Romans 9:27-33: God's judgment

Romans 9:27-33

v.27-29:  This refers to a prophecy from Isaiah.

Isaiah 10:22-23 (NKJV)
22 For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness.
23 For the Lord God of hosts Will make a determined end In the midst of all the land.

·         God promised Abraham he would have innumerable descendants.

GENESIS 22:27: I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore.

·         This prophecy is referring to the tribulation, and the remnant WILL be saved.

·         He will finish the work. When God begins he will make an end, whether in ways of judgment or of mercy. His work is perfect.

·         In righteousness, God will execute judgment.

Acts 17:31 (NKJV)
31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Revelation 19:11 (NKJV)
11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

·         He will make a short work. . .

Matthew 24:21 (NKJV)
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Matthew 24:6-7 (NKJV)
6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.

Luke 21:36 (NKJV)
36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

·         Escape comes through salvation, and salvation through Jesus Christ.

·         We are to watch and pray that we may be counted worthy. Notice that we are not to work for our worthiness. In other places we are told to work, but not for salvation.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

·         God could totally destroy them, but by sovereign choice, preserves and saves a remnant. Those promises were fulfilled in the Captivity and Exile of both Israel and Judah and in the destruction of Jerusalem in a.d. 70 and will also be fulfilled in the national end-time deliverance of Israel (Rom. 11:26-27). Even today the same principle is true. Jews who become members of the church, the body of Christ, are what Paul later called “a remnant chosen by grace” (11:5), which included himself (11:1).

v. 30-33: Did God make a mistake?

·         No, it was the Jews who made the mistake.

·         They tried to work for their righteousness, and that did not work.

·         The law became a wall between them and God, one they could never climb over on their own.

·         To keep the law without faith is worthless.

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

·         Due to a lack of faith, Christ became a stumbling block. (refers to Isaiah 8:14)

1 Corinthians 1:23 (NKJV)
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,

·         . . .will not be put to shame:

Psalm 37:18-19 (NKJV)
18 The Lord knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever.
19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

1 John 2:28 (NKJV)
28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

Romans 1:16 (NKJV)
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

·         May we all be able to say:

2 Timothy 1:12 (NKJV)
12 For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.