Romans 11:15–32

"World" here clearly means the Gentile world as distinct from Israel. God brought this reconciling about by changing His dealings. That change led Him to set Israel aside from their special place of national favour. It also led Him to bring the Gentile world before Him for blessing. Before, the Gentiles had turned their faces away from God on purpose, and He had turned His face from them. Now He has turned toward them; and as Paul said elsewhere, "this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will listen" (Acts 28:28). This change in God's dealings has taken place. Paul was the chosen servant sent to offer salvation to the Gentile world.

There is no such idea in the Bible as "God being reconciled to the world." The Church, or the saints, are said to be reconciled to God — never the world... The true meaning of the phrase in Romans 11 I take to be that God is now turning the fall of Israel into blessing for the Gentiles, and instead of overlooking the times of heathen ignorance, He is now dealing with the world by the word of reconciliation.

The Jews had been in an ordered relationship with God, though unfaithful to it; the world was out of all relationship. Men were completely without God in the world. They were shut out from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, with no hope and without God in the world. When Israel fell, this state of things ended. God now called everyone everywhere to repent. God took up the world again, no longer overlooking the ignorance.

Ezekiel saw the bones live, and the men stand on their feet. But then God gives us the real meaning and proper use of it... Here the same God uses resurrection as a picture of the blessing He is going to give the people of Israel. Luke 15 uses the picture in the same way for the conversion of the prodigal son: "this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." Paul uses the same picture for the blessing that will come to the world one day through the restoration of Israel.

When God receives Israel back into His favour, it will be an event of a resurrection character, as Ezekiel 37 has shown us. We fully believe that in the short "end of the age" period there will be both the literal resurrection of saints and the figurative resurrection of Israel.

The coming in of the fullness of the Gentiles cannot mean the conversion of all the Gentiles. The earlier part of the chapter itself speaks of fuller blessing to the Gentiles — to the world — through the reception of Israel than through its fall.

If the casting away of the nation leads to the gospel of reconciliation going out to the world, then indeed, when they are received back into blessing as a nation, it will be life for the world. All the prophecies of millennial blessing for a world under the curse await the restoration of Israel as the centre of blessing for the earth.

The godly remnant of Israel at the present time is the first-fruit of the restored nation. If the firstfruit is holy, so will the lump be — the nation as a whole. If the fruit of the tree is holy, so are the branches. Israel is thus likened to an olive tree planted to produce fruit.

By the words "first-fruit" I understand the apostle to mean the nation of Israel in its first calling and honour... So the apostle's argument is that the nation's final destiny will be worthy of that first calling.

Is it Christ? How could that be? No one was ever joined to Him by natural birth... Again, if any are cut off who seemed on the outside to be joined to Christ... there is no hint, no suggestion that they are ever grafted in again. On the contrary, we are told that nothing but final ruin awaits them. Christ, then, is not the root of the olive tree. He is the Vine. Can it be Abraham?... What, then, can the root be but Abraham? God made the promises to him (Gal. 3:16), and Israel belonged to him by natural birth, as his descendants.

There seems no doubt that "the firstfruit" and "the root" in verse 16 refer to Abraham. He was the father of all Israel, the first man God openly chose to bless and to make a blessing to others (Gen. 12:2). Israel are then the natural branches, and for this reason they are "holy" — not in themselves, of course, but in their outward position, just as the children of believers are. Compare 1 Cor. 7:14.

The olive naturally speaks of what the Spirit is found in, for oil is a picture of the Spirit. But it carries the same responsibility. What is looked for may not be there in fact. The branches are broken off for lack of a faith they never had. A person can share the richness of the olive tree and still not have it... When the apostle speaks of the lump being holy as the firstfruit was, he means Abraham, who was set apart to God. Israel had the same setting apart, but it was not necessarily more than outward.

It is astonishing that people who believe in the eternal life of the believer can apply the olive-tree, of which we next hear (Rom. 11:16-24), to salvation or the Church... Take these branches as the Jews, the natural heirs of the promise to Abraham, and all is plain. They have been broken off in part... The unbelieving Jews were in the olive-tree: who will say that they were ever in the Church?

God had promised Abraham, "In your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." So that this promise should not fail, the branches of the wild olive tree — the Gentiles — were grafted in among the remnant of Israel. Believing Jews and Gentiles now share the root and richness of the olive tree together. But the grave danger is that the Gentile rests on outward privileges alone. He is linked with the children of the promise, yet may fail to value the gospel of God for himself, and so prove unreal.

Now to Gentiles, if cut off, remember, no restoration is promised. For Israel there is a hope held out, on the condition stated with it.

