Has God Cancelled His Promises to Israel? Part 2
Romans 11:2‑6
Let's open our Bibles again tonight to the eleventh chapter of Romans. And I have to confess to you that this is a difficult portion of the epistle to the Romans and no doubt some of you are wondering when it's going to get practical again, when it's going to sort of touch your life, when Paul's going to get over this long long argument that he's involved in. And I can tell you, it happens in chapter 12. So it won't be long. In chapter 12 we're all going to get right into the practical nitty‑gritty kind of things about Christian living. And that will be wonderful time. But thank you for being with us and being faithful through this series. You who are super spiritual have been here each week to carry on with this great section of the epistle to the Romans.
We're looking at chapter 11, again verses 1 through 10. And I want to remind you at the very beginning that the theme of this chapter is "Has God cancelled His promises to Israel?" That's the question Paul is answering here.
Reaching back a little bit to the Old Testament to begin, the prophet Zechariah was one of the prophets who ministered in the time of Israel's restoration. You remember that Israel was taken captivity, basically I mean by Israel, the nation of Israel as duly constituted. The people of God were taken captivity into Babylon. And then 70 years later they were set free and they came back to the land. Upon returning back to the land they desired to restore and rebuild the city, to restore and rebuild the temple which they proceeded to do. During this post‑Babylon captivity time of restoration and rebuilding, there was a prophet by the name of Zechariah. And among the messages of this prophet Zechariah was a warning of God's coming judgment on all the nations that had harmed Israel because if you go all the way back to Genesis 12 in the Abrahamic covenant you will be reminded that it says there, "Whoever blesses you will be blessed, whoever curses you will be cursed." And so Zechariah among other messages gave a message relative to the judgment of God to come upon nations which harmed Israel. And in Zechariah 2:8 it says this, "For thus says the Lord of host, After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you‑‑ that is Israel‑‑touches the apple of His eye." In other words, whoever touches Israel touches the apple of God's eye.
Now there are three Old Testament expressions, three different Hebrew expressions translated into the English "the apple of His eye." Not just one, but three. The first one is found in Deuteronomy 32:10 and you don't need to look it up. But that expression in Deuteronomy 32:10 translated "the apple of His eye" literally says in Hebrew, "Little man of the eye." Israel is the little man of the eye. Now that basically is a very interesting and very graphic phrase. When you get close enough to someone to look right into their eye, you invariably see a reflection of yourself. And as you see a reflection of yourself in the pupil of the eye, you see yourself reduced to a very small stature. And the one way that the Hebrews used to describe the pupil, not giving it a clinical definition, is to call it the little man of the eye, that is that part of the eye in which you appear to be very small by reflection.
The second Old Testament expression used in Scripture to be translated "the apple of His eye," is in Psalm 17:8 and it varies but a little. It is this expression, "The little daughter of the eye." And I suppose that's equal time for the women who also see themselves in someone else's eye as very small and miniature. So both of those expressions describe that part of the eye in which there is a reflection of a person reduced to small size, or the pupil of the eye.
In Zechariah 2:8 the scripture I just quoted which also says "the apple of His eye," it is a completely different phrase which means "the gate of the eye," the gate, that is that portion of the eye which allows the light to come in...the retina of the eye, again describing that visible part of the eye. And so whether you're talking about the little man of the eye, the little daughter of the eye, or the gate of the eye which allows the light to go in, when you touch Israel you poke your finger in God's eye. You touch Him on that very sensitive spot. And the point that all of those scriptures are making is that God cares for Israel, that Israel has a very unique relationship to God and when you touch Israel you irritate God in the most irritable part of a human anatomy that is exposed.
And we could look at it this way. What does this say about God's relationship to Israel? First of all, it says they are very precious. The eye is something to be protected because it is very very precious. No one cares to lose sight, it is a precious possession. To touch Israel then is to touch a very precious possession of God which He values very highly, as you would value your own eye.
Secondly, it is also to say that Israel is easily injured. Of all of the parts of the human anatomy that are exposed, that are outwardly exposed, the eye is by far the most vulnerable and the most sensitive. And therefore can be injured the most readily. And so Israel as the apple of God's eye is subject to injury rather easily.
