Romans 9:27-29 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED; FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY." And just as Isaiah foretold, "UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY, WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH." There is a book titled What on Earth is God doing? that is about the end times. I am sure there were and still are Jews who have asked this question. Since 500 BC when they went back into Judea, their world has never been right. The closest it has been was after their conquest in Joshua, but it didn t lasted long. Currently, we know that they are under discipline, having been set aside. But they will have a restoration; they will be lifted up; they will be established and their King will rule them and the Earth for a thousand years and for eternity. If they would just read their Scriptures, they would know that there would come a time of discipline where they would be set aside to be restored at the end of time. In Romans 9:25-33, Paul quotes Hosea and Isaiah. Last lesson we covered verses 25-26 and concluded two possibilities. The first possibility is that Paul is referring to this passage in Hosea in similitude with how he calls Gentiles in this dispensation. The second possibility is that this is referring to the prophecy of Israel not being God s instrument (Who are not my people) but looking toward restoration. I am convinced of it being the latter. We saw last week that the sentence ends in verse 24. This begins a section where Paul reminds the readers that the current discipline Israel is experiencing was foretold. So last week, we read through Hosea 2 and saw how this is a prophecy of end times. Although the Roman ekklesia is mostly Gentile, there are prominent Jews in the church who have undoubtedly taught them through the Old Testament. The readership has the full advantage of having Jewish believers to teach and help them understand the true meaning of these passages. Paul uses what they do/should know to help them deduce what is happening now. Remember that there are a lot of inferential ideas in Chapter 9, some proper, some inconceivable. From these references, Paul explains that they are set aside because they disregarded God by not believing Him in their pursuit of righteousness. Isaiah 10:1-19 depicts the overthrow of Israel and the reasons for the disciplining. Isaiah was written before, during, and after the Assyrian destruction of the Northern Kingdom in about 710 BC. Because of this, Isaiah is usually understood in the light of current events. Assyria was destroyed in 606 BC and Babylon became the ruling power. But what is interesting is that Assyria never conquered Jerusalem. Jerusalem would not be conquered until 586 BC by Babylon.
Therefore, I will suggest that this is not a prophecy about the current situation but a future situation. What has been discovered is that 1 of the 4 legions that Titus used was Assyrian Arabs. In fact, Rome typically would spare buildings, but it is suggested that Rome initially resisted the destruction of the temple as the Assyrian legion was determined to destroy the temple. So we have the discipline of Israel and Jerusalem described in Isaiah 10:1-19, then the prophecy of the remnant. Read Isaiah 10:20-25. In Isaiah 10:21-22, there are some keywords. First is the remnant in Hebrew this is sheʾār (sheh-awhr). It means that which remains, the remainder of a group. When Isaiah uses this word here, it is unique in the Hebrew Scriptures. It refers to the remainder of Israel that will be left in that day. This small portion of Israel will be believers and the only part of Israel that will remain (Isaiah 11:11,16). The next word we need to see is shûv (shoovb). This word basically means to turn back. It can be used for retreat, to do something again, drive back, turn away, or be restored. There is a word in Hebrew that means save or salvation yeshûʿāh and yāshaʿ. But the LXX translates shûv, the will return, as σῴζω sōzō (soh -dzoh). As we have learned throughout Romans, saved and salvation are not always references to justification, as we normally use the word save (Ephesians 2:8). The word σῴζω means to rescue from danger, to restore to a state of safety, to deliver, make safe, deliverance. Therefore, neither Isaiah nor Romans has indication of this being spiritual in nature. The physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are estimated to be around 14 million. It was 8 million near the turn of the 20 th century and bloomed to about 16 million by 1939. But the worldwide population then dropped to about 10-11 million. From 1945 to today, those who identify as being predominantly Jew as a race is around 14 million. The Bible, in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the Minor Prophets, speaks of a great persecution that will desecrate the Jewish population except for the believing remnant. So at the end, in that day, there will only be a few believing Jews who will be part of the human population that will enter into the Millennial Kingdom. Romans 9:27 is a quote from Isaiah. The Lord will execute complete destruction. The time of Jacob s trouble is designed as both a final judgement against the obstinate, unbelieving Israel, as well as the whole earth. To conclude this section, Paul quotes Isaiah 1:9. Read Isaiah 1:1-9. Once again, this is often taken as a prophecy already fulfilled in Israel s history. We know that this pattern of discipline was common from Israel s inception, but this refers to the end, their final judgment.
