The Covenants of Scripture, part 4

Transcript

GRM1135
3/1/2015
The Covenants of Scripture Part 4
Romans 9-11; Galatians 3; Hebrews 8
Gil Rugh

We’ve been looking into the subject of covenants, the covenants of the Bible as we have taken a break from the regular flow of our study and we have done this morning and evening for a couple of Sundays and tonight I want to wrap up by talking about the New Covenant.

It is important we understand the New Covenant in the context of the other covenants. It is a new covenant. In comparison, remember to the Mosaic Covenant which in Scripture is called the Old Covenant.

Put that chart up if you would. This is just a basic presentation of the covenants. I have put the law, you will see it, under blessing. The Abrahamic Covenant had three major parts, land, seed and blessing and they are elaborated in those three subsequent covenants called the Palestinian Covenant, the Davidic Covenant and the New Covenant. These are all covenants made with the nation Israel and they will all see their ultimate final fulfillment in the millennial kingdom. So we want to be clear on that but we as Gentiles will get to partake in the blessings provided in the Abrahamic Covenant. So the blessings that will come in the New Covenant and we talked about the Mosaic Law in our study earlier today and it was added later for a time, until Christ would come to be a tutor, an overseer if you will, for Israel to keep them on the path, to prepare them to in one sense isolate them from the nations around them so that they would remain committed to God and even though they were unfaithful yet they had the blessing of the revelation of God, His law, His commandments, His instruction, the worship that He had set down to prepare them for the coming of the ultimate sacrifice.

We noted that the Mosaic Law was added because of the rebellion, the transgressions of the people. We saw that in the Old Testament after the exodus of Egypt, and we saw that emphasized in the New Testament but it was added because of the transgressions of Israel and it was added to help keep Israel in line if you will. Israel persisted in their rebellion yet they were kept on track for the coming of the Messiah even in their persistent rebellion so they were not prepared for the coming of the Messiah as God wanted them to be and so they come under greater judgment. We will talk about that in the context of the New Covenant.

So we talk about how the church fits into the New Covenant here, the New Covenant, replacing the old covenant, the Law, not the Abrahamic Covenant. It is a provision that encompasses Gentiles but it does not replace Jews. It is key that we keep these distinctions in order.

We were in Galatians 3 earlier today and if you would turn to Galatians. A reminder of how this ties into the New Covenant. The New Covenant, we will look more into detail, but you will see the promises promised to Abraham as we read in our earlier study today tied to the faith that Abraham had. The Abrahamic Covenant was given and in Genesis 15:16 we are told that “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” That verse is quoted in Galatians chapter 3, verse 6. It is a quote from Genesis chapter 15, verse 6 and there in the context of that chapter God cut the covenant with Abraham. It was ratified and established. And a reminder, it is those who are of faith who are the descendants of Abraham. That does not exclude the physical Jews. It does indicate, as Scripture in a number of places does, it is not enough to be the physical descendant of Abraham. For the Jews to experience the blessings promised they must be the physical descendants who also have the faith of Abraham. That is not true of the nation when Christ comes that is not true of the nation down to today. That does not mean God is done with the nation. Remember the Abrahamic Covenant is an unconditional covenant. God has taken it upon Himself to fulfill all its provision.

Verse 8: “The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel behorehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the nations shall be blessed in You.’” That is an expansion of the blessings under the Abrahamic Covenant to Gentiles so Paul can say “In effect, the Gospel was preached.” It is important that we understand that the inclusion of the Gentiles was part of the original covenant. This is not an add-on like the Mosaic Law was, the Mosaic Covenant, added later for a temporary time. This is part of the covenant given originally. “All the nations will be blessed in You.” It goes back to the original statement of the content of the covenant in Genesis chapter 12. So we have the clear explanation of the Spirit of God that the Gentiles were included in the Abrahamic Covenant from its beginning. So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

And then the contrast with the Mosaic Law. The Jews lost their way, they thought being a physical descendant of Abraham and doing all they could to keep the works of the law guaranteed their salvation. That is why earlier in our studies we talking about Old Testament passages that talked about the need for circumcision of the heart. You had to have the faith of Abraham. The law only brought judgment but God has provided for our salvation.

