What I’m about to write may seem unlikely. How is it possible that a topic seemingly unrelated to Bible prophecy could further validate the Lord’s promise to restore a glorious kingdom to Israel?
I’m fully persuaded that Scripture confirms the nation’s continuing place in God’s sovereign plan for the future. But long ago, what I learned as I worked on my master’s thesis in seminary, led to a deeper conviction of why this must be the case.
The title was “Roman Catholic Justification in the Light of Scripture.” My understanding of what Paul wrote about justification by faith, first of all, solidified my belief in eternal security. The message of Romans 8:31-38 is clear: If God pronounces us righteous, it’s a done deal. No one can overturn His judicial verdict upon our lives. It’s impossible.
Consider this: if the One who brought the heavens and earth into existence with just a word goes on record declaring that we are righteous, than that is surely what we are. If God, in view of our entire lives, declares us not guilty, who is to say otherwise? At the moment of our rebirth, our salvation is a done deal. No one can overturn His verdict, which is the substance of Paul’s argument in Romans 8:31-38.
Long ago, Roman Catholic theologians moved God’s justification of the sinner from the time of regeneration to the end of his or her life. I suspect they did this to add uncertainty to the lives of believers, which enabled the church to demand unwavering loyalty and exert almost total control over their lives. Perhaps they understood the finality of justification and if it happened at the moment of our rebirth, as Paul taught in the book of Romans, then absolutely nothing could change our rock-solid place of favor in God’s sight. The Holy Spirit thus becomes the driving force in the life of a believer, not the church.
Satan’s tactics remain the same today; he still seeks to inject insecurity into the final outcome of our faith. He loves to make us feel as though we need to keep earning the Lord’s favor despite what the Bible says about us.
What does our security in Christ have to do with the future restoration of Israel? Paul sums up this vital link in Romans 11:29: “For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable.”
Please stay with me as I connect the dots between God’s forever promises to Israel and our security as New Testament saints.
The Lord Cannot Renege on His Promises
While I was writing my thesis critiquing Roman Catholic justification by faith, I read a book by Erich Sauer, The Triumph of the Crucified. In it, he wrote:
The question of the Millennial kingdom is therefore not only a question of final history, but touches at the same time the very heart of the gospel (freedom from law, universality of the gospel, gift by grace). To deny it makes either God a liar in relation to His prophesies or Paul a false witness to us. Romans 9–11 is no mere justifying of God, but a justification of Paul’s doctrine of justification.
In Romans chapters 9-11, Paul uses Israel’s secure place in God’s redemptive program as confirmation that God can’t change His mind regarding those whom He justifies (Romans 8:31-39). The final outcome of His promises to both us and Israel rest securely with His character as a promise-keeping God. Human behavior can never negate God’s decrees whether it be our righteous standing before Him, or that of a gloriously restored kingdom for Israel.
Because God can never renege on His covenants with Israel and David, we can know with certainty that He will bring all those He declares to be righteous to glory. His word guarantees both outcomes with absolute and total certainty.
Nothing, not even Israel’s rejection of their Messiah in the first century AD, can alter His love for His chosen people or cancel His oft-repeated statements through the Old Testament prophets whereby He solemnly pledged to restore a still future kingdom to Israel.
This does not mean, as some errantly suggest, that all Jewish people will receive eternal life or secure a place in Jesus’ future kingdom on the earth. No. Forgiveness of sins and eternal life have always come through faith in Jesus. In the Old Testament, saving faith consisted of believing what God revealed about His Son and His future sacrifice for their sins. Today, we look back with a clear picture of all that His death and resurrection signify for our deliverance from the penalty of sin and our receipt of eternal life.
Scripture reveals that the time will come when a Jewish remnant will turn to Jesus as they recognize Him as their Messiah and Savior. Zechariah wrote about a great repentance of a remnant of the people of Israel, which will happen during the last days (12:10-13:1). Paul likely had this passage in mind when he confidently predicted the salvation of the Jewish people that would happen after the church age (Romans 11:25-36).
