The Resoration of Israel June 1981 — Lance Lambert

Romans 11 and the Mystery of Israel

I'm going to read a passage that is, I have no doubt, very well known to many of you, if not all of you, in the Roman letter and chapter 11, the Roman letter and chapter 11, from verse 11. And I'm reading from the standard version of 1901, the American standard version.

I say then, did they, that is the Jewish people, stumble that they might fall? God forbid. But by their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy. Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness, but I speak to you that are Gentiles, inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are my flesh, and may save some of them.

For if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what will, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead? And if the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou being a wild olive was grafted in among them, and is become partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree, glory not over the branches, but if thou glorious, it is not thou that barest the root, but the root thee.

Verse 24, for if thou was cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and was grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these which are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved.

Even as it is written, there shall come out of Zion the deliverer. He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob, and this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As touching the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

For as ye in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, even so have these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy.

For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all. Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past tracing out!

For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things.

To him be the glory forever. Amen. Shall we bow in just a word of prayer? Heavenly Father, as we come to thy word, we need the blessed ministry of the person of the Holy Spirit. And, O Lord, we pray that thou will cause that ministry to be fulfilled in our midst through this day.

Take now this word, Lord, and make it live to us. May it not just be something that interests and instructs our mind, but may it be a coming into our heart of the word of Christ to dwell there richly in all wisdom.

Hear us, O Lord. We thank thee and worship thee in the name of our Lord Jesus. Now, I want to, in these moments left to us this morning, to address myself to a problem that underlies the whole work of prayer for Israel.

The Growth and Purpose of Prayer for Israel

It has been one of the joys in the latter years of my ministry to see and to watch, not that I've had much to do with it, but it has been dear Ken, who has borne all the brunt of the work, of the burdens, of the problems, and everything else.

But it has been a great joy to me to watch this grow from a little room meeting to somewhere over, I think it was in Chislehurst we had it, and then we got here in the back in this somewhat dreary meeting in the back here, and then finally burst through into here, thank God.

It's not that we want numbers. I don't think Ken has ever been interested just in numbers, but it is gratifying in days when Israel is becoming more and more isolated to see a place like this getting fuller and fuller year by year.

And if every one of us becomes a real intercessor and a prayer warrior, this kind of work has been marvelously justified. If all it is is to tickle people's prophetic fantasies, to sort of somehow or other give them a few more ideals, a few more theories, a little bit more knowledge that puffs up, I don't think that these kinds of meetings nor this work has been justified.

But if it means that we begin, however dimly, to get an understanding of the times in which we are living, and the Christic nature of them, and the burden that is upon the heart of our God for the church and for the Jewish people, then I believe that this work has been vindicated and all the conflict and battle and antagonism explained.

The Church, Israel, and Conflicting Theological Views

It seems to me that there are two things over which, if we have no understanding of them, we are totally at sea. The first is the church, and thank God for the greater and greater understanding that there has come to the people of God that a church is not a building with a spire or a belfry or a tower or some sort of sacred premises, but it is made up of living stones, and that it is the body of the Lord Jesus.

Thank God for this revelation that has come to the people of God through the moving of the Spirit in the last decade or two. But it is a very strange thing that when people don't see what the church is, they can often be very enthralled with the Israel question.

And when they see what the church is, they seem to shut out the Israel question as if it's a diversion or some kind of blind alley, a cul-de-sac. It is partly because of the different theological outlooks on the question of Israel.

There is, of course, that theological outlook which does not see any place for Israel at all. We only pray for Jews in the sense that we want to convert them. We're not interested in anything else. In fact, very often, inherent in the very attitude is a feeling that the Jews have not only rejected Jesus, but what's come of them serves them right.

It may not be put in so many words, but it is an unwritten attitude. Then there is another view that believes that God really wanted everything for the Jewish people, that when they did not receive their Messiah, he was deeply grieved and angered, and took away the kingdom from them and gave it to the Gentiles.

And when the last Gentile's been saved, Jesus will come back, the Jews will see Jesus physically with their eyes, and all be converted in an instant. Now this, again, is quite a widely held view, and I am often asked by those who hold such views, who have a real concern for the Jewish people, and believe that God has a purpose for them, but they believe that in the millennium they're going to be the missionaries, and the church is evidently going to go into the unseen, in the heavenlies.

It's a kind of two-tier system. And then they ask, what on earth are you doing praying for the Jewish people? They're going to be saved anyway. There's no need to labor in prayer for them, because when Jesus comes, they will see him and all going to be converted.

