11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

The official necessities of the kingdom are greater than can be supplied by the faithful of Judah and Jerusalem. A sufficient number of Jews have not accepted Yahweh's invitation to fill his house. He requires more kings and priests for his kingdom than he succeeded in obtaining from Israel by the preaching of his apostles. It became necessary, therefore, to turn to the Gentiles, and to invite them to enter his house, or kingdom, upon the same terms as the Jews.

The invitation commenced at the house of Cornelius, and has been sounding out, more or less loudly and extensively, to the present time. We should judge from the little interest that exists in the kingdom of God, that a sufficient number of saints has been obtained to answer all the necessities of the case. We do not know that it is so; but we think it probable, that as many men and women have been procured from Judah and the nations, as the kingdom will have use for in the Age to Come.

We hope the best, but fear the worst. We should rejoice in the conviction that thousands would yet embrace the gospel of the kingdom; but we sorrow in the belief that few will do it. They turn a deaf ear to it, and those that hear seem too generally incapable of understanding. There is less faith in the gospel of the kingdom among the Gentiles now, than there was among the Jews when they were "broken off because of unbelief."

The Gentiles stand only by faith in the goodness of God exhibited in the gospel; but if they continue not in his goodness they also shall be cut off. This is their position now. They have become "wise in their own conceits." Their fulness is almost, if not quite, come in; for they have turned their backs upon Yahweh's goodness, and are about to fall.—Rom 11.

The work of separating men and women from the nations for the purposes of the kingdom by preaching the glad tidings concerning it, has prolonged the interregnum to the present time. It was necessary

"to take out from among the Gentiles a people for the Lord's name;"

and therefore time was required to accomplish it. But, we doubt not, that had there been saints enough to administer the affairs of the kingdom, the kingdom would have been restored to Israel at Christ's resurrection; in which case no Gentiles would have shared it with the Jews; but would have been brought into subjection to it, as they are yet to be in the era of regeneration, or restitution of all things pertaining to the kingdom, and compatible with its existence under the New Covenant.

But Judah's loss was our gain. By their partial and temporary rejection, the Gentile kosmos that believes is reconciled, and become heirs of the kingdom, the gospel of which Judah despised because it was preached in the name of Jesus.

But they will not continue always in unbelief; for blindness has only in part happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And then all the Tribes of Israel will be saved. For God will graft them into their own Olive again, and that too on the principle of faith in Jesus, which will be life from the dead to the world.

The interregnum will then be brought to a close. The 144,000, the representative number of the saved, will then be complete; and nothing will be wanting but the setting up of

the kingdom under the new covenant

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Sept 1851

17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

Paul compares all mankind to two olive trees of the wild and cultivated species. The twelve tribes of Israel to whose country the olive is indigenous he likens to "a good olive tree," with a "holy root," representing "the fathers" Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, on whose account the whole nation is beloved.

The rest of mankind he compares to "a wild olive tree," which is smaller and inferior in all its parts. Eliphaz in Job xv. 33, compares a wicked man to an olive tree whose flowers fall before their season, and consequently brings no fruit.

Such is the primary import of these two trees, symbols of Israel and the Gentiles.

But, the Israelitish Olive Tree, and the Gentile Olive Tree, signified something more than this in the symbols before us. There was a specialty to be represented which had been apostolically elicited. This was the adoption of believing Gentiles into the Israelitish Family, that they might be Israelites in every particular, except the accident of birth according to nature.

This adoption, Paul styles "grafting in;" and figuratively represents the process, as a breaking of branches off from the wild Gentile olive, and inserting them into the place of certain sapless branches of the good Israelitish olive, which had also been broken off, and cast away.

This teaches allegorically that while the good olive tree represents the Israelitish peoples generally; there is nevertheless a Gentile element in the nation, equally interested in the promises made to their fathers, which are "the fatness of the tree."