God’s Amazing Mercy
God’s continuing mercy toward the nation of Israel despite its past and, I might add, their current state of unbelief and waywardness, also speaks to the depths of His amazing mercy toward us as New Testament saints. In Romans 11:30-32, the apostle wrote about God’s matchless mercy to both Israel and the Church: “For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” (Emphasis added)
The “all” refers to both New Testament saints and Israel.
For Israel, God’s mercy signifies that His covenants and promises are “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). He will not fail to bring the nation to the place of repentance that Zechariah said would happen after their rejection of Him. This will happen during the last half of the Tribulation.
For us, it means that regardless of our behavior, wrong turns, sins, or failures, the words of Ephesians 1:3-14 will always define those who are truly born again. Once God pronounces us righteous in His sight, nothing whatsoever can diminish the unfailing and unending favor we enjoy in His sight. Who is able to overturn God’s decree concerning us?
It’s the Lord’s amazing mercy toward all that motivates us in our walk with Him as Paul wrote in Romans 12:1: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.“
Do you see it? The phrase “mercies of God” is plural. Paul’s instructions for Christian living in Romans chapters 12-16 flow from God’s unalterable and steadfast love for both us and the nation of Israel.
Our response of service and sacrifice for the Lord flows from the realization that it’s not possible for Him to change His mind about those He chooses whether it be us or Israel. We begin our walk with the Lord as those whom He has declared to be forever righteous. It’s the enabling presence of the Holy Spirit that prompts us toward obedience based upon all that our Savior has done for us.
In his book, New Morning Mercies, Paul David Tripp wrote the following on the message of Lamentations 3:23, “His mercies are new every morning:”
Not only does God lavish on you love that will never cease and grace that will never end, and not only is he great in faithfulness, but the mercy he extends to you and to me is renewed each morning. It is not tired, stale, irrelevant worn out, ill-fitting, yesterday mercy. It is formfitted for the needs of your day. It is sculpted to the shape of the weaknesses, circumstances, and struggles of each and every one of his children.
Is it any wonder that Paul sets our walk as believers in the context of the Lord’s amazing mercy that permeates all His dealings with both Israel and us?
Contradiction
Many Bible-believing pastors correctly teach the finality of our salvation, yet deny that same unfailing grace and mercy for the nation of Israel. Is it not contradictory to proclaim God’s unending love toward believers and yet deny it for the people that God chose long ago and with whom He established everlasting covenants (i.e., Psalm 105:7-11)?
Many pastors teach the eternal security of the saints, yet tell us this same steadfast love and mercy don’t apply to the descendants of Jacob. Is it not God’s unalterable word that guarantees both outcomes? Do they think they are more worthy of His unfailing love than Israel?
Likewise, it’s equally contradictory to teach that God will restore a kingdom to Israel and then say that believers can walk away from their salvation or lose it in another way.
Over-the-Top Comfort
Is there not unspeakable comfort and energizing encouragement in knowing that the Lord can never change His mind toward us? Such grand assurance flows His character as a covenant-keeping God who will not fail to keep all His promises to all those He loves, whether it be the nation of Israel or us whom He has redeemed with His precious blood.
Why did my master’s theses on biblical justification confirm my belief that the Lord will someday restore a kingdom to Israel?
It did so because I saw the connection between Romans 8:31-39 and chapters 9-11. The God who can never change His mind about His promises to the nation of Israel is the same One can never change His mind about those whom He declares to be forever righteous in His sight. If His word brought the universe and the earth into existence out of nothing, then who can overturn His proclamation of “not guilty” over our lives?
Our security in Christ is never about us, it’s always about Him and solely because of Him. Likewise, the future of the Jewish people is not about them or their behavior. As the Lord proclaimed in Ezekiel 36:22-38, the restoration of a kingdom for Israel is all about Him and the defending His Holy Name.
