Chapter 7 – God’s Purpose for Israel, Part 2

All Israel will be Saved

God’s purpose has always been to save all Israel.

Romans 11:25-27
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” 

Please note that Apostle Paul urges believers not to be ignorant of the mystery that God has blinded a part (most) of Israel to the Gospel until the full number of His Gentile Elect has been saved. Israel’s blindness will be lifted after their Deliverer (Jesus Christ) returns to earth and ultimately, all Israel will be saved. God’s purpose is to save all Israel, even though He has blinded the majority of His people to this day and given them unbelieving hardened hearts.

Let us consider in detail the reasons why God has blinded the majority of His chosen people, and how and when God will save all Israel? Yes, all Israel, past, present and future, without a single exception.

Apostle Paul was an Israelite from the tribe of Benjamin. He had great sorrow and continual grief in his heart because he knew that the vast majority of his fellow Israelites had been cut off from the blessing (salvation), which God promised to Abraham. However, he understood that this cutting off was only temporary, and not permanent.

Romans 9:1-4
1 I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, 4 who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises.

Paul says that he would have been willing to swap places with his fellow Israelites and be cut off from Christ if it meant that they would accept Jesus as their Saviour in this life, before they die. Paul was willing to be accursed from Christ for the sake of his fellow Israelites.

The curse Paul was talking about was the Abrahamic curse of unbelief, ‘I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you’ (Genesis 12:3). This is the curse of unbelief in the Abrahamic Covenant, which is the very Gospel of the Seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ Himself.

Paul wanted his fellow countrymen to be saved before their death so that they would not remain under God’s Abrahamic curse of unbelief. The curse of unbelief means that unbelieving Jews will miss out on the glorious Millennial Kingdom at the return of Jesus Christ and it also means that they will have to face God’s refining judgement in the Lake of Fire when they rise in the Second Resurrection.

Just think about it. If the doctrine of hell were true, which of course it isn’t, and all Israelites who die as unbelievers ended up in a hell of never-ending torment, it would have been absolutely absurd for Paul to have wanted to swap places with them. It simply does not make sense for anyone to believe that Paul would have been willing to be separated from Christ forever, in a so-called hell, in order to save his fellow countrymen.

The truth of the Bible is that Paul believed that ultimately, in God’s time and order, absolutely all Israel will be saved. This is what Paul says emphatically in Romans 11:26, quoted at the start of this chapter. However, Paul felt deep sorrow that his unbelieving fellow Israelites will miss out on the Abrahamic blessing of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom and that they will have to endure God’s future refining judgement in the Lake of Fire.

Paul continues his case for unbelieving Jews in Romans Chapter 11. He says emphatically that God has not cast away His people, the Jews, whom He foreknew.

Romans 11:1-2
1 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. 

Paul understood that it has never been God’s purpose to save all Israel before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, but only a remnant few. This remnant is God’s Elect, according to the election of grace, and the rest of Israel is blinded in unbelief. However, God has not cast away His unbelieving people forever, for them to end up in a so-called hell of eternal torture.

Romans 11:5-7
5 Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. 7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks;but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 

Have the unbelieving Jews stumbled so that they are fallen and lost forever? Apostle Paul’s answer is an emphatic no.

Romans 11:11
I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 

So, why to this very day has God blinded the vast majority of His chosen people to the real truth of the Abrahamic Covenant, which is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ? Paul gives the answer in this same verse, Romans 11:11. Many unbelieving Jews, especially Orthodox Jews, think that God has rejected the Gentiles, and that they are an unholy people. Unbelieving Jews will be provoked to jealousy when they come to realise that their God has chosen a number of Gentiles before them, and in favour of them. This jealousy is a holy jealousy, which will cause unbelieving Jews to want salvation like the Gentile Elect.

Romans 11:12
Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles,how much more their fullness! 

