I’ve been working on a theological treatise for a while now, and one portion of it is devoted to “last things”. Included in my rough draft work is a section discussing how Christians view or ought to view the relation of ethnic Jews to the salvation of the world. Since it is a highly relevant topic, I wanted to post it here for thoughts/edification as I continue writing! Leave a comment to let me know your thoughts.

Book VII: World Without End

The End of All Things

Why something and not nothing? We end with the end or purpose of things.  Contemporary philosophy despises this idea and denies Aristotle’s final cause to the universe or humanity.  It is much more favorable to the cyclical view of reality that is touted by some of the Pre-Socratics, Hinduism, and their ilk, but it also mocks the religious overtones of such.  But a linear and telos-centric view of reality is the biblical view.  It is starkly distinct from the alternate perspectives that dominated its cultural milieu and that are presented by human wisdom.   

The Beginning of New things

The God should create a universe, and thus create time, is not only paradoxical (for how could there be a “time” without time?) but also remarkable.  For in doing so, He was realizing His purpose to become one with His creation, to enter into a created reality, including temporality, to become one with an end or result.  At the same time, He did so with an end in mind that cannot be said truly to be a conclusion.  Indeed, we confess as a Church, “world without end”.  

The phrase “world without end” is derived from Isaiah 45:17, ” But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end” (1599 Geneva).  This was similarly translated in the King James Bible (a later translation I might add), and in other English translations, and thereby taken up into contemporary confessions of faith.  As a child, whenever we would sing the Gloria Patri in church services, I believed this phrase contradicted Scripture.  As an adult, I know this IS Scripture.  Does the world have an end? Scripture says yes and no.  Yes, it will end as we know it, but no, it will continue in a new way.  And I want to point out that such a conception is entirely in keeping with current scientific views of how the material world works! If God created the universe in such a way that it develops into what it is now over such a lengthy period of time, then who is to say that He will not change things but continue it again? But before things change, something will happen.  The current order of things will conclude.

Before the End

Jesus and the apostles discuss this, as do the prophets and even Moses and David.  They remark that it is incredible that God has intervened in the world and has sought out Israel.  They say that God has not treated the other nations that way

Pre-Nicene Views

With general consensus, scholars believe that many of the early church fathers held to a form of millenarianism often called chiliasm (or in modern circles, ‘historic premillennialism’).  From what documentation we possess, it appears that this was a common view until somewhat later, in which it became a minority view, and then even later it became a frowned-upon view because it was associated with a certain heretic.  

From my own modest overview, I think we can see a trickling off of chiliastic statements, replaced primarily with statements that correspond most closely with a form of today’s post-millennialism.  That is, a majority of statements in the later fathers correspond most closely with the view that prior to Christ’s return, apostasy will be upended, antichrist overthrown, and a time of peace will spread.  

There is perhaps also at least one reference that corresponds with a form of today’s a-millenialism, seen in Victorinus when he says, “Those years wherein Satan is bound are in the first advent of Christ, even to the end of the age; and they are called a thousand, according to that mode of speaking, wherein a part is signified by the whole, just as is that passage, ‘the word which He commanded for a thousand generations,’ although they are not a thousand.”

Additionally, I can find in none of the fathers, whether early or late, any suggestion of a view of the “rapture” of the Church prior to the return of Christ.  The only possible hint of a ‘rapture’ like view is that of Victorinus when he says, “‘And the heaven withdrew as a scroll that is rolled up.’ For the heaven to be rolled away, that is, that the Church shall be taken away.”  But on the following page he goes on to say that this means, “the good will be removed, seeking to avoid the persecution” which I interpret to mean that the Church will seek to avoid persecution, and go into hiding (as it were) during the heightening of tribulation.

Another thing to note is that the view that there is a literal one-thousand year kingdom often (almost exclusively) corresponds to the view that the earth will be six-thousand years old when Christ returns, so that at the end of his one-thousand year rule the earth will have existed seven-thousand years and thus be ripe for conflagration, consummation, and transformation.  One can only theorize that after that purported six-thousand year mark hit, people had to do some serious re-evaluation. 

