WOW! GOD IS AT WORK!

Romans 11:25-12:1
September 24, 1995
Bob Bonner

Prussia, up until the mid 1800’s, was a kingdom unto itself. But in the middle 1800’s, Prussia was made part of the country of Germany, and eventually Prussia became the largest state in Germany, before WWII. Recently I came across a bit of history concerning Prussia during its last days as a monarchy. I am not able to verify the source of this bit of history, so it may or may not be true. None the less, the point of this story, whether true or not will carry itself.

It seems that during the reign of King Frederick William III, the King was having a discussion with his chaplain. The King was questioning whether or not the Bible could really be the inspired Word of God that believers had said it was for centuries. The King said to his chaplain, “Give me, in a word, proof that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.” Without hesitancy, the chaplain replied, “Your Majesty, it is possible for me to answer your request with great literality. I can give you proof in one single word, that the Bible is in fact, the Word of God.”

The King looked at him in amazement and said, “What is this magic word which carries such weight of proof with it?” The chaplain replied, “Your Majesty, the word is Israel.” [ROMANS, Barnhouse, vol. IV, p. 107]

Although there may be many single words that would point to the logical conclusion that the Bible must be the inspired Word of God, I can think of no better word than that of Israel. The miraculous history of the people of Israel, the chosen people of God, that they as a nation even still exist, and that so many different Jewish authors contributed to the work of the Bible and that they don’t contradict each other in any way; and the mere fact that the Bible is filled with prophecies about the future of Israel, all of which have been fulfilled to this point in time that were supposed to fulfilled, points to nothing less than the Bible being a supernatural work of God.

The nation of Israel indeed, along with the scriptures, is something special to study. I am grateful to the Apostle Paul, in his letters to the Romans, to have included in chapters 9-11, what he has concerning the place of Israel in God’s plan for the world as they relate to their Messiah, Jesus Christ.

[Chart] If you have been following our study of the book of Romans, you might remember that these three chapters of Romans deal with the following subject matter. In chapter 9, Paul speaks of how before the foundation of the world, God called the nation of Israel to Himself, to be a special people through whom He would direct the attention of the world to Himself. Then, in chapter 10, because of Israel’s hard-heartedness and stubbornness toward God, God temporarily rejected Israel, put them on the shelf, so to speak, and began working with the Gentiles. Finally, in chapter 11, Paul warps up this segment of Romans with God’s future plans to restore the nation of Israel to a place of prominence.

All throughout these chapters, there has been one very strong underlying theme. And that theme has been the obvious sovereign work of God, not only as seen through His working with the nation of Israel, but how God works in the lives of all people. There is no being greater, wiser or more powerful than God. There has never been a time when this world was out from under His control. He alone is sovereign and only He deserves our complete and undivided attention. Only He is worthy of our worship.

In the first half of chapter 11, Paul teaches us that even though Israel as a nation has turned its back on God, and that today it is no more seeking God than the U.S. is seeking God, God has never turned His back on Israel. He has not permanently rejected Israel, He has temporarily put Israel on a shelf, but they are still His chosen people through whom He will make Himself known and glorified.

In addition, Paul has explained in chapter 11 that God has deliberately begun working with the non-Jewish peoples of the world, not only to save them, but to stir up such jealousy in the Jews, that they would return to worshipping and following the God of their forefathers, Yahweh. Through working with the church, one day, God will draw Israel back to Himself, to a place of prominence in the world, showing to everybody that Israel indeed is His chosen people.

Now beginning with Romans 11:25, Paul wants to spell out the future spiritual standing of Israel as it pertains to her relationship with God, and then from verses 28-32, we want us to understand Israel’s present spiritual status with God.

Concerning Israel’s future Paul writes, “For I do not want you, brethren, [here he means the non-Jewish Christians brethren] to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;”

The term “mystery” does not refer to a truth that is too difficult to understand but rather it refers to a truth that has previously been unrevealed and therefore unknown to certain persons. In the ancient world, a “mystery” was something unknown to most people but to some it is revealed and understood.