So our business now is to get on with the preaching of the gospel, get the church built up, and leave the rest. Now I must say, as I see it, that somewhere the truth lies between these extremes. And whilst we, it's a controversial subject, and I have no doubt that there are many different outlets gathered here, whilst we are totally one in the matter of the purpose of God in general, for the church and for Israel, we may differ on a lot of the details.

I would just like to take a little while to give you what I feel should be the ground for our support, and above all our intercession ministry, for the Jewish people and for Israel. And the first thing I would like to underline is the glorious promise.

Romans 11 and the Promise of Israel’s Fullness

And the glorious promise is found here in, for instance, Romans and chapter 11, in this kind of word, verse 11 and 12. Now, but by their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles to provoke them to jealousy, that is to provoke the Jewish people to jealousy.

Now, if their fall is the riches of the world and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. I cannot understand anybody who believes in the authority and inspiration of the work of God, being able to read such a statement in the word of God and believe that there is no future for the Jewish people.

Furthermore, in a rare moment of unity, all theologians, liberal and conservative, are agreed that their fall refers to a national fall of the Jewish people, and their loss to a national loss of the Jewish people.

Now, if this is so, and even the rabbis agree that there has been a fall of the Jewish people and a loss to the Jewish people in the first century of this era. Now, if this is true, who has the right to say that the last part of the statement is individual?

That if the first part of the statement is national, the last part is individual. In other words, their fall was national, their loss was national, but there is no national restoration, only an individual coming into the fullness of God through the Lord Jesus.

I have no doubt that the only way to come into the fullness of God is through the work of the Lord Jesus. Over this I have no problem at all. But if the first part of the statement is to do with a national fall and a national loss on the part of the Jewish people, their fullness must refer to a national fullness of the Jewish people.

If there has been a fall and a loss, then the Word of God says there is going to be a fullness. And the words are put in such a marvelous way, how much more their fullness. There's no ifs and buts. How much more their fullness.

Go on to verse 15, for if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, everyone again is agreed on this. The casting away of them was not the casting away merely of individuals, it was the casting away of national institutions, of the priesthood, of the temple, of the national entity, as it were, of the Jewish people.

No, it's the casting away of them. Was the reconciling of the world, what will the receiving of them be but life from the dead? Now, this receiving of them, is it merely individuals? Just here one and there one and somewhere else another?

Surely if the casting away of them was a national thing, the receiving of them must be a national matter. Now, I can't help being that once we begin to look at all this, it all becomes very exciting. For instance, as we go on, it says in verse 18, if thou gloriest, it is not thou that barest the root, but the root thee, and then people will immediately say to me, ah, just wait, just wait, just wait.

The Olive Tree and the Gentile Believer

The root is Christ. The root is Christ. The root is the Messiah. I have no doubt about that. But will you also, in the interest of correct exegesis, please listen to this in verse 17. But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou being a wild olive, that's a wild olive branch, was grafted in among them.

Did you hear that? Among them. And has become partaker with them. So the Gentile believer has, according to the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Spirit of God, in what he wrote to the Roman church, the Gentile believer has been grafted in amongst the true believing Jews.

In other words, those who are the real Israel of God in the old covenant. They have been grafted in amongst them. It's not just that you've got a direct sort of grafting into the root. Thank God you have a direct relationship to the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

But having come into such a relationship, through him you find you're among the branches. And then it says, no matter if those branches stretch to the ends of the earth, and have become so multitudinous that you find it very hard to find a single natural branch, don't glory over the branches, as if the whole thing is Gentile in origin.

Glory over the fact that you don't bear the root, the root bears you. And the root has borne the natural branches that have stood by faith. Now goes on the Apostle and says that if thou was cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these be grafted into their own olive tree?

Some people have written to me as a result of my first book and said to me, we cannot agree with you about this olive tree. Their own olive tree refers to their own olive tree. It is amazing to me, I mean these are good people who really study the word.

They're not just empty-headed folks that have just got some superficial knowledge, people who really know the book. They write to me, I've had more than a few letters on this subject. They say it's their own olive tree.

You're making a mistake because in Zechariah 4 it says there are two olive trees, one on either side. We are in one, they are in the other. I can't understand the exegesis. It comes from taking one verse and no regard to the rest of the verses, because it says you have grafted in among them the natural branches, wild olive branches, grafted in among them the natural branches, all stand by faith.

Israel’s Future Restoration and the Basis for Intercession

Now we shall say a little bit more about this later in the day, but what I only want to say to you is this, have we not here a tremendous promise? Is there not here a glorious promise of the salvation of natural branches, not just a few, but multitudes of those natural branches?

