“Who has known the mind of the Lord?” (Romans 11:25-36)

 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?”

 

 

[Romans 11:25-36]

 

 

During the morning prayer meeting last week, I received a lesson from God about ‘The church dispute' centered on 1 Corinthians 1:10.  The lesson of God is that there are three causes of disputes in the church.  The three causes are: (1) not agreeing with one another, (2) not uniting in mind, and (3) not saying the same thing.  The reason why all the members of the Corinthian church did not have the same mind was because they were proud (4:6).  And because of their pride, they went beyond what is written (4:6) and boasted of themselves rather than the Lord (1:31).  As a result, there was envy and strife in the Corinthian church (3:3).  Upon hearing the news of this conflict, the apostle Paul (1:11) wrote a letter to the Corinthian church and said: “Is Christ divided?” (1:13)  In order for us to keep the unity of the church, we all must have the same mind.  In other words, we all must have the heart of Jesus (Phil. 2:5).

 

Paul, who had the heart of Jesus (1:8), told the saints in Rome, especially the Gentiles, in Romans 11:11-24, not to take pride in being engrafted into the Church of God (v. 18).  Then he admonished them, “Do not be arrogant, but be afraid” (v. 20).  Why did Paul exhort the saints in Rome not to be arrogant?  The reason is because all the Gentile believers in Rome received salvation through the grace of God and entered (engrafted) into the Church of God.  In other words, the Gentile believers in Rome did not have the ability to enter the Church of God, but God had the ability to bring them into the Church of God (11:23).  So, God allowed them all to enter the Church of God.  To the Gentile saints who came into this Church of God by God's exclusive grace, Paul exhorted, “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God” (v. 22).  And he told the Gentile saints to abide in God's lovingkindness (love) (v. 22).  Then, in today's text, Romans 11:25-32, Paul introduces the mystery of God to help the saints in Rome, especially the Gentiles, to avoid being arrogant, claiming to be wise.  The mystery of God is the mystery of God.  This mystery of God is that in saving the Israelites, which is His will (purpose), Israel will be saved only after the full number of Gentiles is saved.  Look at Romans 11:25-26a: “I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.  And so, all Israel will be saved, ….”  What Paul is saying here, ‘all Israel will be saved,’ does not mean that all Jews will be saved, without exception. We should not just interpret these words verbatim.  Rather, we must interpret these words in terms of what Paul is talking about throughout the book of Romans.  For example, in Romans 8:29 or Romans 11:2, which we have already meditated on, Paul refers to those whom God foreknew (8:29) and those whom God predestined (8:29, 30), and God did not reject His people whom he foreknew (11:2).  In light of this word, in Romans 11:26, “all Israel” does not refer to all Jews, but refers to those whom God foreknew among all Jews, that is, those whom God chose before the foundation of the world.  That's why Paul said that he was trying to save some of the Jews (v. 14).  Then, in saving His chosen people among the Israelites, which is His will (purpose), God said that His method was to harden some of Israel until the full number of the Gentiles came in.  What does this mean?  It does not mean that the Israelites will become partially hardened until all Gentiles are saved and enter the Church of God.  The meaning of this word is that only after all of God's chosen people among the Gentiles are saved and enter the Church of God, then all His people who have been hardened beforehand will be saved.  How will God deliver those whom he has foreordained (chosen) among the Israelites?  Look at Romans 11:26b-27: “…  as it is written: ‘The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.  And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’”  Here, Paul, quoting Isaiah 59:20, says that God will send the Savior, Jesus Christ, to this earth to take away the sins of the ungodly Israelites whom God chose beforehand, so that they may be saved.

 

When I think of this mystery of God, I have summarized His mind in two ways in saving those whom God predestined among His covenant people, the Israelites, that is, His people whom He chose before the foundation of the world, which is His purpose:

 

First, God's heart is to have mercy on the disobedient chosen Israelites.

 

If we look at Romans 11:30-32, there are two words that are prominently repeated: “disobedience” and the word “mercy”.  Both words appear four times in Romans 11:30-32.  The realization that God gives through these two repeated words is that if God used the disobedience of the Israelites and showed them mercy so that they would not be abandoned forever, He would not let them stumble.  How amazing is God's providence and grace?  How wonderful it is that God uses even their disobedience to save His chosen people and show them mercy.  So, as Paul wrote letters to the saints in Rome, in Romans 11:1, “Did God reject his people? By no means!”, and in Romans 11:11, “Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery?  Not at all!”  God did not forever destroy the Israelites who disobeyed the gospel, but had mercy on them, did not forsake them and did not allow them to stumble and fall beyond recovery.  This God is my God and your God.  The God who has mercy on us is the God who shows mercy to us rather than judges us when we disobey His word, so that He does not forsake us and keep us from stumbling and falling beyond recovery.  Do we really know the heart of this God?

Second, God's heart is the heart of loving the disobedient chosen Israelites.

 

Look at Romans 11:28 – “As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs.”  Here Paul goes on to write letters to the saints in Rome, telling them that God loves the Jews, the enemies of the gospel who disobey.  God, who loves the Jews who were enemies of God because of their disobedience to the gospel principle, loved those whom He had predestined among them, so that He called them to the gospel and gave them the gift of eternal life without regret in calling them to the gospel and giving them the gift of eternal life (v. 29).  In other words, God does not change in saving the chosen Jewish people without any conditions (Park).  How wonderful is God's sincere love and gracious God's great love?  God's zeal for salvation directed the gospel to the Gentiles in order to save the disobedient Israelites and those who were enemies.  He wants to save the chosen people among them.  How great is God’s love?

 

With this great love and abundant mercy, Paul realizes God's mysterious work of saving His chosen people (whether Jews or Gentiles) and is praising God like this: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!  Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?  Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” (vv. 33-35)  Here, Paul is praising God after telling the saints in Rome about the mysteries of God through the letter.  He is God's rich wisdom and knowledge, God's immeasurable judgment, God's path undiscoverable, and the unknown heart of the Lord.  Especially when he thought of God's future plan for Israel (Chaps. 9-11) (MacArthur), he couldn't help but praise God.  He couldn't help but praise God when he thought of God's heart, God's great love and abundant mercy toward Israel.  He praised God like this when he thought of God’s deep heart toward His chosen people: “For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be the glory forever! Amen” (v. 36).

 

As I meditated on Romans 11:25-36, I became convinced that God loves His chosen people whom He predestined, both Jews and Gentiles, and uses even their disobedience to show mercy to them, so that He will never abandon them forever and will never let them stumble beyond recovery and save all His people.  Do you and I really know this heart of God?  When I thought of God's heart, I remembered 1 Timothy 2:3-4: “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”  This is the heart of the Lord.  The Lord's heart is that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are saved.  God's heart toward our church wants no one to perish, but everyone to repent and be saved (2 Pet. 3:9).  If you feel even a little of this heart of God today, you must repent and turn around and believe in Jesus Christ to be saved.  And we must glorify God by praising His great love.  Glory be to the Lord in all ages.