The Diminishing of the Jews, and the Riches of the Gentiles
RO146-01

Israel

The Jews were Blinded

The Church

However, all over the earth, there are gatherings of members of this invisible body as independent church organizations to pool their resources, to proclaim the Word of God, and to do the Lord's work. They are independent church organizations. Therefore, there is no such thing as the church on earth as an official organization that speaks for God. When you find a religious group that uses the term "the church speaking for God," you immediately know you're talking to somebody that's totally disoriented from the Word of God, and that is a dangerous person to listen to. They will, some place, at some critical point, lead you astray. There is no church structure on this earth. There is nobody in an organizational way that speaks for the living God, and certainly there is no individual who is the voice of God on earth. There is only one voice of God on earth, and that is the written Scriptures. There is only the gathering of believers in separate local assemblies who are guided by the Word of God.

The Sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross

So, the apostle Paul, here Romans 11:11, says that one of God's purposes in the fall of the Jews from divine favor was to bring salvation to the gentiles. As we pointed out last week, before the church age, a gentile could only be saved by first becoming a Jew. Paul regularly therefore delivered the gospel message first to the Jews in their local synagogue upon arrival in the city. But when the Jews rejected the gospel of grace salvation through Jesus Christ, Paul would then turn to the gentiles who welcomed the message. Well, as the Jews proceeded to reject Jesus Christ, they also saw that something wonderful was happening with the gentiles who did turn to Jesus Christ. They could not help but see that upon them was the blessing of God. The gentiles were being cared for, and were being prospered. The gentiles were becoming a noble people. They were becoming far more elevated personally and in their human relationships than even the Jews. And the Jews gritted their teeth in indignation. The Lord Jesus Christ, Whom they hated, somehow was coming through in some kind of a relationship that was making the gentiles now superior to the Jews in their relationship with God. The Jews were out of God's favor; and, the gentiles now everywhere, were clearly in God's favor.

To Provoke the Jews to Jealousy

The Jews as a whole had this attitude of deep-seated resentment. It was their personal attitude, and in the grammar, this is infinitive, which indicates that it was God's purpose to make them jealous. This is exactly what God wanted to do. The Jews fell in order to make them jealous. Paul is actually quoting a statement here from Deuteronomy 32:21, which precisely says that God is going to handle the resistance of the Jews by making them jealous of those who will listen to God.

So, the temporary fall of the Jews from God's favor served two purposes. One was to make salvation available directly to the gentiles through Jesus Christ; and, two, to make the Jews jealous of the gentiles who were being blessed with the salvation promised to the Jews. And the Jews are constantly trying to relate themselves to the superior position that the gentiles hold in the world today. This is why the Jews are trying to approach the pope, because the pope represents a powerful religious segment in the world today, and the Jews are desperately struggling to get related to every other group in some favorable way, because everybody is against them. They see that, among the genuine biblical Christian community, there is a prosperity, and a care, and an honoring by God that is not characteristic of the Jews. The Jews are always under suffering; under rejection; and, under oppression.

Israel and the Church

God would not have to worry about the Jews if Israel and the church were the same thing. He would just have to say, "Well, we're just dealing with all of humanity for salvation." But the very fact that this Scripture says that God has saved the gentiles, and now is prospering them, so that the Jews will get jealous and say, "You know, we really missed the boat in rejecting Jesus Christ," so that He can bring the Jewish people back to blessing. What kind of blessing? The blessing of the Abrahamic Covenant.

The amillennialists are wrong again when they say that God is through with the Jewish people as a nation. This very Scripture indicates that God is not terminating one or the other, or mixing the two. But the church and Israel both continue to exist.

The Average Christian Today

Charismatics

The Jew is not impressed with the empty rituals and the pageantry which is pursued as a way of finding God – the whole religious system of worshiping God by means of some ceremonies that people have invented. The Jew says, "We've had better ceremonies than that. We're one of the original ceremonial systems. Why should we be impressed with Christian groups?" And the Jew is obviously not too impressed with those wonderful, expensive church buildings that are erected by Christians – buildings which are little used during the week, but buildings which are treated as if they were holy objects for their reverence, as if they were sacred places.

