Israel’s Future Restoration – Part 2

I reminded you all the way along in our series that Romans 9 deals with “Israel’s Past Election.” You should memorize this or get it down to memory. Romans 10 deals with “Israel’s Present Rejection.” A great number in Israel nationally have rejected Jesus as their Messiah, and God has thus, as we’re going to see tonight, opened the door for Gentiles to be saved during this time known as the Church Age.

Dispensational teaching is kind of being lost today in Christianity because it’s tied in with what’s called premillennialism, that Christ comes before the Millennium and will establish His Kingdom on earth and that God has a plan separate for the Church from the nation of Israel and when the Church is completed, we’re going to see the phrase tonight in the text, “…until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,” then that blindness with Israel is only in part and only for a temporary time, that God once again will deal with Israel as a nation and, Paul says, “And so all Israel shall be saved.” We’re going to get that dispensational understanding. A dispensation is a period of time in which God deals with a people group, and He deals with Israel separately from the Church.

The Church is made up of Jew and Gentile. The Church is not an issue of race. “There is neither Jew nor Greek…bond or free…for ye are all one in Christ.” It’s actually the Church, Paul speaks of in Ephesians 2 as being God’s new humanity, and that He, “…hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us,” in the Church and made one new nation, the Church. When the Church is complete and gone to heaven, I believe in the rapture, then during the tribulation period Israel will actually again then be restored, the Second Coming will bring new life to them nationally, and they will be ushered into the Kingdom Age, the reigning of Christ for a thousand years. At the end of my message tonight we’re going to put the chart again up on the screen and break it down and tie it into the text we have to cover.

I’ve given you Romans 9 and 10. Romans 11 is “Future Restoration.” So, Romans 9, “Past Election;” Romans 10, “Present Rejection;” Romans 11, “Future Restoration.” These three chapters give kind of an over panoramic view. It’s what you would call a mega narrative, it’s the big picture of God’s plan—past, choosing Israel; God’s present, how Israel has been set aside temporarily and partially, His rejection of Israel; and then the future restoration of the nation of Israel and how that plan with God’s nation of Israel kind of fits into His whole prophetic plan of redemption, even for the planet earth which we see in the Millennial reign of the Kingdom Age.

The first 24 verses of Romans 11, Paul gives us four proofs that God is not through with Israel, that Israel will have a future. Let me give them to you. We’ve covered the first three. The first one is Paul’s personal proof, verse1. Look at it with me. “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.” He’s asking the question, is God finished with Israel? Has God laid aside Israel? Has God cast off Israel? And then he uses that powerful expression, “God forbid,” which means just perish the thought that God would be finished with His people, the nation of Israel.

The second proof is the historical proof, and we saw that last Wednesday in verses 2-6. He talked about the prophet Elijah, how God said, “I have seven thousand in Israel who have not bowed their knee to Baal,” and that God always has an election of people or an elite group of people that He has that are saved.

Thirdly, we saw the scriptural proof, verses 7-10. So, personal proof, Romans 11:1; historical proof, verses 2-6; then the scriptural proof, verses 7-10; and we started in at verse 11 and went down to verse 15. This section, the fourth division we’re going to look at tonight, is dispensational proof, verses 11-24. I kind of cheated last Wednesday night, I snuck into that section, but we’re going to look at it fully tonight, verses 11-24. Follow with me beginning in verse 11.

I wanted to mention that the ‘big idea’ in verses 11-24 is that there will be a future restoration. Sometimes when you’re studying the Bible, and by the way here’s a little Bible study tip again, take note of natural divisions and breaks, not necessarily in the chapters or the verses, but in the subject matter. The original Bible was not written in chapters and verses, and sometimes they divide subjects that we should continue to read and tie together. Sometimes chapters should not be there, it should be all together, and when you get a section and you take the context, find what Bible students call the ‘big idea.' It’s easy to remember, “What’s the big idea? What’s God saying in this section.” If you can take the whole section and summarize it in one concise statement or sentence, then you get the ‘big idea,’ and every verse you read, you’re tying it into that context. So, here’s the ‘big idea’ from verses 11-24, that there will be a future restoration of Israel. That’s the ‘big idea.’

