EDITOR’S NOTE: Romans 11 reveals God’s future for Israel. Misunderstanding this important doctrine creates many problems for students of God’s Word in general and Bible prophecy in particular. This is Part 3 of a three-part series from Larry Stamm based on Romans 11. The first two parts are available here: Part 1 / Part 2
It’s safe to say that in 2024, among the nations of the world, Israel perhaps evokes stronger thoughts and emotions in people around the world than any other nation. Israel and polarization seem to fit hand in glove, as people either strongly like or love Israel or dislike or even hate the Jewish nation. It seems most people tend to feel very strongly about Israel, one way or another.
In the church today, the nation of Israel is also a point of contention, not geopolitically, per se, but biblically. In short, as it pertains to God’s relationship with Israel in the future, there are only two basic viewpoints: God is either finished with Israel or God has a future for Israel.
In this brief series, we have considered this question by exploring what God has to say in Romans 11.
I’ve broken down Romans 11 into three Ps—The Perception, The Purpose, and The Plan. In our first submission on Romans 11:1–10, we dealt the perception that God has cast away His people. In our last submission (Romans 11:11–24), we unpacked the purpose of Israel’s blindness. Now, in this article, we ponder the profundity of God’s plan for Israel’s future salvation in Romans 11:25–36.
God’s Future for Israel—Rom. 11:25–36
We see in Romans 11:25–36 God’s glorious plan for the future salvation of Israel. Verses 25–27 say, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”
Notice in verse 25 that Paul doesn’t want the brethren to be ignorant of this mystery. The word “mystery” in the New Testament refers to truth not previously revealed. Specifically, the mystery is that Israel’s hardening is partial and it will only last for a divinely specified time until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. This is the completion of what we know as the Church Age when all the Gentiles from all the nations who will be saved are saved. God knows the beginning from the end.
When that time comes, verse 26 states that all Israel will be saved. Paul quotes Isaiah 59 about the Deliverer coming from Zion to remove ungodliness from Jacob, a reference to Israel, and to take away their sins. Maybe you’re wondering what it means that all of Israel will be saved. Some Bible commentators believe Israel in this verse refers to the whole nation. Others believe it refers to all Jewish people everywhere in the world, including the nation of Israel, who are alive when Jesus returns.
Hear the words from Zechariah 12:10, a prophecy about the Second Coming of Christ, when the Jewish people repent and turn to Him. God says through the prophet, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
Paul’s Response to God’s Plan
Paul’s response to this revelation God gives him about Israel’s future is this: Praise! Consider Romans 11:33–36: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”
God’s plan is beautiful and will be beautiful in its time. History is His story, and part of His story of redemption is that all Israel will be saved in such a way that God’s mercy will be evident to all. Knowing God’s plan for Israel is like being part of a wedding party. You know the wedding is going to be beautiful, and your anticipation is great. You know the plan. Yet, you still have to work the plan. No matter what your place is in the wedding ceremony, you’ve got to take your rightful place and fulfill your responsibilities.
You and I who know the Lord are part of the bride of Christ. We are His church and our response to God’s future restoration of Israel should mirror Paul’s—the praising of God. No doubt it’s miraculous that Israel, a nation conquered and dispersed two thousand years ago would become a nation again in 1948 out of the ashes of the Holocaust.
Is God finished with Israel? NO! God is working out His plan and we as His bride are called to praise Him, communicate His plan, and proclaim His Gospel to Jewish people and to all people. May our confidence in God and His promises renew and reinvigorate us today.
