Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

When we left off yesterday, Paul was explaining that we must talk about the

Gospel of Christ because people can't believe in a God whose truth they've never

heard and since God has promised to save people from among every nation, then his people have got to start spreading the good news.

There's been considerable focus on getting the word out to the Gentiles,

so Paul opens chapter 11 with some details about the future of ethnic Israel.

Has God written them off? Paul says absolutely not.

The elect among ethnic Israel have been preserved as a remnant just like God did in Elyjestay. Those who know God will be preserved,

but as always, the people who know God aren't divided along ethnic lines but along faith lines.

In verse 2, Paul says God has never rejected his elect in the past,

and that remains true in the present.

In verse five, he says,

So too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. Salvation has always only come to us by the

grace given by God. Some received it and sadly some didn't. And because God wants his

kingdom to be full and diverse, then their rejection is the opportunity to spread the gospel to the Gentiles.

But even with that, God's using it as an opportunity to entice ethnic Israel back to himself. He loves them.

Paul compares this relationship to a branch, which is a familiar image.

In John 15, Jesus said he is the vine and we are the branches, and here Paul continues the metaphor.

He says the original branches are made up of ethnic Israel,

but those who rejected Christ and proved to be dead branches, like Judas for instance,

they got trimmed off.

And in the vacancy they left behind on the branch, Judas, for instance, they got trimmed off.

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