The Mystery of Israel’s Hardening

Transcript

GR 1460
02/13/11
The Mystery of Israel's Hardening
Romans 11:25-27
Gil Rugh

We're in Romans 11, unfolding the marvelous plan of God related to His people, Israel. As we've noted so much of our Bible focuses on the nation Israel. From Genesis 12 all the way through the Old Testament, all the way through the four gospels, the focus of God's work in the world is in the nation Israel. With the establishing of the church in Acts 2, following Israel's rejection of their Messiah, His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension to heaven the church was founded. Here in these early days of the church it is clear the Jews are turning against God in greater numbers, not to Him. Whereas the Gentiles are turning from their paganism to faith in the Jewish Messiah. And this raised some issues and questions, what about God's plan for Israel. The danger is that Gentiles realize they have been given the place of honor and blessing in God's work in the world, they have become the recipients of His salvation. Even among believers they begin to look at the Jews with some disdain and perhaps begin to think that the Jews have been permanently and finally rejected by God and we Gentiles because we didn't commit the terrible sin of the Jews in bearing direct responsibility for the crucifixion of the Messiah, we have replaced them.

Paul is putting this all in perspective. It was a point of tension obviously in the church at Rome. One writer commenting on Romans told the story of a past emperor who asked a believer what was the greatest proof of the inspiration of scripture. And the man responded with one word, Israel. Now in the early days of the church all they could see was the Jews are by and large excluded from God's salvation and the Gentiles are being saved. Two thousand years later we can look around and we are amazed to see Israel is still here. They are in the land. That is marvelous. But in these early days of the church, what was most clear was Israel's rejection and being under the judgment of God.

What Romans 9-11 are doing is unfolding in great detail the plan of God for Israel. The first part of Romans has made clear, the Gentiles are sinners, under the judgment of God. The Jews are sinners, under the judgment of God. But salvation has been provided for all, Jew and Gentile alike by faith in Christ. And Abraham is used as a great example in chapter 4. The fact of the matter is the Jews aren't believing, the Gentiles are.

So chapter 9 laid out the sovereign plan of God in dealing with Israel. He never did promise, and it was never part of His plan that every physical descendant of Abraham would experience salvation. It had to be according to God's determination, it had to be Abraham. And then the promise came through Isaac, not Ishmael. And then Isaac's son, Jacob, not Esau. So being a physical descendant of Abraham in and of itself was not enough to receive the promises. You had to be a physical descendant and also a spiritual descendant. One does not cancel out the other. What happened to the Jews? Over time they saw themselves in the place of God's favor as the prophet wrote, you only have I known of all the families of the earth. And Israel became proud and arrogant—it is enough to be a Jew. We are God's chosen people. They became arrogant, self-confident. And so they came under the judgment of God. Paul is going to be warning the Gentiles again and again of such a danger. We. Obviously, look around, if we asked for a raise of hands, how many are Jewish in their background, we'd have very few out of the total number of this audience. It's easy to begin to think that God is blessing us. And churches down through the ages have experienced the judgment of God as the church at Laodicea was representative where we are rich, we are full, we don't have need of anything. And you don't know you've become spiritually destitute. And the pride in who they are has replaced the faith in Jesus Christ and God's salvation.

So there is a warning in Romans 11:18, do not be arrogant toward the branches, referring to the Jews. You can come under judgment for unbelief. So he is unfolding how everything that is taking place in Israel, taking place with the Gentiles is part of the sovereign plan of God. We have to be careful to see things in the proper perspective of God's grace and saving faith. And once you begin to lose that perspective you put yourself in great danger.

Now as we have emphasized, God's plan and program as revealed in His covenant with Abraham included blessings for the physical descendants of Abraham who have the faith of Abraham, and also non-physical descendants who have the faith of Abraham. What is consistent with both is that you must have the faith of Abraham to experience the salvation God has provided. That's true for the Jews, that's true for the Gentiles. Now when the Gentiles place their faith in the God of Abraham, in the Savior who is the descendant of Abraham, they experience God's salvation. They become the spiritual descendants of Abraham.

