allege that the Jewish
Bible is authoritative for them, if on principle they do not do what it
explicitly says?” Nicholls, Christian, 185. See also Augustine, “First of all, however, this
error of theirs [the Jews] must be refuted, that the Books of the Old Testament
do not concern us at all, because we observe the new sacraments and no longer
preserve the old. For they say to us: ‘what is the reading of the Law and the
Prophets doing among you who do not want to follow the precepts contained in
them?’” In Answer to the Jews II: 3.
in The Fathers of the Church: A new
translation Editor R. Deferrari (trans. C. Wilcox; 100 vols;
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