ROMANS 11

“Romans 11, Romans 11, Romans 11” … that is what kept popping into my head as I lay in bed one night.

A few weeks ago I was having a debate regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. As an Evangelical Christian I was raised a supporter of Israel. Churches that I went to growing up always prayed for Israel. Pastors that I listened to would preach of Israel and how we must support Israel. So I supported Israel mostly because I was told to.

I’ll admit often times I wondered why Christians were told to do so but I never asked anyone to explain that to me. I just took it on faith that is what Christians do ... kind of like I took it on faith that Jesus came to the world to save me from Hell.

Anyway, as the years passed, I began to understand that Israel reserves a special place with God. I learned that God gave Israel his promise of protection when Abraham found favor with him. I remember reading that in the Bible somewhere. Even with that I’ve never really gotten it … that is, until that thought popped into my head.

You see I haven’t studied the Bible, even though I call myself a Christian. I’ve always considered it the job of preachers and teachers to do that for me. You know, then they could pass along the really important stuff to me. Heck, I’ve never even kept notes. Then again, I’ve always been like that. I almost never took notes when I was going to school … I figured what I needed to know would stick, and that what didn’t, didn’t matter.

So there I am laying in bed when Romans 11 pops into my brain. At first I asked my wife if she knew what was in Romans 11. You see, Lisa was one of those Bible-study- church-on-Sunday-&-Wednesday-night-Christian-singles-club kind of Christians when I met her. So, naturally, I expected that she would know. After all, she was the kind of student that took notes in school and graduated from college with honors. Her answer to me in her “I’m trying to go to sleep” voice was, “I don’t know”.

So the only option left was to read Romans 11. And that is what I did. Not only did I read Romans 11, I read Romans 12 and 13, too. In those three little chapters I found my answer as to why Israel is so important to the world and to Christians in particular. But I also found out why it is important for Jews around the world to support Israel too.

You see, the nation of Israel fulfills Gods promise to reestablish Israel on earth … and God always keeps His word. But because Israel rejected God through Christ, the rest of the world was given access to God through Christ by His grace. So now those of us that truly believe that Jesus is who He says He is, the true living Son of God, we’ve now been given access to God’s promise to Israel. That’s a good thing. But here is the really great thing! We have done nothing to gain access to that promise … Israel did. Now it is our job to pray for and support the nation of Israel so that one day soon Israel will turn to Jesus as its savior. Why do I say this? Because I learned that in Romans 11. I hope and I pray that you’ll learn that too.

I can’t tell you why that thought popped into my head in the natural. I’d never even known that there was a Romans 11 until I read Romans 11. The only answer I have to that is that God placed that thought there for me. He did that so that I would know that yes there really is a profound reason for Christians to pray for and support the nation of Israel. And that reason is this … because He wants Israel to be blessed. He always has and always will. And so long as we agree with Him and obey Him in remembering the special place Israel has in His word we will have access to His blessing through Christ. We are the fortunate ones because all of those blessing have been given to us freely as a result of Israel’s rejection of Jesus Christ our Perfect Lord and Savior.

There you have it.
Pass it along if you like or let me know if I don’t have a clue.

Eddie