Come back to Romans 4. Let me say something here. We talk theologically about the analogy of faith. The analogy of faith is simply another expression for comparing scripture with scripture. But there is a proper use and an improper use of the analogy of faith. Covenant theologians, those who do not take a literal interpretation, for example, of Israel, use the analogy of faith to take one portion of scripture and use it to reinterpret another portion of scripture. So they believe with the coming of Christ and the revelation concerning Him, they now are in the position to use what God says in the New Testament to reinterpret the Old Testament. That's a wrong use of the analogy of faith, or comparing scripture with scripture. The proper use of the analogy of faith is to see what God has revealed in one place and to see what He has revealed in another and to understand what He has said in both places and how they fit together. Later revelation never changes earlier revelation. What God has promised to the physical descendants of Abraham will never change. Now He can clarify that and add to it, but He will not change it. Now you keep that in mind because depending on whom you read, and you read some and they'll say, by the analogy of faith we understand this passage this way. You have to say, wait a minute, is that what this passage meant when it was originally given. Some will say by the analogy of faith we understand the land promises to Israel have been fulfilled spiritually in Christ. That's a misuse of the analogy of faith. You can't change the promises given earlier. So we want to compare scripture with scripture but we can't change one portion of scripture by giving it a different meaning, using another portion.

All right, Romans 4. Abraham is the example of salvation by faith. Verse 5, but the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. So you are not saved by works, you are saved by faith and it's by faith alone. Abraham was the example because in Genesis 15:6, Abraham believed God and God credited it to Abraham as righteousness. He referred to that in verse 3.

Come down to verse 10, how then was it credited? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Stop and think, Abraham was declared righteous in Genesis 15 but he was not circumcised until Genesis 17, years later. So not while circumcised but while uncircumcised. So circumcision can't be necessary for salvation. You remember when we studied Romans 4, because Abraham was declared righteous before he was circumcised. So how can you say circumcision is necessary for salvation as the Jews were saying. Some people still don't understand that today. They think you have to be baptized to be saved, if they don't get their babies baptized they won't be saved, if you're not baptized you're not saved. When was Abraham baptized? He never was. How can you say baptism is necessary to be saved? Romans 4 couldn't be any clearer.

Verse 11, he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith which he had while uncircumcised. He was already saved, he already had righteousness. This just testified to that righteousness. Circumcision is a further act of obedience because he's a believer. Why did it happen that way? That he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them. So you see the point is he's going to be the father of Jew and Gentile alike.

Come down to verse 16, for this reason it is by faith in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, all the seed. Not only those who are of the law, the Jews, but also those who are of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all. Non-Jews as well. Now wait a minute, he's not saying that that nullifies anything because that was part of the Abrahamic Covenant. Verse 17, as it is written, a father of many nations I have made you. So the provisions in the Abrahamic Covenant, which we looked at in some detail in the previous study—land, seed and blessing. And with the blessing comes a provision of salvation for not only Jews, but non-Jews as well.

Come over to Galatians 3:13, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. In order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. The death of Christ on the cross was to provide salvation not only for Jews, but also for Gentiles. We are a testimony to that. Verse 15, brethren, I speak in terms of human relations. Even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified no one sets it aside or adds condition to it. You'll note that, talking about the Abrahamic Covenant in the context. Once it was established and confirmed there are no additions and there are no subtractions. So any later revelation from God will not change anything in the Abrahamic Covenant, will not add to it or delete anything. So we ought to be very careful in thinking we can go back and change what was revealed earlier, promised earlier.

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say to seeds as referring to many, but rather to one. And to your seed, that is Christ. The point is that the promise of the seed in certain places zeroes in on one person, Christ, because He is the One in whom all the other promises to the physical seed and spiritual seed of Abraham will be fulfilled. But you cannot take verse 16 and now go back and say that wipes out everything promised to the physical descendants of Abraham or to the Gentiles who become the spiritual descendants of Abraham. All he was saying is all the promises of that covenant, he told us in verse 16, you can't change it, you can't alter it. There is further clarification. The one seed of Abraham on which everything hangs is Jesus Christ. Without His death there could be no fulfillment of the provisions of the Abrahamic Covenant. That does not mean the promises to the physical descendants of Abraham who believed in God concerning the land that they will receive are now canceled out and fulfilled in Christ spiritually. That would nullify what the covenant clearly promised.

