In a sermon preached at Belgravia on January 18, 1885, and published under the title, ‘The Everlasting Nation,’ Adolph Saphir says :
“Jesus came to the whole nation; Israel as a nation
rejected him. Jesus, as we read in the Gospel of Matthew, was taking leave of
the whole nation. He spoke to the Pharisees; He spoke to the Herodians; He
spoke to the Sadducees; and after having given, a.s it were, the last word unto
each representative part of the Jewish nation, He sums up all in that
heart-rending farewell: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the
prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered thy children" — the whole nation as a nation —
"under My wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house shall be left unto
you desolate."
But the farewell is not for ever. It is a farewell only for a given and
definite period. "Ye shall not see Me, till ye shall say, Blessed is He
that cometh in the name of the Lord!" The Saviour, ere He was crucified
upon Golgotha, had in His own loving and sorrowing heart the living and assured
hope that the same nation, which as a nation had rejected Him, would again as a
nation welcome Him as the Messiah that cometh in the Name of the Lord. And
after He had died upon the cross, and appeared again to His disciples, before
He ascended up into heaven, He ratified to the apostles the promise that was
given of old, that He would come and restore the kingdom to Israel; only not at
time present time, because the dispensation of the Church had to intervene.
Thus it is in harmony with the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of
prophecy, that the Apostle Paul declares that all Israel shall be saved.
But as all Israel shall be saved finally, in the meantime God has not totally rejected His people. This the Apostle proves in the simplest and most obvious manner. If God had totally rejected His people, the prayer of Jesus on the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," would not have been answered. The prayer of Stephen before his death, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge," would have remained without a divine response. Paul himself is the most striking illustration that God had not totally rejected His people; for God had mercy on him, and revealed unto him His Son. We read of 3000 at Jerusalem, and afterwards 5000, and afterwards many myriads or ten thousands of Jews who had come to the knowledge of Christ. And during the first centuries the number and importance of Jewish Christian congregations, who to a certain extent still observed the law of Moses, and in whom there lived the vivid consciousness of their connection with the Old Testament history, were considerable. Finally, all Israel shall be saved, and during the intermediate period of the Church God has not totally rejected His people.
Two points are thus given to us in the Apostolic teaching — Israel’s rejection of the Messiah, and Israel’s future restoration. In the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, and in the dispersion of Israel among the nations, was manifested in actual history what to the eye of faith appeared already at the crucifixion of our Lord, when the veil of the temple was rent in twain. The arch of Titus, still to be seen at Rome, declares to the whole world what believers knew from the written Word — that divine judgment has fallen upon the nation on account of their unbelief. If we ask what connection subsists between unbelieving Israel of the past and restored Israel of the future, between Jerusalem given into the hands of the Gentiles and Jerusalem restored, there are three facts which according to the divine Word bridge over the interval. In the first place, according to the Word of God, it is obviously necessary that the Jewish nation should remain in existence as a nation until these latter days. Their enemies must not succeed in destroying them; their friends must not succeed in so favouring them that they amalgamate through indifference and worldliness with the other nationalities. And also it is necessary that they should not be absorbed by the Christian Churches, so as to cease to exist as a separate community. How marvellously has all this been fulfilled every one can see, in the countries of Europe and of the whole world, where God has scattered His people. . .
As at the first advent, through the rejection of Jesus the gospel came to the Gentiles, so at the second advent of Jesus He will be received by Israel when He brings judgment upon apostate Christendom. . . . Through the Church individuals are gathered out from among all the nations to believe in Jesus; but it is through the nation of Israel that national Christianity will be established upon the whole face of the earth. "
(Taken from 'A memoir of Adolph Saphir D.D.' by Rev. Gavin Carlyle M.A. (Edin)
Some relevant Scriptures:
Jeremiah 31
Romans 9-11
Ephesians 2
Links:
International Alliance of Messianic Congregations and Synagogues