The amazing thing about the plan of God is that God will bless the whole world through unbelieving Jews when He removes their blindness in the future, during the Millennial Kingdom, and reveals to them the true Gospel of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, Yeshua Elohim, their Messiah.

Paul says that if the failure of the Jews to believe in this life means riches for the Gentiles, then how much more blessing will come to the world when unbelieving Jews come to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord? This will happen in Christ’s Millennial Kingdom when all unbelieving Jews who survive the Great Tribulation and their descendants will be saved, and Israel will be a nation of great blessing to the whole earth, both physically and spiritually, as promised in the Abrahamic Covenant. God will enter into a New Covenant with Israel in Christ’s Millennial Kingdom, which is the working out of the Abrahamic Covenant.

Romans 11:15
For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead. 

This verse confirms three important truths. Firstly, we see that the casting away of the Jews is only for a temporary period because in this very same verse we see that ‘their acceptance’ will happen. Secondly, we see that God is using the casting away of the unbelieving Jews to reconcile the world, meaning the non-Jews, the Gentiles. Thirdly, we see that when the cast away unbelieving Jews come to accept their Saviour, they will have ‘life from the dead’, meaning new life in Jesus Christ.

Romans 11:16-18
16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 

Paul continues his case for unbelieving Jews. Even though they are broken off branches, they are only temporarily broken off parts of the olive tree, which is holy to God. Paul warns Gentile Christians not to boast against Jewish unbelievers who have been temporarily sacrificed so that Gentile believers can be grafted into the Jewish Holy Olive Tree. Gentile believers must never forget that they receive their support from the root who is a Jew, Yeshua Elohim, the Seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ.

Romans 11:22-24
22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these,who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 

In verse 22 above, Apostle Paul asks us to consider the goodness and severity of God. This verse has been greatly misapplied and misunderstood by those who preach hell. They misinterpret this verse to mean that God is both good and severe, good to Gentile believers who are saved, but severe to unbelieving Jews who are judged to go to hell. However, those who preach hell ignore the next two verses, verses 23 and 24, which prove that the cutting off of the branches is only temporary and that God will indeed graft all unbelieving Jews back into their own Holy Olive Tree.

Romans 11:25
For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.  

Please note that God has blinded a part, the majority of Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. The fullness of the Gentiles refers to the complete number of God’s Gentile Elect who, together with the Jewish remnant Elect, form the 144,000 Firstfruits, the Bride of Christ. This means that in God’s Plan of salvation for all Israel, the Gentile Elect will be saved first during this life, before all of the Israelites who die as unbelievers (the broken off branches of the Holy Olive Tree).

Romans 11:26-27
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; 27 For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” 

Paul has been powerfully developing his case for all unbelieving Jews right from the beginning of Romans 11 and now, he makes a crystal-clear unambiguous statement that all Israel will be saved.

As verse 26 above says, the Deliverer, who is their Messiah Yeshua Elohim, Jesus Christ, will come out of Zion. This will happen at Jesus’s Second Coming when He will start the glorious Millennial Kingdom, ruling and reigning from Jerusalem. Jesus will then take away all ungodliness and sins from Jacob (Israel) during His Millennial rule on earth.

Please notice that Jesus Christ returns to earth to fulfil God’s Covenant with Israel, which is the Abrahamic Covenant whereby all Israel will be blessed with salvation. ‘All Israel’ means all Israel, without a single exception. Why don’t we take the Word of God at its face value and believe what God says that ‘all Israel’ truly means all Israel will be saved?

Romans 11:28-32
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.

These are the beautiful words of God, spoken through Apostle Paul, which confirm that none of the unbelieving Jews are cut off, fallen and lost forever. Unbelieving Jews have been sacrificed, only temporarily, for the sake of the Gentile Elect. However, notice verse 28 above says that unbelieving Jews have remained beloved for the sake of the fathers, meaning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to whom God made the unconditional promise of the Abrahamic Covenant. God has purposed that through His mercy shown to the Gentile Elect believers, all unbelieving Jews will also obtain mercy. God has committed all unbelieving Jews to disobedience so that He might have mercy on them all, as clearly stated in verse 32 above.

