But the reality of it is that the vast majority of Jewish people and the vast majority of Gentile people don't come to the Lord. And Jewish people are called a remnant according to the election of grace. That means there's a small part that do believe the truth. But the Gentile believers are called a people for my name. If you're a Gentile believer, that could be the moniker that God gives you. You're a people for his name, a people for God's name. Which means that out of the Gentile world, God is bringing just a small remnant, if you wanna use that term. Now, ultimately, the church, which is not mentioned in the Old Testament, it's a mystery. We don't find the church mentioned until it's prophesied about in Matthew, I will build my church, Jesus said, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. But the church was birthed at Pentecost. We don't find it in the Old Testament, it was a mystery. And so at Acts 2 in Pentecost, the church was born and it is removed from the world by the rapture prior to the tribulation period. 1 Thessalonians 4, 13 through 18 and a host of other scriptures to help us identify through a number of things that the rapture is pre-tribulational, prior to the tribulation period. Now I don't have time to prove that right now. So you have this parameter of time for the church from Pentecost to the rapture. The rapture taking place just prior to the tribulation period starting. Now, as we look at this passage, Romans 11, and we're gonna start in Romans 11, 11 shortly. The foundational and very important Abrahamic covenant, which in Genesis 12, three says, in these shall all families of the earth be blessed. And that's through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, tribe of Judah, family of David, culminating Jesus the Messiah, that ultimately all the world, all the families of the earth, not just Jews, but Gentiles as well, will be blessed through the ultimate one that comes out of Israel, Jesus the Messiah, speaking of salvation. And we have that foundational covenant talked about starting in verse 16 of Romans chapter 11, which is very important here. Now, one other thing. Look back with me at Exodus chapter 19. This is all preparation. Exodus chapter 19. Israel is about to get the 10 commandments found in chapter 20. In chapter 19, And we will pick it up just in verse 6. Let's pick it up in verse 5. God speaks to the Jewish people, Israel. If you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, the Mosaic covenant, and they failed greatly, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine. So this is a promise to the nation of Israel and ultimately this, I don't want to digress too much, this will be fulfilled ultimately. But if they do that, notice what verse six says. And you, Israel, all the Jewish people, shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, a unique nation, a set-apart nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. Now, the priests in the Old Testament, in the Levitical priesthood, in the Mosaic economy, they represented the people before God. The priest would have his back to the people, his face toward God, and represented the people to a holy God. Now the prophet would be the exact opposite. The prophet was God's spokesman to the people, thus saith the Lord. But the priest represented the people before God. Now, if Israel, God wanted them to be a kingdom of priests, and the priest would represent people before God, who would Israel represent to God? Somebody said, so I didn't pick it up. There's only two groups of people in the world. Gentiles. Jewish people and Gentile people. And if all of Israel, the Jewish nation, the Jewish people making up the nation, would be a kingdom of priests, that means they would represent the Gentiles before God. Now, they failed, and ultimately God narrowed that promise down to the greater Israelite, or maybe I should say the greatest Israelite, Jesus, who represents not only Gentiles, but Jews before God. But I want you to keep in mind that as well. So as we look at Romans chapter 11, if you're in the book of Romans chapter 11, in verses one through five, he's addressing the Jewish people and speaking about the Jewish remnant. The true believers in Jehovah today through Jesus. But look down in verse 13 before we go back to verse 11. For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office. So not only is he speaking to Jewish believers, the remnant, but he is speaking also to Jewish, Gentile believers, as your apostle. So look at verse 11, where we're gonna start from. I say then, Paul writes, inspired by God, have they, Israel, Have they stumbled that they should fall? Have their rejection of Jesus as the Savior, as their Messiah? Ultimately, we ended up in God casting them away. You know, there's a whole host of Christendom that would say that's the case. And that the church has replaced Israel in God's plan. That is as erroneous as you can come. Replacement Theology. And Paul very clearly answers. Have they stumbled that they should fall, that they should be out of the plan of God? God forbid. Can't happen, no way. But rather, through their fall, salvation has come onto the Gentiles. See, God allowed Israel to reject her Messiah, actually talked as a nation about blinding them, that if you are a Gentile, you could be saved. Now, it's not that there weren't Gentiles saved in the Old Testament, there were, but not a lot. And God always wanted all families of the earth to be blessed. So God allowed Israel as a nation to be blinded, to reject their Messiah, that you, Gentiles, could be saved. And God was not pleased with Israel. Oh, in 1 Thessalonians, I thought I had it down here. And maybe I have it somewhere. 