9. The Fall of the Jews

.... God intended salvation for the Jews (John 4:22). But they would still have to believe in Christ in order to actually be saved (Deut 32:20; Rom 1:16). In the meantime, they would be like branches that were broken out of a tree, which no longer partook of the root and fatness of the tree, which is Christ Himself (John 15:5; Rom 11:17). * But God is not finished with them yet. (Rom 11:1).

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.... In bringing the Jews to a place of believing in Jesus, God has chosen to challenge them by way of making them jealous:

.... "I will provoke you to jealousy by those who are not a nation, I will anger you by a foolish nation."

(Rom 10:19)

.... Through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles (Rom 11:11). Those Gentiles who believe the gospel, putting their faith in Christ, are grafted into the tree of salvation in place of the unbelieving Jews, who were broken off (Rom 11:19-20). In a similar metaphor, Jesus is the vine and they become the new branches (John 15:4-5).

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.... Thus, by the disobedience of the Jews, mercy has been shown to the Gentiles, resulting in a free and universal offer of salvation for all mankind (Rom 11:30; 10:11-13). Greater clarification will be given later.

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.... The free invitation of God remains open until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in (Rom 11:25). By design, the unbelieving Jews will then become jealous and believe – at which point they will be re-grafted into their own natural tree, and be saved. But how do they obtain this mercy?

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.... When the Jews fell, salvation was offered universally: and if the offer is universal, it applies even to them. Thus, through the mercy shown the Gentiles, they also have obtained mercy. (Rom 11:31).

.... "For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all."

(Rom 11:32)

.... Still, it would be overly simplistic to view all of this as a process and it would miss God’s true intention. So let us focus again on Jesus Himself, to draw as near to God’s heart and mind in the matter as we may, and obtain a proper context:

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.... Recall that the mystery of God’s will is to gather together all in Christ, to the praise of His glory (Eph 1:10-12). Therefore, hardening in part has happened to Israel that a broader opportunity may occur, that salvation should go forth to the ends of the earth (Rom 11:25). God’s purpose for doing this is to glorify Himself through Jesus Christ all the more, in a scale of glory that is actually more fitting for Jesus as well:

.... "And now the LORD says, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, So that Israel is gathered to Him (For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and My God shall be My strength), indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that you should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'"

(Isaiah 49:5-6)

.... With all of that said, let’s turn the discussion toward salvation as it would progress in the life of the average Gentile, who is by nature a child of wrath, who is walking in the course of this world, as described in Ephesians 2.
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* (Important note: the Jews were ‘broken off’ from the tree of salvation, but were not ‘cast away’- Rom 11:17; 11:1. If they had been cast away, it would not have been possible to restore them – Rom 11:15).