Is there not somewhere here an inference, an implication, if not an outright promise that something's going to happen at the end of time when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and natural branches are going to be grafted back into their own olive tree?

And if there have been multitudes and multitudes without number of wild olive branches grafted in to the natural olive tree, can we not look for something marvelous in the last days, whereby God will take away the hardness which has befallen Israel in part, and multitudes and multitudes of Jewish people will come back into their own olive tree?

If this is a glorious promise, what a foundation for prayer, what fuel for intercession, what a basis for standing together in support with this people until the miracle happens. Why, the apostle goes on, listen every one of you to it, for I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery.

As David intimated, this word mystery in Greek is a word that speaks of a secret, not the mystery we think of, something nobody can ever understand, complex, difficult, you know. Well, how do you expect me to understand the mystery?

Well, it's God's given us these mysteries anyway. Fool to fool us? That's not the biblical idea of a mystery. The biblical idea of a mystery is it's a secret only revealed to the initiated, and if you're born of God, if you have been born of the Spirit of God, if you are in the body of the Messiah, this secret ought to be yours.

There's no excuse for a single believer not to have an understanding of this, of this marvelous secret which God has revealed to us by His Spirit. And here he goes on, for brethren, I would not have you ignorant of this mystery lest ye be wise in your own conceits.

It is not for me to say too much on this matter, but I do feel there's been an awful lot of conceited pontificating in Christian pulpits on this matter. This kind of attitude that the Jew has no future at all, no destiny, that God has finished with them, He's washed His hands of them, they're under the judgment of God, everything's transferred now to the church.

Well, it's partly true. It's partly true. Everything has been in one sense. If you could say transferred to church, I don't know whether I would say transferred. I don't think God ever transferred anything.

He just went on. It seems to me there's only one elect people, one truly elect people, and they're all there by faith. And it means that we can look for some amazing thing toward the end of this age whereby those natural branches which have been cut out because of unbelief will be brought back and grafted back into their own olive tree through God-given faith.

Now this dear friend of David's who said that he couldn't pray for this because he was at work amongst the Gentiles. Well, I don't understand, as David doesn't, I don't understand such a mentality. God isn't a civil servant.

He's not a bureaucrat. He doesn't sort his eggs well. When the last single Gentile is in, we'll do it. Did he say that at the beginning? When, first of all, the Gentiles were brought into the salvation of God, did God say, now we're finished with the Jews?

Not for another one's sake. Well, we've started on the Gentile mission now. No, not at all. It seems to me that although it happened at Caesarea in a Roman officer's living room, in fact Jews would continue to be saved for the next century or two.

But more and more and more and more and more Gentiles came into their, uh, the Jewish people's olive tree, the true, uh, uh, work of God. Now I say that this is very wonderful because then the Lord, then He goes, the Lord goes on here speaking to the apostle Paul and says, this hardening in part that which has befallen Israel will be done away.

And so all Israel, that is those who have become partakers of the commonwealth of Israel through the Messiah Jesus, and those who are of the natural stock, saved by the saints. So all Israel shall be saved.

And then He goes on as if to make it clear as touching the gospel, they are your enemies. They are enemies for your sake. But as touching the election, they were beloved. No, they are beloved. That means that God loves the Jewish people in their unbelief today.

And He loves them in a special way because of no other nation is it said, they are beloved for the Father's sake. Then He goes on, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. How many sermons I have heard and marvelous ones upon this verse to do with the church, to do with us.

And I have never heard it related or very rarely to the Jewish people, but the little word for means that primarily it has been said concerning the Jewish people. They are enemies for your sake, but beloved.

As touching the election, beloved because of the Father. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Now listen to the argument, for as ye in time past were disobedient to God, that is the great Gentile peoples, but now have obtained mercy through their disobedience, that is the disobedience of the Jewish people.

Even so have these also now been disobedient, that is the Jewish people. That by the mercy shown to you, Gentiles, they also may now obtain mercy. Oh the purpose of God, is it not amazing? No wonder the Apostle Paul says his ways are past tracing out.

The Interdependence of Israel and the Gentile Church

How can we fathom the counsel of God? Somehow the whole thing, it's rather like the Apostle Paul puts it another way and says, now then you men, you are the head of the woman, but don't let any man get big headed, because no man has ever got here without a woman.

Isn't that what he says? So he says you're all tied up in the bundle of life. You can't have men without women. And the lessons of Mark, oh dear I won't go on anymore. The fact of the matter is it's all tied up in the bundle of life.

