²⁵ For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; ²⁶ and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” ²⁷ “This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.”

Great division exists among Bible-believing Christians today over the question of whether the Church has permanently replaced Israel in God’s plan. We have seen Israel hardened and cut off, and the Gentiles have been grafted in. Covenant theology holds that the Church is the spiritual Israel, and that all the prophecies of the Old Testament find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, and therefore apply to the church. Due to lack of faith, the physical, ethnic Israel as a people of God has forfeited its standing as “spiritual Israel.” The promises to Abraham now are being fulfilled in the Church, and there is no future fulfillment in the physical Israel.

Dispensational theology, on the other hand, holds the belief that the Church has only temporarily replaced Israel. Israel still holds a central role in God’s plan, and the Church serves as a means to the end of bringing Israel back to God. The promises of Abraham still apply to Israel as a people group, and God still has a plan to restore Israel.

Volumes have been written on this issue and the divide in believing Christendom is wide, so we obviously can’t settle things in this short essay. However, our passage today tells us a few things.

First, the issue of Israel’s future is important to the apostle Paul and should be also to all Christians. He writes, “I do not want you, brethren, to be uniformed of this mystery.” Even though Israel has rejected their Messiah, and it looks like they have completely lost out on God’s movement of grace, their hardening is temporary, “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in…”

Second, the subject is not an easy one to understand; it is a “mystery” (see also Eph. 2:14-22). Third, a Christian is not too smart if he thinks otherwise—“so that you will not be wise in your own estimation” (vs. 24). Fourth, Israel’s rejection of Christ was not the cause of its hardening; it merely demonstrated its hardening. Fifth, God promised to Old Testament Israel, even while they were sinfully and stubbornly rejecting Him, that He would one day forgive them.

To put it in modern day parlance, one is not wise to bet against Israel in light of God’s promises.

Lord, I pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122:6), for Israel is Your people.