One of my favorite things to do is to mess with the people I love. Is that rude? Maybe, but it is one of my love languages. I specifically like to do this with my son. I like to mess with him in a playful way. He loves to eat at McDonalds, and sometimes, we will use that as a reward or something for him to look forward to at the end of the day. Now, if you have kids, you know that they will never forget something that you promised them. All day, he has been thinking about McDonalds and talking to me about McDonalds. Eventually, we got in the car, and he immediately asks me, “Are we going to McDonalds?” This is where I mess with him and say, “What? McDonalds?” I pretend that I forgot about promising him McDonalds. He gets sad and thinks we are driving to a random place until he sees those beautiful golden arches and exclaims, “Dad! You tricked me!” The excitement in his voice gets me every time. Will he eventually stop falling for it? Probably, but it is so much fun.
1. Can you think of a time when your parents did this to you? Have you done this to your kids before?
Romans chapter 11 talks about God’s promise to the nation of Israel, and it begins with a massive question that Paul asks in verse 1: “I ask, then, has God rejected his people?” He is addressing a question that many people were asking at the time and one that I am sure many of us will ask if we look at the state of the Jewish people. They have rejected Christ, they crucified Christ, and they refuse to follow Jesus as the Savior of the world. Does this mean that God has forgotten about His people and the covenant made with them? I would encourage you this week to read through Romans 11:1-24 to hear Paul’s response about the hardening of Israel. First, let us go back to the original covenant God made with Israel.
Genesis 17:7-8 records, “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
2. Do you think this promise has already been fulfilled to Israel?
3. Could the people of Israel have made this promise void because of their disobedience?
Starting in Romans 11:25, after detailing what Israel’s disobedience meant and how we, as Gentiles, have been grafted into the people of God, Paul gives us the mystery of how this promise will one day be fulfilled to the people of Israel. Romans 11:25-27 says, “Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob’; ‘and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’” I am glad Paul called it a mystery because it really is mysterious. How will there be salvation for the nation of Israel? It is a beautiful mystery because it gives us another glimpse into the amazing goodness and mercy of our Heavenly Father. His faithfulness endures forever!
4. What does Paul mean when he says, “Until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in”?
5. When Paul says “all Israel,” does that mean every single Jew, or does it have a different meaning?
6. Do you think Paul is referring to a “spiritual” Israel or an “ethnic” Israel here? Explain your thinking.
Paul goes on to write how it is possible that the nation of Israel as a whole will come to salvation in the next few verses. Romans 11:28-32 states, “As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” How wonderful this doctrine of election is! God made the covenant. He made the promise. He will be faithful to that. We do not need to worry if one day He will forget about us like some people think He forgot about the people of Israel. He never forgot them. He always had a plan for them. His mercy is greater than any disobedience.
7. What does this mystery teach you about the character of God?
8. Why should it be encouraging for us to know that God still has a plan to fulfill His promise to the nation of Israel?
This amazing reality will come to pass at the Second Coming of Christ. When the Gospel has been proclaimed to every tribe, nation, and tongue and the fullness of those whom God has elected among the Gentiles will be brought in, then God will shift His focus to the people of Israel during His Millennial Kingdom. When He comes again, He is saying that they will see Jesus as the Savior He really is, and they will turn to Him and repent of their sins. This truth should leave us responding the way Paul does in Romans 11:33-36, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”
9. Do you enjoy contemplating the mysteries of God’s plan? Why or why not?
10. How can you practically praise God for the mysteries of His plan this week?