Is it not so with Israel and the nation? Is it not so with the Jewish people and the church? That somehow other, therefore has led in the mystery of God's election to the great gathering of Gentiles from every part of the globe.

And yet God hasn't finished with them. What really God is doing is this. He has tied us all together in purposes of grace. So that by their disobedience from every kindred and tongue and nation and people, there are those named with the name of Jesus.

Surnamed with the name of God. And then in the end when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, that is when really virtually the purpose of God for the Gentiles is complete. God will melt the which hath befallen Israel in part, shall we say.

Now is this not fuel for prayer? I think it is. I think it means this. That if a hundred years ago there were men who taught this matter and taught it lucidly and clearly, we still have to say that to a certain extent it didn't matter if you didn't see it.

Provided you got on with the job of evangelizing the world, getting out to the nations, bringing the gospel all over the earth, and to the British particularly, for the sun never set upon the British empire.

But today, tell me, can anyone really understand where we are in the economies of God, where we are in the purpose of God, without understanding what he is going to do or wants to do with the Jewish people?

Surely if we come near to the heartbeat of God, we shall know something of this burden for this people. Now it is not only here because, as you see, I have confined myself to the Roman letter here. Why?

The Old Testament and the Restoration of Israel

Because people say to me whenever I speak on this matter, you're always referring to the Old Testament. Now there are those who look upon the Old Testament like they used to look upon the appendix in the human body, something quite unnecessary that belonged to a prehistoric man when he ran around on all fours.

And in those good old days, you only had to feel slightly queasy in the stomach, and the doctor would say, I don't think it's a good thing for you to have your appendix out. They're useless. I understand that today, I am not a medical authority, but I understand that today the appendix is looked upon as fulfilling a useful function in the body, that they normally try to keep it in rather than take it out.

Many Christians' attitude to the book is very much like this. It hurts me, I don't want to upset anybody here today because you're all so lovely, but it hurts me when I see people trailing around with New Testaments.

They have New Testaments as if there's no Old Testament. Can you have half the Word of God? Some people say, well, of course, you must have the New Testament. I mean, it's the ultimate. Of course, I don't agree.

I don't disagree there. But may I just say this, that that early church never had a New Testament, and they were all Christians. And then did they find all the doctrines that are now so marvelously crystallized and defined in what we call the New Testament in the Old Testament?

They preached the Old Testament. They lived in the Old Testament. The Lord Jesus opened their understanding to the Old Testament. But I am often told, now, now, now, why do you always have all this business about the restoration of Israel?

It's all Old Testament scriptures. I believe all those had been fulfilled anyway in the return from Babylon. So I confine myself to the New Testament. You do not have to go to the Old Testament if you want to talk about the restoration of Israel.

It's here in the New Testament. Here we are on your own ground. So you cannot get away from the fact that according to Romans chapter 11, there is something to do with the Jewish people in the future.

How much more their fullness? What will the receiving of them be but life from the dead? Oh, how we need it. Natural branches grafted back into their own olive tree. The hardening which had performed being dug away, so all Israel shall be saved.

But if you want even more authoritative, I am now adopting, if you may understand for a few moments, a liberal position. If you want a more authoritative verse, then turn to Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew, and 23.

Because according to some, the words of Jesus are sacrosanct, but the words even of the Apostle Paul were not necessarily sacrosanct. After all, the Apostle Paul said a lot of things about ladies. You know, this kind of twaddle.

Anyway, some of them say, so now let's take the words of the Lord Jesus. Here in Matthew 23, verse 38 and 39, the whole your house is left unto you desolate. Your house is left unto you desolate. Never had the Lord Jesus referred to the temple of God as anything up to that point other than my Father's house.

Now, for the first time, he called it your house is left unto you desolate. You shall not see me henceforth. Oh, how many preachers have on the basis of this statement preached that there is no future for the Jewish people, not understanding that they have only half a sentence.

Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. You shall no more see me till you shall say, blessed be he that comes in the name of the Lord. This does not sound like the words of people wailing and cringing in terror, hiding themselves in the caves and the holes of the earth as they look upon the crucified Messiah.

It seems a very strange way, it seems to me. For in Hebrew, really today, this just means welcome in the name of the Lord. Does it not imply that some amazing radical change has taken place within the attitude towards the Lord Jesus on the part of the Jewish people?

Blessed words of grace. You shall not see me henceforth. Sometimes people say to me, how will it happen? And I have often thought, I was thrilled to hear David speaking from that marvelous passage in Genesis about Joseph.

