Far better than what we could ever imagine.

You have probably heard this phrase quoted:
“God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than ours”
Unfortunately it is often quoted in the face of some tragedy. Usually, after some terrible event has occurred, that has left people stunned and speechless … this quote is used. What is insinuated, is that God was somehow involved in this tragedy, and we should not try to understand it … because we can’t.
I don’t think there is any real comfort in ignorance. I find it very revealing that the ‘Comforter’ is also called the Spirit of Truth, who leads us into all truth.

I was pleasantly surprised when I read the original source of this quotation and I think you will be too.
Isaiah:55:7,8
Let the wicked one abandon his way,
and the sinful one his thoughts; ….
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not My ways.”

Notice that having thoughts that are not His thoughts is described as wicked and sinful – a way of thinking that should be abandoned. God never stated that such a condition is simply human, and therefore we should just accept it. No; He challenges us to forsake such low level thinking. He plainly says that if you don’t think like Him, you need to change your thinking!

He desires for you to know His thoughts and His ways. Not only does He desire for you to know His thoughts, but He also wants to teach you how to think as He does. Let’s look again at that scripture:

Isaiah:55:7-11
Let the wicked one abandon his way,
and the sinful one his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD,
so He may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for He will freely forgive.
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not My ways.”
declares the Lord.
9 “For as heaven is higher than earth,
so My ways are higher than your ways,
and My thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For just as rain and snow fall from heaven,
and do not return there
without saturating the earth,
and making it germinate and sprout,
and providing seed to sow
and food to eat,
11 so My word that comes from My mouth
will not return to Me empty,
but it will accomplish what I please,
and will prosper in what I send it to do.”

Just like the rain and snow bridge the gap between Heaven and Earth, so His Word bridges the gap between His understanding and ours. He wants to saturate our minds with His thinking; He designed our imagination as fertile soil in which His ideas would germinate and sprout. The fruit of thinking His thoughts, is living His life.

Our Creator desires to be known; our Father wants to be understood, but His desire extends even further. He longs for meaningful companionship – a being that can think on His level; a being that is able to communicate boldly and comfortably in His presence. Such a being exists … it’s the one He created in His own image and likeness … it is you.

We started with the quotation “His thoughts are higher than our thoughts and His ways higher than ours” We showed how often this has been misunderstood and miss-quoted to insinuate that such a state is simply human. The context in which this scripture has often been quoted would suggest that God is worse than what we expected! Looking at the original setting of this scripture we discovered something completely different.

There have indeed been occasions where my thoughts were not His thoughts. However, discovering His thoughts has always been a pleasant discovery. He has surprised me time and again with His goodness. My best imaginations are always overshadowed by much better realities, when I see things from His perspective. He is better, bigger, wiser, more thorough, more involved, more loving than what we could ever have hoped for.

He is exceedingly abundantly above all we could ask or imagine.
He invites you right now to come and partake, to boldly come and commune with Him. There are no reasons to hesitate … just let Him surprise you with His goodness.

It is with this understanding that I want us to discover Romans 9-11. These chapters contain a progressive revelation of the goodness of God.

Imagine bending down and examining a beautiful flower. Then expand your focus and see the field of flowers in which it stands. Now look beyond the field and see the roaring river ripping through the landscape and in the background, majestic snow-capped mountains.
This illustrates how these chapters expand our vision and stretch our understanding to appreciate the scope and exceeding greatness of Gods plan. Paul presents us with a problem or a question then answers it in such a way that it beckons an even bigger question. Each statement, question and answer expands our understanding of God’s master plan until the conclusion in chapter 11 … a climax which is most extraordinary.

Paul starts with a very specific focus – the Israelites.

Romans 11:1-5
 1 I speak the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience is testifying to me with the Holy Spirit  2 that I have intense sorrow and continual anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from the Messiah for the benefit of my brothers, my countrymen by physical descent. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises. 5 The forefathers are theirs, and from them, by physical descent, came the Messiah, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Here is the first problem that Paul presents: The Jews were the covenant nation through whom salvation would come to the nations. However, they hindered rather than helped this purpose. Jesus came and accomplished this mission … one would expect them, of all people to embrace this salvation … but no they didn’t. Even up to this day, the majority of Jews do not embrace this message. This poses a very important question regarding God’s faithfulness to His covenant people! It is this question that Paul answers in the following three chapters. He does not entertain a shallow theology that simply and callously accepts that the Jews got what they deserved (or chose). He seems to ask a much bigger question – what part does God play in this drama, seeing that ‘God’s call is under full warranty–never cancelled, never rescinded’ There seems to be a paradox: The Jews, in general, seems to be cut off from this salvation … but they are the covenant people ( to whom belongs the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants; see 11:28,29) … this causes Paul ‘intense sorrow and continual anguish’. Looking at the state of Israel, can we conclude that God has been faithful to His covenant? Paul’s answer is yes – but to come to that conclusion we have to look at a much broader context than the present.

