Supreme Mercy
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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.
This is a mystery! That is something not previously revealed. The deep and powerful truth which Paul shares in this passage stirs his soul so much that when we get to vs.33 Paul breaks out in the doxology of praise and worship of God.
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.
This leads me to feel that unless my own soul is stirred to this point then I have not full understood this mystery. It’s my prayer that our heart would be stirred up this morning to worship such a wise and merciful God.
Paul begins by saying what he does not desire.
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.
1. Pride of Ignorance
1. Pride of Ignorance
As we have seen one of Paul primary concerns in this chapter is pride particularly among the Gentiles.
18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
Boast= To glory in or to take the glory for something.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”
20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.
Haughty= high minded or proud Think highly of yourself
Now Paul says I don’t want you to be wise in your own opinion or literally wise in your own self. To think you are wise within yourself when you are not wise to others.
So how does Paul intend to devoid us of conceit? By educating us with truth. The antidote for pride is truth. to be proud is to be delusional, living in a fantasy world out of touch with reality. So if pride is delusion then humility is reality. So often we think that we are humble if we put ourselves lower that we really think we should but really we are just prideful if we think we should be higher than we place ourselves. Humility is rightly knowing my place and being in that place. It is to not think of myself more highly than I ought but rather to think of myself exactly as I should.
2. Israel Will be Saved
2. Israel Will be Saved
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;
Partial Blindness of Israel
Not total blindness as there has alway been a remnant who believe. This has happened until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. That is, once all the chosen of the nations have come to Christ through repentance and faith.
And then… all Israel will be saved.
Three words here need more clarification.
All
Not all without exception but all as in the whole or as it said in vs 12 fullness
12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
Just as there is a fullness of the Gentiles there is a fullness of Israel. and they will all be saved.
Israel
Calvin believed this to mean the true Israel or the church of both Israel and Gentiles. Critics of this view point out that throughout the rest of this chapter Israel has referred to ethnic Israel and that it would be out of context for Paul to use the word here to refer to the church.
I believe that Paul has in view exactly what he has already stated in vs 11-12
11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.
12 Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
Ethnic Israel is provoked to jealousy through the salvation of the nations. This was Paul’s hope that through his own ministry he might provoke to jealousy those who are his flesh that they might be saved.
Saved
Paul give us a scriptural basis from Isa for his argument in the next verse which will give us a clue to what is meant by saved here.
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.”
The Deliverer will come our of Zion is a reference to Christ
He will turn away ungodliness meaning He will bring them to repentance
I will take away their sins meaning forgiveness and cleansing from sins.
So it’s clear that what Paul has in mind is the same salvation that the Gentiles now have which is repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
Paul’s confidence in this salvation of Israel is founded in the election.
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
“They” Israel, are enemies of the gospel for “your” The Gentiles sake. This is a reiteration of what Paul has already stated.
He then tells us that concerning the election, meaning the election of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and for their sake Israel is still beloved of God.
God still loves Israel and still has plans for their redemption.
why
Because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. This statement of truth has major implications. God has not and will not utterly reject the nation of Israel because of the election of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God will never reject His elect. Literal He does not repent of electing those He choses.
If you already feel the stirring of your soul to worship God for this truth just wait there is more.
3. Mercy on All
3. Mercy on All
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.
This is the mystery, God in His wisdom and infinite might has brought mercy our of disobedience. First Gentiles were disobedient yet it was through the disobedience of Israel that mercy was shown to the Gentiles
11 I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles.
Now because of God’s mercy to the Gentile and because Israel has become disobedient God can show mercy to Israel.
15 For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
This is that cain of blessing that Paul has already spoken of. However the parallel that we see here is that for both Jews and Gentiles disobedience is met with God’s mercy.
In the final conclusion he states
32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
The word committed used here is like a prison cell. God has locked up all in the cell of disobedience so that the only possible escape is the mercy of God.
So here Paul brings it back to his theme throughout the whole letter.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
There is no place for boasting there is no room for pride or conceit they are excluded through the acknowledgement of the truth. So that all that is left is praise and worship in the God who has shown us mercy.
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.