The Mind of God

DEVOTION

ROMANS

MIND OF GOD

Rom 11:25-36

25 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. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

"The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." 

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, 29 for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. 32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"   35 "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"   36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

NIV

How will we ever understand the workings of the Lord? Israel was allowed to wander away from God so that the gospel would reach out to us Gentiles. Is that to say if Israel would have accepted Jesus as the Messiah we would never have heard the good news? God did not hardened them, they hardened themselves. Jesus called them a stiff-neck people. He called the Pharisees vipers, whitewashed tombs. God wanted Israel to be the people who gave the world Jesus. In a sense they did by hardening in part until the full number of us Gentiles have accepted Jesus. That makes it clear God knows the exact number of people who will accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. It is not that he has predetermined which one of us Gentiles will be saved, but he knows which one of us will accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. It would seem that is all he is waiting for. Yet what does the full number of Gentiles mean? The Greek word translated full number means completion or fullness, so that could be seen as all the Gentiles or the complete number of Gentiles which might indicate God has a number in mind. But taking into the account the rest of what Paul says concerning all this, we will never know. “Oh the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!” As much as we do know about God from his revealing himself to us, we still do not know his mind. We still cannot understand his thinking. It does not matter how many studies we engage in or how many degrees we achieve in Biblical studies, we will never be able to fathom the wholeness of his mind, his thinking. There are a whole lot of very intelligent minds among men, great scholars, greater theologians then we will ever be, and yet none of them can come close to knowing the mind of God. God is going to do what only God can do. He has revealed himself to us so that we can understand he is the Almighty God of the universe, that all things are made through him and for him. We know enough about God to know his mercy to us in Jesus Christ and that he offers us eternal life through Christ. But the complete workings of God, we will not ever know. We might know more about him when we step into eternity, but we sure cannot and will ever know God in all his glory and fullness. How he saves Israel is beyond our capacity to know. We have thought that all Israel or true Israel is made up of those who have circumcised their heart. If that is so then all Israel will be saved. If, as the context dictates, Israel is the nation of Israel then we have a long wait ahead as first the full number, however many that is, has to come into the kingdom before God reinstates Israel. That also means somehow he will reveal himself in a way they will see the truth and return to God accepting Jesus as the long awaited Messiah. How will we ever understand it all? We simply will not, but want we do know is that which God has clearly spoken to us. We have to accept Jesus if we want to be saved. He has also given us the way to live and the provision to live in that way. Although it seems a bit self-centered, what we need to be concerned about the most is our relationship with God, and let him be concerned about the full number of Gentiles and saving all of Israel. This being bound to disobedience resonates with for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Because all have sinned, God has mercy on all men, both Jew and Gentile. So again it is the workings of God and not of men. He desires all men be saved and none should perish, we know that because he has said so, but as far as how he goes about doing that is unsearchable by men for no one knows the complete mind of God.