So the Gentiles were included in the Abrahamic Covenant in the beginning, from the beginning. Now a realization of their participation in the salvation blessings would not come until the Messiah, the Savior had come and as we just observed in the Communion Service, “this cup is the New Covenant in My blood,” the blood representing His death, the shedding of blood. “Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.” There can be no forgiveness because “the penalty is death.” So He comes to be the ultimate sacrifice that can make the provision of salvation blessings available not only to the physical descendants of Abraham, the Jews but to all the nations as God said when He gave the original content of the covenant to Abraham. So we looked at some of these verses in Galatians chapter 3 among others that have pointed to that fact.

Come over now to Ephesians. This is another passage we were in earlier today but a reminder that as we move into the New Covenant more in detail. A reminder in Ephesians chapter 2, verse 3 which we read in our earlier study today. “Remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by the circumcision which is formed in the flesh;” so physical circumcision of the Jews. They talk about the uncircumcised Gentiles. The circumcision being given to Abraham as a sign of the covenant and confirmed in the Mosaic Covenant but it goes back to the Abrahamic Covenant recorded in passages we have seen in our earlier study.

Remember the Gentiles, verse 12: “You were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise.” And the Abrahamic Covenant was a covenant of promise. Gentiles weren’t. You understand there is no missionary program in the Old Testament. God did not send the Jews into the land of Canaan to evangelize them. He kept them out of the land of Canaan until they were ripe for judgment then He sent them in to destroy them. There is no missionary program in the Old Testament. I remember my Hebrew professor in seminary saying, “Anyone who finds a missionary program in the Old Testament is terribly confused.”

Now we think of Jonah but Jonah went there in the context of what? Jonah wasn’t happy when people repented. You realize Jonah went there to preach and in God’s intention delay His judgments on Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrians. Jonah realized what happened. He didn’t want judgment delayed on the Assyrians because the Assyrians were the threat to Israel and ultimately will carry the ten tribes into captivity as the Northern Kingdom.

There is no missionary program there. That’s where when Jesus called the disciples together for the great commission, “Go and make disciples of all the nations.” Remember what happened when the non-Jewish Canaanite woman came to Christ during His earthly ministry and asked something of Him. What did He say? “I didn’t come to give the children’s food to dogs.” He says, “I didn’t come to help you, a Gentile.” The children are the Jews and she showed her great faith and received what was promised but that was the case. Salvation is of the Jews. God’s law, the Mosaic Law, that temporary covenant served to further isolate Israel from its surrounding neighbors. So we Gentiles are on the outside and that doesn’t mean there were never any Gentiles saved but they were rare and they did that how? By coming in contact with the nation Israel and there was provision for any Gentile who wanted to convert to Judaism. They had clear instructions and guidelines for them becoming a part of the nation but that was rare. So we were excluded from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world. You understand God was not obligated to make Himself known, to bring salvation to the world and in the Old Testament He selected the nation Israel and that’s the focus of His salvation plan in the world until the coming of Christ and His death.

Verse 13: “Now in Christ, you were formerly were afar off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” We Gentiles were the ones far off. We were excluded from the covenants of promise. We were without God and without hope in the world but with the coming of Christ He broke down the barrier of the dividing wall and that Mosaic Law would serve further to keep us out and the commandments. Now He makes the two, Jew and Gentile into one body and it’s done through the cross in verse 16.
Now Paul says in chapter 3, “This material is a mystery.” The Old Testament didn’t make that known. The church is something not revealed in the Old Testament. That’s Paul when we looked into some of the verses in chapter 3 but provision was made for the Gentiles from the beginning when God chose Abraham and his physical descendants. He also makes a provision in that covenant for the salvation of Gentiles but that would not come to pass for 2,000 years after Abraham; Abraham being about 2,000 years before Christ. It was not until the coming of Christ that, if you will, the door of salvation was open. The Mosaic Law which served to only emphasize the exclusion of the Gentiles is now done away with and we see the provision for Gentiles.

