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into their glorious portion. Rom. 8: and 16: deal with phases of the hope that
transcends all limitations and dispensational boundaries, and make no difference to the
most exclusive presentation of truth as given in the epistles written either before or since
Acts 28:
Deliverer and Judge.
Rom. 11: 26 is part of a large section, occupying chapter 9:-11:, which deals with the
dispensational positions of Israel and the Gentiles. Rom. 14: 9-12 is part of a section,
occupying the whole of chapter 14: and part of 15:, which deals with the particular
interrelationship of Israel and the Gentile, the latter being now received and saved by the
same Christ. In Rom. 11: 26 Gentiles are warned that a limit is set to the period of
Israel's blindness: "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out
of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob." The hope of Israel
can only be deferred to God's good time: it can never fail.
A salutary word is given in Rom. 14:, possibly to the Gentile believer in his
new-found liberty, wherein he was liable to despise the weaker scruples of his Hebrew
brother:--
"But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother?
for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (Rom. 14: 10).
That judgment seat will be set up at the coming of the Lord, and is in view in
I John 2: 28 and other similar passages. It remains therefore to heed the last central
word, viz., Rom. 13: 11-14:--
"It is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed. The night is far spent, the DAY IS AT HAND: let us therefore cast off the
works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light."
Whether it be Peter (II Pet. 3: 11), James (Jas. 5: 7), John (I John 3: 1-3), or Paul
(Rom. 13: 11-14), all agree in the moral issue, the practical outcome of the doctrine of
the Lord's coming, viz., "Be ye also ready".