I’ve created a comparison below of what the early Church fathers and some apocryphal works had to say about the millennium prior to the return of Christ, before the end of all things (and the beginning of new things).

1. Tribulation will increase.

 Irenaeus, The Shepherd of Hermas, Tertullian, Commodianus, Hippolytus, Cyprian, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Lactantius, Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, The Revelation of John

-The increased tribulation is occurring during the author’s day. (Cyprian)

2. The Gospel will be preached to all the Gentiles prior to antichrist and return of Christ.

Hippolytus, Pseudo-Clement, Clementine Homilies

3. Antichrist will come.

Mentioned by all the fathers or else silence.

666:

• -We can’t know the referent to 666 and must await its fulfillment. (Irenaeus)
• -666 refers to either Teitan, Diclux, Antemos, or Genserikos. (Victorinus)
• -666 refers to Latinus, title of Roman rule. (Hippolytus)

Who:

• -Antichrist will baptize in the name of Christ. (The Seventh Council of Carthage)
• -False antichrist will be Nero, real antichrist a Jewish person. (Commodianus)
• -Antichrist will not be Nero, but instead be Syrian. (Lactantius)
• -Antichrist will only appear human. (Lactantius)

Abomination of desolation:

• -Will be caused by antichrist, Antiochus Epiphanes an example. (Irenaeus, Hippolytus)
• *Alternate view: Was caused by destruction of temple. (Pseudo-Clement, Clement of Alexandria)

4. The Church will be preserved despite tribulation.

 Commodianus, Hippolytus, Cyprian, Methodius, Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Constitution of the Holy Apostles, Lactantius, Victorinus

*Alternate view: All humanity will be destroyed. (The Revelation of John)

5. Two witnesses will appear and testify against antichrist.

• -It will be Elijah and Enoch. (Tertullian, Hippolytus [also says it will be John & Enoch, cf. Photius], Gospel of Nicodemus)
• -It will be Elijah and Jeremiah. (Commodianus)
• – It will be Elijah and Enoch and also Schila and Tabitha. (The History of Joseph the Carpenter)
• *Alternate view: The two witnesses will be none of the above. (Lactantius)

6. The temple will be rebuilt prior to Christ’s return.  (Hippolytus)

*Alternate view: The temple will not be rebuilt. (Methodius)

7. The earth will end at the year 6,000.

 Irenaeus, Commodianus, Hippolytus, Methodius, Lactantius, Bardeson; by inference – Theodotus, History of Joseph the Carpenter, The Gospel of Nicodemus

*Alternate view: Numerous fathers do not mention a date, or by implication they suggest it is unknown.

8. Christ will return. (All agree on this)

*Alternate view: He will bring the lost 12 tribes of Israel with him from beyond Persia (Commodianus)

9. Satan will be bound for 1,000 years after Christ’s return. (Tertullian, Lactantius)

*Alternate view: Satan is currently bound and will be released immediately prior to Christ’s return. (Irenaeus, Victorinus)

10. Antichrist will be destroyed at Christ’s return

 Irenaeus, Tertullian, Commodianus, Hippolytus, Methodius, Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Victorinus, Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, The History of Joseph the Carpenter

*Alternate view: Antichrist will not be destroyed yet but flee and be destroyed later.  (Lactantius, The Revelation of Esdras, The Revelation of John)

11. Christ will establish a 1,000 year kingdom in Judea.

 Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Commodianus, Methodius, Theodotus, The History of Joseph the Carpenter, maybe Papias

*Alternate view: the millennial kingdom is current and will finish at Christ’s actual return (Dionysius, Victorinus)

Location:

• -Jerusalem (Justin Martyr)
• -An earthly Jerusalem patterned off the heavenly one. (Irenaeus)
• -The heavenly Jerusalem which descended at the beginning of the millennium. (Lactantius, Tertullian)
• *Alternate view: The heavenly temple descends after the millennium. (Irenaeus, The Revelation of John)

Marriage:

• -There will be no marriage or reproduction. (Caius, Methodius, Dionysius)
• -There will be marriage and reproduction. (Commodianus, Lactantius)

Peace:

There will be peace with the animals and abundance of produce. (Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Commodianus, The History of Joseph the Carpenter, The Revelation of John)