So you ought to understand verse 15 as you go into verse 16. In Christ they are all fulfilled. Then you come down to verse 28, therefore there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor freeman, male or female. You are all one in Christ. There is a spiritual unity. That doesn't mean a woman ceases being a woman or a man ceases to be a man. But in Christ there is salvation on the same level and in the same way for all people, regardless of race, gender, status and so on. And if you belong to Christ then you are Abraham's seed, descendants, heirs according to promise. Well wait a minute, I thought in verse 16 it says the seed referred just to Christ. Now it refers to everyone who believes. That's right, nothing canceled out. And furthermore the seed will also refer to the physical descendants of Abraham who have the faith of Abraham. You can't blur them. If you belong to Christ you are Abraham's descendant. So I am the seed of Abraham spiritually. Well, doesn't that mean then that Israel as a nation, the physical seed, is not important? No, it doesn't mean that at all because the Abrahamic Covenant always included, in you all nations of the earth will be blessed. We referred to that in Galatians 3:8. It's part of the original covenant. We're just elaborating and clarifying, not changing.

But what about the promises to the physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac, through Jacob, through the twelve patriarchs, through David. Still in force, nothing changed. So there is clarification, but there is no alteration, there is no addition or subtraction. So we are indeed the seed of Abraham.

You come over to Galatians 6:15, neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. I mean, the issue is not whether you have been circumcised or not. The Jews made that the dividing issue. That's not the issue. Circumcision has a place for the Jews, it's a sign of the Jews' unique relationship to the covenant God established with them through Abraham. But that's not the issue in your salvation, you have to be a new creation. And to those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon he Israel of God. I was reading some covenant theologians and they make statements like this, this is the key verse demonstrating the church is Israel. One man who has a very fine commentary has a footnote and says, this verse proves conclusively that Paul is comfortable calling the church Israel. I read that and say, those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them. That's peace and mercy upon those who believe the foundational issue is faith in Christ which makes you a new creation. And this peace and mercy be upon the Israel of God. Who is the Israel of God? Those physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who have this faith in Jesus Christ. They are the Israelites in whom all the promises to the Jews are in the line of fulfillment. How do you get the idea that all of a sudden out of the blue he is calling the church Israel? This whole passage has been about Jews who are corrupting the gospel, this whole letter. They are trying to corrupt the church with their corrupted gospel and requiring circumcision, observing the law. This is an example of you have to be careful to interpret in the context and consistent with scripture.

Now we come back to Romans 11. So even though we address and say we Gentiles are the spiritual seed of Abraham, that doesn't change anything for the physical seed of Abraham and the promises given to them. And that's what Paul is going to clarify for us in verses 25-27. We have the picture of the olive tree. The rich root of the olive tree, verse 17 and again in verse 28, we saw is the covenant made with Abraham, reiterated with Isaac and Jacob. Jews and Gentiles alike, we're going back to that covenant. There is the olive tree. The olive tree is not the one people of God, the olive tree is not the saved people of God. If that were the case you couldn't be put in and out of it. The olive tree is the focal point of God's blessing, where God's work of salvation is being focused in the world. So the Jews were the natural branches, we noted from Genesis 12 all the way to Acts 2 God's program focuses in Israel. They are the natural branches coming out of the Abrahamic Covenant. Israel has been removed from that place of blessing and Gentiles have been grafted in. But they are wild olive branches, it's not the natural place for the Gentiles. Don't become arrogant, Gentiles, because you are now in the place of blessing. We fight that, we fight that as a church, you fight that as a believer. You look at other people who are in sin, sometimes disgusting sin. Has anyone looked at people who do certain sins and not shake their head and say, that is so disgusting and revolting. How can a person do that? If we are not careful pretty soon we are developing a spiritual attitude. Sin is disgusting, it is revolting. But it is by the grace of God that we are what we are. Right? Not because we are better people.