Now, let’s go to verse 11 and read down to verse 15. Paul says, “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid.” Now, remember he mentions falling in verse 1 and said, “God forbid.” Now, in verse 11, the second section, he says, “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid.” That means that God is finished with them because they’ve rejected Christ, they’ve stumbled? Here’s the point, “…but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.” In many ways that summarizes, again, everything Paul says here, and in a sense it’s very repetitive. It’s one of the hardest chapters to preach in different messages because it all flows in one long message. From verse 1 all the way to the end of the chapter there’s really no break in theme, so it’s hard to put in these different sections. He’s asking this question, “Have they stumbled that they should fall?”—that God is finished with them?—“God forbid.” But here’s what God was doing, “…through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles,”—so it opened the door for God to save Gentiles, to show mercy and grace and kindness to Gentiles, and that the Gentiles thus could, “provoke them,”—that is, Israel—“to jealousy.”

Keep in mind, too, that as you’re studying this chapter, as is the case in Romans 9 and 10, that he’s speaking of the nation of Israel being chosen by God for divine purpose, and then when that purpose was not fulfilled, he’s speaking of the Gentile nations and the plan and purpose that God had for them. He’s not talking about individual salvation, and it’s going to be important to keep that in mind as we read through Romans 11.

Paul says in verse 12, “Now if the fall of them,”—that is, the stumbling, the falling of them—“be the riches of the world,”—which is what he meant in verse 11, salvation came to the Gentiles. The door shut to the Jews exclusively and swung wide open to the Gentiles, and anyone that’s read their Bible knows that Gentiles were saved even in the Old Testament. Rahab the harlot was a Gentile, and she believed God’s promises and was saved. Then, Jesus, when He ministered on earth in the gospels, actually ministered to Gentiles who came to faith quite frequently; and Jesus also said, “I have sheep that are not part of this fold that also might be called and come into this fold,” speaking of this faith of Judaism.

Paul says in verse 12, “Now if the fall of them,”—that is, Israel—“be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles,”—so, he’s saying the same thing in a different way—“how much more their fulness?” So, if the fall of them meant salvation, can you imagine their restoration during the Kingdom Age when they come to saving faith in Christ? How marvelous that will be! It will actually be the salvation of the whole world in the sense of the new Kingdom on earth, the eternal state.

Verse 13, “For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation,”—or jealousy—“them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.” Notice verse 15, “For if the casting away of them,”—that is, Israel—“be the reconciling of the world,”—earlier he said the salvation of the world and their fullness—“what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” If you understand Bible prophecy and you read these words, you understand how it all fits and packages together. It’s quite marvelous.

I want you to note three phrases or words. The first is “stumbled” and “fall” in verse 11. The second is “diminishing of them,” verse 12, and in verse 15, “the casting away of them.” It’s all descriptive of the time period we live in right now when Israel nationally is hardened toward Christ and have been set temporarily and partially aside. They’re described in verse 15, “…casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” What a marvelous plan God has for the nation of Israel as it relates to the world in which we live. Again, I don’t want to get too detailed or too bogged down, but if you read these verses in a modern translation, you want to read them in the New Living Translation, it can be quite helpful as well.

Notice in verse 16, and we’re going to study down to verse 24, he says, “For,”—so he’s not skipped a beat here. He’s talking about God blessing the Gentiles with salvation because Israel rejected Him, that the door swung open.

Remember when Jesus was in the area north of the Sea of Galilee and a Syrophoenician woman came to Him begging for mercy? Jesus kind of ignores her for a short period of time, and she kept pressing and pressing Him. Then, they said, “Lord, get rid of her. She’s bothering us.” Jesus actually said to her, “What do you want?” She answered, “I want salvation. I need help.” He said, “I’m not sent but for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” She actually responded, “The little dogs,” or little puppies, “get the crumbs which fall from the master’s table.” That is a picture of what happened. We’re like “the little dogs,” and by the way, little dogs there, don’t freak out, would be used for little puppies, a domesticated dog, not the wild, mangy scraggly dogs that bite you in the street. This is a little lap dog, a little domesticated dog. This is the dog that rides in your purse and goes on the airplane with you and sits in its own little highchair and has a little bib around it. They get the crumbs which fall from the master’s table.

Then Jesus gave her her request, but she was Syrophoenician, a Gentile. She wanted just the crumbs, so really in a way tonight when you understand this chapter if you’re a Gentile, and it should be something that we should celebrate as we break the bread and drink the cup that, I get the crumbs which fall from the master’s table, that God loved me, saved me by His grace, that He had a plan for Israel which also involved mercy to the Gentiles and that the end would be ultimate—His great glory and the restoration and salvation of even the planet earth that we live on.

Verse 16, Paul says, “For if the firstfruit be holy,”—now he’s drawing from the book of Leviticus 23, Numbers 15, and possibly alluding to the concept of the feast of Firstfruits—“the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.” Notice he mentions two pictures here, “the firstfruit” and then mentions the tree and the branches, and he’s going to develop that with the olive tree, the wild olive tree and the domesticated tree that represented the nation of Israel.

The concept of “firstfruits” some feel, “if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy,” was talking about the bread they would bake at the feast of Firstfruits. They would take out a piece of dough, and that piece of dough would be offered to God as firstfruits. Then, the bread would be baked and would be used to celebrate the feast. But also when they reap their fields, they took some of the first grain and used it to dedicate or consecrate to God, so it’s the firstfruits of harvest, the first part of the dough from the bread, and if that is holy, then the lump is holy. He’s talking about Israel and the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they’re the firstfruits, and how eventually the whole lump, the nation of Israel, itself will be holy. He’s using these Old Testament word pictures there.

Paul mentions the branches and then launches into this long section which goes all the way down to verse 24 with this picture of using olive trees—a wild, natural olive tree that would not produce good fruit and then a cultivated, domesticated olive tree that had good fruit—and how they are brought together. I’ll explain it more as we go into verses 17-24. “And if some of the branches,”—he just mentioned the branches at the end of verse 16, some of the branches but not all the branches we’re going to see in verse 25, partially, referring to Israel—“be broken off,”—those words that I just pointed out, “diminishing,” “falling,” “setting aside,” you have the same concept here, “broken off.” This olive tree with its branches is first a picture of Israel, but then he also uses the Gentile nations as a wild olive tree, verse 17, that’s going to be grafted in. So, “if some of the branches be broken off, and thou,”—I want you to notice that statement, “thou,” he’s speaking to Gentiles. He’s actually addressing Gentiles. Remember, he’s writing to the Romans, which was primarily a Gentile church, “…and thou, being a wild olive tree.”

I just said that we, as Gentiles, were the little dogs that got the crumbs; now we’re wild olive trees, and, “wert graffed in among them,”—that is, the root, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of Israel—“and with them partakest of the root,”—which would be the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—“and the fatness of the olive tree;”—then as Gentiles—“Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.” Let me stop right there, and I shouldn’t confess this, but I will. This is one of the most difficult sections of the Bible to teach on. I don’t know why, in all the years I’ve taught it, I haven’t got some kind of a graphic or illustration for the screen. I need to work on something like that.

Picture two olive trees. One olive tree is a cultivated olive tree that produces beautiful fruit. Another olive tree is not purposely planted, it’s not cultivated, it’s just a wild, wild, crazy olive tree. It gets little fruit on it, but they’re hard and tasteless. The other day I saw a little bush that had a bunch of little blue berries on it. I know they weren’t blueberries, probably something you shouldn’t eat, probably highly poisonous, but I thought, Man, those look good. They look like blueberries. You look at this olive tree and it looks okay, but it’s gnarly and wild and doesn’t work. Well, I don’t know that much about trees or splicing trees together or that kind of a thing, but they actually would take the olive trees, and they take fruit trees even today, and splice them together. In the doing of that, they normally would take a fruitful, cultivated, domesticated olive tree, they didn’t have the strongest root system, and would take those and splice them into the wild olive trees that had a stronger, bigger root system, so they would draw from that root system and then produce the fruit that they were lacking. They would be stronger against the storms and so forth.

