In Touch - 1st Quarter 2022

seemed so far out of reach (see Romans 9:1–6; 10:1;
11:1). Eventually all Israel – both Jewish remnant and
hardened majority – will be saved (though see Paul’s
clarifying remarks in Romans 9:6, when he basically
says, “Yes, yes ... You’ve got the maths right. Just
remember, it won’t include ‘every’ member of that
hardened majority.”)
Paul explains how this will happen. God promised
that Abraham’s family tree would be full of natural
branches (Israelites). This guaranteed
that the long-standing
asymmetry of Abraham’s family
tree – caused by so many of his kin
being cut off – would one day be
addressed. And in a breath-taking
stroke, God reveals that he is going
to use wild branches (Gentiles) to
do it – to restore Israel’s symmetry.
And he will do this not by grafting in a bunch of wild
branches in the place of the natural branches, but by
using grafted-in wild branches to gain the attention of
the natural branches. This was a “mystery” (Romans
11:25) long hidden and only lately revealed. God had
promised to save Gentiles and provoke his stubborn
people (see Romans 10:19). But nobody saw this
coming: God fulfils the promise latent in the remnant’s
preservation through Gentile inclusion. Nobody
foresaw that it would be “in this way” (Romans 11:26)
that all Israel will be saved.
4. When Does He Mean by ‘Will Be’?
All Israel will be saved after “the full number of Gentiles
has come in”, which will occur just before Jesus
returns and, therefore, just before the ‘resurrection’
Jewish remnant
+ hardened majority
= all Israel
Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23. The two
Old Testament passages Paul cites may point in this
direction too (see Romans 11:26–27).
However, the big question is whether Israel’s full
salvation happens all at once or gradually. Does the
lifting of Israel’s partial hardening await the final
Gentile convert, or has it begun already? To ask it
another way, did Paul regard Jews converted in his
day (and ours) as gradually swelling the ranks of the
remnant or as gradually reversing
the hardening of the majority?
I’m inclined to the latter option,
which would mean that the reversal
of Israel’s hardening has already
begun. After all, when Paul talks
about Jewish conversion from
Romans 11:11 onward, he talks about ‘re-grafting’ and
‘reversal’, not adding to the remnant. This lines up
with what Paul says in Romans 11:31: God’s mercy
is not something the hardened majority must wait to
receive.
That said, this reading doesn’t rule out a long process
ending with a climactic revival. To learn whether it
will, we must simply wait and see.
Oh the Depth!
Peter was right. Some passages in Paul are difficult.
But that doesn’t mean we should avoid them. On the
contrary, passages that require digging are those that
often yield diamonds.
Romans 11 is one such passage. It’s a story full of
twists and turns, marvel and mystery. But what else
would we expect from a God like ours?
Hopes and expectations for 2022
Thank you
for participating in the
Jewish Festival of Lights
with Israel Bonds
online.israelbondsintl.com
For any assistance, please contact:
020 3936 2712
infoEN@israelbondsintl.com
Development Company for Israel (International) Ltd.
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
All Rights Reserved. Nov 2021 E/OE
By Jacob Vince, CEO CFI UK
As I ponder our hopes and expectations
for 2022, I am reminded of similar
words given to the prophet Jeremiah:
“I know the plans that I have for you …
plans to give you hope and a future”
(Jeremiah 29:11).
Often quoted out of context, they
were pronounced during a time of
considerable upheaval and danger,
particularly concerning impending
deportation.
Even so, Jeremiah was instructed to
buy some land, recorded in Jeremiah
32:1-15, indicative of the promise of
land given, and repeated so often as a
covenant promise that one could even
deem it a bond.
An aspect sometimes missed in the
story is how Jeremiah was helped by
a gentile friend, Ebed-Melek. Certain
officials did not favour Jeremiah’s words
and he was thrown into a cistern with
sinking mud at the bottom. This is
where Jeremiah would have remained
were it not for the intervention of Ebed-
Melek, a Cushite. You can read the story
in Jeremiah 38:7-13.
It was the right thing to do
Ebed-Melek might easily have been
forgotten, but he had done the right
thing because it was the right thing
to do. In the postscript, when the
deportation took place, Ebed-Melek was
remembered and rescued, as recorded in
Jeremiah 39:15-18.
After Jeremiah’s day, there was a
return from the deportation. It took
place seventy years later – something
that Daniel, the visionary, realised and
recorded in his writings. But eventually
a much longer period of dispersion
happened, until a promise given by the
UK government through Lord Balfour
in 1917 led to the establishment of
the State of Israel in 1948. There
were Gentiles who assisted then, and
as Christian Friends of Israel in the
UK today, one way we can follow in
this honourable tradition is through
promoting Israel bonds.
The amazing story of Israel is predicated
on two promises – or bonds – given to
Abraham, of a land and a family line;
the promised land of Israel and Israel’s
promised Messiah. These promises
are threads found throughout the
unfolding words of the Bible from the
Law, through the Prophets and into
the Psalms. And as Christians, we see
these two promises continue into the
teaching of the Apostles.
Today, we too face a period of upheaval
as the Covid 19 virus, vaccines and
variants, vie with each other. May we
draw comfort and strength from the
words given to Jeremiah so long ago, of
plans to give “a hope and a future,” and
all that this means for Israel and for us.
First Published in Israel Bonds Magazine
‘KOL’ (the Hebrew word for ‘voice’).
twitter.com/cfi_uk
facebook.com/cfiuk
youtube.com/cfiuk
1 st Quarter 2022 • IN TOUCH 5