Unbelief, Prophetic Revelation, & the Prerequisite of Faith-Rom 9:25-33

As Christians we have died to self & taken up our cross to follow Christ. We have set aside the pleasures & treasures of the world, with the promise that something far greater awaits us in glory. We don't see it yet, but our eternal reward has been promised repeatedly & in detail in Scripture. So we live by faith, we obey Him, & we wait. That raises a supremely important question. Can we trust God to keep His promises? One way to address that question is simply to look at the nation of Israel. All eyes are on Israel these days. That is true of people worldwide, and it is especially true of Christians. Questions about Israel, the return of Christ, and end times are captivating believers perhaps like never before. What many are missing in the process is the wonderful, practical illustration Israel is of God's faithfulness to His promises. God made promises to the nation of Israel throughout the OT, vowing that if they disobeyed Him they would experience punishment, loss, suffering, & sorrow. On the other hand, if they obeyed & worshipped Him, He would bless them. All that was laid out for them as they entered the Promised Land, recorded in the book of Deuteronomy--& God kept His word. God also made unconditional promises before Deuteronomy. In Genesis, He chose Abraham, indicating that out of him would come a people who would bless the world, and from whom would come a seed who would be the Messiah. In other words, God promised to use His people to bring many to righteousness. Did that happen? Yes, and we continue to see the story of Israel unfold as part of God's redemptive plan. It is remarkable to think that this little piece of land with a few million people is the only Jewish homeland on the planet. While the Jewish people, from a purely human viewpoint, have made massive contributions to the quality of human life, the world is on fire with hatred toward them. That's nothing new. One millennia, the Jewish people have survived countless wars & diabolical schemes designed to eradicate them. Satan is working to thwart God's plan by developing a world system bent on the destruction of Israel. His goal is to produce & escalate a worldwide hatred of the Jews that will culminate in a globalized battle against Israel. But as we see Israel survive even as the hatred spreads, we see in it all that fulfillment of God's promises. He has protected His people, even though the world would like to see them exterminated. That is evidence He keeps His word. He promised to one day bring them to their land, to salvation, & to the kingdom; we are seeing God's plan unfold on schedule. He is keeping His promises to Israel, and if you have wondered whether He will keep His promises for you, look at all that Israel has endured, and take note of God's perfect faithfulness. As we continue to learn of God's faithful promises and Person in spite of Israel's unbelief, join us Sunday for "Unbelief, Prophetic Revelation, & the Prerequisite of Faith" (Romans 9:25-33).