Grafted In

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... And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became partaker of the root and the fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

When God provokes His people to jealousy, He is not playing games—He is keeping a covenant.

Can Jealousy Ever Be a Good Thing?

Is jealousy ever a good thing? Most parents would gladly see it expelled from their children—and when we see it in them, we see a reflection of ourselves, because by nature we are jealous individuals. Jealousy is a vice, not a virtue. And yet here in Romans, we find it was the apostle Paul's aim to provoke people to jealousy—specifically, to provoke his Jewish brothers and sisters to jealousy.

Our eighteen-month-old daughter, Evangeline, loves to provoke her brother and sister to jealousy. Almost daily, Ethan or Addison will be playing with a toy, and Evangeline will grab one and run to hide in our closet. Her whole desire is that they will chase her. And if they take the bait and are about to catch her, she throws the toy as hard as she can away from them with a smile on her face. If it weren't so obnoxious, it would be incredibly cute.

We love to do the same. I think one reason Facebook thrives is that we like to provoke people to jealousy. We post pictures from our vacations or our great plate of food, and everyone "likes" it, and we know they're jealous of what we have in that moment. How do you provoke someone to jealousy? Simply by enjoying something you have that they don't. Because the heart of man is deceitful, when others watch you enjoy a thing, they begin to desire it. Put fifty toys in a room with three kids, and the toy the others want is whichever one a child is currently enjoying.

Paul's Surprising Aim

And yet Paul says here, "It is my aim to stir my brothers and sisters to jealousy." Why? Such an endeavor seems childish, even carnal. Look at verse 11:

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... I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are of my flesh and save some of them.

"I want to make my siblings jealous!" is essentially what Paul says—just like Evangeline. Yet he shows that there is a time when jealousy can be a good thing. The context, throughout chapters 9 through 11, is Israel. The children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were largely unbelieving in Paul's day, as they are in ours. As Romans 10:10 says, "with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Most of his Jewish kinsmen had not believed Jesus is the Christ nor confessed Him as Lord, so they were not saved.

This is striking, because Israel was the very people through whom the Messiah came. If anyone had opportunity and access to the Gospel of grace, it was this people group—and yet largely they were lost, both two thousand years ago and today.

Have They Fallen Beyond Recovery?

So Paul asks the inevitable question. As throughout Romans, his argument is built on anticipated objections. Here it is: "Have they stumbled that they should fall?" The New Living Translation puts it, "Did God's people stumble so that they would fall beyond recovery?" Has their rejection of Jesus as King meant they are eternally lost?

We saw last week that the answer is no. Many early Christians had Jewish heritage—Paul himself among them. For the first ten years of the church, until Acts chapter 10, virtually every believer was Jewish by birth. The Gospel had not yet gone out to the peoples of the world.

But how did they stumble? Look back to Romans 9:32–33:

By the works of the law they sought for righteousness. For they stumbled at the stumbling stone. As it is written: "Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone, a rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."

This stumbling stone is not a physical rock but a person—Jesus. The Gospel came to the Jew first, by nature of proximity and covenant. Yet on the day Jesus was condemned, Pilate brought Him beaten before the gathered multitude and said, "Behold your King." And they said, "We will not have this man to rule over us." When Pilate posted the inscription, "Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews," they protested. They rejected the Messiah who fulfills Old Testament Scripture. So they stumbled because they stumbled over Jesus.

Nothing Can Separate Us

Has God caused them to stumble so they would be lost for good? Paul's answer is the same one he has given nine times before in Romans: "Certainly not!" God forbid! May it never even cross our minds.

The reason Paul anticipates this objection comes from the close of Romans 8:

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.

Now, what about Israel? God had said, "I have loved you with an everlasting love." Yet looking at Jewish history from Paul's day until now—the holocaust, the pogroms, the expulsion from their land in 70 A.D., the near destruction in the revolt against Rome—one might ask, "Are they really under the love of God?" We ask that because we too often equate the blessing of God with His love, and the lack of blessing with His absence. But perhaps that has more to do with our wrong perception than with what is real and true. Many Jewish people have become atheistic for this very reason, asking, "If there is a God, and we are His people, why has this happened to us?"