So to look at the Jews and say, the Jews deserve to be punished, the Jews deserved the Holocaust, the Jews deserve .................. They do, but so do we. Right? It's not because I am better, less deserving of the wrath and judgment of God. That's why Paul has to constantly remind and other New Testament writers like Titus, remind them, they were just like them. Pretty soon pride and arrogance settles in and we are in trouble.

So Romans 11:25, I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery. Believers ought not to live in ignorance, they ought to know what the purpose and plan of God is. And as you come into the New Testament God reveals more of what He is doing. Here we are going to see more revelation. I don't want you to be uninformed of this mystery. Now mystery in the scripture is something that could not be known if God did not make it known. It's not something complicated and hard to understand, it's something impossible to know or understand unless God revealed it. It is something that God has kept hidden but now is making known. It's not something new from God's perspective, but it's something that He has chosen not to make known yet. We do this with our family, our children. We'll do something for our kids and we don't make known to them we have something special in view for them. Well it's not we don't have it in our plan, but it's not known to them. Then we make it known to them, it's a surprise, it's something they didn't know before. But it's not that you didn't know it and you hadn't planned for it. Well that's what we talk about with a mystery. This was a big part of God's plan from the beginning, He just has chosen not to make it known to us until a certain right time.

So when He says I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery. Turn over to Romans 16, he'll use the word again at the end of this letter. Verse 25, now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery. Now note how he defines that mystery. Which has been kept secret for long ages past but now is manifest. God is making known one of His secrets, that He didn't make known previously. That's what we're talking about with a mystery. So it's not something that is a change in God's plan, it's not something that will change what God has made known previously. It's something that will clarify, make it more understandable, and so on.

So come back to chapter 11. We have a mystery. And then you have this parenthetical kind of statement, I want you to understand this. So that you will not be wise in your own estimation. Paul's concern in the church at Rome, there may be an attitude of arrogance and superiority developing in this Gentile church toward the Jews. He told them in verse 18, do not be arrogant toward the branches, toward the Jews. Now he says I want you to understand this material that God is now revealing so that you won't be wise in your own estimation and think it is because you are not as sinful as the Jews, that you are more deserving of God's blessing than the Jews. That is all a corruption of grace, that is all a denial of salvation by grace through faith. So that you be not wise in your own estimation.

You know the true work of God in a life produces humility, not arrogance. James 4:6 says, God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. So we need to be careful we don't develop that attitude of spiritual superiority, the attitude that we are saved because we weren't as vile, as sinful as someone else. So we were sinners but there are levels of sin and sinners and we weren't down here. As God sees us we were sinners all hell-deserving.

All right, I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery. What is the mystery? That a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and so all Israel will be saved. That's the mystery. Now be careful. Parts of this were revealed before. What is now being made known and clarified is how the parts fit together. They have always fit together, it just was not clear how they fit together. Somebody gives you a puzzle and says, here put these together. I can't do it. He says, here, let me show you and he does it. You say, how did you do that? Do it again. And I look at it and say, I don't think I could have figured that out. That's important. There is nothing changed here. God made clear in the Old Testament, He promised blessing to Israel, He promised judgment and condemnation to Israel, He promised salvation to the nation and a kingdom. He promised salvation to Gentiles throughout the Old Testament. We don't have time to go back there. Passages like Isaiah 2, you have the Gentile nations of the world coming to worship at Jerusalem during the time when the Messiah is reigning in His kingdom. What was not revealed is how this would all take place, that Israel would experience blessing but because of unbelief would come under judgment and be hardened by God. And Gentiles then would be put into the place of blessing and experience God's salvation in a full and great way. But that time would come to an end and God would put Israel back into the place of blessing and salvation. And then we'd have the kingdom.

You wouldn't get that from the Old Testament. You have the pieces there. God is going to bless Israel, but He's going to judge Israel. And God is going to judge Gentiles and He is going to bless Gentiles. And we're going to have a kingdom and Israel will be the focus of the world in the kingdom and Gentile nations will be blessed in the kingdom. How do you think that is all going to work out? If you just had the Old Testament you'd say well, I don't know. Here's a possibility, here's a possibility. I'm not sure how it is all going to fit together. I know it will.

