By Dan Jones
For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen Romans 11:36 (NIV)
You may have noticed that Kinship Christian Radio has a theme verse for February.
Romans 11:36 is a glorious verse and it comes after Paul writes a discourse to the Gentile believers in Rome telling them that God had granted that they are being saved “to make Israel envious.” (Romans 11:11)
To our way of thinking, that seems kind of odd. Didn’t Jesus die because of God’s love for all people? Are we not being saved simply because we are loved, rather than being used as some kind of pawns in a chess game to bring the people God really wants to save to Him? Doesn’t that diminish us?
That kind of thinking is typical of our age because we are the “me” generations. Our pride and the tendency we have to make ourselves the center of the universe -to make it all about “us”- cause us to fall into the age-old trap that tries to make God far less than He really is.
Paul directly addresses that concept in verse 12:
But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
By allowing Israel to fall and using the Gentiles to bring them back, God’s glory is multiplied! It’s an amazing plan and one that would have never originated in any human heart or mind. It’s truly a “God thing.”
But doesn’t that mean that Israel will experience pain and suffering and loss that they would not have experienced had they remained faithful?
Undoubtedly true, but we know that the human heart is desperately wicked above all things. (Jeremiah 17:9) We are incapable of being what would we should be in this life, but God knows that and does have a way to bring us to it in the next life.
Charles Spurgeon preached on this very verse on May 29, 1864 and, among other things, said this:
For my part, Brethren, I am not taken to Heaven against my will, I know, but still so desperate is my nature and so prone to evil that I feel myself floated onward against the current of my nature. It seems as if all we could do were to kick and rebel against Sovereign Grace, while Sovereign Grace says, “I will save you. I will have you, whatever you may do. I will overcome your raging corruption. I will quicken you out of your lethargy and take you to Heaven in a fiery chariot of afflictions, if not by any other means. I will whip you to Paradise sooner than let you be lost.”
Those would not be popular words today, but Spurgeon was not known for pulling punches back in his day and his point is no less valid today.
God has a plan. It’s a glorious and a marvelous plan. In the end, we and many others will spend eternity in heaven praising Him and glorifying Him precisely because it is not about us. His love and grace and mercy are from Him and Him alone. The gifts come through Him alone and, ultimately, they are for Him and Him alone because the glory is for Him and Him alone.
And so, as always, our ultimate and highest calling is to give our daily lives back to Him that they would be all for His glory!
HALLELUJAH!
Today’s Praise
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 them?”
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
(Romans 11:33-36 NIV)