This passage reveals the key to understanding all things eschatological in the Bible-- God is bringing this world to its appointed end via two streams of redemptive history. One stream concerns national, ethnic Israel, the other, the Gentile church. The sequence of events prophesied in this passage is unmistakable: first, a partial hardening of Israel; then the harvest of the full number of the Gentiles; lastly, the saving of the entire nation of Israel.
What Paul was saying was that God will shift his gracious, salvivic attention from the Jews to the Gentiles for a period of time, during which every Gentile who will be saved will get saved, and then he will turn back his gracious, salvivic attention to the Jews and save virtually the entire population of them alive at that time. I interpret this as describing a break in the succession of Daniel's 70 weeks (in between week 69 and 70) which Jesus dubbed the "time of the Gentiles." When that age has run its course, Daniel's prophetic timeline will resume with week 70 and the unfinished work God has with the Jews and Jerusalem.
What should be crystal clear from this passage is that there is a finite number of Gentiles who will be saved. Its not that more couldn't have been saved, as if God had fixed the number deterministically, it's just that God knows omnitemporally who those who get saved are, and exactly how many of them there are. When all of them who will be saved have been saved, which is what full number (completeness) really means, then God's redemptive work with the Gentiles will be finished.
During the Age of the Gentiles, that gracious work was carried out by the outpoured Spirit of God and the church. When that age ends, it stands to reason, as well as being according to biblical prophecy, those agencies will have some change in status. Since the full number of Gentiles will have come in, there will remain no further point in either the church or the Holy Spirit being turned lose in this world. So, both will cease restraining the Devil's evil plots. The Spirit will turn the focus of God's redemptive work to redeeming all of Israel; the church will be caught away to Christ in the heavenlies.
If you are fans of Hal Lindsey or Tim LaHaye, or remember the cheesy Thief in the Night movie series from the 1970s, the scenario I pictured here may seem a bit strange, but the notion that Daniel's 70th week has anything at all to do with Gentiles getting saved is just biblically wrong! For Gentiles, today is the day of salvation, and once the full number has been saved, it's over. There may be do-overs in the realm of children's games, but when it comes to salvation for Gentiles, it's now or never and there are no second chances.
What Paul was saying was that God will shift his gracious, salvivic attention from the Jews to the Gentiles for a period of time, during which every Gentile who will be saved will get saved, and then he will turn back his gracious, salvivic attention to the Jews and save virtually the entire population of them alive at that time. I interpret this as describing a break in the succession of Daniel's 70 weeks (in between week 69 and 70) which Jesus dubbed the "time of the Gentiles." When that age has run its course, Daniel's prophetic timeline will resume with week 70 and the unfinished work God has with the Jews and Jerusalem.
What should be crystal clear from this passage is that there is a finite number of Gentiles who will be saved. Its not that more couldn't have been saved, as if God had fixed the number deterministically, it's just that God knows omnitemporally who those who get saved are, and exactly how many of them there are. When all of them who will be saved have been saved, which is what full number (completeness) really means, then God's redemptive work with the Gentiles will be finished.
During the Age of the Gentiles, that gracious work was carried out by the outpoured Spirit of God and the church. When that age ends, it stands to reason, as well as being according to biblical prophecy, those agencies will have some change in status. Since the full number of Gentiles will have come in, there will remain no further point in either the church or the Holy Spirit being turned lose in this world. So, both will cease restraining the Devil's evil plots. The Spirit will turn the focus of God's redemptive work to redeeming all of Israel; the church will be caught away to Christ in the heavenlies.
If you are fans of Hal Lindsey or Tim LaHaye, or remember the cheesy Thief in the Night movie series from the 1970s, the scenario I pictured here may seem a bit strange, but the notion that Daniel's 70th week has anything at all to do with Gentiles getting saved is just biblically wrong! For Gentiles, today is the day of salvation, and once the full number has been saved, it's over. There may be do-overs in the realm of children's games, but when it comes to salvation for Gentiles, it's now or never and there are no second chances.
