“All Things exist from Him, through Him and to Him”

Paul ends the three chapters, 9, 10 and 11 with a doxology, in chapter 11, verses 33-36, a prayer of praise to God for the wisdom He has shown in His plans. In these three chapters, which by the way, can stand on their own as a separate treatise on the Destiny of the Jews, Paul is grappling with God’s plan for Israel. That he is a part of this destiny, makes him all the more vulnerable and we have seen the anguish of his heart poured out in these chapters.

Israel is the chosen race by God, chosen so that His blessings could flow to all the families on earth through the descendants of Abraham. The one thing that the Jews were eagerly anticipating over centuries was the coming of the Promised Messiah, who will deliver them. But when the Son of Man came, they rejected their own Messiah, crucified him and killed him off.

They couldn’t understand how a carpenter could dare to equal himself with God and how he could deliver them from the rule of Romans. When they were looking for a Messiah to deliver them from the Roman rule, Jesus talked about another Kingdom and deliverance from sin. They could not take it; they finished him off.

Now what is going to be the destiny of the Jews? They had rejected God’s provision of salvation; will God reject them as well? If so, what about the promises made by God to their patriarchs? Will God honor His promises or not?

Paul has tried to show that because of the unbelief of the Jews, doors of salvation were opened up to the Gentiles and they were able to come into the kingdom of God as His children. Through the hardening of the hearts of the Israel, Gentiles came in. It is Paul’s contention that all Israel will be saved. None of God’s promises will go unfulfilled.

How and when will this final salvation of all Israel take place? Though Paul does not spell this out clearly, we can presume how and when it will happen from biblical references.

In Zechariah 12:10, it is prophesied that “…I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”

The Jews as a nation will realize their folly and the grievous error they had committed when Jesus Christ returns, as the Lord and Master of this world. The Second Coming of Christ will be like the First Coming to them. Then they will repent and be gathered into the kingdom of God.[1]

Then, ‘I will say, “They are my people,” and they will say, “The Lord is our God.”’ Zechariah 13:9. Every covenant made by God with the Patriarchs of Israel will then be fulfilled. God’s gifts and callings are irrevocable.

Having assured himself that all Israel will be saved, now Paul turns to praise God for his wisdom and justice and love. In so doing, he makes three or four points very clear.

First, none of us, human beings can understand the ways or methods of God. God goes about His purpose of bringing salvation to the lost race of mankind in His own way, using His own methods. We may never be able to understand it clearly, but one thing we can be sure that God will never be unjust or arbitrary. It goes against His character and attributes. The wisdom and knowledge of God are unfathomable and his justice unsearchable.

Second, none of us, the human beings can know the mind of God. Our own puny brains can understand only so much. It can produce philosophy, scientific inventions, including the deadly ammunition, but cannot know or analyse God’s mind.

Can any one of us be that great in understanding that we can act as counsellor to God, suggesting Him how to rule the earth or the heavens? When we see wrong and horrible things happening in the world and the cruelty and injustice that prevail on earth, we are tempted to blame God and ask the question, is God blind or is He incapable of righting the wrongs?

Paul is quoting Isaiah 40:13 here to show we can neither understand God’s mind nor instruct Him as His counselors. When we presume to do so, we only expose our own ignorance and arrogance. Who are we to criticize or judge God? Are we above God?

Third, Paul makes it clear that God owes none of us anything that He should repay us by obliging us. Here he is quoting Job 41:11, where God in replying Job asks, “Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under the heaven belongs to me.” God is the Sovereign Ruler of heaven and earth, which He created by His power and wisdom. We have nothing, no claim against Him. We can utmost depend on His mercy and grace.

Most of the times in our lives we make wrong decisions using our own free will and land up in bad situations. Then we blame God! Are we right in doing so? Not really.

Paul ends the whole doxology by stating, “For from him and through him and to him are all things.” All things receive their sustenance from God; He is our source, our origin, our destiny and our end. As created beings, we are totally dependent on God. When we realize this fact and order our lives accordingly, we get his unhindered blessings and can live for His glory.

Let us strive towards this goal and may the Holy Spirit give us the motivation and the ability to live so.

Amen.

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[1] John G.  Mitchell, “Let’s Revel in Romans,” 1990, Glory Press: USA, p.327.

All Israel will be Saved

In Romans 11:25 to 32, Paul argues that all Israel will be saved eventually. This, he calls, a mystery. Paul does not want the Gentile believers to gloat over the fact that the Jews are lost, whereas they themselves have been saved.

