Here is the lesson for Wednesday night class. If it is useful to you, use it to his glory.
Romans 11: The Remnant of Israel Grafted into the Kingdom of God
A natural question would be: If God loved Israel so much and promised her so much stuff in the Old Testament, why then would he allow her to be destroyed? Does that mean they are gone forever? The apostle Paul says no. after all he is an Israelite, so they can’t be completely gone. It is just that there is just a remnant left then. Paul even mentions Elijah’s bout with depression in 1 Kings 19 when Elijah was afraid that he was the only righteous person left. God said he had 7000 more, or, in other words, a bunch more.
That remnant enjoyed the favor of God as much as their ancestors did. It is just that the relationship changed. Israel would never be again what they were when David was king. They and their relationship with God had changed. The people of God now were spiritual rather than physical. And they were chosen by grace rather than blood.
It is the same when the kids leave home. They are still your kids, but they have a different relationship with you now.
Israel’s problem was that they tried too hard in the wrong directions to get to God. He kept telling them that what they were doing was useless, but they would not listen. As he says, The elect among them did, but the others were hardened. God let them go their way while he went his.
Of course, God would take them back at any time, but because of their disobedience, he adopted other children, hoping that they could see that he wanted to love his children. Of course, that disobedience bless those he would not have had as children, since it brought new people – the Gentiles – into the Kingdom.
The relationship is completely different now. Anyone coming to God is adopted. There are no longer any natural children. We are grafted into the tree. Even the natural branches were cut off and, if they wanted, were grafted back into the tree. In this way, everybody who comes to God and is adopted is Israel. Israel has changed. It is now spiritual, rather than physical.
QUESTIONS:
1. Why would God reject people he loved?
2. Why do you think a prophet of God wouldn’t know there were other people serving God? Wouldn’t he have seen them?
3. How can you go so far from God that he will turn from you? Don’t w have second chances in him? (cf v22)
4. God said he wanted to make the Jews jealous by calling the Gentiles. Did that work?
5. Is there a remnant in the church today?
6. Is our status as Gentiles and our adoption as sons an indication of second class citizenship? Are the Jews better than us? Do they have seniority?
7. Are we better than the Jews? Is our branch grafted in as well as theirs? Or does God have less tolerance for us than he did his natural children?
8. V34 – Can we ever know the mind of God? Is there any way to understand him?
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