Grafted-in, Pt 7: All Israel will be saved

Romans 11:25-26, 28-31       25I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26and in this way all Israel will be saved… 28As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, 29for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. 30Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, 31so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.

Enemies of the Gospel

It is fairly broadly accepted that in rejecting the Gospel, that is that Christ willingly died on the Cross and rose to his Father’s side to free all people from the consequence of sin, the Jews were cut off from God’s salvation.  Some people have seized on this and apply it in an extreme way to say that the Jews are completely and forever out of God’s favor; that God has ‘given up’ on Israel because of her rebellion; that Gentiles in the form of the modern Church have picked up the mantle of biblical prophecy; that the fullness of God’s love is now expressed through the church.

The Jewish nation is on the ‘outside’, but only temporarily, and even now individual Jews who see the beauty of Christ’s love and respond to his offer of salvation are welcomed into the family of believers.  But just because the Jewish nation has been stubborn and refused to move beyond tradition, does not mean that God has given up on them:  Their inclusion in the family of God has merely been delayed, not denied. 

1The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.  2“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  3I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.  (Genesis 12:1-3)

God said this to Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, and repeated it later to Abrham’s descendants.  He made covenant with his people and will not abrogate that covenant just because they were not faithful.

Hardening in part...All Israel will be saved

But there has been a hardening.  Whether this hardening is by the Jews against God, or by God against the Jews is unimportant.  The Jews failed to listen, and the Gentiles listened.  What is in question is what this hardening has to do with all of Israel being saved.  Israel was how salvation was to be brought to the world.  That implies that the gift of the Gospel had to move beyond Israel, and to do that God took advantage of the Jews stubbornness and unwillingness to listen.

That hardening is only temporary.  Since verse 25 refers to the ‘full number of Gentiles’ one can assume God has in mind a specific, concrete number of Jews who will turn to his Son at the End of Days.  Whatever that number is, it means that every Gentile person, that is every non-Jew, will have the opportunity of accepting Jesus as his Savior.

16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)

The End of Days will come when all the world has had the opportunity to receive Christ (which people in the missions field believe will be in the mid-2030s).  In the meantime, individual Jews will have been accepting Jesus all along.  Then, the rest of the Jewish people will turn, en masse, to accept Jesus and God’s plan will be complete.

Disobedience

Disobedience is the hallmark of human existence; none of us fully obey God’s laws.  We justify disobedience because we assume because something is perceived as being good for us, it must be OK.  In verse 30, Paul cautions us not to be arrogant about our salvation.  We like to criticize people who reject the Gospel as ones who miss the obvious, but Paul is pointing out that we Gentiles are no different that the Jews in the fragility of our humanity.

Yes, the Jews missed the Gospel because of their disobedience and rejection, but Gentiles were no different prior to their acceptance of the Gospel.  If we believers look back to our time before accepting Christ, we will see that we had the same arrogance, the same willingness to sin, the same rejection of Godly precepts as those who deny that there even is a God.  Here is where the salvation experience of a Gentile is a testimony to God’s power in the heart of man.  Suddenly, things change.  Accepting Christ as Savior changes one’s attitude about things; we are not free of the temptations of the world, but we are free of the condemnation that comes from succumbing to those temptations.  Our Jewish friends, indeed all our unbelieving friends, see the continuing change in us.  We are different, continue to grow in our difference, and as such provide glorious testimony to the power of God.

What about me?

As we enter maturity each human being must make a choice:  What guiding principles will I choose to govern my life?  Will I choose to accept Jesus as my Savior and follow Godly principles, or will I choose to follow humanism or science?  There is a humorous aphorism that says if a person feeds, waters, and nurtures a dog, the dog will think, “You must be God,” while if does the same for a cat, the cat will think, “I must be God.”

It’s all about attitude.  Do we recognize the presence of God?  Do we deny His existence?  Either way, the balance of our life is affected by our choice.  The Jews are called God’s chosen people because it was through them that he brought salvation to mankind.  That they chose to ignore the expending manifestation of the salvation does not mean God is done with the Jews.  He is not done with you either.  If you are a believer, then you are on your way, learning more about him every day.  If you are an unbeliever, then open your eyes to consider the possibilities.

At the End of Days, Jesus will return to rid the world of sin and evil.  One day we all will appear before Him to hear his pronouncement upon our lives.  Will we hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” or “Be gone, I never knew you.”  What you hear then, depends on what you do today.