According to Paul, Israel experienced a hardening of their hearts so that the full number of the Gentiles to be saved could come in. Once that purpose is fulfilled, all Israel will be saved. This is the mystery.

The hardening of the hearts of the Israel was neither total not permanent. It was permitted by the Lord with a purpose, that of bringing in the Gentiles. It was like the heart of the Pharaoh, which was hardened, so that God’s name might be glorified by all the miracles He performed.

God will never abandon His own people, whom He had selected from the time of Abraham; God will not reject his chosen people; they will always have a special place in His plan. God’s promises to the Patriarchs will have to be fulfilled. That is why God, in love, is pursuing the disobedient Israel.

Paul quotes two verses from the Old Testament to prove his point. Isaiah 59:20, prophecies about the final redemption of Israel. “The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,” declares the Lord. The promise is that the Redeemer will come to Zion to those descendants of Jacob, who will repent their sins.

So, it is not that all Israel will be saved. It is only those who repent of their sins and look to God for salvation will be saved. Even in the church that is there today, not all church members will be saved. Only those who have been truly repentant will be saved. 

The next verse, Isaiah 59:21 says, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord. “My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children…” Another promise of God to show that the repentant Israel will follow the word of God and turn out to be obedient, even unto their descendants.

In verse 27, Paul is quoting Isaiah 27:9, “By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin.” Here is the assurance that Israel’s sins will be atoned for and forgiven by God. This would mean a new covenant that God will enter with them.

Paul is merrily mixing and matching Old Testament verses to prove his point. Here he is making use of Jeremiah 31:33, which says, “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”  

This new covenant will not be like the Old Covenant delivered through Moses, written on tablets of stone; but it would be written on their hearts, the flesh of their hearts, or the tablets of their hearts. It will be written in their minds too, so that they will obey it.

This concept is dealt in greater detail in Hebrew 8:8-12. While trying to prove that the New Covenant is far superior to the Old Covenant, the writer of Hebrews, quotes the above verse from Jeremiah and elaborates that the new testament would be written in the hearts of the people, and with the aid of the Holy Spirit, it will be easier to follow, than the law written on stone and mediated by the priesthood.

This writing of the new covenant on the hearts and minds of Israel, will ensure that they follow the commands of God and so that God could declare, “I will be their God and they will be my people.” God’s chosen people, Israel will be reconciled to Him, so that they are called his people and He will be their God.

The next verse Jeremiah 32:34 ends thus, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” God has promised that He will forgive the sins of Israel, so that they will be saved.

We find the whole concept repeated in Ezekiel 36:26-28. Here God clearly indicates saying “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. …you will be my people, and I will be your God.”

This promise of God, though made to the Israel of the Old Testament, is applicable to us, the believers in Christ, who have become His church and the New Israel. What was difficult for the Israel to follow, being a written code, a legal requirement, becomes possible to follow in the New Covenant, because the Spirit has been given to us, who enables us to follow God’s word written in our hearts.

This is the major difference between the Old Testament of Moses and the New Testament of Christ. For us the Holy Spirit has been given as the Counselor, Comforter and the Guide, who will reside in us, and guide us into all truth and enable us to walk in truth. John 14:25, 16:13. This was missing in the Old Testament time.

With regards to the Gospel, the Jews were like enemies on account of the Gentiles, to enable them to come to know Christ and come into the family of God. But with regard to their election, the Jews are loved on account of the patriarchs.

Paul now makes a profound statement. “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” More than anything this statement testifies the unchangeable nature of God. He is self-consistent and utterly reliable. He never changes His promises or His words. They are always ‘yes’ and ‘Amen.’

Gentiles were disobedient to God at one time, but have received mercy in Christ, due to the disobedience of Jews. Israel also though disobedient, will receive God’s mercy and be gathered in as God’s people. God, in His eternal purpose, has let all men to be disobedient, so that His mercy can also abound and reach to everyone, both the Jew and the Gentile. Universal disobedience of man is met with universal mercy of God.

What a great God we have! Compassionate, and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Exodus 34:6. His love is universal, extending to all of us.

Should we not access that love and be saved for eternity!

Amen. 

Grafting in and Cutting off the Olive Branches!

Having described the stupor of Israel and the remnant that will be saved, Paul now turns to the Gentile believers in Romans 11:11-24. Paul’s contention is that the Israel have not stumbles beyond recovery.

