The Future of Israel (Part 3)

What Are We to Make of Israel — Steve Gregg

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The Future of Israel (Part 3)

What Are We to Make of IsraelSteve Gregg

Renowned theologian Steve Gregg explores the intricate implications of certain passages in relation to the future of Israel. He examines multiple biblical verses that employ the word "until," suggesting a temporary rather than permanent curse on Jerusalem. Gregg argues that God has not forsaken the Jewish people, and their rejection of Christ has allowed Gentiles to partake in the riches of salvation. While the precise nature of Israel's future acceptance remains unclear, Gregg proposes that their beloved status with God implies a potential turning back to Him. Ultimately, he emphasizes the importance of remaining faithful and leaving the mystery of God's plan in His hands.

Transcript

Now, there's three other passages we need to talk about that all use the word until. And I'm not going to go any further than that tonight, just this far. There are three verses that say until.

Many people say this means that he's talking about something that's temporary until something else happens. Now, in Matthew 23, in verse 39, as he left the temple for the last time, Jesus said, I'll read verse 37, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. See, your house is left to you desolate.

That's the temple. It's no longer God's house. Earlier in his ministry, he said, Do not make my father's house a house of merchandise.

The temple was his father's house, not anymore. The father's disowning it. This is your house now.

Your house is left to you desolate. For you, I say to you, you shall not see me anymore until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Notice that until you say dispensation to say, well, what Jesus is saying is the Jews will not see Jesus until the time comes, which he is here predicting that they as a nation will say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord to the dispensational mind.

The time is going to come when the Jews as a whole say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord and they embrace Christ and that Jesus is referring to that time. He says, You won't see me until you say this, but he's predicting that they will. Is he? In my opinion, he's not saying that.

After all, the remnant already had said that just a few days earlier when he came in on a donkey and the palm leaves were warm. They were saying, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The very things he's saying, these Jews had not yet said, and you won't see me until you do.

Does this mean you will? Not necessarily. Just like if you say to your child, you go and stay in your room, you're not coming out until you apologize. Is that a prediction that they will apologize or a condition being stated? When and if you apologize, you can come out of your room, but you're going in there until you do.

When Jesus says, Until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, you won't see me anymore. That is to say, the condition for you to see me again is for you to say that. And every individual Jew who came around to say that saw him again.

The Jews that did not, did not. He's not saying that the whole nation will do so. He's stating a condition that they can if they say this, but until they do, they won't see him anymore.

I don't see this as a prediction like some people do. Now, there's also Luke 21, and this one is used the same way. This also has the word until in it.

In Luke 21 and verse 24, this is Jesus talking about the Romans taking the Jews away when they destroy Jerusalem. It says in verse 24, they will fall by the edge of the sword. This, the Jews will fall by the edge of the sword when the Romans break through the walls of Jerusalem.

Let's read the context. That's what he's talking about. They'll be slain by the sword.

They'll be led away captive into all nations, which they were. And Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. This is thought to mean Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles for a while, but then a time will come when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

And after that, Jerusalem won't be trodden down by the Gentiles anymore. That this treading down of Jerusalem by Gentiles is temporary just for this while until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. So they think that the word until means, but it'll change after that.

And certainly the word until can mean that. Likewise, it can mean that in Romans chapter 11, the remaining passage is in telling it talk more about the word until in a moment, but in Romans 11, very well known verse on this subject, verse 25, Paul said, do not desire brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion that hardening part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. In Luke 21, 24, he says, Jerusalem will be trodden by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Here he says, Israel's hardened until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. Both cases are generally taken to mean this is temporary. Jerusalem is being trodden by the Gentiles temporarily until something else happens.

Then that'll change. They won't be trodden anymore. Blindness in part has happened Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles, but then they won't be blinded anymore.

That's going to change. They are considered that until is speaking of a limitation on the time. How long will Israel be blinded? Partially, but only until this point, not longer.

So it's limiting the time of their blindness. Jerusalem will be trodden under foot by the Gentiles. How long? Only until the times of the Gentiles.

In other words, there's a limitation on how long this curse will be upon them. But after that, after the fullness of the Gentiles will come in, after the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, then Israel will not be blinded. Then Jerusalem will not be trodden.

Then there will be this restoration. This until in these two verses is taken that way. And you can see why it would be.

It definitely has that sound to it. But does it mean that? I'd like to point out to you in scripture, the word until doesn't always mean that. Until can mean that, but in many cases it doesn't mean that.

Let me give you several examples here. Let me read several passages and see how the word until is used in these passages. Genesis 8.5, the flood, the waters decreased continually until the 10th month.

In the 10th month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. So it took 10 months for the waters to recede to the point where they could actually see the tops of the mountains. And the waters receded until then.

And only until then? Or did the waters eventually go all the way down? Did they only recede till the tops of the mountains were seen and they didn't recede anymore? No, they receded for 10 months until the tops of the mountains were seen. They kept receding after that, but it was 10 months before that point. Clearly, it's not saying that until then and then it stopped.

The waters receded until that point, then they didn't recede anymore. Of course it kept receding, but the word until does not limit. It's inclusive, not exclusive.

It didn't stop before this point and it didn't stop at that point either. That's how the word until is used. I'll give you several more.

By the way, I had twice as many examples to give. I just, I don't have time to give it. So I just cut out about half of them.

From Genesis 26, 13, the man Isaac began to prosper and continued prospering until he became very prosperous. Okay. So he continued prospering until he became prosperous.

Did he stop prospering after that? There's no suggestion of it. It's saying he kept prospering until this point, but it doesn't say he stopped prospering after that. There's no suggestion that he stopped prospering after that.

Just because he prospered until then doesn't mean it's just, it's a marker in time, but it's not an end of the time. His prospering kept going for the rest of his life. Here's one.

God speaking to Jacob in Genesis 28, 15. God said to Jacob, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. I will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.

I will not leave you until I've fulfilled all my promises to you. So after you fill your promises, you're going to leave him then? He's not suggesting I'm only going to stay with you until I fulfill these promises. Then you're on your own.

He's saying, I won't leave you until I fulfill them. Meaning no time prior to this, do you have to ever worry that I've given up on this project? I'm going to fulfill this. I'm not going to leave you until then.

But he's not saying, but I'm going to leave you after that. Until is not a limiting factor. It's not exclusive.

It's inclusive. These untils point to a process that continues and they point to a particular goal. They do not tell us that things will change after that goal.

It's just saying that this goal is in the picture in this, in this verse. I'm telling you, this is a goal that God has and nothing's going to interrupt until then. But even then it may not change.

And one after there's so many of these, I really shouldn't take the time for them. But Matthew 24, 21, Jesus said, there should be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time. No, nor ever shall be.

Interesting when he says nothing like it until now, even after that, nor shall there ever be. So what is true until now is going to continue to be true. And on in the future, until does not mean then things change.

When Jesus said, Jerusalem will be trodden underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled. And Paul said, partial blindness of Israel happens until the fullness of the Gentiles come in. What he's saying is the reason for the blindness of Israel is so that the Gentiles will come in.

He doesn't say that once they've come in, Israel won't be blinded anymore. He doesn't, he leaves that on address. He doesn't say now some people think he does.

So let's look finally at these verses in Romans 11, Romans 11. That's where we find this statement of verse 25 until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. But before we get there, we have the earlier verses in the chapter.

We need to ask what Paul is talking about in verse one, chapter 11. He says, I say, then has God cast away his people? Certainly not. Now, dispensation, say right there, we can see that God hasn't cast off Israel because he asks, has God cast off his people? And he says, certainly not.

But wait a minute. A little later in this chapter, he's talking about the olive tree. And there are some of the people have been cast off.

There's been some branches that have been broken off. So some of them have been cast off. So what does he mean? Now, see, I'll tell you what the dispensationists read into this statement.

They read a word in there that's not there. And the word is permanently. Neither the word nor the concept are in the chapter, but they read it in there.

They have Paul, they think Paul saying, has God cast off his people permanently? Certainly not. And by implication, it is that he has cast them off for the time being, but not forever. He'll restore them in the end by adding the word permanently.

You change the whole meaning of what Paul's saying. You suddenly have Paul implying an eschatological thing in the future. But Paul says nothing in Romans 11 to imply eschatology or future.

I'll guarantee you that. What does he say? Has God cast away his people? Well, who are you calling his people? Is really the question. Because when he started this conversation in chapter nine, he said, they are not all Israel who are of Israel.

