❖ If Israel’s Restoration Depends on Israel’s Faithfulness, It Will Never Happen
That’s the objection.
“Israel is in unbelief. God is done with Israel."
It sounds logical. It sounds righteous. It sounds like “Biblical realism.”
But it denies the central storyline of Scripture.
Because God’s redemptive plan has never been carried by human consistency. It has always been carried by God’s covenant faithfulness.
And if you miss that, you will misread Israel, misread prophecy, and eventually mi... more❖ If Israel’s Restoration Depends on Israel’s Faithfulness, It Will Never Happen
That’s the objection.
“Israel is in unbelief. God is done with Israel."
It sounds logical. It sounds righteous. It sounds like “Biblical realism.”
But it denies the central storyline of Scripture.
Because God’s redemptive plan has never been carried by human consistency. It has always been carried by God’s covenant faithfulness.
And if you miss that, you will misread Israel, misread prophecy, and eventually misread the character of God.
❖ An Anchor Promise God Will Not Break
“I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.”
Jeremiah 32:40
Read that slowly.
God does not say, “If they remain faithful, I will keep being good.”
He says, “I will not turn away… I will inspire them… they will not turn away.”
This is covenant language. Unilateral language. Divine initiative.
❖ Israel Has Always Struggled With Faithfulness
This is not denial, it is the Biblical record.
“They soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold.”
Psalm 106:13
“The whole head is injured, the whole heart afflicted.”
Isaiah 1:5
From Sinai to the wilderness, from Judges to Kings, from exile to return, Israel’s spiritual story has been one long proof that no nation can save itself by moral willpower.
Even Israel’s brightest era had shadows.
David loved God, and David fell.
Solomon built the Temple, and Solomon’s heart drifted.
Most kings did not “do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”
So yes, Israel has struggled.
But here’s the point: that struggle has never been the deciding factor in whether God will keep His oath.
❖ Gentiles Struggle Too
If restoration requires spotless faithfulness, no one gets restored.
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:23
Paul does not reserve human weakness for Israel.
Gentile nations rage. Churches compromise. Believers stumble. Leaders fail. Entire movements drift into falsehood. We are not saved by our grip on God, but by God’s grip on us.
Which means the question is not, “Has Israel been faithful?”
The question is: Is God faithful?
❖ The Kings Failed, But the Covenant Stood
God did not pretend Israel’s sin was small.
Yet He also refused to treat sin as stronger than His sworn promise.
“I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered.”
Psalm 89:34
That is the unbreakable center.
When you read the prophets, God is not negotiating whether He will keep His word. He is announcing that He will keep it, and He will discipline, purge, refine, and restore in the process.
❖ Genesis 15 Settled This Forever
The Abrahamic Covenant is where the “it depends on Israel” argument dies.
In ancient blood covenant ceremonies, both parties normally walked between the pieces of the divided sacrifice. It was a visible oath, a way of saying: “May my life be torn apart if I break this covenant.”
But look at what happens:
“As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep.”
Genesis 15:12
Abraham does not walk.
Then:
“When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces.”
Genesis 15:17
God alone passes through.
God alone takes the oath.
Abraham sleeps while God binds Himself.
This is not “nice symbolism.” This is divine legal commitment in blood. God is staking His name, His holiness, His throne, and His reality on the fulfillment of what He promised.
If the Abrahamic Covenant fails, God ceases to be God.
And that cannot happen.
❖ So Why Will God Restore Israel While They Are in Unbelief?
Because unbelief does not cancel election, and failure does not nullify covenant.
Paul says it plainly:
“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
Romans 11:29
That word is thunder. Irrevocable.
Not paused. Not transferred. Not spiritualized away. Not “fulfilled in someone else.”
Irrevocable means God does not reverse what He has sworn.
And Paul deals directly with Israel’s present unbelief:
“Because of unbelief they were broken off… and if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.”
Romans 11:20, 23
Temporary hardening. Future grafting. Divine ability.
The point is not that unbelief is harmless. The point is that unbelief is not stronger than covenant.
❖ God Promised Restoration as His Work, Not Theirs
Listen to the verbs. Who is acting?
“For I will take you out of the nations… I will sprinkle clean water on you… I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.”
Ezekiel 36:24–26
I will. I will. I will.
God does not say, “When you finally clean yourself up, I will consider returning.”
He says He will regather, cleanse, and transform.
Israel’s restoration is not Israel achieving righteousness. It is God granting righteousness.
That is grace. That is covenant mercy.
❖ Why This Matters for You Right Now
Because the “God is done with Israel” argument always smuggles in a darker implication:
If God can permanently discard the people He swore to restore, then your assurance is a paper shield.
If God’s promises collapse under Israel’s weakness, they can collapse under yours.
But Scripture says the opposite.
God’s faithfulness is the bedrock of every believer’s hope.
❖ Prophecy Has a Date With History
This restoration reaches its climax at the end of the Tribulation, when the Deliverer returns to Zion and the covenant reaches its appointed fulfillment.
“The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
Romans 11:26–27
That is not poetic optimism. That is prophetic certainty.
❖ Spurgeon
“If there be anything in the Bible which is plain, it is the literal restoration of Israel.”
You do not have to force the text to get this.
You have to force the text to avoid it.
❖ The Final Word
God will restore Israel, not because Israel never failed, but because God never lies.
God swore by a blood-path in Genesis 15, and He walked it alone while Abraham slept.
God has never broken an oath.
And He will not start now.
✠ Sir John Scivoletti ✠
✠ Turco Joan of Arc Priory ✠
✠✠Act and God will Act (Actus et Deus Act)✠✠
