DAD'S RAMBLING -- GRAFTED IN

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – GRAFTED IN

"And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you." (Romans 11:17-18)

You probably remember the television miniseries in the 1980s – "Roots" by Alex Haley. His search for his history was the motivation for the book. Our scripture for today is about our roots as Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul uses a striking metaphor to explain our position in the great plan of God. The picture of the tree that God planted – starting with Abraham and the Jewish nation of Israel, of having some of the branches broken off, and then other wild branches grafted in to the root – is the picture of the unbelieving Jews being broken off and the Gentiles becoming a part of the tree. We are Judeo-Christians. Christianity is not a stand-alone religion. It did not just appear out of nowhere. It comes out of the Jewish stock – the root that began with Abraham. The nation of Israel was God's chosen people. But because they rejected Him as their Messiah, some lost their position as a part of the tree, and the Gentiles were grafted in. They were broken off because of their unbelief (vs. 20).

The fact that God has grafted us into the root is not something we can boast about. God, the master gardener, did this as He purposed, not because we merited anything. We do not support the tree – the tree supports us. Our faith gets its very life from the tree – the Old Covenant Root.

We cannot look down our nose at the beginnings of our faith in the Old Testament. Our Messiah – Jesus – was revealed in the Old Testament and came out of Jewish stock as the son of Mary. So we need to honor our Abrahamic and Mosaic heritage. We owe a lot to the Jewish faith, even though they as a nation have rejected their Messiah. We are fortunate to have such a legacy.

I am very grateful for the Old Testament revelation because our New Testament faith springs from that tree. I am a Christian whose roots go clear back to Abraham. As the Apostle wrote, we are sons of Abraham (Galatians 3:7). What a heritage we have.

Love, Dad