1 Thessalonians 2.16. Listen to what it says. Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved. fill up their sins so the wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. And the Jewish leadership forbade the Jewish believers to share the gospel with Gentile people. And their wrath, the Jewish leadership, by extension the nation, their cup came to overflowing with the wrath of God. Because they wanted to prevent the gospel from going to Gentiles. But God had always planned, desired, going back to the Abrahamic covenant, the gospel would go to the Jewish and Gentile peoples of the world. So they haven't stumbled that they would fall, but rather that Gentiles would come to salvation. But then there's a responsibility that Gentiles who get saved have, the end of verse 11, for to provoke them to jealousy. That is that Gentiles who come to know the Lord then have a divine responsibility to turn around and to provoke Jewish people to jealousy. You know they're God, you know they're Messiah, you have forgiveness of sins, and you have a divine mandate to the, and back in Romans, it starts to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile, but a divine mandate to share the gospel with Jewish people. Now the Jewish leadership, again, they didn't want Gentiles to come to the Lord. They worked against it, and God was not pleased. Look at verse 12 now. Now if the fall of them, Israel, the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness. If God setting aside Israel temporarily was the riches of the world and the riches of the Gentiles, what would happen if the Jewish people would come to the fullness of God's plan, accepting their Messiah? By rejecting the Messiah, the riches of the world, the riches of the Gentiles were poured out by God. And God says, by their being put aside, what would happen if they came to the Lord, Jewish people? Look at verse 15. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead? See, the casting away, the setting aside of the nation of Israel because of their rejection of Jesus, if that is the reconciliation of the world, and potentially every single person in the world can be saved. There's only one prerequisite or only one requirement to be saved. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be You have to call on the Lord. And through Israel's putting aside Jesus, God putting aside Israel, potentially the entire world can be saved through the death, burial, resurrection of Jesus. And so the question again is asked, verse 15, what shall the receiving of them be then? If this resulted in their being put aside, what would happen if Jews were received? if they came to the Lord? Well, it would be a salvation to the world like we can't even begin to imagine. If you've signed up for the next issue, I've written an article around Romans 9 through 11, which is the heart of the argument of chapter, oh, 1 through 8, starting in verse 17 anyway. But I think a lot of people missed the argument. And I can't develop it a lot right now. I'm talking about some of it in this message. But you read the very first few verses in Romans chapter 1. It talks about this gospel foretold and prophesied by the prophets of Israel. And then in Romans 1.16, the priority to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. There's a reason for all of that. And I don't have time to develop it. That's what this upcoming article is in the next issue of Israel's Messenger. That, Lord willing, will be in the mail around the middle or so of, around the end of October, maybe early November. But the whole point is, why the priority? Because there's an intrinsic tie-in between Jewish evangelism and world evangelism. That's what it's saying here. And so Paul says in verse 13, I speak to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office. Now earlier, Paul had said that he himself was willing to be accursed, go to hell, if his brethren could be saved. I wish I could say, well, I don't even wish it. I can't say the same thing. I know what hell's about. I don't wanna go to hell that somebody else would be saved. I wanna see people saved But I'm not willing to go to hell that they might be saved. That shows the heart of the Apostle Paul. He knew he couldn't be lost. But I wish myself to be a curse for my brethren that they would come to the Lord. And I think the argument there is more than just a Jewish