Playful Preterism: A Dispensationalist in 70AD

 A thing of beauty!  This is some AI I can support.  

We need more and more of this concerning premillennialism, amillers and especially dispensationalism.

Christian Legalism vs. Yeshua's Law-word (Part 2)

 Westminster Confession: Chapter 19 “Of the Law of God”

          Sections 3, 5, 6-7  (1646 AD)
 
3. God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, His graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly holding forth divers instructions of moral duties. All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated under the New Testament.

     (Col 2.14,16-17 / Dn 9.27 / Eph 2.15-16 / Mk 7.18-19 / Gal 2.4)

 

5. The moral law doth forever bind all, justified persons as well as others, to the obedience thereof; and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen, this obligation.  (Ecc.12.13 / Rom 13.8-10 / Eph 6.2 / 1^st John 2.3-4,7-8 / Rom 3.31, 6.15 / James 2.8, 10-11 / Mt 5.17-19)

 

6. Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned; yet is it of great use to them, as well as to others; in that, as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly; discovering also the sinful pollutions of their nature, hearts, and lives; so as, examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against sin; together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and the perfection of His obedience.

      It is likewise of use to the regenerate, to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin, and the threatenings of it serve to show what even their sins deserve, and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse thereof threatened in the law.

       The promises of it, in like manner, show them God’s approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof; although not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works: so as a man’s doing good, and refraining from evil, because the law encourageth to the one, and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of his being under the law, and not under grace.  

(Rom 6.14 / Gal 2.16, 3.13, 4.4-5, 5.14,16,18-23 / Acts 13.39 Rom 7.12,22,25 / Ps 119.4-6 / 1^st Cor 7.19)

 

7. Neither are the forementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly comply with it: the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully, which the will of God, revealed in the law, requireth to be done.  (Titus 2.14)

Christian Legalism vs. Yeshua's Law-word (Part 1)

"Great peace have those who love Your law."

         Psalm 119.165

Legalism is man's moralistic traditions or practices that are not commanded, nor logically deduced by model or principal in God's Word, but become darkly obligatory to obey through shame, and group pressure within the People of God.  It is faux godliness pulling its adherents down to death (Matthew 23.27-28).

But it is never legalism to lovingly obey the moral Law of God found in the Old and New Covenant Scripture.  It can be a form of works righteousness if an individual attempts to do so if one is unregenerate, or unconverted; but for those whose hearts has been circumcised (Col. 2.11) and transformed by God (Col 1.13-14), the commands of Christ are freedom.  (It should be noted that the ritual, ceremonial OT laws which were types and shadows to be fulfilled by and in Jesus, are abrogated, and no longer active nor applicable to the New Covenant; see coming Part 2 for more clarification on that.)

As A.W. Pink states, "True liberty is not the power to live as we please but to live as we ought." (James 1:25).  And that "ought" is found in the Scripture under the ethical commands of Yahweh our triune Creator.  This again, of course, presupposes a person can joyfully obey God's precepts from his heart because he has been regenerated, or born anew, by the Spirit (see Romans 7.4, 8.2 / Eph 2.1-10)

Upon faith being gifted to us and bringing us from death to life (Col.2.13) we are no longer "under the law" by way of condemnation and death, but now are under the unmerited, and undeserved, favor of Christ (i.e. grace), and live under and through Jesus' righteousness as our covenant head.  And because we have a new Master, home, and life, and the Holy Spirit's leading, we now see and comprehend the loveliness of the Creator's ways and want to follow and learn from Him; and so we do, through His majestic Law-word (Psalm 119.160).  

Here then is where true freedom is found:

"The entirety of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever."  (Psalm 119.160)

"Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind."

     (Ecclesiastes  12.13)

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and Earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men to do so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5.17-19)

“…since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.  Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law”. (Romans 3.30-3)

“…the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.” (Romans 7.12)

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”      (John 14.15)

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”   (1st John 5.2-3)

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”  (John 15.10)

"He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."   (James1.25)

"This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.” (2nd John 1.6)

“All Scripture [in this passage Paul would mean the Old Testament] is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”  (2nd Timothy 5.15-17)

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on Earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”     (Matthew 28.18-20)

RePost: Romans Chapter 11 and Modern "Jews"

Are the present-day people who identify themselves as “Jews” still special in some way in the New Covenant Era?

