7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” 9 And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.” ~ Romans 11:7-10
Today, we continue our study of the sovereignty of God in light of Israel's rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 9 we learned of God's past workings with the nation of Israel, while in Romans 10 we considered God's present workings with Israel. Today, we continue our study of Romans 11 where we will consider God's future dealings with His chosen people. But, before we consider God's future dealings with Israel, we must consider why most of them missed their Messiah when He came to this earth.
In v.7-8 of today's passage we read, "7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 Just as it is written: 'God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.'"
The people of Israel did not recognize their Messiah because their hearts had wandered from the God of the Bible. When we hear truth, it is always very important that we respond to it. When we hear the truth and we do not respond affirmatively, we lose our capacity to recognize truth. Our hearts must be engaged. I find it quite instructive that the word "heart" is used 725 times in the Old Testament and 105 times in the New Testament. The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart.
God actually hardens hearts. People don't refuse to believe in Him because they are hardened by Him; rather they are hardened because they refuse to believe. They willfully and persistently reject God's grace, so He allows them to go their own way, and eventually confirms them in their unbelief. Israel, as a whole, had made their own volitional choice. And it was their poor choice that made it look like God had not kept His promises. Yet God continues to be at work, doing what He promised He would do, even when it looked like He was being unfaithful to His Word.
The expression of Israel's hardheartedness here was their blindness. Their eyes were so blinded, that even when they saw the truth, they could not see it. They weren't even able to hear the truth due to the stupor that God had given them. The word for "seeks" in v.7 of today's passage means "to diligently seek." But, Israel's zeal was not according to biblical knowledge. They were ignorant of God's righteousness and they therefore went establishing their own self-righteousness. They lived for their own righteousness; they kept all the rules, ceremonies, rituals, and the laws of the Torah in order to establish their own self-righteousness. And, due to that, they missed the God of the Bible.
In v.9-10 of today's passage we read, "9 And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. 10 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always."
These two verse are quotes from Psalm 69:22-23. The Lord caused "a spirit of stupor" to come upon Israel in response to their rejection of Him. When we do not open our hearts to the Lord, something else will influence them. This is the case here. The word "stupor" means a bewilderment from being struck or like being in a deep sleep that you can't wake up from and thus you can't see or hear. It is a dangerous thing to ignore the wooings of God to follow Him.
On one hand, the Bible makes it clear that God loves us with an everlasting love, and He stands ready to forgive anyone who sincerely turns to Christ in repentance and faith. The Bible also warns that when we repeatedly turn away from God, we can reach a point of no return. The reason isn’t because God won’t forgive us, but because our hearts have grown so cold and hardened because of sin. God still calls us but we are too insensitive to hear His voice.
In 2 Corinthians 6:2 we read, "Behold, today is the accepted time; behold, today is the day of salvation." God's time is always today. Today is the only time we have got. We do not have yesterday; it is gone. We may not get tomorrow. Therefore, God always addresses us in this existential fashion. And His appeal to us is this: "Don't wait! Believe in me now! Don't wait share the Gospel with the lost! Do it now!" It is a sad moment when we do not obey the leading of God in our lives. But, it is the greatest blessing when we obey Him. Every time that I have ever obeyed Him in this way, He had something incredibly great waiting on me on the other side. So, my friend, let me encourage you to take that step. You will be glad that you did.