Some argue that the olive tree is the Church, the natural branches are Jews, and the wild ones Gentiles. But notice how such handling of God's word obscures all true understanding of Scripture. Are true members of the body of Christ broken off? And do others keep their place only as long as they stay faithful?... But how simple it all is when we see not the Church, but the privileges of grace. The olive tree is the line of privilege throughout the world's history. It began with Abraham. It carried on in those who came after him, though they were "broken off" because of their unbelief. It has now passed on to Christendom, where crowds of Gentiles enjoy privileges they had never known before... The Church is not touched, but profession and responsibility are. Unfaithful Christendom will be "broken off," and repentant Israel restored again.

The olive tree represents the line of promise and testimony ("by nature" Israel, the descendants of promise who came from Abraham)... If we take Israel at the root, we must take it in Abraham, for before him there was no question of Israel. The nation began in the person of Abraham himself. So the root of the promises is Abraham. The fatness is the sap that springs from the root and flows through the tree. It answers to the promises that God placed, as it were, in Abraham.

In the fullest sense the root is Christ Himself. Abraham got his blessing from Christ, though unknown to him on earth, for the Son of God had not been revealed... The fatness, that is, spiritual enrichment, did not come to a man because he was descended from Abraham as a Jew. It came because he shared Abraham's faith, and shared in the blessing Abraham enjoyed. This is open to Gentiles as well.

On the one hand some, not all of the branches, have remained, and do remain in connection with the root. Naturally they were part of the tree. Other natural branches have been broken off and cut away from the tree. Yet if God pleased to do it, He could graft them back into their own olive tree. Meanwhile something else has happened. A wild olive tree has been grafted in among the natural branches. So together with the branches that have always stayed joined to the stem, it shares in the root and fatness of the olive tree.

But in nature the graft is good and the root is wild. The sapling is a crab apple — wild and sour, and the fruit small. The gardener grafts in a cultivated variety, and there you have an apple that is large and sweet. But here the graft is wild and the root cultivated — "contrary to nature," as the apostle is careful to point out. So the branches do not bear the root, but the root bears the branches, and the only thing that will cause the branches to remain and prosper is belief.

No doubt those who make up the church, Christ's body, come in as branches. They stand through faith in the place of the broken-off Jewish ones. But others come in too, who only profess to be Christ's. They do not value God's goodness. They abandon it for forms, or scepticism, or open evil... This is no question of saving grace, but of earthly responsibility, according to the testimony given first to Israel and then to Christendom.

What, then, is this root? Is it Christ? How could that be? No one was naturally connected to Him... Christ, then, is not the root of the olive tree. He is the Vine. Can it be Abraham?... So what can the root be but Abraham? God made the promises to him, and Israel was naturally connected to him as his physical descendants.

In nature the graft is good and the root is wild. The sapling is a crab apple, as we say — wild and sour, with small fruit. The gardener grafts in a good variety, say a Cox's orange pippin, and the tree then bears a cultivated apple, large and sweet. But here the graft is wild and the root cultivated — "contrary to nature," as the apostle is careful to point out. So the branches do not bear the root; the root bears the branches. And only one thing will keep the branches there and make them prosper: belief.

It is argued that the olive tree is the Church, the natural branches are Jews, and the wild ones Gentiles. But see how such handling of God's word blocks all true understanding of Scripture. Are true members of the body of Christ broken off? And does the standing of others depend only on their faithfulness?... The olive tree is the line of privilege running through the world's history. It began with Abraham and continued in those who came after him. They, however, were "broken off" because of their unbelief, and the line has now passed on to Christendom.

It is the tree of testimony on earth, God's separated witness that carries responsibility. It reaches into the millennium, the thousand-year age to come, when all Israel will be saved. It does not wipe out the difference between Jew and Gentile. It keeps the Jews as the natural branches, though Gentiles may be grafted in for a time.

The natural branches of the olive tree were broken off, and the wild olive, or Gentile, grafted into the old stock of profession. And here is the warning: "Then you will say, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.'" Has this not been exactly the feeling of Christendom? Contempt for the Jews. Shock at their wickedness. And total blindness about their own condition.

The reason why Israel lost its position for a time, as a nation, was its unbelief and pride. The Gentile has been brought in only as a favour from God; not because he is any better than the other. If therefore he develops the same pride and unbelief that marked the Israelite, shall he not also be cut off? Indeed he will.

The Gentiles' admission to privilege is linked with the failure of Israel. In the same way, the taking up of the Jews again for blessing is linked with the falling away of the Gentiles. A solemn fact for Christendom!

Remember this: if Gentiles are cut off, no restoration is promised to them. For Israel a hope is held out, on the condition stated with it.

