Home Topics Index Download
Transcript 155A — The Future for National Israel
I would like to spend the next few minutes in talking about the subject of the future of the nation of Israel. Today the nation of Israel and its future is looming larger and larger in the minds of many believers. Many Christians are becoming very very concerned and interested and intrigued by what God might do for them. And frequently we are told that Israel as a nation has a bright and glorious future on this present earth, that indeed they will eventually as a nation respond to the Gospel, and as a nation they will turn to the Messiah, and then they will carry out a whole program of evangelizing the world, and even that Christ Himself will reign in Jerusalem, and they will be God's chosen people. And all of this is supposed to be in the Bible.
Now you'll recall, when we have talked about this, that we have seen that just exactly the reverse is true, that Isaiah 6 teaches that God has cursed Israel, and the curse that was given there, that He would blind them, so that hearing they would not hear and seeing they would not see, would continue until Judgment Day itself, because the language that's used there is that this blindness would remain with them until "the cities lay waste and the houses are without inhabitants."
And then you'll recall that when we looked at the cursing of the fig tree in Mark 11, we found that this same kind of a curse was pronounced, because the fig tree, a type of Israel itself, was told by Christ that it would never again bear figs, because when He came seeking for figs there were none.
And so everything in the Bible seems to point to the fact that except for a trickle of believers, a remnant chosen by grace, the nation as a nation will never again come to the Messiah. But there are many who read Romans 11:25 are quite convinced that Romans 11:25 and 26 are saying something quite contrary. For doesn't it say here that after the full number of Gentiles comes in, then all Israel will be saved, because the Deliverer will come from Zion, and so on? Isn't this very quickly overthrowing all that we have been talking about in the past? Well, tonight I would like to look at Romans 11 in greater detail and very carefully, and see if we can see how this fits into the whole development of the Biblical statement concerning the nation of Israel.
Romans 11 opens up in verse 1 with a question. Paul is asking, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: "I ask then. Has God rejected His people?" In other words, is Israel completely cut off by God? Has He turned His back on them? Is there no hope for them at all? Now in the light of what we read in Isaiah 6, in the light of the cursing of the fig tree, in the light of what Jesus said in Matthew 21, where He said in verse 43: "Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing fruits of it," or in the light of Matthew 8, where Jesus is talking to the Jews and He says in verse 11: "I tell you, many will come from the east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. There men will weep and gnash their teeth," in the light of all these statements, it certainly seems that God has rejected Israel. He is saying the most terrible things against them.
Is there any hope for them at all? Even in the last verse of Romans l0 God says in verse 21: But of Israel He says: "All day long I have held out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people." And so the question is very legitimate. It's a very logical question. "Has God then rejected His people?"
And the answer comes back, forthright and clear: "By no means." By no means! God has not rejected His people. God then tells what He means by the fact that He has not rejected His people. He goes on, and Paul says: "I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin." In other words, he's saying, "I'm a Jew and I'm saved. Therefore I'm clear evidence that this nation of Israel has not been rejected. Otherwise how could I be saved as a Jew?"
And then he goes and reaches back into the Old Testament days, during the days of Elijah, when Israel was so very wicked. And he says, "Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he plead with God against Israel? Lord, they have killed Thy prophets. They have demolished Thy altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life." What was God's reply to him? "I have kept for it Myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." In other words, there were a number of believers in Israel in that day. This is the evidence that God has not rejected His people, whom He foreknew.
This is God's definition of what He means when He says that He has not rejected them. Now He's not saying here that the whole nation was believing, but He is saying that a Jew could be saved, in the days of Elijah, in the days of Paul. And so he goes on in verse 5: "So, too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace." Now what's a remnant? If you have a bolt of cloth, the remnant is the last little piece. It's just a little tiny part of the whole.
In the days of Elijah the nation numbered perhaps around two million people. Seven thousand had not bowed the knee to Baal. That is, 7,000 were saved. That's approximately 3½ percent. That's a remnant, just a tiny little part of the whole. In the days of Christ, or in the days of Paul, the nation again numbered perhaps a couple of million people, and yet there were only a few thousand who were saved. Again, it's just a remnant. And so, too, it has been throughout time, right to the very present day. There is a remnant chosen by grace that is being saved. God is saying that He has not rejected them. Salvation is possible to anyone in the nation of Israel, exactly as it is possible in any other nation of the world.