Thus, the good olive tree represents "the Israel of the Deity," constituted of Israelites and Gentiles, who believe "the promises covenanted to the fathers;" and who, since Pentecost, A.D. 34, have believed "the truth as it is in Jesus," and by immersion into him, have been adopted, or grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel, as it will be in the times of restitution.

This union of Israelites and Gentiles into One Body, or Holy City, was represented to Zechariah, by connecting the two trees by means of two golden pipes with the one golden bowl of the lightstand; the idea of branch-union being set forth in the connection of the pipes with certain branches of the trees.

Eureka 11.2.1.

20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

Thou, O Gentile, standest by faith

That is, so long as the Gentiles continue to believe the gospel of the kingdom, there shall be scope for repentance unto life, that they may inherit the kingdom; but when they become faithless of the gospel, as Judah was before them, the door of mercy shall with like destructive violence be closed against them.

"Be not high-minded, but fear," saith Paul; "for if God spared not the natural branches of the olive tree, beware lest he also spare not thee."

In the apostle's day, there was a disposition in the Gentile mind to high-mindedness, and to boast against Judah, who had stumbled at the stone of stumbling, and rock of offence. They do not seem to have entertained the idea of the re-engraftment of the broken-off branches, but concluded that God had cast Israel away as a people for whom he had no further use or affection.

This was not the general idea; but some seem to have held it, or the apostle would not have contradicted the supposition. "God forbid," says he, that such a thing should be; he hath not cast away his people, Israel, whom he knew before he received the Gentiles into favour.

But, though the apostles so promptly repudiated the notion, he did not succeed in repressing it. That Israel was finally rejected and cast away, took strong hold of the Gentile professors of christianity, who in after times thought they were doing God service in persecuting the Jews.

Even at the present day, after a lapse of eighteen centuries, the receiving of Israel into favour again is regarded as fabulous by "christian professors." Being "wise in their own conceits," they boast themselves against the Jews, and denounce as "carnal Judaizers, " those who, with Paul, affirm that

"God hath not cast away his people, Israel, whom he foreknew."

Hear, O ye smatterers in prophetic lore, what Yahweh saith of Israel:

"Thus saith the Lord, who giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night; who divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar—the Lord of hosts is his name." "If those ordinances depart from before me," saith the Lord, "then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever."

Mark the "if, " which is still further emphasized in the next verse, saying:

"If the heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,"

saith the Lord. This is equivalent to saying, Israel shall never cease from being a nation before me, though they have done grievously in my sight; for the hypotheses upon which their casting away is predicated are absolute impossibilities. It is as impossible for their national existence to cease forever, as it is for feeble-minded man to measure heaven, or to search out the centre of the earth.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Apr 1853

23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

The Lord Jesus Christ at his appearing in his kingdom finds Judah inhabiting the land. Not all the Jews, but a goodly number of them. Having gained the victory of Armageddon, he convenes the elders of the people, which as their deliverer he has a right to do. Thus

"they look upon him whom they have pierced" (Zech. 12:10);

and one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thy hands? Then he shall answer,

"Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (Zech. 13:6).

The effect of this information upon the people is to cause a national lamentation. They will then discover that He to whom they owe their deliverance from Gogue is Jesus of Nazareth, whom their fathers crucified. They will therefore

"mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and will be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. In that day, there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo" (Zech. 12:10-14; Rev. 1:7).

Two-thirds of the people will have been cut off by the war against Gogue, and the third which survives will have passed through the fiery ordeal. It will have been a refining process in which they will have been refined like silver, and tried as gold is tried. Thus prepared,

"a spirit of grace and of supplications"

will be poured upon them, and they will

"call on the name of the Lord, and he will hear them" (Zech. 13:9),

and open for them a fountain for sin and for uncleanness (ver. 1). He will say,

"It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord (even Jesus) is my God" (ver. 9). Thus will Judah be grafted again into their own olive, and brought to acknowledge Jesus as King of the Jews, and to confess that "he is Lord to, the glory of God the Father."