Thirdly, the eye is that part of the body which is most carefully protected. Of all the parts of the body it has the most natural protection. The eyelid is that which is designed to protect the eye. The eyelashes and the eyebrow, designed to protect dust from getting into the eye. The eyelid, by the way, allows the system of washing to take place, to cleanse the eye and keep it clean. And even the bones around the eye are to protect it, placing it inward in a socket so that any blow is somewhat deflected by that which surrounds the eye.
So when Zechariah or when Deuteronomy 32 or Psalm 17 says Israel is the apple of God's eye, it is to say that Israel is very precious, very easily injured and very carefully protected by God. And anyone who affects Israel negatively, anyone who harms Israel is as it were poking a finger in the eye of God.
Now to further understand this thought, look with me to Psalm 105...Psalm 105 verse 8. And here we have a whole psalm speaking about God's covenant relationship to Israel. And just picking it up in verse 8, "He hath remembered His covenant forever...that is His promise made with Israel...the word which He commanded to a thousand generations which covenant He made with Abraham and His oath unto Isaac and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law and to Israel for an everlasting covenant." So Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all of those people had the covenant repeated, "Which covenant was made to the nation as an everlasting covenant, saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan the lot of your inheritance. When they were but a few men in number, yea very few and sojourners in it, when they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people, He permitted no man to do them wrong, yea He reproved kings for their sake saying, Touch not Mine anointed and do My prophets no harm."
Now what the psalmist is saying is that when God called out Israel and established a covenant with them, He built into that covenant protection against Israel's injury and ultimate harm so that they would not be wiped out, so that He could fulfill ultimately His promise to them. So Israel then is said to be the apple of His eye, is said to be His special anointed, "Touch not Mine anointed."
Let me draw you to another passage in Deuteronomy chapter 28. And this gives us even another insight into God's relationship to this nation Israel. And in the chapter we find God promising blessing for obedience. In verse 10 it says, "All people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord," the world will see that you belong to Him. Then verse 13, "And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail and thou shalt be above only and thou shalt not be beneath."
Now the point that he's making there is of all the nations, Israel is to be the head. Of all the nations, Israel is to be the unique recipient of divine blessing. So Israel then is the apple of God's eye. Israel is the anointed of God. Israel is by design the head of all nations in terms of special and unique blessing.
Now in spite of all of these things and many other prophecies regarding Israel and many other statements of God regarding His special covenant with them, it is still the belief of many people that God has no plan for Israel, that there is no future for that people. In fact, it is the belief of many that God has completely forsaken His disobedient people, His Christ‑ rejecting people. He has set that nation aside. They are totally forever set aside and God has cancelled all of the national promises to Israel as a nation. And we're learning in chapter 11 that that is in fact not the case...that is not the case.
I talked this morning to a man who has been many years as a missionary in Korea. He said to me, "It's intriguing to me to realize after these years and dialogue with many missionaries in Korea that ninety percent of the missionaries serving in Korea are covenant in their theology." And the implications of that are that they deny any future place for the nation Israel. So this is not an uncommon view, this is a rather common view, that there is no future for Israel, that the church has taken the place of Israel and blessing is for us and the nation Israel has no debt owed to them by God at all because of their disobedience. And yet the Scripture makes it very clear that that is not the case.
In Jeremiah chapter 30 verse 11, "For I am with thee, saith the Lord to Israel, to save thee, though I make a full end of all nations to which I have scattered thee." In other words, though I make an end to every nation, yet will I not make a full end of thee. "But I will correct thee in measure and will not leave thee all together unpunished." He says though I would destroy every nation in the earth to which you've been scattered, I would never ultimately and utterly destroy you. I will correct you and I will punish you but I will not destroy you. Again another confirmation of the fact that God still has a plan for Israel.
