33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! 
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. 
To him be glory forever. Amen.
— Romans 11:33-36, ESV

There are still some living Americans who can remember the glory of September 2, 1945.  It was VJ Day, a commemoration of our victory in Japan and the ultimate end to World War II.  A ticker-tape parade was held in New York City, after which sanitation workers picked up over ten million pounds of paper.  That’s some celebration!  

And rightly so.  A half-million of our finest soldiers had given their lives to win that war, and millions more were returning home to a safe and strong USA.  Together they had rescued Europe from the madness of Hitler and the Nazis, saved Asia from the savagery of the Japanese, and liberated the Jews who survived the concentration camps that killed six million of their kinsmen.  

A lot of those brave soldiers basked in glory that day.  So did some of our leaders, like President Truman and Generals Eisenhower and MacArthur.  So much had been given.  So much had been won.  There were so many reasons for celebration, exaltation, and glory.

Romans 11:33-36 is Paul’s ticker-tape parade, for God.  

So much ground has been covered and claimed up to now, from Romans 1:1 to 11:32.  The many previous texts have made clear that the gospel of God’s Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, has won our justification by faith, caused our sanctification by the Spirit, and guaranteed our glorification with God.  We have been chosen by God in election and the elect are following Christ through proper evangelism and discipleship.

It is time now to thank, honor, and glorify the one person in three persons who made all of this possible.  It is time to turn theology into doxology.  It is time to give glory to God!

Glory to God, for who He is!

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! 
— vs. 33a

“Depth” is the Greek “bathos.”  God is literally bathed in something, or some things described in the text as “riches,” “wisdom,” and “knowledge.  Paul is drawing water here from a deeper well to bathe us in the glory of the character and attributes of God.

Consider God’s attributes, both incommunicable (belonging only to Him) and communicable (passed down to humans made in His image).  

The best terms we can use in the English language to define the incommunicable attributes of God are the three “O’s.”  God is omniscient, He knows everything.  God is omnipotent, He has all power to do anything.  God is omnipresent, He is everywhere, all the time, especially when it comes to the salvation and security of His chosen people.

God is also sovereign, and shares His kingship with no one else.  God is immutable, we change, we must change, He never does.  God is triune, one God in three persons, no one is like Him.  God is many more things we cannot be, because of the depth of the attributes He alone possesses.

God shares certain other attributes with us, communicable attributes, but ones we would not have had God not given them to us.  So we glorify God for His love, without which we could not properly love Him and others.  We glorify God for His grace and mercy, which grants our forgiveness and enables us to forgive others.  

And God has made a way through the gospel to give us His attributes of truth, righteousness, and holiness.  He has done so through the person and work of the second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, which the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, applies to our lives by grace through faith in Christ.  Glory to God, for who He is, the great Three in One.  And, glory to God for what He has done!

Glory to God, for what He has done!

How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
Or, “Who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
— vs. 33a-35

The greatest thing about God is Who He is.  The next greatest thing about God is what He has done.  He has made “judgements” concerning sin and salvation.  He has decreed “ways” to bring His people to salvation.  No one else could do it.  So if you are in a saving relationship with God, it is because you have been supernaturally touched by the supreme being of the universe, and you owe Him all the glory.

Again, previous passages in Romans 1:1-11:32 have detailed the actions of God in justification, sanctification, and glorification.  This doxology in 11:33-36 revels in what God has done, but also begs the question why.  The fact that it is unanswerable elevates both the mystery of God and the glory of God.

God’s majesty is based on His mystery.  Do you know why God makes up His mind and makes the decisions He does?  Do you know God gets advice from no one else but Himself?  Do you know that no one ever takes the initiative with God?  God must be, and God must do, before any human being can be God’s or please God in any way.

Remember the context of the entirety of Romans 1-11 is the theology of salvation (beginning in Romans 12, we transition to the practicality of salvation).  So our doxology based on this theology must be for the God who saves.  

We glorify God for choosing us before the foundation of the world!  But, we do not know why He did?!  Why would He save a sinner like me, you, or anyone else who has been saved?  We do not know, but we love Him and glorify God for it.

We glorify God for saving us in real time, personally.  We thank those who prayed for us.  We are grateful for those who preached the word to us.  But we give glory to only One for saving us, the Lord God Almighty, the Father in election, the Son in salvation, the Spirit in application.  

We glorify God for taking all the initiative and action in salvation.  We take no first step!  We give God nothing in advance of His gift of salvation.  We are not saved because of any attribute we possess or action we take, but by the perfect, sovereign, gracious attributes and activity of almighty God.  

Glory to God, that we did nothing for God to cause Him to save us, but God did everything for us and for our salvation!  But the best is still yet to come.

Glory to God, for what He is will do!

For from him and through him and to him are all things. 
To him be glory forever. Amen.
— vs. 36

“From Him,” God has glorified Himself in being the Creator.  God made the heavens and the earth, all of the galaxies, the stars, the planets and moons.  God made angels, and a little lower than the angels He made mankind.  Like the angels, we have the propensity to sin.  Unlike the angels, we can be saved, redeemed, forgiven, and set free.  Glory to God our Creator, He has a plan with a perfect ending!

“Through Him,” God has glorified Himself in being the Redeemer.  God the Son comes into focus here.  Jesus Christ spoke creation into being.  Jesus Christ looked on as the apex of God’s creation, mankind, fell into sin and death. Jesus Christ fell to earth Himself, through incarnation, through the virgin birth, to redeem God’s people through His virtuous life, vicarious death, and victories resurrection.  Jesus Christ will save whoever calls upon the name of the Lord, “through Him.”  Glory to God our Savior, He has a plan!

“To Him,” God will glorify Himself in the perfection, the consummation, the re-creation of His creation.  Remember the context of the previous paragraph, 11:25-32, is the second coming of the second person of the Trinity, The Son of God Jesus Christ.  When He comes, He will raise God’s people up in glorified bodies.  He will bring with Him a glorified, renewed, and perfected Heaven and Earth.  And while everything we are, and everything around us will be glorified, we will give glory to only One.

Those who die in the Lord get a glimpse of glory before the great day of consummation comes.  Those who are alive in the Lord when Jesus comes will see one indescribably glorious sight.  But when glory comes, who do you want to see, who would you shower with a ticker-tape parade?

I know for you who have lost a Christian husband or wife in this life cannot wait to see them again.  For those who have endured the sorrow of seeing a child go to Heaven before you, you want the joy of seeing them again.  The same is true for all of us who have endured the deaths of Christian family, friends, and fellow church members.  When kingdom comes, we often think the first person we want to see is one of them, or maybe even some great hero of the faith.  

But let us focus our attention and feast our eyes on the One, the only One, worthy of our glory, on that day and every day.  The One we want to see and shower in Heaven should be the One who made Heaven possible, the One worthy of ten million pounds of ticker-tape and more, the One true and living God of all creation, all salvation, all glory.  Glory to God!

Glory to God!

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all ye creatures here below,
Praise Him above ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!  Amen!
— The Doxology

Soli Deo Gloria!