► [Jesus said]  “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”

       They [the chief priests and the elders of the people] said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons….” 
       “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.”    (Matthew 21.33-43) 

---

 ► And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: “The kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 
       Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 
       Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.”        (Matthew 22.1-10)

---

 
► “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
      "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of Gehenna?  
      Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon THIS GENERATION.”     (Matthew 23.29-36)

---

 
►  Now as He [Jesus] drew near, He saw the city [Jerusalem] and wept over It, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 
                For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”    
(Luke 19:41-44)

 -------------------------------------

►   For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’  (Acts 3.22-23)

---

 
► Harmonize the above verses with:   Deuteronomy 28.15, 47-63  and  Malachi 4:4-5 
 
Comments:  The Scriptures above make clear that Old Covenant Israel came to an end, and that the Lord passed His Covenant-Kingdom on to another people: Christ followers, both Gentile and Jew.  Those wild, “unclean” Gentile people were being brought into God’s House (Eph.2:11-13, 19 /  2^nd Cor.6:11-16 / 1^st Cor.3:16-17, 6:19 / 1^st Peter 2:4-10), and were being tamed, domesticated and cultivated (Isaiah 11:7 / Acts 10:9-35 / Romans 11.17-24). 
 
In other words, presently the wolf (the Gentiles) is lying down with the lamb (the Jews):
  
“The wolf (Gentiles) also shall dwell with the lamb (Jews),
The leopard (Gentiles) shall lie down with the young goat (Jews),
The calf (Jews) and the young lion (Gentiles) and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
The cow (Jews) and the bear (Gentiles) shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion (Gentiles) shall eat straw like the ox (Jews).
The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of YHWH
As the waters cover the sea.
And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left…
He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel.”
      - Isaiah 11:1-12
 
Those people within O.C. Israel who had been given “ears to hear” and “eyes to see” continued to be part of the Covenant; these were the chosen “remnant” that Paul speaks of in Romans 10-11, and those Isaiah shows above.  
       In other words, they were still connected to The Vine (i.e. Jesus), which had always been standing with its roots firmly founded in promises/covenants to Adam, Noah, Abraham and David. Those Covenants were irrevocable promises (Galatians 3.15-18) that weren’t contingent on obedience, quite unlike the Mosaic Covenant to called-out Israel that was; and it was so by YHWH’s design.
       In Deuteronomy 28 Moses spells out the curses of what would happen to the Mosaic Covenant and the people swearing to uphold it if they were unfaithful to YHWH.  The upshot is that they would ultimately be “torn out of the land” (vs.63), and that unites with what Jesus says in the former verses above, and how Malachi ends the final Old Covenant Revelation with the warning to Israel to “remember the Law…with the statues and judgments” (i.e. Deuteronomy and specifically chapter 28) because the coming of the “great and dreadful day of YHWH” is coming when “Elijah” (John the Baptister) appears.  
       All of this comports with the destruction of the Temple spoken of in Matthew 24, and with all the NT phrases like "this generation", "the last days", the "time is short", "the end of the age", the “fullness of time”, and what we know historically happened to Jerusalem in 70 A.D.  In other words, Mosaic Old Covenant Jews no longer exist and have been scattered to the wind (Psalm 1:4-5), but true, transcendent Israel still exists; it just has been remodeled / transformed / made new.  
 
The widespread popular understanding of Romans 11 and modern Israel 
Now, further down this tunnel, this brings us to the question of Romans 11:25-27 where it is popularly taught that Paul speaks there about Israel having some far-in-the-future collective blindness, but that they will one day come out of that fog, by God’s grace, and have some type of mass conversion, again, sometime soon or perhaps in the far future at the “end times”.  
       I hope you see that this popular rendering of what Paul is prophesying about is “out of place” and doesn’t harmonize whatsoever with the motifs and verses I’ve printed out above. Because, naturally, if the Mosaic Old Covenant is obsolete, which it is (Hebrews 8:7-13), and O.C. Israelites no longer exist, as Jesus said, and true Jews are now following Messiah in the New Covenant, then who exactly is this future “Israel” that Paul is (supposedly) talking about anyway?
 
So first, and most importantly, we need to turn our focus quickly to consider the current, present-day “Jews”.  
 
