God Has Not Rejected Israel

February 12th, 2025
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 11:1 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!
In Romans 9:30-10:21 Paul revealed why so many Jews have not responded to Christ and why so many Gentiles have. In Romans 11 Paul returns to the theme of 9:6-29 as he summarizes the history of salvation as it existed in his day. Sure, Israel had rejected Christ (10:21), but God had not rejected Israel (11:2), at least not entirely. As a whole, Israel had indeed rejected Christ’s salvation due to their hardened hearts. But among the larger nation of Israel there existed an elect remnant, chosen by grace, who would experience the fulfillment of all God’s promises.

The answer to Paul’s question of whether God had rejected His people in Romans 11:1 must first be prefaced by what God had promised to Israel. His first covenant with them was through Abram, later “Abraham,” who became the father of the Hebrew people, a nation that was later called “Israel.” God appeared to Abram and said, “I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 12:2-3). Once Abram entered Canaan, God said, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if anyone can number the dust of the earth, then your descendants can also be numbered” (Gen. 13:14-16). Years later, that promise was reiterated, and Abram was told that his seed would be as numerous as the stars in the land of Canaan (Gen. 15:5). God then solidified His promise with an oath that He would certainly keep (Gen. 15:8-21).

The truth of the matter is that the terms of God’s promises to Abraham and his people were unconditional—sworn and affirmed by God with Himself. This means that nothing was reliant upon Abraham’s obedience, for God would fulfill the covenant down to the letter with or without Abraham or his people’s obedience. Obedient ones would experience the blessing, but their disobedience would never cause God to abrogate His promise, later clarified through the prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, the days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them… I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer. 31:31-33).

The Jewish people believed that God’s promises would be literally fulfilled, but because of their willful ignorance (Rom. 10:2-3, 18) they were spiritually blind and unable to recognize their Messiah when He came, for Jesus “came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). Strangely, Israel’s rejection of Christ did not catch God by surprise, for this was actually an essential part of His eternal plan of salvation for the Gentiles. Moreover, in spite of Israel’s rejection of Christ being God’s eternal plan, this was Israel’s choice! As a result, God will hold her responsible. Israel, as are all unbelievers, is responsible for unbelief.

Food for Thought

The fact that Israel has endured for over 4,000 years, amidst overwhelming odds and harsh persecutions—all the while most of her contemporaries have vanished—this attests to the fact that God continues to watch over Israel. When she rejected her Messiah, God temporarily set her aside “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” (Rom. 11:25). Then when that occurs, “all Israel will be saved” (11:26). At that time, God will bring the elect of Israel to Himself, fulfilling His promises to restore her to the land of promise—a land of eternal blessing and peace.