There is a period of time spoken of in the epistle to the Romans, which has a very special reference to the days in which we live, as showing that there will be an end to the present period of grace. It is called "the fullness of the Gentiles."
There are several things indicated in this verse and in the whole 11th chapter of Romans:
First, that Israel has been partly blinded in the governmental dealings of God;
Second, that the Gentiles are at present brought into a special place of blessing and favor;
Third, that this present period of Gentile preference is to end, and Israel again become the center of God's ways of blessing on earth.
We might then inquire, How did Israel obtain the special favored place in the past dispensation? We will have to go back into the Old Testament and there see that after the flood, men became idolaters and corrupted themselves in the worship of images, behind which were demons. From this condition God called Abraham (Josh. 24:1515And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. (Joshua 24:15); Gen. 12:1-31Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: 2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:1‑3)), and made him promises as to his seed after him. God began in Abraham a line of special promise and blessing on the earth. This special privilege is spoken of figuratively in Romans, as an "olive tree" of which Abraham was the root.
"What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God."
They had the promises, the covenants, the law, the sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament, and many other advantages.
The next question that arises is, Why were these favored people blinded and cut off from the olive tree? Their blindness was brought about, first, through their own willful departure from God, and then by God's just decree, when they rejected every means of recalling them to Himself.
We find that God pronounced the decree of judicial blindness against the Jews back in the days of Isaiah.
"And He said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed." Isa. 6:9, 109And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 10Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. (Isaiah 6:9‑10).
This sentence was issued against the Israelites over 750 years before the Lord Jesus came into the world. Another question might well be asked. When was this threat of blindness actually carried out? In the answer to this question we are impressed with the wondrous long-suffering of God. God waited long and patiently. He sent prophet after prophet to His erring people, and finally sent His Son, whom they rejected and cast out. Even during the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus, His own nation were closing their eyes to the light. In Matthew 13 the Lord made mention of the sentence of blindness pronounced by the prophet Isaiah. It was being partially fulfilled because of their persistent willfulness.
But even then, God lingered in patience over His earthly people; and after the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus, He sent them a message of free pardon and salvation through the testimony of the Spirit of God to the finished work of Christ. This is plainly shown in the defense of the martyr Stephen in Acts 7. After Stephen had charged them with the guilt of resisting the Holy Ghost, they stoned him, thus showing their rejection of God's final offer of mercy before the carrying out of the sentence in full.
The Jews at Jerusalem had thus sealed their own fate. Then as the gospel messengers went about preaching from city to city, they sought out the Jews first. When the Jews rejected the gospel, the blindness descended on them. It seems to have settled down gradually from place to place as they refused the last message of grace. It settled down somewhat in the same manner in which the glory left the temple in Ezekiel—little by little as though loathe to do so. It is fairly easy to trace through the Acts, the progress of the rejection of the gospel by the Jews, and the shift to the Gentiles. We might note some examples:
"Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles." Acts 13:4646Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. (Acts 13:46). This was at Antioch in Pisidia. Next notice the same development at Corinth:
"Paul... testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles." Acts 18:5, 65And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. 6And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. (Acts 18:5‑6).
Finally, we see the Apostle Paul sent to Rome, the great capital city of the empire, the world metropolis, as a prisoner, because of Jewish hatred. When he arrived in Rome he
"Called the chief of the Jews together,... to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets.... And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers." Paul then quotes the sentence from Isaiah 6 as applying to the case, ending with,
"Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it." Acts 28:26-2826Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: 27For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 28Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. (Acts 28:26‑28).
Here, almost 800 years after its pronouncement, the sentence is fulfilled. Thus the gospel to the "Jew first" was closed, and the Gentiles became the center of God's special favor upon the earth. They were brought into this through Israel's fall. They were grafted into the "olive tree" on earth. It is a distinct advantage today to be born a Gentile. Yes, the Gentiles now have "much every way."
But in Romans 11 God speaks, through the apostles, to the Gentiles. It is a solemn word of warning which He gives there. He says that if they do not continue in God's goodness, they shall be cut off from the olive tree as Israel was; and then if the Gentiles are cut off, Israel shall be grafted in again.
We must remember that in all this it does not speak of a Christian who fails, being cut off, nor of a Christian being cut off at all. It is not "eternal life" in question, but the special favor of God to people on earth. The Gentiles now have this favor, and not the Jews. The Gentiles have the "salvation of God" preached to them freely, but as God suggests, Have they continued in His goodness? Has Christendom continued in the "faith once delivered to the saints"? NO! NO! NO! The answer is visible on every hand. Infidelity, modernism, evolution, false doctrines, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God! What a sad story and what gross ingratitude to God's salvation prepared at such a great cost!
Reader, if you are not truly saved, be warned. The Lord Jesus is coming to take the real Christians home soon—very soon, now—and then the "fullness of the Gentiles will be come in"; that is, will be completed. The door of grace to the Gentiles will close and the mere professors be left behind for judicial blindness that "they all might be damned who believed not the truth" (2 Thess. 2:1212That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:12)).
Such is the certain doom of fast decaying Christendom.