But let us oftener and oftener, however we may differ in detail, recite to one another the glorious essence of our hope. "To them that look for Him will He appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation"; "We shall meet the Lord in the air"; "So shall we be ever with the Lord" (Heb. ix. 28, 1 Thess. iv. 17). We shall never quite understand the chronology and process of unfulfilled prophecy, till then. Now briefly and in summary the Apostle concludes this "Epistle within the Epistle"; this oracle about Israel. [Sidenote: Ver. 28.] =As regards the Gospel,= from the point of view of the evangelization of the world apart from Judaism, that "gospelling" which was, as it were, precipitated by the rebellion of Israel, =they are enemies, on account of you,= permitted, for your sakes, in a certain sense, to take a hostile attitude towards the Lord and His Christ, and to be treated accordingly; =but as regards the election,= from the point of view of the divine choice, =they are beloved, on account of the Fathers;= [Sidenote: Ver. 29.] =for irrevocable[202] are the gifts and the call of our (τοῦ) God.= The "_gifts_" of unmerited choice, of a love uncaused by the goodness of its object, but coming from the depth of the Eternal; the "_call_" which not only invites the creature, but effects the end of the invitation[203]; these are things which in their nature are not variable with the variations of man and of time. The nation so gifted and called, "not according to its works," is for ever the unalterable object of the eternal affection.