I take it that most of you will realize and recall that we are engaged at the moment in trying to study together the biblical doctrine of the last thing. And in our consideration of that great theme, we have come to the particular theme of the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now, we've reached the point at which we are considering the great question of the time of his coming. We've already considered the mode of his coming, and we started last Friday evening on a consideration of the time of his coming. And we realize, of course, as we discuss this particular subject, that we are dealing with something that is not only extremely difficult, but also highly controversial. Now, I am at pains to make this perfectly plain and clear, that my main concern in regard to what I am saying concerning this great doctrine. My main concern is not so much to put before you a point of view as to do something else, namely this. My main endeavor is to try to persuade everybody present that dogmatism is never less justifiable than it is with regard to this subject. If I succeed in doing that, I shall indeed be more than satisfied. Nothing to me is more tragic than the way in which people have their cut-and-dried theories about this matter, which they regard as absolutely and inevitably right, and by which they judge all others with no doubts at all. Generally, it's due to the fact, of course, that they were not even aware of the fact that there was any other conceivable point of view. It's the only one they've ever heard, it therefore must be right. It was spoken to them dogmatically. They may have read booklets and pamphlets, equally dogmatic, and there it is. They're not even aware that there are other possibilities and that saintly, godly, scholarly, consecrated men throughout the centuries have grappled with this problem and have arrived at very different conclusions. So as I say, my main concern is simply to make it plain and clear that anything cut and dried and pat and glib is of necessity wrong, whatever the truth and whatever the right may be. Now, it occurred to me that perhaps it might help people to understand what I mean by saying something like that if I were to hold before you four volumes. Here's volume number one. You see a great big book with a large number of pages in it. Let me tell you the number of pages in each book. This first one has over 900 pages. That's Volume 1. Then we go on to Volume 2. And this has in it over 800 pages. Then we come to Volume 3. And this has in it 750 pages. And we come finally to Volume 4. which has in it 1,200 pages. Now, these are four volumes of one work, and the title is this, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers. In other words, here this man who has written these four volumes, and the four consecutive volumes, he has spent his lifetime in doing research work, on what different men of God and teachers in the Christian Church have thought and have taught with regard to this subject of prophecy throughout the centuries, right up to today. And you see, it comes to all this, these four mighty volumes with very small print. Well now, the task of anybody doing what I'm doing here tonight, you see, is pictured by that. I trust that that does bring it right home to us, that you rarely cannot deal with this subject glibly. It's just an account, a factual historical account of what these great fathers and teachers in the church have taught and have said coming right away down the centuries. I don't know how you feel, but I feel, and I've read a great deal of these volumes. I haven't had time to go through them all, yet they've not long since been published. But I've been trying to read about this subject for the last 25 years or so. And if there is any department or realm of truth in which I feel that I am but a child, it is in this one. Well now then, let's proceed to our discussion, trying to bear something like that in mind. It's obvious, I think, that a sixpenny booklet cannot possibly be exhaustive on this subject in the light of these four volumes. All right. Well now then, the point at which we've arrived is this. With regard to the time of our Lord's coming, the question often asked is, May it happen at any moment? Or is there teaching in the Scripture which leads us to believe that there are certain indications going to be given of our Lord's coming? Very well. We are tackling that subject. And we indicated last Friday evening that the Scripture teaches that there are certain signs. That's got to happen first. The testimony, the witness, the preaching of the Christian gospel and its message to all nations precedes this great event. Then we came to the second, which is the so-called fullness of Israel. Before our Lord returns, something is going to happen with regard to the conversion, to use the term in general, of Israel. And what we are considering at the moment is what exactly that means. We began our consideration last week and I indicated that it seems to me that Matthew 21 43 is a most crucial statement where our Lord said the kingdom shall be taken from you and given to a nation bearing forth the fruits thereof. And Peter in 1 Peter 2 9 confirms that by applying to the Christian church composed of Jews and Gentiles the words that God had used with respect to the nation of Israel just before the giving