Romans 11:20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble.
I love Japanese carpentry. They master craftsmen make furniture and buildings that require not screws or nails to keep them together. The joints between the wood elements do all the securing. The joints themselves become the strength of the object built.
Their joints are so tight and so exact, that there is no wiggle, no movement, no possibility of coming loose. And the joints and consequently the structures last for centuries. This is especially noteworthy when you consider how quickly most modern furniture falls apart. The loose glue joints cause chairs to fall apart prematurely.
There is one thing that holds the book of Romans together, one theme that binds the whole together. And that one theme is faith. Without it people are rejected by the LORD. With it they are fully accepted. Faith, or belief in the verb form, is the central thread of the whole Scriptures, but especially here in Romans.
In our text today we see this pivotal position of faith and belief in Pauls presentation of the Gospel. He is speaking in this chapter and the previous two about the place of the Jews in the future of the Gospel. There is some concern that the LORD has rejected forever the role of the Jews in His Kingdom.
So Paul uses several illustration to show the reason some Jews have lost their connection with God. And that reason is their lack of faith. They have ceased to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. They have rejected the notion that Jesus died for their sins as foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures. And as a result they have removed themselves from the life-giving connection with the Father.
The point Paul makes is that the Jews have fallen away due to their unbelief and the Gentiles have come near due to their faith. The Jews can change and begin to believe and the Gentiles could turn away and stop believing. The one thing that keeps people connected to the LORD is their trust in Him.
This passage is not about election or predestination. It is about the role of faith, the key role of faith as the joint that joins us to the LORD. The one unique feature of Japanese joinery is that they use wooden pins and wedges strategically placed to tighten the joints making them extremely strong. Our faith in the LORD is like the pin or wedge.
The pin or wedge can be removed and the Japanese work can be disassembled. So it is with our walk of faith. If we keep trusting, we stay connected. If we stop trusting, our joint comes loose and we are disconnected from the rest.
Trust today! That is the key. It binds us to the LORD and the LORD to us in a bond that will hold us through whatever comes our way.
The Arnold Journey 