Another “mystery” spoken of by Apostle Paul is found in Romans 11:25-33.
Romans 11: 25-29 For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Romans 11: 30-33 For as you in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Different scholars have different views on what these verses actually mean. The general consensus, however, is that at some point at the end, when “the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” the ethnic nation of Israel, or a remnant of the ethnic nation, shall be saved. Some believe it happens at the time of Christ’s coming. The following verses could be used to affirm that view.
Revelation 1:7 Behold, he comes with cloud; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him (the Jewish nation that demanded His death?): and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
Zechariah 12:9-10 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced (at His coming?), and they shall morn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
Matthew 24:30 And then 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. (Immediately after the tribulation of those days at the Rapture event, but preceding the Wrath of God.)
"The fulness of the Gentiles" may be referring to the various empires or “beasts” that have ruled over the world, the Antichrist being the final beast. In Revelation 11:2 we have the term “Gentiles,” referring to the Antichrist forces, taking over the “holy city,” which seems to refer to Jerusalem, for 42 months, or 3 and ½ years, the time of the Great Tribulation. Let’s read the verse.
Revelation 11: 2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Remember, the Antichrist will break the covenant, stop the daily sacrifice, and place the abomination that makes desolate at the “midst of the week,” the middle of the seven year period. He invades Jerusalem to do so and takes over, probably implementing the “mark of the beast” technology which will be necessary in order to operate in his New World Order system.
But some will rebel and not cooperate. The orthodox Jews may be in that category, especially if the "mark" is some sort of tattoo or micro-chip implant. God’s word forbids them from making any markings on their flesh.
Leviticus 19: 28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.
"The fulness of the Gentiles" may be referring to the various empires or “beasts” that have ruled over the world, the Antichrist being the final beast. In Revelation 11:2 we have the term “Gentiles,” referring to the Antichrist forces, taking over the “holy city,” which seems to refer to Jerusalem, for 42 months, or 3 and ½ years, the time of the Great Tribulation. Let’s read the verse.
Revelation 11: 2 But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Remember, the Antichrist will break the covenant, stop the daily sacrifice, and place the abomination that makes desolate at the “midst of the week,” the middle of the seven year period. He invades Jerusalem to do so and takes over, probably implementing the “mark of the beast” technology which will be necessary in order to operate in his New World Order system.
But some will rebel and not cooperate. The orthodox Jews may be in that category, especially if the "mark" is some sort of tattoo or micro-chip implant. God’s word forbids them from making any markings on their flesh.
Leviticus 19: 28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.
(However, during the Covid - 19 lockdowns and vaccinations, Israel managed to vaccinate close to 90% of its population. It remains to be seen how many will resist the mark of the beast technology when it appears.)
We can conclude, therefore, that at least some of the unsaved Jewish people living in Israel and or around the world will be anti-Antichrists. They will be against the Antichrist, though they may at first have been deceived by him and his “Holy Covenant.” Remember, the covenant may be what gives the Jewish people permission to start the daily sacrifice on the temple mount, the holy place, in the first place. Therefore, at first, the Jewish people would see the Antichrist as someone they could work with.
However, when the Antichrist invades Israel, stops the daily sacrifice, and places the abomination of desolation in the holy place, some of the Orthodox Jews and other Jewish people, at least a remnant, if not many or most, will finally realize that the New World Order leader is evil. They will begin to understand that the Christians prophets were right. They will begin to have their blindness removed.
Since Apostle Paul says that the blindness in part to Israel will last, “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” we need to try to understand when “will the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” If it is at the point when the Antichrist steps up or is revealed, as Apostle Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, then we can expect Jewish people to begin to come to Christ during the Great Tribulation period. Those that do, would be raptured with the other Christian believers at the Lord’s coming.
Let’s look again at 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. Apostle Paul is talking about the coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto Him.
2 Thessalonians 2: 3-4 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
If what Apostle Paul is talking about is the moment the Antichrist stops the daily sacrifice and places the abomination, then that would be the sign that Jesus gave that the great tribulation would start. That would be distinctly at the “midst of the week.”