And, you know, he hasn't cast off the ones who are the real Israel. But of course he's cast off the ones that are apostate and most of them died, lost. So they were cast off, certainly.

But he goes on to explain. Certainly not. For I am also an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin.

Now, I want to ask you, why would he say that? What point is he making in answer to his question? Has God cast off his people? Paul says, certainly not. Look at me. I'm an Israelite.

I'm a seed of Abraham. I'm not cast off. What he's pointing out is not all Jews have been cast off.

He's an example of one who has not. What Paul is introducing here is his remnant theology. Has God cast off his people? Means has God cast off all Jewish people? No, not all.

I'm a Jew. I'm not cast off. He's not asking whether God has permanently cast off the Jews and will later restore them.

He's asking whether God has cast off all the Jews and there's no hope for a Jew. Because in chapters nine and ten, you could have gotten that impression. He said the Jews have have missed out.

Chapter ten, he says they've rejected the righteousness of faith and they've went to establish a righteousness of their own. They've been cast out and so forth. So are they cast away forever? Well, some of them are.

Some of them who've been cast away will never come back. That's just the facts. Lots of Jews who died in unbelief.

They didn't come back. But he's not asking about the forever part. He's not asking about permanence.

He's asking about the way things are now. At the moment, has God cast off all the Jews? No, he hasn't cast me off and I'm a Jew, he says. He says in verse two, God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew.

Now this is the second time in Romans he uses that phrase. The other time was in Romans 829. Just three chapters earlier.

Romans 829, he says, whom he foreknew. He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. And now he says God has not cast off his people whom he foreknew.

Well, who are they? Whom has he foreknown? The ones that he has predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. The Christians, of course. And he goes on saying and those he predestinated he called.

And those he called he justified. And those he justified he glorified. He's talking about the Christians.

The question is being asked, has God cast off his people? The people asking him think that the Jews as a race are his people. Paul says no, God has not cast off all the Jews as a race. In fact, he hasn't cast off any of the people that he foreknew.

He hasn't cast off any Christians. I'm a Christian. I'm a Jew.

What he's saying is there are Jewish Christians who continue to be God's people. And he goes on to explain it. For example, he gives the example of Elijah.

In verse two, he says, or do you not know that what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I alone am left and they seek my life. But what does the divine response say to him? I have reserved for myself 7000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

Paul says even so then at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. So the question is, has God cast off his people? No, there's a remnant. Are we talking about eschatology? No, at this present time, we're not talking eschatology in this chapter, we're talking about this present time.

He's not addressing eschatological questions. He's addressing God's policy toward his people. If they were among those he foreknew, if they are those who become Christians, of course, he hasn't cast them off.

There's a remnant of Jews who are in that category. Paul says, I'm one of them. Look at me.

So Paul is not asking questions about the future of Israel. He's asking about the status, the present status of Israel. He says, well, some are saved.

There is a remnant. Some clearly are not saved. Later, he gets into the olive tree picture.

And here it is in verse 16. For if the first fruit is holy, the lump is also holy. If the root is holy, so are the branches.

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 partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.

Well said. Because of unbelief, they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.

For if God did not spare the natural branches, he might not spare you either. 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.

And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into the good olive tree, how much more will these who are of the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 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, etc. That's enough to read. We had to get his flow of thought.

The olive tree. What is the olive tree? It's Israel. Paul didn't make that up.

He starts talking about the olive tree here in chapter 11, verse 16. Interestingly, in Jeremiah chapter 11, verse 16, we find Israel called the olive tree with branches broken off. Just a coincidence, I suppose, since the chapters and verses are not inspired in their enumeration.

Jeremiah 11, verse 16, the prophet says to Israel, Your name is called green olive tree, and your branches are broken off. What Jeremiah means is that Israel is the olive tree, but some of their branches have gone into captivity already. Not all of them.

The city had not fallen to Nebuchadnezzar, he had come earlier and taken some of them, like Ezekiel had been taken. And Daniel, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They went earlier than the rest, and they were some of the branches that got broken off the tree and they were carried away.

But interestingly, the picture of Israel as an olive tree with broken branches, Paul picks up. You know, the olive tree is Israel. Some of the branches have been broken off of Israel.

In this case, because of their unbelief. Unbelief in what? In Christ, certainly. The Jews who did not believe in Christ, they had been cut off of Israel, they're not part of Israel anymore.