*Alternate View: Texts regarding this refer to Christ’s earthly ministry. (Origen)

12. Saints will be resurrected immediately at Christ’s return.  

(Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Lactantius, Methodius, The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Consistutions of the Holy Apostles)

*Alternate view: The first resurrection is current- regeneration. (Victorinus)

• -Saints resurrected at different times throughout the 1,000 years. (Tertullian)
• -Resurrected saints and unbelieving nations will live on earth simultaneously. (Lactantius)
• -Resurrection bodies are angelic. (Methodius, Theodotus)

13. Christ will judge the world in the year 7,000 

*Alternate view: He will judge the world at the end of the figurative millennium, which is current. (Origen, Victorinus)

• -It will be a conflagration (Revelation of Esdras)
• Caveat: A conflagration in which all that remains is heaven or hell. (Tertullian)
• Caveat to the caveat: A conflagration in which the earth is recreated. (Commodianus)
• Another caveat: Different levels of recreated earth- heaven, paradise, temple. (Irenaeus)
• *Alternate view: saints and antichrist will be snatched up to clouds during conflagration, THEN judged (The Revelation of John)
• *Alternate view: no conflagration but the earth is recreated (Lactantius)

I also created an in-depth chart listing out the views of each particular father or work below:

	Pre-Millennium	Millennium	Post-Millennium
Papias		Millennium likely literal (hard to determine from fragment) There will be an abundance of produce. Animals will be at peace with man.
Justin Martyr		Millennium is literal. First resurrection. Saints live in Jerusalem, which will be rebuilt during that time. Abundance of produce. Animals at peace with man.	Final resurrection and judgment after this.
Irenaeus	Satan is currently bound. Rome divided into 10 kingdoms. Tribulation will heighten. Antichrist will sit in physical temple in Jerusalem for 3 yrs, 6 months. We cannot know referent to 666.	World will end in year 6,000. Jesus will return and stop antichrist. Millennium is literal. First resurrection. Saints live in Jerusalem, built after the model of heavenly Jerusalem. People from every nation will be present. Abundance of produce. Animals at peace with man.	Final resurrection and judgment after this. Heavenly temple will descend on seven-thousandth year. The tiers for saints: heaven, paradise, and the city.
The Shepherd of Hermas	Tribulation will heighten
Clement of Alexandria	Daniel 9:24-27 fulfilled in Nero placing the abomination, then in Otho, Galba, Vitellius, then Vespasian who destroyed Jerusalem and the holy place.
Tertullian	Rome will divide into 10 kingdoms. Tribulation will heighten. Antichrist will appear. Enoch and Elijah – two witnesses.	Jesus will return. Jesus will bind Satan and stop antichrist. Millennium is literal One ‘resurrection’ occurs when the living are changed, another resurrection occurs throughout the millennium. Heavenly Jerusalem will descend.	The earth will go through a conflagration, and all people will live either in heaven or hell.
Commodianus	Earth will divide into 3 kingdoms. Goths will reconquer Rome and redeem Christians. Nero will be raised from hell as heathen antichrist, reconquer Rome, rage against Christians 3.5 years. Elijah will prophesy against Nero Jewish, real, antichrist will defeat Nero, burn Rome, be worshipped in Judea. World will end after seventh persecution.	World will end in year 6,000. Jesus will return with the lost twelve tribes (who were beyond Persia) and stop antichrist Millennium is literal. Abundance of produce. Animals at peace with man. Long lives. Marriage and reproduction.	Conflagration of the earth where earth is transformed and unbelievers sent to hell.
Origen	Isaiah 2:4 and texts about peace refer to Christ’s earthly ministry. There will be a definitive antichrist.		God will judge the world instantaneously.
Hippolytus	Ten kings will rise up. Gospel will be preached everywhere. Elijah and Enoch will appear [in another work he says John and Enoch; cf. Photius] Antiochus Epiphanes was abomination of destruction but antichrist will be abomination of desolation. “Woman clothed in the sun” is the Church 666 refers to “Latinus”, title of Roman rule. Antichrist will be born of a false virgin, only appear human. Antichrist will set up kingdom of Judah, restore Jerusalem with temple, kill kings of Egypt, Libya, Ethiopia, and persecute Church.	World will end in year 6,000. Jesus will return. No mention of literal 1,000 year rule.	Jesus will establish his everlasting kingdom for the saints, resurrect all, and consume his enemies with fire.
Cyprian	Antiochus Epiphanese a type of antichrist Antichrist will arrive soon. Tribulation will increase (but Church will persist). Rev. 20:4-5 tribulation a reference to Cyprian’s time-period.
