Chapter 9 | The Mystery of God Revealed

The mystery of God exemplified in Christ is just the beginning of the depths of riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. To reach those depths, one must follow Christ’s work into the future and from this understand its hidden significance and scope in the past.

The firstfruits of the new covenant in Christ were first manifest in the faithful twelve together with the thousands of Israel and Judah who believed the words of Christ. It was by the acceptance of Yeshua as the Messiah among this Israelite remnant which would open the door for a subset of the Gentiles to be grafted in among them. Together, they comprise the first to trust in Yeshua the Christ, and in him they would find the promise of righteousness and eternal life through the gift and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the guarantor of the promised inheritance.

Israel: A Remnant of the Nations

A key characteristic of the mystery of God in Christ is the salvation promised to a remnant of Israel. The theme of this remnant people begins for Israel when God creates this people as his portion from among all the nations who’ve been spread around the world.[1] God created his chosen people from one man, Abram the son of Terah, then dwelling in the heart of Messopotamia.[2] God set aside a portion of land for his chosen people as an incentive and a reward, a small portion of land at the convergence of three geographic, political, and cultural regions. Through this remnant of a people from the nations, God would bless all the nations and reveal himself to them.

 

This theme continues when the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin became a remnant after Israel and the northern tribes were taken captive by Assyria because of their disobedience and unfaithfulness. Yet even this remnant God would abandon after the reign of Hezekiah ended. Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, and the Lord lengthened his days on the earth. But Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, did evil in the sight of the Lord, and led the people astray into idolatry. He did more evil than those in Israel whom God abandoned to destruction and captivity. Therefore, God would forsake this remnant of his heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies.[3]

 

Yet God would not leave this remnant in captivity, but after seventy years, he would visit them again. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God instructed them on how they should live in Babylon as captives; Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.[4] They were to live among the Babylonians and prosper there but were to remain loyal to the Lord their God. Even in their captivity, they would continue to fulfill God’s prime directive.[5] The prophet Daniel, who lived as a captive in Babylon, is an example of the subversive captive who remained loyal to God throughout his life there.[6] At his appointed time, God would return this remnant to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the city.[7] And so it was that God would restore a remnant of the remnant to Jerusalem by the hand of Cyrus, King of Persia.

A Faithful Remnant

Through this remnant of a remnant, God would continue the seed of promise, the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and bring about another remnant out of captivity, a spiritual remnant, a faithful remnant. God would raise a signal for his people and bring about their deliverance in a mysterious way; a way they could not have imagined; a way that Daniel the prophet was given a glimpse of; those whose names are to be written into the book.[8]

The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah describe further how this Redeemer will secure the faithfulness of a spiritual remnant:

“And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord. “And as for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”
(Isaiah 59:20-21)

 

The new covenant in Christ, promised to Israel and Judah, continues with another remnant, a faithful remnant.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

 

At the arrival of the righteous Branch and the root of Jesse, those called and chosen of Israel and Judah who responded to Yeshua the Christ, received the gift of God in faith and trust in him.

God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:2-6)

 

The new covenant in Christ has come to those who are the descendants of the children of promise,[9] a remnant to be saved.[10] More than that, in this time of favor, the word of God and the gospel of his kingdom goes out to Jew and Gentile alike, that all who believe are called and counted as the firstfruits of salvation.

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea,

“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’

and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” And as Isaiah predicted,

“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,

we would have been like Sodom

and become like Gomorrah.” (Romans 9:22-29)

 

Paul is laying out for his fellow Jews a possible interpretation of humanity’s past, ordained by God in disobedience and grace, both of which were prepared beforehand as an expression of his righteous judgment; destruction for those who seek to continue in disobedience and unbelief,[11] or mercy leading to glory for those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;[12] This suggestion is the very thing Paul will build on throughout his letters, exposing those conditions necessary for the mystery of God to exist throughout history, though mostly unknown. God had a set time when it would be manifest and made known in the work of Yeshua the Christ; to turn disobedience and unbelief, through grace and mercy, into a new creation for those willing to surrender to the obedience of faith.

As Paul will go on to show, the descendants of Israel were partakers in that mystery unknowingly, whether in faith or in disobedience. The gift of faith, once given to chosen Israel, is now poured out on Gentiles also.[13] Yet many in Israel and Judah are cut off due to unbelief. Paul touched on the core reason behind it:[14]

• The law became a measure for them of their own righteousness. At its root, this is idolatry, in that they sought to claim for themselves the righteousness only made available in the Son of Man and the Son of God.
• They pursued righteousness based on works rather than by faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• This makes Christ, the true source of righteousness, a stumbling stone to them. The only solution is to believe in his righteousness and forfeit their own.