But He is saying that only a remnant will come forth, and they have been chosen from before the foundations of the earth, because Ephesians 1:4 says that we have been chosen in Him from before the foundations of the earth. And that would include the Jews who are being saved, just as the Gentiles.
But then God has something to say about the rest of Israel. Now remember, He's explaining the fact that Israel has not been rejected. But in that context He's saying there's a remnant chosen by grace. But in verse 7 He says: "The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened." And then, lo and behold, in verse 8 He goes on and quotes again from Isaiah 6: "As it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear, down to this very day." In other words, when God says that He has not rejected Israel He's not suggesting for a moment that they're going to believe as a whole nation, but He's simply saying that the evidence of the fact that He has not rejected them is that salvation can come to them, that any Jew who will trust in the Lord Jesus Christ can be saved. And as a matter of fact, there is a trickle of believers coming forth from Israel, who indeed are saved.
Then God goes on in Romans 11 and describes the olive tree, that is, the body of Christ, into which we must be engrafted if we are indeed born again. And the nation of Israel has been cut off. But those branches can be grafted in again, just as we Gentiles, when we believe, are grafted in. And this is the way God is building the body of Christ. The olive tree is a figure of the whole body of Christ. And the nation of Israel, that is, the remnant chosen by grace, can come into that body of Christ just as readily as anyone else in any other nation can come into it.
Now incidentally, you know, the nation of Israel does not stand any different than any other nation in the world today. There is no nation that has turned to Christ as Messiah as a nation. This is not true of England, it's not true of Germany, it's not true of Spain, it's not true of the United States, it's not true of Nigeria, it's not true of Swaziland. It's not true of any nation in the world. Nor is it true of the nation of Israel. But wonderfully, out of every nation there is a trickle of believers, including the nation of Israel. There's a trickle of believers coming out of England, there's a trickle of believers coming out of Germany, out of Spain, out of the U.S., and so on. This is the way God is saving people.
And so, actually, what God has said so far is not putting down Israel in any way. It is simply indicating that it is a nation among the nations of the world, and God deals with it exactly as He deals with all of the other nations of the world. But now let's look intently for a couple of moments at Romans 11:25 and 26.
The verse opens up with God warning the Gentiles: "Don't be wise in your own conceits," because God is dealing with national Israel the way this chapter is describing. "Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren." And then he describes their condition. "A hardening has come upon part of Israel." Now in Romans 11:7 he spoke about this hardening. "The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened." In other words, the part of Israel that has been hardened makes up a major part of the nation. But from the earlier verses we know that even though part has been hardened, and even though that's the largest part, there is that remnant chosen by grace that has not been hardened.
But now how long will this condition prevail, that a hardening has come upon part of Israel? You'll remember, back in verse 8, this hardening has been linked right back to Isaiah 6. In verse 25 it says, "A hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles comes in." Now let's read that carefully. "A hardening has come upon part of Israel until the full number of the Gentiles comes in." God is saying here that as long as there is one Gentile living on the face of this earth who must yet be saved, this hardening will continue upon Israel. Let me say that again. As long as there is one Gentile on the face of the earth who has not yet been saved and who, under God's divine plan, will be saved, this hardening will remain upon Israel.
In other words, any theory or any scheme or any theology, or whatever, that suggests that the nation of Israel is going to respond en masse to the Gospel, and then they will witness to the Gentiles, so that Gentiles will become saved, is flatly contrary to this verse. This hardening will remain with Israel as long as there is any Gentile to be saved. Now that really brings us right up to the end of the world. Because when all of the people of the world have been saved, then Judgment Day is at hand. And so it's no wonder then that we see in Isaiah 6 the very same thing, that this blindness, this hardening, will continue "until cities lie waste and houses are without inhabitants." It's giving exactly the same truth as Isaiah 6. The curse remains upon national Israel until the very end of time. There's no contradiction of any kind.
Well now, let's look at verse 26: "And so 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." Now you can read many many books on this verse, and after this verse is quoted very frequently you will read in the next sentence or the next paragraph, "You see, the Gentiles will have their time, and then all Israel will be saved. Then the Deliverer will come from Zion," and so on, and so on, and God will do something glorious with the nation of Israel.
