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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”
Romans 10:1-4
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
I’ve watched many a movie in my lifetime and many of them kept me on the edge of my seat until a climactic moment happened, one that brought everything to a settlement. There was no more wondering, no more speculation. The climax of the movie settled everything, once and for all.
The Bible is full of stories regarding individuals or groups of people but the initiator of all those stories is God. He was at the very beginning of creation, before anything else existed, and He will be present when the new Heaven and earth are formed and inhabited by Christian believers and the Savior Jesus they placed their trust in.
This latter truth is the culmination of everything else in the scriptures, the final judgment and the ushering of Jesus’ followers into eternal life. Those who rejected Him will go off into eternal damnation and torment, a place called Hell where they will abide forever. This event is the final climax of the Bible and the catalyst is Jesus Christ. He is the culmination of all things in life.
We find Paul acknowledging this in the first four verses of Romans, chapter 10 as he writes these words:
“Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.”
As we finished looking at chapter 9 yesterday, we read of Paul’s chief concern about the Jews and in verse one of chapter 10, we reiterates that concern. For no Jew could be saved simply by merit of being a Jew.
It didn’t matter how zealous they were for God. It didn’t matter how much they tried to establish their own righteousness in accordance with the Law. This religious zeal was based on their own interpretation and not on God’s will, a will that dictated that salvation was only gained through belief in His Son Jesus, the culmination of the Law.
In other words, all things in the Law (and we can add the prophets here too) found their climactic conclusion in Jesus.
This is why Paul was so dedicated and devoted to bringing the Gospel to the Jews. In his own words, he shares that it was his heart’s desire and prayer because he knew that without Jesus, no one, Jew or otherwise, had any hope of being saved.
As we continue our study of this chapter in the days to come, we’ll continue to see Paul drive home the truth that salvation, an eternal life with God forever, was only possible if a person believed in Jesus as Savior, the One who was the culmination of God’s redemption plan for His people.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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