What Paul is saying is here is the mystery being revealed, here's how it goes. A partial hardening has happened to Israel. Partial hardening. So not all of Israel is being hardened. It is a partial hardening. And it is a temporary hardening. A partial hardening happened to Israel until........ So the judgment of God on Israel and it is severe. And as Paul writes Israel is under the judgment, and 2,000 years later Israel is still under the judgment. And the worst is yet to come. But it is a partial hardening, not every Jew is excluded from God's salvation. We talked about this with the remnant. Paul was an example of the remnant as a Jew. Peter, John, the early church as we've seen in our study of Acts with 3,000, 5,000, multitudes. And they are Jews, Jews are being saved. But now with the passing of time we can see there are Jews saved but there are few. Just like in the Old Testament there were Gentiles saved but they were few. The bulk of God's focus of salvation was in the nation Israel, now it's among Gentiles. The church worldwide is by and large a Gentile church.

So a partial hardening, by God's grace some Jews are saved, has happened to Israel. Until ........... It's a temporary time of limited duration. So God is not done with Israel. Israel is under a time of hardening, continued to today, it's the church period. It will go on until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And then all Israel will be saved, or so all Israel will be saved. The fullness of the Gentiles is the time of Gentile blessing, Gentile salvation. Back in Romans 11:12, the transgression of the Jews. Now if their transgression is riches for the world, because as a result of Israel's transgression and sin against God in rejecting their Messiah and continuing to refuse to believe, God has brought His salvation to the Gentiles. If Israel's sin against God has brought such blessings to us Gentiles, their failure brought riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their, remember we talked about that word, fullness be. Same word as we have in verse 25, the fullness of the Gentiles. Here at the end of verse 12 we had the fullness of the Jews. When He brings in the full salvation of the Jews, the full number of Jews to be saved. So we're talking in verse 25, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, until God's work in focusing salvation on the Gentiles is complete. The church is brought to its completion, it will be marked by the rapture of the church.

Now following that God will refocus His program on Israel. That doesn't mean there won't be any Gentiles saved, there will, but there is a change in focus. Just as there are some Jews being saved today, the focus of God's work of salvation is Gentiles. So after the fullness of the Gentiles God's focus will go back to the Jews, they will be grafted back into the olive tree, the place of God's favor. Remember the olive tree is not the place of salvation, it's the place of God's blessing. If it were salvation you couldn't be grafted in and out because saved people couldn't be removed. It's the place of God's blessing and that blessing is bringing salvation as it did to the Jews, now He's bringing it to the Gentiles. That doesn't mean every Gentile is saved, but when you look at the church, the number of Gentiles saved compared to the Jews, it's overwhelmingly Gentile. Just like when you look at the Old Testament, salvation is basically Jews with some Gentiles sprinkled in.

So that's the focal point. A partial hardening has happened to Israel. And so the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved. We go back now to God's program. So you see what the mystery is. Now we see what God's plan is. At times it seemed when God promised the blessing to Israel and He promised the curses for disobedience, you assume there would just be some times of judgment but ultimately will climax with blessing. And Israel began to take their sin lightly. When we do sin we have the sacrifices and we're sure to do certain ceremonial things and God is going to save us because we are Jews. They didn't understand the seriousness of their sin. Like Gentiles, we think we'll go to church, we'll try to get our children baptized when they're born, we want to get them confirmed or whatever. We try to go and partake of the sacraments, and we go to confession, and we are religious. Somehow the church has become an empty shell, just like the Jews. And you go and talk to the average Protestant or Roman Catholic and they are sure they are saved and they are horribly offended when you tell them they are lost and on their way to hell because they are not saved because they are a certain brand of Protestants or Roman Catholic. No different than the Jews. How offended did the Jews become when they were told they were lost and under God's judgment? They didn't like it. People going to church all over today in this city, they are just offended if you tell them they are lost because being certain brand won't save you.

