God has a plan! His plan is to gather all His people, both Jew and Gentile alike. Paul appeals to the Gentiles not to become self-righteous or arrogant because the national Jews have been hardened for the sake of their salvation. This hardening was meant to ensure that the gospel would spread to the ends of the earth, as stated in Acts 1:8. Paul encourages the Gentiles not to act as the national Jews do towards the gospel, assuming they know better (Isaiah 55:8-9).

In this chapter, Paul redefines the terms concerning God’s chosen people. There is now a distinction between national Jews, referred to as “Israel” according to the flesh, and spiritual Israel according to faith. Throughout this chapter, Paul argues that God is not done with national Israel because there are still some among them who are part of spiritual Israel. These individuals have become like the Gentiles, in need of the gospel (Romans 2:28, Romans 9:6).

God allowed the hardening of some to ensure that the proclamation of the gospel would go out to all nations and not be isolated to geographic Israel. The gospel must be shared until “the last Gentile comes in” (Romans 11:25b). I envision this as an extraordinary occurrence: God has marked someone as the last person, and when that individual receives the gospel, it will signal the day of His return. Can you imagine that!?

God has a plan, and although it can be difficult for us to understand—especially since Paul felt deep sorrow for his culture—he came to realize that God has a purpose, and everything will work out for good (Romans 8:28, Galatians 3:23).Preach the Word, Proclaim the gospel, until the last one comes in!

Father, grant us a zeal for proclaiming the gospel to all, and humble us with its truth.