of the law. Very well. But now I said that we must concentrate in particular upon the teaching of this great and mighty and noble eleventh chapter of Paul's epistle to the Romans. And especially on this phrase. at the beginning of verse 26, and so all Israel shall be saved. Now that's the great question. What exactly does that mean? Well now, I put it to you at the very end, you remember, that there are three possible interpretations, and I ask you to study chapters 9, 10, and 11 of this great epistle to the Romans in the light of these three possibilities. The first is that all Israel means the completed, full Christian Church. The Israel of God, consisting of Jews and Gentiles who are saved and are members of the Christian Church. That's the first view. That all Israel means the Church, completed, consisting of Jews and Gentiles. Secondly, there are those who say, no, it isn't that. It does refer to Israel as a people and as a nation. And I told you there were two subdivisions there. that there are those who say what it means is that such a large number of Jews will be converted and saved that you in a sense are entitled to say that the nation has been converted, but it doesn't mean every single individual in the nation. But there are others who would say, yes, it does. It means every single individual, all Jews that shall be alive at that time will be converted. Not one will be left unsaved. And some even go so far as to teach that even Jews who have died impenitent and unsaved in the past will all be resurrected in order that they may have this second opportunity and in which they will believe and accept the message and so will be saved. and thus every single Israelite that ever has been will be saved. All Israel, they say, must mean that, if you attach the literal meaning to the words. The third possible explanation is that it means the total number of elect Jews, that all Israel is the sum total of the chosen, elect, saved Jews in every single generation right up until the end. Well now then, let's just look at these. Again, I say that I'm sure that I shall not be able to satisfy all who are present. I can just put forward to you some of the considerations on both sides with regard to the three. Now, the big question really confronting us, I think, is this. Is this first view correct, which regards all Israel as the church? Well, for myself, I wouldn't hesitate to say that I don't think it can possibly mean that. And for this reason, as you read chapters 9, 10, and 11 of this epistle to the Romans, you will find that the term Israel is used very frequently. And every single time it is used, It refers not to the church, but to Jewish people. So that if I'm asked to believe that all Israel here means the church, I'm driven to the conclusion that the apostle who has been using the term Israel and meaning by it Jews, suddenly changes the entire meaning of the same term without telling us that he's doing so, and suddenly puts it to represent the church. I cannot believe that the great apostle could do that. So that seems to me to be a sufficient ground in and of itself for saying that all Israel here does not and cannot mean the church. Very well, that brings us to the second view. Does it mean Israel as a nation? Now, here you see, we really could introduce a subject that could occupy us for weeks and weeks. been treated by these men throughout the centuries. Books have been written on this one theme alone. We can't do that. I can just do my best to summarize what is perhaps the popular and the communist view today, which comes to this. That this is a reference to the Jews as a nation. I incidentally perhaps should have said that I'm not even going to pay the compliment to such vagaries as the so-called British Israel theory of even mentioning it. I'm taking rather the view which tells us that this is a reference to the Jewish nation. And that what we are really taught in the scripture is something like this. That a time is coming when the Jews as a nation will go back into Palestine. and that there they will be converted as a nation and will then become the greatest evangelists that the world has ever known. Now, I'm trying to put it in a nutshell and to put it briefly. There are all sorts of subdivisions and people don't agree at one point and another, but in its essence, that is the teaching. That's the big thing with which we are concerned. Is the apostle teaching that? or isn't he? Is he saying here that the Jews as a nation are going to have special treatment, are going to be put in a special position, so that at the end of time you will have the Christian church and the Jews as a nation? It won't be that everybody will be in the church. No, there will be two lots of redeemed people, the church and the Jewish nation redeemed. Now that's the question. Well, now then, as we come to look at that, there are a number of considerations which we've got to bear in our minds. It is generally claimed that what supports that contention is this. First of all, the Old Testament prophecies. They say you read those Old Testament prophecies and they look forward to some great day of blessing. It hasn't happened. Well, when will it happen? Well, it'll happen when this takes place to the nation of Israel. And they would say that most of the Old Testament prophecies have a reference to something that hasn't yet happened, something that's yet going to happen with respect to the Jews as a nation. Then they say that also in the Gospels, there seems to be a great deal of teaching pointing in the same direction, that the kingdom is for the Jews only. And there are friends, of course, as you know, who put it even like this. They say that our Lord rarely came to offer the kingdom to the Jews. And then because they didn't accept it, the church was brought in as a kind of parenthesis, almost an afterthought. And then after this parenthesis of the church, the Jewish position will be taken up again and resumed. And then the gospel will again be offered to the Jews. And there are those, as you know, who would even say this, that salvation for the Jews will not come by grace, but as the result of their acceptance of the law and the message of the kingdom, and they will be saved by believing that in that way. In other words, there is a different way of entry into the kingdom for the Jews from other people. Well, we must try to avoid the sidelines and the ramifications and keep to the main issue. So they say that there is teaching like that in the Gospels, and that finally then you have this teaching in Romans 9, 10, and 11. Now then, what are we to say about these teachings? Well, this question of Old Testament prophecy, of course, is a tremendous question, a very important question, and the most interesting question. Is it right to say that the Old Testament prophecies, apart from those directly concerned with the first coming of our Lord, have reference to the second coming and what is going to happen in connection with that. Now, surely we must be very careful at this point. And I think the wisest course to adopt is this, is to discover, if we can, what does the New Testament tell us about that? And there we are able to say this. that there are certain Old Testament prophecies which, if you only read your Old Testament, you would assume at once have reference only to the nation of the Jews, but which the New Testament applies to the Christian Church. Take that one, for instance, which was used by the Apostle Peter in his sermon at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. People were asking, what is this, the descent of the Holy Ghost, and these men speaking with tongues? this astounding phenomenon, what is this?" And Peter, you remember, replies by saying, this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. In other words, he says, this is the fulfillment of what the prophet Joel said. Well, you go back and read the second chapter of the prophet Joel, and you'd think that it has sole reference to the Jews as a nation. But Peter says, no, this applies to the church. This is something that is a fulfillment now of that which was said by the Prophet John. I know that the reply to that to say is, yes, but that was only a partial fulfillment. But I would ask you to read what Peter said again, and I think you'll find that he did not say it was a partial fulfillment. Peter said this is the fulfillment. And it is only our expositions that say, ah, yes, it's only partial so far. Peter didn't say that. Peter said, this is it. This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel, which I take it means this. Not that it all happened then. This is the beginning of the fulfillment of this, and it's been going on ever since. It's a reference to the whole of this age that the church belonged, and which will lead to the second coming. There's wonder, but there is a still more important and significant one. I would ask you to consider this. It's to be found in the 15th chapter of the book of the Acts of the Apostles, and let me read to you from verse 14 onwards. James, you remember, is presiding at the conference of the leaders of the church in Jerusalem, and this is what he says. He says, Simeon, referring to Simon Peter, Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And to this he says agree the words of the prophets, as it is written, After this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David which is fallen down, and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up, that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called. Thus saith the Lord, who doeth all these things, known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. In other words, Peter quotes there from the ninth chapter of the book of the prophet Amos, verse 11. Now, this is most crucial. If you read that prophecy of Amos, you would come to the conclusion, if you were just left to yourself, that he was undoubtedly referring to something that was going to happen to the Jewish nation. the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down, is going to be raised up and be built again. Well, you say that must be something in connection with Israel. But you notice that James, speaking here, doesn't hesitate to say, under divine inspiration, that the fulfillment of that prophecy of Amos had already been enacted at that time. and that the residue of men seeking after the Lord and all the Gentiles was the very thing that they were discussing in their conference. He said, it's all right, we've got to admit these Gentiles. Amos has prophesied the thing. He says that when the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, is going to be built again, that the