*Download the article in PDF Format  |
 *Watch the YouTube video |
|---|
For millennia, Christians have often asked, “Why won’t the Jews just accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior?” This article will examine Romans 11 and discuss why the Jews, God’s original chosen people, have been blinded from accepting their Messiah.
ROMANS 11:1-2 (NKJV):
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.
For thousands of years, many righteous-living Jews have lived and died, not knowing that Yeshua (Jesus) was their true Messiah, having rejected Him. Have they perished, never to see life again? Are (Yeshua / Jesus) Messiah-denying Jews destined to be cast into hell in God’s judgment? NO!!! Righteous Jews who have died will be resurrected to life and will stand before Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus the Christ) and then they will know He is their Lord and Messiah and then they will accept Him (Ezekiel 37).
ROMANS 11:7-12 (NKJV):
What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written:
“God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”
And David says:
“Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.”
I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not!
BUT THROUGH THEIR FALL, TO PROVOKE THEM TO JEALOUSY, SALVATION HAS COME TO THE GENTILES. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
How has salvation come to the Gentiles through the fall of the Jews? First and foremost, it was required that Yeshua (Jesus) would die to atone for the sins of mankind. Had the Jews received Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah and had not conspired with the Romans to execute Him, there would be no atonement sacrifice for the salvation of the Gentiles.
The Jews are somewhat jealous of the elects’ (Gentiles’) Savior, commonly known as Jesus Christ, but they will not accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah. The Jews, God’s original chosen people, will not accept a Messiah who is one-third of a polytheistic triune 3-branch god, a Messiah who changed the perpetual Sabbath day from the seventh day of the week to the first day, a Messiah who allows statues to be made of Himself, a Messiah who is honored through pagan holidays such as Christmas and Easter, a Messiah that allows people to eat pork, shellfish, and all other kinds of unclean creatures, or a Messiah who goes by the non-Hebraic, Hellenized name of ‘Jesus’ (Gee-Zeus).
The blindness that has happened to the Jews concerning accepting their Messiah is a direct result of the false gospel that has been proclaimed by the Babylonian / Greek / Roman-inspired Christian churches for thousands of years. In these end times, spiritual knowledge has increased (Daniel 12:4). Thanks to the Internet, social media sites, and a spiritual awakening occurring in these end times, God’s true word, His perpetual laws, His perpetual Sabbaths, His holy festivals, and His true gospel message is being made known to the Gentiles. Jews are truly driven to jealously of the Gentiles when Gentiles become Torah (law) observant, accepting the unchanging, Hebraic Yeshua the Messiah and forsake the lawless, pagan, Babylonian / Greek / Roman Jesus the Christ. In these end times, as more and more Christians come out of mainstream Christianity and become Torah-observant Messianic believers, the Jews’ jealousy will intensify.
ROMANS 11:13-18 (NKJV):
For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches were broken off, 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. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
The Jews’ non-acceptance of Yeshua their Messiah has given the Gentiles time to come out of Babylon (confused religion), receive truth, worship Him in spirit and truth, live righteously, and be rightly grafted into God’s kingdom.
ROMANS 11:19-24 (NKJV) [WITH INTERPRETATION]:
You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” Well said. BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF THEY [THE JEWS] WERE BROKEN OFF, AND YOU [GENTILES] STAND BY FAITH. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches [THE JEWS], He may not spare you [GENTILES] either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those [JEWS] who fell, severity; but toward you [GENTILES], goodness, IF YOU CONTINUE IN HIS GOODNESS [IF YOU OBEY HIS COMMANDMENTS]. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they [JEWS] also, if they do not continue in unbelief [OF YESHUA BEING THEIR MESSIAH], will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them [THE JEWS] in again.
For if you [GENTILES] 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 [THE JEWS], who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
As the Jews, the natural branches, have been cut off for their disbelief in their Messiah, and are in danger of losing their salvation if they ultimately do not accept Him, the Gentiles, the wild branches, have been accepted by faith, BUT many of the Gentiles have NOT continued in His goodness as a result of rejecting His commandments and thus are in danger of being cut off and losing their salvation. The Jews need to accept Yeshua the Messiah in order to be grafted into God’s kingdom and the Gentiles need to accept His Torah (laws) or they will be in danger of being cut off from God’s kingdom.
