Christian Moments

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Romans 11

1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

²God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel:

³“Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”?

⁴And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

⁵So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

⁶And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

⁷What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened,

⁸as 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.”

⁹And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.

¹⁰May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.”

¹¹Again 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.

¹²But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

¹³I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry

¹⁴in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.

¹⁵For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

¹⁶If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,

¹⁸do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

¹⁹You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.”

²⁰Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith.Do not be arrogant, but tremble.

²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

²²Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.

²³And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

²⁴After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree,how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

²⁵I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,

²⁶and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

²⁷And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

²⁸As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,

²⁹for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.

³⁰Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,

³¹so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.

³²For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

³³Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!

³⁴“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

³⁵“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”

³⁶For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Ezekiel 23

1 The word of the Lord came to me:

²“Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother.

³They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed.

⁴The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

⁵“Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors

⁶clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen.

⁷She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after.

⁸She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.

⁹“Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.

¹⁰They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her.

¹¹“Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.

¹²She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men.

¹³I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.

¹⁴“But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red,

¹⁵with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea.

¹⁶As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

¹⁷Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.

¹⁸When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.

¹⁹Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt.

²⁰There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.

²¹So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.

²²“Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stir up your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side—

²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses.

²⁴They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment, and they will punish you according to their standards.

²⁵I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire.

²⁶They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry.

²⁷So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore.

²⁸“For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am about to deliver you into the hands of those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust.

²⁹They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you stark naked, and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuity

³⁰have brought this on you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.

³¹You have gone the way of your sister; so I will put her cup into your hand.

³²“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup large and deep; it will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much.

³³You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of ruin and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.

³⁴You will drink it and drain it dry and chew on its pieces— and you will tear your breasts. I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.

³⁵“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Since you have forgotten me and turned your back on me, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.”

³⁶The Lord said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront them with their detestable practices,

³⁷for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me, as food for them.

³⁸They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my Sabbaths.

³⁹On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated it. That is what they did in my house.

⁴⁰“They even sent messengers for men who came from far away, and when they arrived you bathed yourself for them, applied eye makeup and put on your jewelry.

⁴¹You sat on an elegant couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed the incense and olive oil that belonged to me.

⁴²“The noise of a carefree crowd was around her; drunkards were brought from the desert along with men from the rabble, and they put bracelets on the wrists of the woman and her sister and beautiful crowns on their heads.

⁴³Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is.’

⁴⁴And they slept with her. As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah.

⁴⁵But righteous judges will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood, because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands.

⁴⁶“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Bring a mob against them and give them over to terror and plunder.

⁴⁷The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.

⁴⁸“So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you.

⁴⁹You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”

Genesis 19

1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.

²“My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”

³But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.

⁴Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house.

⁵They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

⁶Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him

⁷and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.

⁸Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

⁹“Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

¹⁰But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.

¹¹Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

¹²The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,

¹³because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

¹⁴So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the Lord is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁵With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished.”

¹⁶When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them.

¹⁷As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain!Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

¹⁸But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please!

¹⁹Yourservant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die.

²⁰Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”

²¹He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of.

²²But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar.)

²³By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.

²⁴Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens.

²⁵Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.

²⁶But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the Lord.

²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.

²⁹So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

³⁰Lot and his two daughters left Zoar and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.

³¹One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to give us children—as is the custom all over the earth.

³²Let’s get our father to drink wine and then sleep with him and preserve our family line through our father.”

³³That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and slept with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁴The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I slept with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and sleep with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”

³⁵So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in and slept with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁶So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.

³⁷The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab;he is the father of the Moabites of today.

³⁸The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi; he is the father of the Ammonites of today.

You Don’t Mock God

2 Chronicles 36:15-17

¹⁵The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place.

¹⁶But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.

¹⁷He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.

Link Roundup Sunday

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Shalom Jerusalem-Paul Wilbur

Romans 10

1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved.

²For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.

³Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

⁴Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

⁵Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”

⁶But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)

⁷“or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

⁸But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim:

⁹If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

¹¹As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”

¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,

¹³for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

¹⁴How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

¹⁵And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

¹⁶But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”

¹⁷Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.

¹⁸But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.”

¹⁹Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says, “I will make you envious by those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”

²⁰And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”

²¹But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.”

Ezekiel 22

1 The word of the Lord came to me:

²“Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices

³and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols,

⁴you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries.

⁵Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, you infamous city, full of turmoil.

⁶“‘See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood.

⁷In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow.

⁸You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths.

⁹In you are slanderers who are bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts.

¹⁰In you are those who dishonor their father’s bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean.

¹¹In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

¹²In you are people who accept bribes to shed blood; you take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign Lord.

¹³“‘I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst.

¹⁴Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.

¹⁵I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness.

¹⁶When you have been defiled in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the Lord.’”

¹⁷Then the word of the Lord came to me:

¹⁸“Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver.

¹⁹Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem.

²⁰As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you.

²¹I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her.

²²As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath on you.’”

²³Again the word of the Lord came to me:

²⁴“Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’

²⁵There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her.

²⁶Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

²⁷Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain.

²⁸Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’—when the Lord has not spoken.

²⁹The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.

³⁰“I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.

³¹So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Genesis 18

1 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day.

²Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

³He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.

⁴Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree.

⁵Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.” “Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”

⁶So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”

⁷Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it.

⁸He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.

⁹“Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him. “There, in the tent,” he said.

¹⁰Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him.

¹¹Abraham and Sarah were already very old,and Sarah was past the age of childbearing.

¹²So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

¹³Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’

¹⁴Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

¹⁵Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.” But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”

¹⁶When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way.

¹⁷Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?

¹⁸Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.

¹⁹For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

²⁰Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous

²¹that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

²²The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.

²³Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?

²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes,

²⁸what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?” “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

²⁹Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?” He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

³⁰Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?” He answered, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹Abraham said, “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?” He said, “For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it.”

³²Then he said, “May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?” He answered, “For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.”

³³When the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham, he left,and Abraham returned home.

Those Who Trust In The Lord Will Endure Forever.

Psalm 125

¹Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever.

²As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.

³The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil.

⁴Lord, do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart.

⁵But those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers. Peace be on Israel.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Romans 11

11 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.

12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!

25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,

26 and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.

27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments,and his paths beyond tracing out!

34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”

36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.