Who defines who a Jew is? 
To call yourself a Jew does not make you one, and to do so without the authorization nor definition of Yahweh only compounds ones sin.  To be, or become a Jew was never based on a blood-line, it was always based on a covenant-line. Anyone could become a Jew, and anyone who was a Jew could cease being a Jew.  Just as Christians in the New Covenant can. It was certainly much more difficult to stop being so in the OC than in the New, but it was possible. 
       So, these folks (wherever they live) who currently identify themselves “Jews” are not a people in ceremonial, covenant worship with YHWH (which, again, is what made someone “Israel” in the first place, not genetics or lineage) but sadly, these modern “Jews” are adherents to the Talmud – yes, even the “Orthodox” Jews – which is nothing more than esoteric commentaries on life and “Jewish” traditions and laws that were written down centuries after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and have very little to do with the Torah of the Old Covenant Scripture.  The idea that present-day “Jews” obey and study Old Testament Scripture is merely a Christian Dispensational myth that continues to live on, uninvestigated due to sentimental ideas of a “chosen” race and romanticized ideas of the end times connected to the city of Jerusalem.  (Books to read on this: Jews and Christians: The Myth of a Common Tradition by Neusner, a Talmudist “Jew”, and The Judeo-Christian Tradition: A Guide for the Perplexed by North)
       In other words, these modern, post 70AD "Jews" are imposters and posers that have commandeered the name that only God can give, and are using it, well, in high-handed sinfulness.  This obviously poses some questions and problems, but more on that later.
 
1^st Century Jewish Jealousy and Blindness 
Next, for clarity, I think we need to consider what it was that Paul (and Moses) stated would be the reason to spark Israel’s conversion to Jesus in the first place.  Moses (Deuteronomy 32:21; Romans 10:19) and Paul both say that the catalyst to start the mass conversion of Israel will be Israel’s jealousy of the conversion of Gentiles (Rom 10.19, 11.11).  
        Now, let’s be honest, that’s not a problem – nor will be – for the modern, Talmudic-Mishnah “Jew”, and has not been for 2000 years!  But rather, what really gets a modern adherent to Judiasm (Talmudism) angry is when one of their own Talmudist “Jews” convert to Jesus; it’s certainly not when a “Gentile” does!  They could care less!!  But they would have cared during Paul's time.  This shows strong internal evidence – meaning Scripture explaining Scripture – that the meaning of Romans 11:25-27 “future Jewish conversion” is set in Paul’s time, BUT it is in the near future to him.  
       Next, marry this idea to the fact that the Scriptures always connect the “blindness” of the Jews to the direct hearing, reading and studying of Scripture and never to a satanic book like the Talmud.  Time and time again, Jesus and Paul refer to a blindness or deafness of the Israelites as they are listening and reading the expounding of the Scriptures and how they simply don’t “get it” and actually cannot (for a short time).  
     Just read Paul in Acts 13.13-48, 28.17-29, and Jesus (Matt.13.13-17, John 12.37-43). That period of time was characterized by Jewish blindness and deafness!  Throughout Jesus’ ministry that’s all you read about: either physical or spiritual blindness.  Blindness here, blindness there, blindness – say it with me – everywhere!  You have blind “guides” leading blind people (Matthew 15:12-15), and blind hearts and eyes (John 12:35-40) all over the land of Israel.
       Now, I ain’t no college professor, but I’m guessing here that God is dropping hints to direct us to some truth that He’s endeavoring to communicate to us, and it’s a bit more than just “Wow, look at all the miracles Jesus did! Cool! He sure is nice to them-there blind people!”
        Nope.  When taking Scripture expounding Scripture, what I’m convinced of is that Paul is speaking in Romans 11 about a unique blindness that had been brought upon the very keepers of the Oracles of God (Romans 3:2) of his day whereupon the vast majority of Israel had been rendered blind and unable to understand the very Treasure they had been given to guard and obey.  I do not believe he is referring to some future Talmudist “Jews” who are, along with all people, fallen in mankind’s universal, dead-in-sin general blindness.  Nor do I believe Paul is saying that the future, non-covenant, imposter, Talmudist “Jew” is blind in some other special way just because he states he is a “Jew”.  This very idea of a unique blindness to first-century Israel is specifically stated by Paul in 2^nd Corinthians 3.14-16 when he writes that his fellow Israelites living in that day are THE blind ones.     

“For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is   taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart [children of Israel, vs13].  Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

And again, by Paul in Acts 28.24-28, showing a blaring, neon-sign, characteristic of the blind hearts of Israel during that period of time: 

"And some [leaders of the Jews in Rome] were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying:  ‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’   Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”

This again shows strong internal Scriptural evidence that what Paul is talking about in Romans 11 is that the apostles and the unbelieving Jews at that time were in an unique situation after the resurrection of Christ, and until the Temple’s destruction (40 years, or The Last Days), when that symbol of the Mosaic Old Covenant would be destroyed and the New Covenant is ushered in.

