God’s Special Plan for the Jews

This chapter is based on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. 

After many delays, Paul reached Corinth, where he had invested so much effort in the past. Many of the early believers still felt warmly toward the one who had first brought the gospel to them. As he saw the evidences of their faithfulness, he rejoiced that his work in Corinth had not been in vain. The Corinthian believers had developed strength of Christian character and were now a strong force for good in that center of heathenism and superstition. In the fellowship of these faithful converts, the apostle’s worn and troubled spirit found rest. 4TC 190.2

At Corinth the possibility of going to Rome especially filled Paul’s thoughts. To see the Christian faith firmly established at the great center of the known world was one of his dearest hopes. The apostle wanted the church already established in Rome to cooperate in the work to be done in Italy and other countries. To prepare the way he sent these fellow Christians a letter announcing his intention to visit Rome and his hope of planting the banner of the cross in Spain. 4TC 191.1

In his letter, clearly and powerfully Paul presented the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. He hoped that the instruction might also help other churches, but how dimly could he foresee the far-reaching influence of his words! Through all the ages, the great truth of justification by faith has stood as a mighty lighthouse to guide sinners into the way of life. This light scattered the darkness that clouded Luther’s mind and revealed to him the power of Christ’s blood to cleanse from sin. The same light has guided thousands to the true Source of pardon and peace. 4TC 191.2

Ever since his conversion, Paul had longed to help his Jewish brethren gain a clear understanding of the gospel. “My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is,” he wrote, “that they may be saved.” The Israelites had failed to recognize Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah. Paul assured the believers at Rome, “I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh.” Through the Jews God had intended to bless the entire human race. Many prophets among them had foretold the coming of a Redeemer who would be rejected and killed by those who should have recognized Him as the Promised One. 4TC 191.3

But even though Israel rejected His Son, God did not reject them. Paul continued: “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. ... At this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” 4TC 191.4

Those Who Fall Can Rise Again

Israel had stumbled and fallen, but this did not make it impossible for them to rise again. In answer to the question, “Have they stumbled that they should fall?” the apostle replied: “Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. ... 4TC 192.1

“For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” 4TC 192.2

It was God’s decision to reveal His grace among the Gentiles as well as among the Israelites. “Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?” he inquired. “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” 4TC 192.3

Despite Israel’s failure as a nation, there were faithful men and women who had gladly received the message of John the Baptist and so had been led to study again the prophecies about the Messiah. The early Christian church was composed of these faithful Jews. Paul referred to this “remnant”: “If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy” (Romans 11:16, NRSV). 4TC 192.4

Paul compared the Gentiles to branches from a wild olive tree, grafted into the parent stock. “If some of the branches were broken off,” he wrote, “and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. ... 4TC 192.5

“Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.” 4TC 192.6

All Who Believe Are the True Israel

By rejecting Heaven’s plan for her, Israel as a nation had lost her connection with God. But God was able to take the branches that had been separated from the parent stock and reunite them with the true stock of Israel. “If you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? ... 4TC 193.1

“Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved. ... 4TC 193.2

“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. ... 4TC 193.3

“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Romans 11:24-33). 4TC 193.4

God is abundantly able to transform the hearts of Jew and Gentile alike. “For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.” 4TC 193.5

When Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple laid in ruins, many Jews were sold as slaves in heathen lands, scattered among the nations like wrecks on a deserted shore. Maligned, persecuted, from century to century they have had a heritage of suffering. 4TC 193.6

Even though God pronounced doom on the nation, through the years there have been many noble, God-fearing Jewish men and women. God has comforted their hearts in their affliction and has looked with pity on their terrible situation. Some who have turned to Him for a right understanding of His Word have learned to see the lowly Nazarene as the true Messiah. As their minds have grasped the significance of prophecies long obscured by tradition and misinterpretation, their hearts have overflowed with gratitude to God for the unspeakable gift of Christ as a personal Savior. 4TC 193.7

What Is Needed in Order to Awaken the Sincere Jews

Isaiah said in his prophecy, “The remnant will be saved.” From Paul’s day to the present time, the Holy Spirit has been calling the Jew as well as the Gentile. “God shows no personal favoritism” (Galatians 2:6), Paul declared. “The gospel ... is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” This gospel is equally effective for Jew and Gentile. 4TC 194.1

When this gospel will be presented in its fullness to the Jews, many will accept Christ. Only a few Christian ministers feel called to labor for the Jewish people; but the message of Christ is to come to those who have often been passed by. 4TC 194.2

In the gospel’s closing proclamation, God expects His messengers to take particular interest in the Jewish people. Many of the Jews will see the Christ of the gospel in the pages of the Old Testament and will grasp how the New Testament explains the Old. They will recognize Christ as the Savior of the world. To them God will fulfill the words, “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). 4TC 194.3

Some Jews, like Saul of Tarsus, are mighty in the Scriptures, and they will powerfully proclaim the unchangeable nature of God’s law. The God of Israel will fulfill this in our day. As His servants work in faith for those who have long been neglected, God will reveal His salvation. 4TC 194.4