The New Covenant being made with the house of Judah, the kingdom is established. Not, however, to its full extent. It is but the kingdom in its small beginning, as when David reigned in Hebron over Judah only. The Lord Jesus, as King of Judah, will have to bring the ten tribes and nations generally to acknowledge him as King of Israel and Lord of the whole earth.

Elpis Israel 3.6.

24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

The destruction of Jerusalem was the breaking off, not of Israel, but of "some of the branches" of "the Good" Israelitish "Olive Tree," whose stock is rooted in Abraham "the

friend of God;" and these branches, which lie withered on the ground, will, like Aaron's Rod, become full of sap and bear much fruit, by being again ingrafted on the parent tree;" for God is able to graft them in again"—Rom, xi.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, 1860 - The Olivet Prophecy.

The apostles have also taught us that the Spirit-Lightstand, or one light-bearing body, is constituted of two classes of mankind, which are fitly represented by Two Olive Trees; the one, "a wild olive tree," and the other, "a good olive tree" (Rom. xi. 17,24).

The former, we are taught in this chapter, represents the non-Israelitish portion of mankind; while the latter is representative of the twelve tribes of Israel. In the Zechariah-group of symbols, these two olive trees are united to the light-bearing body by the two golden pipes extending from a branch of either tree.

This intermediate union of the two trees is allegorical of the union of Israelites and Gentiles in one body through Jesus Christ. In the apostolic allegory, the union of the two classes is represented by grafting branches taken from the wild olive trees among the branches of the good olive tree, whose root and fatness supply wholesome nourishment to the grafts.

In other words, the engrafting is done by "the word of truth," which is therefore styled

"the engrafted word received with meekness, which is able to save the soul" (James i. 21).

This word received with meekness by wild-olive men, makes them intelligent believers of "the things concerning the kingdom of the Deity, and of the name of Jesus Christ;" and, by causing them to be immersed into the Christ-Name, they become members of the one body. By adoption, or engraftment, through Christ Jesus, they become good olive-men; and being "cut out" of the wild olive in all "the times of the Gentiles," during which blindness afflicts Israel, they supply the place of the Jewish branches broken off because of unbelief.

This transfer of branches from the wild to the cultivated olive is the reason of there being two olive trees in the symbolic group. In the first few years of the apostolic era, there had been no breaking off of branches from the good olive tree; and no grafting in of wild olive branches in their place. The engrafted word was preached and received by Israelites alone; for, until Peter was taught to "call no man common or unclean" (Acts x. 28), the gospel was not preached to the Gentiles; so that the one body consisted only of believing and immersed Jews.

But, when it was found experimentally that Israelites were fast becoming deaf and blind to the word, it was propounded to the Gentiles, from among whom a rich fulness has been separated.

As faith decayed in Israel it grew vigorously among the Gentiles. The natural branches of the good olive became sapless; and were broken off with violence, when the Little Horn of the Goat received a host against the daily because of transgression, and cast down the truth, in its Mosaic representation, to the ground (Dan. viii. 9-12, A.D. 70).

Eureka 11.1.2.

25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

In Paul's time there was "a remnant of Jews according to the election of grace." These were known by their believing "the things of the kingdom of the Deity and the name of Jesus Anointed;" by their being immersed; and by their walking in the light of the gospel, or "patiently continuing in well-doing". There are a few such Jews even now. We know only one such however. If there be fifty in this generation, and we very much doubt it, they constitute

"the remnant according to the election of grace." "The election hath obtained what it seeketh for; and the rest were blinded."

This "rest" is a motley crew, whose principles and tenets are like Joseph's coat—of many colours. They are historicals and infidels, and, with the exception named, impervious to "the things of the Spirit of God,"

"who hath given them the spirit of slumber—eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear."

This has come upon them in judgment for their iniquity, according to the petition of David, who saith

"Let their table be made a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them; let their eyes be darkened that they may not see, and bow down their back always."—(Rom. 11:5–10).

