As we saw in part 1 of this mini series on Israel’s Rejection…, it was through Israel’s rejection of Yeshua that salvation came to the Gentiles. As we learned in part 2 of the series, many Gentile believers in Yeshua have ignored Rav Shaul’s (Apostle Paul) warning, and instead of being grateful that they have been grafted in to the Olive Tree (Israel), they have become prideful. This pride has blinded them from understanding the purpose by which God brought them from darkness to light.

To say God rejected Israel due to their disobedience, or rejection of Him, is to say that the Bible is wrong, and that God is a liar (God forbid). Rav Shaul very clearly addresses this at the very beginning of Romans 11: “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!” He then clarifies the reason that Israel rejected Messiah when he writes, “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.” Romans 11:11

God Almighty extended salvation to the Gentiles because He loved the world (John 3:16), but He also had a plan that the Gentiles would bring the Children of Israel back to Him through jealousy. How are the Gentiles to make Israel jealous? Definitely not by rejecting them and persecuting them! The Nations were to be an example to the Jewish people by embracing the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, through obedience to His commands, and by allowing Him to work and manifest His power through them. It is when the children of Israel will see their God working in and through the Gentiles that they too would want that kind of relationship with their God.

It grieves me to see people who love the Lord and seek to follow Him missing the purpose of their calling! They don’t understand what Rav Shaul understood and conveyed to the Roman believers, namely that through the rejection of Yeshua in His first coming, salvation came to the Gentiles. What amazing things will happen when Israel will one day realize their horrible mistake, and will finally turn back to God by accepting His Son as their Messiah! Indeed, Rav Shaul describes this as, “Life from the dead”!

“Now if their transgression be riches for the world and their failure be riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” Romans 11:12-15

But the good news is that it’s not too late; there is still time to reverse course and stand for our calling! My brothers and sisters, let us embrace our calling – Jew and Gentile alike – and leave behind all of our arrogance and pride, for it only encumbers us and weighs us down.

Shabbat Shalom,

Moran