Israel is Temporarily Blinded: Page 65

Israel is Temporarily Blinded (Romans 11:25)
 

2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward (Ephesians 3:2). ???
 

Now we will take a look at the new Apostle Paul’s explanation for the delay in Israel’s prophesied Tribulation and Millennial Kingdom. 

 

God had declared a new form of judgment, a temporary interruption of or the setting aside of their program because of their unbelief (Romans 11:20), and initiating the present day BUT NOW Dispensation of Grace. 

 

Romans 9, 10, and 11 are the Apostle Paul’s study on the breaking off of Israel’s unbelieving branches and the grafting in of a wild olive tree, the Gentiles, to provoke the Nation of Israel to jealousy.
 

7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded 

 

8 (According as it written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. 

 

9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a re-compence unto them: 

 

10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back always 

 

11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 

 

12 Now if the fall of them (Israel) be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? 

 

13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 

 

14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh (the Jews), and might save some of them. 

 

15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? 

 

25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 

 

26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 

 

27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 

 

28 As concerning the Gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. 

 

29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 

 

30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief (Romans 11:7-15, 25-30).
 

In the final analysis, we learn that the Nation of Israel was spiritually blinded and that God TEMPORARILY set aside Israel’s prophetic program until the fullness of the Gentiles is come in. 

 

At a later time, God would remain faithful to keep His promised Abrahamic Covenant, Davidic Covenant, and New Covenant with the Nation of Israel (Romans 11:15, 24). 

 

At that appointed time, after the Great Tribulation, the Lord would return, establish the New Covenant, set up the prophesied kingdom that had been prepared for the Nation of Israel from the foundation of the earth (Matthew 25:34), forgive their sins, pour out His Spirit upon them (Joel 2:29; Acts 2:17), shower them with blessings (Ezekiel 34:26) and write the laws in their hearts. 

 

They would be His people and He would be their God. 

 

They would all know God. During the Millennium, the Kingdom Church will be a Nation of Priests and be given the ministry to reconcile all man on earth to God, and play an important part in restoring peace and order on earth.
 

 31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 

 

32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 

 

33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 

 

34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

With Israel’s prophetic program on hold, and God’s wrath withheld, the members of the Kingdom Church would look to their leaders and Paul’s writings for understanding. 

 

We find that shortly after the stoning of Stephen, while Paul was in Arabia (Galatians 1:17), he received his first three years of revelation from the risen Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

He was given the new Gospel of Grace according to the revelation of the mystery that was for all people. 

 

Paul made two specific trips up to Jerusalem to privately share what God had revealed to him. 

 

Paul first met privately with Peter, abiding with him for fifteen days, then with James, the brother of Jesus (Galatians 1:16-19). 

 

After fourteen years Paul met with Peter, James, and John to explain further his revelation from the risen Christ and his ministry with the Gentiles (Galatians 2:1, 9). 

 

This was a confusing time for the Kingdom Saints, who did gain some insight from the study of Paul’s epistles which some believers found hard to understand. 

 

Peter understood that his merciful Lord was longsuffering and was delaying His wrath toward Israel so that salvation could be offered to both Jew and Gentile by grace for a season. 

 

He encouraged the Kingdom Saints to remain faithful to their doctrine because he knew and taught his kinsman that their prophesied program would be resumed at any time.
 

15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 

 

16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 

 

17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness (II Peter 3:15-17).
 

9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (II Peter 3:9).
 

Paul clarifies with Timothy, his son in the faith, that this BUT NOW Dispensation of Grace was planned by and was an eternal purpose of God. 

 

11According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Ephesians 3:11) 

 

8b Be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel according to the power of God; 

 

9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began (II Timothy 1:8b-9). 

 

4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love (Ephesians 1:4). 

 

In contrast, we see the Kingdom program was established since and from the foundation of the earth. 

 

21 Whom (Jesus) the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3:21). 

 

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).
 

Consider what God the Holy Spirit had revealed to these three writers a few years after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

Grace would be extended to all and it still continues to be offered to all. 

 

And all people continue to be given free will to decide to or not to choose God, His family. 

 

And then reflect on the heart of Jesus Christ a few years earlier during his earthly ministry.
 

37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not (Matthew 23:37).