Now in the eleventh chapter of Romans, Paul affirms this. In verse 1 we read, "I say then, hath God cast away His people? God forbid." Me genito, no, no. Verse 2, "God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew." Now that is the basic truth of chapter 11. God has not ended His covenant promises to Israel. And as I told you last week, this is so very important for us because we want to know that we have a God who keeps His promise, right? And that's the whole of Paul's point here. In trying to call men and women to Christ, in trying to call them to salvation by grace through faith, he is calling them to the God who is the God of Israel. And it is important to him to prove to them that the God of Israel has not abandoned His covenant people because if He abandoned them, it's going to be hard to sell anybody else the salvation that he now offers for why should they trust a God with their destiny who has abandoned His promises to another people. So the point in eleven is to answer that query that's going to come in the mind of a person who says, "Well, has God set aside Israel forever? Has God cancelled all His promises to them because of their unbelief?" And the answer is no, not at all.
Now, of course, he has said that God has set them aside. Remember back in chapter 9 verse 31, "But Israel who followed after the law of righteousness has not attained to the law of righteousness." Why? "Because they sought it not by faith but, as it were, by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone." He says they've stumbled over the truth of Christ. In chapter 10 verse 1 he says, "They're not saved." In verse 2, "They have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge." In verse 3 they are ignorant of God's righteousness and have not submitted to it but tried to establish their own. So he's made it very clear that they are unbelieving as a nation. He has made it very clear that God has set them aside as a special people. And in fact He has brought in another people. Verse 25 and 26 of chapter 9 says that He will bring in a people who were not His people. So chapter 9 and chapter 10 said that Israel was set aside and Israel was unbelieving. And God was chastening Israel. And then at the end of chapter 10 it says that they are a disobedient and contrary people.
Now does this mean that they are forever set aside and all the promises cancelled? No, no, no, not at all. They rejected Christ, yes. The culmination of all their history, of all their hope, of all their anticipation was the arrival of Messiah. Instead of believing in Him, they crucified Him. And there's no question that they were set aside, that God set them aside in a judgment. In fact, in verse 19 of chapter 10 God provokes them to jealousy by a no people, by a foolish people. And verse 20 says that God was found by them that sought Him not. He was made manifest to those who asked not. And that describes the Gentiles. They are a foolish people. They are a no people. They are a people who didn't seek, but they are a people to whom ultimately the truth has come. Because Israel rejected, God turned to them. So Israel is set aside.
And we've learned this, haven't we, in our study of Matthew. In Matthew over and over again we have read how the Lord says, "I'll take the Kingdom from you and give it to a nation worthy of it." How He says to them, "You will not come to the wedding feast," Matthew 22, "therefore go out in the highways and call anyone who will come in." How He says to them in chapter 23, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. I turn from you," as it were. So we know that Israel is set aside. But the question is, is this total? Is this permanent? Has He cancelled His promises to Israel? And Paul's answer is no, no, no. To the nation He has not cancelled His promises.
And he is only reiterating this because it is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and it is consistent with the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 31:35, "Thus says the Lord who giveth the sun for a light by day and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who divides the sea when its waves roar, the Lord of host is His name. If those ordinances depart from before Me, saith the Lord, then the seat of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever." In other words, there's more chance of everything in the heavens falling apart than there is of Israel not being a nation. If heaven above can be measured, and the foundation of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord. He says I'll cast off Israel when you can measure the universe. Get out your tape and give it a try, it's infinite. There's no hope of God ever setting aside Israel. That promise in Jeremiah 31:35 to 37 ought alone to end all the discussion as to whether or not God has a future for His nation Israel.
So, Israel, says Paul, will not be set aside. In fact, the setting aside that we are now seeing...and we're still living in that time... is partial, passing and purposeful. And that's how chapter 11 is divided...partial verses 1 to 10; passing that is it's not permanent verses 11 to 25; and purposeful verses 26 to 36 and we'll see the purpose of it when we get to that section.
Now first of all we're looking at the partial aspect. Paul wants us to see that God has not set aside Israel totally but rather it's only partial. And he uses three proofs; the writer, the remnant and the revelation...the writer, the remnant and the revelation.
