What does it mean that "All Israel will be saved?"

Our Theme for 2021 is “Redeeming the Time.”

During the months of July and August I have been preaching on the “Hot Topics” that you have requested.

This week’s question has to do with a difficult passage of Scripture.

What does it mean that “All Israel will be saved?”

Let’s look at the passage:

Romans 11:25–27 ESV

25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 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”; 27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

You may remember that last year I preached a two-part series on Paul’s letter to the Romans.

The first part was called “What does it mean to believe?”

The second part was “What does it mean to belong?”

The second part deals with the question of Jews and Gentiles relating to each other and working together to accomplish God’s plan.

However, I admit that I was presenting “big picture” and not getting into the tension that is in the text.

Remember that Paul was writing to a church that had been mostly Jews except that the Jews were kicked out of Rome and when they came back the church was mostly Gentile.

So the question of Jews and Gentiles and how they all fit together in God’s plan is really a central question.

You may be wondering: if the Bible is written mostly by Jews, for Jews and about Jews, then why aren’t we all still Jewish?

Paul answers that in the first part of Romans; in short- it is because we are saved through faith in Jesus and not through the Law or through our ancestry.

The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 determined that you don’t have to become Jewish to be a Christian.

So then the temptation for Christians has been to go to the other extreme and to say that we don’t need the Law, the Jews or the Old Testament!

If you think I am exaggerating, the church has done this many times over the centuries.

Martin Luther was so adamant about salvation by faith that he had some pretty harsh things to say about the Jews and the Nazis used it in their propaganda during the holocaust.

Even mainstream Christianity has bought into a kind of anti-semitism, the idea that the Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus and that the Church is now the recipient of all of God’s promises to Israel.

It’s called replacement theology and a lot of Christians buy into it to one degree or another.

If you think I’m exaggerating, just ask any Jewish person what they think about Christians and you may learn that Christians have been the primary persecutor of the Jews since the time of the crusades.

In 2017 I had the opportunity to visit Israel with a group called “Christians United for Israel.” The purpose of CUFI is to support the Jewish people as they establish their homeland, but also to try to reverse centuries of unfortunate history and hostility. One of CUFI’s trademarks is hosting events to honor Israel and the even Jewish Americans as a way of bringing healing and reconciliation.

Much of the misunderstanding is from failing to understand what Paul teaches in Romans 11.

The Roman church struggled with these tensions as well.

And the Apostle Paul addresses the question with remarkable clarity.

Has God rejected His people?

If you have read your Bible from cover to cover, then you know that God’s relationship with His people Israel has been a bit rough.

That culminated in Jesus’ trial before the High Priest and their asking to have Him crucified.

At the trial, the Jewish crowd demanded that Jesus be killed and that the criminal Barabbas be released.

Were they rejecting God’s plan or were they unknowingly enacting God’s plan?

Were they any different from the rest of us?

Before you think to harshly of the Jews, remember that Jesus had three trials: Caiaphas, Herod and Pilate - the religious Jews, the non-religious Jews and the Romans all convicted Him.

Who really is responsible for the death of Jesus?

Is it just the Jews or is it all of us?

All of these events were still fairly recent at the time when Paul wrote to the Roman church.

That’s why Paul is making the case that none of us are worthy apart from God’s grace.

And he starts by making his case with the Jews.

Romans 10:1–3 ESV

1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. 2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

But then he turns to the Gentiles and asks the question that I’m sure they were thinking but afraid to ask:

Romans 11:1–2 (ESV)

1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.

So what is Paul saying?

God chose a people for His purpose.

Why did God choose Israel?

He did it to have a people for Himself.

Deuteronomy 32:8–9 NLT

8 When the Most High assigned lands to the nations, when he divided up the human race, he established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number in his heavenly court. 9 “For the people of Israel belong to the Lord; Jacob is his special possession.

He intended them to be a light for the nations.

Isaiah 42:5–7 NLT

5 God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it. He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth. And it is he who says, 6 “I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them. And you will be a light to guide the nations. 7 You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.

But ultimately, all of this is fulfilled in one person - Jesus.

Isaiah 9:6–7 NLT

6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

However, Paul brings us back to the question: “Would God choose a people knowing everything that they were going to do, if they were not somehow going to come around in the end?”

Did God make a mistake?

Paul says, “I hope not! I’m a Jew too!”

Is Jesus God’s plan B or was He plan A all along?

If Israel is somehow beyond redemption, then at what point are you and I going to be beyond redemption too?

Is God scrapping His plan and just going with Jesus?

What good would that do unless Jesus is actually the way to accomplish His plan in the end?

God’s people, as a whole, have not followed His ways.

Paul uses the example of Elijah who thought that he was the only one left in Israel who was faithful to God.

Romans 11:2–3 ESV

2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”

Here is Elijah, who thinks he is that last person on earth who is following God; everyone else has messed up, abandoned God and God has surely rejected his people.