The Jews are meant by the natural branches. They had held the promises of old, and so they had the responsible place of witness for God on the earth. That is why they were the original branches of the olive tree, the line of promise and witness on earth which began with Abraham. And here is the warning: "Then you will say, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.'" Has this not been exactly the feeling of Christendom? It has shown contempt for the Jews, shock at their wickedness, and complete unconcern about its own condition.

Unbelief had broken off the natural branches. Faith was the means that brought the foreign shoot in. Faith is the condition of their standing. Just naming it silences the self-congratulating boast he had just warned them against.

Faith makes everything of God. So let the Gentiles beware of pride that makes something of self. They too may fall into unbelief.

The reference to the grafting of trees in Romans 11 shows that the practice existed then. It speaks of Gentiles, the wild olive branches, grafted into the good olive tree. Scripture calls this "contrary to nature." Gentiles have now been grafted into the tree of witness on earth, and of promise. But later the natural branches, Israel, will be grafted again into "their own olive tree." It does not refer to individual salvation.

It is very important not to confuse two things. One is the continuous line of the inheritance of the promise on earth, the olive tree. The other is the mystery of Christ and the church, where everything is new and above nature. No member is ever broken off the body, and the Jew is no more a natural limb of it than the Gentile.

All such stand by faith, or not at all. He did not spare the natural branches, so we cannot expect Him to spare the grafts if they do not value His goodness. So comes the threat in verse 22: "you also will be cut off." This is not a question of individual salvation, which the failure of an age cannot touch. The point is that God will reject Gentile profession as a whole, just as He rejected Israel in an earlier age, if it is not faithful.

Paul anticipates such an attitude in Romans 11:19 and 25. There is the danger of being wise in our own eyes, as if all our resources are in our own hands. That would despise the lessons of Israel's history and failure, which are there to instruct and warn us.

But the Gentile must not boast. He says, "you do not support the root, but the root supports you." And note this: it was because of unbelief they were broken off. It was not because God willed to break them off, but because of their own unbelief. And the Gentile stands by faith.

The place of the Gentile Church as a branch grafted into the olive root has already been stated. Now we are told the only terms on which that place is kept. Unbelief had broken off the natural branches. Faith was the way the foreign shoot came in. Faith is the condition of their standing, and the very mention of it silences the self-congratulating boast he had just warned them against.

We receive the gospel on the basis of faith. The believer's whole life from that moment on rests on faith too. What we receive by faith produces faith. This principle of faith rules out all efforts of the flesh.

Let the Gentile then beware. Israel was cut off because of unbelief. The Gentiles come into blessing only through faith in God. Faith makes everything of God. Let the Gentiles beware of the pride that makes something of self, in case they too fall into unbelief.

Over-confident claims and a self-righteous spirit are no evidence of faith, and where faith is missing we should expect the cutting off. Faith gives the spirit of godly fear — a healthy reverence for God's just rule.

But how simple it all is when we see not the Church, but the privileges of grace. The olive tree is the line of privilege throughout the world's history. It began with Abraham and continued in his successors. They were "broken off" because of their unbelief. The line has now passed on to Christendom, where great numbers of Gentiles enjoy privileges they once had no share in. All is clear. The Church is not touched, but profession and responsibility are.

No doubt those who make up the church, Christ's body, come in as branches standing through faith in the place of the Jewish ones broken off. But so do others who only profess Christ. They do not value God's goodness. They abandon it for religious forms, or scepticism, or open evil. This is no question of saving grace. It is a question of responsibility on earth, according to the testimony given — first to Israel, then to Christendom.

So the Gentile gets a full warning. He is shown the principle of God's dealings — the goodness and severity of God toward those who fell, the Israelite branches cut off. "Toward you goodness, if you continue in His goodness." Otherwise the Gentile branches would be broken off, as the Jewish ones were. Have they so continued? Has Gentile profession continued in the faith and walk once delivered to the saints?

The Greek phrase kata phusin means "according to nature." The name natural branches belongs to the Israelites, branches of the olive tree which God planted on earth. Rom. 11:21, 24.

The Jew came from Abraham, the man first chosen and called out so that the promises would run in his line (though their effects reached everyone else). So the Jew had been the natural trunk, or branches, of the olive tree. The Gentile grew wild outside. But God must have branches that match the root, and because the Jews did not, judgment went out against them. It was clear, then, that the Gentiles had the most reason to fear. If God had dealt with the failure of Abraham's descendants, no one could imagine that He would tolerate Gentile wickedness.

"For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you" — this is most likely how we should read the clause.

The unbelieving Jews were broken off because of unbelief. Now in no sense could anyone say that the Jews were broken off from the church, for they were never in it. The apostle also speaks of breaking off the Gentile branches. That cannot be the church either, because in no sense can anyone say that the church of the living God, in its true sense, is broken off. The whole wording of the chapter proves that the olive tree refers to the line and channel through which God administers His promises on the earth.

