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God's Burden for Israel
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Romans
8:37- 9:5 is a mysterious section of Scripture. Paul goes from the
pinnacle of all promise (“nothing can separate us from the love of God
in our Lord Jesus the Messiah”, 8:39) and immediately goes to the depths
of all despair with “unceasing anguish in my heart” in 9:2. Why?
To understand, let’s take a brief overview of
the book of Romans and it’s theme: “the righteousness of God
revealed” (1:17). How does God reveal His righteous character? He
reveals it through the Gospel. God
shows that He is the just and justifier for all who believe in Jesus
(3:26). God shows His righteous character not by condemning sinners, for
we are already condemned in our sins and trespasses (5:16,18); but He
demonstrates His character by graciously saving lost people through
faith in Messiah. This
was not just a message that Paul created for the Romans, but rather the
message he preached everywhere he went. His teaching was his way of
introducing himself to Roman believers he had never met before (15:22-23).
However, as Paul preached,
some were hostile to his teaching. In fact, he received many charges and
allegations which are incorporated into his letter to the Romans (3:9, 6:1
etc.). Paul also includes his
answers to those charges and gives us further truth and insight about
God’s grace. What
About The Jews? What
if we miss it only by a little, even as Israel, who zealously seeks after
God’s righteousness? If God’s Old Testament promises didn’t do them
much good, how much good will these new promises do us? After all, if a
car salesman sold you a lemon, would you buy another car from him?” The
actual charge against God’s faithfulness is found in Rom 11:1, “I say
then, has God cast away His people?” To answer this allegation Paul
writes three chapters, Romans 9, 10, and 11. In Romans 9 we see God’s
sovereignty, in chapter 10, we see man’s responsibility; in 11, we see
the reconciliation of the two; or as Dr. Charles Feinberg taught: Romans
9, Israel past; Romans 10, Israel present; Romans 11, Israel future. Paul
demonstrates that God’s word will not return void: the godly remnant
will repent and “thus all Israel” will “believe” (11:23) and “be
saved” (26). God’s promises can therefore be trusted, and believers
can live as “more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans
8:37). Who’s
Desire Is It?
First and foremost, love must be sincere.
If you’ve been a believer for a while you know that it is hard to
be consistently sincere. It can cost you. You can feel vulnerable and
people can take advantage of you. In NYC we say, “They can’t get the
knife in unless they’re close.” So we keep people at arm’s distance.
Those who are closest to us can cause us the
most pain. Parents
certainly understand. Why? Because
a sincere love becomes a sorrowing love. You can only hurt if you really
care. Therefore in 9:2, Paul states,
“that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart”. Paul has a
sorrowing burden for the Jewish people.
Why would Paul feel this way? He understood that as God’s
messenger he had to “speak the truth in love” (Eph. 4:15). The love of
God cuts both ways. Even as
nothing can separate you from the love of God, that only means that
you’re “joined at the hip” with God: the pain that touches His heart
touches your heart. If
Messiah’s love constrains your heart, then you too will weep over
Jerusalem, even as Messiah Jesus wept over Jerusalem and weeps over it
still. For Paul, this is what led him to pray for Israel.
“Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for Israel is for
their salvation” (Romans 10:1). This
passion and prayer for Israel is what led Paul to have the confidence in
God’s promises, that “God will not forsake His people” and indeed
“all Israel will be saved” (11:1, 26). This is where real spiritual
confidence comes from: if we will weep with God we will pray to God, and
we will then hope in God according to His sure promises. Thus “we are
more than conquerors through Him that loves us!”
But some might think, “who has the time to care, I have all the
burdens I can bear already”. It is true we live in a busy, difficult
world. But when the love of God sincerely constrains your heart and then
the sorrow of that love moves your heart, then you will find the time to
pray, the money to give and the strength to do. Paul has a sacrificial
burden, and states, “For I could wish that I myself were accursed,
separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to
the flesh,” (9:3). He knew that only Messiah could die for sins, but he
felt as Moses felt for Israel’s plight (Exodus 32:32).
This explains how he could “die daily” (1 Cor 15:31) and
“spend and be spent” (2 Cor 12:15). The love of God constrained his
heart and fulfilled his life. The
Privileges of Israel
Some think that the privileges of Israel exempt them from needing
the Gospel. Not at all. Privilege cannot save you but only makes you more
responsible for what you have. As the Scriptures teach “to whom much is
given much will be required” (Luke 12:48). Therefore Paul writes that
not only is the Gospel to the Jew first, but that “there will be
tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew
first and also of the Greek” (Romans 2:9). Paul desires Gentile
believers to be burdened for Israel’s plight because of Israel’s
privileges, for to whom much is given, much is required! If like Paul, you are called to the Gentiles, and even if you have little experience with Jewish people, your heart can be burdened with Paul’s. That is, if the love of Messiah constrains your heart. It is not to feel like Paul (or Sam Nadler), but to have the love and burden that God has for the Jewish people. What is His burden? “But to Israel he says: ‘All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people’” (Romans 10:21). All day long He is beseeching His people to return to Him. “Come back, Israel, back to the God who loves you.” But where are those hands reaching out? Look at your hands. Those are the hands reaching out for Him. If our hearts are yielded to His heart, then our hands serve as His hands to reach out and demonstrate the faithfulness of God to His promise: He will not forsake His people! When Israel is saved, all the world can know and trust in a God whose word is trustworthy. God will bless you for carrying His burden of love, for He who commanded to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem” also promised as well “Those who love you will prosper”. Shalom.Y
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