The Seventh Council of Carthage	Antichrist will baptize in the name of Christ.
Caius		No marriage or reproduction during the millennial rule of Christ in Jerusalem (contra-Cerinthus).
Methodius	“Woman clothed in the sun” is the Church, currently kept safe. The physical temple will not be recreated. Antichrist will come.	World will end in year 6,000. Jesus will return. Millennium is literal. The living will meet him in the air and be changed. First resurrection. No marriage or reproduction.	We will take on angelic bodies and ascend to heaven.
Dionysius	x	No literal or temporal reign of Christ (contra-Nepos). No marriage or reproduction at the return of Christ (contra-Cerinthus).
The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles	Tribulation will heighten. Antichrist will come.	Jesus will return. First resurrection, but not of everyone.
Lactantius	Tribulation will heighten. Rome will be removed, government will return to Asia. A prophet will come (not Elijah or Enoch). Nero is not the forerunner of antichrist nor the antichrist. Antichrist will come from Syria, born of an evil spirit, to persecute the Church.	Jesus will return. Antichrist will be defeated by Christ on a fourth battle. World will end in year 6,000. Jesus will bind Satan. First resurrection is Christians raised from dead and judged. No mention of 1,000 year period?? Heavenly Jerusalem will descend. Marriage and reproduction. Satan will be released, gather nations to surround heavenly Jerusalem.	Final judgment. Righteous transformed to angelic bodies, wicked sent to hell. Earth will be renewed/recreated.
Victorinus	x	Satan is currently bound.  The millennium is the entire age between Christ’s advent and His second advent. There is no literal millennium after Christ’s return (anti-Cerinthus). The first resurrection is current: regeneration. The millennium ends when Satan is released and antichrist comes.	Elijah comes before the antichrist Jeremiah is the second witness There will be famine during time of antichrist The church will seek to avoid persecution.  144,000 of the Church will believe Elijah The “woman clothed with the sun” is the Church which will endure. There will be 7 Roman Kings, Domitian the king during Rev., Nerva the final, out of them comes antichrist. 666 represents Teitan (Greek) or Diclux (Latin), or else Antemos (Greek), or else Genserikos (Greek). Jesus will return. The last judgment will reveal the saints who are already in God’s eternal kingdom. The “second” resurrection.
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles	Tribulation will heighten. Antichrist will come.	Antichrist will be destroyed First resurrection.	Jesus will return. The last judgment will put all in either His kingdom or into hell.
The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, of Benjamin			Jesus will return. Resurrection. The judgment to everlasting life or destruction. Jesus will judge the Israelites who rejected Him, then Gentiles.
Theodotus		Some men will receive an angelic bodies. Angels will instruct them for 1,000 years. They will be given archangelic authority
Pseudo-Clement	Destruction of temple was the abomination of desolation. Gospel will be preached to all Gentiles. Antichrist will come.
Clementine Homilies	A false prophet will come. The Gospel will be spread abroad. Antichrist will come.		Light will come, darkness will disappear.
The History of Joseph the Carpenter	Enoch and Elijah will return. Antichrist will kill them and 2 other prophets, Schila and Tabitha.	Jesus will return. There will be a 1,000 year feast.	The faithful who died will not be punished (denies purgatory as well).
The Gospel of Nicodemus	John taught in Hades. The world was 5,500 years old when Jesus was incarnate. Enoch and Elijah will be killed by antichrist, then raised and exalted.
The Revelation of Esdras	Antichrist will come.		The dead will be raised incorruptible. Conflagration of the world to consume antichrist.
The Revelation of John		Earth will be super-abundant then fail to produce. Antichrist will come. Enoch and Eljiah will be killed by antichrist. All human race will die.	The resurrection will occur. They will be without bodies, yet appear 30 years old, and the righteous will recognize each other. The angels will rescue the valuable and carry them into the clouds. Antichrist and all evil spirits will also be lifted into the clouds. Angels will burn up the earth. Heavenly Jerusalem will descend, all those in clouds brought to earth for judgment. Satan and evil spirits – outer pit, Gentiles – Hades, Hebrews who killed Christ – Tartarus, baptized Christians – God’s right hand (paradise joined with earth), apostate Christians – hell or the seven-mouthed pit.
Bardesan		World will end in year 6,000.
The Apocalypse of Sedrach	The apostate will be destroyed with antichrist at an unknown time.