The stupor of the Israel and the consequent denial of Christ, had a purpose in divine plan. Israel’s denial of the Gospel led to the Gospel being preached to the Gentiles and opened a way for them to come into God’s provision of salvation. 

Paul and the other preachers of the Good News, when rejected by the Jews turned to the Gentiles, who gladly accepted their message. In Acts 13:46, Paul and Barnabas tell the Jews who were abusing them, “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it …we now turn to the Gentiles, … “

Divine providence brought something good out of Israel’s rejection of the Gospel. Paul is asking, if the transgression or the sin of Israel meant blessings to the world in general as God’s salvation was thrown open to them, and the loss of Jews meant riches to the Gentiles, how much more riches it would bring to the world if the Jews fully accepted Christ!

Paul also has a strategy. He says he is selected by God as the Apostle to the Gentiles. And he makes much fuss about this ministry, in the hope that somehow, he could arouse his people, the Jews, to jealousy, so that they would also accept Christ and come under God’s provision of salvation.

It looks like the prophecy of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:21, “I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding,” was fulfilled. Gentiles were not selected or elected by God to be His own people and as such they had not much understanding of God’s ways, having not been exposed to the Law or His prophets. 

Still, the Gentiles accepted Christ and entered the inheritance, which Jews considered as their exclusive possession. This could move Jews to jealousy and they could decide to enter in too. Paul desires this for his own people and he wonders, when the Jews thus come in, how much more riches it will bring to the world!

The rejection by the Jews meant reconciliation of the world, then their acceptance would mean life from the dead! It would almost be like the dead bones of Ezekiel, Ezekiel 37:7-10, rising like an army of God! A general resurrection of all mankind!

We read in Isaiah 66:8, “Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children.” This prophecy is yet to be fulfilled and would be fulfilled during the Second Coming of Christ, when the Jews will accept Christ.

As Zachariah prophesises in Zechariah 12:10, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn child.” Paul is sure that when that happens all Israel will be saved and that will bring a greater harvest for the Lord.

Paul gives two metaphors to explain the whole phenomenon of rejection by Jews, the coming in of the Gentiles and the final acceptance of all Israel.

First is the offering of the first fruits to God, the ritual practice of the Jews, laid down in Numbers 15:19-21. When a portion of the food is consecrated to God by offering it to Him, the whole of that batch of food is made safe for people to eat. The whole mass becomes holy, though only a portion of it was offered as a holy offering.

Similarly, the converted Jews of the present since Paul’s days, are like the portion of offering made to God, the first fruits; but because that makes the whole batch of food holy, the whole people of Jews have been rendered holy and will be saved. That is Paul’s logic.

The second metaphor of Paul is an Olive tree, dedicated to God, whose roots are holy, which rendered the branches also as holy. When a sapling is planted and dedicated to God, then every branch that comes from it is considered sacred. Israel were the branches springing up from the roots of patriarchs. The faithful remnant is the consecrated portion of the dough.

All Israel have some holiness rubbed on them, from their patriarchs and the remnant. The whole of Israel is beloved for the sake of their fathers. Romans 11:28. Patriarchs were sacred to God; they were chosen, consecrated to God, from whom the nation of Israel sprang up. The special consecration of its founders made the whole nation sacred in a special way to God.

Paul further develops the second metaphor to show the status of the Gentiles in God’s plan. In an olive plant dedicated to God, most of the natural branches were cut off, because of their un-fruitfulness, and branches from a wild olive tree were grafted. The Jews were cut off, because of their unbelief. The Gentiles were grafted in in their place, because of their faith.

The Gentiles are not to feel arrogant, because they are the branches now. Paul warns them that the branches do not support the roots, but the roots support the branches. The Gentiles owe a lot to the original olive tree, the Jews and the Old Testament, for they share the nourishing sap from the patriarchs and their traditions.

Paul warns the Gentiles that they also have to be careful, because just as the natural branches were cut off, the grafted branches also can be cut off, if they become unproductive or show unbelief.

In Jeremiah 11:16 the Lord calls Israel ‘a thriving olive tree with fruits beautiful in form.’ In Galatians 6:16, Paul calls the whole church, comprising of Jews and Gentiles as the ‘Israel of God.’ This tree, the church of Christ, has risen from the old stock, Abraham and the patriarchs. Christians in Christ are the new branches that are grafted onto it.