familial love. This is my kinsmen, this is my flesh, this is my cousins and my nephews and my uncles and my aunts. I think it's a lot more than that. I think it's because Paul understood back to Romans 1.16 that there's this intrinsic tie-in between Jewish evangelism and world evangelism. And if more Jewish people would come to the Lord, more Gentiles would come to the Lord, and the ultimate fulfillment of Romans 11, 11, 15 is when all Israel is saved at the end of the tribulation period, and there's this explosion of Gentiles coming to the Lord in the Millennial Kingdom. And I believe in the Millennial Kingdom, you're gonna have more people saved, much more saved, than at any other time in history, and adding up every one saved prior to that, and there'll be more in the Millennial Kingdom. I think if you could figure out the numbers today. Remember Jesus said the disciples came to him. Lord, are there few that be saved? Luke 13. Narrows the door, remember? Many come to it, right? How many come through it? Few. In other words, in this age, in the Mosaic age, the time before, there is very, very few. There's only a remnant according to the election of grace. There's only a people for his name. The number of truly saved people in the world today is essentially minuscule based on the world population. But if you figure in the millennium, I think when all is said and done, God will redeem. many more that are lost. But the great majority of that will be in the millennium, on the heels of all Israel being saved. I think the reason Paul said that, not just because of a familial love, family love, But he understood the intrinsic time between Jewish evangelism and world evangelism. And I am willing, Paul said, to be accursed from Jesus, go to hell. But my kinsmen would be saved, because if my kinsmen are saved, that is so many, many, many, many, many more Gentiles. So Gentiles, I speak to you. And I want you to understand, I'm your apostle, Paul says. I'm the apostle to the Gentiles. So I'm not, I don't want you to misunderstand. I'm not telling you this because I'm Jewish. I'm telling you this, Paul says, because I'm your apostle. I magnify, I focus on my responsibility, on my office. And because of that, verse 14, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy, emulation jealousy, the same word that we found earlier in verse 11, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy them which are my flesh and might save some of them. Gentiles, we need to get Jewish people saved. By any means, obviously within biblical parameters, we need to do that, Paul is saying. Your apostle is telling you that. Why? Because if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, the riches of the Gentiles, the riches of the world, what would happen if Jewish people came to the Lord? It would be like life from the dead. There'd be an explosion of spiritual salvation of people coming to the Lord that you can't even begin to imagine. And if you would just do a superficial glance at church history, that's the case. In the first church, it was to the Jew first, and they constantly did that. Paul did that throughout the book of Acts, and it says that they turned, the first century church, they turned the world upside down for Christ. When's the last time we've turned the world upside down for Christ? Tragically, in the age we live in, the time we live in today, it's more like the world turns the church upside down, sadly. So he's giving us these marching orders and this instruction. And then in verse 16, he says this. In the next section, we're gonna look at this through verse 24. For if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy. If the root be holy, so are the branches. Now, it is accepted by just about every Bible teacher that I'm aware of that this is speaking of the Abrahamic covenant. Let me just, I've got a couple of quotes. Let me just read one of them to you, Warren Worsby. commenting on this section, he says, the reference is to Numbers 15, 17 through 21. The first part of the dough was to be offered up to God as a symbol that the entire lump belonged to him. The same idea was involved in the Feast of Firstfruits, when the priest offered a sheep to the Lord as a token that the entire harvest was his, Leviticus 23, nine through 14. The basic idea is that when God accepts the part, he sanctifies the whole. Applying this to the history of Israel, we understand Paul's argument. God accepted the founder of the nation, Abraham, and in so doing, set apart his descendants as well. God also accepted the other patriarchs, Isaac and Jacob, and in spite of their sins and failings, this means that God must accept the rest of the lump, the nation of Israel. The lump, and the branches represent the nation of Israel, which is holy, chosen of God, the Abrahamic covenant. Now, if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy, the total, and if the root be holy, so are the branches. Now, that doesn't mean every individual Jewish person is saved. That's not what this is all about. Holy doesn't mean you're necessarily saved, it means you're set apart, you're distinct, you have an intrinsically spiritual purpose to your existence. That's Israel. As a nation, as a people, they have an intrinsically spiritual purpose, set apart to serve God uniquely. We are called to be holy also. Why? Because we are set apart as believers. with an intrinsically spiritual purpose to serve God. God said what? Be ye holy as I am holy. Be different, distinct, set apart. Well, Israel was set apart, and that makes all the branches. Even though a lot of them were unbelieving, they're part of the nation, so they're unique in the sense that they're set apart to be holy. Now look at verse 17 of Romans 11. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree. Now, are all the branches broken off? No, look what it says, and if some of the branches be broken off. Be broken off from what? From the root, from the lump, from the Abrahamic covenant. And it's the Abrahamic covenant ultimately where we find salvation. And those Jews who put their trust in Jesus, they're not broken off. They're not the branches broken, but some of the branches are broken off because of unbelief we'll see. But thou, Gentiles he's speaking to, you're a wild olive tree. You were grafted in among them, and with them partakes of the root and fatness of the olive tree. See, you're a wild olive tree, you're not a natural olive tree. But if you're a Gentile and have been saved, you've been grafted into the lump, to the root, to the Abrahamic covenant and you receive the blessings that the Jews who have accepted the Lord receive as well. Now let me read what Stephen Cole says, Precept Austin, about this. The olive tree represents in the broadest sense the people of God. In the Old Testament era, this was Israel, made up of both believers and unbelievers. It now is composed of the church in the broadest sense. made up of believers, but also of some that profess to believe, but are not true believers. These are the ones that Paul warns may be cut off. We're getting to that in a moment. God is able to graft the Jews back into the people of God if they do not continue in their unbelief. That's verse 23, we'll be there shortly. But we need to stay focused, Cole says. We need to stay focused on Paul's main purpose for the illustration. Namely, to confront any spiritual pride on the part of Gentiles in the church. And to confront any antisemitism stemming from such pride that would choke out zeal for evangelizing the Jews. Since the root of both problems with spiritual pride will focus on how to guard against this dangerous sin. There's other examples I could read. But think of the lump and the root. Israel. And some of those branches were cut off, meaning that some remained. So within the nation of Israel, you always had believing Jews, unbelieving Jews. That's what Paul dealt with in the first five verses. When he comes to the Gentiles, and you were grafted in, he is looking at the Gentiles now in the broader aspect. We would call it Christendom. And in the professing church, there are those who are truly saved and there are those who are not. Now, didn't Jesus warn, for example, and Paul warned in speaking to the Ephesus, Church of Ephesus, the elders, he warned there's gonna be false prophets among you, wolves, and they'll come up from among you. So he's speaking primarily now to the Gentiles of the church and warning them against the pride, against arrogancy, against the sin of antisemitism. So the sum of the branches being broken off in the entire context of this passage are the Jews, the nation with an unbelieving majority. The wild olive tree represents the church primarily the Gentiles who make up the vast majority of the church, because he's speaking to the Gentiles, which receives the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, the spiritual blessings. It is likely that the branches broken off speak of the nation of Israel represented here by unbelieving Jews, and that the branches not broken off again would be Jewish believers in Jesus, the remnant spoken of earlier in this text. Now look at verses 18 through 20. Speaking to the Gentiles. Boast not against the branches. Now who are the branches? Jewish people. Boast not against the branches. But if you do boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. I don't want you to boast, but if you boast, you should understand. You don't, you're not the, you don't hold up the root. The root holds you up. Why are you boasting? You're grafted in. You get the benefit of the Abrahamic covenant. So why would you boast? Don't boast. Thou will say then, verse 19. Now read this with me carefully. The Gentiles will say then, the branches were broken off that I might be grafted in. Is that what the scripture taught? Go back to verse 17. if some of the branches be broken off. But they say, the branches, all the branches were broken off. God says, no, some of the branches, not all of the branches. That will say then the branches are broken off that I might be grafted in. Well, because of