City Life Starter

Written by Efe Abbe

The Word

The Plot to Kill Jesus

22 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.² And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.

Luke 22:1-2 ESV

God’s Mercy Is for Everyone

²⁵ I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters,^{[Greek Brethren]} so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. ²⁶ And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say,

“The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem,^{[Greek from Zion.]}
    and he will turn Israel^{[Greek Jacob.]} away from ungodliness.
²⁷ And this is my covenant with them,
    that I will take away their sins.”^{[Isa 59:20-21; 27:9 (Greek Version)]}

²⁸ Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁹ For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. ³⁰ Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. ³¹ Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. ³² For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.

³³ Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

³⁴ For who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
    Who knows enough to give him advice?^{[Isa 40:13 (Greek version).]
35} And who has given him so much
    that he needs to pay it back?^{[See Job 41:11.]}

³⁶ For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

Romans 11:25-36 NLT

Reflection

In these two short verses, Luke puts a spotlight on the inscrutable wisdom of God.

In the Spring of around 30 AD, under Roman oppression, the Jews were getting ready to commemorate God’s deliverance from Egyptian slavery some 1500 years earlier. On the night they left Egypt, God in His mercy gave Israel a way to escape His judgement over the land – the Passover lamb. All first born sons of Israel (and anyone else who believed God) were spared by coming under the lamb’s blood painted on the entrances to their homes (Exodus 12:1-28).

As the festival approached, these leaders, who from age five, would have memorized ‘Thou shalt not murder‘ (Exodus 20: 13) were actively plotting the murder of God’s only Son — God’s Passover Lamb. The hypocrisy of outwardly keeping the festival, but planning the murder of an innocent man is stunning. Yet, we only have to go read the prophet Isaiah (Isa. 42, 52:13-15, 53) to learn that the timing of every action and event surrounding Jesus’ death were orchestrated by God, including the hardness of Israel’s leaders.

How and why would God choose this way to redeem the world? Simply because it pleased Him to do so, for God always does all that He pleases (Psalm 113:5). He owes no one an explanation for what He does and how He chooses to get it done (Romans 11:33-35). Yet, at the same time, the Jewish leaders were very much accountable to God for their actions, just like Pharaoh was, whose heart God had hardened, so that God would display His glory (Exodus 9:34; 10:1). It is a mystery that this is how God runs His world, Luke (and the entire Bible) invites us to ponder it with awe and deep reverence.

Application

In his letter to the church in Rome, the apostle Paul explained that the hardening of Israel against His Son and the Good News was gain for us Gentiles, simply because it pleased God (Romans 9-11).

And so none of us Gentiles become conceited by God’s election, he explained that this hardening will be temporary because God will eventually bring Israel mercy in light of us Gentiles receiving that same mercy, simply because it pleased God to do it this way (Romans 11:25-32).

Through Israel’s rebellion, God redeemed the whole world and will bring Israel back to Himself, in light of His mercy to us formerly rebellious Gentiles. Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your holy, deep, unsearchable wisdom, kindness, and mercy. You are true and perfectly just in all You do. Thank You for saving me in Jesus Christ, Your Son, amen.