This is something… we both love God and love each other, yet we disagree on God’s word again of “blinding” Israel, but that’s ok with me because I’m learning. Why would a loving God want to blind anyone from His love. I will respond to this in a private message since this is not the topic of discussion.
For your thinking…“until the full allotment of Gentiles comes in”. That would mean Israel would be blinded until the end ( full allotment of the Gentiles) of the world. See you in private
Lets see what God’s words says:
"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” 9 And he said, “
Go, and say to this people: ‘Hear and hear, but do not understand; see and see, but do not perceive.’ 10 Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” 11
Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without men, and the land is utterly desolate, 12 and the LORD removes men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13 And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains standing when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump. "(Is 6:8–13).
Lest there be any doubt that God was talking here about Israel and supernatural blindness, Paul refers specifically to these verses and applies them to Israel (as a collective):
"as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear,
down to this very day.” 9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a pitfall and a retribution for them; 10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs for ever.”
11 So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. 12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14 in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. 15 For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? 16 If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree, 18 do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. 19 You will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off. 23 And even the others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.
25
Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, 26 and so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, (Ro 11:8–26).
It is a great mystery, but God has in fact supernaturally blinded Israel (as a collective), though there is a remnant who accepted Him and who accepts Him now. But as God desires that all be saved (i) there is an end time plan to lift the veil from Israel in the end times and (ii) I believe that God will lift the veil on unbelieving Israelites in the moment before death - Jesus calls out to His sheep and His sheep know his voice. I believe the thief on the cross accepting Christ in the moment before death is an image of this.
In any event, the Church teaches the doctrine of invincible ignorance - that those who do not know Christ through no fault of their own will be held accountable to the level of revelation made available to them. I believe this - and also believe God will reveal Himself to each of us at some point in our lives (some earlier, some later).
Blessings,
Brian
- but since you ask, we need go only to scripture and to early first century writings: