Romans 11:7-12 (NIV)
What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day.” And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
Plainly put, those who repented and received Jesus as Savior and Lord by faith received salvation, eternal life and genuine righteousness. These Paul calls “the elect” because they were the ones that God knew in advance would receive Him by receiving Jesus, and so He ensured that the gospel was brought to them. By receiving Jesus, they opted into God’s chosen people.
But those who rejected Jesus, who were confident of their own self-made righteousness and who believed that they would be saved because of who their ancestors were, missed the mark entirely. They ended up opting out of God’s chosen people. And because they completely rejected God, He hardened their hearts so that they would continue in their sinning and arrogant assurance of salvation, even to the point of blindly persecuting those who were followers of Jesus.
But, as Paul points out here, God had not entirely written them off. Instead, He brought more and more gentiles into the fold, blessed those new believers with all that they needed, gave them power and authority, and made it quite obvious to everyone that they were living under God’s blessing. This was designed to move those hard hearts to jealousy, and to a legitimate questioning of what they held as true. As soon as they opened their eyes, God could open their hearts and move them toward salvation, as long as they were willing to follow His way.
God has no intention of excluding the descendants of Abraham from His kingdom forever. If they will repent, if they will receive Jesus as God’s eternal Son and their Savior, if they will agree to live under God’s New Covenant forever, He will gladly welcome them as His prodigal sons, and the whole kingdom, the whole world, will be the richer for it.
Father, You can see the end from the beginning, so You know who will ultimately receive You, whether Jew or gentile, and You also know what it will take to move each of us who You know will receive You to make that commitment. For some of us, it is hitting rock bottom. For others, it is reading just the right book or engaging in just the right conversation at just the right time. For many in the Jewish community of Paul’s day it was jealously of the reality of Your grace, Your blessing, Your presence that believers in Jesus had. But whatever it is that is needed, You bring those motivators to bear in each person’s life, because You do not want anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). If we choose, we can still turn away from You despite the pressure, as many of the Jews in Paul’s day did, and were tragically lost. But I thank You for keeping after me, for keeping the pressure on me going until I wisely surrendered to you and received salvation, eternal life, and genuine righteousness from Your gracious hand. Amen.