There are few stable, godly, manly, womanly Christians about us today to impress the Jewish community that they have lost out in rejecting Jesus Christ. There are very few spiritual maturity structured type of Christians in the world today as springs of living water to attract the loss to the marvelous person of Jesus Christ.

So, the Jew faces a problem. He's supposed to be jealous of us Christians. But, by and large, as Jews look upon Christians, they don't have a great deal to be jealous of. Most Christians are much different in their lifestyle; the things that are important to them; the things they pursue; the things to which we will dedicate ourselves; the responsibilities we will take; and the thing for which we can be counted upon, to any Jew. He is not too impressed. But in God's program, that's the purpose – to save the gentile, and at the same time, out of prospering the gentile, to cause the Jew to have second thoughts about Jesus Christ.

In verse Romans 11:12, we're told about the fullness of Israel. Paul says, "Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world." Paul says, Now, here's an idea: "If (first-class condition – it is true) there has been a fall." And this is that word that we had before. The King James Bible keeps translating different Greek words with the same English words, so it's confusing. This is not the same fall as up in verse 11, where it says, "Have they stumbled that they should fall?" This meant that they smashed to the ground out of divine favor. Here, when he says, "But their fall" is the Greek word "paraptoma." This is a totally different word. "Paraptoma" means "a transgression." It is actually the same word as the second fall in verse 11, where it says, "But rather through their fall, salvation is come." That is the same Greek word, which is: "through their transgression."

So, Paul is referring back to this fall of the Jews in terms of their terrible mistake of rejecting Jesus Christ, and murdering Him on the cross. Paul says, "Through that transgression came great riches to the world" (the "kosmos"), which refers to the world of humanity here. It refers especially to the loss – the riches of the world. Man, by nature is the enemy of God. Anybody who may be sitting here this morning, who is not a born-again believer; who is not a Christian; and, who has not trusted in Jesus Christ, you should recognize that you are an enemy of God, whatever else you may think of yourself. Man, in effect, turns his back on God, and declares that God doesn't exist. The Bible is rejected as the Word of God, and its moral principles are ignored. Man is friendly with the evil world of Satan, but he is expressly antagonistic toward God. Man is self-centered, and he wants to be independent from God.

We also have that same problem among Christians. We watch Christian parents who was absolutely have lost their minds, and gone completely berserk in the things that they pursue in life at the time that they have maximum opportunity to influence their children. They're off pursuing other things in life that they think are going to make a difference a hundred years from now. That's the problem that we have as Christians. We're always thinking about next week, instead of, "Wait a minute. I can do this now, but what good is it a hundred years from now? It has to have some long range values or I don't want to do it." Then, suddenly, everything will fall into perspective as you look at your day and say, "You know, I could do this with my time; or, I could do this with my time. A hundred years from now, this is Bunco. But if I do this a hundred years from now, it'll make a big difference.

The Enemy of God

Propitiation

Reconciliation

Eternal Security

Verse 11 says, "And not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have received the reconciliation." So, the riches that have come through the death of Christ is this reconciliation to the standard of God. It describes what the lost sinner receives when he is adjusted with the absolute standard of God. Lost sinners trusting in the Lord Jesus for salvation are thereby adjusted to God's standard of righteousness, and so are justified before God. When you accept Christ, you are reconciled to God; you are adjusted to His standard; and, you are friends, hand-in-hand.

Mrs. is Danish gave me explicit directions not to make any cracks about the pope this morning. And I'm not going to do it, except I want to call to your attention the fact that the pope is standing (and you may have heard him), holding that round wafer, which has to be round. That is because it represents (the original meaning of the wafer), in the Babylonian system, where the Mass originated, it was the worship of the sun-god. So, it had to be round. And when he holds that up, and comes to that dramatic moment of converting it into the body of Christ, so that you may eat it; so that you may receive salvation; and, so you may receive merit toward your eternal life, is a falsehood of the most unmitigated, blasphemous kind. And Americans all over this country are beside themselves with adulation of this representative of Babylonian mystery religion, changing bread into the actual body of Christ, so that you may eat it, and thereby get a little step up toward salvation.