A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. So all Israel will be saved. Turn over to I Thessalonians 2, this hardening of Israel. Look at verse 13, for this reason we constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but for what it really is, the word of God which also performs its work in you who believe. For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. Now Paul is writing to the church at Thessalonica, that's a church in Greece. He traveled there and established a church there and other churches established there. So he is saying you churches in Greece became imitators of the churches that were in Judea, back where the Jews are. How so? For you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, fellow Greeks, even as they did from the Jews. So the comparative, believers in the churches in Greece suffer the same kind of persecution that Jewish believers in the churches in Judea suffer. In Greece they suffer at the hands of pagan Greeks, in Judea they suffer at the hands of unbelieving Jews.

Now what does he say about the Jews, an example of what they have done. They both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved, with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. Strong statements about Israel. They have been hardened by God, they are under the wrath of God, doesn't mean they can't be saved. We've seen Paul's broken heart, his desire for Israel and their salvation. How thankful he is that he is part of a remnant of Jews whom God has graciously saved. But he is also clear that God is not done with the nation.

Come back to Romans 11. A partial hardening until. We saw that hardening back in Romans 11:7 ff. What Israel is seeking it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it. The rest were hardened. Just as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not, ears to hear not, down to this very day. Verse 10, let their eyes be dark and to see not. Bend their back forever. That's the judgment of God, that's the hardening of God. It's a terrible thing, it is a serious thing to sit and be exposed to the word of God, the grace of God, the salvation of God and say, no. God gives you opportunity, the day of withdrawing that grace will come. Well, I'll hear you at another time. Very dangerous thing, dangerous for the nation Israel when they had crossed the line. We're Jews. Now they bear the full brunt of His wrath. We're Gentiles, we're the church, we're ............ Gentiles need to be careful. God will withdraw His saving grace focused in the fullness that it is. These days are unique days of Gentile salvation. It wasn't always this way, it will not always be this way. But when grace is rejected the hardening of God is a severe punishment, both on individuals and on groups.

So a partial hardening has happened to Israel. So Paul writes to the Corinthians. He says, when the Jews read the Old Testament, they have a veil over their eyes, they can't see. And I've talked with Jews, I've read their Old Testament scriptures. I've been with Jews who knew the Old Testament better than I, and I think, how can you not see it? It's here, read it. Let's read Isaiah 53 again. I had a man say, I don't see it, I don't see it there like you say it's there. Well, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not. It's like they have a bag over their heads, they don't see anything here. That's the judgment of God.

A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Then verse 26, so all Israel will be saved until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. You understand just as there is a partial hardening of Israel until there is an end to the fullness of the Gentiles. So God can refocus His program of salvation and blessing toward the nation Israel. So we have here the Jews in that place, then the Gentiles in that place, then the Jews back in that place. And now we have it laid out for us chronologically and clearly. And so all Israel will be saved.

Let me say something here before I leave this fullness of the Gentiles. Come back to Luke 21. There is a difference in the expression the fullness of the Gentiles and the times of the Gentiles. And some commentators, even some dispensationalists confuse the two. Verse 24, and this is the same material we have basically in the Olivet Discourse recorded, we're more familiar in Matthew 24. But we're talking about the days of the tribulation, the woe in verse 23. And those who are pregnant in those days and nursing and so on, great distress upon the land and wrath to this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword, will be led captive to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. The characteristic of the times of the Gentiles is Jerusalem is trodden underfoot by the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles began in 605 B.C., 600 hundred years before Christ when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem. And from that point down to the present the Gentiles have been the power ruling over Jerusalem. Even when the Jews are back in the land Palestine its Gentile dominated. And that domination of the Gentiles will be reasserted again in coming days. So it is there, that's the characteristic. The Jews were in the land but the Romans ruled and the Jews were there at the discretion of the Romans, if you will. So the characteristic of the times of the Gentiles is trodden underfoot. The times of the Gentiles ran from about 605 B.C. with the conquering by Babylon down until the end of the seven-year tribulation. It will be brought to a conclusion by the return of Christ to the earth.