Now the individuals of this blinded "rest" may be able to read, write and speak Hebrew with the eloquence and learning of the Jew of Alexandria; nevertheless, their opinion of what is contained in the Hebrew of the prophets they translated is worth no more than the opinion of the blind in respect of colour, or of the deaf of the melodies of sound.

The Christadelphian, Oct 1875

Israel wanders without hope. God has not given them eyes to see that the law was but a shadow of good things to come, that the body (or substance) is of Christ, in whom all the good things typified are and will be realised.

Bro Roberts - Consolation

28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.

It was no good will to the Gentiles on their part, that they refused to believe; but their refusal was the result of hardness of heart: therefore, as a punishment, God blinded and hardened them still more, so that, instead of filling his house or kingdom with believers who were "Jews by nature," he determined to make up the complement of the redeemed by believers separated from "sinners of the Gentiles," who should become Jews by adoption, through faith in his goodness.

Judah, though still beloved for Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's sake, fell from gospel favor through want of faith; while faithful Gentiles were grafted into the stock of Israel's olive, and recognized as Israelites in every respect, save the accident of birth. This was just severity towards Judah; but gracious goodness towards Gentiles.

Thus it is apparent that the principle according to which the position of Judah and the Gentiles relative to Yahweh and his mercy was changed, was that of faith. To continue in the faith of the gospel was to continue in the goodness of God. Judah did not continue in that goodness, because the Jews did not continue to believe it. They were therefore "cut off." The offer was to be made to them no more.

Judah should indeed be grafted in again to the national olive: that is, reorganized with the rest of the tribes as a nation and commonwealth, or kingdom, in their own land, under the sovereignty of "Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews;" but those of them contemporary with the national blindness should have no share in "the joy" of their king—in those good things offered to individuals in the gospel of the kingdom.

This gospel announces that the God of heaven will set up a kingdom and dominion upon earth, under whose righteous administration Israel and the nations will be blessed with all temporal and spiritual blessings for a thousand years; such as, that there shall be war no more; that oppression and injustice shall cease; that the earth shall give her increase; that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord's glory; that the poor shall be comforted and protected; that there shall be but one religion, and so forth—

these are gospel blessings for the world, when, by conquest, it is brought into subjection to Israel's king; but the gospel promises the glory, honour, power, majesty, and riches of the kingdom and dominion only to those persons who, before the manifestation of them, while they are yet a matter of faith, and not of sight, believe the promised goodness of it, and continue in it.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Apr 1853

32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

What do we find in connection with Moses‭? ‬A law is given to the chosen nation.‭ ‬This law condemned to death all who disobeyed it in the meanest particular.‭ ‬Those to whom the law was given were,‭ ‬of course,‭ ‬under the Adamic curse‭; ‬that is,‭ ‬they inherited Adam's mortal nature,‭ ‬because in him when he sinned.

...none kept the law in all particulars...suppose the Jews had been able to keep it, what would have been the result to them? Now here let special attention be given to the testimony of the Word. Paul says, in the 7th chapter of Rom., 10th verse:

"The commandment (speaking of the law) was ordained to life."

Does that mean eternal life? Yes. This is shewn by what we read at Luke 10:25:

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering said so and so (recapitulating the chief points of the law.) And he (Jesus) said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."

Now there is the word of the Master himself confirming the statement of Paul, that the law given was unto life, if they kept it.

But then how about the Adamic condemnation in such a case? Well, if there had been a Jew who had kept the law in all things, having done the will of the Father from the very beginning of life to the end of his life, he would have been in the very position of the Lord Jesus himself; it would then have been in his power, by dying, to cleanse himself from the Adamic condemnation, and his righteousness would have caused his resurrection from the dead.