The word for survivors is sārîdh and indicates a person that has fled, hence a survivor. This is the only time this noun is used in Isaiah, but it is used in Obadiah 18 as a proclamation against Edom that there would not be a survivor they would be destroyed. But it is also used in a very important verse in Joel. This will serve as a preview to Romans 9:9-13. Romans 9:13 quotes Joel 2:32. Paul only quotes the first part of the verse (not that he had them numbered), but the rest of the verse is specific as to the nature of the prophecy. The ones who call will be the survivors, the remnant, the believing portion of Israel that will survive in the end. Let us conclude this section. 1. Paul quotes from obvious sections in Hosea and Isaiah to help the reader understand that there is now and there will be a time that Israel will come under severe discipline. 2. This discipline will culminate in the final days when God nearly destroys all of Israel in the time of Jacob s trouble. 3. But just as the Lord has promised, Israel will be preserved, delivered from destruction. 4. It will not be all of Israel but the remnant, the believing portion who will flee Israel and call upon the name of the Lord, and thus will be saved. Matthew 24:15-22 "Therefore when you see the ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
Romans 9:30-33 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, "BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." Paul has used the Hebrew Scriptures to prove that Israel will go through a time of discipline when they will not be used as the caretakers of the administration of God. God then has the freedom and sovereignty to choose, from all nations, believers to make up the ekklesia. Paul now begins the last inferential point in Chapter 9. The next inferential point will be in 10:14 and then another in 11:1. In Chapter 11, there are 7 more inferential points, but Chapter 10 only has one. The point of this entire section (9:30-10:21) is the responsibility of the ekklesia to Israel. The verse begins with, What shall we say then? The question is actually very easy to understand based on the evidence and the conclusion. The question and answer revolve around one point. Why is Israel going through this discipline? Because they do not believe. They have rejected the Son; they have rejected Yahweh. The human logical problem with this statement is the observation that most Israelites claim the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses, and they follow the Hebrew Scriptures. Their Bible is simply our Old Testament Scriptures, so do they not believe in Yahweh as their God? The answer is no (John 8:39-47). Because they reject Jesus, have rejected the writings, and have rejected Yahweh, they are not of God. The conclusion is that those who did not seek righteousness attained righteousness, the righteousness by faith. Now this is not saying that all Gentiles have attained righteousness, but the Gentiles that did attain righteousness were not seeking it. There were and still are no Gentile nations that have sought after the righteousness of God. Especially during the first century, Gentile nations had no inclination to have any reconciliation with God (Acts 17:29-31). This sentence is more descriptive in Greek. The phrase who did not peruse righteousness is an articular participle. This makes this an adjective and describes who they are. The Gentiles are known as the ones not pursuing after righteousness. Obviously, there were individuals who did (Cornelius and the Roman centurion, for example; Matthew 15:21-28). They, however, were not ones who had the graces that had been given to Israel (Romans 9:3-5).
Yet these who were not pursuing righteousness attained righteousness. The word for attained is καταλαμβάνω katalambanō (kah-tah-lahm-bah -no) and means to seize, to grasp. When used of ideas, it means to understand (to grasp mentally). The kata intensifies the word meaning to take or receive. The next phrase explains how the Gentiles attained righteousness. The literal translation is but the righteousness from faith. Righteousness means rightness. We are not right, we are not just, we are declared right or just. Correlating righteousness and faith in Romans shows something very important. Prior to Romans 9:30, these words are concentrated in Romans 3:22-5:1 (10 times). The way of obtaining righteousness as a gift from God by means of faith is fully discussed in these chapters. Remember that faith (πίστις pistis) is a noun. This is defined as the doctrines that are intended to be believed. The doctrines that are believed implies that we understand that we believe in the person, the work, and the simple message of Jesus Christ in order to obtain the righteousness of God. In verse 31, Israel is contrasted with those not pursing. Israel did pursue. Pursue is the same word; righteousness is the same word. But Paul adds in the word law. The word does not have an article. This is not the Law, although this is what they used, having perverted it. They set up a system of righteousness, a system so that one can check off a list and declare I am righteous. The performance of the individual is the basis for the declaration. Prior to this passage, Paul proved very clearly that both Jew and Gentile are guilty under God. The Jew, even though he had the Law, is just as guilty as the Gentile who had no law. Sin is indiscriminate; both are equally guilty (Romans 3:9-10). The Jews are making a declaration that is in direct opposition to their own Scriptures. There cannot be a system of righteousness; thus, they did not obtain righteousness. This is a slightly unusual way to say this. In verse 31, that which Israel was pursuing was law. Righteousness describes law. They were pursuing a system. They believed that system led to righteousness. But they did not come to what they were seeking. They thought they did, the Pharasitical attitude is evident in the narrative. Paul then asks why. The answer is simple not from faith. The translators add in helps, but they actually detract from the direct correlation to the last phrase in verse 30. What the Gentile believer understood most Israel did not understand. The contrast continues with not from faith, but as from works. The conjunction as is a comparative conjunction. We would probably translate this as the NASB does, so as to not confuse the reader, or actually. The final statement in verse 32 leads into verse 33, where Paul again quotes Isaiah.
They stumbled over the stumbling stone (Isaiah 8:11-15). Peter also speaks of this very clearly (1 st Peter 2:7-8). The idea of stumbling is used differently in Isaiah than in the writing of Moses (Exodus 12:13; Numbers 16:46-47). The word literally means a striking. The word in Isaiah is used to describe the word stone. A stone of striking. The picture we have is a stone on which one strikes his foot and falls. As Peter says, they stumbled and fell because they did not believe. But the last phrase in verse 33 is And he who believes on Him shall not be disappointed. For those who have been in 1 st John, he who believes is the believing one. This verse is repeated in 10:11 and is a quote from Isaiah 28:16. The word for disturbed is actually will not be hurried. Some opine that this speaks of God s rest maybe. But Paul uses the Greek word καταισχύνω kataischunō (kah-tai-skyou-no). This is a compound word. First kata is used as an intensifier. The word it intensifies is αἰσχύνω aischunō or αἰσχύνομαι. This word is normally understood as ashamed and has the idea of shame from disfigurement or shameful task (1 st Peter 4:16). Believing in Jesus guarantees a position with God so that there is no guilt from our horrible disfigurement (sinful nature) or our shameful task (sinful action). Romans 5:5-6 And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Conclusion: 1. Romans 9 provides some amazing details a. Who they are b. Their selection c. The mercy granted to them d. God, in His sovereignty, choosing Israel, both then and future 2. Understanding the purpose of God for Israel in light of their rejection a. They rejected the One for whom they should have been waiting b. The Gentile ekklesia believed in One with whom they originally had no connection 3. At this point, my heart is broken for the Nation of Israel and for God who was rejected by His select nation. 4. Chapter 10 What can we do?