Israel's Condition Is Temporary

Paul indicates here that the story of the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is not over. God still has a plan. Consider four things from verses 11 through 14.

First, Israel's current condition is temporary. Read verse 11 again: "If their fall is riches to the world, and if their failure riches to the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!" Paul, inspired by the Spirit, speaks prophetically: there is coming a day when we will see Jewish fullness as it relates to salvation in Jesus Christ. There is no salvation outside of Jesus. If descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob receive eternal salvation, it will only be through Jesus—not by keeping the law, not by descent—but by believing on Him.

Skip down to verse 25: "I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery... that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles are come in. And so all Israel will be saved." At the very least, we recognize that Israel's current lost condition is temporary.

Salvation Came to the Gentiles

Second, Israel's current condition has resulted in salvation for the Gentiles. Their loss brought the Gospel to non-Jews. As verse 11 says, "Through their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles."

One unfortunate reality is that Israel had failed to fulfill one of their purposes. In Exodus 19, at Mount Sinai, God proclaimed over them, "You are to be My priests, a holy nation." Their purpose was to display God's glory to the world, bringing God to the nations and the nations to God. Yet throughout the Old Testament, they largely failed. But through their stumbling at the stumbling stone, God engineered salvation to come to non-Jews—which was always His plan. "For God so loved the world." Not a small group called the Jews only—the world. His heart has always been for lost people.

How did this come about? In Acts 1, Jesus told His Jewish disciples they would be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Yet in Acts 2, three thousand came to faith—all Jewish Christians. In Acts 5, five thousand more—all Jewish Christians. For the first seven to ten years, the church stayed in Jerusalem. A snapshot ten years in would suggest the church was failing to fulfill its purpose, just as Israel had.

So what happened? Turn to Acts 8. After Stephen was stoned, verse 1 reads: "At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles." Persecution from the Jews pressed Jewish Christians out into the world. Two chapters later, in Acts 10, the Gospel makes its first move to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius through Peter. Through Israel's rejection of the Messiah, we who sit here two thousand years later became the recipients of grace. God works in mysterious ways.

A Great Gathering Will Come

Third, a great gathering of Jews unto salvation in Jesus will come one day. We have not seen this yet. Verse 12 speaks of their "fullness"—a numerical gathering of descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to faith in Jesus. And verse 26: "So all Israel will be saved." There is coming a day when Jews will believe in Jesus en masse—not because of their descent or their ceremonial keeping of the law, but through Jesus alone.

Fourth, Israel's gathering unto the Messiah will mean even greater blessing for the world. Verse 12 again: "If their fall is riches for the world... how much more their fullness!" When they come to faith, great things will happen.

Whenever we study prophecy we must remember much of it is a mystery. God gives us points on a paper to connect, and we trace a slight outline, but it is not perfectly clear. In John 2, Jesus said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The people thought He meant the building, but John tells us He spoke of His body—understood only after He rose from the dead. So much prophecy must be gathered from many places to say, "This is what we believe the Lord is saying."

Life From the Dead

How will this greater blessing come? Verse 15: "For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?" Paul speaks of resurrection. When a multitude of Israel comes to faith, it will mean a resurrection experience greater than the reconciliation that came to non-Jews. I believe the answer is found in the book of Zechariah.

Turn to Zechariah 12, written about five hundred years before Jesus. Verse 9: "It shall be in that day that I will seek to destroy all nations that come against Jerusalem." Verse 10: "And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for his firstborn." Who is the pierced One, the only Son, the firstborn? Jesus. When the nations gather against Jerusalem, God's grace will be poured out on the descendants of Abraham there, and they will see Jesus and mourn for Him.

Zechariah 13:6: "And one will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your arms?' Then he will answer, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'" They will look on Him and ask where He received His wounds. Verses 8 and 9: "It shall come to pass in all the land... that two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it. And I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. And they will call on My name, and I will answer them... 'The Lord is my God.'"

Zechariah sees the remaining one-third look on the pierced One and come to faith. They believe in their hearts that God raised Him, and confess with their mouths that He is Lord—and they are saved. Notice: they are not saved because they are descendants of Abraham. They are saved the same way Gentiles are saved—by grace through faith in Jesus the Messiah.

