Unlimited: Did Israel Not Hear?
May 1, 2023 477
But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” (Romans 10:18).
Paul is going through a question that he must have often asked himself. Why is it that Israel as a whole failed to believe? Why is it that they rejected the Messiah?
As Paul considers what has occurred, he first asks whether Israel had heard. Had they heard the message about the coming Messiah? Of course they had.
To demonstrate this, Paul takes Psalm 19:4 and applies it to the Gospel. In its context, Psalm 19 isn’t messianic or even prophetic. Yet the apostle Paul makes it so.
Israel had all of the patriarchs, the prophets, and the law, and all of it was written to point them to the coming Messiah.
This is because Paul brings all of the Old Testament into the service of the Gospel. Although he used to read the Old Testament in a religiously worldly way, he now sees everything as pointing to Jesus.
Israel had all of the patriarchs, the prophets, and the law, and all of it was written to point them to the coming Messiah. Israel had heard, however they had heard everything through worldly ears and not in spiritual terms. They expected an earthly conqueror for their own benefit, and certainly not that God would himself come and die for their sins in the person of Jesus Christ.
For one who has understood the Gospel, everything, whether it be in Scripture, in nature, or in the experiences of our lives, points us to Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Application
Ask yourself, how do you read the Old Testament? Do you read it as Paul and the New Testament writers do? Do you read everything in the Old Testament as pointing to Christ?
Olivia Jeter
May 2, 2023
I Olivia Jeter read everything pointing to the words or worldly to Jesus his words will always be on my lips out of mouth and deep in my soul cause I truly love the Lord with all my heart and mind forever amen