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God's Emerging City
For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
If God can take wild uncultivated branches, like us Gentiles, and splice us into His present work on Earth, how much more will He get Israel’s attention and graft her in!
Paul equates the Jewish nation’s rejection of Christ to their being broken off as natural branches from God’s tree. At the same time, he illustrates salvation for the Gentiles as wild branches being grafted contrary to nature into that same tree. However, this picture begs the question: If He can save Gentiles from idolatrous and pagan nations, how much more can He take the natural branches and graft them into their own olive tree?
In light of Paul’s statements, it is imperative that we define God’s olive tree accurately. Though some say it is Israel that cannot be true. Israel was broken off from the tree when she rejected Christ. So how could the tree be Israel?
Others say that the tree has a Jewish root and that the Church should get reacquainted with her Jewish roots. However, Paul does not say that the tree’s root system is Jewish; he says that it is holy (Romans 11:16). The Jewish people were not the tree’s root; they were its original branches. And while branches are certainly part of a tree, they are not the sum total of what defines it. A tree has leaves, fruit, branches, trunk, and roots.
If we can accurately define the tree’s root, perhaps we will better grasp the tree’s identity. For example, some of the last recorded words of Jesus Christ in Scripture reveal that He is the root of Old Testament Israel’s greatest king.
I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.
Since the Lord personally called him by name, the root of David’s role in God’s kingdom was eternal. As a result, he ultimately succeeded as Israel’s king. His identity in the greater scheme of God’s purpose emerged into clarity as his life bore the spiritual fruit of God’s holy character. Eternal fruit required an eternal root. It is the same today.
God has always longed to see fruit on the Earth that reveals His own nature (Isaiah 5:1 - 7; John 15; Matthew 21:33 - 43; Micah 7:1 - 2; Galatians 5:22 - 25). Sadly, the present lack of eternally rooted spiritual fruit is what defines Israel today. She has lost her identity as a nation rooted in God’s personal call, which can only be discovered in her Messiah.
Her roots are the same as David’s. Her identity is traced back to Abraham when he lived in the Babylonian city of Ur and responded to God’s personal invitation to come and walk with Him. The fruit that grew in Abraham’s life over time reflected the eternal nature of his call. Rooted in an intimate relationship with the eternal God, Abraham ultimately bore the fruit that the Lord wanted. In the future, national Israel will discover her true identity only when she rediscovers and identifies with the heart of Abraham to obey Heaven’s call (Isaiah 51:1 - 2).
To God, authentic Jewishness has always been more a matter of the heart than simply of proper natural descent and faithfully observed physical rites.
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Over time, as he walked with the Lord, Abraham gained insight into the coming Messiah. Notice Jesus’ words.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.
Centuries before Jesus was born, Abraham saw Him coming. David and the other prophets also gained insight into the coming Messiah. Indeed, when any true son of Abraham walked in intimacy with the Lord in the Old Testament, God’s objective was to unveil the coming Anointed One. Jesus is the focus of Old Testament prophecy.
Over the years, there were many Jews in Israel who lived according to their eternal root and bore the fruit God was looking for. Of course, there were also many others who did not. And because they did not walk with God in faith as Abraham had, they incorrectly concluded that they embodied a true Israelite. Paul confirmed their error.
For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
(Romans 9:6 NIV)
Then when John the Baptist came on the scene and began to minister, he did so with a warning.
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”
For John, natural lineage was simply not sufficient. God wanted fruit on His tree, and repentance was necessary. If the Jews relied on their natural Abrahamic descent and did not turn to the Lord in humility, God would still continue on in His purpose of bringing forth fruit from eternal roots, only now He would do so by going worldwide with His invitation. As a result, many children of Abraham came to birth from among the Gentile nations.
So getting back to our question – how are we to define the Olive Tree? I would suggest it is simply God’s purpose revealed in a people. In Old Testament times, the tree was identified with the nation of Israel. God revealed His purpose among the Jewish people, and Paul could refer to the tree as their own (Romans 11:24). Indeed, they were the natural branches.
So to bring His purpose into greater clarity for all to see, God placed the Root of the tree in full view of the nation. In other words, He gave them the choice to turn and find their identity in Him, or to turn away. When Israel chose to turn away and to reject her Messiah, the tree did not simply disappear, nor did God replace it with another. The Church does not replace Israel. Rather, God simply went on in His purpose of multiplying the children of Abraham. Only now, many would come from among the nations. And this was not a totally new thought. Even in Old Testament times, Gentiles such as Rahab and Ruth had been grafted in among God’s people.
However, since Heaven’s eternal Olive Tree Root had been fully displayed in human terms for all to see, Israel had to make the proper choice. If she would inherit the Abrahamic promises, she would have to turn to her Messiah, for it was only in Him that the promises were accessible. Today God is still presenting that choice to the Jewish nation.
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ.
(Galatians 3:16 NAS)
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Believers are now the sons of Abraham, whether they are Jew or Gentile. And the glorious promise of the gospel is that the Jewish nation will one day rediscover her eternal root (i.e., Christ, the Root of David) and be grafted again into the tree with which she had once been identified.
Some today say that the Church must rediscover her Jewish roots. However, I think it is more accurate to say that when Israel rediscovers her Root, then the world will again be confronted with God’s Olive Tree gloriously made whole. The tree will consist of Jews and Gentiles finding their corporate identity in the One to whom the Abrahamic promises have been made.
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