ROMANS 11:25 (NKJV):
For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
The Jews have been blinded to allow time for the FULLNESS of the Gentiles to come in. What is the ‘fullness of the Gentiles’ that is spoken of? It is the fullness of truth which must come to Gentile Christian believers regarding obedience to His laws and His holy day festivals, so that the Gentiles can live righteously, serve God in spirit and truth, and be grafted into God’s kingdom. This act of God, allowing the Jews to remain in blindness, demonstrates His love for the Gentile peoples of the world.
JOHN 3:16 (NKJV) [WITH COMMENTARY]:
“For God so LOVED THE WORLD [NOT ONLY THE JEWS] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
Yeshua (Jesus) could have proven Himself to the Jews, but for the sake of the Gentiles, He has not done so – yet. Yeshua (Jesus) left the Jews, His chosen people, in a state of confusion, proclaiming to them that they would not see Him again until they, in their darkest hour, call upon Him to save them.
MATTHEW 23:38-39; LUKE 13:35 (NKJV) [WITH INTERPRETATION]:
“Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He [YESHUA THE MESSIAH] who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Consider the sorry state of the confusion of the Gentile Christian churches. When Yeshua (Jesus) returns to Earth, He is coming to judge the Earth and rule over it with a rod of iron (Psalm 96:13, 98:9; Revelation 19:15). If Yeshua (Jesus) were to return to the Earth today, many Gentiles, including lawless Gentile professing Christians, relying on God’s perpetual grace while living comfortably in sins, would perish (1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21; Ephesians 5:5-6; Revelation 21:7-8).
EZEKIEL 33:11 (NKJV):
“As I live,” says YHWH (the Lord) GOD, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!”
The fact that the Jews are blinded to Yeshua being the Messiah is a benefit to the Gentile Christian peoples of the world, who have been blinded by a false gospel message and are living lawlessly. The blindness of the Jews gives the Gentiles time to accept the fullness of the truth of God’s word and reject the false gospel that the Christian churches have preached for thousands of years.
ROMANS 11:26-32 (NKJV) [WITH INTERPRETATION]:
And so all Israel [SPIRITUAL ISRAEL – JEWS AND GENTILES] will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” Concerning the gospel they [THE JEWS] are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they [THE JEWS] are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you [GENTILES] were once disobedient to God [GOD’S COMMANDMENTS], yet have now obtained mercy through their [THE JEWS’] disobedience [TO YESHUA THE MESSIAH], even so these [JEWS] also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you [GENTILES] they [JEWS] also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all [JEWS AND GENTILES] to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
Jews and Gentiles need to be grafted in, as spiritual Israel, to God’s kingdom. Jews need to accept Yeshua as their Messiah to be grafted back into the kingdom and Gentiles need to repent and obey God’s commandments in order to obtain God’s mercy.
EPHESIANS 3:1-6 (NKJV):
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus) for you Gentiles – if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Messiah (Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: THAT THE GENTILES SHOULD BE FELLOW HEIRS, OF THE SAME BODY, and partakers of His promise in Messiah (Christ) through the gospel.
REVELATION 17:14 (NKJV):
“These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, CHOSEN, and faithful.”
Jews are no longer God’s only chosen people, as Gentiles are fellow heirs of God’s kingdom.
2 PETER 3:9 (NKJV):
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
REVELATION 12:12 (NKJV):
“Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
The age of grace will expire and the Jews will not be blinded to the fact that Yeshua is their Messiah forever. Gentile Christians who accept Yeshua (Jesus); but live lawlessly are in far graver danger of losing their salvation than righteous-living Jews who currently are blinded to the identity of their true Messiah. The mystery of the blindness of the Jews is a demonstration of God’s love of all the Gentile peoples of the world. Gentiles have been afforded time, at the Jews’ expense, to come out of Babylon (confused religion) and receive salvation. But the time is short. Repent now and worship God in spirit and truth!