Notice another important principle here. Enjoying privileges because of your position makes you responsible for them, though it does not mean the person was born again. The Jewish branch stood in the tree of promise and was broken off; the same holds for the Gentiles. There was nothing living or real in them, but they stood in the place of blessing.

Israel was cut off because of unbelief, and only through faith in God do the Gentiles come into blessing. Faith makes everything of God. So let the Gentiles beware of the pride that makes something of self, in case they too fall into unbelief.

Proud claims and a self-righteous spirit are no evidence of faith. Where faith is missing, expect the cutting off. Faith gives the spirit of godly fear — a healthy reverence for the just government of God.

It is impossible to apply this to the believer as such. The apostle is speaking of the general professing body. This is the danger facing what people commonly call Christendom — everyone baptized to the name of the Trinity. God warns them here that He will cut them off if they do not continue in the goodness He is now displaying.

This does not touch the question of individual salvation, which Christ secures forever. It is a matter of responsibility in God's present dealings on earth. Who will pretend that Christendom has continued in the goodness of God?

Should we not take warning? The time is near when the unfruitful branches will be torn out of the olive tree, and the natural branches, turning back to God at last, will be grafted in again to their own olive tree.

Look at both the goodness and the severity of God. He shows us His unchangeable character as the God of judgment, and with it the riches of His kindness. He cut off those who had fallen in order to maintain His own glory as the righteous avenger of His name. That same line of righteousness applies to the professed people of His name — Gentiles who hold the title of Christ as their own. It would condemn, with equal impartiality, whatever failed to meet the one condition of continuance.

Who is addressed here? It is either one person who professes Christ, or a whole body of people that the apostle pictures as one person and speaks to in that way. The context shows it is not the first, but the second. The grand subject of the chapter is the partial, temporary setting aside of Israel. In their place God brings in the present body that professes His name, mainly Gentile, to carry the responsibilities of God's people on the earth… But what has taken their place? The body that professes His name — Christendom. That is the body the apostle addresses here.

It is very important not to confuse two things. One is the continuous line of the promised inheritance on earth: the olive tree. The other is the mystery of Christ and the church, where everything is new and above nature. Members are never broken off from the body… No doubt those who make up the church, Christ's body, come in as branches. They stand through faith in the place of the broken-off Jewish ones. But so do others who only profess the name of Christ. They do not value God's goodness. They give it up for forms, or scepticism, or open evil… The question here is not saving grace. It is responsibility on earth, according to the testimony entrusted first to Israel and then to Christendom.

The goodness of God now revealed in the gospel is Christ. He is the propitiation for human sin and the display, in grace, of the righteousness of God… Who then continues in the goodness of God? Only those who once received the knowledge of that goodness by faith and have never moved away from Christ, the true and only hope of the gospel. Putting works in the place of grace. Letting justification by faith alone decay into self-righteousness and outward forms. Keeping the name of Christ and the letter of the gospel, while denying or never knowing the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. All of these are departures from the goodness of God, which He expresses and gives in Christ alone.

Romans 11 calls it a fatal presumption to think that the church, as God's present order on earth, cannot fall away. That presumption leads the Gentile Church to its ruin. The Holy Spirit condemns those who think this way as wise in their own eyes. He teaches us instead that God would act toward the present order as He did toward the one before it.

Scripture says nothing about being restored. That will not do: what is needed is to "continue." It is like a man who has broken the law saying, "I will do right from now on." That does not meet the law's claims.

When the true Church has been caught up to be with the Lord, judgment will fall on unfaithful Christendom. Then God will turn back in grace to Israel, if they do not continue in unbelief, and He will graft them back into their own olive tree, according to the power of God.

Some argue that the olive tree is the Church, the natural branches are Jews, and the wild ones Gentiles. But see how such handling of God's word blocks all true understanding of Scripture. Are true members of the body of Christ broken off? And does the position of others depend only on their faithfulness? ... The olive tree is the line of privilege throughout the world's history. It began with Abraham and continued in those who came after him. But they were "broken off" because of their unbelief, and the line has now passed on to Christendom.

And note this: unbelief is what broke them off. It was not because God chose to break them off, but because of their own unbelief. And the Gentile stands by faith.

The Jews will not continue in unbelief. They will truly repent and bless Him who is coming in the name of Jehovah. Then, in sovereign mercy, God will graft them once more into their own olive tree. This will not happen under the gospel. As far as the gospel goes, they are enemies for our sakes.

They were cut out of the olive tree because they turned away, but they will be brought in once again. Verse 23 shows that this is possible: "God is able to graft them in again." Verse 24 shows that it is probable: "How much more will these … be grafted into their own olive tree?" Then the apostle rises higher still and shows it to be certain: "Blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in."

