I think Pastor John would agree with me in that the two of us have been in rarefied air in these days, studying the Lord’s Decrees for the Sunday School hour, and then exploring the profundity of the Lord’s doings in the gospel of grace in Romans 11:33-36. Speaking of that passage at the end of the doctrinal section of Paul’s epistle to the Romans, it serves as a “pivot point” not only in Romans, but as a pivot point for us as well. Paul has been unveiling the great “mystery” of Christ for 11 chapters and now, we might say, is “lost in wonder, love and praise” as he steps back and contemplates that mystery. But he does not stop there, for immediately following this thrilling doxology, he plunges into a very pointed “therefore.” He is saying, is he not, that if we understand something of the majesty and glory of what we have been reading and hearing, should it not move us to praise, wonder, adoration, and even action?
The gospel thrills us and empowers us to think differently about the comings and goings of life, the ups and downs, as it were. For plunging into the depths, as the apostle calls us to, means that when we “come up for air,” we are never the same again. May the Lord do this for us as we contemplate Him and the glory of His ways, which are as the older versions have it, “past finding out.”