The ROOT, The VINE, The ROD AND The BRANCH.

*  9th July 2012 additions

The ROOT, The VINE,

The ROD AND The BRANCH.

The Paradox of life

The Love and Hate of Life

John 12:25

²⁵ He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

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James 4:4

⁴ Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

In John 12:25, is not referring to the life force that GOD gave us.  It is referring to the living conditions that a person has adapted his whole way of life in this material world.

Remember that we are servants of God and stewards put in charge of God’s creations.  But materialistic people have tried their best to destroy the earth and nature by making their own mark on earth, by building cities filled with merchandise and intricate delicacies to occupy and dull our senses.

* (Ezekiel 27 states of merchants and traders of luxury goods of all sorts, livestock, precious stones, and human lives). 

The parable of the wealthy young man in Matthew 19 is a depiction of a "do-gooder" because he started off the conversation by calling Jesus "good teacher", although Jesus was born of a virgin Mary but he came in the "flesh" (1 John 4:2&3) as Jesus took on the flesh/seed of Abraham through Mary. In Matthew 19:17, Jesus asked, "Why do you call me good?" 

Although we know that Jesus is God and that He is good because of His Holy Spirit overcame the weaknesses of His flesh but THE flesh that he was born into this world (1 John 4:2&3) is the same as the flesh of any man. He does everything that a human being does; eat, sleep, bleed, sweat, goes to the toilet and etc. 

Although the wealthy young man followed all the Ten-Commandments of God but Jesus knew that he lacked one thing that is able to prevent him from entering the Kingdom of God and if not seriously dealt with, it can cause his end result similar to Judas Iscariot.

A DO-GOODER by HIMSELF CANNOT enter the Kingdom of God but a person who is willing to follow the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (aka Jesus of Nazareth).  

Many people from all sorts of religions who do not want to believe and follow the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because they think by doing good will guarantee them a place in Heaven.
Well, that is what a "RELIGION" does; religion makes an idol or god of whatever a person worships be it a rock, animal, other human beings and even yourself.  A do-gooder is worship of self because you think that the things you do by yourself is good enough to enter into Heaven without the need of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 
Doing good is not the common factor among all peoples of the earth that can bring them to Heaven, only Jesus of Nazareth who is also the God who created the Heavens and the Earth and the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who is able to bring us back to the original glory and light of mankind before the fall. 
NO ANGEL NOR WOMAN/MAN/PROPHET/KING can restore the light of life unto a fallen man except the GOD of Israel.
Following false prophets and false religions can only serve to further bury you in falsehood. 
Has a religion took possession of you to a point that you are not allowed to follow the GOD of Israel openly?
Are you more afraid of a false religion than the GOD who created you and gave you life? 
If you are more afraid of false religious people  than the God who created you (the God of Israel), then it is proof that you love your own life more than you love GOD - and such a person will surely lose his life. (John 12:25)
A life kept in falsehood is no life at all.                  

So what did the wealthy young man lack that can caused him to sin? His attachment to his worldly POSSESSIONS IN this world that will prevent him from fully following after the ways of the LORD. (Matthew 19:22) 

So Jesus practically issued the 11th Commandment!!!
As Jesus asked the wealthy young man to - "If you want to be perfect, go Sell all that you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, FOLLOW ME."  

^{Matthew 19:22} But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
Matthew 19:24
²⁴ And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

^{Matthew 19:26} But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

So, What is the 11th Commandment? Detachment from worldly possessions that will enable a person to follow after the ways of the LORD without any encumbrances. 

TODAY because with God all things are possible :-
We are not asking wealthy people to give away 100% of their wealth but be liken unto Zacchaeus in Luke chapter 19 - if you have stolen or cheated before, repent and repay what you have cheated before it is too late.
If you are wealthy by legal inheritance or hard work; by all means, keep your wealth but remember, do not let your possessions control & possess you to a point that you have to betray the LORD.  

It is not that progress and modernization is not good; but do not let the world make you feel complacent to a point that you become your own god. 

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob remain as tent dwellers and they are not encouraged to marry city dwellers.  One of the reasons why God hated Esau was because disobeyed God by building a stone house and married Canaanite women. 

When Jesus said in my father’s house are many mansions (John 14:2) – He is not exactly referring to brick houses but more to tribes of peoples. House of Judah……… etc.  Why would Jesus talk about brick houses if He originally did not want us to be so attached to one?  God does not change.  His message and meanings are consistent throughout the Bible.  After His death and resurrection, Jesus went all over the world during the past 2000 years until now preparing all the different peoples of the earth to come to a greater understanding and relationship with Him.  

In Isaiah 66:8 the LORD mentioned that “shall a nation be born at once?”  and in verse 18 “It shall be that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and see My glory.”  The LORD’s dwelling place is in Jerusalem and many tribes and nations will come from all over the world to seek the LORD and to make an offering to HIM.      

When preachers preach on the all the positive goodness of redemption and abundance of life and mercy of the Lord, to the poor and suffering servants it is good news indeed; but to the worldly materialistic people who are wise in their own eyes, to them, it is as if a stamp of approval for them to continue on with whatever worldly things that they were doing all the while. Liken unto Revelation 22:11 ^“He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.”   

