On Romans 11: 25-26, Blindness In Part Has Happened To I

[tulsa 2011]

On Romans 11: 25-26, Blindness In Part Has Happened To Israel

"24. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by
nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree:
how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed
into their own olive tree?
25. 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.
26.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:
27. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as
touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes."

In Romans 11 Paul does not repeat what he revealed about physical
Israel in Romans 2: 23-29 and in Romans 9: 6-8. And - we also have
Galatians 4: 24-26, Ephesians 2: 11-18 and I Corinthians 10: 18 as
additional statements by Paul about the revelation given him by the
risen Christ (Acts 26: 15-17).

Paul says in Romans 9: 6-8 that "Not as though the word of God hath
taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children:
but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the
seed."

The children of the flesh here are physical Israel. In I Corinthians
10: 18 Paul writes that "Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they
which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the alter?" Since there is
an Israel after the flesh, then there must also be an Israel after the
Spirit. Israel after the Spirit would be those who Paul refers to as
the children of the promise in Romans 9: 8. The certain implication
of John 3: 1-7, is that those of physical Israel who are transformed
in Jesus Christ, or born again, are the elect, which can be called
Israel born again in Christ. "Except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of heaven," Christ said to the Pharisee Nicodemus.
Not just Nicodemus, but any one of physical Israel, or of any ethnic
group, can become born again and see the kingdom of God.

In Romans 2: 23-29 Paul talks about Jews, by which he also means
physical Israel. What he is saying here is that after God turned
Jerusalem upside down, as he promised he would do in II Kings 21: 13,
commented on in Isaiah 29: 16, and showed in the parable of the potter
of Jeremiah 18: 1-6, the true Jew is one who is a Jew inwardly, whose
"circumcision" is of the heart and in the spirit. After God turned
Jerusalem upside down, the physical Jew, or the member of physical
Israel, who is circumcised in the flesh, and does not have the Spirit
is no longer a true Jew. As in Romans 9: 6-8 Paul in Romans 2: 23-29
makes a new distinction between physical Israel and that Israel born
again in Christ, which Peter in I Peter 2: 5-9 refers to as a
spiritual house, and as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and a
holy nation. In Galatians 3: 3-29 Paul explains that in the New
Covenant Christ is the seed of Abraham, and those in Christ are the
seed of Abraham. And in this group of the elect there is neither Jew
nor Gentile (or Greek as Paul writes).

Genesis 9: 27 predicts that "God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall
dwell in the tents of Shem..." Hosea 2: 23 says "I will say to them
which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou
art my God."

Japheth and those which were not the people of God are the Gentiles,
and Shem is physical Israel.

I Thessalonians 4: 13-17 says "But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow
not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God
bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that
we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with
the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever
be with the Lord."

So, at the resurrection of the elect of God, those who remain alive on
earth will be joined together with those who have died. But there is
another group of the elect who will then be joined to this one group
of the elect in Christ.

Hebrews 11: 36-40 tells us "And others had trial of cruel mockings and
scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were
stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the
sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being
destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy
they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of
the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through
faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."

The elect of the Old Covenant, which were a remnant, are said to not
be made perfect without the elect of the New Covenant. The elect of
the Old Covenant are made perfect in the sense that they are joined to
the elect of the New Covenant as one in Jesus Christ. Hebrews 11:
40 says God provided some better things for us, which implies that the
elect of the Old Covenant will be perfected in the truth of Jesus
Christ when they are joined to the elect of the New Covenant. This is
just the opposite of the teachings of John Darby, C.I. Scofield and
Lewis S. Chafer.

John Darby, the father of the theology called
dispensationalism, said that the
"Church has sought to settle itself here, but it has no place on the
earth... [Though] making a most constructive parenthesis, it forms no
part of the regular order of God's earthly plans, but is merely an
interruption of them to give a fuller character and meaning to
them..."

John. N. Darby, 'The Character of Office in The Present Dispensation'
Collected Writings., Eccl. I, Vol. I, p. 94.

"Them" are all physical Israel. The church, for Darby exists to "give
fuller character and meaning to all physical Israel." Darby, known as
the Father of dispensationalism, thought that the purpose of the
Christian church, the ekklesia as a meeting, assembly or congregation
of Israel reborn in Christ, the Israel of God, made into The Body of
Christ like the Catholic capital C Church, was to honor all physical
Israel. The dispensationalists say that God's people the Jews are
earthy. They are involved in physical and literal things, like the
blood sacrifice of animals, a literal bloodline from Abraham,
circumcision, and a physical temple building.

J. Dwight Pentecost is another dispensationalist theologian who in his
book Things To Come ( 1965) says "The church
and Israel are two distinct groups with whom God has a divine plan.
The church is a mystery, unrevealed in the Old Testament. This mystery
program must be completed before God can resume His program with
Israel and bring it to completion. These considerations all arise from
a literal method of interpretation."
(page 193, J. Dwight Pentecost, Things To Come, Zondervan, 1965).

Charles C. Ryrie (born 1925) says:
"basic promise of Dispensationalism is two purposes of God expressed
in the formation of two peoples who maintain their distinction
throughout eternity." Charles C. Ryrie, Dispensationalism Today,
1966, pp.44-45.

