A Calloused People. Romans 11.1-10

The prophets had prepared them for his coming for hundreds of years, and yet most of the Jews of the day missed it.  What was God’s heart toward them?

“Does this mean, then, that God is so fed up with Israel that he’ll have nothing to do with them?  Hardly.  Remember that I, the one writing these things, am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham out of the tribe of Benjamin.  You can’t get much more Semitic than that!  So we’re not talking about repudiation.  God has been too long involved with Israel, has too much invested, to simply wash his hands of them.

Do you remember that time Elijah was agonizing over this same Israel and cried out in prayer?  ‘God, they murdered your prophets, they trashed your altars; I’m the only one left and now they’re after me!’  And do you remember God’s answer?  ‘I still have seven thousand who haven’t quit, seven thousand who are loyal to the finish.’

It’s the same today.  There’s a fiercely loyal minority still—not many, perhaps, but probably more than you think.  They’re holding on, not because of what they think they’re going to get out of it, but because they’re convinced of God’s grace and purpose in choosing them.  If they were only thinking of their own immediate self-interest, they would have left long ago.

And then what happened?  Well, when Israel tried to be right with God on her own, pursuing her own self-interest, she didn’t succeed.  The chosen ones of God were those who let God pursue his interest in them, and as a result received his stamp of legitimacy.  The “self-interest Israel” became thick-skinned toward God.  Moses and Isaiah both commented on this:  ‘Fed up with their quarrelsome, self-centered ways, God blurred their eyes and dulled their ears, shut them in on themselves in a hall of mirrors, and they’re there to this day.  David was upset about the same thing: I hope they get sick eating self-serving meals, break a leg walking their self-serving ways.  I hope they go blind staring in their mirrors, get ulcers from playing at god.’”

We remember that God has shown his love for Israel, for the Jewish people, almost from the beginning … for back in Genesis 12, God set Abraham apart, when he said to him, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.”  And indeed, through Abraham, then Isaac, Jacob, from whom the 12 tribes descended …  God chose them.  That said, as with all people – salvation is granted to individuals, not nations—not even Israel.

And though salvation came through the Jews, and also to the Jews first, many rejected the Messiah.  Surely the Messiah was coming as conquering king—why, there was no room in their theology for a suffering Messiah!  In one week’s time, the Jews who hailed him with palm branches and cries of ‘hosanna’, once they saw Jesus arrested and beaten, changed their shouts to ‘crucify him, crucify him!’ 

When Jesus the Messiah comes to people yet today, many choose to harden their hearts, think their own thoughts, and go their own ways.  As a result, their hearts become more and more calloused. 

I have seen it happen in the lives of my loved ones—yes, right up close and personal.  Jesus comes and they spurn his advances.  And when believers choose to compromise, choose to go their own way, and ignore doing right in the sight of God, he allows them to go … he allows them to exercise their free will, and sometimes, God allows their hearts to become calloused.  Somehow it seems harder and harder for them to turn around and come back.

Oh, how the evil one rubs his hands together in devilish delight when folks’ hearts grow hard toward the things of God!  He fuels their hard-heartedness with the lure of the culture’s worldly offerings, while making godly choices appear to be boring, ‘no fun,’ and godly standards impossible to uphold.  He does whatever it takes to make people consumed with themselves--their own pleasure, desire, and good.  But in the end, ‘all is vanity’, for the one who pursues his own pleasure.  The writer of Ecclesiastes had it right. 

Have you allowed your ardor for God to wane?  Has your heart grown cold to the things of God?  Has your conscience been silenced?  Think on these things that you might not have a calloused heart.

Christine

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