These people have become so self-absorbed and self-indulgent with material world and with themselves. The have become narcissistic. The narcissist only sees the material world and is captivated by the sheer luxury of it.   Goats and Tares are so happy with the world and themselves that they will never see the need to return to the LORD and walk in His ways. (James 4:4) 

Gays and Lesbians are a form of narcissism, people who are in love with the world and themselves.

If material goods are able to make you feel complete, happy and satisfied to the fullest or able to fulfil all your needs in this world; then you will feel as if you do NOT need a saviour.  

* Do not forget that we are living in a fallen world where nothing is permanent - Therefore delight in material goods alone can be dangerous. 
Instead, we should put our trust and delight in the Lord and His ways.  
2 Chronicles 17:6
And his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord; moreover he removed the high places and wooden images from Judah.

This does not mean that we are not allowed to have material goods to use; but do not make material goods your idol.    

Dictionary:

“Narcissism” – excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one’s physical appearance.

Stemmed from a greek mythology of a beautiful youth named “Narcissus” who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool.

We love the LORD and all that He has given us and our “life” whether is it on earth or in heaven is a gift of God that we cherish everything that is of the LORD.

But in loving our own lives we must also love the lives of our brethren and be not afraid to sacrifice our lives for those we love. (1 John 3:16) Not necessarily talking about getting ourselves killed (bodily) on behalf of our loved ones and friends; but more in the lines of sacrifices of time and energy and willingness to help one another. 

A man or a woman getting married sacrifices his or her own privacy and life to his or her spouse; so that they can start a new life together.  Just as Jesus sacrificed His life in order to come to our realm of dwelling place to be with us because He loved us first.

A selfish man is only interested in self-preservation and in order to keep him-self alive, sometimes that would mean that he has to make other people sacrifice their lives for him instead. 

That is why if you have a leader of a country who is selfish, that would be very dangerous as he will not hesitate to make his citizens suffer or die just to satisfy himself.  

A General in an army who is selfish would not hesitate to lead his entire battalion into certain death in order to justify his own foolish pride.

John 10:17
“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

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[ The Outworking of Love ]

Dictionary: – outworking – “an outer section of a fortification or system of defence.” 

1 John 3:16
“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

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1 Peter chapter 3

Called to Blessing

⁸ Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; ⁹ not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. ¹⁰ For

“He who would love life
And see good days,
Let him refrain his tongue from evil,
And his lips from speaking deceit.
¹¹ Let him turn away from evil and do good;
Let him seek peace and pursue it.
¹² For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their prayers;
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Suffering for Right and Wrong

¹³ And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” ¹⁵ But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; ¹⁶ having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Christ’s Suffering and Ours

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, ¹⁹ by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. ²¹ There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

The fragrance and stench of people

In 2^nd Corinthians 2:15-16, we are both aroma of death and aroma of life to different people.

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2 Corinthians 2

¹⁵ For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. ¹⁶ To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.

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Sowing Unity and Discord

For example in Matthew 10:34-39 although Jesus is the Prince of Peace but he did not come to bring peace but a sword; as He is relating to His sharp and precise words of truth that will set a man against his father; it is not however relating to the sword of war as mentioned in Isaiah 2:4.

Today, for example, we hear of sons of Islamic leaders from the Middle East becoming champions of Jesus, even a jihad-trained son of a Hamas leader daring to declare that Muhammadanism will cease to exist in 5 years and many major Islamic clerics in the Middle East itself have secretly turned to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  

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Matthew 10

Christ Brings Division

³⁴ “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; ³⁶ and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’ ³⁷ He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁸ And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. ³⁹ He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

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Many people judge the “success” of certain things by the huge number of people they are able to draw.  Mega Churches preaching watered-down & custom-made truths in order to draw in and make it appealing to the general public and youths. 

Roman Catholics, Christians and Muslims think that theirs must be the right way because they have billions of believers.

If you combine various smaller religions, Buddhists and Hindus, they could outnumber Muslims, so maybe theirs is the ultimate truth. 

Remember that we are living in a fallen world that has been governed by Antichrists and beastly kingdoms for thousands of years. Of course, falsehood and false religion has prevailed until now.

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Matthew 7:13

The Narrow Way

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.

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There are only less than 20 million Jews in this world, so they must be really unsuccessful if you judge by numbers; so much so that they think that they need to do marketing/public relations and try to rally support from Christians so as to make the Jews look larger. 

The Jews were smaller than the people in the land of Canaan during the times of Moses and you are no different now; Israel will only win if they follow the ways of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Put off your greed and evil ways; put away the enticements of sorcery and Kabbalah so that it may be well with you.

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Jude 1:21
keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

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Although there are genuine supporters of Israel, there are also many Christians that pretend to support Israel hoping to get a blessing perhaps but the fact is many Christians believe in the erroneous rapture theory where they think that they are going to leave this earth soon and then war will breakout killing all the Jews leaving maybe just a handful alive. 