In dispensationalism, physical Israel remain God's primary or chosen people,
and the ekklesia or church is a "parentheses" or mystery, and God will
resume his program for physical Israel after the church is raptured off
the earth.

But Romans 2: 23-29 and in Romans 9: 6-8, Galatians 4: 24-26,
Galatians 3: 3-29, Ephesians 2: 11-18 and I Corinthians 10: 18 are
part of the revelation given to Paul by Christ and state absolute
truths or facts. Scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit (II Timothy 3:
16, II Peter 1: 21) does not contradict itself. Romans 11: 25-26
should be looked at in the light of these scriptures.

In Romans 11: 25-26, "...blindness in part is happened to Israel,
until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall
be saved" has been interpreted by some in the church (see John Gill on
Romans 11: 25-26) and especially by dispensationalists to be a
prophecy saying that physical Israel as a house will be saved by God
sometime in the future.

Yet Paul in Romans 11: 17, 19, 20 says those of physical Israel were
broken off because of their unbelief (in Christ). And he says in
Romans 11: 14, "If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which
are my flesh, and might save some of them." He says in Romans 11: 24,
"...how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be
grafted into their own olive tree?" He is not saying in verse 14 that
physical Israel as an entire house is to be saved, but that he wants
to save some of them, that is, a remnant. A remnant of physical
Israel did accept Christ in the First Century (Romans 11: 5).

So, when viewed in light of Romans 2: 23-29, Romans 9: 6-8. Galatians
3: 3-29, Galatians 4: 24-26 and Ephesians 2: 11-18 and Romans 11: 17,
19, 20 and Romans 11: 24 Paul cannot be making a prophecy in Romans
11: 25-26 that physical Israel as an entire house will be saved
sometime in the future from his point in time.

Then there is Romans 11: 28, "As concerning the gospel, they are
enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are
beloved for the father's sakes." By the father's sakes he means they
are beloved by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because they are of the elect.
Paul is talking about two different groups of Israel here, "they" who
rejected Christ as enemies of the gospel, but "they" who are of the
elect are beloved by the fathers of physical Israel.

He is not exaggerating in saying all Israel shall be saved to make a
point. He either means that all physical Israel will be saved in the
future sometime, or he is not making a prophecy at all but is stating
that since all who belong to the elect and are saved are of Israel.
To say that all of physical Israel will be saved in the future
sometime as an entire house is not in line with the New Testament
which shows that people come to Christ as individuals, one at a time.

All Israel shall be saved when the fullness of the Gentiles be come
in, which will be the resurrection of the elect in which those on
earth at that time join those who have died before who Christ brings
with him. There are two groups of the elect Christ brings with hm,
those who died under the Old Covenant and those under the New
Covenant. At the resurrection, those elect who died under the Old
Covenant will receive a better inheritance in being joined to the
saints of the New Covenant (Hebrews 11: 37-40).

At that time the glory of all the elect put together will be revealed.
"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy
to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God.
20. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but
by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the
bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of
God.
22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in
pain together until now.
23. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the
firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Romans
8: 18-23

Paul says in I Corinthians 10: 11, "Now all these things happened unto
them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom
the ends of the world are come."

"Blindness in part is happened to Israel" can be generalized to apply
to the II Timothy church toward the end of the age, "upon whom the
ends of the world are come." In other words, "blindness in part has
happened to the church until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in."
When the fulness of the Gentiles be come in is the end, the
resurrection of the elect, when a remnant of God's people will then
be in the truth rather than in deception and blindness. A part of the
church in the broadest sense of the meaning of church as being God's
people will be in blindness at the end, in false doctrines and in
deception caused by the army of false teachers. But a remnant at that
time will "keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of
Jesus Christ" (Revelation 12: 17), and be in his truth.

 

[spirit1st]

Joh_4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Joh_10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

We are grafted in with them !

We must be a blessing to Israel and Not a curse! Jesus started with Israel then turned mainly to the gentiles and soon He turns Back too israel !

 

[B-A-C]

Rev 2:9; 'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

We can become Jews spiritually, but beware of saying you are one physically.

 

[james1523]

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

A physical Jew is one who has received circumcision and keeps the law but is not born again in spirit by placing faith in Christ. They are not part of the vine (Christ).

Both Jew and Gentile need to be grafted into the one tree Christ by faith in Him:
Romans 11:23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

 

[tulsa 2011]

This doesn't explain all the metaphors in Revelation 11. But it is a
start in a more general way.

Those in the II Timothy church do not come to the knowledge of the
truth. "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall
come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy...Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also
resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the
faith." II Timothy 3: 1-2, 7-8.