But the tree of promise remains. The Jewish branches will be grafted in again into their own olive tree — the original place of the promise made to Abraham, "for God is able to graft them in again." They will not be grafted into the church. Far from being in it, they were broken off when the church was founded.

When God restores Israel, He will lift them from a condition much like the one the Gentiles were in when His grace took them up as His chosen ones. Yet the tree He grafts them into will be their own (verse 24). They will never be removed from it again, but will flourish in everlasting righteousness.

And I ask, Has the church continued in God's goodness? Is what we now see in Christendom what God set up in His church at the beginning, or anything like it? ... They have not continued in God's goodness. You can see that most plainly. We are conscious of it ourselves. But if they do not continue in God's goodness, the apostle says, the whole of Christendom will be cut off, and the Jews will be grafted in again. ... As soon as the Lord has gathered the real church of God and taken them up to heaven, He sets up the Jews again.

It is precisely through being wise in its own conceit that the professing church has fallen. It has looked on the Jews as entirely set aside, forgetting that "the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable" (older translations: "without repentance") — that He never changes His mind.

Note carefully that "blindness in part" has happened to Israel. "Blindness" is a very strong word. It means being hardened like a stone. The noun in verse 25 is a medical term, "callus" — the hardening of skin. This then is the moral state of God's earthly people. And it is not limited to Israel. Ephesians 4:18 uses the same word for the state of the Gentiles.

The blindness that has come upon Israel is only blindness in part. The nation is not blinded nevermore to see, nor fallen never to be restored, nor cast off never to be received. The time of their casting off will end when the fulness of the Gentiles has been brought into blessing.

"The fulness of the Gentiles" is a very different thing. Israel, as a people, are now set aside, though a remnant is saved by the gospel, according to the election of grace. God is filling up the number of Gentiles He intends to save. The word "fulness" might be rendered "complement." In this way He is calling out of the Gentiles a people for His name. He is gathering to Himself the allotted number out of every nation, tribe, people and tongue. When that number is complete, the fulness of the Gentiles will have come in — come in to God. So "the times of the Gentiles" and "the fulness of the Gentiles" are two very different things.

"In part" strictly means in part. It is not just a softening of a severe statement. And "until" marks the point in time when the great change takes place. Calvin said that "until" does not mark this, and means no more than "that." That shows the strong prejudice of a good man whose knowledge of the language was imperfect… "The fulness of the Gentiles" cannot mean the general conversion of the world to Christ. The apostle's earlier reasoning in this chapter makes that certain. He asks: if the slips of the Jews were the world's riches, how much more their fulness?

It is because the apostle is speaking here of the Church as a stage in God's dealings. It came in through Israel's blindness, and it cannot go together with Israel's national blessing. Seen that way, the Church is Gentile, and it does not stop being Gentile when individual Israelites come into it. When they do, they take the same ground as the Gentiles… and they become detached from the nation as pictured here.

The fulness of the Gentiles means the full number of the saved, gathered out from among the Gentiles. They make up the church, the body of Christ. And when the body is joined to the Head in glory… the Lord will turn again to Israel. All Israel — that is, all Israel living in that day — will be saved, when the Deliverer comes out of Zion.

Israel is the subject of God's plans. God does not cast away what He has foreknown and appointed to blessing. This rests on positive grace. God does not change His plans, even though Israel has no righteousness... The apostle gives three proofs of this truth. First, there was a remnant chosen by God. Next, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make the Jews jealous. Third, the Deliverer will come out of Zion to turn away the ungodliness of Israel.

It is the future national restoration and salvation of Israel. They will be restored to their place in the line of God's testimony and promises on earth; heavenly hopes do not come into view here... Plainly it is the Jews, the literal Jews, who are meant here. The chapter distinguishes them from the Gentiles, and contrasts them with the Gentiles, from verse 11 on, and very clearly in this verse 26. "The fullness of the Gentiles" means the complete number of Gentiles who believe — all the Gentiles who share in the blessing while Israel stays stubborn.

A chosen remnant of Israel is spared. God will bring them to believe and graft them back into their own olive tree — not into the Christian church, which was never their own olive tree. They will become the nation — the "all Israel."

As the Spirit interprets the prophecy there, we are not to look for it to be fulfilled in the salvation of all Israel until after the full number of the Gentiles has come in. That is only going on now, so it is not complete. So the moment has not even arrived to begin applying it to Israel. But faith can profit by it at any time.

But what will bring this about? "The coming of the Deliverer out of Zion," replies the apostle. But is not Christ the Deliverer? And has He not come? Yes; but not out of Zion. He has come out of Bethlehem, and out of Nazareth, and, thank God, out of the grave also. But not yet out of Zion. Zion is the royal city, David's city; and when the King of kings reigns there, then Israel's deliverance will be complete.