The Word of God says, "You are totally adjusted to the standard of God. We have received the reconciliation. If you know what reconciliation means, and the Bible says, as you've just heard, we have received this reconciliation, that means that you're adjusted. That means that you're completely in tune, positionally, in God's eyes, with His standard of absolute righteousness. You are as good as Jesus Christ, in His right. In your practice, you are not perfect. That will be corrected once you have a resurrection body. But in God's position, in His sight, you are in Christ. Therefore, you're as good as Christ. Therefore, you're totally reconciled to God. That is the riches that our world has received through the death of Christ.

No one goes to heaven by simply adjusting himself to the accepted standards of society in which he lives. That's what people think: "If I adjust myself to the standards of most people, I'm as good as the next person, and God is going to accept me." That is not true. A believer is changed from enmity to friendship with God, on the basis of what Jesus Christ alone has done so. The basis of our reconciliation is this death of Christ. This enrichment of reconciliation of the world, furthermore, is what we are to tell lost people. We are not to tell lost people, "Start working on getting yourself into heaven." We are to tell lost people that God has already potentially reconciled you to Himself. He has adjusted you to His absolute standard of righteousness. He waits for you to accept that reconciliation. That's the good news that we're telling people.

In 2 Corinthians 5:18, this is what Paul points out: "And all things are of God, Who has reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ." Now, do you understand that sentence? God, through Jesus Christ, has made us as perfect as Himself. He has adjusted us to His standard: "And has given us the ministry of reconciliation." We Christians have to proclaim this truth: "To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation." God handled your trespasses by putting them on Christ, not by putting them on you: "Now then, we Christians are ambassadors for Christ, as though Christ did beseech you by us. We beg you, in Christ's stead, be reconciled to God." God has reconciled you. But that's of no value to you unless you say, "I'm going to turn around. Instead of having my back toward a God who has been propitiated (satisfied toward my sin), I'm going to turn around, and I am going to accept His provision. At that moment, you become reconciled in the record of the book of life in heaven – the Lamb's Book of Life.

The divine provision of reconciliation becomes effective, in other words, for a lost person, when he trusts in Jesus Christ for salvation. And reconciliation, as I pointed out, ensures internal security in your salvation – the fact of the doctrine of reconciliation enables believers to sleep peacefully at night, and to walk confidently by day.

So, the riches of the world here refers to the salvation by grace through Jesus Christ, Who provided the ground for reconciling the lost center to the Holy God. The Jews' transgression of killing Jesus Christ on the cross actually resulted in the ground of reconciliation of the world to God.

The "Diminishing of" The Jews

The Riches of the Gentiles

An Even Greater Blessing to the Gentiles

Thus, Paul's argument is: "If the rejection of the Jews has resulted in so much blessing to the world, how much more may be expected through them, when they are again accepted into God's favor?"

So, what's the era of Jewish fullness? This is a time when the Jews, as a nation, will accept Jesus Christ as Messiah Savior. Divine discipline will be removed from them to end their rejection of the oppression; all of the suffering; and, all of the death the Jews have experienced. Specifically, the future era of the Millennial Kingdom is a view here, with Jesus Christ ruling over all the nations of the earth. You may read Psalm 2, and compare it with Acts 4:25-26, which describe where God declares that He's going to send His king. And all the nations of the earth are going to rise up to reject this king. And Psalm 2 says that God sits up in heaven and laughs: "Even He," and this is talking about God in what we call anthropomorphic terms – terms we can understand like a human being. This is too much for God. God shakes His head, and says, "This is ridiculous." And He laughs. These puny characters, these nations of the world, pompously going to cut down Jesus Christ when He says, "I'm here now to rule the world." During the millennium, human society is going to be transformed in all nations. Jesus Christ will rule upon this earth for 1,000 years.