The “mystery” to which Paul refers is that which Paul mentioned in the previous verses 11-24; namely that God has reached out to the Gentiles with the good news about Jesus Christ, and the Gentiles have put their trust in the Jewish Messiah. Meanwhile, the Jews, because of a hardening of their hearts by God, have not seen Jesus as their Messiah. Nor have they ever understood how God was going to join Gentile and Jewish believer into one body called the church. Instead, the Jews have rejected Jesus and the Gentiles as genuine followers of Yahweh. Jesus and God working through the Gentiles is a mystery to the Jews.

Paul is making the Gentiles Christians aware that they are now privileged to understand something concerning Israel and God’s plans for Israel that not even the Israelis understand. It is a mystery, something hidden to them. One day it will be revealed to Israel, but for now, it remains a mystery to them.

Paul is pointing out to us Gentiles that the only reason we understand this mystery is because God has supernaturally revealed it to us. It has nothing to do with Gentile believers being wiser or more brilliant than the Jews. Jews are not dumb, just temporarily hardened by God in this specific area of knowledge. Therefore, Paul warns us non-Jewish believers not to become conceited or to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, simply because we understand this mystery.

Paul goes on to explain that the Jews will, when “fullness of the Gentiles” comes to an end, eventually understand this mystery. But what is “the fullness of the Gentiles” and when will it end? “The fullness of the Gentiles” is another way of referring to that time period in history, that we are now in, known as the church age. It is during this time that God is directly reaching out to the Gentiles, or non-Jewish peoples like no other time in the history of the world. Through the Holy Spirit, God is building up this very unique entity known as the church, a fellowship of Christians or followers of Jesus Christ. Certainly, there are individual Jews who are being saved and who have made Jesus master over their lives and have become part of the church, but this is not a national occurrence for Israel. Israel as a nation still refuses to recognize Jesus.

But this period of ignorance or hardening and subsequent rejection by Israel will not last forever. One day, when God is finished gathering together His chosen non-Jewish believers, the rapture will take place and the church will cease to exist on this earth, and Israel’s eyes will be opened. When that happens, “the fullness of the Gentiles” will have come to an end. And when it does, Paul adds in verse 26, “and thus all Israel will be saved;…”

When Paul refers to “all Israel” being saved, he means just that. But we must understand that he is referring to the Israel that survives that period of time in the future known as the Great Tribulation. That’s the period of time in the future when the church has been raptured or taken off the face of the earth and the Jews as a nation finally recognize that Jesus was the Messiah and nationally, Israel repents from ignoring God and makes Jesus their Lord.

This point of “all Israel” being saved stands in contrast to what Paul has said earlier in this chapter about only having a remnant of Jewish believers being saved throughout difficult times of history and during the church age in which we now live. There has always been a remnant of true Jewish believers who have put their trust in Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

But in the future, Israel will return to the Lord and turn around as a nation. There will be a national repentance and their hearts will be turned back toward God. To quote John MacArthur, he says of the Jews during this period, “Those who hear the preaching of the 144,000, Revelation 7:1-8; 14:1-5, of other converts, Revelation 7:9, of the two witnesses Revelation 11:3-13, and of the angel Revelation 14:6, and thus safely pass under God’s rod of judgment will then comprise all Israel, which ---in fulfillment of God’s sovereign and irrevocable promise --- will be completely a nation of believers who are ready for the kingdom of the Messiah Jesus…Just as the fullness of the Gentiles will initiate the salvation of Israel, so the salvation of Israel will initiate the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ.” [ROMANS, MacArthur, p. 128-129]

Furthermore, Paul wants us and his readers to understand that this fact that in the future, Israel will be corporately saved, this is not some new fact. This national repentance and saving of Israel as a nation was prophesied thousands of years ago in the Old Testament. That’s why Paul refers to the prophet Isaiah’s predictions in the rest of verses 26-28… He says, “…just as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.’” That is a reference to the future time of the tribulation, in which God will cut off two thirds of Israel and only one third of the nation will be left. This is what Jeremiah 30 refers to as “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” It will be a time of national cleansing and repentance for the nation of Israel.

