Questions and Answers
QUESTION:
Are Jewish people “set aside the” in this dispensation?
ANSWER:
Your question is dealt with in Romans 11.
Romans 11:1-2 (NASB) 1I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew…
We are definitely told in the above passage that God has not cast away His people. Yet there is a sense in which there was a casting away (verse:15) or a ”breaking off.” (verse:17)
Romans 11: 15 (NASB) 15For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
Romans 11:17 (NASB) 17But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree,
This “breaking off” is sometimes spoken of as the nation being “set aside.” But we’ve got to be very careful in how we use these terms.
It doesn’t mean that individual Jewish people are not being dealt with by God –
Romans 10:12-13 (NASB) 12For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13for “WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”
Romans 11:5 (NASB) 5In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.
— nor does it mean that the Nation of Israel as a whole is not being dealt with.
God is dealing with her judicially and will bring her to repentance before the Messiah Jesus returns and reigns on the throne of David.
Deuteronomy 4:27 (NASB) 27“The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you.
Psalms 110:1-3 (NASB) 1The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” 2The LORD will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.” 3Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew.
The fact that the Gentiles are included is to “provoke” the Jewish people to jealousy and is in itself a form of God’s present dealing with His people.
Romans 10:19 (NASB) 19But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First Moses says, “I WILL MAKE YOU JEALOUS BY THAT WHICH IS NOT A NATION, BY A NATION WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING WILL I ANGER YOU.”
Romans 11:11 (NASB) 11I 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.