residue of people and the Gentiles are going to come in, and they have come in, as Peter has reported to us. It's a fulfillment of the prophecy of Amos. Now that's a significant one because of this term, the Tabernacle of David. It seems so material. Now these friends say, you must take everything literally. Well, now there is the answer of James to that statement. The Tabernacle of David means the Christian church, which has been founded by David's greater son. So you see that James's exposition does not take it literally. He takes it spiritually. And it seems to me that with that key, we must proceed to consider the other prophecies in exactly the same way. So let us turn to the prophecy of Ezekiel, for instance, chapters 40 to the end. Most important chapters. And you know how often people have studied chapters 40 to 47 of Ezekiel. And indeed, they've gone back to 37 and 38 as well. and they have often felt in the light of contemporary events that all this has been fulfilled and you would remember all about Gog and Magog and the great northern confederacy and how absolutely certain it was when Molotov and Ribbentrop signed their pact in 1939 the thing was being fulfilled before our eyes But then, of course, it didn't seem quite so clear when Germany attacked Russia in 1941. Well, you remember those great chapters. Now, read those chapters and try and work them out literally. Work out all those measurements about the restored temple and so on. And this is what you'll find. You will find that you've got measurements which cannot be fitted into literal Palestine. If you work out what you are told there about the river, you will find that that river will have to rise and flow up over mountains, if you take it literally. If you take it pictorially and spiritually, of course, there is no such difficulty. But if you believe that these things must be taken literally, work those chapters right out literally. And indeed, you will be involved in believing this, that a day is coming When a literal temple is again going to be built in Jerusalem, when the Jews will occupy the whole of the land of Palestine, not only that, but the burnt offerings and sacrifices for sins are again going to be offered. After the Lord Jesus Christ has given and made one sacrifice once and forever. That is what friends teach. And if you take chapters 40 to 47 of Ezekiel literally, you've got to teach that. Because there you are told about the priests, and the burnt offerings, and the sacrifice, and the sin offerings, and the blood shed for sin. Though the Son of God has done it once and forever, and there can be no more sacrifice. Ah, yes, they say, but they'll only be a kind of memorial of what he's already done. My friends, I ask you seriously whether you really can believe such a thing. that when the one sacrifice is there, once and forever, and the memorial is the bread and the wine, can you possibly go back again to the types? Surely the thing is quite unthinkable. Well, I could say a great deal more. But I have to leave it at that. There, it seems to me, is the kind of way in which we must approach this argument which is based upon the Old Testament prophecies with regard to Israel as a nation. But let us go on. It is again a simple fact to say that our Lord never spoke about the restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land. Never. He never said it. There is no reference in all his teaching to the return of the Jews to the land of Palestine. What we do know that he said was this, I quoted it last week, Matthew 8, 11 and following, that a day is coming when they shall come from the east and the west and sit down in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the children of the kingdom shall be thrust out. He did say that, but he never said that they were going back. But there are also certain other powerful considerations What about all the statements in which the Apostle Paul used to delight so much? There is no longer Jew nor Gentile, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor friend. How he gloried in that! But we are to go back to this weirdo. The Jews are still separate. And at the end there will be the Church of Gentiles and others, but the Jews in a special position. But Paul says there is no longer Jew nor Gentile. That's finished. Once and forever that has gone. The middle wall of partition has been broken down. By one spirit we both have access to the Father, through him and by him. And then the tremendous statements of Galatians 3, which I'm going to read in a moment, in which he says that we are all the seed of Abraham. And he was writing, remember, to Gentiles when he said it. Indeed, I would argue that the teaching of this eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans in and of itself proves that that can't be right for this reason. Paul's whole argument here is this, that there is only one root. That the Church is one, Old Testament and New. The Gentiles are put in. He says it's the root that matters. It isn't the branches so much. It's this one lump. It's this one root that matters. If the lump be holy, he says, and if the root be holy, the branches also must be holy. It's this oneness, this essential oneness and unity and continuity that the Apostle is concerned about. It seems to me, therefore, that in the light of that there is no special place for the Jews as a nation. The thing is impossible. Also, it seems to me that it's important for us to bear this in mind. So often people reading this 11th of Romans, verses 25 and 26, read it like this. They say, 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 is heaven to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And then, after that, all Israel shall be saved. But Paul didn't say that. What Paul said was this. That blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles shall become in, and so, not then, not in a chronological sequence, and so, which must mean in this way or in this manner. He doesn't say and then. But in this common teaching, that is what is said, that it's something that happens afterwards, after the fullness of the Gentiles have been gathered in. Then, Paul didn't say that. He said, and so, in this way which he's been describing, all Israel shall be saved. Well, now then, having put to you those considerations, let me try and put the whole case to you in this way. A very good principle always, when you're dealing with a difficult statement in Scripture, is not to concentrate on that particular statement and pour over it and bring a microscope, as it were, onto it. The better method is this. Stand back. Say, very well, I'm not clear about that statement in Romans 11, 26. What shall I do? Well, let me go back to the beginning of Romans 9. Clearly, chapters 9, 10, and 11 form a complete whole. They're a complete argument. He starts on something at the beginning of chapter 9, and he goes right on with it until the end of chapter 11, and then he takes up another subject. Very well, then let's take it in its entire context as a whole. And what do we find? Well, the first question I suggest we must ask is this. Why was it the apostle introduced this subject at all? Why has he taken up this matter which he deals with in chapters 9, 10, and 11? That's the question. Why does he bring in the Jews at all? Well, it seems to me that there can only be one adequate answer to that question, which must be this. There he is in chapter 8 with his marvelous peroration. He's comforting these believers in the church at Rome. And he tells them that it's all right. God's promises are sure. Whom he hath foreknown, he also hath predestinated. And whom he hath predestinated, them he hath also called. And whom he hath called, them he hath also justified. And whom he hath justified, them he hath also glorified. Very well, he stands back and says, what do you say to that? Nothing can stand in God's way. And then he works up to his terrific climax. I am persuaded. that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, anything else you can think of, wherever it may be, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's all right. And then he hears somebody saying to him, wait a minute. You're letting your eloquence run away with you, Paul. All that sounds very wonderful, but what about the Jews? Look at the promises made to them. It doesn't look as if they're being carried out. How many are there in the Christian Church? It seems to consist chiefly of Gentiles, and they're persecuting the Christian Church. If what you're saying is right, and if God's promises are absolutely sure, well, what do you say then about the position of the Jews? That's how it came in. How can you reconcile this tremendous assertion of God's promises being certain and sure and inviolable with the facts that are staring you in the face? But the apostle takes up that subject. And that is the subject that is discussed in chapters 9, 10, and 11 of Romans. Paul wasn't concerned just to give an outline of his prophetic teaching. He's answering a difficulty and an objection. And what does he say? Well, this is the summary I would give you of his teaching. He says the rejection of Israel is not complete. It is not absolute. It's only in part. But then he doesn't stop at that. He goes on and makes, to me, the key statement which is the guide to the understanding of the three chapters in Romans 9.6. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect? Why not? Well, here's the answer. For they are not all Israel that are of Israel. That's the key. What's it mean? It means this. Paul says to the objector, you're in difficulties, my friend, because you think the term Israel means the physical, literal nation of men and women, all of whom are Jews. But it doesn't. Israel, as used in the scriptures, says Paul, doesn't mean every single Jew in a literal, physical sense. They are not all Israel, which are of Israel. There's the vital distinction. Very well, then what is it? Well, it's this. He goes on to show that the promises of God have never applied to the literal nation as a whole. They've always had reference to the remnant, to the spiritual Jews. Those who are Jews in heart and not merely by circumcision. whose circumcision wasn't outward but inward of the heart and of the spirit. Right away he works it out. God's promises were never to the whole nation, but they were to this peculiar people he has chosen in the nation, the remnant, the spiritual Israel, which is the true Israel, and the promises of God have always been kept to them. Take, for instance, he says, in the time of Elias. Well, it looked as if the promises of God had gone entirely astray. And indeed he himself, Elijah the