Paul turns it around. He uses the same picture but takes the wild olive branches, trees, which are a picture of the Gentiles as a nation, non Jews, and says that they are actually broken off and then grafted into the cultivated olive trees, which represent, you could say, Judaism. The root is actually Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or the patriarchs. That’s a picture horticulturally of splicing in these trees into these olive foundations or stumps and them being able to produce fruit.

Paul is just using this imagery or this picture of how God broke off the branches of the natural olive trees, which is Judaism and Israel, and He took the wild olive tree and its branches and grafted them into that root, which we are Gentiles grafted in, thus we became beneficiaries. You gotta get the picture. You can look up the subject if you want in a Bible encyclopedia or horticulturally. There was one picture in the encyclopedia I saw today that showed this big, gnarly stump and then a finer, kind of a cultivated olive tree that was growing out of this stump, which was what they did; but Paul, as I said, turned it around and took the wild olive branches and put them into the domesticated stump, which is a picture of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Let’s run through the text. “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou,”—being the Gentiles—“being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root,”—which again, as I said, were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the blessings, covenants, and promises; you became privileged to their promised blessings—“and fatness of the olive tree; 18 Boast not,”—I want you to note that statement, he’s speaking to Gentiles. One of the big ideas in this section as well is he’s trying to get Gentiles, like probably the majority of us are here tonight, not to be haughty, proud, high-minded, or boast that, “We’re saved. We’ve got the Messiah and you don’t,” that “God’s pushed you aside, He’s discarded Israel, and now we’re God’s chosen people,” and to have a haughty kind of pride in your heart. So, verse 18, “Boast not against the branches,”—that is, the natural branches, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—“But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root,”—notice this statement—“but the root thee.”

In John 4:22, it sheds light on this. Jesus is talking to a Samaritan, the woman at the well. She was half Jewish, half Gentile. What do you do with her? She’s half Jewish, half Gentile, despised by the Jews just as much as did they despised the Gentiles. But in His interaction with this woman, and she’s talking about salvation, “We worship God on this mountain, Mount Gerizim.” Jesus said, in John 4:22, “…for salvation is of the Jews.” If you’ve read that section of the Bible, you’ve heard that saying, “Salvation is of the Jews.” He said, “…neither in this mountain,”—Gerizim or Jerusalem—“…when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” He used the statement, “Salvation is of the Jews,” and what that means is that salvation came into the world by and through the nation of Israel.

In light of what’s going on today with the Antisemitism and the hatred for Israel, isn’t that a shocking thought. Did you know that Jesus was a Jew? Mary and Joseph were Jews? The prophets in the Old Testament were Jews? The early Christians were Jewish? God sent the Messiah, who would be the Savior of the world, born under the Law, He was Jewish? That’s what it means there when it says, “…thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.” So, don’t be high-minded, but be humble and fear. “Salvation is of the Jews,” John 4:22.

Verse 19, “Thou wilt say then,”—speaking to Gentiles—“The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.” They would say it with a haughty, “Look at me! They were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Paul says, verse 20, “Well; because of unbelief,”—this is speaking nationally of Israel—“they,”—that is, Israel—“were broken off, and thou standest by faith.” Here again is the warning, “Be not highminded, but fear,”—don’t be haughty; don’t be cocky; don’t be proud; don’t be high-minded, but fear. If anyone should be humble, it should be a saved Gentile. He says, “For if God spared not the natural branches,”—again, the natural branches are the root, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the nation of Israel—“take heed lest he also spare not thee.” Remember, again, he’s speaking nationally, not individually about an individual’s personal salvation. God’s picking a people group through which He would bring blessing and salvation to the world.

Verse 22, “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God,”—the goodness there is God’s goodness demonstrated to you Gentiles; the severity of God is God’s severity upon Israel and their rejection and being set aside by the Lord. “…on them,”—that is, Israel—“which fell, severity; but toward thee,”—that is, the Gentiles—“goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” Again, this could bother some people, or at least create kind of a question in some people’s mind, and that would be a wrong way to interpret this passage, to say, “Well, does that mean that we, as Gentiles, could lose our salvation, that we could be “broken off” or “taken out” and we could be “cast off”? I would say that would be contradicting what Paul taught in Romans 8.