 
So what determines who is a Jew?
To look at it from another angle, we can see that Paul could identify the “Israel” he was referring to in Romans 11 because those people observed the Torah laws of sacrifice and were circumcised, and that was the identifying “mark” of an Israelite so that everyone knew exactly who they were and who the Israel Paul was referring to.
       Today there is no such mark for us to have the certainty that Paul did.  Christians are the Israelites now (Galatians 3:7-9; Romans 2:28-29), so how are we to identify this “Israel” that Paul is (supposedly) referring to?   What is the standard, the identifier, that God is using so we’ll all know, here in the future, who the “Israelites” he is speaking about are?   How?  Because they have a supposed “Jewish” last name? Or, that they paid for a DNA test that “proves” they are of Abraham’s blood?  Or maybe because they live in Palestine?  Or perhaps because they are a cultic practitioner of the Talmud?  I’ve already spoken above how these marks don’t make you a Jew, so none of these are “Israel”, and besides, by some of these criteria even Ivanka Trump Kushner is Jewish, and so is Madonna!  Do you see the problem?
       “Well”, you may say, “only Christ knows who the Israelites are that will convert to Jesus.”  But that only strengthens my point.  Paul certainly has no doubts as to who they are and how to identify them, but we today have nothing, zip, zilch, nada.  Doesn’t that raise some questions in your mind?  If it does not, I believe it should.
       This all circles back around to the Biblical, defining fact that the true Israelite is someone who has had a spiritual, heart conversion to new life following in the faith of Abraham that trusted in Messiah Jesus. There are no other Jews now than those who follow and obey the risen Galilean. 

Therefore, I conclude that Paul, in Romans 11:25-27, must be speaking a prophetic word concerning his time before the End of the Age / Latter or Last Days (i.e. Old Covenant), and not some futuristic 3,000 or 7,000 years after him when some people calling themselves “Jews” will somehow be even more fantastically blind than they were in the first century! 
       Rather, we see in the New Testament writings, and historical documents, that priests and OC Israelites of all stripes – the Remnant – clamored in and signed-up to follow the Greater Moses into the new Promised Land along with the Gentiles and forsook “Egypt, and thus Romans 11 WAS fulfilled in that day.
       The followers of the demonic Talmud need the King’s pardon and salvation just as equally as all the human race does, and Talmudists and/or persons with old “jewish” last names aren’t in a special, heavenly category here or in the future plans of Almighty God.  

RePost from April 14, 2017

RePost: Who is a Jew according to Holy Scripture?

Originally posted April 7, 2017

--   For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart.     (Romans 2:28-29)

--   For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. (Romans 10.12)

--   Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.  (Galatians 3.7-9)

--  For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.   (Galatians 3.26-29)

--   Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh…that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise…. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace…. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,  in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.   (Ephesians 2.11-22)

--   And he [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised….Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”)    (Romans 4.11-12, 16-17)

--  For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
(Romans 9.7-8)

(Scripture from NKJV)

Comments:  To be a “Jew” is, and always has been about being in covenant with YHWH by faith.  It isn’t, and never was about genetics or lineage.  It is not based on blood-line, rather it is based on covenant-line. 

So NOW, in the New Covenant, it is about worshipping and obeying the “exact image” of YHWH (Hebrews 1.1-5), who is Yeshua, and being in covenant-relationship with Him.  

Those who do so, are Israel: TRUE Jews.

Pascal: Upsetting the "I Choose" Apple Cart

"We understand nothing of the works of God, if we do not take as a principle that He has willed to blind some, and enlighten others."

                  -- Blaise Pascal, excerpt #564 from his work Pensees

The Accepted Myth of the "Millennium"

"The literal interpretation of Revelation 20:1-6 led some of the early church Fathers...to believe in an intervening millennial kingdom.   ....   But it is not correct to say, as Premillenarians do, that it was generally accepted in the first three centuries.  The truth of the matter is that the adherents of this doctrine were a rather limited number.  There is no trace of it in Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Dionysius, and other important Church Fathers."

     -- excerpt from The History of Christian Doctrines by Louis Berkof
                      page 262 (Banner of Truth Publishing)

Is Jesus Now the Temple and does He have Priests?

by C.E. Ankeny
NKJV

--  Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”   But He was speaking of the temple of His body.  Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.  (John 2.19-21)

--  Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.  Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.  (Hebrews 9.11-12)

--  Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,  and having a High Priest over the house of God…  (Hebrews 10.19)

--  Now this is the main point of the things we are saying:  We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.  (Hebrews 8.1-2)

-- Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ….You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.  