But, maybe, “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” is not until Christ appears at the time of the Rapture or later when He comes with His saints in the Battle of Armageddon. It is at that point, at Armageddon, that the time of the Gentiles would actually come to an end. If the Jewish people remained anti-Antichrist during the great tribulation period and refused to worship the beast and his image and refused his mark, if, also, they lived throughout the tribulation period and the wrath of God, then they could be in that “blessed” group of people the prophet Daniel talks of in Daniel 12:12.
We can conclude, therefore, that at least some of the unsaved Jewish people living in Israel and or around the world will be anti-Antichrists. They will be against the Antichrist, though they may at first have been deceived by him and his “Holy Covenant.” Remember, the covenant may be what gives the Jewish people permission to start the daily sacrifice on the temple mount, the holy place, in the first place. Therefore, at first, the Jewish people would see the Antichrist as someone they could work with.
However, when the Antichrist invades Israel, stops the daily sacrifice, and places the abomination of desolation in the holy place, some of the Orthodox Jews and other Jewish people, at least a remnant, if not many or most, will finally realize that the New World Order leader is evil. They will begin to understand that the Christians prophets were right. They will begin to have their blindness removed.
Since Apostle Paul says that the blindness in part to Israel will last, “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” we need to try to understand when “will the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” If it is at the point when the Antichrist steps up or is revealed, as Apostle Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, then we can expect Jewish people to begin to come to Christ during the Great Tribulation period. Those that do, would be raptured with the other Christian believers at the Lord’s coming.
Let’s look again at 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4. Apostle Paul is talking about the coming of the Lord and our gathering together unto Him.
2 Thessalonians 2: 3-4 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
If what Apostle Paul is talking about is the moment the Antichrist stops the daily sacrifice and places the abomination, then that would be the sign that Jesus gave that the great tribulation would start. That would be distinctly at the “midst of the week.”
But, maybe, “until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” is not until Christ appears at the time of the Rapture or later when He comes with His saints in the Battle of Armageddon. It is at that point, at Armageddon, that the time of the Gentiles would actually come to an end. If the Jewish people remained anti-Antichrist during the great tribulation period and refused to worship the beast and his image and refused his mark, if, also, they lived throughout the tribulation period and the wrath of God, then they could be in that “blessed” group of people the prophet Daniel talks of in Daniel 12:12.
Daniel 12: 12 Blessed is he that waits, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
We will look at that verse in more detail a little further on in our argument. How “all Israel shall be saved” is still a mystery. Earlier in Romans, Apostle Paul had also written,
Romans 9: 6-7 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.
Romans 9:27 Esaias also cries concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.
We will look at that verse in more detail a little further on in our argument. How “all Israel shall be saved” is still a mystery. Earlier in Romans, Apostle Paul had also written,
Romans 9: 6-7 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.
Romans 9:27 Esaias also cries concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.
Will “all Israel” be only a remnant, or actually be “all Israel?” We do not know at the moment. I tend to lean more to the idea that a remnant of ethnic Israel, the Jewish people, will be saved. Some are already being saved and they make great witnesses. Some 20,000+ Israelites are Messianic Jews, or Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah. At what point the rest of Israel or a remnant of Israel will be saved remains to be seen. But the fact that some shall be “regrafted into the olive tree” once again shows God’s unfathomable love and mercy.
Romans 11: 24 For if thou [a gentile Christian] were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature [false gentile beliefs and traditions about God], and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree [the seed of Abraham by faith that follows of the true God]: how much more shall these [the ethnic Jewish people], which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
Obviously, some shall be saved. Throughout Israel's history it was usually a small group who were faithful to the Lord. But at times, under a good leader or king, much of the nation became righteous because they believed and obeyed. Pray for them. Not all are Anti-Christ and even now many are Anti-antichrists.
1 Comments:
Seems to be balanced look at this controversial topic.
Post a Comment