ONE'S LOSS IS ANOTHER'S GAIN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, as it is written:”

‘God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that 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.”

Romans 11:7-11

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

How important did Paul see the matter of the Jewish people and their salvation through Christ?

So important that he spends three chapters of his letter to the Romans on the subject?

In regard to the Jews open rejection of Jesus, Paul knew all too well what kind of precarious position that presented. After all, he was there once, persecuting and killing Christians with the approval of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling religious authority.

It took Jesus Himself to get Paul’s attention and now Paul saw it as his place to do for his fellow Jews as Jesus had done for him. He didn’t pull any punches in hoping to get the attention of the Jews and bring them out of the old covenant into the new one God had put in place.

Unfortunately, not everyone listened to Paul, willingly choosing to reject God’s gift of salvation through His Son. And so God gave His people over to a “spirit of stupor”, an inability to discern and understand spiritual ways. He hardened them, giving eyes that couldn’t see and ears that failed to hear. So eager to gain righteousness through works, the Jews surrendered the very good standing with God that they earnestly sought through their stubborn refusal to accept Jesus as Savior.

The whole story appears to be a big loss but God had other plans. For as He so often does, He made a positive out of a negative.

For as we read many times in the scriptures, when the Jews would snub Jesus and the Gospel, it would be taken to the Gentiles instead. The Jewish loss was the Gentile gain as many came to find their salvation through simply believing in Jesus as Savior.

Of course, this was the whole premise found in the new covenant anyways. God loved the whole world, whether a person was a Jew or not, and didn’t wish for anyone to perish so He made the way clear to save anyone who simply placed their faith and trust in Jesus.

Today, this covenant still stands and although many still reject Jesus, countless others opt to receive Him. I pray you are counted in that latter number today.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com