unbelief, they were broken off. Some of the branches were broken off. You Gentiles stand by faith. Be not high-minded, but fair. Don't be arrogant, don't be conceited, don't be high-minded, don't think you're so good. God cut off Israel, cut off the Jewish people, and you're now the people of God. Don't be arrogant. Charles Ryrie says this, the olive tree is the place of privilege. that was first occupied by the natural branches, the Jews. The wild branches are the Gentiles, who because of unbelief of Israel, now occupy the place of privilege. The root of the tree is the Abrahamic covenant that promised blessing to both Jew and Gentile through Christ. But understand, a warning is giving. to the predominantly Gentile church, don't be boastful, don't be high-minded, don't be arrogant, in speaking against Israel, and saying that the branches in totality were broken off. Now, replacement theology was introduced in the second century, origin, introduced allegorism. You don't take the Bible literally. But replacement theology was developed as a major doctrine by Augustine, the church father. Not my father. And that has become that the church has replaced Israel in the plan of God. That God set aside the Jew, set aside Israel, and has replaced Israel with the new Israel, the church. That is by far the predominant teaching in Christendom. At least, if not more than 85% of Christian churches teach that God is through with Israel. The branches are broken off, and he has replaced Israel with the church. That is erroneous, that is heresy, That is exactly what God is warning about here. It is the predominant teaching. Catholicism, Episcopalianism, Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Church of Christ, Mormons. I'm using the Christendom in a very wide, obviously, understanding. unfortunately reform Baptists. There's a big movement, or there's at least a movement today of independent Baptists who are jumping into this cauldron. It is wrong, it is erroneous, it is arrogancy, it is high-mindedness, it is just plain wrong. And so God warns the Gentiles in the church, He's speaking predominantly to them, in verse 21. For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. So what did he do to some of the natural branches? The whole nation of Israel, not the remnant of Israel. He cut them off. He set them aside. They were destroyed as a nation in 70 AD. And if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest also he spared not thee. What did he do to take Israel off the scene? Because they were restricting the gospel from going to Gentiles. They were not fulfilling what God intended them to do, to take the gospel to the whole world, that all families of the earth would be blessed. He destroyed them as a nation. And be forewarned, God says, same thing can happen to you Gentiles, predominantly in the church. Verse 22, behold therefore the goodness and severity of God. Two things, one the goodness, the other the severity. I want you to embrace, understand, behold the goodness and severity of God. On them which fell were cut off severity, but toward thee Gentiles, goodness. If thou continue in his goodness, otherwise thou shall be cut off. Now how do you receive the goodness of God? Salvation. But if you reject that, God's gonna cut you off just like he cut off Israel. So what we have here is a contrast between God's goodness and God's severity. Israel's unbelief as a nation brought God's severity upon them, even though there were a number of believers in the nation, that God set them aside temporarily because they were not doing what God wanted them to do, which was be a light to the Gentiles, a mouthpiece to the world that Jesus saves. So God's goodness or usefulness, Gentiles, will remain with the church. as long as the church remains useful doing what God wants. If not, the church will be cut off. Then verse 23, If they abide not still in belief, speaking of Israel, the unsaved Jewish people, shall be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again. If God could take a wild olive tree, contrary to nature, and graft that into the olive tree, don't you think God can take the natural branches, if they would come to belief and graft them back into the Abrahamic covenant, the olive tree? Certainly. And that's what he argues in verse 24. For if thou were cut out of the olive tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? God is able to bring unbelieving Israel back to himself, and that is exactly what the scriptures teach he will do in the last days. And it's not difficult. If God could bring you to faith, Gentile, wild olive tree, contrary to nature graft you in, certainly He can do that with a natural olive tree. Then look at verse 25. For I would not brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery. I don't want you to be ignorant. And again, he's speaking primarily to the Gentile believers. I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits. I don't want you to be arrogant. I don't want you to be high-minded. I don't want you to be conceited. I don't want