Israel's Salvation 121028

Romans 11:25-36, Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As regards the gospel, they are enemies of God for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! 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?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

In this passage the Apostle Paul uses the word, "mystery". He used this same word at least twenty times in his letters. The word means something that is hidden, or, difficult to understand in the light of present knowledge. In first Corinthians Paul viewed himself as a steward of the mysteries of God. In Ephesians the mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs with Israel. In Colossians the mystery is "Christ in you, the hope of glory". To Timothy, Paul wrote of the mystery of the faith, and the mystery of godliness. Here in Romans the mystery is that a temporary hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And then Paul gives a prophecy, "in this way all Israel will be saved".

Blindness, or hardening on Israel.

A veil over the eyes. Listen as I read, 2 Corinthians 3:14-16, But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.

The mystery of the temporary hardening of Israel is clearly pointed out in second Corinthians chapter 3. When God wants to point out, or accentuate, his work in a certain situation he sometimes hardens the heart of one or more people so whatever point he wishes can be made.

He hardened the heart of Pharaoh so that he could visit Egypt with 10 plagues each one of which would destroy a pagan belief of the Egyptians and prove that there is but one God.

When Jesus sent his disciples away across the lake after feeding the 5000, they were caught up in a fierce storm. You can read the account in Mark chapter 6. After praying up a storm, Jesus walked to the boat on the water, entered the boat, and calmed the storm. An interesting note: Mark does not mention Peter walking on the water to Jesus, sinking, and being helped back to the boat. Mark was Peter's kinsman and as such got his information from Peter who probably was embarrassed to recall his sinking in the water. The point of the story is pointed out by Mark. They had not understood the miracle of the loaves and needed a reinforced lesson. By the way, the disciples never really "got it" until after Jesus' resurrection!

Please remember that everything God does has a purpose!

Jesus used parables to hide the mystery. Listen as I read, Mark 4:10-12, And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that “they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.”

Jesus used parables as a teaching tool. Sometimes we miss the point he makes here. Not everyone was intended to understand what Jesus taught! It just wasn't their time and so the use of a parable caused them to be unable to understand. Parables shed light for those who were intended to understand but they were confusing those who were not ready. I have seen the same thing happen when I try to explain the simple gospel to some people. They listen very carefully but I can tell from the look in their eyes that they have no understanding of what I'm saying. Sometimes they nod and seem to respond but they don't get it! I used to blame myself, and my way of presenting the gospel, but I slowly came to understand that there are people who are just not ready to hear the gospel.

The temporary hardening of the minds of Israel was designed to open the door to the Gentiles so they could hear the gospel and believe. There was, and is to this day, a veil over the spiritual eyes of many in Israel when the law is read. The work of the law was to bring people to the end of themselves so they could know that they could not save themselves by good works. The law was to be a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ. As Paul experienced in Antioch of Pisidia, everyone who was appointed to eternal life believed! Remember the hardening was…

Partial, or temporary, to benefit the Gentiles. Listen while I read again, Romans 11:11, So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.

The purpose of the hardening of the hearts of Israel grew out of the fact that they had hardened their own hearts in the past. Just as Pharaoh hardened his heart and later, when he tried to throw in the towel, God hardened his heart because he wasn't finished with him yet. In the same way, God hardened hearts in Israel while Jesus was on the earth, and in the years immediately afterwards, in order to bring the Gentiles into the kingdom. But remember, this was a temporary or partial hardening. It was not intended for the Jews be excluded but rather that the Gentiles should be included alongside their Jewish brothers. The hardening is intended to last only…

Until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Israel had barred the Gentiles. Listen while I read what Jesus said in Matthew 23:13, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in…"

It must've been a heartbreaking experience for Jesus to experience the hardhearted rejection of all non-Jews by the leaders of Israel. He gives us an example in the parable of the good Samaritan.

Samaritans were considered to be one of the lowest forms of human existence by the rabbis of Israel. An Israelite had been going on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. He was assaulted and robbed by a band of thieves. A priest came by and saw him lying beside the road beaten and bloody. In order to put the best face on the situation, I'm sure he feared becoming "unclean" by coming into contact with a dead body and then he couldn't do his priestly duties. So he went by on the other side of the road. He didn't even call 911!

A little later, a Levite came along and passed by on the other side of the road. Then, according to Jesus' story, a despised Samaritan came along. He not only checked the man out but he loaded him on his own donkey and took him to the Inn and cared for his wounds. Then he left money with the innkeeper to take care of the expenses of this man.

Jesus then ask, "Which of these three proved to be a neighbor to the man?"

Not only did the Pharisees and other religious leaders not enter into the kingdom but they also blocked the door so that the nations could not come in. Well, when man closes the door to the kingdom…

God opened the door. Listen while I read about Paul's experience, Acts 14:24-28, Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, and from there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they remained no little time with the disciples.