People in the II Timothy church do not come to the knowledge of the
truth because they are taught false doctrines by many false prophets.
"And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many." Matthew
24: 11

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they
are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world."
I John 4: 1

Just as God's people fell into false doctrines and practices several
times before Christ appeared to them to carry out the parable of the
fig tree in Luke 13: 6-9, to give new spiritual life to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel, and to fulfill Old Testament prophecy saying
that the Gentiles will be joined to those who were of physical Israel
(Hosea 2: 23) to become one fold (John 10: 16) born again in Christ
(John 3: 1-7)

In Romans 9: 6-8 a distinction is made between two groups, both
claiming to be the people of God.
One is Israel after the flesh, or physical Israel. These are those in
verse 8, "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God." The elect of Israel, the other group, is also in
verse 8, "but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."
Physical Israel is not the elect, because they are not Abraham's
spiritual seed (Galatians 3: 29), which is the seed of God.

But Romans 9; 6-9 does not tell us anything about the relative sizes
of these two groups of people, both claiming to be the people of God.
Look at Romans 11: 5, "Even so then at this present time also there is
a remnant according to the election of grace." This verse tells us
that those in Romans 11 who were not broken off the olive tree because
of unbelief and are the elect (Romans 11: 17, 19, 20) are a small
number, a remnant.

In the re-enactment of Romans 9: 6-9 in the end times, during the
falling away of II Thessalonians 2: 3, there is a large group, which
we can call end time Israel after the flesh, calling itself the
church, which is the II Timothy church, and these are not the children
of God. They are not the elect. A remnant which during this period of
the falling away leading up to the appearance of Christ and the
resurrection is moving toward a knowledge of the truth and increasing
numbers of the remnant will have the testimony of Jesus Christ
(Revelation 12: 17). The remnant is increasing in numbers, though it
remains a remnant. In time, at the event of Christ's appearance the
remnant will be in its fullness, its full number and knowledge of the
truth. It is the elect, the seed of God.

Revelation 12: 15 says the serpent casts out a flood from his mouth
that he might cause the metaphoric woman to be carried away in the
flood from his mouth. This metaphoric flood is the false doctrines
taught to the II Timothy church by the army of false teachers.

Then Revelation 12: 17 says "And the dragon was wroth with the woman,
and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the
commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."

This is the end time remnant who have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

But there is a thread in scripture which implies that the Two
Witnesses of Revelation 11 are also this same end time remnant who
have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

There are several metaphors in Revelation 11, which are very hard to
understand. "And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they
shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in
sackcloth.
4. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing
before the God of the earth....7. And when they shall have finished
their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit
shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
8. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was
crucified.
9. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall
see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer
their dead bodies to be put in graves.
10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and
make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two
prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
11. And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God
entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell
upon them which saw them.
12. And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come
up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their
enemies beheld them.
13. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth
part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven
thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God
of heaven."

Verse 4, on the two olive trees and two candlesticks standing before
God ties Revelation 11 to Zecharian 4: 2-3 and 4: 14. "And said unto
me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a
candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven
lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the
top thereof:
3. And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and
the other upon the left side thereof.... Then said he, These are the
two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth."
Zechariah 4: 2-3, 14.

This is all heavily metaphoric.

Zechariah 3: 1-2, 3-4 "And he shewed me Joshua the high priest
standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right
hand to resist him.
2. And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even
the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand
plucked out of the fire?
3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the
angel....And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him,
saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said,
Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with change of raiment."

Then Zechariah 4: 6, 9-14 says "Then he answered and spake unto me,
saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by
might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts....9.
The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his
hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts
hath sent me unto you.
10. For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall
rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with
those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro
through the whole earth.
11. Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive
trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side
thereof?
12. And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive
branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out
of themselves?
13. And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And
I said, No, my lord.
14. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the
LORD of the whole earth."

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah list a number of men of Israel who came
from Babylon to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem and to rebuild the
temple. Yet Zechariah 3 and 4 single out Jeshua and Zerubbabel among
these many rebuilders of the wall and the temple, which had fallen
down.

Ezra 2: 2 says "Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah,
Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number
of the men of the people of Israel:" Then Ezra 3: 2 says "Then stood
up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and
Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the
altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is
written in the law of Moses the man of God."

Nehemiah 1: 3 explains the reason for the mission of the group who
went to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls and the temple. "And they said
unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the
province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem
also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire."

The mission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the temple actually
happened in history. Yet it is a metaphor for the rebuilding of the
spiritual temple of God in the end times by another remnant.
Zechariah 4: 10 says "For who hath despised the day of small things?
for they shall
rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with
those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro
through the whole earth."

II Chronicals 16:9:
"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth,
to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect
toward him."

The Remnant who earnestly contend for the
faith which was once delivered
unto the saints (Jude 1: 3) are inspired by the Lord's looking for
those who with a love of his truth and faith.

The Two Witnesses is metaphoric for the remnant of Revelation 12: 17
who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ. The Two Witnesses testify of Jesus Christ and his faith which
was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 1: 3). The Two Witnesses is highly
metaphoric and represents the end time remnant who are rebuilding the wall
of Jerusalem and the temple of God. But - as Paul explains in I
Corinthians 3: 16-17
and I Corinthians 6: 19 the temple of God is the believers, those of the elect.

And the end time remnant is to help to build the "...new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband." Revelation 21: 2

The temple in the end times has been torn down by the many false
prophets of the II Timothy church.