ROMANS 9:25-29 "NOT MY PEOPLE" Both Peter and Paul quote from the same passage in the Old Testament (Hosea) making it clear that not all of the Jews will be God's people. Believing Jews - are, those who refused the Gospel when it was presented to them - are not. The Gentiles who heard the Gospel after them are brought into the blessings of God along with those few Jews who in faith believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Lord. Only a few Jews comparatively speaking, would be saved as Isaiah had prophesied. So now, better than being called the people of God (the Jews as a nation), both Jews and Gentile believers are called "children (sons) of the Living God."
Israelites are given a glimpse into the future when only a few of the population will survive to come into the blessings of the kingdom. The conclusion of God's dealing in longsuffering and grace will come quickly once that day comes. God is "longsuffering, not willing that any should perish," but when His prophetic plans are put into action, things will take place in rapid succession. The Great Tribulation will envelop the whole world in a rapid unfolding of events that will leave only a "remnant" that will be survivors.
God will intervene in His grace before the total annihilation of the human race takes place. The illustration used is of Sodom and Gomorrah as the people who are only a distant memory because of their iniquity. In His sovereign grace, God allows a remnant of Israel, and of the human race, to survive the judgment of the Tribulation. If it wasn't for God's elective mercy every single person would die during that terrible time. How grateful we should be that God has brought us into His family as children of the Living God.
Who are those people that have survived so long? They are not of the great nations that seem so strong. They seem different in some ways as they pass along - They are children of the Living God!
Very few people in the past paid much attention To those who quietly live among them without pretension. They heard the Gospel and respond to its truth with sincere retention - They are children of the Living God!
There are Jews among them, although only a few. More came from Africa where they once knew God was taking His people from among them too - They are children of the Living God!
From Asia and Australia and all the distant isles,
There are those coming into the family, though it took awhile For messengers to get there traveling for many miles - Now they are children of the Living God!
They are not without difficulties even though they're children of God - The lives they live are guided by God's living Word, And by grace given to them they are walking with the Lord - Because they are children of the Living God!
It is not always easy to live righteously in an ungodly world - Seeing how loved ones and friends are into earth's cesspool hurled - But they stand strong in faith with committed hearts like flags unfurled. For they are children of the Living God!
"What grace Thou hast shown me, Father, in that I have been able to be linked with Thy sons and daughters. May our gatherings this day be blessed by a sense of Thy presence and power among us. May there be an uplifting of spirit and mind among us all. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen."