ALL
ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED
“A
partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has
come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, ‘The
Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.’ ‘This is My covenant with them, when I take
away their sins.’” (Rom 11:25-27)
The writers of the New Testament follow the existing pattern
and make a distinction between the names Jacob and Israel. Jacob is used when referring to the Patriarch,
while Israel is used in reference to the collective descendants of Jacob (Matt 8:10), sometimes referred to as
the “house of Israel” (Matt 15:24), the “sons of Israel” (2 Cor
3:7), the “nation of Israel” (Phil 3:5), and the “commonwealth of Israel” (Eph 2:12). The name Israel is also used in reference to
the physical land of the promise, the “land
of Israel” (Matt 2:20).
In the New
Testament, the name “Israel” is rarely used in reference to the Patriarch. However, at least one time, the name Israel was
used by Paul in reference to both the man and the nation, “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel,”
(Rom 9:6). In using the name “Israel” instead of
“Jacob”, Paul alludes to the spiritual and not the physical. Paul tells us that a person can physically
descend from Jacob, but not be a spiritual descendant of the promise, who are
called “Israel”. Paul reinforces this
point by offering the example of Abraham.
Abraham had two sons, but only “through
Isaac your descendants will be named” and “the children of the promise are regarded as descendants,” (Rom 9:8). It is not the physical sons of Jacob, but the
spiritual sons of Israel that have a place in the world to come.
Fifteen hundred years before the birth of Christ, Balaam
prophesized, “I see Him, but not now; I
behold Him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, a scepter
shall rise from Israel,” (Num
24:17). A “star” alludes to the
physical nature of Jacob, like the “stars” in Joseph’s dream that represented
Joseph’s brothers. A “scepter” is the
sign of a kingdom and the ruler of the kingdom of heaven. Even
Isaiah appears to use this pretext in writing, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up
the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel,”
(Isa 49:6). It is Jacob who is raised up in the physical resurrection,
and Israel who are the spiritual “preserved
ones” in the world to come.
The contrast
between the names Jacob and Israel does not work in every case. Sometimes scripture just reinforces a
statement by using both names as the testimony of two witnesses, “Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; and listen to Israel
your father,” (Gen 49:2). Isaiah has an interesting passage that relates
the two names, “But now, thus says the
LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel,”
(Isa 43:1). The words allude to the original creation with
Jacob as the original created man and Israel as the woman who was “fashioned,” (Gen 2:22). Both
go together, and like marriage, represent the full manifestation of the
Creator. Without the Spirit, the flesh
accounts for nothing.
Paul’s
statement, “All Israel will be saved”
(Rom 11:26), was said to be
“provocative” by Dwight Pryor, as it was open to numerous interpretations. However, when we see the historical usage of
the names Jacob and Israel, we come to understand the truth being conveyed by
Paul, “For all who are being led by the
Spirit of God, these are the sons of God,” (Rom 8:14). The physical
will be resurrected, but it is the those “led
by the Spirit of God” that are the sons of Israel and have a place in the
world to come, as written, “All Israel
will be saved” (Rom 11:26).
Scott
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