Finally, Paul talks of the broken branches of Israel being again grafted to the olive tree, the church of Christ, if they come to Him in faith. The Gentiles grafted to the olive tree are from a wild olive tree, which is unnatural.

Usually gardeners will graft branches from a cultivated plant or tree to the stem of a wild plant or tree. In the case of Gentiles, the grafting has been totally unnatural, with branches from a wild olive tree being grafted to a cultivated olive tree, but it was done by God and in His kindness. If God could do this, He can also graft the natural branches again onto the cultivated olive tree, if Israel comes to Him in faith.

So, it is Paul’s faith that the whole nation of Israel will be saved and this will bring enormous spiritual riches to the world and a great harvest to the kingdom of God.  In the meanwhile, the grafted branches, the Gentiles, meaning us, need to be faithful and fruitful in the field of God on earth, or else, like the cut off branches of Israel, we too are in the danger of losing our roots, moorings and the reward.  

Let us be fruitful in God’s vineyard. Praise be to God.

The Supernatural Stupor

Having said categorically that God will not reject Israel, Paul says that God will save for Himself a remnant out of the Israelites. This elect will be saved by the grace of God. For the rest, it looked as if their hearts were hardened supernaturally. 

This hardening of their hearts was a confirmation of their own stubbornness. It happened as a consequence of their rebellion against God and His plan. They were rendered insensitive to His plan and process. God gave these rebellious Jews a spirit of stupor, for they could neither see or hear. Paul quotes Deuteronomy 29:4 and Isaiah 29:10 to prove his point. 

In the quoted verse from Deuteronomy, Moses is warning the Israelites that though they had witnessed personally all that the Lord God did to the Pharaoh and his officials and his land, all the great trial, miraculous signs and great wonders, they still rebelled. 

Moses says, “To this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.” Same tragedy seems to have fallen on the Jews of Paul’s time too. It was obvious that they could not see or understand the sovereign acts of God. It was as if a supernatural or mysterious hand had brought this stupor on them. 

In the quoted verse of Isaiah, the prophet says, “The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (of the prophets); he has covered your heads (of the seers).” 

Isaiah was writing these prophecies in the 8th and 7th centuries, when Judah and Jerusalem were steeped in sin and neglected all warnings from God and persisted in their own evil ways. Their leaders and the people lived as if there was no day of reckoning. Consequently, they received severe punishment of banishment from their beloved city and land. 

The history of these times seemed to be repeating during Paul's time in the 1st century AD. The Jews rejected Christ. The wrath of God was coming on them, as Paul warns in 1 Thessalonians 2:16. A fate bent on their destruction was blinding them to the reality of the situation. It looked as if God Himself did that to them, a divine preparation of the fattened calf for sacrifice.

Same blindness is prevalent in today's world also. People are bent on enjoying their lives with no care for morals and godly commandments. Same sex marriages, vices of the rich and the famous, political corruption, anarchy and wars, suppression of the poor have all polluted the earth. It is ripe for God’s wrath to fall upon it. 

Paul quotes again Psalm 69:22, 23. Here David, while crying to the Lord in distress due to his enemies, curses them saying, “May the table set before them become a snare; may it become a retribution and a trap. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs bent for ever.” He calls God to pour out His wrath on them.

Men were sitting at their tables and feasting comfortably without a care in the world. There was a false sense of security, without knowing the disaster that was coming upon them. Similarly, Jews thought themselves to be safe because they were Abraham’s descendants. They were self-satisfied, with the confidence that they were the chosen people of God. 

Paul saw this arrogance wherever he went preaching in the Jewish synagogues of the Roman world in his missionary travels. They were blind and were groping in the darkness. They were hardened as if a callus was growing over their hearts. They had become insensitive to God’s warnings. A person who continues to sin will become insensitive to sin itself. That is what had happened to the Jews. 

We need to examine our hearts and see whether our hearts have become callus-ridden. Whether we have become immune to sin and sinful ways. Is there rebellion in our hearts and arrogance in our steps, because we think we are Christians, and hence have a passport to heavens. We need to pause and think. 

We need to walk in the light of the Gospel and not in the ways of the world. We need to take the warnings given in the Scripture seriously and lead our lives in the fear of God. In obedience to His words, there is life. Let us embark on that light and not darkness and death.

God save us to be unblemished in this world of evil ways. 

Amen.