Morning Bible Study: Romans 11:22-32

22  Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off. 

23  And if the people of Israel turn from their unbelief, they will be grafted in again, for God has the power to graft them back into the tree. 

24  You, by nature, were a branch cut from a wild olive tree. So if God was willing to do something contrary to nature by grafting you into his cultivated tree, he will be far more eager to graft the original branches back into the tree where they belong.

The Restoration of Israel

25  I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, 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, and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness. 

27  And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins." 

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29  For God's gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. 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.  NLT

Isaiah 59:20-21  "The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins," says the Lord.  "And this is my covenant with them," says the Lord . "My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children's children forever. I, the Lord, have spoken!"

Isaiah 27:9 The Lord did this to purge Israel's wickedness, to take away all her sin. As a result, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust. No Asherah pole or pagan shrine will be left standing.

Jeremiah 31:33-34  "But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel after those days," says the Lord . "I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, 'You should know the Lord .' For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already," says the Lord . "And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins."

(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary -- www.christianity.com)

"Commentary on Romans 11:22-32

Of all judgments, spiritual judgments are the sorest; of these the apostle is here speaking. The restoration of the Jews is, in the course of things, far less improbable than the call of the Gentiles to be the children of Abraham; and though others now possess these privileges, it will not hinder their being admitted again. By rejecting the gospel, and by their indignation at its being preached to the Gentiles, the Jews were become enemies to God; yet they are still to be favored for the sake of their pious fathers. Though at present they are enemies to the gospel, for their hatred to the Gentiles; yet, when God's time is come, that will no longer exist, and God's love to their fathers will be remembered. True grace seeks not to confine God's favor. Those who find mercy themselves, should endeavor that through their mercy others also may obtain mercy. Not that the Jews will be restored to have their priesthood, and temple, and ceremonies again; an end is put to all these; but they are to be brought to believe in Christ, the true become one sheep-fold with the Gentiles, under Christ the Great Shepherd. The captivities of Israel, their dispersion, and their being shut out from the church, are emblems of the believer's corrections for doing wrong; and the continued care of the Lord towards that people, and the final mercy and blessed restoration intended for them, show the patience and love of God."