"hardness (or blindness) in part to Israel happened achris (until, or while?) the fullness of the Gentiles be come in"
achris is a key word in this sentence. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance says aχρις, achris, number 891, means "...until, or up to, as far as, for, till, to, while."
achris is translated in the King James as until in Matthew 24:38. Luke 1:20; 17:27; 21:24. Acts 1:2; 3:21; 23:1. Romans 5:13; 8:22. 11: 25. 2 Corinthians 3:14. Galatians 4:2. Galatians 4: 19. Philippians 1:5, 6. Revelation 17:17.
It is translated as till in Acts 7:18. 1 Corinthians 11:26; 15:25. Galatians 3:19. Revelation 2:25; 7:3
It is translated as while in Acts 27:33. Hebrews 3:13.
And it is translated as unto in Acts 2:29; 13:6; 22:4, 22; 26:22. 2 Corinthians 10:13. Hebrews 6:11. Revelation 2:10, 26; 12:11; 14:20; 18:5.
To apply Romans 11: 25 to the time of the end, during the falling away of II Thessalonians 2: 3, we could say that Blindness is happening to the congregations while the remnant is coming to its fullness and the knowledge of the truth.
Romans 9: 6-8 says "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7. Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."
In I Corinthians 10: 18 Paul says "Behold Israel after the flesh:"
So, in Romans 9: 6-8 a distinction is made between two groups, both claiming to be the people of God.
One is Isreal after the flesh, or physical Israel. These are those in verse 8, "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God." The elect of Israel, the other group, is also in verse 8, "but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." Physical Israel is not the elect, because they are not Abraham's spiritual seed (Galatians 3: 29), which is the seed of God.
But Romans 9; 6-9 does not tell us anything about the relative sizes of these two groups of people, both claiming to be the people of God. Look at Romans 11: 5, "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." This verse tells us that those in Romans 11 who were not broken off the olive tree because of unbelief and are the elect (Romans 11: 17, 19, 20) are a small number, a remnant.
In the re-enactment of Romans 9: 6-9 in the end times, during the falling away of II Thessalonians 2: 3, there is a large group, which we can call the congregations after the flesh, and these are not the children of God. They are not the elect. A remnant which during this period of the falling away leading up to the appearance of Christ and the resurrection is moving toward a knowledge of the truth and increasing numbers of the remnant will have the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12: 17). The remnant is increasing in numbers, though it remains a remnant. In time, at the event of Christ's appearance the remnant will be in its fullness, its full number and knowledge of the truth. It is the elect, the seed of God.
So, Blindness is happening to the congregations while the remnant is coming to its fulness and the knowledge of the truth.
The Rerun of Romans 9: 6-8 In the End Time, During the Falling Away of II Thessalonians 2: 3
Posted : 15 Apr, 2013 03:06 AM
Because the congregations at the height of the falling away of II Thessalonians 2: 3 and the leavening of the congregations and the doctrines of the New Testament in Luke 13: 19-21 do not have the truth, they are not teaching the truth to their people. II Thessalonians 2: 10-12 says "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousnes." The certain implication of II Thessalonians 2: 10-12 is that one must have a love of the truth in order to be saved. And the implication of II Timothy 3: 7 is that those who do not come to a knowledge of the truth do not have a love of the truth in order to discern what truth is within a world of deception and false Christian doctrines.
The truth is found in Jesus Christ, in the Word of God and in the Holy Spirit, who Christ tells us in John 16: 13 "will guide you into all truth." But the many false prophets mentioned in Matthew 24: 11, I John 4: 1, and elsewhere in the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments lead the followers away from that truth.
In II Timothy 3: 5, 7, as part of the prophecy of Paul about what is to happen in the last days "when perilous times shall come," people are said to have "a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away," and they are "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
Paul says in I Timothy 2: 3-4 " For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." Revelation 18: 4
"Her" is the metaphoric woman in Revelation 17: 1-6, "Mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." Babylon is religion in apostasy, including Christianity after the falling away, and Babylon as a metaphoric concept includes the corrupt worldly culture surrounding apostate religion. And the call of Revelation 18: 4 to come out of her begins to apply after the falling away, and especially after it has gone on for decades.
