Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Eleven
THE WORLD TODAY
Scripture Reading: verses 32-36
FOR GOD HATH CONCLUDED THEM ALL IN UNBELIEF, THAT HE MIGHT HAVE MERCY UPON ALL. O THE DEPTH OF THE RICHES BOTH OF THE WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD! HOW UNSEARCHABLE ARE HIS JUDGMENTS, AND HIS WAYS PAST FINDING OUT! FOR WHO HATH KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD? OR WHO HATH BEEN HIS COUNSELLOR? OR WHO HATH FIRST GIVEN TO HIM, AND IT SHALL BE RECOMPENSED UNTO HIM AGAIN? FOR OF HIM, AND THROUGH HIM, AND TO HIM, ARE ALL THINGS: TO WHOM BE GLORY FOR EVER. AMEN.
In His sovereign dealings with men, God has set out to do certain things and He will neither be frustrated nor deflected in His purposes. Perhaps the keynote of the entire passage is found in verse 29 of chapter 11, “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”
According to the few verses that follow, God’s gifts and calling are summed up in the one word “mercy” – the assertion of God’s sovereign right to show mercy toward men.
In the midst of all the chaotic confusion on the international scene today, where so much is on the downward grade morally and economically, the mercy of God is perhaps the one ray of sunshine penetrating the gloom. The Christian must lay hold on the fact that, in spite of the present moral darkness that enswathes the world, the Lord is still on the throne. But more than that, His sovereign action on the heads of all mankind is in mercy. A superficial appraisal of evidences in the world leads one to the conclusion that God has a controversy with men, and that in His sovereign dealings He is putting them through one disaster after another in order to punish them for their iniquity. These chapters in Romans save us from any such conclusion. This touches a real problem in every Christian life, i.e., depression resulting from the tide of events.
This is brought into sharp perspective in relation to the Jewish situation. Here is a people whose heritage would entitle them to the most honored place in the world, yet, we have seen them trampled under foot by godless and iniquitous dictators. Instead of being as the stars of heaven, they have been as the dust of the earth. Six million ruthlessly murdered under the evil regime of Hitler and his cohorts. The Russian pogroms have left a dark stain on the world, where for many years Russian tyranny destroyed thousands of Jewish people for no other reason than simply being a Jew. But these are only two examples of the calamitous days in which we live.
We look across the world and make a sad appraisal of the plight in which men find themselves. The continent of Asia, the Middle East, the European continent, and America all face serious problems; as well as the constant threat of terrorism facing the world. It almost seems as though God is seeking occasion to pronounce vengeance instead of showing mercy. However, one must see behind the plain evidences, to recognize that:
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform.
He plants His footsteps on the sea
And rides upon the storm;
Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill,
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.
His purposes will ripen fast
Unfolding every hour,
The bud may have a bitter taste
But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain,
God is His own interpreter
And He will make it plain.
Behind the world’s sad conditions, God is dealing with individual hearts, bringing individuals out of darkness into His marvelous light. The world is like a gallant ship, splendidly arrayed, flag-bedecked and with every sail unfurled. The devil is at the helm and the proud bark has been sailing these many years, propelled forward by the fair winds of selfishness, greed, sin and pleasure; soon it will be driven mercilessly on the rocks. In order that the mad mariners on board might come to a sense of their need, God allows the storm to come along to batter and buffet the proud ship, that some on board might open their hearts and hands to their rightful sovereign Lord. His one objective is to show mercy to those who will allow Him to do so. In the light of all this, as he stands here in the universal courtroom reviewing the national status of Jew and Gentile, of Israel and the nation, Paul breaks forth in exclamation:
O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearcbable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
The magnificent doxology from here and to the end of the chapter, is an exclamation of adoration and praise to God, with which doxology Paul concluded his tremendous dissertation on the Father’s attribute of righteousness. Paul traced the divine record of God’s dealings with humanity throughout all previous history and spelled out in the most concise and logical manner possible, the fairness and justice of God’s treatment of Jews and Gentiles alike, with the conclusion stated in Romans 11:33, that God had shut up all unto disobedience and that He had provided mercy for all.1
Paul’s termination of this section of the epistle with such a warm and eloquent expression of loving truth of God is a source of great confidence to all the saved. Paul, who understood such things better than any other who ever lived, stated his absolute trust and confidence in the inscrutable ways of God, whether people understand them or not, God is in control. Nothing else really matters. God’s ways cannot be fully known to mortals; and in the degree that they are known they are not fully comprehended; but true faith receives all that God does in full trust and confidence. He who gave His Son to die for people will grant eternal happiness to every possible recipient of it, provided only that people believe and obey Him.