It is by the righteousness of one that resurrection has come (Rom. 5:18; 1 Cor. 15:21); it is not by the "free life" of one. "Free life" is a myth; an invention of the new heresy. Adamic mortality would not be to our "eternal death," if we were ourselves "without spot" of disobedience. God will keep no man in the grave because of Adam's sin, if he himself be individually righteous. Death purifies him from hereditary condemnation (Rom. 6:7; 1 Pet. 4:1); resurrection comes by righteousness.—(Rom. 5:9.)

How came it, then, that life could not come by the law, as Paul says, in the 3rd chapter of Gal., at the 21st verse:

"Is the law, then, against the promises of God? God forbid; for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law."

Let me give the Spirit's answer, Rom. 8:3: "What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God" has done in the way which we shall consider when we come to that point. Here, then, is the Spirit's teaching that the weakness of the law, in relation to the bestowing of life eternal, lay in the incapability of the flesh to keep it; as Jesus said to his disciples:

"The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

This is the teaching of the World, and the teaching of God's Word is decisive in such matters. You may shake a theory over it, and try to make it of none effect, but there the fact remains.

We next come to the question, Why was the flesh weak? Could not God have made human nature after such a pattern or constitution that it would have been able to keep the law? Doubtless He could. Why did he not? He had His own reason, and our wisdom lies in simply seeing and accepting it. I will give it you in the words of the Spirit: Gal. 3:22:

"The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."

But this suggests another question: why was it devised that the promise should come in that way? The Spirit's answer is:

"That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God."—(Rom. 3:19.)

But again, we ask why? The final answer of the Spirit is,

"That He may have mercy on all" (Rom. 11:32); that no flesh should glory in His sight (1 Cor. 1:29); not of works, lest any man should boast.—(Eph. 2:9.

The spirit and essence of the plan of God's redemption by Christ is that the praise and the glory may be to Him,‭ ‬and that no flesh should glory in His presence,‭ ‬in which we see at once the profoundest philosophy when we remember that God only exists inherently‭; ‬that all things exist by His permission only‭; ‬and that the highest delight of created beings is the recognition and adoration of the eternal prerogative of the Creator.

The Christadelphian, Oct 1873

35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

A man who uniformly disregards the providences of God, or who discourses irreverently on divine things, or who discusses for the sake of controversy, or who thinks he does the truth an honour by his patronage, or who is indifferent to the rooting and grounding work—such a man will be an easy prey to whatsoever commends itself to his natural sympathies.

The Christadelphian, Mar 1874

36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen. (1 Tim 6:16).

For in him we live, and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28)

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. (Psa 139:6)

All things must be embraced in the power from which they have sprung, and which sustains them in being. We must be in the presence of God. ...

...Well, then, if that is beyond us, how inscrutable is the other point presented to our faith, though its truth is evident as a matter of reason, viz., that there is, in relation to that universal element of power or existence, a personal controlling centre, from which it is but an eternal emanation, and with which it is ONE indissoluble—the First Cause—the Eternal Antecedent of all things—the seat of Ineffable Wisdom and power—the Father, who is above all and through all by his diffusive spirit, and yet personally resident at a point

of the universe, variously described in the Scriptures as "light unapproachable," "heaven of

heavens," "heaven thy dwelling place." ....

For instance, Jesus says "Our Father, who art in heaven."—(Matt. 6.) David says, "Unto thee I lift mine eyes, O Thou that dwellest in the heavens."—

(Psalm 123:1.) Solomon, at the dedication of the temple, makes frequent use of the phrase "Hear Thou in heaven, Thy dwelling-place, and when Thou hearest,forgive."

These are illustrations of the statements that teach the localization of the Father in central light—the sustaining principle of creation, in, as it were, what you may style focus, or intensity of development. They teach that though that principle is universal, the Personal Intelligence from whom it emanates, dwells in local habitation; yet that He has conscious relation to infinitude, He fills all because He is The Spirit and you cannot divide spirit from spirit. You cannot divide any one part of God from Himself.

The Christadelphian, May 1870 - The Operations of the Deity