Before the End (Continued)

What exactly will happen prior to the return of Jesus? It’s evident that Christians throughout all of Church history have differed on the particulars, however we have also had certain things we substantially agree upon.  For one, it is that Jesus has not yet returned and will one day return bodily to restore all things.  There are errant groups that say that Jesus returned in 70AD, but these full preterists are considered heretics by orthodox Christians.  The majority of Christians also have held that by and large the majority of the world will be converted to Christ before His return (though there are notable disagreements about this), and that the ethnic Jewish people will be converted to Christ after that fact.  It appears to be the apostolic expectation (and indeed the prophetic one too) that after the destruction of the temple (70AD) the kingdoms of this world would be overwhelmingly converted to Christ, and would support and defend His Church.

The Binding of Satan & Conversion of the Nations

Fitting within any millennial view (whether pre-, a-, or post-), aside from dispensational views, is the view that Satan and his angels have been initially and temporarily judged prior to the final judgment.  This initial judgment was that they should be bound and restrained during Christ’s earthly ministry so that the spread of the gospel message could occur in power.  Note, Jesus says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” and, “Now is the ruler of this world judged/cast out”.  Indeed, and further, on the cross Christ Jesus “triumphed over them” says the Apostle Paul, and “put them to open shame.”  Think also of that text from Irenaeus, when he quotes Justin Martyr, that Satan did not know what that final judgment would be until he heard it from the lips of Jesus Himself, saying Satan would be cast into hell.  That Satan would rage and seek to destroy him during His earthly ministry is then of no surprise.  

Why is anyone a Christian today, given the knowledge Satan has of his fate, and of his terrible rage?  It is because he is bound also during Christ’s heavenly ministry.  Christ will have His message advanced across the entire earth, no longer constraining it primarily to the Jewish people, but now to all nations.  Also call to mind the texts in 2 Peter and Jude on the angels being bound in gloomy chains of darkness until the final day of judgment.  Consider also Revelation 20 on the binding of Satan for the millennium, and compare it to the apostle Paul’s statement on the antichrist who is yet to come, and that currently there is one “who is restraining him”.  While the nations as a whole were endarkened as to the nation of God in the past, His revelation displayed to and contained within the Jewish nation of the time (as Paul says also, “to them belong the covenants…the oracles”), with the Gentiles learning only rumors and tales of the mighty deeds of God, since the ascent of Christ the revelation of God’s deeds has gone out to the nations.  

The Conversion of the Jews

While the nations are being converted to Christ – what of God’s original people, the physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob? The fate of Israel is another major concern, not just within the geo-political “climate” of the day, but also to all Christians throughout Church history.  Many Christians today balk at the idea that the ethnic Jewish people will be converted to Christ – either because of their dispensational views, or because of the current nation-state of Israel and its practices.  But before such a nation-state existed, before Zionism existed, the Scriptures refer to the conversion of the ethnic Jews to Christ. 

I know a great deal more about the Reformation and post-Reformation views than about medieval and patristic views so I will stick to what I know.  In particular, men like Calvin argued that the ethnic people of Israel, though in his day by and large hardened against the gospel, would eventually be converted and receive their King.  Many of the second-generation Reformers were friends and colleagues with converted Jews, and benefited from their knowledge of written Hebrew.  So too most other post-Reformation theologians thought of the mass conversion of the Jews to Christ.  But within Reformed circles, a ‘replacement’ theology developed, quite late I might add, and with it the denial of the restoration of ethnic Jews to Jesus.  They argue that the Church is the replacement of Israel, and that as such the Jewish people have become like any other nation.  But historically, the Church as a whole, and even historic Reformed theologians, begged to differ.  