Again, Paul refers to Isaiah: “And this is My covenant [God’s unilateral commitment] with them, [with Israel] when I take away their sins.” Israel will be forgiven for their national sin of having rejected their Messiah. They will be restored to a place of prominence as a nation and as God’s chosen people. That is God’s promise of hope for the future of Israel. He has not abandoned them.

But at the present time, Israel’s or the Jews national standing before God is quite different. Paul says to the church today, “From the standpoint of {God’s} choice they are beloved [emphasis “still beloved to God”] for the sake of [or on the basis of the faith of] the father;” Because of God’s commitment to the Jews forefathers, mainly based in His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God will not permanently reject Israel even though she is His present enemy due to reject Him and their Messiah, Jesus.

Verse 29, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” From Romans 8 we saw that by “irrevocable” Paul means that once God has sovereignly called or chosen someone to be His forever child, that child is forever and permanently secure in Christ, never to be rejected. “For just as you [non-Jewish believers] once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their [meaning unbelieving Jews] disobedience, so these [present unbelieving Jews of our day] also now have been disobedient, in order that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy.” Simply put, just as God showed us non-Jews mercy by forgiving us our sins and including us in His eternal plans, He has also shown mercy to the unbelieving Jews by offering them a way of salvation as well. “For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all.”

That expression “shut up all” is used elsewhere of something that is helplessly trapped. Like a porpoise that gets caught up in one of those gill nets and cannot escape. Unless someone from the outside has mercy on that porpoise, and let it go it will die in the net. Similarly, we have been helplessly controlled by our old sin nature and if God didn’t bring a Savior and have mercy on us and cause us to be born again, we would have perished and never had the opportunity to maintain a personal relationship with the living God. Hence, as Chuck Swindoll once said, “God’s mercy is the medicine for the miserable.”

So what has been Paul’s point in giving us this history lesson in these last three chapters of Romans on how God has chosen to work with the Jews and then, to put them aside to work with non-Jews, like many of us, and then in the future to work with the Jews again? Why has the Spirit of God gone to all of this trouble of having Paul explain to us the past, present and future history of all peoples? I believe that his primary motive for doing this is that God wants us to be confronted not with just what God has done for us, but to confront us with How He is. He wants us to know what kind of God is behind all of history.

Therefore, at this point I would like to stop for a moment and do something a little out of the ordinary. I’m going to ask you to join with me in a little audience participation better than an interactive video game. I am going to ask you a question, and I want you to try to keep this from turning into pandemonium, but I want you to see for yourselves what the Spirit of God has to teach us about God Himself in these verses, beginning with verse 25 through verse 32. Let’s look at these verses, one at a time and see what we can identify about God’s nature and being, from these verses. As you share your observations, I’ll write them down for all to see. What do you see from these verses that gives us a clue about who God is, or His nature? 

Romans 11:25 – “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in;”

Verse 25 – God is a communicator. He wants us to be informed and to be informed correctly. He didn’t have to communicate with us, but he has. He urgently wants us to understand Him and His plans for this world and for us to understand some of the reasons as to why He is doing what He is doing.

Romans 11:26 – “and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.’”

Verse 26 – God is a deliverer. He wants people to be saved. He gets no joy in seeing people spending eternity separated from Him. God is holy. Unlike us, He doesn’t have a mean motive or sense of evil about Him. He is not wicked. He is set apart from all other beings. Furthermore, He cannot be associated with that which is unholy or ungodly and remain God. 

Romans 11:27 – “And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”

Verse 27 – God makes and keeps agreements. When God makes a contract with His people, He keeps his promises. He never breaks one. God is the only remover of sin. We can’t wash away our sins, only God can pay for them and make us right before Him. He does it all!

Romans 11:28 – “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of {God’s} choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers;

Verse 28 – God chooses who will be His friends. God is a lover. Again we see that God is faithful to His promises, even to those that were made to past generations.

Romans 11:29 – “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

Verse 29 – God is a giver, not an “Indian giver”. God is the initiator of our relationship with Him. He calls us to know Him. He draws us to Himself.

Romans 11:30-32 – “For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, in order that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all.”

Verses 30-32 – God is merciful. He helps those who can’t help themselves and don’t deserve to be helped.

