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The "reconciliation of the world" is dispensational. It does not mean that the world
was or will be saved, or justified or glorified, but simply that the barrier that kept the
nations at a distance and in the darkness has been removed, and "all men everywhere"
take the place of "Jews only" (Acts 11: 19). The reconciliation which is individual and
doctrinal is found in Rom. 5: 1-11.
The Apostle not only draws attention to the riches that have come to the Gentile world
through the fall and diminishing of Israel, but goes further, saying: "How much more
their fullness?" A reference to the structure of Rom. 11: 11-32, given on page 108, will
show that the "fullness of Israel" is balanced by the "fullness of the Gentiles", and we
must therefore study them together.
"The fullness of Israel", spoken of in verse 12, is most obviously restated in verse 15
as the "receiving" of them back again into favour, and the ambiguous "How much
more?" of verse 12 is expanded as "life from the dead".
The "fullness of Israel" would include their priestly office, the elevation of Jerusalem
as the "joy of the whole earth", the blessing of the "land of promise", and the fulfillment
of all those wonderful prophecies, that, with restored Israel as a centre, describe the earth
as filled with blessings until it appears like another Eden. The "fullness of the Gentiles"
is set in another context:
"For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should
be wise in your own conceits: that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the
fullness of the Gentiles be come in" (Rom. 11: 25).
If the "fullness of Israel" means their restoration to privilege, glory and blessing, so
also does the "fullness of the Gentiles". The failure of the nations took place before a
single Israelite existed, and in the Covenant made with Abraham, the blessing of the
Gentile is implied:
"And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith,
preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed"
(Gal. 3: 8).
The salvation and justification of the Gentiles by faith, therefore, instead of causing
doubts or murmuring among the Jews, should have caused them to rejoice--and the
Apostle himself does rejoice as he beholds the wisdom of God working all things after
the counsel of His own will.
In Isa. 6:, where the fateful passage that speaks of Israel's blindness is found, we
read that "His glory is the fullness of the whole earth" (Isa. 6: 3, margin)--so that the
same passage that speaks of the failure of Israel prophetically, implies also the inclusion
of the Gentiles.
We must remember also the remarkable words of John the Baptist to those who were
relying on the fact that Abraham was their father: