Will All Israel Be Saved?

"Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved." Rom. 10:1

The apostle Paul had a passion for his people, the people of Israel. He was so concerned for the Jewish people that just like Moses was prepared to die for his people (see Exodus 32:32), so Paul writes,

"I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel." Rom. 9:2-4

Paul carried the Father's passion to see man reconciled to God. It was the love of Christ that compelled Paul to reach those separated from God and mobilise a people who would do the same (see 2 Cor. 5:11-21).

All through the history of mankind, God has revealed His passion for His creation and His desire to walk in fellowship with what He makes. God chose the people of Israel to be His people. A people devoted to God who demonstrate their love for the Lord by being a seperate people, (not worshipping idols, not intermarrying other nations, not following the customs of other nations etc). This exclusive group of people called Israel was chosen for a purpose. Their purpose was to walk in fellowship with God, to obey Him and to reveal His holiness and glory. However, because of their sin nature, they consistently disobeyed God and went their own way. Nevertheless, the history of Israel reveals a God who consistently  loves His people and holds out His hands to them despite their being a "disobedient and obstinate people" (Rom. 10:21).Over and over again, the Father sent His messengers, the prophets of Israel, to call His people back to fellowship and obedience to Him. Tragically, Israel consistently rejected God's messengers and so the Father sent His Son (see Heb.1:1 and Matthew 21:33-46). 

Jesus was sent from heaven to redeem the people of Israel. He is the deliverer from Zion, sent te reconcile Israel to God (Rom. 11:26; Acts 3:26). However, even God's very own Son was rejected by Israel! Consequently, God chose to bring near those who are far away (Eph. 2:13, the Gentiles) so that through faith in Christ, anyone can be reconciled to the Father. The mystery that Paul talks about in Eph. 3 is that "through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 3:6). God's plan of salvation to reconcile Israel to Himself has made salvation available to every creature under heaven. God is so passionate about Israel that He has chosen to make His chosen people envious of those who are living in fellowship with, and obedience to the Father because of their faith in His Son. Paul writes,

"Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them" (Rom. 11:13,14).

Paul's insight into the mystery of God's redemptive plan shows us that God wants to save all Israel. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit said to the rulers, elders and teachers of the law in Jerusalem that "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Clearly not all Israel will be saved but only those who trust in the Capstone. So why does Paul say in Romans 11:26 that "all Israel will be saved"? Is Paul saying that when Jesus comes again that all Jewish people will be saved? Clearly not. The context of Paul's statement in Rom. 11 is important. The sentence reads,

"Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved as it is written: 'The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.'" (Rom. 11:25-27)

Paul is saying that all Israel will be saved through faith in the Deliverer from Zion and not through the Law (see Rom. 10:3,4). There is no exception. Every Jew and every Gentile can only be saved through God's Son. "All Israel will be saved as it is written" and as God has planned it in Christ.

"His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord." Eph. 3:10,11

May the Church carry the same burden as the apostle Paul to see both Jew and Gentile saved according to God's salvation purposes in Christ.

Reconciled to Culture or Christ?

"All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sin against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God." 2 Cor. 5:18-20

Jesus modelled the ministry of reconciliation

Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). He entered the world in the form of a human to reach those who were separated from God in order to reconcile them to God.

Jesus not only came to provide a way for man to be reconciled to God but also modelled God's method of reaching the lost that I believe the Church in general has moved away from. Just as Jesus came to seek and save the Lost, the Church is called to go and seek and save the lost.

God's method to reach the Lost

Jesus came to seek!

God took the initiative! Jesus entered humanity's darkness (John 1:1-18; Hebrews 2:14-18). He did not wait for broken humanity to find Him. As the Light of the world, Jesus made His dwelling amongst imperfect humanity to draw mankind back into fellowship with God.

Just as the Father sent His Son into the world to reconcile man to Himself, so He sends His Body, the Church into the world to reconcile man to God. Just as Jesus came as the Light of the world, He sends the Church into darkness to be light (see Matthew 5:14).

Sadly the Church, for the most part, expects broken humanity to find its way to her meetings instead of her entering into the darkness.

Jesus came to reconcile man to God and not to a culture!

Jesus sought the Lost to reconcile man to God. He did not seek out the Lost to convert them to a christian culture! Christ's priority was to bring man back into fellowship with the Father and with other believers. The believer's christian culture (the way he responds to God with his life) becomes a barrier for the Lost when it is inauthentic, inconsistent and only reserved for church meetings. Christian culture becomes attractive and influential when it is the fruit of sincerity and an authentic relationship with God and other believers.

The moment the Christian has to adopt a form to be acceptable in the church, a cultural wall is erected that becomes a barrier to the unchurched! 

The reason many Christians are uncomfortable with inviting the Lost to their church meetings is that there is often a discrepancy between the way they are in the world and the way they are in their church meetings.

Authentic Christianity

The solution is not to force a different church culture that will be less offensive and more palatable for the Lost but to ensure that the church is authentic in her relationship with God and others, both in the church meetings as well as in the world! God is more concerned with the heart than with our christian culture (the form we choose to express our relationship with God).

When the Church strips herself of her man-made form she will be able to enter the darkness of broken humanity and be able to reconcile man to God.

The church that seeks to impose her form on broken humanity seeks to convert man to culture rather than to Christ!

Floyd McClung, in his book entitled "You see bones, I see an army," states,

"The church that does not carry a passion to reach the world isolates people behind walls of cultural irrelevance."

I believe the Church is called to be uncompromising in essence but flexible in form. That way the Church can be light in the darkness and be "all things to all men" (form) without compromising the Truth (essence).

I agree with McClung when he writes,

"The Spirit of God calls each generation to re-imagine church for their own context and culture, and to a fresh encounter with God to live the Gospel."

The Church must get rid of old wine skins - old ways of doing church and adopted christian culture, if she is to make room for new wine - revival and awakening as real believers connect with a real world with the real love of God.

The role of the Church is to enter the darkness to seek and reconcile broken humanity to its loving Creator so that believers can enjoy fellowship with God and one another (1 John 1:3)!

It is time for the Church to be revived and for the "grave clothes" to be removed so that she will "come out" (John 11:43) in newness of life to reconcile man to God. This is the ministry of reconciliation that has been entrusted to Christ's Body!

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