Within this view of the restraint of Satan is the simultaneous view that the Jewish people, as a majority, are being temporarily judged until they eventually will be converted to Christ prior to His return.  While Satan is restrained, the gospel message goes forth to all nations.  The judgment upon God’s own original people now is that they should have the kingdom taken from them for their rejection of the Messiah, and handed over to Gentiles for the time.  Prior to the first coming of Christ, God had said that this ethnic people’s heart was dull and continually resisting him.  To Moses he states, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they” (Num. 14:11-12), and, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?” (Ex. 16:28), and, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you” (Ex. 32:9-10), and, “For the LORD had said to Moses, ‘Say to the people, ‘You are a stiff-necked people’” (Ex. 33:5), and “You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite” (Ezek. 16:45), and, “‘How sick is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment” (Ezek. 16:30).  Finally, there is also the song of Moses, who predicts both the judgment of the ethnic people of Israel, as well as their eventual conversion.  He says

“But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
 then he forsook God who made him
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
 to new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
18 You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19    “The LORD saw it and spurned them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20 And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom is no faithfulness.
21 They have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled by my anger,
and it burns to the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23    “ ‘And I will heap disasters upon them;
I will spend my arrows on them;
24 they shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured by plague
and poisonous pestilence;
I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
25 Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
26 I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
I will wipe them from human memory,”
27 had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant,
it was not the LORD who did all this.”’
28    “For they are a nation void of counsel,
and there is no understanding in them.
29 If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern their latter end!”

When Christ arrived, many of his fellows Jesus accepted Him, but most rejected Him.  As Jesus, our Jewish Savior predicted in Mt. 21:43, the kingdom of God would be taken away from His Jewish fellows and given to a people producing its fruits, depicted in the destruction of the temple in 70AD.  He says also in Mt. 21:33-41; Mk. 1-10; Lk. 20:9-16, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” “He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” Paul also, a Jew of Jews, can say in 1 Thess. 2:14-16, “You suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved–so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them at last!”  Most theologians interpret this statement of Paul’s as being his understanding that Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the temple had been fulfilled.

Indeed, the Jewish population as a majority (not all) rejected the message of Jesus as the Christ, and eventually expelled those who professed Christ from the synagogues.  John 9:22, “The Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.”  John 12:42, “Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue.” John 16:2 – Jesus predicts, “They will put you out of the synagogues”.  They modified the Birkat haMinim, a part of the order of worship, to explicitly refer to this.  The Jerusalem Talmud version of this text includes a section that reads, “May the Nazarenes…perish as in a moment. Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written together with the righteous.”  We can’t say with certainty when this addition was first made, though the earliest referent to the Nazarenes in the Birkat haMinim is in the 1st century AD, with the next definite date referring to the expulsion of Jewish Christians, mentioned by Epiphanius in the 370’s AD,  yet it also appears evident from the above biblical texts that some of those who had professed faith in Jesus as the Christ were expelled from synagogues at a very early date.

This excision of followers of Christ from within Jewish worship services was a further sign of the judgment of the people.  And yet, though this temporary judgment is the case, Paul also states that he believes the ethnic Jewish people will experience mass conversion! He says, 

“1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,“God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.” 9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them, 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”

11 So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,  18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.  19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”  20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.  21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.  22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.  23 And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, ‘The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob’, 27 ‘and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.’ 28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.

 – Romans 11:1-31(ESV)

Many contemporary Reformed commentators argue that this section does not refer to the ethnic people of Israel being converted en masse.  They state that the lines “how much more will their full inclusion mean” and “what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead” and “how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree” and “in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy” do not refer to a definite restoration of the Jewish people to Christ, but rather to a mere hope that Paul has for them.  Further, they explain that the line “in this way all Israel will be saved” refers to Israel as the New Israel constituted in Christ (i.e. the Church), and as such that the verse means, “a partial hardening has come upon the ethnic people of Israel until the full number of Gentiles are converted, and by this means the Church will be completed.”  

