Irony of Ironies...Romans 9:30-33

What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; ³¹ but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. ³² Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. ³³ As it is written:

      “ Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
      And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,


I absolutely love verse 30....irony of ironies...That is just so God.  The ones who did not pursue righteousness attained the righteousness of faith and the ones who pursued the law of righteousness did not get there.  Why?  They did not seek it by faith but by works...they tried to do it themselves.  They stumbled at that stumbling stone (Jesus) and were offended instead of being thankful for the free gift of salvation we have in God's Son.

The Gentile understood that the way into God's kingdom was to realize their own inability to keep the law and their need for a Savior and enter His kingdom by faith.  The Jews rejected grace righteousness and tried to please God through law righteousness spurning the gift of His Son. God's plan is not for us to try to obtain His favor by being good and doing good things.  It is to obtain His favor by realizing that we can never be good enough and must depend on His Son for entrance into heaven. The Jews thought the Gentiles needed to climb to their level to be saved but in reality they needed to get down in the mud with the Gentiles to find salvation. “For there is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”  The gospel was taken to the Jew first and upon their rejection to the Gentiles.  The nation of Israel rejected the Messiah but there were many Jews that accepted Him,  In fact, the early church was made up of mostly Jewish believers. Are you seeing God's mercy here and feeling His love...the nation may have rejected Him but acceptance or rejection of Christ, is a personal decision that each one of us must make. 

Okay...here comes more of God's grace and His unsearchable ways.  The Jewish rejection of their Messiah meant the Gentiles salvation. Romans 11:11 says this:  "I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles." So today the saved Gentiles provoke Israel “to jealousy” because of the spiritual riches they have in Christ. Read Romans 10: 19-21 and see God's grace to the entire world.

¹⁹ But I say, did Israel not know? First Moses says:

      “ I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation,
      I will move you to anger by a foolish nation.”
²⁰ But Isaiah is very bold and says:

      “ I was found by those who did not seek Me;
      I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”
²¹ But to Israel he says:

      “ All day long I have stretched out My hands
       To a disobedient and contrary people.”


I do not understand predestination and free will.  It is a mystery.  I do know, however, that the Bible teaches both.   I also see God's love evidenced in these passages and if studied closely in every chapter in the Bible.  I see His free offer of salvation to all of us.  All He does, He does for our good and His glory.  His ways are unfathomable.  2nd Peter 3:9 says "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." God says salvation  is by grace through faith and not of works.  God says whosoever will come.  It has been said that divine sovereignty and human responsibility do not compete they cooperate.  We are not asked to choose between them.  We are asked to choose between life eternally with Christ by believing by faith in His Son or life eternally in a place of torment separated forever from God. 

After going through this chapter verse by verse, I am now more convinced than ever that our God can be trusted...He is faithful to keep His word and to accomplish its purpose both in Israel and the whole world.  In fact, in Israel's rejection, He kept His word to the Gentiles and will use the Gentiles to keep His word to Israel. Truly we serve an amazing God!!

Love
Mom who is really looking forward to studying Chapter 10 of Romans...