(1 Peter 2:5, 9)

-- Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.  (Revelation 1:5-6)

-- You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.  (Revelation 5.10)

Comments:  Jesus is both the High Priest, Sacrifice and the Temple/Tabernacle all at the same time.  And it is said that we – those who believe in Messiah – are being built into a holy temple (Ephesians 2) and actually ARE the Temple, both individually and corporately (2 Cor.6. 11-16, 1 Cor.3.16-17, 6.19).   

         That being so, Jesus then is also Mount Zion and Jerusalem (see Hebrews 12:18-24) because both were used as interchangeable synonyms in the OT (Daniel 9:16) to speak of where YHWH dwelt (see Isaiah 2.3, Micah 4.2, Jeremiah 31.6, Psalm 48), the Temple being the primary thing alluded to because it was the “heart” of Zion.  Hence, all the prophetic Old Covenant references describing the nations in the "latter days" coming, or streaming to them, are referring to Jesus Messiah, and coming to Him and not some geographical piece of land.  Those three -- Temple, Zion and Jerusalem -- were mere types or shadows waiting to be fulfilled in Messiah. 

          Therefore, in the final analysis, I do not believe it is inconsistent nor is it following a man-contrived system to conclude that the nations were, and are now, streaming to Jesus (read Isaiah 2:1-4), and they do that by coming to His Bride, that is, His People / Gathered Ones / Congregation which is the Temple NOW and not in the far distant future.

Romans Chapter 11 and Modern “Jews”

Are the present-day people who identify themselves as “Jews” still special in some way in the New Covenant Era?

► [Jesus said]  “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.  Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”

       They [the chief priests and the elders of the people] said to Him, “He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons….” 
       “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.”    (Matthew 21.33-43) 

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 ► And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables and said: “The kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come. 
       Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”’ But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business. And the rest seized his servants, treated them spitefully, and killed them. But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 
       Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Therefore go into the highways, and as many as you find, invite to the wedding.’ So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all whom they found, both bad and good. And the wedding hall was filled with guests.”        (Matthew 22.1-10)

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► “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’
      "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt.  Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of Gehenna?  
      Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.  Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon THIS GENERATION.”     (Matthew 23.29-36)

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►  Now as He [Jesus] drew near, He saw the city [Jerusalem] and wept over It, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 
                For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”    
(Luke 19:41-44)

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►   For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’  (Acts 3.22-23)

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► Harmonize the above verses with:   Deuteronomy 28.15, 47-63  and  Malachi 4:4-5 
 
Comments:  The Scriptures above make clear that Old Covenant Israel came to an end, and that the Lord passed His Covenant-Kingdom on to another people: Christ followers, both Gentile and Jew.  Those wild, “unclean” Gentile people were being brought into God’s House (Eph.2:11-13, 19 /  2^nd Cor.6:11-16 / 1^st Cor.3:16-17, 6:19 / 1^st Peter 2:4-10), and were being tamed, domesticated and cultivated (Isaiah 11:7 / Acts 10:9-35 / Romans 11.17-24). 
 
In other words, presently the wolf (the Gentiles) is lying down with the lamb (the Jews):
  
“The wolf (Gentiles) also shall dwell with the lamb (Jews),
The leopard (Gentiles) shall lie down with the young goat (Jews),
The calf (Jews) and the young lion (Gentiles) and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
The cow (Jews) and the bear (Gentiles) shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion (Gentiles) shall eat straw like the ox (Jews).
The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the Earth shall be full of the knowledge of YHWH
As the waters cover the sea.
And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,
Who shall stand as a banner to the people;
For the Gentiles shall seek Him,
And His resting place shall be glorious.”
It shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time
To recover the remnant of His people who are left…
He will set up a banner for the nations,
And will assemble the outcasts of Israel.”
      - Isaiah 11:1-12
 
Those people within O.C. Israel who had been given “ears to hear” and “eyes to see” continued to be part of the Covenant; these were the chosen “remnant” that Paul speaks of in Romans 10-11, and those Isaiah shows above.  
       In other words, they were still connected to The Vine (i.e. Jesus), which had always been standing with its roots firmly founded in promises/covenants to Adam, Noah, Abraham and David. Those Covenants were irrevocable promises (Galatians 3.15-18) that weren’t contingent on obedience, quite unlike the Mosaic Covenant to called-out Israel that was; and it was so by YHWH’s design.
       In Deuteronomy 28 Moses spells out the curses of what would happen to the Mosaic Covenant and the people swearing to uphold it if they were unfaithful to YHWH.  The upshot is that they would ultimately be “torn out of the land” (vs.63), and that unites with what Jesus says in the former verses above, and how Malachi ends the final Old Covenant Revelation with the warning to Israel to “remember the Law…with the statues and judgments” (i.e. Deuteronomy and specifically chapter 28) because the coming of the “great and dreadful day of YHWH” is coming when “Elijah” (John the Baptister) appears.  
       All of this comports with the destruction of the Temple spoken of in Matthew 24, and with all the NT phrases like "this generation", "the last days", the "time is short", "the end of the age", the “fullness of time”, and what we know historically happened to Jerusalem in 70 A.D.  In other words, Mosaic Old Covenant Jews no longer exist and have been scattered to the wind (Psalm 1:4-5), but true, transcendent Israel still exists; it just has been remodeled / transformed / made new.  
 
The widespread popular understanding of Romans 11 and modern Israel 
Now, further down this tunnel, this brings us to the question of Romans 11:25-27 where it is popularly taught that Paul speaks there about Israel having some far-in-the-future collective blindness, but that they will one day come out of that fog, by God’s grace, and have some type of mass conversion, again, sometime soon or perhaps in the far future at the “end times”.  
       I hope you see that this popular rendering of what Paul is prophesying about is “out of place” and doesn’t harmonize whatsoever with the motifs and verses I’ve printed out above. Because, naturally, if the Mosaic Old Covenant is obsolete, which it is (Hebrews 8:7-13), and O.C. Israelites no longer exist, as Jesus said, and true Jews are now following Messiah in the New Covenant, then who exactly is this future “Israel” that Paul is (supposedly) talking about anyway?
 
So first, and most importantly, we need to turn our focus quickly to consider the current, present-day “Jews”.  
 
Who defines who a Jew is? 
To call yourself a Jew does not make you one, and to do so without the authorization nor definition of Yahweh only compounds ones sin.  To be, or become a Jew was never based on a blood-line, it was always based on a covenant-line. Anyone could become a Jew, and anyone who was a Jew could cease being a Jew.  Just as Christians in the New Covenant can. It was certainly much more difficult to stop being so in the OC than in the New, but it was possible. 
       So, these folks (wherever they live) who currently identify themselves “Jews” are not a people in ceremonial, covenant worship with YHWH (which, again, is what made someone “Israel” in the first place, not genetics or lineage) but sadly, these modern “Jews” are adherents to the Talmud – yes, even the “Orthodox” Jews – which is nothing more than esoteric commentaries on life and “Jewish” traditions and laws that were written down centuries after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and have very little to do with the Torah of the Old Covenant Scripture.  The idea that present-day “Jews” obey and study Old Testament Scripture is merely a Christian Dispensational myth that continues to live on, uninvestigated due to sentimental ideas of a “chosen” race and romanticized ideas of the end times connected to the city of Jerusalem.  (Books to read on this: Jews and Christians: The Myth of a Common Tradition by Neusner, a Talmudist “Jew”, and The Judeo-Christian Tradition: A Guide for the Perplexed by North)
       In other words, these modern, post 70AD "Jews" are imposters and posers that have commandeered the name that only God can give, and are using it, well, in high-handed sinfulness.  This obviously poses some questions and problems, but more on that later.
 