The branches are broken off the tree. They may be Jewish, but they are not Israel. Remember, Paul said at the beginning, they are not all Israel who are of Israel.

He now explains what he means. Not all the Jews who are of Jacob, of Israel, not all of them are on that tree of Israel. Israel is the promised group.

And only the believing Jews are still there. The unbelieving ones have been broken off. So Israel, the olive tree has been trimmed back to only the faithful remnant.

The faithful remnant are the branches that remain after the unfaithful have been broken off. Then Paul says Gentiles who are from a wild olive tree, they've been grafted into the Israel tree. Now the tree now has branches that are Jewish and branches that are Gentiles.

But what do they have in common? They have faith in the Messiah. He says, you stand by faith. They were broken off because of unbelief.

You stand by faith. Believing in Christ is what makes you part of Israel. The tree is Israel.

Why do people call this replacement theology? Well, they say, well, you're saying the church replaced Israel. No, no, the church didn't replace Israel. Believing branches from the Gentiles have replaced unbelieving branches that were Jewish, but they haven't, the tree hasn't been replaced.

Israel is the same Israel. It's the same tree. It's just that some branch, it's been pruned and it's the same tree.

It's still Israel. It's just the constituency includes more Gentiles now than they did in the old Testament. There were some Gentiles in Israel in the old Testament too, proselytes.

Now there's even more Gentiles in Israel, but the tree is Israel. And what is it? Jews who believe, Gentiles who believe in one organism. We call it also the body of Christ or the true vine and the branches that are in the vine.

This is Christ, his corporate body, his corporate self. He's the Israel of God. He's the true seed of Abraham.

So we now have Israel defined. Having talked about that, he says, now you who believe you could be cut off too if you don't continue to believe. And they, if they stop being unbelievers, they can be grafted back in.

In other words, the only thing that makes you part of this tree is believing. If you stop believing like they did, you're out. If they stop unbelieving, they can come back in.

God can save Jews. He can graft them back into their own tree. If he grafted you in off from a wild tree, he can certainly graft them back in if they don't remain in unbelief, he says.

So this is not about eschatology, of course. It's about how God is saving all Israel. Because the old Testament predicted that God would save Israel.

In the old Testament, they thought it meant save them from foreign nations, save them from exile, save them and bring them back into the good land again. But God's saving them in a different sense than that. He's saving them from their sins.

He's saving them from their, you know, their lost condition. And it's not that they're lost in Gentile lands. They're lost in the devil's land, and they need to be rescued and translated out of the power of darkness into the kingdom of God's Son.

And so this is how he's doing it. And so he summarizes in verse 25, in the middle of that verse, he says, well, he says, I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery. What is the mystery, by the way, in Paul's writings? Paul talks about the mystery quite a bit.

Do you know what it is? That Jews and Gentiles would be made one body in Christ. In Colossians and Ephesians, he explains it. That's the mystery.

The mystery is that Jews and Gentiles would be one body in Christ. He says, I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery. I'm talking about the body of Christ here.

Israel is the body of Christ. It is believing Jews and believing Gentiles in one olive tree, the new Israel. It's the old Israel.

It's just changed constituents, changed branches, some of them. Not all of them. Some continue to be there.

Others are added. But he says, I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion that hardening in part has happened to Israel. Now, again, the dispensationist reads this to mean temporary hardening has happened to Israel.

Why? Because the next word is until. And they assume the word until means this is going to change sometime. What I've tried to point out is it doesn't necessarily mean that.

It can. If I say, you know, I'm going to stay up until nine o'clock, what I mean is I'm going to go to bed at nine. So something's going to change at nine o'clock.

But if God says, I will not leave you until I fulfilled all my promises to you, he doesn't mean he's going to leave you after that. The word until doesn't necessarily mean that it can. But the point here is they assume that the word until must mean that after the until thing, it's going to turn around and be different.

He doesn't say it will. He does not say temporary hardening has happened to Israel. It says hardening in part.

What does that mean? Hardening in part. Well, he's already told us earlier in the chapter in verse seven. Chapter 11, verse seven says, What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it.

That is the remnant, the faithful remnant of Israel obtained it and the rest were hardened. Hardening in part means that of the ethnic Israel, part of them are hardened. The other part are not.

The remnant have obtained it. The rest are hardened. So a partial hardening has happened to the Jewish race.