Come back to Romans chapter 4. The emphasis here is on the faith of Abraham as the example and he quotes again from Genesis chapter 15 and verse 6 that is quoted in verse 3: “Abraham wasn’t justified by works.” The whole point here Abraham was declared righteous by God hundreds of years before the Mosaic Law was even given. He was declared righteous by God before he was circumcised. Making the point the salvation of Abraham and the righteousness bestowed on him from God was a matter of faith, a key point and an example: you don’t need to have circumcision for salvation. The Gentiles are going to come under the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant but the fullness of the Abrahamic Covenant and all its promises are Jewish. There are salvation blessings that include Gentiles but that doesn’t cancel out promises of the land and physical seed and so on.

So you come down through this whole chapter 4, it’s the chapter on faith, verse 14: “For if those of the law are heirs faith is made void. The law brings about wrath;” that is key. Remember the law could expose sin, it could condemn sin, it could pass judgment on sin but it couldn’t save or deliver so God’s salvation is by faith and then verse 16: “For this reason it is by faith in order that it may be in accordance with grace so that a promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants. Not only to those who are of the law but of those who are of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all.” In that sense we are spiritual descendants of Abraham, Gentiles. Now that does not mean we replace the physical descendants. You will note verse 16 the “promise will be guaranteed to all of the seed. Not only to those who are of the law but those who are of the faith of Abraham. As it is written the father of many nations I have made you;” a fulfillment of that. He is the spiritual father of many nations. That is the point here. He is the father of us all. All of us who have the faith of Abraham, who believe what God has said and done, now the finality and fullness of that revelation is the finished work of Christ. He’s the father of many nations.

You see these go back to the original covenants. It seems like a simple thing but it is absolutely crucial, the Gentiles have not replaced Israel. We talk about covenant theology. Gentiles were a part of the original plan. You will be a blessing and all the nations will be blessed in you. You will be a father of many nations. That is the Gentiles, let the Spirit of God give His explanation. People develop a theological system and then try to impose it on Scripture. The Spirit of God explains it. There was provision for the Gentiles but keep in mind the foundation for all of this is Jewish given to the father of the Jews and the provision for salvation is provided in what? It is provided in a Jew, Jesus Christ, the descendant of Abraham. Don’t lose the Jewishness of what is going on; so that’s what his point is here.

Down in verse 18: “In hope against hope he believed so that he might become the father of many nations. So shall your descendants be.” And Abraham, that’s what God had said, “Look at the stars of heaven, so your descendants will be.” And not only have the physical descendants, the Jews multiplied but he is the spiritual father of all kinds of nations. Here we are. We come from a variety of backgrounds, nationalities and around the world. In these days it is primarily Gentiles being saved. So the assurance here of what God is doing ties back to the Abrahamic Covenant.

Alright, come over to, you are in Romans, let’s do Romans 11 and then we are going to go to the New Covenant itself and look at the specific provisions there. In Romans chapter 11 on this same line and you are aware that Romans 9, 10 and 11 talk about God’s plan for the Jews. Chapter 9 starts out about Paul’s great burden. He is the Apostle to the Gentiles but he has a deep love for the Jews. He would give up his salvation if it would bring about the salvation of the nation Israel but of course he can’t, what he says in verse 3 of chapter 9. They are the Israelites, verse 4, “to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory, and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ.” That is what he is talking about. He said you understand, everything in the Old Testament you pick up from chapter 12 on it’s about the Jews.” The nations only come in as the non-Jewish nations as they impact Israel as we’ve been studying in Daniel. The Babylonians, for example but everything promised to the Jews, God’s revelation is to the Jews who are the fathers from whom is the Christ, according to the flesh. The Son of God was born into the human race as a Jew.

Verse 6: “It is not as though the Word of God has failed for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel.” Again, I want to be clear on who is descended from Israel. Who is Israel? Remember Jacob? God changed his name to Israel. So to be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that is the line of promise but not everyone who is a descendant of Jacob is really part of the line of promise to the descendants of Jacob who was the recipient of the Abrahamic Covenant. It was father Isaac who received from his father Abraham. It’s not enough. That is not cancelling out Israel. It’s just saying that is not enough.

