Perhaps Romans 11:25-36 will help us concerning the position of Isarel and salvation through Jesus Christ: “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 has 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 (Zion) 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 fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye 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. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen.”
I wonder sometimes if some of the “great scholars” of Scripture have ever honestly accepted the teaching of the above verses. There have been for hundreds of years great teachers who have either intentionally skipped these verses, or failed to understand all they are saying, when such teachers come up with the age-old theory that the church is the new Israel. As one has said, “I kicked the slats out of my cradle” the first time I heard the teaching that the church is the new Israel, yet that statement is never used in the entire Bible, nor does the Bible anywhere teach such falsehood, yet people buy into it, because some “well-known teacher” has taught it. I am not saying that many of these were not much greater scholars than most of us will ever be, but great scholars sometimes overlook major truths, perhaps in their zeal to teach a “pet doctrine”, but perhaps other times honestly.
Likely a part of the problem with those who miss the point that God is going to restore Israel lies in the fact that they do not carefully distinguish between conditional covenants and unconditional covenants. The covenant that God made with Abraham concerning a land and a seed was an unconditional covenant, made while Abraham was in a deep sleep, according to Genesis 15:12-21, thus it can never be broken by the actions of men, nor will God Himself ever break an unconditional covenant, such as He made with Abraham concerning a land and a seed. So, our verses above from Romans 11:25-32 relate to a yet future restoration of the physical seed of Abraham through Jesus the descendant of Abraham. To trifle with this truth is wrong, and also dangerous! No, God has not commanded us to understand every truth taught in Scripture, but He has commanded us not to seek to change its truth, which we really cannot do anyway. Our Romans passage given above shows without a doubt that the nation of Israel will be restored, but that does not mean that every Israelite will be saved, for that is not the case; only about one third of them will be saved in the tribulation and will enter into the millennium. Our Romans passage above shows that God still has a covenant with Israel; that even though they are enemies of the church at present, that will change; that God still has a valid covenant with Israel to restore them as a nation that believes in Jesus Christ as their Messiah; that they are enemies of the gospel presently, but that will change for a remnant of them, for they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes! Also, our verses say that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, so God will not change His plan concerning Israel’s restoration! By J. Briggs King, Rainsville, AL (678) 451-0921