Not temporary, because certainly those that didn't obtain it, many of them died in their sins. You know, he's talking about his own generation. The remnant of Israel has been saved.

He's talking about contemporary in his own time. The rest have not been saved because they were hardened. And all those people are dead now.

Some of them might have become grafted back in before they died, but probably most of them didn't. He's not talking about temporary hardening. He's talking about a hardening that did not affect the entire nation.

The remnant were exempt from that. It's only a partial hardening until or while the Gentiles are coming in. Now, he could say, but after the Gentiles come in, then Israel will no longer be hardened.

But he doesn't say that. He says, and so all Israel will be saved. Dispensations think he said, and then all Israel will be saved.

He doesn't say then. He says thus, in this way. The word in the Greek means in this way.

So. Now you see, they want to stick in the word temporary where it doesn't exist. They want to stick in the word then where it doesn't exist because they want it to be a sequence in eschatology.

God has temporarily hardened Israel until this point when the Gentiles come in, and then he's going to save Israel. That's how you always hear it taught. But he doesn't say any of that.

He doesn't say it's a temporary hardening. He says it's a partial hardening. Part of the nation's hardened, parts not.

He doesn't say then Israel will be saved. He said in this way, all Israel, the Jewish and the Gentile branches, all that is olive tree, which includes Jews and Gentiles, but not all Jews or all Gentiles. Certainly all Israel is the believing ones who make up that olive tree.

And he's saying, this is how God is saving Israel. The Old Testament said Israel would be saved. Here's how he's doing it by taking the faithful remnant of Israel who are attached to the tree of Israel and adding believing Gentiles in.

So you've got this all, all Israel, the Jewish and the Gentile branches in Israel are all being saved in this way. All Israel is being saved. Is that going to change? Maybe, but he doesn't say so.

He doesn't say it will. Now there's two verses. I just want to give you two verses that are very similar to each other that people have misunderstood, in my opinion.

One's in verse 12 of this chapter. Now, if their fall is the richest for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. Now notice here about Israel's fall.

Israel's rejection of Christ has been the richest of the Gentiles. How much more their fullness? I just thought this is predicting a time will come when Israel will no longer be fallen, but they'll come in fully. Likewise, verse 15 says, if they're being cast away is the reconciliation of the world.

What will their acceptance be? But life from the dead, that is Israel. If Israel's being cast away has been the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be? What will their fullness be? You see, many think that this is saying Israel has temporarily fallen away, but the time will come when they're accepted again. And how will that be? How great will that be? You know, but before we assume that's what he means, we might ask if he says that.

The point here is that Paul has never at any point in any of his writings prior to these verses or afterward said that he expects all the Jews to come back to Christ. He has not said it in any of his epistles. It's not found in the Gospels.

If he's assuming it to be true, it's coming right out of left field here. What will their acceptance be like? As if we all know their acceptance is coming. Let me let me see this.

Let me suggest a possible other way to see these verses. In verse 12, if there that is Israel's fall is richest for the world and there that is Israel's failures richest to the Gentiles, how much more there that is the Gentiles fullness. The last there comes after the word Gentiles.

The reference to the Gentiles may have shifted the sentence subject to the Gentiles. And why would I think that's possible? Well, for one thing, a few verses later we saw he speaks of the fullness of the Gentiles. In no passages Paul ever talked about the fullness of the Jews, but he does in the same chapter speak of the fullness of the Gentiles.

Hardening parts of heaven and earth to the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. So when he says their their fall has been beneficial to the Gentiles, how much more will there that is the fullness of the Gentiles be? If God can get so much out of someone not believing him, how much more will he be able to make out of the Gentiles coming in? And likewise the world in verse 15, if they're being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will there that is the world's acceptance be but life from the dead? The subject changes perhaps in the middle of the sentence as a new subject is introduced Gentiles in verse 12 and the world in verse 15. That is one way that I think is probably his meaning.

But in case someone says no, I still think he's talking about the Jews fullness and the Jews acceptance. Let's say, okay, let's say you're right about that. Let me suggest this.

Suppose it is talking about the Jews. Suppose I said, if the Jews being fallen away has been exploited so much by God, what will it be like if, you know, if they come to Christ? It's not making a prediction. It's just saying, well, Jews coming to Christ will be much more advantageous than than than rejecting Christ.

