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however, were not provoked to emulation. Isaiah 6:10, quoted by the apostle in Acts 28, showed that the olive tree
of Israel was cut down. It is true that Isaiah 6:13 prophesies that, though cut down, it will yet sprout again; that in
God's good time `all Israel' shall be saved, but this does not take place until `the fulness of the Gentiles' has come
in. (The words, `cast their leaves' in Isaiah 6:13 should be rendered, `are felled').
Romans 11 makes it plain that in the first instance the olive tree was entirely Israelitish. At the time of writing
that epistle `some' only of the natural branches had been broken off, but during the present time there does not exist
the counterpart of this olive tree, that is, an Israelitish calling with a smaller Gentile addition. Today Israel does not
count. Only a false spirituality can attempt to prove that the olive tree now stands. During this present time Gentiles
are blessed without association with Israel. Should anyone interpose the suggestion that Gentile believers are still
blessed by the Scriptures which came through Israel, are still saved by that salvation which is `of the Jews', are still
accepted in Him Who is of the seed of David, and therefore are still partaking of the root and fatness of the olive
tree, we would reply that this, if allowed, proves too much, for the epistles of the mystery, though distinct and
peculiar, are necessarily linked with all that has gone before, and so the mystery itself could be `proved' to be a
continuation of Romans 11, as some actually interpret Ephesians 2:19.
It throws light upon Romans 11 and the dispensational position of the Gentile during the Acts period, to
remember that Paul is not employing fiction when he speaks of the unusual action of grafting a wild branch upon a
cultivated stock, for at the time the apostle was writing it was a process actually used to `provoke' the flagging
fruitfulness of an aged olive tree. The enjoyment by the Gentiles of spiritual gifts, `the fatness of the olive tree',
during this time was not because the blessing that will result from the promise to Abraham was then actually flowing
out to all nations, but because the Gentiles were being used to `provoke to jealousy and emulation' the fast-failing
olive tree of Israel. But Israel did not respond, they did not repent, and in due course were set aside.
If the position of the believing Gentiles is truly described as a graft into the olive tree, it follows that when at
Acts 28 the tree was cut down, a very drastic change must have come over the world of Gentile believers.
Pentecostal conditions will be resumed only when the time for Israel's restoration draws near, and in consequence
the present interval is marked by other characteristics.
This brief note is, of course, entirely inadequate as an examination of this second position, but we write for those
who are fully acquainted with the whole argument. The bearing of 1 Corinthians 12 also is important, and it is
obvious to all who have eyes to see and who refuse to accept substitutes for realities that the conditions of 1
Corinthians 12 do not exist today.
(3) Are believers today blessed under the terms of the New Covenant?
Equally with the covenant made with Abraham, this covenant, while finding in Christ the complete ratification
of all its terms, nevertheless necessitates a restored Israel as a nation before the Lord. This can be seen by reading
the original terms of the new covenant given in Jeremiah 31:27-40.
The new covenant was in operation during the Acts, as 2 Corinthians 3 and 4 indicate, but, like the covenant with
Abraham, its full outflow awaits the day when all Israel shall be saved.
(4) Are believers in Christ who do not believe the revelation of the Mystery, necessarily `Christendom'?
This is difficult to answer, for `Christendom' is not a Scriptural name, and consequently we can never be sure
that we use it exactly as another may intend. Speaking broadly, Christendom stands for that great mass of
professing Christians, largely leavened with false doctrine, and finally developing into the apostasy that precedes the
end. Accepting this definition, we are compelled to say that it would be most uncharitable as well as untrue
unceremoniously to sweep aside all those men of God who fail to see the truth of the mystery, and who indeed are
sometimes antagonistic to it. Just as it was not necessarily true during the Acts that if Paul was right Peter was
wrong, so it does not follow that every believer today should be a believer of the truth of the mystery - he cannot be
unless chosen of the Lord, and his calling and election may place him in an entirely different company. This, of
course, remains to be proved.