Jewish Diaspora Prophesied, Lk 21:20-24; Jews: Original Core of the Christian Faith, Acts 2:41, 47; Spiritual Line of Israel, Rom 11:1
1-	Paul is able to discern these things because of the Lord’s comments regarding the destruction of Israel by a Gentile world power recorded in:
Luke 21:20 -	“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies [ Rome’s under Titus in a.d. 69-70 ], then recognize that her desolation [ fifth cycle ] is at hand.
v. 21 -	“Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of the city depart, and let not those who are in the country enter the city;
v. 22 -	because these are days of vengeance [ the fifth cycle administered under the directive will of God ], in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Luke 21:23 -	“Woe to those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days; for there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people,
v. 24 -	and they will fall [ almost 2-million killed in the siege ] by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations [ almost 100,000 Jews made up the Diaspora out from Jerusalem ] and Jerusalem will be trampled under foot by the Gentiles [ idiom for anti-Semitism ] until the times [ dispensations when client-nation functions will be carried out by Gentile administrations ] of the Gentiles [ the period of the Church Age & Tribulation ] be fulfilled [ at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ ].”
2-	This was the Lord’s prophecy of the fifth cycle to Judea in a.d. 70.  Nevertheless, the Diaspora was made up of two groups: one present and one future remnant.
3-	The first were those Jews who formed the original core of Christianity in Acts 2.  They were the first believers of the Church Age to receive the indwelling and filling ministries of the Holy Spirit.
4-	They began immediately to evangelize fellow Jews who were in Jerusalem to observe the festival of Pentecost.  The effects of this effort are noted in two passages:
Acts 2:41 -	So then, those who had received his [ Peter’s ] word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
v. 47 -	And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
5-	The core of Christianity is these Jews and those added to them as noted in Acts 2.  They formed the initial Pivot for the Gentile Client Nation of the Roman Empire.
6-	It can also be said that certain of their progeny as well as those of unbelievers who survived the destruction of Judea will form the final remnant at the Second Advent of Christ.
7-	The latter group is one of the major reasons that anti-Semitism is to be condemned in the Church Age.  Under the principle of the imminency of the Rapture, unbelieving Jews whom you know could at any moment move into the Tribulation.
8-	Under this scenario unbelieving Jews you know could be among the 144,000 Jewish evangelists of the Tribulation.  Unbelieving Jews you know could be among those evangelized by them.  Unbelieving Jews you know could be among those who populate the millennial client nation of Israel.  Unbelieving Jews you know could be the recipients of the unconditional promises to Israel.
9-	Knowing that Judea will soon suffer the fifth cycle of discipline, Paul poses the rhetorical question, “God has not rejected His people, has He?”  The word “rejected” is the aorist middle indicative of the verb:
¢pwqšw, apōtheō -	“to repudiate”; “to disown”
This is accompanied by the negative m», mē.  When this particle is found in a question it always demands a negative answer.
aroist:	Culminative; views the event in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint existing results: God has definitely not repudiated His people.
middle:	Direct; indicates that the subject participates in the outcome: Jews who believe in Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah are not repudiated by God.
indicative:	Interrogative; there are facts which may be stated in answer to the question and they are presented by Paul in this chapter.
The general answer at the end of verse one is demanded by the idiom:
m» g…nomai, mē ginomai -		“Definitely not!” 
10-	 Who are “God’s people”?  The answer comes in two categories.  The Jews are the chosen race of God.  They are those whose genetic heritage is tracked back to Abraham through one of the twelve sons of Jacob and his father Isaac.
11-	Thus racial Israel is made up of those who have the genes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  True Israel is made up of those Jews who not only have the genes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but also the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
12-	It is to this latter line that the unconditional covenants are promised.  This line is clearly distinguished in Scripture and is not to be confused with the line of Arabia.
13-	The Arabs claim erroneously that their genetic heritage goes back to Abraham as does the Jews’.  This is true but the Arabic line is tracked back to Abraham not through Isaac and Jacob but through Ishmael and his twelve sons:
Genesis 25:12 -	Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s maid, bore to Abraham;
v.13 -	 and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, in order of their birth: Nebaioth \ne‑bah' yoth\, the first-born of Ishmael, and Kedar \kē' der\ and Adbeel \ad' be‑el\ and Mibsam \mib' sam\
v. 14 -	and Mishma \mish' ma\ and Dumah \dū mah\ and Massa \mas' a\,
v. 15 -	Hadad \hā' dad\ and Tema \tē' mah\, Jetur \jē' tur\, Naphish \nā' phish\ and Kedemah \ked' a‑ma\.
14-	This is neither the genetic nor the spiritual line of the promises.  The God of Abraham is YHWH Elohim, also called Adonai Echath and these names refer to the Messiah of Israel identified as Jesus of Nazareth.
15-	The “god” of Arabia is referred to today as Allah but can be traced back to al‑ilah, the cultic moon god of ancient Mesopotamia.  Arabs do have an earthly promise from Jehovah that involves a land grant but the Jews have both earthly and eternal promises in the unconditional covenants to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
16-	Paul affirms his association with these promises due to his genetic line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Benjamin.
Romans 11:1 -	I say then, God has not repudiated His people has He?  Definitely not!  For I also am an Israelite, from the seed of Abraham, tribe of Benjamin.
17-	When Paul asserts that Israel is not rejected he makes reference to the spiritual line.  Throughout history God preserves a “remnant” of Jews who are believers and Paul gives as his illustration those who were preserved in the Northern Kingdom under Ahab and Jezebel.