What opportunity did Israel have and reject?
Israel had every opportunity to receive the King, the kingdom, their Messiah, and redemption, but the nation rejected it. Through that fall, salvation came to the Gentiles, which was to provoke Israel to jealousy, yet God forbids that He would simply cast them out of His sight.
Les teaches that God deals with the Jew on two different levels, nationally and individually. In Romans 11, Paul writes to the Gentile church at Rome and asks whether Israel stumbled so as to fall completely, meaning God would just kick them out of His sight. The answer is “God forbid.” Israel had every opportunity to have the king, the kingdom, their Messiah, and redemption, but they rejected it. Through that fall and rejection, salvation came to the Gentiles. God opened the windows of grace to Gentiles because Israel rejected it and fell from that place of preeminence as the covenant favored nation. Now salvation has come to the Gentiles to provoke the Jew to jealousy, and jealousy and envy are the same. Les notes that this was working.