If we are in a false democracy, with all the nations of this world as wolves and Israel as a few sheep in the field; then surely as some people say, “the sheep will be dinner for the wolves”.  

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Exodus 4:22

²² Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.

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In reality, this world can only survive through God’s Theocracy with the King of Israel.   Democratic only to a sense that God will listen to the voice of all the people and all of mankind both big and small shall be treated with decency and respect. 

Until the LORD Most High the King of Israel returns, He has raised up His BRANCH to govern on His behalf.  Listen to him. 

The LORD made a covenant with His son Jacob/Israel (Exodus 4:22) so that the world might be saved through an Israelite named Jesus – the LORD Most High coming into His own creation.

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John 3:16

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

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Until today, there are so many ignorant people like many groups of Christians who still thinks that God has rejected Israel and that the gentile churches are the new Israel.  UNTIL TODAY !!! 
We are living in the last days and ALL OF ISRAEL shall be restored and dwell safely.

Please read just a few examples from Romans 11 and Jeremiah and I pray to the LORD that all the sheep and wheat might be able to see with their eyes and hear with their ears that all these are happening right NOW. 

Blessed is the LORD Most High and blessed be the people in the Land of Israel who shall serve the LORD continually all the days of their lives. 

The ROD, VINE and ROOT

– LORD Most High Creator of the Heavens and the Earth (Jesus of Nazareth) (Isaiah 11:1 & 10, John 15:5)

The BRANCH

– Judah/Israel and Jerusalem (Isaiah 11:1, Zechariah 3, Jeremiah 23:5&6 and Jeremiah 33:15&16)

The Gentile believers

– Wild Olive Tree (Romans 11:17)

All of Israel

– Natural Branches of a Cultivated Olive Tree (Romans 11:24)

Isaiah 11:1

The Reign of Jesse’s Offspring
11:1 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,
And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

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Isaiah 11:10

^11:10 “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”

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John 15:5

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

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Zechariah 3:8

⁸ ‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest,
You and your companions who sit before you,
For they are a wondrous sign;
For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH.

Then speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying:
“Behold, the Man whose name is the BRANCH!
From His place He shall branch out,
And He shall build the temple of the Lord;

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Jeremiah 23

The Branch of Righteousness

23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lord. ² Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lord. ³ “But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. ⁴ I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lord.

⁵ “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and prosper,
And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
⁶ In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell safely;
Now this is His name by which He will be called:

THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

⁷ “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ ⁸ but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”

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Jeremiah 33

Excellence of the Restored Nation

33:1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the prison, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it (the Lord is His name): ³ ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

⁴ “For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify^[a] against the siege mounds and the sword: ⁵ ‘They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but only to fill their places with the dead bodies of men whom I will slay in My anger and My fury, all for whose wickedness I have hidden My face from this city. ⁶ Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. ⁷ And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first. ⁸ I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. ⁹ Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.’

¹⁰ “Thus says the Lord: ‘Again there shall be heard in this place—of which you say, “It is desolate, without man and without beast”—in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, ¹¹ the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say:

“Praise the Lord of hosts,
For the Lord is good,
For His mercy endures forever”—

and of those who will bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,’ says the Lord.

¹² “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In this place which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all its cities, there shall again be a dwelling place of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. ¹³ In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again pass under the hands of him who counts them,’ says the Lord.

¹⁴ ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah:

¹⁵ ‘In those days and at that time
I will cause to grow up to David
A Branch of righteousness;
He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved,
And Jerusalem will dwell safely.
And this is the name by which she will be called:

THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.’

¹⁷ “For thus says the Lord: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; ¹⁸ nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually.’”

The Permanence of God’s Covenant

¹⁹ And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁰ “Thus says the Lord: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, ²¹ then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers. ²² As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’”

²³ Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁴ “Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord has chosen, He has also cast them off’? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.

²⁵ “Thus says the Lord: ‘If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, ²⁶ then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.’”

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Galatians 4:26

²⁶ but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.

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 Romans 12

Living Sacrifices to God

12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

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 Deuteronomy 32:21

^32:21 They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;
They have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols.
But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;
I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.

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Isaiah 65

The Righteousness of God’s Judgment

65:1 “I was sought by those who did not ask for Me;
I was found by those who did not seek Me.
I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’
To a nation that was not called by My name.
² I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,
Who walk in a way that is not good,
According to their own thoughts;

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Romans 11

God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew

11:1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ² God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, ³ “Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life”? ⁴ But what does the divine response say to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. ⁶ And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

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.”

All of Israel will be saved in the final days

¹¹ I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. ¹² Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

¹³ For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, ¹⁴ if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

¹⁶ For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷ And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰ Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. ²² Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. ²³ And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

²⁵ For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. ²⁶ And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
²⁷ For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”

²⁸ Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. ²⁹ For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰ For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, ³¹ even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. ³² For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

³⁴ “For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?”
³⁵ “Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”

³⁶ For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

John 3

The New Birth

3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”

¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? ¹¹ Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.^{[a] 14} And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in Him should not perish but^[b] have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷ For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

¹⁸ “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹ But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Bible verses in New King James Version (NKJV)