Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you,
➡️provided you continue in his kindness.⬅️
➡️Otherwise you too will be cut off. ⬅️
Romans 11:22 ESV
God’s kindness is manifested in his eager desire to forgive, heal, and restore, and in his forbearance to condemn. His severity is manifested in his willingness to exile, inflict suffering, and even to eternally condemn if it becomes necessary.
God is love, but he is also vengeance. Never mistake love for niceness. God is loving and kind, but he is not nice in the sense that he always wants you to feel good. He will hurt your feelings and crush your very bones if it could drive you or your neighbor to repentance.
For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
Romans 11:21 ESV
The use of “natural branches” refutes any idea that “the Jews” or “Israel” in this context could refer to anything that is completely divorced from the genetic lineage of Jacob. “Natural” Israel at this point had certainly incorporated many foreigners over the centuries, but the entire analogy falls apart if Israel wasn’t substantially made up of actual descendants of Jacob.
For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
Romans 11:21 ESV
Since the salvation and grafting of Gentiles is solely by faith, not because of anything they have done, some say that there is nothing they can do to lose that new status. However, Paul is delivering a clear threat that being arrogant towards the native branches that have been cut off could cause God to cut those Gentiles off again.
The concept of eternal security is so clearly refuted in these verses (and many others!) that I am amazed that anyone could ever believe it, let alone scholars and theologians.
Have you ever stopped to ask what it really means to be a leader? I’ll be honest—I used to just accept whoever was in charge. Church leaders. Bosses. Even city and state officials. If they wore the title, I assumed they were worthy of it.
Maybe you’ve done the same.
But over time, we all start to see the cracks. We’ve seen leaders lead with wisdom—and others lead with fear. And that got me thinking… What does true leadership look like according to the Word of Yahweh? Especially when fear and confusion are everywhere?
One of the clearest answers comes from an unlikely place: Numbers 13. It’s the story of the men chosen to lead Israel into the Promised Land—men who should’ve inspired faith, but instead spread fear. And because of that, an entire generation missed out.
If you’ve ever been disillusioned by poor leadership—or if you’ve wondered whether real, Spirit-led discernment still exists—this post is for you. Come see the truth of Yahweh’s promises. Come see the connection to Yahshua, our perfect leader, who still calls us to trust and follow.
👉 Read it here: https://afflicted4messiah.word....press.com/2025/06/21