you to be ignorant of what I am talking about, Paul says. I don't want you to be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits, that blindness, in part, It's happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. Not all of Israel is cut off. I'm a living example that part of Israel receives the truth. Thank God, I'm one of them. But I'm not alone, thank God, as well. Gentiles, I don't want you to be ignorant that Israel is blind, yes, but only part of Israel, not all of Israel. And that blindness in part has happened until when? The fullness of the Gentiles become in. So Gentiles are warned not to be ignorant because of their conceit of the mystery. Now that Precept Austin commentary said this. Beloved, the church needs to remember that God is not finished with Israel. Anyone who teaches that is conceited and lacks understanding of the mystery in this passage. Replacement theology is such an aberrant, conceited understanding in which the basic premise is propounded that God is finished with Israel because the church is now the Israel of God. It is heresy. It stinks to the high heavens. and you might hear it from John Piper, you might hear it when he was alive, R.C. Sproul, you might hear it from the Bible Answer Man, Hank Hanegraaff, and a host of other people, turn off the radio. It is wrong, it is conceited, it is arrogant, it is contrary to the word of God. Now, let me summarize this and tell you in the context what I think this is speaking of. Number one, Israel was preventing the gospel from going to the Gentiles. I mentioned that earlier, 1 Thessalonians 2.16, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved. God all along wanted Gentiles to be saved, not just Jews. Abrahamic covenant, that all families of the earth be blessed. Number two, the blindness upon Israel is national, as Israel was set aside temporarily, not permanently, in 70 AD, and God started using the church in his plan. But as there were unsaved and saved in the nation of Israel, the same is true with the church. Now, not the body of Christ, but the church in the sense of Christendom. Thirdly, Israel was set aside so that the gospel would go to the Gentiles. Romans 11, 11. And Romans 11, 30 says, for as you in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their, the Jewish people, unbelief. Gentiles didn't believe God, but because of their unbelief, the Jewish people, the nation of Israel, in totality, you have received mercy that you are able to come to the Lord. Point number four. The church, represented by predominantly Gentile makeup of the church, and that's who's being addressed here. Paul says, I speak to you Gentiles. We're to provoke to jealousy the Jewish people by sharing the gospel with them. Romans 11, 11. See, but the problem is, and it started with Augustine, and it's continued to this day, where Israel has become a witness people. The Jewish people become a witness people, the church fathers wrote. They are an example of how one is to be cursed before God by rejecting Jesus. And so the church is not to have anything to do with Jewish people. And they were ostracized. They were given symbols to carry around, setting them apart. And they were set apart as pariah, as scum. the mark of Cain, some would say, on them. And instead of loving them to life in Christ, they were persecuted. Hitler came to power, quoting Martin Luther. So instead of witnessing to Israel, they started persecuting Israel. You know, the dark ages, you know the dark ages in history? The dark ages when the spiritual light almost went out. The first church turned the world upside down with the gospel. The light of God spread throughout the world. But then the church very quickly started misunderstanding God's plan, persecuting the Jews. So it's like God just turned off the light bulb, not completely, but a lot. And very few were getting saved. Because again, world evangelism is based on Jewish evangelism. This is what this is about. So much of this high-mindedness, this arrogance, this conceitedness, goes to the feet of replacement theology. Point number six, the mystery is that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles become in. the mystery concerns national Israel coming to the Lord when the fullness of the Gentiles, which is in context representing the church, comes in. It's not the fullness of the church, though, it's the fullness of the Gentiles. When the arrogancy, when the high-mindedness of the Gentiles reaches its point of not bringing the gospel to the Jewish people, At that point, God says, okay, just like I set aside Israel and took them off the scene so Gentiles could come to the Lord. Gentiles, you have a responsibility to turn around and provoke Jews to jealousy, and you have not done it. And your arrogancy, and this is not every individual believer, Gentile, But your arrogancy has not only been high-minded and conceited, but it has prevented the gospel from going to the Jewish people. So I'm gonna take you off the scene that Jews can be saved. It's what happens in the tribulation