God first saves His Elect few in this life before they die, through the gift of God-given faith. These Elect few are the Bride of Christ, the 144,000 Firstfruits, from both the nation of Israel and the Gentile nations. In the Bible, they are also referred to as the Spiritual Jews and the Spiritual Israel of God (Romans 2:29, Galatians 6:15-16). They will rise in their saved, immortal, glorified bodies as the Firstfruits in the First Resurrection when Christ returns at the end of this age.

At Christ’s return, all of the unbelieving Jews who survive the Great Tribulation will enter Christ’s Millennial Kingdom on this earth in their mortal fleshly bodies. It is during Christ’s Millennial Kingdom that all of these surviving Israelites and their descendants will be saved, and later they will be resurrected in their saved immortal bodies in the Second Resurrection, which occurs at the end of the Millennial Age.

But how will God save the rest of the Israelites who die as unbelievers before Christ’s return? Romans 11:32 above says that God will have mercy on all of them. So, let us now go on to see when and how God will have mercy on all of them. We will see that God has not condemned them to the unbiblical hell of Traditional Christianity.

Ezekiel 37 is a prophecy that powerfully describes the resurrection and salvation of ‘the whole house of Israel’, which includes both believing and unbelieving Israelites.

Ezekiel 37:11-14
11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel’. 13 Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.

Israel’s hope is not lost. As this scripture says in verses 11 and 12 above, all Israelites, who are cut off (the cut off branches from the Holy Olive Tree) and think that their hope is lost, will be resurrected from their graves. This will be in the Second Resurrection when all ‘cut off’ unbelieving Israelites, who die before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, together with all believing Israelites, who will have lived in Christ’s Millennial Kingdom, will be resurrected and gathered together in their own land of Israel, as promised by God in this Ezekiel prophecy.

Please note, in verse 13 above, God says to His people Israel, “Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves”. This is wonderful. Here, the prophet Ezekiel agrees with Apostle Paul by confirming that all Israel will come to know their Lord, hence all Israel will be saved.

This wonderful Ezekiel prophecy about the salvation of the whole house of Israel will be completely fulfilled during God’s refining, yet merciful, Great White Throne Judgement Age. This is the time when all resurrected unbelievers, both Jews and Gentiles, will come to know their Saviour as we explain in detail in Chapter 12, The Great White Throne Judgement Age – Part 1.

Acts 5:31
Him (Jesus) God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

Jesus Christ, Yeshua Elohim, is indeed the Prince and Saviour of Israel, and ultimately, in God’s time and His order, all Israel will be given the gift of repentance and faith to believe in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, their Messiah, for the forgiveness of their sins.

Isaiah 45:17, 25
17 But Israel shall be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation; You shall not be ashamed or disgraced forever and ever. 
 
25 In the Lord all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory. 

Can we believe the Bible? God says that all the descendants of Israel past, present and future will be justified (saved), and none of them will be ashamed or disgraced forever.

Scripture clearly says that God will save all Israel, without a single exception. This is not only Good News for all Jews, but it is also Good News for all Gentiles.

In the previous chapter, Chapter 6, we showed from Scripture that the salvation of all Jews, together with all Gentiles, is an integral part of the Abrahamic Covenant. It is God’s unconditional Gospel promise to Abraham to save not only all Israel, but also all Gentiles through the Seed of Abraham, God’s only begotten Son Jesus Christ, Yeshua Elohim.

Let us rejoice in the truth that Adam and Eve and all of their descendants, every Jew and every Gentile, will be saved in God’s time and order. Let us praise God for the wonderful truth that He is the loving and merciful Saviour of all people, and reject any unbiblical false teaching, which makes God out to be a murdering annihilator or a horrific torturer of most of humanity in hell.

Next – Chapter 8, The True Gospel of Jesus Christ

Home