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More than 2,000 years ago the leadership of Israel
and the majority of the people saw and heard Jesus and still made
the choice to reject Him despite the numerous miracles they had
witnessed. The long awaited Messiah was crucified and the apostle
Paul was heartbroken and rhetorically asked whether God would cast
away His people. No, but God has emotions just like us. Various
passages of Scripture show that God can be jealous, angry, merciful
and loving. When it comes to certain events like Noah's flood and
entering the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, God only
worked with a remnant each time. This decision was based upon grace
even though the people were rebellious and full of unbelief. God has
not cast away the people He foreknew because He looked into the
future and saw each decision we would make. That is essence of
election or predestination. Every human being has been provided with
a free will and must choose whether or not they will serve the Lord.
Paul said that God is using the stumbling of Israel to bring the
Gospel to the Gentiles in the hope that it will provoke them to
jealousy and they will return to the God of their fathers. |
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