And he's even made advantage out of that. How much more when they, when and if they come to Christ, he doesn't predict it. He's just saying, by the way, some Jews do come to Christ.

And if God has made such good use of their rejecting us, think of the juice he can make of them coming to him, of their accepting him. It can be used that way. It can speak of the Jews because Jews do come to Christ.

They've been doing it for 2000 years and they probably still will until the fullness of the Gentiles become in because it's only a partial hardening of Israel. Some are in the remnant and they come into the church. There are Jews in the church to this day.

So there is their acceptance. He's not saying the whole nation is going to accept God. And in my opinion, he's not even talking about the Jews except I think he's after the world's and the Gentiles acceptance.

But that's not the most important thing to solve. The real question solve is do either of these verses actually predict that the Jews will all turn to God someday? Not in any unambiguous terms. I can certainly see a couple of different ways to see those verses that don't make it say that.

Maybe maybe saying that would be a third way of looking at it. But there's no need for us to necessarily choose the third way. And that's we have good reason otherwise from scripture.

I don't believe that we have a prediction here of the restoration of Israel in Romans 11. There is one other verse in Romans 11 that is often used and it's verse 28 concerning the gospel. They are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.

In other words, it's some people say, well, this means the Jews are enemies of ours, but God still loves them because of their fathers. They still owe something to their fathers because of the covenant made with them. So the Jews are still beloved, especially beloved by God.

But Paul everywhere else says there's no distinction with God between Jew and Gentile. There's no partiality with God. Paul says it again and again.

But now is he saying the opposite? No, they're especially loved more than Gentiles because of their fathers. Or is he saying that? Many translations mess this up by paraphrasing it. What Paul says is concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election, many translations have removed the words the election and said something like God's choice or something like that and remove the fact that God Paul says the election.

This is the same word he used in verse seven, which we saw a moment ago in verse seven of chapter 11. He says, what then Israel has not obtained what seeks, but the election is what it says in the Greek. Same, same word.

The election have obtained it. Who's the election then? The remnant, the faithful remnant are the ones Paul's calling the election. And so when he says in verse 28, concern the gospel, they, that is the hostile Jews are enemies, but concern the election, the remnant, they are beloved for the father's sake.

You see these verses, you can kind of make them feel like they're saying what dispensations say, but you have to add words and concepts that aren't really there. Every verse that is used that way, often in the same chapter as another verse that uses the same phrase that explains it differently than what the dispensation is the same. And so Romans 11 is the major new Testament passage for dispensations about the future of the Jews.

My suggestion is it doesn't say anything distinctly or clearly about a future for the Jews. Paul might have in mind that there will be a future for the Jews, but he doesn't say so in any way that would have to be drawn from these verses. If there is a future for the Jews, God hasn't said.

In fact, in Deuteronomy chapter 29, the chapter talks about all the curses that will come on Israel if they violate God's covenant. He talks about how hard he'll be on them, how they'll drive them out of the land and they'll be driven among the nations. And in the last verse, he says, this is Deuteronomy 29, the secret things belong to the Lord.

But those that he's revealed are for us and our children. We might learn to do all the words of this law. Now what's interesting is he's talking about all the, how he's going to reject them and drive them out and so forth.

And then of course the question is, is that the end? Is there anything more? And it ends with these words, the secret things belong to the Lord. The things he's revealed are for us to know. He hasn't revealed to us whether Israel as a nation will ever come back to him.

He leaves the narrative with what he's going to do to them if they're disobedient. But he's made it clear also in chapter 30, verses one through three, that if they come back to him, he'll take them back. But between that, there's this statement, a strange place to put it, the secret things belong to the Lord.

Why is that there? Because there's a secret that God hasn't revealed. What he has revealed is for us to know how to obey him. What he hasn't revealed is the end.

It's not for you to know the times or the seasons that the father has set in his own power. It's not for us to know those things. God may have something really interesting up his sleeve.

I don't know. But he hasn't told us. What he has told us is not what the future holds, but what the present responsibilities are to follow Jesus Christ.

Blessed is that servant who when his master comes will find him so doing, Jesus said. We have responsibilities. The things God has revealed are for us that we might do all the words of this law, but he hasn't revealed everything.

The secret things are still for him to know and not for us. So is there a future for Israel? God knows. He hasn't told us.