We’re working on a book right now that I’m excited about, I’ve waited years to put together, from my series, “Blessed Assurance” on Sunday morning through Romans 8. We’re going to put it into book form, and I think it’s going to be so important for people to read. In Romans 8, it starts with, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” In the middle of the chapter there is “no defeat,” and at the end of the chapter, there’s “no separation.” So, he’s not saying that you as an individual Gentile can lose your salvation, he’s saying that God would take away the blessings of working with the Gentile nations and go back to working with the nation of Israel—if He rejected Israel nationally, He could reject the Gentiles nationally. In both cases, there are Jews who are saved and there are Gentiles who are saved, that’s not the issue in the text.

Paul isn’t teaching that you could lose your salvation or be cut off, and by way of a footnote, later on in the same chapter, verse 29, Paul says, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance,”—revoked or taken back. So, I don’t believe that he’s teaching that the individual believer can be lost, but the groups of these nations that He’s working with, He could change.

It’s interesting that even in the Church we have a group that we would call the professing church or the apostate church, which are people who claim to be believers but are not genuine or authentic believers. Now, they never had salvation to begin with; thus, if they’re rejected, it’s because they’re apostate, never were regenerated to begin with. I just wanted to point that out. He’s not talking about personal, individual salvation but national salvation or blessings that come to nations or people groups—Israel verses the Gentiles.

Verse 23, Paul says, “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief,”—that is, Israel—“shall be graffed in,”—which is exactly what their future holds. At the Second Coming of Jesus Christ there will be salvation nationally to Israel. It doesn’t mean every single individual Jew will be saved, but it means that God, once again, will work in the nation of Israel and restore them that believe nationally, but it will happen in the Kingdom Age. “…for God is able to graff them in again.” Just make a little footnote, and I’m going to wrap this up in just a minute, at the Second Coming, when Christ comes back, all Israel will be saved. There will be a lot of them come to faith in Christ during the tribulation, but when Jesus comes back and the Lord is seen with every eye like the lightning that shines from the east to the west, believe me, they will believe in Jesus Christ. They will turn to Him nationally. What a glorious thing! What a great restoration that will be and blessing to the whole world. “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.”

Verse 24, “For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature,”—that’s the Gentiles. And notice this statement here, “and wert graffed contrary to nature,”—that’s what I was talking about how that Paul turned around the concept of who grafted what in at different times, so that they are grafted in contrary to what was the normal way of grafting trees into the stumps at that time, “…contrary to nature.” He says, “…into a good olive tree: how much more shall these,”—that is, the Jews, the nation of Israel—“which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?” It’s a good question. So, if they were broken off, and we’re olive trees and we were grafted in and we get the blessings, and this is what communion is, this is us as wild olive trees, grafted in, getting the covenant blessings of the new covenant where God forgives our sins, writes His laws upon our hearts, and makes us His people. What a marvelous blessing that is!

Now, I want to sneak a little further to verse 27, and I just want to wrap it up because I’m going to start at verse 25 next week. (If you can, I want you to put the graphic on the screen.) You’ve see this before, and next week we’ll have more copies of this printed up for you in the Connection Booth, so you can grab some if you haven’t. Let’s read verses 25-27, then I’m going to tie it into this chart and wrap it up together.

Verse 25, “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery.” You probably right now are saying, “I’m ignorant of this mystery. I hardly understand what’s being said.” Hang in there. Don’t be discouraged. Paul says, “I don’t want you to be ignorant.” This is one of the many places in the Bible where Paul says, “I don’t want you to be ignorant,” but what are we? Ignorant, right? I want you to understand this. He uses the word “mystery.” “Mystery” in the New Testament isn’t something you can’t understand, it’s something that you could not understand unless God has revealed it, and He has. Did you understand that? A “mystery” is something that in the Old Testament was not revealed but is now revealed, and it’s something that you could not understand unless God reveals it, and He has revealed it. The definition of that is in the book of Ephesians where he describes a “mystery,” something in ages past was not made known but now is revealed to God’s people. So, “mystery” is not something you can’t understand, it’s that you can’t understand it apart from revelation, and God has revealed it and explained it.

