The nation Israel was set aside for the salvation of the Gentiles. Paul deals with this in the following section.

I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy [Rom. 11:11].

In other words: I say then, did they stumble in order that they might fall? Away with the thought—that’s not it. But by their false step, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke Israel to jealousy.

Now Paul opens this verse with the same engaging inquiry as he did verse 1. Do you remember that he raised the question, "Hath God cast away his people?" (v. 1). Rejection is only partial and temporary. His question is, "Have they stumbled in such a way that they will not rise again?" The answer is an emphatic negative. Their fall has enabled God through His providence to open the gates of salvation wide to the Gentiles. The Jew will see the reality of salvation of the Gentiles, that they are experiencing the blessings of God which the Jew thought could come only to him. This should move him to emulation, not jealousy as we define it. In our trips to Israel, we have had several guides who were Jewish. They were puzzled that we were so interested in things that are Jewish in the nation Israel. They marveled at that. I have visited other countries and enjoyed them. I enjoyed England because some of my ancestors came from that area. In Egypt I saw the pyramids and that great hunk of rock there, and now that I have seen it, I don’t want to see it again. But I have an interest in Israel that is not equaled in any other nation. The Jewish people don’t understand this. One Jewish guide talked to me about it. He said, "I want to know why these things are so important to you."

Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? [Rom. 11:12].

Israel has been set aside; that is, God is not dealing with them as a nation at this time. When God does begin to deal with them, they won’t have any problem with the Arab—that conflict will be completely resolved. Israel will not live in fear, because God has made it very clear that every man is going to dwell in peace and tranquility. "But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it" (Mic. 4:4).

Now since their setting aside has brought the grace of God to Gentiles, what about the grace of God toward the Gentiles after the Jews are received again? It will be multiplied. James made this clear at that great council at Jerusalem. He said that God is calling out from among Gentiles a people for His name just as He is calling out Israelites. Then God says, "After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things" (Acts 15:16–17). This is my reason for periodically making a statement—that sometimes puzzles folk—that the greatest "revival" took place on this earth before the church got here. (I use the word revival in the popular sense of a turning to God.) A man by the name of Jonah went into the city of Ninevah and saw the entire city turn to God. It is true that there was a great turning to God on the Day of Pentecost (which marks the beginning of the church), but what was the percentage? Pentecost was a feast in Jerusalem to which all male Israelites were required to go—there must have been several hundred thousand Jews in the environs of Jerusalem. How many were saved? Well, judging from the record, there were probably about ten thousand who were saved after the first few days of preaching. That is actually a small percentage. And the greatest revival since then took place in the Hawaiian Islands. The percentage there was probably 50 percent. But that was small in comparison to the days of Jonah. And I believe that the greatest revival will take place after the church leaves this earth. Actually, the church has not done too well. I believe that after the church has been raptured, multitudes of Gentiles will turn to God—not only in the Great Tribulation period, but in the Millennium. Gentile nations will enter the Millennium, and a great many of them are going to like the rule of Christ, and they will turn to God during that period. I believe this with all my heart.

For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them [Rom. 11:13–14].

Perhaps my translation will help you in the understanding of these two verse: "But I speak to you, the Gentiles. Inasmuch, then, as I [Paul] am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry, if by any means I may move to emulation, that is, provoke to jealousy them of my flesh, and may save some of them."

In other words, Paul says, in effect, "I am an apostle to the Gentiles, and I rejoice in that. But as I preach to the Gentiles, I hope it will move many of my own people to turn to Christ also." Paul, you remember, wrote to the Corinthians, "And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law" (1 Cor. 9:20).

This is the reason Paul went to Jerusalem with his head shaven and under an oath—he was trying to win his people to Christ. Should he have done this since he lived under grace? Living under grace means that he could do it if he wanted to. In his letter to the Corinthians he continued, "To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law" (1 Cor. 9:21). In other words, he was obeying Christ. Then Paul says, "To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Cor. 9:22). He was first of all fulfilling his office as an apostle to the Gentiles, and in so doing, he was trying to move his Jewish brethren to turn to Christ. Some turned to Christ—only a few—but some. In all of this Paul was fulfilling his ministry, and God was accomplishing His purpose in this age with both Jew and Gentile.

I understand the satisfaction Paul felt in doing what God had called him to do. God has a place for you, my friend. He may want you to get busy and teach a Sunday school class, do personal work, or reach people through a business enterprise. Or He may want you to support another who is really getting out the Word of God. Whatever it is, you will experience great satisfaction in doing what you are confident God has called you to do.

For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? [Rom. 11:15].

It is wonderful to anticipate the future. I think the greatest days are ahead of us. From man’s point of view, the future is dark. Man has gotten his world in a mess. I felt sorry for a businessman to whom I was talking in Hawaii. We started chatting on the golf course. He told me that he was a businessman from Chicago—a vice–president of some concern. Obviously he had money, but, oh, how pessimistic he was about the future. Many thinking people are very pessimistic about the future of our civilization. But my God is on the throne, and He is going to straighten it out. The greatest days are yet in the future. Oh, the glorious future a child of God has. If I were not a dignified preacher, I would say Hallelujah!

For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches [Rom. 11:16].

You may recall that in the Book of Numbers, God said, "Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the Lord an heave offering in your generations" (Num. 15:21). "Dough," of course, is bread dough! A part of the dough was offered to God as a token that all of it was acceptable.

The "firstfruit" evidently refers to the origin of the nation: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

"Holy" has no reference to any moral quality, but to the fact that it was set apart for God. Now if the firstfruit, or the first dough—that little bit of dough—was set apart for God, what about the whole harvest? Since Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were set apart for God, what about the nation? It all belongs to God, you see. God is not through with the nation Israel.

And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree [Rom. 11:17].

You and I benefit because of the nation Israel. That is the reason I could never be anti–Semitic. I owe too much to them as a nation.

Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in [Rom. 11:18–19].

The "olive tree" is a picture of the nation Israel, and the "wild olive" is the church. Everything you and I have is rooted in the fact that God called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and that out of the nation Israel He brought Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord.

Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear [Rom. 11:20].

The important thing is that they were set aside because of their unbelief. Oh, my Christian friend, you do not stand before God on your merit, your church membership, or your good life. You stand on one basis alone: your faith in Jesus Christ.

Now Paul gives a word of warning.

For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee [Rom. 11:21].

Since God did not spare the nation Israel when they apostatized, the argument is that He will not spare an apostate church. I am more and more convinced that the church which is based on a philosophy or ritual or some sort of gyroflection—the type of church which was designated in the third chapter of the Book of Revelation as the church of Laodicea—will go into the Great Tribulation. As Dr. George Gill used to say, "Some churches will meet on the Sunday morning after the Rapture, and they won’t miss a member." That’s Laodicea.

In contrast to this, He says to the church of Philadelphia, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation [that is, the Tribulation], which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth" (Rev. 3:10). He promised to keep from the Tribulation that church which has an open door before it and is getting out the Word of God. My friend, I belong to that church; I hope you do also. It is an invisible body of believers. This is the church that will be taken to meet Christ at the time of the Rapture, which precedes the Great Tribulation.