The Mystery Made Clear
Ro 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins."
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,
31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
34 "For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?"
35 "Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?"
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
(NKJV)
As we wrap up this section of Romans that deals with the Jewish question that Paul began to deal with in chapter nine, I pray that it will no longer be a mystery to those who are gathered here today and that when all is said and done we can join Paul in his great doxology of praise at the end of this chapter. “Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
Paul broke out in such praise because he was very excited about God’s plans for the Jew and the Gentile and we ought to be excited as well. Paul was very clear on God’s plan for the Jews and the Gentiles and after going through this section, we ought to be clear as well. For he is about to reveal the mystery to us.
Ro 11:25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion,
Paul under the direction of the Holy Spirit starts out by saying it is his desire that we not be ignorant of the mystery that he is about to reveal. His reason being that we don’t go off half-cockeyed as it concerns the Jews. But wouldn’t you know it. The very thing he didn’t want to happen has happened.
People have done all sorts of damage to these passages as they seek to justify their own unbiblical opinions regarding the Jew. The Lutheran commentator Lenski says that the understanding of this passage began well in the early church until Augustine voiced his opinion that Elijah and Enoch would return and convert the entire Jewish nation.
In the Middle Ages. the idea of this general conversion became fixed in the Catholic Church. Then at the Reformation the interpretation returned to a more biblical view, however some still clung to the Augustinian theory and this has now become an inseparable part of millennialism.
You will hear this mass conversion theory on almost al the evangelical radio stations, and you will read about it in almost all the end times books at the local Christian Bookstore. Theories on the Jewish question range from not one will be saved, to a huge revival of Jews that are alive in the last days, to the conversion of all Jews even those who are already dead.
The Holy Spirit did not want this kind of a result and so he gave these words to the Apostle Paul to clear up the mystery, and here is what he said: “that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”
That’s it? That’s the mystery? This is what has Paul all excited? Yup. He’s excited because God has shown him that the blindness of the Jew, brought on by the hardness of their own heart toward Jesus was not complete, not final. In other words there will always be a remnant of Paul’s Jewish brethren until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
Whenever you see the phrase “fullness of the Gentiles” in Scripture know that it is referring to the end, to Christ’s triumphant return.. So as long as this earth exists, there will be Jews, and there will be a part of them that are converted.
Know too that not a single Gentile or Jew that has been predestined and elected for salvation will be lost. The fullness of the converted unbelievers will be present on that Last Day. The Book of Revelation speaks of the 144,000 that will be saved.
This number is figurative it represents those who came to the faith of the 12 tribes of the OT and those who came to faith of the 12 Apostles of the NT. 12 x12 = 144, and 1000 is figurative of perfect completeness. Not a one will be lost! All 144,000 will be there.
It’s not a literal number only representative of all those who have not rejected Jesus! All those who have believed God and had it accounted to them as righteousness.
Think about this. What other nation can make such a claim. Has God ever said, “ I will always have a remnant of Germans or Italians, or Chinese? No! But He has promised that there will always be a remnant of Jews. To quote Lenski, “The world has never known a phenomena comparable to this.”
If you don’t want to believe this concerning the Jews based on biblical evidence, take a look at history! How many have tried to wipe out the Jews? It just isn’t going to happen. Not only will they not be wiped out physically, but some will always be coming to Jesus. They cannot be annihilated spiritually either. What a rich field for evangelism!
DO you remember the part in Romans about God being able to graft the Jew back onto the olive tree? Well that spoke of the possibility, Paul now treats it as a reality! It will happen, and it will continue to happen until our Lord Jesus comes again!
Now Paul uses two very important words. He says “and so.” He doesn’t say, “and then,” he says “and so.” Had he said “and then” the door would be open for some sort of a mass conversion after all the “predestined” Gentiles were home free, but he says, “and so.”
26 And so (because the door of mercy will always be open for the repentant Jew) all Israel (all spiritual Israel, those who are committed to Christ) will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins."