The “mystery,” verse 25, is this whole concept of Israel being broken off, set aside, falling, set aside, so the Gentiles can be saved. That’s the “mystery,” and that’s what Paul is revealing. So, he says, “…that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits,”—remember he was warning them, the Gentiles, about pride?—“that blindness in part,”—that word “blindness,” the Greek word is tied in with the idea of sclerosis or hardening of the heart. Some translations have “hardness” instead of “blindness.” “…is happened to Israel,”—nationally—“until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.”

Notice two very important things: “blindness,” or hardness for Israel is only partial—in part, it’s not total—and blindness for Israel is only temporary, “until.” Two important phrases, “blindness in part,” so it’s partial, and “until,” that means it’s only temporary. Until what? “…the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” I’ll just say it, and then in just a minute we’ll look at the chart. That is a reference to the Church being complete, and I’m holding my hands like this because this is the Church Age. When everybody’s in the Church, it’s all done, the Church is going to be taken up to heaven. So, when, “…the fulness of the Gentiles be come in,”—when the Church has reached its totality.

Do you know that somewhere out there in the world there is a last person that’s going to get saved in the Church. When that happens, the Lord, I believe, is going to take the Church to heaven. So, if you’re here tonight, would you get saved so we can go home? Obviously, God knows who that person is. It might be somebody living in the jungles of Africa, but when they repent and believe in Jesus and get saved, the Church is complete, it’s “….the fulness of the Gentiles,” then we’ll be caught up to meet the Lord, and we’ll see it in the chart in just a moment.

Notice it says, verse 26, “And so all Israel shall be saved.” That doesn’t mean every individual Jew is going to be saved and go to heaven, but it means that Israel as a nation will be first of all delivered from the tribulation period and brought to repentance and faith in Jesus as Messiah culminating in the Second Coming. “…as it is written,”—he’s quoting from Isaiah 59—“There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer,”—that’s Christ—“and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob,”—that’s the nation of Israel. Verse 27, “For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” This is so marvelous!

We’re going to actually go into more depth on this next Wednesday night, but in verse 25, there is God’s time for the restoration of Israel; in verse 26, there’s God’s promise of the restoration of Israel; and in verse 27, there is God’s covenant with the nation of Israel, He will, “…take away their sins,” Jeremiah 31:33-34, which is, thus communion, the new covenant. It is the new covenant.

When you take communion tonight, I hope that in a new way, a special way, a fresh way, if you’re a Gentile…do we have, I don’t want to single you out but you should be honored and blessed, are there any Jews tonight, or Jewish people that believe in Jesus as their Savior tonight? Anyone? Usually there’s one or two. Okay, what’d I tell you? Most of us, or all of us, are Gentiles. Do you know there are lots and lots of Jews right now who believe in Yeshua, that Jesus is Messiah? Amen? And, they’re part of the Church, and we’re part of the Church, and we’re all one in Christ. But when the Church is full and complete, then God’s going to work nationally with Israel once again. So, verse 26, “…all Israel shall be saved,”—nationally—“There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer,”—that’s the Second Coming of Christ, and then will be fulfilled what God promised in Jeremiah 31, His new covenant where He will forgive their sins and their iniquities, “…and I will remember their sin no more,” and He’ll write His law upon their hearts.

In these verses and in the themes that we’ve been running through, the chart that you see on the screen, and again, I don’t want to actually teach on it tonight. I’m going to go into it more next Wednesday night. You see on the far left in that yellow section what is known as the 70 Weeks of Daniel. It’s taken from Daniel 9. In that prophecy, Daniel was in Babylon at the end of the 70-years captivity. He was reading the prophet and realized that they were almost up and that God was going to deliver His people. He was praying, and God came to Daniel and gave him this panoramic understanding of what God’s purpose and plan was for his nation, the nation of Israel, as they were captives in Babylon. It actually covers a period of 490 years. You see that overarching period of 70 sevens, it’s known as the 70 Weeks of Daniel. The word “sevens” is the word heptá in the Hebrew, which is a unit of seven. It’s like our word dozen for twelve. So, 70 sevens, 490 years. I’m going to cut to the quick because I want to look at the other half of it, but the 483 years underneath there, has already been fulfilled. When Messiah would come and be cut off for the sins of the people—the Cross.