But where is Elijah? Hiding. Depressed. Paranoid. Ready to give up.

Have you ever noticed that we are quick to judge everyone else for the very things that we struggle with ourselves?

Why couldn’t Israel just obey God, after all, they had such powerful encounters with God?

Elijah just had a powerful encounter with God, but human; mentally and physically exhausted.

Do you think that the Israelites knew that Moses was writing the Bible and that they were at the center of a story which would be told for millennia?

Or were they complaining because that is what people do when they are hot, tired and irritated at what they perceive as a lack of meaning and purpose to their lives because they can only see or understand the present moment.

If your life were written about in the Bible, what would the text say about you?

Have you always followed God’s ways?

Have you ever questioned God, done your own thing or even openly rebelled?

And what was God’s response to you? Mercy!

If Israel is somehow disqualified, then we are all disqualified.

Paul would be the first one to admit it.

But as Gentiles, we have not been model citizens of God’s Kingdom either.

Paul’s argument is that we all need God’s mercy and grace.

However, Israel has always had a faithful remnant.

Romans 11:4–5 ESV

4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.

The truth is; you have no idea who is serving God with a whole heart because they are not doing it to get attention, its between them and God.

If you look at the news today, it may seem like the whole world has gone crazy.

Murder is up; suicide is up and those who are suppose to be leaders in our society banter like playground bullies.

What you don’t see are those who are faithfully serving during these times of crisis.

Why? Because they are not on the news; they are busy doing their jobs and caring for their families.

Even more important and even less visible are those who are praying and interceding for our country and for our leaders.

We will probably never know until we get to heaven just how much pain an suffering we have been spared because of the prayers of believers praying in secret.

But God knows, and God sees!

God always has a remnant; those who carry out their assignment without anyone else knowing about it.

Our Hopewell Network International Apostolic leader, Alan Yoder and Rebecca, have asked God to show them the intercessors who are praying and interceding in secret. I was with them as they honored the wife of a pastor in India for her prayers. She broke down crying as they placed a special prayer cloth on her and prayed for her. She thought no one knew or saw the countless hours and sleepless nights that she had spent in prayer, but God knew.

How do the Gentiles fit into God’s plan?

For the Gentile believers in Rome, when they were a minority in the church, I’m sure they were just glad to be included.

Perhaps they sometime felt inferior because they were not Jewish and they were a minority.

But when they became a majority, something changed, now they were wondering if the Jews should be excluded.

Is that what happens when we get a little taste of power, we stop living by God’s grace and start to lord it over others?

God will certainly use us to provoke one another, but it should be in a good way.

God has not replaced Israel.

Romans 11:17–18 ESV

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.

Some people think that the Church replaces Israel; not true!

If that were so, Israel would have disappeared long ago.

But rather, they have miraculously survived and even thrived despite great opposition; you have to admit that God has a hand in that!

Paul uses the analogy of a tree; which was a common symbol for God’s people Israel.

Branches were broken off and others were grafted in.

People in a agricultural society would be familiar with the practice of making better fruit through hybrid trees.

Well, God made a hybrid by utilizing the best traits of both Jews and Gentiles to make a church that could transform all of humanity.

But here’s the punch line for the Gentiles- you are the wild branches!

As Gentiles, we are the odd ones.

Most of us here are Gentiles - we are the ones being grafted in.

We are the wild ones - the experiment - but that’s OK!

As Gentiles we are included in the people of God.

I sometimes compare the Jew/ Gentile tension to the tension that we have in the church between those who are raised in the church and those who are not. You might think that the perfect church would be made up of all “church people.” But just the opposite is true; church people often don’t realize just how good they have it. It takes someone coming from outside the church to remind us to the awesome power of God to redeem a life. And hopefully we see that we are not unlike them in that we too are sinful people and in need of a Savior.

I share this illustration to say that just as new believers are what brings life to a church, because of their testimony of the grace of God,

It was the Gentiles coming to Christ in Paul’s day that was a source of life and inspiration to a primarily Jewish church.

And what is the purpose of all of this? That we should all realize our need of God and humble ourselves before Him and also toward one another.

Our attitude should be honor toward Israel.

There is a principle in Scripture about honoring your source.

We are taught to honor parents. Why?

Because we come from them.

To dishonor them is too dishonor ourselves.

We are taught to honor leaders. Why?

Because they influence our lives in profound ways.

To dishonor our leaders is just making life more difficult for ourselves.

We honor Israel. Why?

Because Christianity comes from Judaism.

Jesus, the Apostles and most of the writers of the Bible were Jewish.

To dishonor our roots is to dishonor our heritage; a heritage that we were adopted into.

We should be grateful to God for those who have laid the foundations of our faith.

And I am grateful to those who continue to keep the traditions that we might learn from them.