The fullness of the Gentiles began in Acts 2 with the establishing of the church and will end at the rapture of the church. The fullness of the Gentiles refers to Gentile salvation; the times of the Gentiles refers to the time when the Gentiles rule and dominate the Jews and Jerusalem. Even today Israel's security depends upon Gentile friends, Gentiles who will stand up for them. They have a great military force but the United States has been the great friend of Israel to bring the power of our Gentile nation to support them, to defend them, to bring fear to their enemies of our involvement.

All right back to Romans 11. Now this is not new material. It's a mystery, something has been revealed but this is not redoing the Old Testament, it's just clarifying for how the pieces fit together. Just like the crucifixion of the Messiah and His reigning in glory, both revealed in the Old Testament but how they fit together wasn't clear until the New Testament. So Peter would write in his letter, the Old Testament prophets couldn't understand how the Messiah could suffer and die and also rule and reign in glory. They spent their time trying to figure that out. It's like the angel told Daniel, there are certain things here he couldn't understand because they won't be revealed until later days after he has gone his way.

So here, what is he doing? He's going to quote from the Old Testament and say, this is just like Isaiah wrote. And he quotes from Isaiah 59:20-21, the deliverer will come from Zion. He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins. Salvation comes. This is a quote from Isaiah 59:20-21. Come back to Psalm 53, and there are a series of verses but for time we will just take this one other verse. Great psalm, it starts out, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have committed abominable injustice, there is no one who does good. So these are some verses we saw quoted in Romans 3. Look at verse 6, oh that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion. Then the deliverer will come from Zion, literally out of Zion. When God restores His captive people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad. So it is prophesied. Psalm 14, 53, 110, other passages in the prophets prophesied this time of Israel's deliverance with the coming of the Messiah.

Come to Jeremiah 31. This is the New Covenant. You have the Abrahamic Covenant and then you have three covenants that elaborate on the portions of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Abrahamic Covenant included land, seed and blessing. The land promise of the Abrahamic Covenant is expanded in the Palestinian Covenant; the seed promise is expanded in the Davidic Covenant; and the blessing covenant is expanded in the New Covenant. Look at verse 31, behold days are coming, declared the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Verse 33, this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it. I will be their God, they will be My people. They will not teach each man his neighbor, each man his brother saying, know the Lord, for they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, their sin I will remember no more. Now all Israel will be saved, the Old Testament prophesied it.

So he is not giving new material there, he's just showing how the pieces fit together and the sequence God has planned. So you don't misunderstand, now we're experiencing Gentile salvation. The church at Rome would look around and say, we're almost all Gentiles. God has replaced Israel with us. Those Jews threw away their opportunity, they are under the wrath of God, they deserve it. We are God's blessed people now. Wait a minute, we are just dirty, hell-deserving sinners who have become the focus of God's mercy and grace. And you have the position you have because in mercy and grace you have come to faith in Jesus Christ. You are no better than the Jews apart from the grace of God. I'm no better than the worst, the vilest, the most repulsive sinner. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. No human being knows the depth of depravity of his own human heart. That's what Jeremiah says in another earlier passage. I, the Lord, search the heart, test the mind. He's the only One who knows. I look around and say, they are revolting. Their sin is revolting, they are revolting, but I better be careful in thinking I would have never been that revolting, I would have never done that, I would have never considered being like that. Which is another way of saying, I would have never been as sinful as they are.
I don't see myself as God sees me. That's why God's salvation is a humbling process. I have to see myself as God sees me. That's why Paul could say, I was the chiefest of sinners, the worst. If God saved me, He could save anyone. We have to come to that, to see ourselves and be amazed at the grace of God who saved us. That pride and arrogance, confidence in self, that external failure to appreciate the greatness of God's grace. The promise here, I will forgive their iniquity, and then verse 34 of Jeremiah 31, their sin I will remember no more.