I have often thought, on the basis of that little word of Joseph, of course, one has to be careful here, because it is a type, and you must never base a whole doctrine on a type. But I think it's beautiful the way Joseph said, cried out, calls everyone to go out from me and leave me alone.

I have often thought, knowing our people a little, that in the end it will have to be something quite sovereign, in which somehow that veil, that hardness, will be done away. This is not to say that every organization that is seeking to share the good news with Jewish people is wrong, not at all.

But what I am saying is this, it does seem to me that in the sovereignty of God, something will one day happen in which Jesus will reveal himself directly to those people. What a day. And then there's the most beautiful thing in that passage, again.

It says, as you pointed out, they were too afraid to talk with him. He had to go and fall on their neck and kiss them. So much for this idea that God is very starchy concerning the Jewish people, that somehow or other he's not going to do a single thing until they do something.

Zechariah 12 and the Spirit of Grace

Zechariah chapter 12 has a most beautiful prophecy. It says, In that day shall a spirit of grace and supplication be poured upon the house of David, that is, the ruling class, the establishment, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that is, the ordinary citizens.

And they shall look unto me whom they fear, and they shall mourn for him as for an only son, and be in bitterness for him as for a firstborn. And then it goes on to all that whole matter about the husbands and wives apart.

You remember? Because in Jewish things, in the Shiva, that is, the seven days after the death of a loved one, husbands and wives don't sleep together, a man doesn't shave, the whole of life is upside down, everything is abnormal.

Then for a month things remain abnormal. And then in actual fact, although you revert more or less to normality, for one year things remain abnormal. This doesn't sound like a whole nation being converted in a day.

That prophecy refers to the recreation of the state of Israel in a day. A land being born, a nation being brought forth at once. But it seems to me that here we have the most gracious intimation of the Lord that there's going to be a period of time, perhaps very slow, almost imperceptible, whereby the spirit of grace and supplication will be poured out upon the Jewish people, and more and more and more and more will look unto him whom they pierce.

If this is right, then this marvellous story of Joseph takes on an added meaning. When he first revealed them and I am Joseph your brother, they were horrified, because suddenly it dawned upon them the significance of what they had done.

Now, can I say something? You don't lump those brothers all together. There was Benjamin, who had nothing to do with it. There was Judah, who tried to save him. There were all kinds of different outlooks and attitudes in those brothers, and they were all afraid.

And it says Joseph went and fell on Benjamin's neck, and Benjamin kissed him. And then he went to all the other brothers and he fell on their neck and kissed them, and they hid. What a picture. Does that give us some intimation of what in the end is going to happen?

I wish I could go on. There are many other scriptures. Now I'd like to go from the, as we've sort of got into the Old Testament, go from the New Testament to the Old Testament and start on basis for all kinds.

You see, here in the book we've got promises. Why do we pray? People say to us, why do you pray for political things? It's wrong. Pray for the conversion of Jews, pray... No, no, no, just wait. We, having seen that there is a glorious promise of the natural branches being restored to their own knowledge, we realize that Satan has picked up that knowledge as well.

And he will do every single thing in his power to liquidate and eradicate that people so that the ultimate miracle cannot take place. He will economically destroy them, politically destroy them, from without or from within.

He will militarily seek to destroy them, but he will do every single thing to stop the purpose of God from being fulfilled. For this purpose of God is not apart from the church of God, not apart from the Gentiles, he is saying.

It is an integral part, in other words, this whole battle that you and I are found in is much bigger than you and me. It has to do with the whole redeeming purpose of God and, finally, eternal purpose of God for his own.

And the final touches of the completion, as it were, to that great purpose of God will be the natural branches being restored to their own olive tree. For this reason, Satan will use every weapon in his armory to stop that day from coming.

That's why, as never before, we have to pray political prayers. That's why we have to pray for the physical preservation of the Jewish people. That's why we have to pray about the economic situation for Israel.

That's why we must do more than pray, we must act. We are involved. I must finish, but let me say this, if you do not come to the aid of the Jewish people, be sure of this, God will raise deliverance from another place, but you and your father's house will perish.

In other words, this is not just to do with a national survival and a political survival and an economic survival, it has to do with the redemptive purposes of God for the nations. Therefore, it is time for you and me, for all of us, to wake up.

Be not foolish, but understand what the will is. May God give us an anointing in prayer. May God give us wisdom into practical ways in which we can help and stand with this people. May he unveil for us something more of this mystery of Israel, of which, by the grace of God, you.