"As I briefly mentioned earlier in this letter, God himself revealed this secret plan to me. As you read what I've written, you will understand what I know about this plan regarding Christ. God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now he is revealed it by the Holy Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets.
And this is the secret plan: the Gentiles have an equal share with the Jews in all the riches an inherited by God's children. Both groups have believed the good news, and both are part of the same body and enjoy together the promise of blessings through Christ Jesus." - Ephesians 3: 4-6
"God's purpose was to show his wisdom in all its rich variety to all the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. They will see this when Jews and Gentiles our joined together in his church. This was his plan from all eternity, and it has now been carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord." - Ephesians 3:10:11
You know I never really thought about it until I read this chapter; but if our God didn't love the whole world we Gentiles could be "left-out" right now. If the Lord had not asked Paul to preach to the Gentiles (and by that I mean he didn't want to share the Gospel with us through anybody), where would we be? Probably, on our way to hell. Right now the only people with any hope would be the Israelis - and even many of them don't believe Christ.
However, he did call as to be his children, and this is just another example of his love and mercy. He didn't limit those that could be saved to just Israel - he invited the whole world!
On the other hand, I believe there was a time when only the Israelis could be saved. Before Christ came, I don't remember any mentioned in the Bible of other nations coming to know God and being saved from hell by keeping his commandments. Before Christ, those that were not Israelis lived, died, and went to hell (because they loved their sin). But I'm so thankful that God did not want to keep it that way. That he loved us so much that despite everyone in the world but the Israelis turning against him, he found a way to bring them back to him through Jesus.
Now the Jews, Gentiles, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and God are one big happy family (group hug). :D
