Tuesday, August 14, 2018

God's Punishment of Israel & Its Chosen Remnant

Today I was reading Isaiah 10, and I was beginning to type out thoughts which lengthened into a blog post.
I want to remind people that I'm not a man, and this blog is not authoritative.
It may give insight into what can go through my mind when I read Scripture and notes about it.

Is the axe to boast itself over the one who chops with it?
Is the saw to exalt itself over the one who wields it?
That would be like a club wielding those who lift it,
Or like a rod lifting him who is not wood.
Isaiah 10:15 NASB

The people that God used to punish His people boasted and would also be punished by God.
Although not the point of the passage, and an aside, this verse made me think of those who are against guns...as though guns wield themselves.
In the case of Isaiah 10, God's sovereignty is shown in directing an evil nation to His purposes.
Sometimes God's purposes are punishment for evil as in Isaiah 10, but other times nations were used to bless His people.

The good news is that there is a remnant of believing Israel.
There has been and always will be a remnant it seems, and the grafted in Gentiles in the New Testament don't take away from blessings God gave through Israel or the promises.

Paul sorrowed for those of his people according to the flesh that did not believe (and were not chosen).
who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,
whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 9:4-5 NASB



Romans 11 lets me know that God still has a remnant of Israel, and so people should not be prideful toward the root or negative toward the Jews...who may be grafted back in if they do not continue in unbelief.
I believe there will be a future for and blessings for believing Israel, and there are promises to them that are not yet fulfilled and will be in the future.
I know that others have different eschatological views, but this is my view from my reading of and understanding of Scripture.
I remember reading in the Bible some things that I knew were not fulfilled yet in the past.
I don't believe things just because I've been told how to believe, but I believe them because I have read it in Scripture as well as it helps when I hear Scripture exposited.

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