Now do you remember we looked at the writer in verse 1? Has God cast away His people? No, no, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. I mean, it's a simple basic syllogism. If God casts away His people and I am one of His people, therefore I am cast away. But when you reverse the syllogism it makes no sense unless it's a positive. For example, Paul could say, "I am an Israelite. God has not forsaken me therefore God has not forsaken all the Israelites." That's the point of the syllogism. So that is his argument. In being converted to the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul was living proof that God had not set aside Israel totally, it was only partial. In fact, Paul's conversion was especially representative of the nation for Paul was an unbelieving Jew. He was a fanatical zealot against the gospel. He was ignorant of God's righteousness and God saved him and He will also save other fanatical unbelieving zealous ignorant Jews. As Paul came to faith and true righteousness in Christ, he showed that God was not through with the Jews. So the first argument is the writer.
The second one is the remnant, and that's where we left off last time, verse 2, the remnant. Now God has always had a faithful group of people in His nation. It's never been the whole nation. You remember that? It has never been the whole nation. In fact we learned that so very very clearly in the ninth chapter. Go back to verse 6 of chapter 9, the end of the verse, "For they are not all Israel who are of Israel...they're not all Israel who are of Israel...neither just because they are the seed of Abraham are they all true children of God, but in Isaac shall thy seed be blessed." In other words, it's always been selective. It wasn't all the children of Abraham. Not the children of Ishmael but the children of Isaac.
And then he goes to the Jacob and Esau illustration. It wasn't the children of Esau but the children of Jacob. So it never was all those out of the loins of Abraham, it was always selective. Verse 27 of chapter 9, even Isaiah said, "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant shall be...what?...saved." It's always been a small group, always been a remnant. In verse 29, and "As Isaiah said, Except the Lord of Sabaoth has left us a seed, or a remnant, we would have been as Sodom and Gomorrah," and they, of course, were so totally sinful that they were totally destroyed. And so it's always been a seed, a godly seed, a remnant.
Back in chapter 2 of Romans, do you remember verse 28? "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter whose praise is not of men but of God." There he says a true Jew is one who is a Jew inwardly, whose heart is circumcised. That is to say the flesh of his heart, that is the sin of his heart is cut away, who worships in the spirit not the letter, who seeks praise from God, not men. So it's always been a remnant of true believers. Very important.
So we say then that God has not cast away His people. Why should we say now...listen carefully to me...why should we say now that Israel is set apart and Israel is cast away because the nation as a whole in general rejected Christ, when in fact the nation as a whole in general rejected everything else God ever said? You understand the point? It's always been a remnant. And there was a remnant at the time of Christ that believed in Him and they were led by the Apostles. So when people say, "Well because of the cross Israel is ultimately set aside," they forget that it's always been a remnant at any point in Israel's history, except for a few times of great revival and times under the judges immediately after their great victories, Israel kept going into apostasy all throughout its history. And that's why God says, "All day long have I stretched forth My hands to a disobedient and contrary people." That's a definition of them. It's always only been a remnant. And even at the cross it was only a remnant but God never said it would be other than that until ultimately all Israel shall be finally saved.
So, it's very important to understand the doctrine of the remnant. Now let me give you some...I hope you can capture this in your thinking because it's very helpful...the remnant discussion in chapter 9, it says in chapter 9 verse 27, "The number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the seed but a remnant shall be saved," the remnant idea in chapter 9, now listen carefully, is to show that not all Israel will be saved. Did you get that? The remnant concept of 9 is to show that not all Israel will be saved. Reversing that, the remnant concept of chapter 11 is to show that not all Israel will be lost. The remnant concept of chapter 11 is to show that not all Israel will be lost. God has not cancelled His promises to them, there will be a remnant. They'll not all be lost.
You see, the argument is different. In chapter 9 they were saying, "Well if this is the truth, why doesn't all Israel believe?" And Paul's answer to that is because there's only a remnant that believe. And that's by God's design and plan. It's always been that way. And now he is saying, "Well because only a remnant believes, does that mean God has cancelled the promises?" No, because a remnant believes it shows He hasn't cancelled the promises. So you come at it both ways.
