In this article we consider ‘the signs’ by looking at the issue of the restoration of Israel – is God finished with the Jews?

Although it is almost seventy years since the Second World War drew to a close it is very striking to note the amount of literature that is still being produced relating to the events of those six terrible years. This is clearly seen in relation to the ongoing interest in the events of the Holocaust. It doesn’t make for good reading – the brutal annihilation of some six million Jews in Nazi concentration camps. One cannot help asking the question why? Why did Hitler have such a hatred for the Jews? Why, throughout the centuries, have the Jewish people so often been persecuted? How have they managed to survive as a people? Has God particularly preserved them as a people? Is God finished with the Jews or is there a glorious future for them?

The Bible’s teaching on this vital subject is found principally in Romans chapters nine to eleven. Here Paul is arguing that although the Jews have rejected Christ and are essentially unbelieving today yet there will be a significant turning among them spiritually just prior to the return of Christ.

Paul’s optimism concerning his own people is summed up in Romans 11:1

I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not!

As we consider the future of the Jews in relation to the return of Christ, and seek to unpack Paul’s teaching in these chapters, we want to do so by asking four significant questions.

1. What is the Present Spiritual State of the Jewish People?⤒🔗

Sadly the vast majority of the Jews today have no interest in the Gospel and are clearly hardened as far as spiritual things are concerned. Now that is not to say that there are no conversions among Jewish people at the present time. Indeed the Christian Focus publication ‘The Unusual Suspects’¹ makes for encouraging reading as different men and women converted from Judaism share their testimonies. However the vast majority of Jewish men and women are unbelieving. Paul details this for us in Romans 11. In verse 12 he speaks about their ‘fall’ whilst in verse 15 he speaks about them being ‘cast away’. In verse 17 he introduces us to the illustration and the imagery of the olive tree. The olive tree represents the people of God. The cultivated branches are the Jews whilst the Gentiles are represented as branches of a wild olive tree that have been grafted in. We need to notice that some of these natural branches have been ‘broken off’ (verses 17 & 19). The current unbelief of the Jews is represented by the natural branches that ‘God did not spare’ (verse 21).

2. Will the Jews remain in this Poor State Spiritually until Chris returns?←⤒🔗

Paul asserts in Roman 11:23-26 that once the fullness of the Gentiles is gathered in there will be a movement spiritually among the Jews. His use of the term ‘Israel’ has generated considerable discussion among Bible scholars over the years. It seems clear, however, that Paul is referring to his own people, the Jews. Everywhere else in Romans 9 to 11 where Paul uses this expression it is used in reference to his brethren, his countrymen ‘according to the flesh’. There is no good reason for suggesting that here in Romans 11: 23 to 26 he is now using Israel to refer to the Israel of God – all the elect from among both the Jews and the Gentiles. No, Paul is declaring that the natural branches – the Jews – will be grafted in (verse 24). When will this happen? Verses 25 and 26a provide the answer:

...blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved.

Once the elect among the Gentiles have been gathered in then God will be pleased to work mightily among the Jews so that ‘all Israel will be saved’. It is wrong to suggest that this means that every single living Jews is going to be saved when God begins to work among them. We use the word ‘all’ in various ways. When President Clinton came to Belfast the papers declared that ‘all of Belfast went out to see him’. Of course every last citizen of the city didn’t go out to view the president. There were those who stayed indoors, but, ‘all’ could legitimately be used in the sense that the vast majority of people, a huge proportion of the population, were involved in presidential sightseeing. So, when God begins to work among the Jews, having gathered in his people from among the Gentiles, the vast majority of the Jewish people alive on the face of the earth at that time will be gathered in to the kingdom of God.

Some within the Christian church seem to feel that this salvation of the Jews is going to be different from the salvation of the Gentiles. Nowhere does the Bible support such a view. The Jews will be saved by looking unto Jesus Christ in faith. There is no distinction to be made between the way in which a Jew or a Gentile is converted to Christ.

3. Where does the Present State of Israel fit in to all of this?←⤒🔗

Most Christians with reformed convictions are agreed that the formation of the present state of Israel is not to be understood as the fulfilment of various prophecies that were made in Ezekiel and Zechariah and elsewhere in the Old Testament scriptures ­prophecies that speak about the children of Israel returning to their homeland eg Ezekiel 37:21. If space permitted we could pursue this theme and demonstrate that these prophecies found their fulfilment in the restoration of Israel after the Babylonian captivity. Does this mean, however, that we are to see no significance in the establishment and growth of the present state of Israel? R C Sproul in an interesting footnote in his commentary on Romans 11 says:

I don’t know what the significance of it (the establishment of Israel) is. But I will tell you this: we should be watching very carefully. It is a remarkable event in history that the city of Jerusalem is now back in Jewish hands, under Jewish control.

Surely we can say that in the general providence of God there is some significance in what is happening in Israel today in the sense that the Jews have been able to gather there in significant numbers. If the Lord is going to work mightily in salvation among the Jews just prior to the return of Christ could we suggest that their gathering together in one geographical location is in a sense a preparation for the day when the fullness of the Gentiles will be gathered in and all Israel will be saved?

4. How should we respond to Romans 9 to 10?←⤒🔗

Undoubtedly we are to have a burden for the salvation of the Jews. We are not only to be concerned for the future salvation of the Jews but their present rejection of the Messiah should trouble us greatly. We must be careful to have a concern for the Jewish people whether found within the state of Israel or scattered to the ends of the earth. We must support Christian Witness to Israel and similar evangelical agencies which are working among Jewish people. We must increase our praying for the salvation of Israel ever remembering Paul’s great exclamation:

‘Has God cast away His people? Certainly not!’ (Romans 11:1)