“Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee” —Rom. 11:18.
IN order that God’s purposes might be carried out, He chose Abraham and his seed, through Isaac and Jacob, and separated them to Himself, giving them an honored place which no other people have ever known (Amos 3:2). They are His peculiar treasure (Ex. 19:5; Psa. 135:4) destined someday to be the display of His grace and power to all mankind (Isa. 53:1-3; 54:1-8). Now, they are like olive branches torn out of the olive tree of promise, of which Abraham is the root, and wild branches of the Gentiles have been grafted in contrary to nature (Ram. 11: 17-22). But when the fullness of the Gentiles shall have come in, these natural branches will be grafted again into their own olive tree and so all Israel shall be saved. Therefore the Gentiles are warned not to look with prideful contempt on Israel, who are still “beloved for the fathers’ sake.”
“By the holy hills surrounded,
On her firm base securely founded,
Stands fast the city of the Lord:
None shall rend her walls asunder:
On her men look with fear and wonder.
And mark who here keeps watch and ward.
He slumbers not, nor sleeps,
Who His loved Israel keeps.
Hallelujah!
Happy the race
Who through God’s grace
Shall have in her their dwelling place!”