The apostle cites the prophecy of the Redeemer coming to Zion as His coming out of Zion. Both are true, and each fits its place. The Redeemer must come to that mountain of royalty in the Holy Land so that He can come out from there. He will come to the righteous remnant, to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, and He will also turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Their hearts will be converted before Jehovah appears at the worst of their distress and destroys their enemies. But that appearing will deepen all their feelings toward Himself, and bring them into peace and blessing fully and for ever.

The Redeemer is now called the Deliverer, for He will prove to be both. When He came as the humbled Servant of the Lord He did redemption's mighty work. When He comes to Zion in His glory, He will bring the deliverance that redemption made righteously possible.

Some try to read the church into every Scripture. They do not see that the glory of Christ will have an object of His love on earth as well as in the heavens. They have fallen into the Gentile conceit that Romans 11 denounces and corrects.

In Jeremiah's beautiful prophecy there is no "if." The words that mark it are, "I will." Israel and Judah do come into the picture. But they come as those who receive, not as the important actors. The new covenant will come when God acts in the sovereignty of His mercy. Its righteous basis was laid in the sacrifice of Christ, which Isaiah spoke of. God will put His law inside them and write it on their hearts. Keeping it will then be as natural to them as breaking it once was. They will come into the light of the knowledge of God. All their sins will be forgiven, and even the memory of them dropped. And all of it comes by an act of God's sovereign mercy, as the closing verses of Romans 11 make so plain.

Israel's hardening was true then and still goes on — though, we may bless God, only in part. It was announced long before. Yet the same prophet, and the rest of the prophets too, look ahead to the bright day for the earth when all Israel, as such, will be saved. The fullness — the full number — of the Gentiles who now believe will have come in. And so the long guilty, long chastened people of the Lord will turn to Him. They will own Him in the crucified Nazarene as their Lord and their God. It will be just like Thomas, who represents them here: he saw Him and believed.

But how is this to come about? By the Gentile Church preaching the gospel to Jews? Not at all. Their faith will not be in an absent Christ. It will be in One they see with their own eyes, coming out of Zion to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. When they see, they will believe.

The heart of Jerusalem must be washed (Jer. 4:14) before God can place salvation in Zion for Israel His glory (Isa. 46:13)… But in that day a fountain will also be opened for the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness (Zech. 13:1). Then His people will know the once-rejected Jesus as their Saviour. He saves them from their outward enemies, and from the sins they will then admit. The verse next following claims for Israel the full blessing of the New Covenant.

This is no doubtful issue: God's covenant with them was to send His Son to them in glory and majesty. True, He came once in lowliness, and they refused Him. But that cannot cancel God's promise about His coming in glory. At that time He will take away their sins — and of course Calvary laid the basis for it.

Mercy through the Lord our righteousness has raised us up and seated us in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6). In the same way, in the day when all Israel will be saved, mercy will rejoice in the lower parts of the earth. Only one covenant takes away sin through the Deliverer. That covenant will establish Israel, just as it now establishes the saints.

It is the Jew, not the church, that is in question throughout. Zion measures the privilege and the guilt of Judah. Nowhere in Scripture is it applied to the church, which is Christ's body… And so it is with Rom. 11:26. To read the church into any New Testament use of Zion would yield no right meaning.

The Jews proved hostile to the gospel instead of being saved by it. God turns that, as we have seen, into His gracious call of the Gentiles in the meantime. But in the last days the love of election will still prove faithful to the sons for the sake of the fathers... He may regret creation (Genesis 6), but never what grace gave in promise to Abraham and to his offspring.

"As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake" — and God treats them as such. Their own distinctive promises are put on hold, so that He may gather the Gentiles into the church... These are words often quoted, but rarely applied the way the Spirit of God applies them here — to the calling and promises of the nation of Israel!

Instead of accepting it and believing themselves, they are enemies. The apostle says they hinder us "from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved."

As regards the gospel, they are enemies as a people, so that the Gentiles may be brought in. But as regards the election of the people, they are loved for the sake of their fathers. Clearly this is the election of the people. It stands in contrast with blessing through the gospel, and the ground of their being loved is the fathers — as we find again and again in the Old Testament, in places like Exodus 32:13 and Leviticus 26:42.

This does not apply at all to what people call the spiritual Israel, for they are friends as regards the gospel, and loved by God the Father — not because of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Take it as the literal nation of Israel, and everything is simple... The election spoken of here is the election of the beloved people Israel. It must not be confused with the election according to grace, by which, during the time of Israel's rejection, called Jews and Gentiles are taken for heaven. The first is a national election, the second an individual election, which sets us in far greater blessing, since its aim and result are to bring us into heaven.