prophet, he thought they'd gone astray. And he turns to God and says, he says, I'm rather doubtful. Everybody's gone wrong. I alone am left. And the reply was given to him, no, no, you don't know. There are 7,000 others you don't know about. Ah, the election, the remnant according to the election of grace. They're always there. When you think there's nobody, yes, Israel, the true Israel, is still there. And even now Paul goes on to say in this 11th chapter, hath God then cast away his people? God forbid. He says, I also am an Israelite. And if there were no Christian amongst the Jews but myself, I would still be able to prove that God's promises are true. I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham and of the tribe of Benjamin. God doth not cast away his people which he foreknew. And then he goes on again with his doctrine of the remnant, the spiritual Israel. And that, I suggest to you, his argument right away through. And there, it seems to me, is the key to the solution of this problem as to what all Israel means. He's talked about the fullness of the Gentiles. Yes, there is also a fullness of the Jews. All whom God has called among the Gentiles, all whom God has called amongst the Jews, they're all going to be saved. The total Israel that God had in his mind from the beginning, they're all going to be brought in. Some in very few, perhaps in certain generations, but they'll come. Other generations may come when large numbers will come in. I suggest to you that all Israel, therefore, must carry that meaning and connotation. In other words, what we have to be careful about is this, isn't it? The Jews rejected the Lord Jesus Christ when he came because of their carnal ideas of Israel, because of their nationalistic ideas, because he didn't come and set himself up as a king, because they were bound by these political, national, social ideas. They didn't recognize the spiritual truth and they rejected him. Is that going to happen again, I wonder? And are there some of God's people who are falling into the same trap and the same error of materializing and thinking in terms of the nation rather than this remnant, this spiritual Israel about which the Bible is always concerned and which, according to the Apostle Paul, is the only Israel in which God is interested from the standpoint of salvation? How dangerous it is, therefore, to think in terms of the physical nation again and not to realize that they are not all Israel that are of Israel. Very well then shall we close tonight by my reading to you those verses which I mentioned just now. From the epistle to the Galatians in the third chapter, which I think put this matter finally in a very clear way. Let me pick out certain important verses. Galatians 3, let me read first of all verses 7 to 9. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith preached before the gospel unto Abram, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed. So then, they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. Then go to verse 40, That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. And then finally in the last verse, verse 29, And if ye be Christ's, he says writing to Gentiles, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Abraham's seed is not national physical Israel. Abraham's seed is all the children of faith, all who exercise faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and who belong to him and who are redeemed by him. Surely we are violating scripture, are we not? When we try to reintroduce and to perpetuate a distinction as between Jews and Gentiles, and to say that the promises are meant to Abram seed which is literal physical Israel Paul says you are Abram seed and as according to the promise if you be Christ therefore I suggest to you the conclusion of this interpretation of this term all Israel shall be saved is that it means the total of all believing Jews in all ages and generations, all whom God has foreseen and foreknown shall infallibly and certainly be saved. And so at the end you will have the fullness of the Gentiles and the fullness of the Jews. There are some, and I am among them, who believe that Paul does teach in this chapter that before the end there will be large numbers of conversions amongst the Jews, not in a national sense, but a large number of Jews will believe. It'll be astonishing, and it'll rejoice the hearts of believers then alive. It'll be like life from the dead, but they won't be in a special position. It won't be the nation as such. They won't be differentiated from others. No, no. The Jews, though they may believe in thousands together, will have to come into the kingdom by repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They'll have to trust in the blood of Christ, as I've had to, and every other Christian has had to. There is no other way into the kingdom. No one will ever be able to keep the law. No one will accept the kingdom as such. It is in Christ and in crucified alone that anyone can be saved. That is the everlasting gospel, and there'll never be another. Very well. Thank God for it. That God's purposes are sure, and that what he has purposed will most surely come to pass. We can believe the eighth of Romans. In spite of appearances, it's all right. God's purpose, according to the election of grace through the remnant, is still being fulfilled.