"Eternally Faithful" November 2 Readings: Romans 11

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2024

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New. 

Bible Readings: Romans 11 

Background:  

Romans 11 is a significant passage for eschatology as well as for our Christian lives. It tells us that while God set aside the Jewish nation for a time, he is not done with them and will one day restore them and that Israel will again be the people of God. This passage renders impossible views of eschatology that see the church as completely replacing Israel and inheriting the Abrahamic promises. God has set aside Israel, but only for a time.

This passage also gives us hope. Israel through the years was nothing but unfaithful, but still God continues to show his grace until he restores and ultimately purifies them. As Philippians 1:6 says, the God who began a work in us will carry it on to completion! What he starts he finishes. If God never gave up on Israel, he will not give up on us!

Daily Devotional: Eternally Faithful

Israel was given the Law of God and called to obey it. They were chosen as God's people so that they would bring a blessing to the world. But they failed in every way - time and time again. They departed from God and delved into idolatry and wickedness. Once in a while, God would bring them back in revival, but soon after whoever led the people back to God was gone, they wandered back into sin.

If ever God was going to give up on someone, to turn his back once and for all on them, it would have been Israel. They deserved it. They were unfaithful far more than they were obedient. They tested God's patience beyond what anybody could be expected to endure.

God never gave up on his people. Romans 11 examines the faithfulness of God. In verse 11 Paul asks a question.

So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means!

There was no way that God was going to give up on his chosen people no matter how they tried his patience or tested his limits.

Back in chapters 6 and 7, Paul made it clear that no person redeemed by Christ ought to ever use his salvation as an excuse for sin. God's faithfulness does not authorize our worldliness. But it is a comfort to sinful people to know that God is a faithful God. I sin, I fail, I fall, but his love endures, and his grace restores.

Romans 11 tells us that even though Israel fell so far that God would set them aside for a time while the full number of Gentiles was brought into God's kingdom, it was still his plan to restore them. "All Israel will be saved" he promised in verse 26.  God would completely revive his people and fulfill his purposes in them.

He will do the same in me and in you! Even though I am often a spiritual failure, he continues to work in me by his grace and determines to finish the work of transformation he began.

Father, I thank you for your faithfulness and grace. Reform me, restore me, revive me, renew me.

Consider God's Word:

Thank God for his eternal faithfulness and grace.
Consider the constant faithlessness and sin of Israel. If God did not give up on them, can you trust him to continue to show his grace to you?