But these interpretations are not only innovative but also inaccurate and inconsistent.  For one, these are not mere expressions of a baseless hope, or a wish, but are discussed in terms of prophetic fulfillment. While judged now as they were long ago for rebellion against God, they will eventually find mercy, as they did long ago when the Messiah came.  While John could write, “His own did not receive Him” he could also write, “but to those who did receive Him He gave the right to become children of God.”  Many of His fellow Jews did not accept Him, but some did, and this was a mercy from God.  Just as long ago, in the days of Elijah, many Jews rejected God’s plans for them, yet Elijah and the 7,000 God kept to Himself with the promise of restoration, so too it is today with the plan that first a few, but eventually all will come back.

Another major issue with the denial of the eventual restoration of the ethnic Jewish people is that of context.  When Paul refers to Israel, saying “in this way all Israel will be saved” he refers not to the elect but to the ethnic people.  He can contrast throughout the terms Israel and Gentile.  Paul also says, “a partial hardening has come upon” who? “Israel”.  This use of the term “Israel” certainly refers to the ethnic people of Israel.  That being the case, then what warrant do we have to think the next time he says “Israel” it refers to something else entirely?  He goes on to say, “In this way all Israel”, i.e. the very Israel he just mentioned, “will be saved”.  It’s also noteworthy that in verse 25 he can say the they will be mysteriously hardened until the fullness of the Gentiles have come in.  This implies that once this event has occurred, something will change—the mysterious hardness will be removed.

Indeed, contextually, each use of the term ‘Israel’ in Romans refers to the ethnic Jewish people, and not to the view that the Church is the New Israel.  In Romans 9:3-4 Paul calls them his “kinsmen according to the flesh.  They are the Israelites”.  While, indeed, he goes on to say, “it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring…in order that God’s purpose of election might continue” the term he uses is not children of Israel, but rather children of God.  In fact, as he continues he says again, “Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘ Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved’” (from the destruction in 586 BC), again referring to Israel as the ethnic Jewish people.  Indeed, he goes on in the next chapter to cite texts showing that the ethnic Jews didn’t understand the message long ago, when Moses said “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation”, quoted above in the song of Moses.  At the end of the song of Moses, though God has sworn He will judge the ethnic Jewish people who will not believe Him, He also vows this in v. 36, “For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free.”

Again, Paul cites the Old Testament, where Isaiah says that non-Jews will find God, and then again that Isaiah says that his fellow Jews, according to God, are a “disobedient and contrary people.”  Despite this reality, he says, in Chapter 11, “I myself am an Israelite…God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.” Again, he uses the term Israel to refer to the ethnic Jewish people.  And then there’s the kicker, he says, “I myself am an Israelite.”

Further, two sentences later after his line, “In this way all Israel will be saved” he entirely contradicts the view proposed by many current Reformed commentators when he says “as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”  It boggles my mind to hear Calvinists, who believe in the doctrine of predestination and election, state that this doesn’t refer to the eternal election of the ethnic Jewish people.  They argue either that this refers to “historical” election, God’s choice in redemptive history to pick Israel, and that Paul means, “In light of His historic choice, they are beloved, but this does not entail their future conversion” or that God’s election of the ethnic Jewish people continues only in the few who convert to their Christ now.  But it’s simply inconsistent.  When he says that God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable, what does this mean but that He will not reject the ethnic Jewish people?  It is his anticipation that God will “banish ungodliness from Jacob“.  What does that mean but that it will occur to all of Jacob? Will ungodliness be banished only from part of Jacob, or from all of Jacob? Certainly, Paul’s mindset is that God promises entire banishment of ungodliness and unbelief from the ethnic Jewish people.  It is his purpose in this entire section to say that though the Jewish people have a partial and mysterious hardening against their Messiah, this should not be unexpected.  Rather, we should expect that one day they will be fully restored.  We see that in the lines, “how much more will their full inclusion mean!” “what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” “how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back in”, “in this way all Israel will be saved,” and “by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.”  The hope is: full inclusion, acceptance, re-grafting, mercy for all ethnic Jews into their own historic faith in Jesus as the Messiah.