 

But this they seem unwilling to do.

For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:3-4)

It is in this way that many in Israel and Judah are cut off from the olive tree, being ignorant of the mystery in Christ, who is the righteousness of God for our benefit. In this, Christ is redefining the olive tree. Is it sufficient to equate the olive tree with Israel?[15] What Paul is showing is that the olive tree is not just those who descended from the recipients of the promises, but those who received those promises in faith. The basis for both the old and the new covenants is grounded in the fidelity expressed by Abraham. This was hinted to through Israel and Judah’s prophets when speaking of a new covenant which was manifested initially in Yeshua the Christ.

 

What Staples and others overlook is the separation of roles for the disobedient and the faithful, whether Israelite, Jew, or Gentile, over the span of the fullness of time in which God is working in Christ. For example, the process of Israel and Judah being examples to the nations is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. Notice the description of New Jerusalem,[16] the wife of the Lamb, having the glory of God. The twelve tribes of Israel comprise the gates of the city, and the twelve apostles comprise the foundation stones. In the mystery of God in Christ, those chosen later (the spiritual) become the basis for those chosen first to be able to fulfill their role. This illustrates clearly the first will be last, and the last will be first principle.[17]

• Though Israel was chosen first as a people set apart for God’s purpose, they as a whole attain the fullness of the promises last.
• The role of Israel from the start, via the Sinai covenant, was to be an example of God’s people to the nations. In Yeshua the Christ they will achieve this purpose but only after a new foundation is established in the Spirit via a new covenant.
• The twelve apostles (Paul included) form the foundation upon which the twelve gates stand, not the other way around.
• The faithful in Christ represent a remnant of Israel and Judah, together with a remnant of faithful Gentiles. These are considered the last to be called, yet made first. The last are judges of the twelve tribes called first, and the faithful in Christ receive the kingdom before Israel and Judah as a whole.

 

As Paul continues to explain in Romans 11, the mystery of Israel’s complete salvation is as connected to their own disobedience as it is to the disobedience of the Gentiles.

So I ask, did they (Israel) stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. (Romans 11:11)

 

So how is it that Israel’s disobedience, unbelief, and stumbling opened the way of salvation to the Gentiles? Staples, in his thorough work on Romans, points out rightly that any advantage the Jews may have held is obviated by their infidelity and injustice.[18] To understand that situation, we must go back to when God spurned Israel, his chosen people, for a time, so that he might embrace another people.

“But Jeshurun (Israel) grew fat, and kicked;

you grew fat, stout, and sleek;

then he forsook God who made him

and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.

They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;

with abominations they provoked him to anger.

They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,

to gods they had never known,

to new gods that had come recently,

whom your fathers had never dreaded.

You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,

and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

“The Lord saw it and spurned them,

because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.

And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;

I will see what their end will be,

for they are a perverse generation,

children in whom is no faithfulness.

They have made me jealous with what is no god;

they have provoked me to anger with their idols.

So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;

I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.” (Deuteronomy 32:15-21)

 

God would respond to them in the same way they responded to his covenant. Though chosen by God to be his own, they went after other gods who were not God (idolatry). Therefore, God would pursue a people who were not a people. Israel and Judah angered him with their vanities, so God would provoke them by adopting the very people they counted as nothing.[19] Paul summarizes again in Romans 10 what he introduced in chapter nine, how all in Israel and Judah heard the word of God, but all have not obeyed the good news.[20]

But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.” (Psalm 19)

But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,

“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
with a foolish nation I will make you angry.” (Deuteronomy 32:21)

Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,

“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” (Isaiah 65:1)

But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” (Isaiah 65:2)

(Romans 10:18-21)

 

Paul continues in Romans 11 to show us the connections in the mystery to which Israel and Judah have had an integral part, though unknowingly. If judgment and punishment are God’s primary goals, surely he has fully rejected such a disobedient and contrary people as some claim even today?[21] Paul’s answer is clear.

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! (Romans 11:1)

 

In fact, quite the opposite.

As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (Romans 11:28-29)

 

Essentially, Paul is saying what the scriptures have claimed continuously; God remains faithful to his covenants and promises even though we’re unable to. Israel’s part was to continue the seed of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Israel), fulfilling the promises to Abraham which lead to the source of hope for all nations not just Israel; the manifestation of Yeshua, the Son of Man and the Son of God. The promises to Israel were always a subset of the promises to be magnified through God’s grace in Christ.[22] That Israel and Judah would arrive there in a state of disobedience isn’t unexpected, but what better proof of God’s faithfulness and commitment to his purpose than to bear with our weakness in order to bring many sons and daughters from the dust and into glory? In this way, all Israel will be saved![23]

Israel and Judah’s disobedience levels the playing field for all and shows how all fall short and need God’s mercy in order to attain the new creation in Christ; all are consigned to disobedience, yet all will receive mercy (vs 32).