period. Initially with 144,000, at the end of the tribulation period, all Israel is saved. So the fullness of the Gentiles is when there the predominantly Gentile made up church disobedience has reached its pinnacle and not sharing the gospel of the Jewish people and God removes them from the earth through the rapture and returns to working through Israel. Now, the nation of Israel, the unbelievers, went into captivity in judgment. The believers continued on serving the Lord. What will happen in the rapture is the believing church, the body of Christ, Jew and Gentile, are removed from the scene. But the professing church continues on. And they're taken into the tribulation period. And in the beginning of the tribulation period, the Antichrist cozies up to the church. A woman rides the beast. The woman is the institutional church. headed up by Roman Catholicism, replacement theology. But by the middle of the tribulation period, the Antichrist wants soul worship and destroys the church. It's God's judgment on the church for not doing what she should. The rapture removes the believers, but the institutional church goes into the tribulation period in judgment. And then in verse 26, And so all Israel shall be saved. As it is written, there shall come out of Zion that the deliverer shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. When the fullness of the Gentiles occurs, the church goes into the tribulation, the professing church, not the believers, not the body of Christ. They are judged. And after that, all Israel is saved. at the end of the tribulation period. Now, the endpoint, the termini, of the fullness of the Gentiles, the view I just shared, is the same with the traditional view. That is, the rapture of the church. But the catalyst is different. The traditional view sees the catalyst as being the last person saved during the church age. What if the last person saved is Jewish, not the Gentiles? You would think if it was speaking of the rapture it would say when the fullness of the church comes in. Or you could even say if the fullness of the elect. A lot of people would misunderstand that. But it says the fullness of the Gentiles. The fullness, and so the catalyst is different. The traditional view is that it's the rapture. I believe in the context of what it's saying, just as the Jewish people were preventing the gospel from going to the Gentiles, and God always wanted that to happen, not only Genesis 12, three, Isaiah, a lot of passages, 1 Thessalonians 2, 16, they're preventing that. So God took Israel off the scene that you can come to the Lord. But you have a responsibility to the Jew first, to go back and provoke them to jealousy. And Paul was willing to go to hell, that his family, the Jewish people, could be saved, because he knew there's this intrinsic tie-in with the gospel. But the Gentile world, the Gentile church, predominantly unsaved, just as Israel was predominantly unsaved, had prevented the gospel from going to the Jewish people. So God's gonna remove the church, the believing portion, which is a very small portion of Christendom, to heaven. But the institutional church, into the tribulation for judgment. I think we're very close. I'm reading a new book on the history of replacement theology. What a sordid history. And it's getting worse today. Tragic. the fullness of the Gentiles become in, which is not the rapture of the church, although that coincides with what I believe this is teaching, but the refusal of the large part of the church not to bring the gospel to Jewish people. And that's at least 85% or more. And tragically, even among the 10 to 15% of good churches, The vast majority of those, they don't support Jewish evangelism. They don't support Jewish missions. So you could add to that 85, even though they may not be replacement theology. Why should we bring the gospel to the Jews? There's 15 million Jews. There's seven billion Gentiles. Just numerically, it makes sense to bring the gospel, put all of our efforts to the Gentiles. Because there's so many more Gentiles, and those Jews are stiff-necked anyway. But as Paul said, but if the receiving of them be as life from the dead, that's why we need to have a major emphasis on Jewish evangelism. Because there's many, many, many more Gentiles that will come to the Lord. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for the word of God. I think the wrath of the Gentiles in our institutional professing church is reaching its peak. I think your judgment's gonna come on when you're gonna take that woman who rides the beast, that institutional church that hates Israel, that hates Jewish people, that speaks of them as cursed from God. You will judge them. in the tribulation period. Help us, Lord, to be faithful, though, in bringing the gospel to the Jew first, also to the Gentile. Why did Paul say that? I think as he develops later in Romans, because there's this intrinsic tie-in, Lord, that you have with Jewish evangelism, and world evangelism. So we commit this to you, Father, in Jesus' name, amen.