Paul starts his argument by stating that there is more to being Israel than physical decent – not all Abraham’s descendants inherited the promise. (vs 6,7) Ishmael and Esau were physical descendants, but not heirs – the focus shifts from decent and personal choice to God’s election – His Choice, His initiative. (vs 8-14)

He illustrates the power of Gods’ decision, and the irrelevance of man’s contribution so strongly with statements like: So then it does not depend on human will or effort, but on God who shows mercy. He emphasises the point even more through the story of Pharaoh, who hardened his heart against God. The Old Testament story is quite clear that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, but Paul sees deeper and declares that what Pharaoh thought was his own choice, was actually God’s choice.

This will obviously raise some questions. Paul is aware of that and articulates it as follows: You will say to me, therefore, “Why then does He still find fault? For who can resist His will?”
If God makes all the important decisions, how can He hold us responsible for anything?

Paul does not attempt to answer this question immediately, but firstly shows that such a question misses the point. It is completely out of context … similar to a pot questioning the potter. The potter obviously has a much broader perspective and purpose for his handiwork, than what is immediately visible to the handiwork.

He then makes a very clear statement – God is a potter who decided to make two pots - one, a vessel of Mercy, and another, a vessel of wrath!

The object of His mercy contains both gentiles and believing Jews (vs 23-26). The other pot is the object of wrath – that makes sense in the light of the scriptural statement that only a remnant will be saved! But this thought is one of the most important keys to understanding the whole plot. I’ll explore it more a bit later – suffice to say that the remnant has always been seen as God’s strategy to save the nation, just like the ‘one’ was His strategy to save ‘the many’ and the church is the firstfruits of a harvest much larger than the church!

So his argument progresses to show that the true Israel is the Church ,,, and so God remains faithful and justified in what He has done … but he does not leave it there! This is not the end of the plot.

Paul doesn’t just adopt a new definition for ‘Israel’ and moves on, He again expresses his desire for Israel (in the traditional definition) to be saved. (Chapter10:1)
 ’did God reject His people?’ … ‘by no means!’ (11:1)
Paul is not satisfied that God has been faithful to His covenant with Israel, simply because a few Jews believed, or because he(Paul) now has a new definition for Israel. 11:11-12 Paul asks: ‘have they stumbled beyond recovery?’ Paul’s answer is a definite NO!
This is rather amazing, because he quotes from Ps 69 in which the same question is asked, and the answer in the Psalms is: Yes, they stumbled beyond recovery. Ps 69:28 “Let them be erased from the book of life”
However, Paul comes to a different conclusion! He asks the same question, but goes on to give the opposite answer. He obviously never subscribed to our neatly formalised principles on ‘how to interpret the scriptures’

Anyway, back to the main point.
God’s long term plan includes only one ‘pot’ … the object of His mercy. He concluded all under disobedience, so that He might have mercy on all. Being the object of wrath is always temporal … ‘we once were by nature children of wrath, but now…(Eph. 2)

 For His anger lasts only a moment,
 but His favor, a lifetime.
 Weeping may endure the night,
 but there is joy in the morning. (Ps 30:5)

Israel’s ‘stumble’ was part of a bigger plan for the Gentiles to be included … the inclusion of the Gentiles is part of a bigger plan to include all Israel (11:26)… which is part of a bigger plan to include all without exception.

We have the picture of the olive tree in 11:13-24 … So the conclusion: Not all descendants of Abraham are Israel(9:5); God has been severe in His dealings with them (11:22); they have been rejected (11:15) BUT this state is not permanent. ‘if they do not continue in unbelief, they will be grafted back in, for God is able’ So Paul makes this amazing statement that non-elect Jews, could become elect Jews! Being non-elect is also temporal!

But will this ever happen? Is ‘believing’ not a choice that some are bound to never make? 11:25-29 There is no gambling going on here – what God purposed will be accomplished.

11:31 From your point of view as you hear and embrace the good news of the Message, it looks like the Jews are God’s enemies. But looked at it from the long-range perspective of God’s overall purpose, they remain God’s oldest friends. God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty—never cancelled, never rescinded.

The above scripture makes it so plain that being an enemy (other terms used are non-elect, rejected, hardened) is only true within a certain context and period. God’s purpose however, has a much larger perspective and transcends the limitations of the temporal.

Wow – look at this in the MSG translation:
30-32There was a time not so long ago when you were on the outs with God. But then the Jews slammed the door on him and things opened up for you. Now they are on the outs. But with the door held wide open for you, they have a way back in. In one way or another, God makes sure that we all experience what it means to be outside so that he can personally open the door and welcome us back in.

God our Father is at work in every person to will and to do His good pleasure (Phil 2:13) Some respond sooner than others. However, in the end every knee will bow and every tongue will adore Him.
This is Paul’s ultimate conclusion: “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” (v32)

No wonder Paul exclaims:

 Oh, the depth of the riches
 both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
 How unsearchable His judgements
 and untraceable His ways!
 For who has known the mind of the Lord?
 Or who has been His counsellor?
 Or who has ever first given to Him,
 and has to be repaid?
 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
 To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
(Romans 11:33-36)

1Co 2:16Â For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.