1^st Century Jewish Jealousy and Blindness 
Next, for clarity, I think we need to consider what it was that Paul (and Moses) stated would be the reason to spark Israel’s conversion to Jesus in the first place?  Moses (Deuteronomy 32:21; Romans 10:19) and Paul both say that the catalyst to start the mass conversion of Israel will be Israel’s jealousy of the conversion of Gentiles (Rom 10.19, 11.11).  
        Now, let’s be honest, that’s not a problem – nor will be – for the modern, Talmudic-Mishnah “Jew”, and has not been for 2000 years!  But rather, what really gets a modern adherent to Judiasm (Talmudism) angry is when one of their own Talmudist “Jews” convert to Jesus; it’s certainly not when a “Gentile” does!  They could care less!!  But they would have cared during Paul's time.  This shows strong internal evidence – meaning Scripture explaining Scripture – that the meaning of Romans 11:25-27 “future Jewish conversion” is set in Paul’s time, BUT it is in the near future to him.  
       Next, marry this idea to the fact that the Scriptures always connect the “blindness” of the Jews to the direct hearing, reading and studying of Scripture and never to a satanic book like the Talmud.  Time and time again, Jesus and Paul refer to a blindness or deafness of the Israelites as they are listening and reading the expounding of the Scriptures and how they simply don’t “get it” and actually cannot (for a short time).  
     Just read Paul in Acts 13.13-48, 28.17-29, and Jesus (Matt.13.13-17, John 12.37-43).  That period of time was characterized by Jewish blindness and deafness!  Throughout Jesus’ ministry that’s all you read about: either physical or spiritual blindness.  Blindness here, blindness there, blindness – say it with me – everywhere!  You have blind “guides” leading blind people (Matthew 15:12-15), and blind hearts and eyes (John 12:35-40) all over the land of Israel.
       Now, I ain’t no college professor, but I’m guessing here that God is dropping hints to direct us to some truth that He’s endeavoring to communicate to us, and it’s a bit more than just “Wow, look at all the miracles Jesus did! Cool! He sure is nice to them-there blind people!”
        Nope.  When taking Scripture expounding Scripture, what I’m convinced of is that Paul is speaking in Romans 11 about a unique blindness that had been brought upon the very keepers of the Oracles of God (Romans 3:2) of his day whereupon the vast majority of Israel had been rendered blind and unable to understand the very Treasure they had been given to guard and obey.  I do not believe he is referring to some future Talmudist “Jews” who are, along with all people, fallen in mankind’s universal, dead-in-sin general blindness.  Nor do I believe Paul is saying that the future, non-covenant, imposter, Talmudist “Jew” is blind in some other special way just because he states he is a “Jew”.  This very idea of a unique blindness to first-century Israel is specifically stated by Paul in 2^nd Corinthians 3.14-16 when he writes that his fellow Israelites living in that day are THE blind ones.     

“For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is   taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart [children of Israel, vs13].  Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

And again, by Paul in Acts 28.24-28, showing a blaring, neon-sign, characteristic of the blind hearts of Israel during that period of time: 

"And some [leaders of the Jews in Rome] were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying:  ‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you will see, and not perceive; for the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.’   Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”

This again shows strong internal Scriptural evidence that what Paul is talking about in Romans 11 is that the apostles and the unbelieving Jews at that time were in an unique situation after the resurrection of Christ, and until the Temple’s destruction (40 years, or The Last Days), when that symbol of the Mosaic Old Covenant would be destroyed and the New Covenant is ushered in.

 
So what determines who is a Jew?
To look at it from another angle, we can see that Paul could identify the “Israel” he was referring to in Romans 11 because those people observed the Torah laws of sacrifice and were circumcised, and that was the identifying “mark” of an Israelite so that everyone knew exactly who they were and who the Israel Paul was referring to.
       Today there is no such mark for us to have the certainty that Paul did.  Christians are the Israelites now (Galatians 3:7-9; Romans 2:28-29), so how are we to identify this “Israel” that Paul is (supposedly) referring to?   What is the standard, the identifier, that God is using so we’ll all know, here in the future, who the “Israelites” he is speaking about are?   How?  Because they have a supposed “Jewish” last name? Or, that they paid for a DNA test that “proves” they are of Abraham’s blood?  Or maybe because they live in Palestine?  Or perhaps because they are a cultic practitioner of the Talmud?  I’ve already spoken above how these marks don’t make you a Jew, so none of these are “Israel”, and besides, by some of these criteria even Ivanka Trump Kushner is Jewish, and so is Madonna!  Do you see the problem?
       “Well”, you may say, “only Christ knows who the Israelites are that will convert to Jesus.”  But that only strengthens my point.  Paul certainly has no doubts as to who they are and how to identify them, but we today have nothing, zip, zilch, nada.  Doesn’t that raise some questions in your mind?  If it does not, I believe it should.
       This all circles back around to the Biblical, defining fact that the true Israelite is someone who has had a spiritual, heart conversion to new life following in the faith of Abraham that trusted in Messiah Jesus. There are no other Jews now than those who follow and obey the risen Galilean. 

Therefore, I conclude that Paul, in Romans 11:25-27, must be speaking a prophetic word concerning his time before the End of the Age / Latter or Last Days (i.e. Old Covenant), and not some futuristic 3,000 or 7,000 years after him when some people calling themselves “Jews” will somehow be even more fantastically blind than they were in the first century! 
       Rather, we see in the New Testament writings, and historical documents, that priests and OC Israelites of all stripes – the Remnant – clamored in and signed-up to follow the Greater Moses into the new Promised Land along with the Gentiles and forsook “Egypt, and thus Romans 11 WAS fulfilled in that day.
       The followers of the demonic Talmud need the King’s pardon and salvation just as equally as all the human race does, and Talmudists and/or persons with old “jewish” last names aren’t in a special, heavenly category here or in the future plans of Almighty God.  