Now how do we illustrate this concept of a small group or a remnant? To do that we come to a marvelous marvelous account in verse 2. "Know ye not what the Scripture says about Elijah?" Do you know the story of Elijah? And he picks out Elijah, that great prophet of God, as his illustration of remnant truth, remnant truth. Do you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? Well let me tell you what it says. "He maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets and dug down thine altars and I am left alone and they seek my life." Now that's what the Scripture tells us about Elijah.
But what was the answer of God unto him? Verse 4, "I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Now that was God's answer. Elijah says, "I'm the only one left." And Elijah didn't understand the doctrine of the remnant. God says, "No, no, I have seven thousand who haven't bowed the knee to Baal." There is always a remnant.
Now the reference here is to 1 Kings 19. There were dark days in Israel, tragic days in Israel. Apostasy had taken over. I mean, rampant apostasy in the land. A disastrous toll was wrought upon the people by a very vile wretched evil queen whose name was Jezebel.
And Jezebel was the queen of...get this..the queen of Israel and the priestess of Baal at the same time. You say, "How did she get to be queen?" She married Ahab. Ahab was the king of Israel. Ahab was in the line of the kings. He was a wretched king. He was an evil king. He did evil in the sight of God. And he married this wicked Baal worshiping priestess by the name of Jezebel. And she's so distasteful that not a human being on the face of the earth would knowingly name a daughter Jezebel. The very word is a word that makes people shudder who don't even know the Bible story. They are two names you will never find people using for their children: Judas and Jezebel.
Now Elijah became the focal point of Jezebel's anger and hatred because he represented God. And she despised that prophet of God, Elijah. Now Elijah wanted to call the country back to God and so he said, "Look, you're all out there worshiping Baal and I want to have a context." Let's turn back to 1 Kings and see what happened. He wanted to reverse the apostasy of his people. He said, "I want to have a contest," chapter 18 verse 18 and 19. He says, "You gather all the Israelites to Mount Carmel and the prophets of Baal, 450 of them, and the prophets of the idols, 400 more, that's 850 who eat at Jezebel's table." She was feeding all these prophets. Listen, she was Satan's woman. I mean, the reason Ahab married her from his viewpoint was he liked the way she looked and he wanted to make some kind of political alliance. But hell's viewpoint, she was in there to corrupt the nation. She was in there with 850 priests that she ate with, that infiltrated Israel, that got the people worshiping the Baal, which, of course, is a false god. And so he calls for a confrontation of the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of idols and they come up to Mount Carmel. And you remember the confrontation. He says, "All right, now you prove that your God is God, you burn up this sacrifice." You remember they had an altar there of stone and they had a sacrifice. And all day long these guys cried out and screamed and cut themselves. And Elijah stood around saying, "Well maybe you better yell a little louder, he might be asleep." And he taunted them, or, "Maybe he's on a vacation." And this just infuriated them. And when it was all done and they had gone through all their histrionics, absolutely nothing happened.
And then Elijah called for water and they drowned the whole thing and cried to God. And God sent fire, burned up the water, burned up the altar, burned up the sacrifice and everything in sight. And Elijah affirmed that God is God. God is God. That was a great victory. Verse 39, "When all the people saw it they fell on their faces, they said, The Lord He is God, the Lord He is God. And Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal, let not one of them escape. And they took them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slew them there." A massacre, about a thousand feet down to the foot of the mountain and he just massacred all these prophets. That was a great moment, oh what a great moment.
And you know what Elijah expected? Immediate revival...immediate restoration to the worship of the true God. He expected a national repentance. He expected everything to take place instantaneously. But when it was over he got so depressed, he became so depressed about the unchanged apostasy, no change, that he became despondent. Go down to chapter 19 now and we'll pick it up.
Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done. How he had slain all the prophets with a sword. I mean, he must be some man. And you know those guys didn't just get in line and bend their neck and somebody said, "Next." I mean, this is amazing feat. This is a Samson type of an occasion. And she's told by Ahab, her wicked husband, what he's done. "And Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, So let the gods do to me and more also if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." I'm going to have your head by tomorrow at this time, she said. "And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life." He ran all the way to Beer‑sheba. Now this is an old man, folks, and God never intended old prophets to run to Beer‑sheba. It's hot down there. And what have you got here? You've got a guy who is not afraid of 850 men but one woman totally terrorizes the man. Some of you, no doubt, can identify with that kind of a....(Laughter)
You know, but it wasn't always a running in fear partly, and what it tells us is that we're all just human beings unless we're in the very place of God's power, right? I mean, when he was in the place of God's power, God used him to accomplish mighty things. But when he stepped out of that, he was just a normal person. He was just like anyone else, just as vulnerable and just as weak. And he ran for his life. And he was so despondent. Because he thought this great victory is going to bring a great revival and this is the start of a turning around of the people. I understand the despair of the man. He'd poured out his heart, he'd won the greatest spiritual victory of his life time and he expected to see revival and he never saw it. He never saw...it's kind of like preaching the sermon that you think is the epitome of all that you could possibly do and nothing really changes. And you run and you don't understand why and you get despondent.
And so he went a day's journey in verse 4. "Came and sat under a Juniper tree," he's way out in the desert...already one day beyond Beer‑sheba. "And he requested that he should die." He said, "I've had it, it's enough. Take my life, just get me out of here." Very depressed guy. And then he prayed and he actually prayed against his people. This is an interesting pastoral perspective. He prays against his people. Go down to verse 10, this is what he said, "I've been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, slain Thine prophets with a sword and I, even I, only am left and they seek my life to take it away." And this guy is really in despair. "Nobody spiritual is left, nobody cares any more, they just murder the prophets, they tear down the altars, they forsake the covenant." Verse 14, would you notice, he said, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of host because the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant, thrown down Thine altars, slain Thine prophets with the sword and I, even I, only am left and they seek my life to take it away." Now he's getting repetitious. He's repeating himself with passion, with intensity. And he prays that God would do something. He prays, as it were, against his people who are so apostate, so evil.
And that is what Paul picks up in Romans chapter 11 as his illustration of a man who needs to understand a remnant. Verse 2 of Romans 11, "He made intercession to God against Israel, this is what he said, Lord, they have killed the prophets, dug down Thine altars and I am left alone and they seek my life," that's Romans 11:3 and it's basically a paraphrase from what we just read in 1 Kings 19:10 and 14. They've killed the prophets, they've torn down the altars and I'm the only one left and they seek my life. Listen, Jezebel killed an awful lot of prophets, an awful lot. In fact, in 1 Kings 18:4 it says, "For so it was when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord that Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by 50 in a cave and fed them with bread and water. And digging down the altars, as I said, no doubt after the degeneracy and apostasy of the ten tribes and many altars were erected in secret locations by the faithful and used as places of worship. They were permitted by the prophets, but apostate haters of true worship destroyed them. And so Elijah calls for judgment. He feels everything is over, everything is gone. I, only I am left. He had just had a great victory that actually resulted in nothing happening that he could see in the nation.
Now what was God's answer? Verse 4 of Romans 11. What was the answer of God to him? "I have reserved to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." And that is 1 Kings 19:18. If you're in 1 Kings you can see it. "Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth which hath not kissed him." And so, Romans...and now you can turn back to Romans and remain there, if you wish...so in Romans Paul quotes that passage, refers back to that passage. It's not a quote out of the Hebrew, it's not really a quote out of the Greek text of 1 Kings, the Septuagint, it's just sort of a...the sense of it being quoted. But the idea is the same. God is not reserved...God rather has reserved seven thousand who have not bowed to Baal.
Now the point is simply this. Elijah thought he was the only person left in the nation that was true to God. And God says not so, there are seven thousand that I will protect because they have not gone into apostasy and idol worship.
There's an interesting thought there that I just mention to you in verse 4, "What saith the answer of God?" The word "answer" is very interesting. It's a very unusual word. The word is chrematismos and it basically means a divine oracle so that it's not just an answer that a man could give, it's a divine answer. So what was the divine word of God? What was the authoritative revelation of God? "That I have My remnant who have not worshiped Baal." Baal, by the way, is a term referring to the Phoenician deity called Baal. The Chaldeans called him Bel, B‑e‑l, that's why some of their kings were call