The Perfect Plan
Romans 11:11-36
The failure for the Jews to accept the Messiah resulted in crucifixion. The crucifixion was a public rejection of the only way to God. By their rejection, God showed His public acceptance of the offering and glorified the Messiah. The glorification of the Messiah resulted in the global democratization of grace. But if the Jewish people could come to understand their purpose and function in God’s glorious plan, their repentance would result in eternal joy.
The roots of Judaism are holiness. Therefore, what grows from these roots will result in holiness. Thus, the branches will be holy. But, if the branches fail to be holy, then they will be broken off. The rest of the world, however, now can be grafted on to the holy roots and become partakers of the tree. The branch has no reason to be arrogant because the branch would not exist if it were not for the roots. In other words, Gentiles are now welcomed into the church, but before they begin to disrespect Judaism, understand that Judaism brought about the Messiah. God created Judaism. If the unholy Jewish branches were stripped away, then unholy Gentile branches will be stripped away as well. But the Jewish branch can be re-grafted on if they choose holiness made possible by the Messiah.
But the Jewish rejection and blindness was by design. The rejection of the Messiah was in the Hebrew scriptures. In other words, the church ought to have a heartfelt appreciation for Judaism and the Hebrew scriptures. We are not better than the Jews, we are equally in need of the Messiah. Just as the Jews had a function, the Gentiles have a function: to bring the Jewish community into the Messianic Kingdom. By the example of obedient Gentiles, many Jews can be saved. All are disobedient, but disobedience has a function. Sin shows us that we need God’s grace. This is the wisdom of God.
Paul must now stop in verse 33-36 and praise God for this wisdom. Only God could think of a way to make grace accessible to the world through a foolish and rebellious nation. God has officially made His mercy accessible to the world by showing the world that because of their sin, they need mercy. But to bring about this mercy, He used the very sin that the mercy was for, to bring about the mercy. Now because of the sin, God made the mercy possible, and the mercy is available to all that are willing to acknowledge the sin and be obedient to God; both Gentile and Jew. It is the perfect plan. The Jewish people were supposed to be the solution, but they only magnified the problem. Thus, God used the problem to bring about the solution: Jesus Christ.