The Blindness of Old Covenant, First-century Israel

NKJ Version

--   Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke:

“Lord, who has believed our report?

And to whom has the arm of YHWH been revealed?”

Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:

“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts,

Lest they should see with their eyes,

Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,

So that I should heal them.”    

(John 12:35-40  /  Isaiah 6:9-10)

--   Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”  But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”

(Matthew 15:12-15)

-- But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that,

“‘Seeing they may see and not perceive,  And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn,  And their sins be forgiven them.’”  

(Mark 4:10-12 /  Isaiah 6:9-10)

--   “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!   (Jesus from Matthew 23:16-23)

--   On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, “It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us:  ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’” Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.    

(read Acts 13:13-48,  this excerpt from vss 44-48)

--   Now as He [Jesus] drew near, He saw the city and wept over it [Jerusalem], saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”     (Luke 19:41-44)

--   So when they [leaders of the Jews at Rome] had appointed him a day [Paul], many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening. And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved. So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying,

‘Go to this people and say:

“Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.”’
Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”
And when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had a great dispute among themselves.

(Acts 28:44-48 / Isaiah 6:9-10)

--   Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear,   To this very day.”  And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, A stumbling block and a recompense to them.  Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, And bow down their back always.”

(Romans 11:7-10)

--   For I speak to you Gentiles…For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.  

(Romans 11:13, 25)

--   Therefore I [Jesus] speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’  

But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.    

(Matthew 13:13-17)

Comments:  It is popularly believed that according to Romans 11:25-27 we are still waiting for some future “Jews” that are blind to believing in Jesus as Savior and Messiah, and will one day – at the "end of times" – quite suddenly convert to Jesus in a mass conversion.   As Scripture shows above, the Jews at the time of Christ not only seem to be exactly who are blind, and who the OT Scriptures were referring to and waiting for, but as Jesus and Paul say, they ARE the ones the OT was fully speaking about.
        So, the question must be asked:  Do we let multiple, clear verses inform us how we understand Romans 11:25-27 or do we let Romans 11:25-27 – which is ambiguous and has only a few details – explain to us what the rest of Bible means when it speaks of the Jews being blind?
          Modern American Christians have gone with the latter, and I believe most of it is due to having a heart for the lost.  But I also believe it is due in-part to being led by a current, common interpretation of Scripture that has romanticized those wily, quasi-magical Israelite “chosen people” that are found in Christian Dispensational myths about Armageddon and the “last days” (i.e. Scofield reference Bible, and Left Behind fiction to only name a few).

        It would seem obvious we should let multiple, unambiguous verses explain what Paul is speaking about in Romans 11.  This is what we call Scripture explaining Scripture.  If we don’t, we are left in the precarious position of saying Jesus and Paul were likely twisting Scripture to accommodate their own desires, and that all those Scriptures they quoted from the Old Testament were actually referring to some super-blind Jews in the future.

        I do not think there is any doubt that the OC, first-century Israelite generation is the one Paul is referring to in Romans 11.  And when the “fullness of the Gentiles” had come in during the Last Days – meaning between Christ’s resurrection and the destruction of the Temple in 70AD – there was a final conversion of many OC Jews and then all “Israel” was saved (meaning, all the chosen individuals, both gentile and jew).

        Well, you may ask: Why then, and how does that make any sense?  As I understand Scripture, both Jews and Greeks had been brought in at that time and prepared during that intense period of upheaval and persecution (40 years) so that all Jesus’ New Covenant Israel would be gathered, prepared and set to move into the new “land” (but this time it would be, and is, all of the Earth) after 40 years just like OC Israel had done so long ago.  That OC era was a shadow of the New Covenant (1 Corinthians 10:1-11) when the King -- the greater Moses (Heb.3:1-3) -- would one day lead His People into all the Earth, but this time, not just a small little plot of land.  Again, the land of Canaan was a mere shadow of the New Covenant land the King would brings His people in to conquer.  Remember, Jesus' Hebrew name is "Joshua".   Just a funny coincidence?  No way.

        So, to sum up, Paul is both describing the blind Jews of his time (see 2 Corinthians 3:14-16) and prophesying of a near future conversion of the remaining chosen, remnant of Israelites that would come in after those chosen Gentiles, of that time, had come to belief in Messiah.