Kingdom of heaven.

The mystery was simply the Gentiles were going to inherit the kingdom.

Why did God choose Israel to begin with? If it's always been about this new spiritual Israel, why did God go to all the trouble to make a big deal about the Jewish thing?
Why didn't he just bring a Messiah to the world through a nondescript person? Why didn't he make a covenant with the whole world to show the whole world we couldn't keep the Law?

Maybe since he set up the Jews for failure, so the their disobedience would mean salvation to the world, he made it a part of his plan to Elect them for being Jews because of genealogy. Because of the promises to the Patriarchs.

Romans 9:4
They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God's adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.

"I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery."

I dont know. They were the lineage from Seth down. I dont know why God did what He did, Im just happy having some of what Hes done revealed to me in His word

hobbs27 said:

The mystery was simply the Gentiles were going to inherit the kingdom.

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Paul sure had a funny way of explaining it with God choosing of Remnant, blinding the rest, removing the natural branches from the Jewish root, grafting in Gentile branches, lifting the blinding, allowing the natural branches to be add back in, mentioning this was necessary to make physical Israel jealous, mentioning that all Israel would be saved, mentioning they were enemies of the gospel to allow the Gentiles to inherit the Kingdom.

Talking about a mystery followed by a passage that Gentiles who formerly disobeyed God have now received mercy through their disobedience, so they too have now disobeyed, in order that they too may now receive mercy through the mercy shown to you.

To follow with "God has consigned all men to disobedience, so that He may have mercy on them all."

A whole passage following they shouldn't be ignorant of a mystery that "all Israel will be saved."

That's a strange way of explaining that the mystery was Gentiles can now inherit the Kingdom of God.

hobbs27 said:

The kingdom is here..this is about living on earth in the kingdom , not about the after life.

It was a one time deal for Israel. Its time was over, the harvest was made and the righteous out of her inherited the new covenant kingdom...as Gordon said, they walked with God.

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But we still have tares and evil. We as Christians still commit lust, hatred, anger, not helping others, not feeding the poor, jealousy, greed, and on and on.

We are still physical. It's like we aren't quite in this Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. Maybe we occasionally leave through the gate and perform our evil there, outside the Kingdom walls.
Maybe our spirits are in this spiritual Kingdom on earth and our bodies are still outside the gates where evil exists.

hobbs27 said:

I dont know. They were the lineage from Seth down. I dont know why God did what He did, Im just happy having some of what Hes done revealed to me in His word

Click to expand...

I think God chose a small Kingdom out of the whole of the earth to show us all that this small group could not keep the Law. It was his test group if you will.
In regards to using them as a test group Romans 11 explains that the mystery was by using them, salvation was offered to the Gentiles. Their disobedience meant salvation to the Gentiles. Thus in hardening them to make everything go down properly, with the Cross and all, he would have mercy on them. Theirs is a promise because of the Patriarchs. They too have now disobeyed, in order that they too may now receive mercy through the mercy shown to you.

The mystery is God's election. We can't understand how it works but if anyone can forgive the Jews, God can.

Reformers Comments on the Jewish People;

John Calvin;
"as Jews are the firstborn, what the Prophet declares must be fulfilled, especially in them: for that scripture calls all the people of God Israelites, it is to be ascribed to the pre-eminence of that nation, who God had preferred to all other nations."

Charles Hodge;
"The future restoration of the Jews is, in itself, a more probable event than the introduction of the Gentiles into the church of God. This, of course, supposes that God regarded the Jews, on account of their relation to him, with peculiar favor, and that there is still something in their relation to the ancient servants of God and his covenant with them, which causes them to be regarded with special interest."

John Murray;
While it is true that in respect of the privileges accruing from Christ's accomplishments there is now no longer Jew or Gentile and the Gentiles "are fellow-heirs, and fellow-members of the body, and fellow-partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel" (Eph. 3:6), yet it does not follow that Israel no longer fulfills any particular design in the realization of God's worldwide saving purpose...Israel are both "enemies" and "beloved" at the same time, enemies as regards the gospel, beloved as regards the election..."Beloved" thus means that God has not suspended or rescinded his relation to Israel as his chosen people in terms of the covenants made with their fathers.
Unfaithful as Israel have been and broken off for that reason, yet God still sustains his peculiar relation of love to them, a relation that will be demonstrated and vindicated in the restoration."

Geerhardus Vos
"The elective principle, abolished as to nationality, continues in force as to individuals. And even with respect to national privilege, while temporarily abolished now that its purpose has been fulfilled, there still remains reserved for the future a certain fulfillment of the national elective promise. Israel in its racial capacity will again in the future be visited by the saving grace of God [Rom. 11.2, 12, 25].

Jonathan Edwards
"Jewish infidelity shall be overthrown...the Jews in all their dispersions shall cast away their old infidelity, and shall have their hearts wonderfully changed, and abhor themselves for their past unbelief and obstinacy. They shall flow together to the blessed Jesus, penitently, humbly, and joyfully owning him as their glorious King and only Savior, and shall with all their hearts, as one heart and voice, declare his praises unto other nations...Nothing is more certainly foretold than this national conversion of the Jews in Rom. xi.

Matthew Henry;
Another thing that qualifies this doctrine of the Jews' rejection is that, though for the present they are cast off, yet the rejection is not final; but, when the fullness of time is come, they will be taken in again. They are not cast off for ever, but mercy is remembered in the midst of wrath.

The Jews are in a sense a holy nation (Exod. xix.6), being descended from holy parents. Now it cannot be imagined that such a holy nation should be totally and finally cast off. This proves that the seed of believers, as such, are within the pale of the visible church, and within the verge of the covenant, till they do, by their unbelief, throw themselves out; for, if the root be holy, so are the branches....Though grace does not run in the blood, yet external privileges do (till they are forfeited), even to a thousand generations...The Jewish branches are reckoned holy, because the root was so. This is expressed more plainly (Rom. 11:28).

http://www.chaim.org/reformers.html

John MacArthur on Israel and Hermeneutics:
The irony is that those who most celebrate the sovereign grace of election regarding the church, and its inviolable place in God's purpose from predestination to glorification, and those who most aggressively and militantly defend the truth of promise and fulfillment, those who are the advocates of election being divine, unilateral, unconditional, and irrevocable by nature for the church, unashamedly deny the same for elect Israel. That is a strange division. As it does, the perpetuity of the elect church to salvation glory, so the Scripture in similar language and by promises from the same God, affirms the perpetuity of ethnic Israel to a future salvation of a generation of Jews that will fulfill all divine promises given to them by God.

http://reformedperspectives.org/articles/kim_riddlebarger/kim_riddlebarger.BugMacAttaack.html