“All Israel Will Be Saved” (Romans 11:25–32)

“All Israel Will Be Saved” (Romans 11:25–32)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday AM, September 30, 2018

Romans 11:25–32 (NIV)
     ²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, ²⁶ and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:
     “The deliverer will come from Zion;
          he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
     ²⁷ And this is my covenant with them
          when I take away their sins.” 
     ²⁸ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹ for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. ³² For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.

1. Israel’s current hardening is partial and temporary (v. 25).

a. It is partial because there is a remnant that is being saved in the present time.
b. It is temporary because God is currently demonstrating his mercy to the Gentiles. But this temporary hardening will give way to a great salvation among the Jewish people.

2. Israel’s future salvation is promised and guaranteed by God’s mysterious grace (v. 26a).

a. Future—“will be”—after the full number of Gentiles (elect) have come in.
b. Full—“all”—all Israel will be saved.

i. As in the present time, not all Gentiles are believing in Jesus, but there is a fullness of Gentiles that is being drawn to Christ in salvation.
ii. So also, in the future, this promise is not necessarily a guarantee that every single ethnic descendant of Abraham (or of Jacob) will be saved.
iii. This is a promise that a great number, a vast majority, of Israelites will at some point in the future receive a softening and drawing that will result in their salvation.

c. Faith—the Gospel demands that this future salvation of Israel cannot happen apart from faith in Christ.

3. This future salvation of Israel is confirmed by OT Scripture.

a. As it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. (Rom. 11:26 NIV)

i. Isa 59:20 "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," declares the LORD.
ii. Isa 45:17 But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will never be put to shame or disgraced, to ages everlasting.

b. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." (Rom. 11:27 NIV)

i. Isa 59:21 "As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the LORD.
ii. Isa 27:9 By this, then, will Jacob's guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones to be like limestone crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.
iii. Jer. 31:31–34 ³¹"The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. ³² It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, " declares the LORD. ³³ "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. ³⁴ No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

4. This future salvation of Israel is rooted in God’s unswerving faithfulness to his promise and his election (vv. 28–29).

5. The future salvation of Israel manifests God’s impartiality to all people, as the capstone of the drama of salvation history (vv. 30–32).

6. The revelation of this profound theological mystery has a specific purpose: to promote humility among the Gentile believers and remind them that they stand only by grace.