A Source of Hope for the Gentiles

The hope of salvation extended to the Gentiles is based on the same promises and assurances originally given to Abraham and later extended to Israel and Judah, though magnified in Christ. Though both Israelite and Gentile came to these promises through different routes, they both arrived in a state of disobedience and unbelief. Just as there is now a faithful remnant of Israel and Judah, which Paul describes as chosen by grace,[24] is it not this same grace which calls to some of the Gentiles (vs 32)? This is the adoption Paul refers to here in Romans 11, with the benefits of the inheritance that grace and those promises now point to; to be the recipients of the riches of the glory and the promises in Christ first given to Abraham and his descendants.

In him (Christ) we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:11-14)

 

One of those new covenant promises being Christ in you – the hope of glory.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. (Colossians 1:24-28)

 

It is by this mystery in Christ that Gentiles are made fellow heirs with Israel, and together heirs of Christ,[25] to be witnesses and the manifestation of the manifold wisdom of God to rulers and authorities in heavenly places.[26] As a faithful remnant among the Gentiles, we too are called to stand firm as part of the firstfruits of salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.[27] Together with the faithful in Israel and Judah, we make up the heirs of Christ, a new man. This new man is no longer distinguished by ethnicity or any other construct except their identity in Christ.[28]

 

Let’s return to Romans 11 to see the nature of our adoption and what our thinking and attitude should be toward the disobedient in Israel and Judah. Paul begins the chapter by distinguishing a group of fellow Israelites from the tribe of Judah as a faithful remnant chosen by grace and not by works. This faithful remnant has attained the righteousness in Christ by faith,[29] leaving the remainder of Israel cut off in unbelief.[30] Paul calls for Gentiles to not be arrogant toward the branches which were broken off for their benefit.[31]

Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. (Romans 11:19-24)

 

Let’s look at that final point further. How is it that some might not continue in unbelief? Have they been completely rejected? No, only enough to open salvation to the Gentiles. God has a plan to make himself known to those who haven’t accepted Yeshua as Lord and Christ.

Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? (Romans 11:12,15)

 

Such a resurrection from the dead is just what we see in Scripture as a future promise for all Israel. So Paul is suggesting that a resurrection and an introduction to the new covenant are the means by which all Israel will be saved. Scripture suggests that promise finds fulfillment once the Lord rules over the nations as King of kings.[32]

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. (Isaiah 11:1-2,10-12)

 

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23:5-6)

 

The doorway to salvation for disobedient Israel and Judah is the same doorway opened for us, namely Yeshua the Christ.[33] And like we who came to the Lord out of disobedience, they too, at the appropriate time, will receive grace and mercy in Christ our Lord. This mystery is revealed in Christ for the reconciliation and redemption of all those who receive God’s grace and the gift of righteousness, which leads to life eternal;[34] making the grace of God greater-than the sin of man.[35] So we see that in the current age, Israelite, Jew, and Gentile come to salvation through disobedience to find their righteousness in Christ our Lord. This was not by accident or chance, but by the sovereign will of God.

A Unity of Faith

Amazing indeed. The inclusion of the Gentiles to salvation in Christ comes in part through their own disobedience and the disobedience of some in Israel. Faithful Gentiles are grafted into the olive tree along with the faithful in Israel, and together, they have attained to righteousness through faith; a unity of faith and the making of one from the two.

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:11-22)

 

Although some would claim the acceptance of the Gentiles at the exclusion of the Jew (Israelite), Christ clearly seeks to unite the two; the chosen and faithful in Israel with the chosen and faithful of the Gentiles. Yeshua is both the confirmation of the promises to Israel and Judah, and a source of hope for the Gentiles; that together they become heirs of Christ.[36]

• That all faithful should share in the glory of Christ[37]
• By making one new man from the two[38]
• In so doing, make a holy temple in the Lord; a dwelling place for God[39]
• In this dwelling place, the apostles to Christ, who were called last, are now the first, at the very foundation along side the cornerstone.
• All others, the columns and the gates, are built upon that foundation.
• In all cases, entrance to the new covenant comes through disobedience and unbelief by the grace and calling of God, the willingness of those called to repent, and their continued surrender to the obedience of faith.

 

This unity of faith inexplicitly connects the past of Israelites and Gentiles as well as their future. We’ve seen the connection to the past through disobedience. The future, as we should expect, is grounded in faith and belief in Yeshua the Christ. Paul connects the mystery in Christ with something called the fullness of the Gentiles.

Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:25)

 

To understand this connection, we must return our focus to that portion of Israel that was cut off due to unbelief and see when that unbelief is turned around. We touched on some OT examples at the beginning of this chapter. Let’s look at a more recent example of that unbelief and the correction associated with it.

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:20-24)

 

Luke’s account of the abomination and destruction of the temple and Jerusalem is spoken of in greater detail than Matthew’s and Mark’s accounts. Each of the authors describes this event as though it’s something those in the surrounding region of Judea could see approaching. It’s a direct answer to their question regarding every stone of the temple being thrown down, and was fulfilled when the temple and Jerusalem were destroyed in their lifetime.[40]

Notice that Luke mentions the prophetic relationship of this event occurring in Jerusalem; for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.[41] He’s referring to the prophecies against the southern nation of Judah located at Jerusalem. More on that in a moment. Luke’s description of this event doesn’t end there. It continues. More importantly, Luke indicates the duration for all this distress; from the time the temple is destroyed until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.[42] That results in distress for this people, beginning from that point and continuing till some time in the future when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

This connects with Paul’s discourse on the contrasting purpose ongoing in the relationship between Israel and the Gentiles. From this, we can discern that the time of the Gentiles is completed when the mystery of God is fulfilled. Scripture provides this timing in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John. In Revelation 9, the fifth and sixth trumpets are sounded. Chapter ten is among those chapters that form an interlude between the sixth and seventh trumpets.

And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. (Revelation 10:5-7)

 

Notice that it’s around the time when the seventh trumpet is sounded that the mystery of God is fulfilled and completed. This is just before the final woe of God’s wrath, executed by Jesus Christ as he descends from the heavens with his army on white horses[43] to fight his final battle with the nations.[44]

 

Let’s return to Luke’s unique account and notice he doesn’t use the term tribulation. He also directly connects the great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people with the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem. Notice that in Luke’s account, though it’s rendered to Gentiles, it is focused on the Jews in Jerusalem and surrounding Judea; this people. The distress mentioned (vs 23) is of a compulsive nature and the Greek transliteration (anagke) is not used once in the New Testament for tribulation, though they have similar meaning. As noted earlier, the time span for the distress experienced by the Jews begins with the abomination and desolation (destruction) of the temple in Jerusalem, which occurred in their lifetime, and ends just before Christ descends to earth to intervene on Jerusalem’s behalf.[45]

Notice the additional characteristics of distress he mentions for this people, and the span of time it covers.

• They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations.
• Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles.
• For there will be great distress upon the earth.

Participates Unknowingly in the Mystery of God

A key element surrounding the mystery of God is Israel and Judah’s participation in it, though unknowingly. Though they were chosen from among the nations, they were never intended to be the only. Their role was unique and a necessary step in the process to bring many children from the mist and the dust into the glory of Yeshua the Christ.

• Through their disobedience and infidelity to the covenants (Abrahamic and Sinai)
• Through their stumbling over Christ and their failure to acknowledge the Lamb of God and his Suffering Servant.
• They are considered the first of the heirs of the promises of God, a physical kingdom. Yet they only understood in part as greater promises were appointed to them and all the nations, though unknowingly, and established in Yeshua the Christ.

 

The role for Israel and Judah, still unfinished today, is multifaceted in its scope and application:

• Continue to multiply a people for God.[46]
• Continue the seed connecting the first Adam to the last Adam.
• To show the ineffectiveness of the external law, written on tablets of stone, to save.
• To show the faithfulness and loyalty of God to his covenants and his promises in light of our inability to remain faithful.
• From Israel and Judah comes the Christ and the promise of life for all nations.[47]
• To eventually fulfill their role as the gateway to God and his Christ for all the nations of the world.[48]

 

As Paul indicates and Luke confirms, God will yet complete his work in Israel and Judah for the benefit of the world. We cannot ignore that the time span in Luke’s account begins for this people at the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 by the Romans, and continues until the mystery of God is completed. In this way, the disobedient of Israel and Judah continue to participate unknowingly in the mystery of God in Christ. The fulfillment of the mystery of God corresponds with the end of the time of the Gentiles. As we’ve seen from the Scriptures and the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, the restoration of disobedient Israel and Judah comes about as Christ begins his one thousand-year reign on earth.

• God plans to restore Israel and Judah as his covenant people, and they will be witnesses to the world of the faithfulness of God.
• During Christ’s reign on earth, the nations too will have the opportunity to respond to the new covenant in Christ our Lord.

 

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! (Romans 11:32-33)