Verse 7: “Nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants but: through Isaac your descendants will be named.” Remember Abraham had a son prior to Isaac and he had sons after but they don’t count when it comes to the promise. It has to be a descendant according to promise. That is the argument of chapter 9.
It is not enough just to be a physical Jew. To this day the Jews see themselves as a special people though they have rejected, for the most part, any of the promises of God except when they want to claim them for their own purpose but it never was enough just to be a physical Jew. The prophets make that clear.

You come to chapter 10. Paul opens up the same way, “My heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.. They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. They don’t know about God’s righteousness so they go about trying to establish their own righteousness” like people today. I want to keep the law. That’s what the Jews were saying. We are righteous. They were experts in other people’s sin but they saw themselves as righteous. No, they are going about establishing their own righteousness. They need the righteousness of God and while they are doing, when you are trying to establish your own righteousness then you don’t subject yourself to the righteousness of God as verse 3 says. You either realize there is nothing I can do and you cast yourself on the mercy of God believing what He has done and He credits you with His righteousness or you keep on trying to establish your own which is futile. And this goes on in chapter 10.

You come over to chapter 11. “I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!” Such a thought is inconceivable and Paul is an example. Even with Israel under judgment there are some Jews being saved. We noted that when we went to I Peter in an earlier study today, remember in Peter’s writing to the elect sojourners of the diaspora, Jewish believers scattered outside of Jerusalem and they are called a holy nation. They are the remnant that is a reminder God has not abandoned His people. He has put them under a withering judgment.

The worst of it is yet to come but He hasn’t abandoned His people because what? Verse 2: “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” We are not going into the doctrine of foreknowledge but they are the people He chose, He placed His favor on and so there is a remnant even to this day in the church of Jewish believers, small in number but the fact that some of the Jews are saved is a testimony. God is not done with the nation Israel. That is the point coming through here.

Verse 5: “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to (election, we have it translated) God’s gracious choice.” Simply said is “a remnant according to election, according to God’s choice.” “If it’s by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace,” so God’s sovereignty in His work of salvation. Then the question, verse 11: “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall” because He talks about the Old Testament told of the judgment of God withdrawing His grace from the nation so now they are in a sense of stupor. This is where we are in 2 Corinthians. “They have eyes but they don’t see, they have ears but they don’t hear.” Terrible thing to reject the grace of God. Well, I will do it tomorrow. God gives opportunity today don’t think you have the same opportunity tomorrow. Basically that’s what Israel did. Finally they used up their opportunities so now they are under judgment.

“But, I say then they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be!” God had a plan here. He put the Jews under judgment for their unbelief and opened the door of salvation that He had provided in His Son to the Gentiles. That’s not something new in the plan of God. It was revealed back in the Abrahamic Covenant as we looked at those verses. The blessings would come to all the nations and Abraham would be a spiritual father of many nations but the full realization of how that would be accomplished and so on awaited further revelation. That was Ephesians 2. Paul said, “This mystery was revealed to me.” New revelation didn’t change anything in the revelation given in the Old Testament in the Abrahamic Covenant. It just further clarified it, made clear how it could be done but it was all there. That’s why I say later revelation can add to, can clarify but it cannot change prior revelation. We saw that, remember earlier today. Once a covenant is established you just don’t change it. That’s the covenant and that is what God has committed Himself to.

So this judgment of the Gentiles is part of the plan of God to bring to realization what He promised in the Abrahamic Covenant of the blessings to all the nations and that’s how God would do it by setting aside Israel, the Jews for their unbelief allowing, if you will, a trickle, a remnant to be a reminder He is not totally done. They didn’t stumble so as to fall indicating they are done. They are not getting up. God is done with Israel. No, that wasn’t the purpose. The purpose was to open the door of salvation to the Gentiles and out of that will ultimately bring us back to the salvation of the Jews but I want you to note something down here now. It brings us to the Abrahamic Covenant. If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also. If the root is holy the branches are too. This goes back to the Old Testament. We are not going back there for time. The point is the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also. The root is holy, the branches are. What is the first piece of dough? What is the root? It’s Abraham in the Abrahamic Covenant. That is where is all comes from. That’s why when we have been looking at these different passages he takes us back to Abraham. He is taking us back to the promises that God gave to Abraham. That is the root. That is the first piece of dough. The branches are too. In other words, what God promised to Abraham and his descendants will be realized. That can’t be changed. What has happened?

