| Romans 11:25-27 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, and in this wayall Israel will be saved. As it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this ismy covenant with them when I take away their sins. This passage is very hard to construe. First, what is the number for the Gentiles? Someone might point out that God has a quota for the Gentiles to be saved. In fact the Bible never reveals such a number. There has been a suggestion that number of 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 7 actually grows with the increase of saved, and no one would claim that God only limits the saved to only 144,000. Most numbers in the Bible are symbolic with their spiritual meanings. The number of the Gentiles referred to here may just be symbolic and refer to the moment when God shuts the door of grace to the Gentiles. Secondly, it says here that all Israel will be saved. Does it mean that someone will be saved as long as he is one of the Israelites. Certainly not, for the Biblical teaching never says this is God's principle, and He will never violate His own principle. The whole Bible emphasized on "being justified by faith", and the Old Testament is no exception, because regardless who he is, at anytime if someone wants to have God's favor, he has to do it by his true faith. "All Israel" here is not supposed to be Israelites by birth, but "God's chosen people". Nevertheless, what Paul tried to emphasize was that a savior must come to remove all the sins from us. This savior Christ came to the world to save the sinners, regardless whether they are the Gentiles or the Greek. If one wants to receive the salvation, he must do so by faith. If one is not willing to receive the grace of the Lord, then the grace will not be able to come to him. Are you still excluded from the grace? You need to receive the salvation of Jesus Christ by faith. On the other hand, we also need to preach more of the gospel before the door of gospel is shut, so that the will of the Lord can be fulfilled. Pray with Pastor Tong Liu 
Lord, we thank for the salvation you have prepared for us, so that we can be saved by it regardless whether we are the Gentiles or the Israelites. May the Spirit lead us so that we can participate in fulfilling your will of preaching the gospel. May you also turn us into your vessels and use us. We thank you and we pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen! |
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