Paul Disappoints The Premillennialists
In the Roman letter, Paul really disappoints premillennialists and sympathizers of the theory of national restoration of the Jews. These futurists have assigned to some far off time prophecies that have already been fulfilled and are being fulfilled in the spiritual blessings which are in Christ, and the conversion of individual Jews.
In chapter 9 through 11 he discusses the fact, the cause, and the extent of the rejection of the Jewish nation. The Jews thought the word of God had come to naught, because they had not received the blessings they thought God's word had promised them. Paul tells them that they misunderstood the promises and they were not made to natural seed of Abraham but to the spiritual seed who are the Israel of God.
We are made to wonder why, if the national restoration of the Jews is taught in the Bible, that Paul is so silent about some things which preachers emphasize so much today in their preaching.
From the pulpit, on the radio, in the papers, we hear that Christ is coming back to Jerusalem, that the Jews will return there and at the sight of the Lord the nation will be saved in a moment. But Paul doesn't say the plan of salvation will be changed to save by "sight." We are saved by faith and not by sight.
No Change In God's Method Of Saving
In these three chapters he does not intimate that God's method of saving is going to be changed but does say "If they abide not in unbelief they shall be grafted in" implying that they will be saved, if they are saved just like Paul and every other Jew or Gentile is saved, by faith.
No Restoration Of David's Kingdom
Paul certainly missed an opportunity to appeal to the proud and conceited Jews, when he failed to refer to the restoration of David's kingdom, if in fact it is to be restored. Instead of telling them that it would be restored, he says, "The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Rom. 14:17.
No Reference To An Earthy Kingdom
In all the discussion of the rejection of the Jews, these three chapters do not hint of a political matter at all. Paul keeps the discussion on a high spiritual plane. If Christ is to set up a political kingdom when he comes and sit on a throne in Jerusalem, why did Paul keep so silent on that point?
No National Restoration Of The Jews
If there is to be one, why didn't Paul discuss it here when he had so good an opportunity? Is it to be a reality? Didn't Paul know anything about it? It would certainly have been a pertinent question. If it is to be realized why is the entire New Testament so silent on that point? Scofield realized that Paul forgot to say anything about this national restoration, so he injected it into his Bible. The Scofield Bible is not the Bible given to us by the Holy Spirit. He outlines the Bible according to his preconceived ideas, printing into the Bible those ideas, so that the unsuspecting reader thinks his theories are a part of the Bible. Many men have printed outlines of the Bible, but they did not call them a Bible. If you have a Scofield Bible, you don't have a Bible. You have a Bible plus the false theories of a man.
No Rebuilding Of The Temple
Why did Paul forget to say something about it, if it is to be rebuilt? Is it true that Paul knew of all these future blessings for the Jews but just didn't say anything about them? Just refused to give us a full and complete account of what God has in store for the Jews?
The Jewish Kingdom was never God's choosing. It originated in rebellion and always had God's displeasure upon it... (Hos. 13:11) It is the wonder of wonders that men of our day teach that this kingdom which God frowned upon and which he destroyed is to be the Kingdom of God. That He is going to reconstitute it and rebuild that which he one time destroyed.
Can salvation be a national matter? Men say so. But the word teaches us salvation is individual. It is just as logical to speak of national judgment as it is national salvation. The only national judgment we know of was that which came to the Jews in A. D. 70. As a nation the Jews rejected God and God judged them for it. They may return individually and be saved, but as of this moment they stand in rejection of the Gospel of Christ. "What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God" asked Peter. The doom of all who do so is implied in his question. Are we to believe that the end for the Jews who reject the Gospel of God shall be NATIONAL SALVATION? Peter thought otherwise!