Mankind has, since the Garden of Eden, sought a condition of universal peace and prosperity. Unsaved man, under Satan's guidance, has been seeking to create just such a golden age through socialism; through atheism; and, through the power of government. And every effort has been a failure. Satan has been trying to create his own millennium, and he can't do it. All such efforts have failed, and they never can succeed without the Lord Jesus Christ in charge. You have to have the right kind of leader. Where you're going to find the right kind of politician? Where can you expect to go with morally degenerate leadership?

Along comes Jesus Christ, a Person Who indeed can have the authority to rule the world, and has the moral character and quality necessary to do it God's way. Without the moral character required to do it God's way, you will do it your way – the way of the sin nature.

So, all such efforts have failed. Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us, is going to return to earth with all of you who are sitting in this room, and all of the believers, past and present, who are in the church, the body of Christ. We come back as His bride, after the tribulation era, to begin a 1,000-year theocracy on this earth. This is precisely the fulfillment which was proclaimed to the mother of Jesus when she was told that she would bear this child. In Luke 1:32-33, she was told that He would rule forever on this earth from the throne of King David.

The Judgment of the Jews

The Judgment of the Gentiles

The Millennium

Satan and All False Religions will be Gone

At the start of this era, the millennium, the tribulation and the Old Testament saints who have died are now going to be resurrected so that they can come into the millennial kingdom. Daniel 12:1-2 tell us about the resurrection of all of those Old Testament saints: David; Moses; and, everybody on back down, all the way to Adam. They're all raised now to enter into this Millennial Kingdom. They, of course, will be there in resurrected bodies, while these other people who entered as Jews and gentiles will be a body such as ours, still with a sin nature.

Jesus Christ will Rule the Nations with Absolute Authority

Jerusalem will be the Capital City of the World

Isaiah 11:4 and Revelation 19:15 tell us that Jesus Christ will exercise absolute authority over all nations. He will rule as a man who has a rod of iron, and He hits you over the head if you rebel. There will be a time of great spiritual ecstatic under full control of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28-29). The government will be a government of perfect righteousness and justice, with no open sin or rebellion toward divine viewpoint principles tolerated. You will not be able to break the rules. Isaiah 9:7, Isaiah 11:3-5, and Zechariah 14:16-19 make it very clear that God's government will be absolutely just and absolutely righteous.

Universal Peace

Freedom from Natural Disasters and Hunger

No Harm from Animals

No More Poverty

Life Span Extended

Marriage and Family

I wish we had time to go through all these verses together, but if you are interested, you can pursue those you will see, indeed, that hundreds of years ago, the prophets looked down the corridors of time and saw the Millennial Kingdom over which the Savior would be ruling, and it was going to be the golden age of the earth. All this, in the wonderful world of tomorrow, is yet ahead of us when the nation of Israel is again back on track with God, and enjoying the fullness of blessing under the Abrahamic covenant. When they were enemies of God, we received salvation. When they get back to being on track with God, and they are back in the fullness of their promised blessings, the whole world will be transformed because of the Jewish people.

However, I remind you that you will be there in Jerusalem with Jesus Christ, dispatched all over the world as His agents of authority. You're going to have a rank above the Jews. You will be the administrators – you Christians, as the body of Christ, His consort, will be reigning with Him on His throne. And that is real power, because when you then speak, your words will carry all the authority of the living God.

Pope John Paul II says that when he sits upon his throne, and makes a pronouncement ex-cathedra (from the throne), out of his mouth pours the words of God. In 1950, the last time he sat on that throne, he stepped up there; sat on the throne; and, said, "I hereby declare that Mary ascended physically alive into heaven, just like her Son. He had to do that so that it would make some sense to be praying to her. It's not much sense to pray to a dead person. That's all bunco. You people will indeed be speaking ex-cathedra, when you are in the millennium, ruling with Jesus Christ, and you will have the power and authority that you cannot even begin to imagine. And that is all because the Jews are back in blessing. Thank God that we live in the area of the church age.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1988

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