‘For I do not desire, brethren, that you should 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 has come in. ‘

Romans 11:25

In Romans 11, Paul emphasizes that God has not forgotten His people, the Nation of Israel. Though they have been set aside for a time, God will return to them when He is finished with His work with the Gentiles. Paul does not want believers to be ignorant of this secret. In the Greek language, the word for “mystery” is musterion, which means “secret”. These mysteries that Paul speaks of were never revealed before in any of God’s dealings with mankind. You won’t find them in the Old Testament, Christ’s earthly ministry, or even the early parts of Acts. They were revelations that God kept secret from the beginning of human history. We must study the Scriptures, so we are not ignorant of these mysteries. Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever”. God has not changed His mind about His plan for Israel and for us as members of the body of Christ.

Romans 11:25 reveals a mystery that was not revealed before – the spiritual blindness of Israel. This blindness is only temporary and will be lifted when God is finished with His work with the Gentiles and the body of Christ is raptured. Then God will turn His attention back to His chosen people and bring to culmination the 490 years prophecied in Daniel 9, and fulfill the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David of a King and kingdom.

This verse cautions grace-age believers against being wise in our own conceits and urges us not to be ignorant of this mystery. As we await the fullness of the Gentiles, we should remember that God will fulfill the promises He made Israel and that their spiritual blindness is not forever. Let us pray for the salvation of Israel and eagerly await the day when they will see the Lord Jesus at His second coming and recognize Him as their Messiah, their promised King.

God will Fulfill His Promise to Israel

There are hundreds of verses that clearly state that God will fulfill the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David. These were unconditional promises that God made to Israel. Below is just a handful.

‘Now I say that Jesus Christ has become a servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers, ‘

Romans 15:8

‘Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips. Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me; It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky.” Selah’

Psalms 89:32-37

‘“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; ‘

Deuteronomy 7:6-9

‘“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. “Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord , “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.”’

Jeremiah 23:5-8

‘Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me. Yes, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul.’ “For thus says the Lord: ‘Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. And fields will be bought in this land of which you say, “ It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them, and take witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, in the places around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South; for I will cause their captives to return,’ says the Lord .”’

Jeremiah 32:37-44