It’s Christ who would physically come out of Zion, (born to Mary and Joseph) who would spiritually bring deliverance through the forgiveness of sins, turning away the ungodliness of the unconverted Jacob, if the Jacob’s of this world, Jew or Gentile would just receive Him.
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
Concerning the rejection of the Gospel by the Jews, in that rejection, as in anyone’s rejection of Jesus, they have become the enemies of God. And as we saw in the preceding verses in Romans 11 this has been of great benefit for the Gentiles. As we have seen, their rejection made room on the olive tree for us, but again not all have been rejected. The door is still open for the sake of the promises made to the patriarchs.
God’s gifts of grace and His calling are irrevocable. And so He still calls out today to Jew and Gentile alike. He still sends His grace into the hearts of men, so that they are able to say with Abraham, “I believe you God” and it is accounted to them as righteousness.
30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,
31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
What is disobedience but disbelief? Let me sum up obedience this way. It’s not about do’s and don’ts. It’s about believing that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners like you and I.
CHRISTIANITY BEGINS NOT WITH A BIG DO, BUT WITH A BIG DONE. We must all first learn to enjoy what God has done for us; not to set out to try and attain it for ourselves. (Watchman Nee)
We cannot do anything but come to the cross and lay our burdened, sin-sick souls on Him, because in Him it is done, it is finished. Then and only then will our heart, now the abode of the Holy Spirit respond to the promptings of His Word. Any other attempt at obedience, is really disobedience.
As Gentiles, we were oblivious to this idea of a Savior, but now because of the disobedience of the Jews, (the rejection of Christ as the only way to salvation) the path of mercy has been opened to our disbelieving eyes. We have obtained mercy because the Jews said to God, “We don’t believe in Jesus.”
For years the Gentile was on the outside looking in. They saw the hand of God on His chosen people. They saw the miracles, but for the most part, few Gentiles were converted. Now the tables have been turned.
It is we, the Gentiles who have obtained mercy, our eyes have been opened to receive Jesus, and we now are to be God’s vessels of mercy to the Jews and others. The beauty of it all is that our disobedience or disbelief has put us all in the same boat.
We have all been shown the results of disobedience or disbelief. It is misery, and there is only one door out of this misery of disobedience and disbelief and it is labeled, “God’s mercy.” That way Jew or Gentile cannot brag. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God lest anyone should boast.
All we can do when we are made aware of our wretched state of disobedience, and how God in His mercy brought His Son to our hearts to set us free, is break out in glorious praise. He has removed us from the status of being the sons of disobedience to the status of His children! What a great plan for Jew and Gentile alike! Salvation by grace and mercy alone!
Salvation that says, “it is done, you do not and indeed cannot do it by yourself. Rip up your list of do’s and don’t’s and come to the cross to receive your free pardon. Then sit in the heavenlies with the One who was crucified, raised, and ascended, and allow Him to work obedience in you through the Holy Spirit.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
34 "For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?"
35 "Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?"
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
(NKJV)
It seems to me that instead of taking these passages and trying to fit them into our own version of millennialism, we ought to have the attitude of Paul! Instead of telling God that you wouldn’t have handled the Jewish question this way, that you have a better idea. Maybe we should just rejoice that we have been granted salvation only because of His mercy.
Maybe we should rejoice because our brother Paul is rejoicing over the prospect of at the very least a steady trickling of his Jewish brethren coming to Christ until the Lord comes again!
Maybe we should learn to rejoice because our salvation is part of a greater plan that seeks to give Him, not us, glory forever and ever. Maybe we should even stop and examine ourselves today. Have we been ignoring God’s call to us? Have we been so busy with the do’s and don’t of religion, that we haven’t stopped long enough just to take in His merciful offer and receive Jesus?
That was the mistake of the Jews you know, let us not make the same mistake. let’s take the offer of God’s mercy without questioning it, let’s gladly allow Him to graft us into His kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ and then let’s allow the sap of the Holy Spirit to flow through us producing fruit for His kingdom.
Do you see the wisdom in this? The consistency of God in all this? Same rules for everyone. Salvation by grace through faith. It is His doing. Give Him praise and give Him glory! 36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
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