For years, I assumed that the 144,000 described in Revelation represented the Jewish people who would be saved in the last days. But while studying Romans, I encountered something that caused me to reconsider that assumption. Paul seems to describe something much larger: a future turning of Israel to Jesus Christ.

Romans 9–11 addresses a difficult question. If Israel was God’s chosen people, entrusted with His promises and covenants, why did so many Jews reject the Messiah when He came?

Had God’s plan for Israel failed?

Paul’s answer is emphatic:

“Has God rejected his people? By no means!”
—Romans 11:1

What follows is one of the most fascinating explanations of God’s redemptive plan in Scripture.

Israel’s Present Unbelief

Paul begins by making clear that Jewish ancestry by itself does not guarantee salvation:

“For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.”
—Romans 9:6

Israel had pursued righteousness through the Law rather than through faith and consequently “stumbled over the stumbling stone” (Romans 9:32).

But Paul does not describe Israel’s unbelief as either complete or permanent.

There has always been a Jewish remnant who believes in Christ. Paul himself was part of that remnant. Yet Paul says that a broader hardening has come upon Israel.

And remarkably, God uses even this unbelief for a redemptive purpose.

“Through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.”
—Romans 11:11

Israel’s rejection of the Gospel helped propel the Gospel into the Gentile world. But that is not the end of the story.

The Gentiles Are Grafted In

Paul illustrates this with an olive tree.

Some of the natural branches—unbelieving Israel—were broken off. Gentile believers, whom Paul calls wild olive branches, were grafted into the tree.

This gives Gentile Christians no reason to boast over the Jewish people. Quite the opposite:

“Remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.”
—Romans 11:18

Christianity did not appear out of nowhere. Jesus was Jewish. The apostles were Jewish. The Scriptures from which the Gospel emerged were entrusted to Israel. Gentile believers have been grafted into a story God began long before us.

And Paul says something extraordinary about the branches that were broken off:

“And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in.”
—Romans 11:23

The natural branches can come home.

“All Israel Will Be Saved”

Paul then reveals what he calls a “mystery”:

“A partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved.”
—Romans 11:25–26

There are different Christian interpretations of “all Israel.” Some understand Paul to mean the complete people of God, including believing Jews and Gentiles.

But the immediate context gives strong reason to understand “Israel” as ethnic Israel. Throughout the passage, Paul has been distinguishing Israel from the Gentiles. He appears to be describing a future time when Israel’s present hardening will end and a remarkable turning of the Jewish people toward Christ will occur.

Two words are particularly important.

The hardening is partial.

And it lasts until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Israel’s present condition, therefore, is not God’s final word concerning Israel.

Earlier Paul asks:

“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!”
—Romans 11:12

And then:

“For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?”
—Romans 11:15

Paul appears to envision something far greater than a small remnant.

What About the 144,000?

Revelation 7 and 14 describes 144,000 sealed from the tribes of Israel. Christians differ over whether this number should be understood literally or symbolically and over the particular role these people play.

But Romans gives us no reason to equate Paul’s statement that “all Israel will be saved” with the 144,000.

In Romans, the picture seems much broader.

Israel experiences widespread unbelief. The Gospel goes out to the Gentiles. Gentiles are grafted into Israel’s olive tree. Then, at some point in God’s redemptive plan, Israel’s partial hardening ends and the natural branches are grafted back into their own tree.

This does not necessarily mean that every individual Jewish person alive at that time will believe. “All Israel” can describe Israel corporately without requiring every individual Israelite to be saved.

But it does appear to point toward a profound and widespread Jewish recognition of Jesus as Messiah.

Does This Mean Jews Who Reject Christ Today Will Eventually Be Saved?

No. This distinction is essential.

Paul does not teach that Jewish people possess an alternative path to salvation because they are descendants of Abraham.

In fact, Paul expresses tremendous anguish over his fellow Jews who do not believe:

“I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.”
—Romans 9:2

Then he says:

“My heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.”
—Romans 10:1

Why would Paul pray for Israel to be saved if Jewish ancestry already guaranteed salvation?

It doesn’t.

Paul gives the same Gospel to Jew and Gentile:

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
—Romans 10:9

And immediately afterward:

“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all.”
—Romans 10:12

Therefore, a Jewish person who dies in unbelief is not saved merely because he or she is Jewish, just as a Gentile who dies in unbelief is not saved merely because he or she grew up in a Christian culture.

There is one Savior.

The Jewish branches are grafted back in when they “do not continue in their unbelief” (Romans 11:23).

God’s Plan Comes Full Circle

Put Paul’s argument together and an extraordinary pattern emerges:

Israel brings the Messiah into the world.

Much of Israel rejects the Messiah.

The Gospel spreads throughout the Gentile world.

Gentiles are grafted into Israel’s olive tree through faith.

The fullness of the Gentiles comes in.

Israel’s partial hardening reaches its appointed end.

The natural branches turn from unbelief and are grafted back into their own tree.

“All Israel will be saved.”

There is something breathtaking about the symmetry.

Israel’s unbelief becomes the occasion through which mercy spreads among the Gentiles. Then God’s mercy toward the Gentiles becomes part of His plan for bringing mercy back to Israel.

And through it all, God remains faithful to His promises:

“For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
—Romans 11:29

This future hope for Israel does not diminish the urgency of sharing Christ with Jewish people today. It does exactly the opposite. Paul simultaneously believed that God had an extraordinary future purpose for Israel and desperately desired that the Jewish people of his own generation come to Christ.

God has not abandoned Israel.

The natural branches still belong to the story.

And if Paul’s words in Romans 11 mean what they appear to mean, one of the great concluding movements of God’s redemptive plan may be something Christians have prayed for since the first century: the people from whom the Messiah came finally recognizing their Messiah.

No wonder Paul concludes this section of Romans not with another argument, but with worship:

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!”
—Romans 11:33