In God's government of the earth, Israel, or a great part of it, may be cut off because of sin and unbelief. "Lo-ammi" — "not my people" — may stand written over the nation for centuries. But God's affection and final purpose never change, and Israel can never stop being the nation of His choice.

Through this unbelief they lose all right to the promises. So they must receive what the promise gives on the ground of pure mercy and the sovereign grace of God, just like the poor Gentile... Their apparent loss of everything is only the means of their receiving everything from sovereign grace, instead of having it by human righteousness or by a promise they never forfeited.

He loves Israel — loves them for the sake of their fathers. We can be sure He will not approve our meddling with their place, their portion, or their future.

If God is the giver of the blessing, He does not change. The gifts of God are without change of mind on His part. When it is not a gift or a calling of God, He may repent. So He repented of making the world (Gen. 6:6), as we are told; and He destroyed it. That was not a gift; it was simply an act, however immense. But in sovereign love He calls poor guilty men to Himself to make them His own. He gives eternal life, for instance, or forgiveness of our sins, or the place of a child. Such benefits are the gifts and calling of God, and they are without repentance. Here His mind never changes.

When it is a question of God's gifts and calling, which are according to His purpose, no change of mind is possible. When it is a question of His ways with sinful men, they vary in detail, though in the end all achieve His purpose. God tested Abraham, telling him to offer up Isaac, but when he had fully responded, God cancelled the order, having reached His purpose.

We Christians boast of this, that "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance"; well we may — it is a scriptural principle. But to whom does the apostle apply it? Not to us, but to the Jews.

The meaning is this. The Jews proved their hostility to the gospel instead of being saved by it. God turns that, as we have seen, into His gracious call of the Gentiles meanwhile. And election love will still prove faithful in the last days to the sons for the sake of the fathers. This is not the principle on which souls are blessed now, whether from Gentiles or from Jews. But after the actual unbelief of the Jews, sovereign mercy will step in at the end of the age. He never repents of what grace gave in promise to Abraham and to his descendants, nor of His call, first shown publicly in Abraham, the father of the faithful.

As to God's government of the earth, Israel, or a great part of it, may be cut off because of sin and unbelief; and Lo-ammi, "not my people," may be written over them for centuries. But God's affections and final purpose never change. Israel can never cease to be the nation of His choice.

The words "fallen from grace" are sometimes used wrongly. People take them to mean that a believer once stood in the grace of God, and God has now thrown him out of it because of his bad behaviour... In the case of a true believer being caught up in this, the fall, we repeat, is in his own mind and conscience. God's grace and the relationship that grace created stay the same, for "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."

The Gentiles had no claim to salvation; they were dead in sins, in unbelief. God showed them pure mercy. Israel would not believe such mercy. They forfeited all their privileges through unbelief, so that God might at last save them as a whole nation — but as objects of mercy... Not one will be found in the church above or in the future kingdom of God on earth who has not been saved as an object of mercy.

"For as you were once disobedient to God but now have become objects of mercy through their disobedience, so they also have now become disobedient to the mercy shown to you, so that they also may become objects of mercy." (Verses 30, 31.)

The literal reading of verses 30 and 31 is important. It is very wonderful, and shows the principle — He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. The Gentiles had no claim to salvation; they were dead in sins, in unbelief. God showed them pure mercy. Israel would not believe such mercy, and lost all their privileges through unbelief, so that God might at last save them as a whole nation, but as objects of mercy.

So the Spirit of God shows the wonderful moral wisdom of God in these plans. The Gentiles had long been unbelieving, so now it was pure mercy to them. The Jews had rejected this mercy shown to the Gentiles, and were themselves in unbelief, so it had now become pure mercy to them too... The Jews had promises, and if they had received Christ, faithfulness would have fulfilled those promises in Him... But the Jews rejected Christ, and so came under mercy like the Gentiles.

First, God brings Gentiles — outsiders, without God and without hope in the world — into this mercy in a wonderful way, through the very unbelief of Israel. Let Gentiles learn well from this that they are only a second choice, having never been the chosen people of God. This dismisses all high thinking. God has conquered them by mercy.

The express point is to crush all conceit in both Jew and Gentile, and above all in the Gentile, who now enjoys light while the Jew sits under a dark and cold eclipse. Nowhere does Scripture hint that the mercy shown to the Gentiles is the means (or a means) of Israel's recovery... The Gentiles were warned that they must be cut off if they did not continue in God's goodness, so their sentence is to be cut off, not the honour of bringing Israel into the faith.

God's way in giving His gifts and carrying out His call is to use man's unbelief as the occasion to show His mercy. He shuts all up in unbelief so that He may have mercy on all. So the great truth stands: we owe all blessing to the sovereign grace of God.

If the Gentile Christians at Rome were justified and saved, it was through the mercy of God (see Rom. 11:30). It was so likewise with any Jews there. It was all the mercy of God. God will receive the nation back at last on the ground of mercy, after the Gentiles have turned away. Because of the tender mercies of God, we are to give up our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service.

This says that the Jews as a nation will receive mercy through the Gentiles' mercy. No doubt that is what the translators thought. But it is a mistranslation... "These have now disbelieved the mercy shown to you Gentiles, so that they too might be brought in on terms of mercy." The promises had belonged to the Jews. But they forbade anyone to speak to the Gentiles so that they might be saved, and so filled up their sins... God shut up all in unbelief: the Gentiles by nature, the Jews now in His wise ordering of the ages. So both might come in on the same terms of mercy.

It clashes with the chapter, because the earlier argument treats the restoring of the Jews as life from the dead for the world. It does not make the full number of the Gentiles the means of restoring them. It clashes with the context, because the whole point here is to crush all pride in both Jew and Gentile... It clashes with Scripture as a whole, because nowhere does Scripture hint that the mercy shown to the Gentiles is the means of Israel's recovery.

As a nation the Jews rejected the Gospel just because it was mercy, sent especially to the Gentiles (Acts 22:21-22 shows this). In the end they will be deeply humbled. They will receive blessing on the same ground as the Gentile they had scorned as a dog.

But Israel would not believe. They refused the fulfilment of God's promise when He sent them His beloved Son. What claim can they dare to make now? The promises really were theirs. But since they refused them so proudly, it is plain that to receive them now they too must become mere "objects of mercy."... So the mercy given to the Gentiles is a lesson in humbling for Israel. It puts them on the same level.

This is what makes the apostle cry out at the depth of God's wisdom. The rejection of the Jews brought mercy to the Gentiles. And since they rejected Christ in unbelief, it brought the Jews in on the footing of mere mercy too. Yet God only showed Himself all the more true to His promise, which He carries out despite everything.

The Jews refused a mercy that took up Gentiles. So they lost all claim on God, and became objects of mere mercy just as much as the Gentiles. But this is how God could show them mercy — once it was clear that mercy was all it was. He will show this mercy in a day that is coming fast, and all Israel will be saved, that is, the nation itself. The words have nothing to do with universal restoration.

The Gentiles had no claim to salvation. They were dead in sins and in unbelief. God showed them pure mercy. Israel would not believe such mercy, and lost all their privileges through unbelief. So God will at last save them as a whole nation, but as objects of mercy... In the church above and in the future kingdom of God on earth, not one will be found who has not been saved as an object of mercy.

The failure of Jew and Gentile shuts up all the world to the mercy of God.

God's way of giving His gifts and carrying out His call is to take occasion by man's unbelief to show His mercy. He shuts all up in unbelief so that He may have mercy on all. So the great truth is established that we owe every blessing to the sovereign grace of God.

So they were all sinners. God dealt with them in holiness and love and truth. This only brought out two things: the stubborn refusal of both Jew and Gentile to submit, and the incomparable mercy of God. Man's claims, righteousness and privileges all ended in unbelief and rebellion. But God never shone out as God more truly than in His mercy that lasts for ever.

The application of "mercy upon all" is a complete misapplication. Here is what the apostle is teaching. The Gentiles had no promises, so mercy to them was sovereign mercy. The Jews had broken the law, and they rejected the promises when they rejected Christ, in whom those promises were held. So they too now come under mercy, just like a Gentile — though the promises will still be fulfilled. The "all" in verse 32 refers to the Jews and Gentiles of verses 30 and 31.

The Jews refused a mercy that took up Gentiles. So they lost all claim on God, and became objects of mere mercy just as much as the Gentiles themselves. But in that way God could show them mercy, once it was clear that it was mercy and nothing else. God will show this mercy in a day that is coming fast, and all Israel will be saved — that is, the nation as such. The words have nothing to do with universal restoration.

They rejected the Messiah and hated the good news going out to the Gentiles. This brought out the full measure of their guilt. If God shut all up in unbelief, it was so that He might have mercy on all... Even the Jew, who stood on the principle of righteousness, comes in on the ground of mercy.

You will not find one person in the church above, or in the future kingdom of God on earth, who was not saved as an object of mercy. In both cases the free favour of God reigns in triumph.

He must show in all His ways that man throughout is a debtor to mercy alone. This is what draws out the apostle's worship as he sees the "riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God." The plan is His. Man could never have worked it out this way. Left to himself, he would never take the very place where God's grace still finds him.

On the ground of mercy He can bless in a way and in a measure none of us could ever claim.