Now that word "then" is not in this passage at all, nor is it suggested at all. The word "so" – "so all Israel will be saved" – under no circumstances means then. It means in this fashion, or after this manner, or thus. In other words, the manner is that God has provided that a remnant chosen by grace will be coming in right up until the end of time, while the rest of the nation of Israel remains hardened, and in this fashion all Israel will be saved. That is, all who are to be saved will be saved. "As it is written, the Deliverer will come from Zion." Now the Deliverer, that is, the Savior, "He will banish ungodliness from Jacob, and this will be My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."
Now on what basis is the remnant chosen by grace saved? On what basis is anyone saved? It's because Christ came and went to the cross. He is the one who took away our sins. Who did He come to? He came to the Jews, didn't He? He came to Jerusalem. Who were the first ones who were saved when Jesus put in His appearance? They were Jews. John the Baptist was a Jew. Mary Magdalene was a Jew. The apostles were Jews. Zacchaeus was a Jew. Simeon, Anna, Mary and Martha and Lazarus were all Jews. Christ came to take away their sins. He came from Zion to banish ungodliness from their lives, from Jacob. He took away their sins. And because He came in complete faithfulness to the prophecy that was prophesied in the Old Testament, in Isaiah 59 and in Isaiah 60, which is quoted here, about the Deliverer coming from Zion, because He came, therefore there is salvation provided for Israel, just as there is salvation for every other nation, or that remnant chosen by grace that is found in any nation.
You see, Romans 11:25 and 26 is not saying anything at all that is contrary to anything else in the Bible. It is simply underscoring. It is reiterating. It is reemphasizing what Isaiah 6 said. It is reemphasizing what the fig tree symbolizes. All of this is in complete agreement. God has provided that any Jew can be saved, just like any Spaniard or any Mexican or any American or any Englishman can be saved, if we will respond to the Gospel. There's only one salvation. There's only one way to the cross, and that is through Christ.
The nation of Israel does not stand in a different relationship to God than the rest of the nations. Oh yes, in one sense it does. You'll remember in the parable of Luke 13, there the fig tree was to be cut down. And then it was offered one more chance. Let it have one more opportunity to bear fruit, and if it does not bear fruit let it be cut down. And so God, in His overwhelming mercy, is giving Israel one more opportunity. But everything in the Bible teaches that they as a nation will never respond to the Gospel.
And so we shouldn't be at all surprised then, when we look at the nation of Israel today and see that, as a nation, there isn't the slightest interest in the Messiah, is there? Not a bit. Individual Jews are being saved, but not as a nation. There's no interest in Christ as the Messiah. The same blindness prevails that has prevailed ever since the days of Isaiah and before. And the Bible says, no matter where we look, that this will continue right to the end.
Now one last statement. If we look at verses 30 and 31, God gives a little more information to underscore this. In verse 30 He says, "Just as you gentiles", that is, "just as you," and He's speaking about the Gentiles here, "were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience." Because they became disobedient against God, and their eyes were blinded, they rejected the Messiah and crucified Him. And this of course made it possible for we Gentiles to be saved. And this was God's plan, that Christ had to be crucified. Otherwise Christ could not be King. He could not have a kingdom unless He had been crucified.
He came to establish His kingdom by going to the cross. So they, that is, the Jews, have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy. In other words, they stand just like unsaved Gentile nations, so that as you who have been shown mercy bring the Gospel to them, they also may receive mercy. That is, the Gospel can come to them, and a Jew can be saved even as you as a Gentile were saved.
And then notice verse 32: "For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that He may have mercy upon all." In other words, God is closing the argument here in a real sense. He's saying, "You see, all nations stand on the same ground. All men are consigned to disobedience." That is, whether you're a Jew or Gentile, you're under the wrath of God. But whether you're Jew or Gentile, if you respond to the Gospel, you can be saved. The Gospel is available to a Jew just as quickly as to a Gentile.
So you see, Romans 11 is very clearly setting aside any kind of an idea that national Israel stands on special ground before God, or that they have a special future, or that they are any different than the other nations. Romans 11 is underscoring and emphasizing that whether you're an American, or a Jew, or a Spaniard, or an Englishman, or a German, or if you're from Argentina or whatever, your opportunity to be saved is exactly the same. You must respond to Christ as your Savior ant cry out to Him for mercy. What a wonderful, merciful God He is, that He has made this kind of provision.