There’s seven years missing on the 490 years. That seven years that’s missing is the tribulation period divided into two, three-and-a-half year periods, which you see the overarching line there, 70x7=490 years takes you to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This is a marvelous prophecy which Bible scholars call the ABCs of Bible prophecy, and it puts all of the pieces of the puzzle together. That period called “The Tribulation,” in red there, for seven years, is also known as “the time of Jacob’s trouble,” Jeremiah 30, primarily the time when God will prepare and discipline and punish Israel to prepare them for the Second Coming, the arrival of Messiah, when all Israel will be saved and then ushered into the Millennium, the thousand year Kingdom Age reign of Christ which is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David that his son would sit upon the throne, promises to Abraham, promises to Isaac, promises to Jacob that they will have all the land. You talk about Israel and the debate over whether they should have the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, they’re going to have much, much more land that God promised Abraham, and they’re going to have it. They’re going to be dwelling there with Jesus Christ their Messiah, King, sitting on the throne in Jerusalem. It’s so marvelous!

Then, that Age will usher in the New Heaven and the New Earth. The Cross of Christ, symbolized there in the chart, in 70 A.D., Titus and the Roman armies came and laid waste the city of Jerusalem, dispersed the Jews, and they were sent over the whole world, the Diaspora, and then we have the Church Age beginning on the day of Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2, and then the Church Age comes to a conclusion. By the way, in verse 25 of our text of Romans 11, it says, “…the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” That Church Age period is that “fulness of the Gentiles.” When that takes place, then I believe the rapture will happen and the Church will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and then the Antichrist will be revealed, there’ll be seven-years covenant made by him with Israel, which is the last seven years of the 490 years, it’s the 70th week of Daniel. It’s just amazing to me, and even myself, I teach on it so rarely, is that more prophecy messages aren’t on the 70 weeks of Daniel. If it’s the ABCs of Bible prophecy, why don’t we study it more? I don’t understand that, so I’m going to go into it more in depth next week.

So, there’s seven years missing, that seven years will be the Church full, complete, caught up to meet the Lord, the time clock (CLICK!) starts again in heaven, seven years left for all Israel to be saved and brought into the Kingdom Age. Then, the coming of Christ at the end of the seven years tribulation, there will be at that time the Battle of Armageddon, then the Kingdom Age, the King returns, Jesus Christ the son of David sits on the throne for one thousand years. I believe in a premillennial return of Jesus Christ literally, physically, bodily, and that He will actually sit on a throne in Jerusalem, and He will reign over the whole world for a thousand years. Satan will be bound for that thousand years, and we will be in glorified bodies as the Church, reigning with Christ. What a blessed time that will be! Amen? That’s our future, that’s our hope. That’s why Paul says, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

Notice in verse 26 of our text, “And so all Israel shall be saved,”—the Kingdom Age. All Israel will be prepared in the tribulation and saved, then nationally, in the Kingdom Age, and then there’ll be a New Heaven and a New Earth, and what a marvelous thing that will be. He will take away all of our sins and our iniquities, and He will remember them no more.

We’re in the Church Age. It is a pause, a parenthesis, in God’s plan given to Daniel of 490 years. By the way, the Church is a “mystery” in the Old Testament. It’s not taught. It’s not explained. It’s not revealed. People that find the rapture in the Old Testament are wasting their time. People that look for the Church, there’s hints of it, but it’s not taught, it’s not explained, it’s a New Testament revelation given to Paul and explained by Paul in his epistles. This is why we should not neglect the Pauline epistles. It’s part of God’s revelation to us. Again, this is a big picture. There’s a lot of information. It’s so hard not to try to give a lot of information and put the pieces of the puzzle together, and I hope that just a little bit it starts to come together for you.

Tonight as we take communion, we’re going to move into that right now, and we should be glad that as Gentiles we’ve been grafted in. Amen?