The Nation-State of Israel

So it is, that prior to return of Jesus, we ought to expect and hope for the mass conversion of the ethnic Jewish people to Christ.  What this means for the modern nation-state of Israel I do not know.  My own personal views on the subject are that the nation-state is not an aspect of prophetic fulfillment, and that Zionism as a movement is unwarranted.  God has not commanded them to take the land now.  It is as presumptuous as it would be for us to go around building our own personal Arks because God commanded Noah to do so.  We shall see, though, what the outcome of all this is, and with most things, time will tell us what God intended in this current situation.

No Place for Anti-Semitism

Further, I want to make it clear: there is no allowance for anti-semitism in the teachings of Jesus or for those who claim to follow Him.  There is no allowance for any form of racial hatred whatsoever, nor hatred for those who practice differing religions.  God Himself became a Jewish man.  This is the pinnacle of God’s revelation of Himself.  We adore the God-man, Jesus the Jew.  We worship Him, revere Him, and honor Him as the great Yom Kippur sacrifice, the referent of the things revealed to the Jews.  He is the purpose of the symbolism of the goat led out to ‘azazel’, outside the camp, bearing the sins of the people away. He is the referent of the bull sacrificed with its blood sprinkled upon the mercy seat that we might dwell with God.  The Jews were entrusted with God’s oracles and covenants, the cradle of God’s wonders, designed to bring salvation and light to the entire world. A Jewish woman was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, miraculously conceiving the Messiah.  She bore the Christ in her womb, raised Him, nurtured Him, taught Him, followed Him, witnessed His death and His subsequent resurrection, and received the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room at Pentecost.  A Jewish man foster-parented the Christ and had Him circumcised on the 8th day.  A Jewish man and woman were the aunt and uncle of the Christ.  A Jewish man, the prophesied ‘Elijah’, the great forerunner of the double-blessed ‘Elisha’, was the cousin of the Christ, who baptized the people in preparation for Christ’s earthly ministry.  70 Jewish men were disciples of the Christ, who were commissioned to go into the villages and announce the coming of God’s Kingdom.  12 Jewish men were the apostles of the Christ, who were specially commissioned by Him to bear witness to His death and resurrection.  It was Jewish women who first witnessed His resurrection and came to understand the purpose of His death and resurrection.  It was a Jewish man who became a late apostle, “as one untimely born”, after Jesus revealed Himself to him on the road to persecute the followers of the Way of Jesus.

The Apostasy

Simultaneously, however, there is also the belief amongst the vast majority of Christians that immediately before the return of Christ there will be a great apostasy, a definitive anti-Christ will arise, and then Christ will return.  How this series of events fits in with the two other ideas (conversion of all nations & of the Jewish people) is a mystery to most, though some have proposed that the apostasy occurs after these massive conversion events, and others that it occurs before, and still others that it occurs in the middle of it all.

The Day of His Return

Then there are the various events that occur directly at the return of Jesus, listed in the chart below:

Jesus Descends with His Angels	Matthew 13:39, 41; Mt. 16:27; Mt. 24:31; Mt. 25:31; Mt. 26:64; Mk. 8:38; Mk. 13:26; Mk 14:62	1 Thess. 4:16a	2 Thess. 1:7 Rev. 1:7
All Rebellion is Crushed	2 Thess. 2:3, 8 1 John 2:18	1 Corinthians 15:24-28	Revelation 20:1-10
The Dead are Raised	Mark 12:24-27	1 Thess. 4:16b	1 Cor. 15:35, 50-53
The Living Ascend	1 Thess. 4:17
All are Judged According to Their Works	Eccl. 12:14 Mt. 7:12-27 Romans 2:6-8; 13:2	Gal. 2:14-26; 5:6, 21 Eph. 5:5 Heb. 12:14	Revelation 20:11-15 Revelation 22:12
The Kingdom is Delivered to the Father / All is Renewed	Acts 3:20-21 (Is. 11:6-10, 65:17-25)	1 Cor. 15:24, 28	Revelation 21:1-7

We noted that in many of the early fathers, some of these were parsed out into a distinctive chiliastic kingdom, however in Hippolytus’ scheme and some others, these are all collapsed into one complex event, and this is the schema that I’m partial to.