I am so concerned about my people, who are members of my own race. I am ready to be cursed, if that would help them. I am even willing to be separated from Christ.
They are the people of Israel. They have been adopted as God's children. God's glory belongs to them. So do the covenants. They received the law. They were taught to worship in the temple. They were given the promises.
Not everyone in Abraham's family line is really his child. Not at all! Scripture says, "Your family line will continue through Isaac."--(Genesis 21:12)
In other words, God's children are not just Abraham's natural children. Instead, they are the children God promised to him. They are the ones considered to be Abraham's children.
Here is what happened. Rebekah's twins had not even been born. They hadn't done anything good or bad yet. So they show that God's purpose is based firmly on his free choice.
In Scripture, God says to Pharaoh, "I had a special reason for making you king. I decided to use you to show my power. I wanted my name to become known everywhere on earth."--(Exodus 9:16)
But you are a mere man. So who are you to talk back to God? Scripture says, "Can what is made say to the one who made it, 'Why did you make me like this?' "--(Isaiah 29:16; 45:9)
What if God chose to show his great anger? What if he chose to make his power known? That is why he put up with people he was angry with. They had been made to be destroyed.
He also says, "Once it was said to them, 'You are not my people.' In that very place they will be called 'children of the living God.' " --(Hosea 1:10)
Earlier Isaiah had said, "The Lord who rules over all left us children and grandchildren. If he hadn't, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been like Gomorrah." --(Isaiah 1:9)
Why not? Because they didn't look for it by faith. They tried to get it by working for it. They tripped over the stone that causes people to trip and fall.
It is written, "Look! In Zion I am laying a stone that causes people to trip. It is a rock that makes them fall. The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." --(Isaiah 8:14; 28:16)