Romans 11:26-27 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
‘All Israel shall be saved’ – this refers to the whole nation that will be alive in Palestine when Christ comes (Zech. 12:10-13:1; 14:1-15; Matt. 24:39; Isa. 66:7-8). It is at that time that all the rest of Israel will be gathered (Isa. 11:1-12; 66:19-21; Matt. 24:31).
‘There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob’ – quoted from Isaiah 27:9; 59:20-21. By this judgment upon His people the iniquity of Jacob will be purged; the proof of such cleansing from sin will be when Israel is caused by God to throw down the stones of the altar and the groves, and throw away the images.
Those that will turn from transgression in Israel in that day (at Christ’s second coming), will be the one-third of the nation who will come through the tribulation alive, the two-thirds being killed (Zech. 13:9). They will be the ones to say, ‘blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord’ (Matt. 23:39) – the ones that will be born again in a day and make the nucleus around which the others from all the tribes will be gathered in the Millennium (Isa. 11:10-12). They are the “all Israel” of Romans 11:25-29, and the Judah of Zechariah 14:14.
‘Turn away ungodliness from Jacob’ – no one in Israel or among the Gentiles will be saved and blessed by God in the eternal program until he turns from sin. This is the reason Israel is now scattered among the nations, and why God has not been able to fulfil His everlasting covenants with them. He can never do so until they turn from sin to Him and holy living (cp. Matt. 18:3; John 3:3-5).
Five things Christ will do at the Second Coming: He will come to Zion – Jerusalem (no other place on earth, Isaiah 59:20 and Zechariah 14:4). He will come to them that turn from sin in Jacob or Israel (Isa. 59:20; Zech. 12:10-13:1; 14:1-5, 14; Rom. 11:25-29). He will make a new covenant with them in that day (Isa. 42:6; 49:8; 55:3; 57:8; 59:21; 61:8; Jer. 31:31; Heb. 10:16). He will pour out the Holy Spirit upon them (Isa. 32:15; 34:16; 44:3; 59:21; Joel 2:28-32; Zech. 12:10-13:1). He will put the words of God in their mouths and in the mouths of eternal generations to come (Isa. 59:21).
Living the Word 