When is that going to happen? It's going to happen when Christ returns from glory. Stop at Zechariah 12. Zechariah 12-14, great promises of coming days. And it comes with the word of the Lord, the One who has brought it all into existence and sustains it all. The coming time when He is going to rescue Jerusalem. The Lord, verse 7, will save the tents of Judah first so the glory of the house of David, the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah because that's the central place. And out of Judah comes the Messiah and so on. In that day, verse 9, I will set about to destroy all the nations who will come up against Jerusalem. Verse 10, I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication. So what's going to turn Israel around so that all Israel will be saved? You see God pours out now in a special way His favor and blessing, His grace upon the Jews so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, they will mourn for Him as one who mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping of a firstborn. The Jews now, their pride, their arrogance dissolves. They are guilty, they see their guilt, they see their sin, they see themselves as God sees them. And they are humbled. Now they are ready to cry out to Him for mercy, to turn from their pride and arrogance and place their faith in Him.

Zechariah 13 opens up, in that day a fountain will be open for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for impurity. And then judgment on those who still do not believe. Come down to Zechariah 14:4, in that day His feet, referring to the Messiah, will stand upon the Mount of Olives which is in front of Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives will be split in the middle from east to west by a very large valley and so on. Verse 9, the Lord will be King over all the earth in that day, will be the only one, His name the only one. Verse 11, the beasts will live in it, the land of Palestine, Jerusalem. There will be no longer a curse for Jerusalem will dwell in security. This all is promised and prophesied.

And Paul says, it is all just like He said. What I want you to understand is how the plan of God is unfolding. So you Gentiles, don't get confused. You are in the place of God's blessing, salvation is focused on Gentiles today. That is right, these are the days of the fullness of the Gentiles. You are right, Israel is under severe judgment and under the wrath of God. But understand Israel has experienced a partial hardening. In God's grace some Jews are being saved and they are being saved as a constant reminder God's promises to the Jews will not fail. Paul said he was an evidence of that. Now you Gentiles are experiencing salvation, be careful. Don't turn your eyes off the grace of God, and it is only by our faith in Jesus Christ that you stand in the grace of God. Not because Gentiles are better than Jews. You understand this will go on until the fullness of the Gentiles is completed. Then God will complete His program with Israel. So all Israel will be saved, just as God said. It just happens on His schedule.

We have to be careful we don't turn the Bible against itself because everything God has said will happen as He said it. Now there are parts of it I can't completely put together, but I believe every part of it. And if there are pieces God has not made clear, that's in His mind. But there is no doubt it will unfold. Just because the prophets couldn't put together how the Messiah could suffer and die and rule and reign didn't mean it wouldn't happen exactly that way. Just because we look around now and see Israel under the judgment of God, excluded from the salvation that is in Christ by and large as a nation doesn't mean any of the promises in the Old Testament have been altered one bit. In fact what is going on today is exactly as God said it would happen. He just hadn't revealed the specifics of how. Now it is taking place. Here you are sitting in this auditorium. Look around, great testimony and evidence of the fact that the Bible is the word of God, the Jews are in the land today. Do you know the second? You, the Gentiles because here we are, just as God said, experiencing His salvation and offering salvation to Jew and Gentile alike but realizing during this day of the fullness of the Gentiles it will be primarily Gentiles that respond in faith. But that will come to an end and God will complete the program with Israel and then will come the time for Christ to return to earth to establish His kingdom. And the nation as a nation will turn to Him, all Israel will be saved. Doesn't mean every single Jew, but the nation as a nation will turn and experience His salvation.

One point, where are you in regard to the plan of God? How tragic people come and sit and hear the word of God. Walk out and think because they came and sat here they are all right, they are going to heaven. Same thing they Jews thought. Don't miss the opportunity of God's grace. This is a day of salvation, today is the day, God says. Don't harden your heart, don't miss the opportunity. It may not be repeated.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Father, for your word, a sure word. Forever your word is settled in heaven. Nothing will change, nothing will be altered. Every jot, every tittle, every dotting of the “i,” every crossing of the “t,” everything will be fulfilled. Lord, our confidence and assurance is in the fact that this is your word, it's the revelation of your person, the God who is true, the God who is faithful. Our faith is in you and your Son and the truth you have given us concerning yourself. I pray for any who are here who are in a state of unbelief. May this be a day of salvation for them. May in your grace their blinded eyes be opened to see and believe. Lord, we thank you for the grace that has come to us, us Gentiles, that your salvation is our possession. We thank you in Christ's name, amen.