Even though we believe that salvation is not in the traditions itself, but in the faith that the tradition inspires.

What is God’s plan and how does it all come together?

God’s plan is for redemption.

God’s plan is to bring mankind back into relationship with Him.

He did this by sending Jesus to atone for our sin.

Jesus died both to pay the penalty for sin, but also to give us a new life and a new nature apart from our sinful human nature.

Some people interpret Paul’s statement that “all Israel will be saved” as a statement that God will save the Jews somehow apart form Jesus.

This teaching is called “bi-covenentalism.”

It essentially says that Jews are saved under the Law or the old covenant, but that Christians are saved by faith in Christ or the New Covenant.

But that is not what Paul is teaching.

There is only one way to be saved and that is through faith in Jesus Christ, both for Jews and for Gentiles.

We can honor our Jewish friends and neighbors as we honor the Jewish roots of our own faith.

But what we are not saying is, “you do your thing and we will do ours.”

We want them to know that Jesus is their Messiah just as He is ours, perhaps even more so.

We pray that their eyes are opened to the truth of the Gospel, but that will only happen as we show them love and respect.

However, in Paul’s ministry, he has noticed a pattern.

Romans 11:11–12 ESV

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. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

Remember that whenever Paul entered a town to preach the gospel, he would begin in the synagogue.

For one reason or another he would usually get kicked out, sometimes violently.

Then when he was rejected by the Jews, he would begin preaching to the Gentiles.

So the rejection of the Jews led to the salvation of the Gentiles.

But that didn’t mean that Paul didn’t have Jewish converts.

There were always some, but the greater ministry was among the Gentiles.

Paul began to see that by spreading the gospel among the Gentiles it was beginning to impact the Jews as well.

They were becoming jealous of the freedom these Gentile Christians had in Christ.

So Paul had a revelation - “That’s how God is going to do it.”

God is going to win over as many Gentiles as possible and then the Jews are finally going to have their moment.

They are going to come to faith in Christ led by the Gentiles.

God’s plan is for restoration.

Romans 11:25–27 TPT

25 My beloved brothers and sisters, I want to share with you a mystery concerning Israel’s future. For understanding this mystery will keep you from thinking you already know everything. A partial and temporary hardening to the gospel has come over Israel, which will last until the full number of non-Jews has come into God’s family. 26 And then God will bring all of Israel to salvation! The prophecy will be fulfilled that says: “Coming from Zion will be the Savior, and he will turn Jacob away from evil. 27 For this is my covenant promise with them when I forgive their sins.”

God is not only redeeming us from sin, He is restoring us back into His image.

One of the greatest effects of sin is selfishness and it manifests in arrogance.

We all try to be better than everyone else.

But that’s not how God is; Christ came in humility to show us the way God is.

Maybe part of God’s restoration process is a lesson in humility.

For the Jews, it is realizing that they had it all and somehow missed it.

For Gentiles it is realizing that we were ignorant and undeserving and yet somehow God found us and saved us.

So what should are attitude be?

Romans 11:30–32 ESV

30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

God has allowed us each to be humbled so that we would know the greatness of His grace toward us.

It all about drawing our focus and attention to God.

Thinking about who is better is entirely the wrong question:

Its all about grace.

It’s all about mercy.

It’s all about Jesus!

God’s plan is for reconciliation.

So Paul’s pattern that He observed led to the unveiling of a Divine mystery about God’s plan and how He is going to bring it all together in the end.

This has implications for how we view Israel and the Jews today.

Romans 11:28–29 ESV

28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

So we disagree on the fundamental issues.

Jews today are still trying to be right with God by keeping the Law.

We know that that can only happen by faith in Jesus.

They are still waiting for Messiah to come.

We know that Jesus is the Messiah who has already come and will come again.

But before Jesus comes again, or possibly when He comes again - Paul’s mystery is going to be fulfilled - the Jews are going to come to faith in Christ in large numbers.

I believe that according to Scripture, we Gentiles have a role to play in that event.

We are to make them jealous - in other words- make them want what we have.

We can only do that by loving and honoring them for their place in God’s plan.

God’s plan all along is that we should be reconciled, reunited, both Jews and Gentiles as the People of God.

Romans 11:33–36 NLT

33 Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! 34 For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? 35 And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? 36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

Questions for reflection

Have you recieved God’s offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? Or are you still trying to earn your way to heaven by good deeds or by keeping the Law? What will it take for you to humble yourself and simply receive it as a gift?

Have you understood God’s heart for the lost? God allowed His people to be hardened so that those who did not know Him (you included) would have opportunity to do so. What does that say about God’s thoughts toward those who may be far from Him now?

What do you think about Israel and the Jewish people? Does God still care about them just as He does for you? If God will never abandon you, how do you think He feels about them? Take time to pray for our Jewish brethren that their eyes may be opened.