ROMANS UNWRAPPED 186

"And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, THERE SHALL COME OUT OF ZION THE DELIVERER, AND SHALL TURN AWAY UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB; FOR THIS IS MY COVENANT UNTO THEM, WHEN I SHALL TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS."   Romans 11v26-27

The final answer of Paul to the question at the beginning of the chapter  "Hath God cast away His people?"   So all Israel will be saved.   There are three things we should consider here, who exactly will be saved, how will it happen, and when will it happen.   All three questions are clearly answered in the course of the three chapters we have been discussing.  

• What does it mean  - all Israel shall be saved?   In verse 25 he uses the term Israel in the sense of ethnic Israel, when he says  "blindness in part has happened to Israel."   However in verse 26 he is surely using it in a much narrower sense; the concept now is not of national Israel but of the true Israel, the spiritual Israel, saved Israel.   This distinction he has already made throughout the chapters particularly in chapter 9 verses 6-8  "they are not all Israel (spiritually), which are of Israel (naturally).   All true Israel will be saved, and those who are, are estimated as those who are in Christ, who accept Christ as Messiah,  who trust in Christ for their salvation.   Taking the overall biblical context, the only way anyone is made right with God is through faith in Christ, whether prospectively in relation to Old Testament believers, or retrospectively in relation to New Testament believers.   This fact is true whether Jew or Gentile and no matter what your nationality or your background may be.   Being saved, being made right with God is always only ever by faith in Christ and on no other basis.   At the present time the greater portion of national Israel rejects Christ as Messiah; they will be saved at the very point when they receive Him.   The fact of Israel's future deliverance is stated all over the Old Testament prophecies.   The prophet Isaiah  "who hath heard such a thing or who hath seen such things?  shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day?  or  shall a nation be born at once?   Isaiah 66v8    The fact of it is not in question but we can't know for sure the extent of it.   It may be that when this glorious recovery of Israel takes place, all national Israel will in fact be saved, but we do know for sure that all who receive Christ as Messiah will be saved and so we can be clear that all true Israel will be saved.
• When will all Israel be saved?   -   This will happen at the return of Christ to this earth to set up His kingdom.   Revelation chapter 19 reveals that heaven will be opened and the Lord Jesus shall descend to earth followed by the armies of heaven to set up His kingdom on earth.   The passage in Matthew 24v30-31 makes this abundantly clear  "There shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.   And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."   This is the great trumpet call for the re gathering of Israel who have been scattered across all nations of the earth; as it is stated by Isaiah the prophet  "And ye shall be gathered one by one, o ye children of Israel and it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown and they shall come,"   Isaiah 27v12-13.   Every son of Israel will gather back in the land from every nation into which they have been scattered.   This will at the same time cause the enemies of God to congregate against the nation, and Christ will become their deliverer.   The timing of all this is unclear but the fact of it is not; when Jesus returns He will gather His people, He will defend His people and He will conquer His enemies.
• How will this happen?   -   In 2nd Corinthians 3 the apostle Paul explains how  "For until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old covenant; which veil is done away in Christ.   But even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.   NEVERTHELESS WHEN IT SHALL TURN TO THE LORD, THE VEIL SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY.  2nd Corinthians 3v14-16    Notice what it says  "when it shall turn to the Lord;" at that point God will remove the veil.   What precisely will happen?   The answer is given in various portions of scripture   "behold He cometh with clouds and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him (the Jews)  Revelation 1v7   The prophet Zechariah is very helpful here and a reading of chapter 12v10 to 13v1 will help.   A portion of it is as follows:  "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.....in that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem."  Zechariah 12v10-11.   The Jews have a real problem.   All the records, which would verify the real identity of the Messiah, were obliterated during the sacking of Jerusalem by Titus the Roman general in 70A.D.   They have no way of properly identifying the Messiah.   However His identity will become abundantly clear when they see, as they will do, the glorious Person of Jesus Christ with the identifying marks on His body, namely the piercing wounds of Calvary.   At that point, all Israel will realise their terrible mistake and, for the first time, many of them will know that the Jesus, whom they crucified, was, and is, the Messiah.   Right then the veil will fall from their faces and they shall see clearly and shall turn to the Lord in mourning and repentance and shall afflict their souls as in the Day of Atonement, and God will return to His people and so all Israel will be saved.

In light of that glorious day the question could be asked here and now.    Is there a veil over my face, have my eyes been blinded to the truth of Christ as my only Saviour?   If so allow the Spirit of God to open your eyes and see the wonderful truth that in Jesus only is our salvation.   There is no veil on Gentile eyes today, so the call is to open your eyes and respond to the illuminating grace of the Spirit of God who brings Christ the Saviour to your door.