God Has Not Rejected Israel

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I ask then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

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God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel:

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“Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well”?

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And what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

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In the same way, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

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And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

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What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,

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as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see, and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”

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And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution to them.

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May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”