Luk 24:47, Rom 11:12, 15 | JFB | STEP | 47. beginning at Jerusalem —(1) As the metropolis and heart of the then existing kingdom of God:—"to the Jew first" ( , see on ). (2) As the great reservoir and laboratory of all the sin and crime of the nation, thus proclaiming for all time that there is mercy in Christ for the chief of sinners. (See on ).

Luke 24:47

47. beginning at Jerusalem—(1) As the metropolis and heart of the then existing kingdom of God:—"to the Jew first" (Ro 1:16; Ac 13:46; Isa 2:3, see on Mt 10:6). (2) As the great reservoir and laboratory of all the sin and crime of the nation, thus proclaiming for all time that there is mercy in Christ for the chief of sinners. (See on Mt 23:37).

Romans 11:12

12. Now if the fall of them—"But if their trespass," or "false step"

be the riches of the—Gentile

world—as being the occasion of their accession to Christ.

and the diminishing of them—that is, the reduction of the true Israel to so small a remnant.

the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness!—that is, their full recovery (see on Ro 11:26); that is, "If an event so untoward as Israel's fall was the occasion of such unspeakable good to the Gentile world, of how much greater good may we expect an event so blessed as their full recovery to be productive?"

Romans 11:15

15. For if the casting away of them—The apostle had denied that they were east away (Ro 11:1); here he affirms it. But both are true; they were cast away, though neither totally nor finally, and it is of this partial and temporary rejection that the apostle here speaks.

be the reconciling of the—Gentile

world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?—The reception of the whole family of Israel, scattered as they are among all nations under heaven, and the most inveterate enemies of the Lord Jesus, will be such a stupendous manifestation of the power of God upon the spirits of men, and of His glorious presence with the heralds of the Cross, as will not only kindle devout astonishment far and wide, but so change the dominant mode of thinking and feeling on all spiritual things as to seem like a resurrection from the dead.