When will this take place? Zechariah 14 explains that after they look on Him whom they pierced, Jesus will set His feet on the Mount of Olives, His saints with Him, and establish His reign upon the earth, doing away with the deadness of the curse of sin. This is why their fullness means resurrection—life from the dead. Between now and His second coming there will be a remnant—what we call Messianic Jews—but the great gathering will not happen until Jesus returns and they look on Him whom they pierced.

Grafted In—Do Not Boast

Back to Romans 11, verse 16: "For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, the branches are holy." Who is the root, the origin of the Jewish people? Abraham, called by God in Genesis 12. How was Abraham made holy? Genesis 15:6—he believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness. So if the root is holy, the branches that grow from this family tree are holy too.

Verse 17: "And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and the fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you." Gentile Christians, plugged in by grace through faith into the great tree of Abraham's faith, are part of a family of faith today. Do not boast against the natural branches that were broken off. Don't look at the Jewish people and say, "Those Christ crucifiers." Sadly, that is how much of the church looked upon the Jewish people for nearly two thousand years—until Vatican II finally turned back that attitude of anger and hate.

Verse 19: "You will say then, 'Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.'" Verse 20: "Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either." We don't like verses like that; we prefer eternal security. I do believe the Bible supports our being eternally secure in Christ, but the Jewish people became unbelieving precisely because they became arrogant and haughty—looking at the rest of the world and saying, "You are all fuel for hell; we are God's people." So Paul warns the church: don't become haughty, thinking how great you are. You are in the root because of grace through faith, not anything you have done.

The Goodness and Severity of God

Verse 22: "Consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off." There are warnings in Scripture against apostasy and turning from the grace in Christ Jesus. We are saved and safe only in Jesus, not because of anything we have done or could do. Never fail to see these warnings—not so you'll fear being thrown away, but so you'll be thankful that it is by His grace you are in Christ.

Verse 23: "And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again." If the Jewish people reverse their unbelief and look on Him whom they pierced, God can plug them back in. "For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted in contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted in to their own olive tree?" It is no hard thing for God to graft them in again.

The Fullness of the Gentiles

Verse 25: "For I do not desire, brethren, that you would be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles come in." Here is another key: the church is finite. There is coming a day when God will finish the work He is doing within the church. When the fullness of the Gentiles is complete, "so all Israel will be saved." This means all living Israel gathered there, as Zechariah spoke—not every descendant simply by being a descendant, but all those who believe.

The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.

God has established a covenant with these people and will fulfill His word. Verse 28: "Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the callings of God are irrevocable." He will not cast aside the covenant He made with Abraham and David.

Verse 30: "For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all." When they see you and me who have obtained mercy, they are provoked to jealousy and desire the very thing we have received.

Oh, the Depths of His Riches

Paul finishes with this great doxology:

Oh, the depths of the riches of both the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?... For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

You may say, "I don't know how to wrap my brain around all this." But what does it show us? It tells us He knows what He is doing. He has a plan, deep riches of knowledge and wisdom. At some point every one of us tries to be God's counselor, telling Him in our prayers, "God, You're not doing this right! Don't You know what's going on?" Has it ever occurred to you that nothing ever occurs to God? He never says, "Gosh, I didn't know that." God knows what He is doing.

What is God doing? He is aiming to glorify Himself. He desires to use you, to use me, to use the Jew, to bring glory to His name. One day He will be glorified in their mass acceptance of His grace.

Some believe this could be right around the corner. It might be. It may be a hundred or a thousand years away—we don't know. But we know this: Jesus has commissioned us to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, and there is a fullness of the Gentiles God has planned to save. So we need to get to work, because as long as He has not returned, there remains much work to be done.

Closing Prayer

Father, thank You for Your great word. We thank You that You reveal what You are doing before You do it, so we are not ignorant of Your working. Help us, Lord, to be a part of the work that You are doing, not fighting against You, not kicking against the goads. Work in and through us, Your church, to reflect Your glory and Your grace to those around us. Help us never to think that we are greater than another group of people. Help us never to think that anyone living today is too far from Your grace, but to always be reaching out, that they might know who You are. Help us to display You, so that people would look on You, the pierced One, and see salvation in Your crucifixion. We thank You and praise You for Your grace. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.