Tripping up... and falling into the arms of God

11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean! 

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree. (Romans 11)

Boy, do we love to compare.  The Israelites often developed a snobbish attitude toward Gentiles when they compared the morality of their lifestyes and how much more they knew about the true and living God.  Now that many of them had refused to believe in the Messiah, the Gentiles in turn might be tempted to do the same, wondering how the Jews could be so crazy as to miss the Savior.  We might also think that this failure in faith might even be a "requirement" for our salvation, and that it might be terminal.  But Paul still held out hope that his fellow Jews could come to Christ, and that in fact that would be even more glorious.  Why? It would be another grand display of the power and glory of God. That is what it is all about. Christ the Cornerstone has come, and in His coming He has "tripped up" those who struggled to accept "the offense of the cross", as Isaiah, Paul & Peter describe it. But to those who believe, He is the Rock of our salvation, upon whom our faith can firmly stand. There is hope that those who in their pride and self-righteousness have refused to trust in Him and be saved, will humble themselves, and fall into the arms of a forgiving God.