<p>9:28 <em>For the Lord will execute His word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short</em>- This seems to mean that God's word of salvation shall be fulfilled by the actual salvation of God's people at the last day. But the intended time period will be shortened- as a display of God's grace. This becomes apparent by comparing Rom. 9:28,29 with Matthew 24:</p><div align=center><table border=1 cellspacing=4 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=426 valign=top>            <p><strong>Matthew   24&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;   </strong></p>            </td>            <td width=426 valign=top>            <p><strong>Romans 9</strong></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=426 valign=top>            <p>v. 22 &quot;For the elect's sake</p>            </td>            <td width=426 valign=top>            <p>The seed preserved&nbsp;by the Lord&nbsp;of hosts / Angels (:29)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=426 valign=top>            <p>Those days shall be shortened</p>            </td>            <td width=426 valign=top>            <p>v. 28 &quot;He will finish the account (of Israel's sin), and cut it short   in righteousness: because a short(ened) work will the Lord make upon all the   earth (land)&quot;</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=426 valign=top>            <p>...or else there should no flesh be saved&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>            </td>            <td width=426 valign=top>            <p>v. 29 &quot;as Sodom&quot;</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div><p>Romans 9 is quoting from Is. 28:22 , which is about &quot;a consumption, even determined upon the whole land... from the Lord God of hosts (Angels)&quot;. Thus the Angels planned to destroy Israel even more terribly than they did in AD70, but the &quot;determined&quot; &quot;days&quot; of &quot;consumption&quot; were &quot;shortened&quot; because the Angels- other ones apart from the destroying Angels?- had preserved a faithful seed or remnant, which is the theme of the section of Romans where the quotation from Is. 28 occurs. And there must be marked similarities in the last days too. &ldquo;The remnant&rdquo; of Israel will be saved, those who believe in Jesus, &ldquo;For the Lord will execute his word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short&hellip; as Isaiah hath said before, Except the Lord of sabaoth had left us a seed i.e. the remnant we had become as Sodom&rdquo; (Rom. 9:28,29 RV). This associates the shortening of the last days with the salvation of the Jewish remnant. Paul is surely expanding the Lord&rsquo;s own words, that the days will be shortened &ldquo;for the elect&rsquo;s sake&rdquo;. And that &ldquo;elect&rdquo;, according to Paul&rsquo;s inspired exposition, are the Jews who repent and accept Jesus in the last days. Quite simply, the quicker we get the remnant of Israel to repent, the quicker the Lord will be back. The bigger message, in the context, is that the shortening of intended time periods is another example of the operation of grace in bringing about final salvation.</p>