For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. Romans 11:25
My daughter-in-law is convinced that the Rapture is very near. And I must say she makes a very good argument. The world has rapidly become darker in many ways, so much darker that is difficult for us to imagine it becoming much worse. Consider the wholesale slaughter of unborn babies to enable unbridled promiscuity, the domination of homosexual ‘rights’ in our society (and the corresponding elimination of Christians’ rights), the denial of human physiology as determined at conception in favour of gender choice regardless of how irrational, the domination of the global warming hoax to the tune of $400 trillion a year spent to solve a non-existent problem. These are but a few of the indications that our world is rapidly abandoning not only its sanity but also its consideration of God and His Word as a major factor in life. We cannot tell whether these things indicate that our Lord’s return for us is almost here. But these things should cause us to look to the future and consider the agenda that God has for us and for the nation of Israel.
Some have suggested that the term ‘fulness of the Gentiles’ refers to a time when God will no longer offer salvation to any Gentiles. God would not, and could not, do that, any more than He could refuse salvation to any Jews during the current age of grace, the ‘times of the Gentiles’ that the Lord Jesus spoke of in Luke 21:24. Most of the early Christians were Jews, and we thank God today for any and all Jews who respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But as a nation, Israel rejected their rightful King at Gabbatha (John 19:15), and God’s dealing with humanity in grace have since then been primarily among and through the Gentiles. But my daughter-in-law is not alone in her belief that God’s hourglass of dealing primarily with the Gentiles is coming down to the final few grains of sand. We are told to be working, waiting, and watching for the coming of our Lord for us. The Rapture is the next great event in God’s calendar, followed shortly thereafter by the great tribulation, which will include the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:7), the great persecution of the Jewish people that will dwarf Hitler’s holocaust. The end of the tribulation marks the fulness of the Gentiles, and God will exalt His earthly people to their rightful place in the world as the head, and not the tail. For a thousand years, great David’s greater Son will rule in righteousness, not only in Israel, but throughout the world.
Why is it important for us to know and consider future events beyond our own day of Grace? The world around us takes no interest in end-time events. The religions world either rejects or ignores most end-time doctrines. For example, the Catholics and Reformers both consider the Rapture doctrine to be ‘heretical’. Sadly, too many Christians get so saturated with the world’s view of things that they take no consideration of our temporary occupation in this world. God never intended us to sink our roots so deeply here that we forget about His program.
We do well to consider today the nearness of the fulness of the Gentiles. We may not be here much longer. -Jim MacIntosh