Paul and Barnabas probably had more experience with witnessing to Gentiles than any other believer of their age at that time. Peter had gone into the household of Cornelius and had presented the gospel successfully to them but, we know from later experience, (recorded in Galatians 2) that Peter had not been consistent in his witness to the Gentiles. So that, by the time of the writing of the Roman letter, Paul had come to consider himself an apostle to the Gentiles. His job, as he now understood it, was take the gospel to the nations of the world without regard to their nationality, race, or family. Later, while speaking to a hostile crowd in Jerusalem, the crowd listened intently until he said that Jesus had commanded him to "go far away to the Gentiles" and then the crowd closed in on him and would've killed him if it had not been for the Roman soldiers.

After generations of the Jewish system blocking the Gentiles from worship, now, a temporary hardening had come upon the Jews until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in. Paul certainly did not mean that all the Gentiles be saved instead…

"Fullness" does not mean "all" but it does mean many. Listen while I read from John's vision while on the Isle of Patmos, Revelation 7:9, After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Nowhere in Scripture is universal salvation taught. In fact, Scripture is very clear that salvation is reserved for those who come by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

What John saw and recorded for us in the book of Revelation was "the fullness of the Gentiles". A great multitude that no one could number. They came from every nation, they came from every tribe. They represented every language group. And they all worship together around the throne in heaven. That, is what "the fullness of the Gentiles" means.

In the same manner, "fullness"doesn't mean "all" and, "all Israel” doesn't mean every single Israelite. Yet, Paul emphatically states…

"All" Israel will be saved.

Based on Scripture, Israel will return. Let's see what Hebrews has to say about the future of the Jews, here the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah, is being quoted. Hebrews 8:8-13, For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

There is no doubt in my mind that God intends, somewhere in the future, to bring into the Christian church a great influx of Jews. I believe that great harvest will represent a vast majority of the Jews who are alive at the time. All throughout history there have been Jewish believers. But in the future there will be a great harvest under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps it will begin in the modern-day nation of Israel. Maybe it will begin in New York City where are more than 1 million Jews. I don't know the time or the manner in which this will be done but I do know it will be done.

In that massive gathering of people around the throne that John saw in the book of Revelation there will be millions of Paul's brethren according to the flesh. He rejoiced as he transcribed Romans 11 that…

God's call cannot be revoked. Look back at, V. 29, For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

Paul could see that things do not always occur the way we want them but they do always occur the way God wants them. Just as the Gentiles received mercy as a result of the disobedience of the Jews, and just as we Gentiles were grafted into the rootstock of Israel, even so, the natural branches will be brought back to be grafted into the rootstock alongside of us. We should not hesitate to share our faith with a Jew. 
Often times Christians are hesitant to share the gospel with a Jew. There are a couple of ungrounded reasons for not witnessing to Jews. One, is the idea that somehow Jews are covered by the old covenant. Another, is the idea that it is somehow anti-semitic to witness to the Jews. Both these ideas are wrong!

We need a remember that…

Salvation is the same for all people. Listen while I read, Acts 4:8-12, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Nothing could be clearer than Peter's words, "there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

Throughout the book of Romans Paul has shown the equality of relationship with God! As I have repeated so often, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. "All", in this case, certainly means every person. Paul tells us in Romans five that sin came into the world by one man and that one man is Adam, the ultimate ancestor. You see, we all inherit who we are from our ancestors. Many of our characteristics can be traced back for generations. Well, the most deadly characteristic, death through sin, goes all the way back to Adam. Not only did we inherit sin from Adam we also voluntarily sinned on our own part. Clearly, we have all sinned and, the wages of sin is death. Wages are, or should be, what we deserve for our work. Paul pointed out that we were dead in trespasses and sins in Ephesians chapter 2. That is the common condition of all mankind.

If that is as far as God went, we would all be in a world of hurt with no hope without God in this world. But the same verse that says, "the wages sin is death", continues with, "but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." You see, God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) So, God always had a plan for the salvation of a remnant of mankind. Not just a plan to provide a Savior but a plan to provide a Lord.

In Romans 10:9-10, God's Word tells us, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Admitting that one is a sinner and in need of salvation, accepting the fact of the resurrection, and confessing the need for a Savior and Lord, is a prerequisite to salvation. The conditions of salvation are imposed on all mankind without regard to nationality, race or family. All are under sin, all are subject to spiritual death and all must confess Jesus as Lord in order to be saved!

There is coming a day when there will be a great inflow of Jewish people into the Christian church. It is impossible to judge the time, or the manner, of this event. However, it is prophesied in the Old and New Testaments. In the meantime, we should be sharing our faith with everyone regardless of race, nationality or family. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God! The wages of sin is death so all are in trouble! However, God demonstrates his love for us, in that, while we were still sinners Christ died for us. So we need to urge everyone to believe in their heart that God raised Christ from the dead and confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Have you trusted him as your Lord and Savior? If not, do so now!

All Scripture references are from The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 . Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.