“But 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.” That is the picture. That is why we have it diagramed out. It’s in the line. That rich root goes back to whom? To Abraham and remember we saw in Galatians 3 we were excluded from the covenants of promise in that sense, in the sense during all those years through Old Testament history, the 2,000 years of the coming of Messiah salvation focused in the Jews. The nation Israel was the nation. Any evangelism program to reach to the other nations? No. Nobody come into the scene, they need to be used as instruments that God uses to judge the nations and then He judges that nation and here’s what happens. Some of the branches were broken off, the Jews had the connection to Abraham physically but they are broken off. They are removed from that connection because they don’t have faith and the wild olive branch is grated in. We didn’t belong there. We were strangers to the covenant so we could partake with the Jews of the rich root of the olive tree, those promises in the Abrahamic Covenant. That’s what is a reminder, “Do not be arrogant, (verse 18) toward the branches. But if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.” This is the whole thing, Anti-Semitic stuff, the idea that the church has replaced Israel and all kind of finagling to re-explain Romans 11. I mean you understand the root supports us. We are tied into Jewish promises. We haven’t become Jews but we are tied into the Jewish promise of the Abrahamic Covenant. Don’t be arrogant against the Jews. That’s why true believers recognize the special place of the Jews even though they are under judgment now. “The branches are broken off so that you might be grated in.” Quite right. They were broken off for their unbelief. That is the explanation. Why is judgment come on the nation which we read back in verse 8, 9 and 10 or just passed over, referred to, God’s judgment on them, why? Their persistent unbelief climaxing in their rejection of their Messiah put them under the withering judgment that they have endured for 2,000 years and we will be talking about the climactic events of that judgment as we proceed in Daniel. They were broken off but that was part of God’s plan because He had promised blessing to all nations. Now how He would do that comes with later revelation and it’s marvelous. That is what Paul was saying, understand the plan. They were broken off for their unbelief. You stand by your faith not because you are less sinful, not because you are better than the Jews. You stand because they continue to refuse to believe and you are only there by faith so don’t get conceited. It has nothing to do with you being superior.

“Don’t be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness.” Isn’t it amazing? That’s the point of this section. God’s judgment on the Jews becomes the means of us experiencing the kindness and grace of God in salvation. We see how we fit in the plan of God. So we are not glad Israel sinned but I am glad that God in the greatness of His grace used their sin to open the door of salvation to us.

Now this is not a change in God’s plan. It goes all the way back in the Abrahamic Covenant but it’s a dimension of the plan that could not be understood until it had been accomplished. That is what we are talking about here.

Then he goes on, verse 24: “ For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these natural branches be grated into their own olive tree?” Don’t get arrogant. God is not done with Israel. The fullness of this covenant is for Jews. You Gentiles have just been grafted in. That hasn’t changed the nature of the covenants. It is for the Jews in all of its provisions. The land is not promised to us Gentiles for example. It is promised to the Jews, the Palestinian Covenant although you are aware the Palestinian name “Palestine” wasn’t even a first century name. It came from Hadrian, Roman emperor around 130, I believe, A. D. who wanted to annihilate any connection of Jews with their land, Israel. So he renames it Palestine but the name sort of stuck but it’s their land. They are going to get it. You can change the name and you can try to drive them off, but you can’t frustrate the plan of God. This is a Jewish covenant; that’s the point.

Verse 25: “I don’t want you to be uninformed brethren of this mystery.” This is material now that God has revealed that makes clear how this could all be accomplished in what He had revealed. It’s a mystery, something not revealed before. You have to have this new revelation but it doesn’t change anything. It just explains how what was promised in the Abrahamic Covenant regarding blessing will include all the nations. “A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and so all Israel will be saved.” You understand the ultimate fulfillment of this will come for the Jews. That’s the point.