When we look at all of these attributes of God, Paul is saying loud and clear, one thing. Ever since the beginning of this book, up to this point, Paul’s message has been this: the human race has a serious problem that the human race is solely responsible for, and that is our rebellion against God---our sin. Because of our sin, there is no reason at all for God to be obligated in any way to save one of us. To make matters worse, even if someone wanted to be restored to a meaningful relationship with God, there is no way on one’s own that a person could do it themselves. We must have help from the outside.

Furthermore, it is solely because of a merciful God, who possesses all of these other attributes that we have just seen that any of us have been saved. He has had a plan throughout the ages to rescue and deliver us rebels against God who want to change our lives and focus, so as to know God better and serve Him fully. There is much that we don’t understand about all the workings of God, but the spirit of God is driving home to us through Paul’s writings that although we don’t fully understand, God does and He is sovereignly in control as He redeems people to love Him.

When you look at these attributes of God and how He cards for you, how does knowing these things make you feel? Secure, loved at peace, not so afraid, full of hope, awed, desirous of knowing and serving Him more…

Likewise, Paul in these last verses of this chapter expresses in an outpouring of praise, known as a doxology, we see his response to the mercies of God, to his knowledge of Who God is and what He is doing. Paul declares “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” “Knowledge” refers to raw information---facts and data. “Wisdom” on the other hand, is the ability to apply knowledge to the best end. God has the ultimate in both knowledge and wisdom.

Paul continues, “How unsearchable are His judgments.” In other words, God’s thoughts and actions and why and how He does things is beyond the realm of human comprehension. Like a mountain climber who has reached the summit of Mt. Everest, the apostle can only stand in awe of God’s beauty and creative works. Hence, Paul adds, “… and unfathomable His ways!” The term “unfathomable” is a word that comes from the art of tracking down game by studying footprints. In this case, Paul is saying that trying to track down God’s ways and fully understand where He is going and how He is planning to get there is impossible. We humans can’t track God! He is beyond us. The Psalmist declares the very same thing about God when he writes in Psalm 77:19, “Thy way was in the sea, And thy paths in the mighty waters, And thy footprints may not be known.”

You get the point. Paul is absolutely overwhelmed with Who God is, and mainly what God knows, simply because Paul has seen and understood a little bit of God’s plan to reach out to the human race, to save us and to offer those who want it, a personal relationship with God. Paul is utterly beside himself. He is awestruck by what God knows. There is nobody else like Him.

That’s why Paul adds, “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor?” The prophet Isaiah put it this way, “Who has understood the Spirit of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor? Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way? Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?” (Isaiah 40:13-14; NIV)

Paul continues his praise of God, “…Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again?” God is self-sufficient and free from any obligation except those He places upon Himself. God is not a debtor to anyone. He owes no being in creation anything.

And then Paul concludes with this statement, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” In other words, God is the cause of all things. Through Him, all things continue on. And in the end, everything comes back to Him as the final cause for which life exists. He is the source of all life, the maintainer of life and the purpose for which all life exists. Therefore, after everything Paul has taught us thus far about God’s saving work for all the human race, Paul concludes, “To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” [or period!] That’s it. What more can you say about God and His workings throughout history? Nothing!! He is it. He is everything! God stands alone. He deserves to be honored and lifted up by all of His creation.

It’s unfortunate that we have a chapter break right here, between chapters 11 and 12, because it is on the basis of this that Paul introduces the next section of the book of Romans that we will begin next week. But before we stop, I want you to see the response that God should expect from everyone who has understood the saving and life changing work of God in the believer’s life. Look at Romans 12:1 for just a moment. We will come back to this next week. But this statement deliberately falls on the heels of Paul’s doxology in chapter 11 for a reason. Paul says, “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, {which is} your spiritual service of worship.” What is the only reasonable response to all that God has done, is doing and plans to do for our lives? Worship! To humbly turn over all of ourselves to Him, to dedicate ourselves totally to Him, that He might use our lives to bring others to Him, who might in turn worship Him.

Now do you see why here at Crossroads, that we say and believe that the only reason we exist is to “Call the world to worship and follow Jesus Christ?”

What a privilege we have to know and be related to such an almighty sovereign being. 

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