“From the standpoint of the Gospel they are enemies for your sake.” Why? God’s put them under judgment. They are blinded to the truth of the Gospel so God could open up the door of salvation to the Gentiles but from the sake of God’s election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

It is an attack on the character of God to imply or teach that the church has replaced Israel. The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. These are promises to the nation Israel. Now by His grace He made a provision in that covenant for Gentile salvation and now He has revealed how that is carried out but there will come a time when Israel as a nation will experience the fullness of what God has promised in His salvation and in His blessing.

Come back to Hebrews 8. We are taking Hebrews 8 because Hebrews 8 quotes basically the New Covenant from Jeremiah 31. We just put up the provisions of that covenant, the New Covenant. It’s laid out here. He has been talking about (if you are in Hebrews) the need for a new covenant. Back in chapter 7, verse 19: “The law made nothing perfect.” Christ has come to be the high priest and the mediator, verse 22, “of a better covenant.” He can bring the salvation that the Old Covenant, the Mosaic Covenant could not. He is the high priest. He is operating.

So the New Covenant that is quoted from Jeremiah 31 beginning in verse 7 of chapter 8 down through verse 12 includes these provisions: God would put His law in their hearts and minds. That is not the Mosaic Law but His law. Portions of what were included in the Mosaic Law include additional things here; a personal relationship with God. We would be His people, He would be our God. That’s included there if you read through it. Universal knowledge of God, the knowledge of the Lord will be universal, verse 11 of Hebrews 8: “They shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” for all shall know Me.”

You won’t need evangelism in the kingdom. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. That is not going on. These are provisions. It’s just like the Abrahamic Covenant, the land, it is not being realized now. That doesn’t mean the covenant is not in force and these are things that are promised to the Jewish people and they will realize it.

Now we are experiencing the salvation blessings of this New Covenant. Israel has to experience those blessings. And just as now, we have a church filled with Gentiles, I mean there may be some Jews in here but primarily this is a church filled with Gentiles. That is true of the church around the world today. But when God is done, the fullness of the Gentiles comes to its’ completion. The door shuts in that sense. God’s program refocuses on the Jews. There will be Gentiles saved but we go back to His program with Israel.

We will pick up on this in Daniel chapter 9 where we have to finish the 70th week of Daniel, all that for Israel. So the New Covenant includes and provides for the salvation which is necessary for all the promises to be realized because only a redeemed people who are saved by faith and thus provided with God’s righteousness can inherit all that He has promised so the New Covenant is foundational, the death of Christ. The New Covenant is operation. The Abrahamic Covenant is in force. I say that because there are some dispensationalists, there was a whole book been written recently trying to argue that the New Covenant is not in force today. It is tortured exegesis, it’s an embarrassment. But we won’t go there.

We want to see the wonder of God’s plan. You realize where we are and we may be coming very close to the end of the fullness of the Gentiles when God removes the church and then moves to complete His program with Israel climaxing with bringing them to salvation as a nation so that the Messiah can return and establish the kingdom promised to the Jews and we will be privileged to have a key part in that kingdom but it’s Jewish. The capital of the world will be New York, no, Jerusalem. That’s it, it’s Jewish.

What a marvelous plan of God and we as Gentiles. We as believers today ought to appreciate the greatness of God and ought to be looking with our eyes open. God has said when the fullness of the Gentiles comes, He will resume his program to bring to completion and realization the salvation of the nation Israel. We indeed ought to be seizing the opportunities to carry the Gospel to Jews but also to the Gentiles all around us. These are days of salvation and terrible days are ahead but He promises deliverance from tribulation to come for those who belong to Him.
Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for the awesome plan that You have set forth. Lord how amazing it is in that covenant established with Abraham, 4,000 years ago You included the promises, the details that would include our salvation as Gentiles. Lord and we are here as evidences of Your grace. We are in awe when we see the consequence of the rebellion, the unbelief of Your people, Israel and we thank You for the fact that in Your sovereign plan their sin and judgment on them has been part of Your plan to provide salvation for us and Lord we can thank You that You are a God who keeps His Word. Your gifts and calling are irrevocable, that is our security and that’s the assurance that You will give everything You have promised to the physical descendants of Abraham, the Jews who have also the faith of Abraham and thank You that even though we are not the physical descendants You in grace made provision for us to experience the blessing of salvation through faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray in His name, amen.