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by Kevin Pauley
Now if the firstfruits offered up are holy, so is the whole batch. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them, and have come to share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree, do not brag that you are better than those branches. But if you do brag--you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you. Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." True enough; they were broken off by unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either. - Romans 11:16-21 HCSB
A great man’s hospitality compelled him to move some of his children out of their rooms so that a guest could sleep on their bed. The guest, upon seeing the children moved for his sake, sneered at them with disdain. “See how the great man values me? He places my comfort above that of his very children!” Out of his arrogance he began to presume upon his host’s grace more and more. The great man quickly deduced what kind of rude, ungrateful boor had come into his house and kicked the bad-mannered man out into the night to fend for himself.[1]
Out of all the nations of the Earth, Attiq Yomin[2] chose Abraham and out of that one elderly man, He made a great nation named Israel. He took the next 1,500 years to steadily teach them that true greatness comes from submission to El Ch’uwl’s precepts.[3] He gave them concepts for which there were no words in any other languages and enforced the meaning and application over and over again for centuries.
This nation gave us our Scriptures, the revealed Word of God that tells us things about Elohim that we could never guess any other way. It gave us prophets who told us everything that would happen millennia before they did and even revealed to us how the universe will end.
Out of this nation came the Messiah, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the only Begotten Son of God, very God of very God. He physically came to Earth and submitted to a horrible death so that our sin debt would be paid and gave us the hope of heaven.
Just as God gave the people of Israel over to various invaders when they disobeyed, but took them back each time they repented,[4] so they will resume their preeminence when the Messiah rules from Jerusalem. Then woe to the one who was the instrument of Yahweh’s wrath upon that blessed people. Woe to the one whose sin made him available for that terrible ministry.[5]
We are guests in God’s house and He has temporarily moved His children.[6] Let us be humbly grateful, for they will one day rule again.
[1] Matthew 13:41-42; 49-50; 22:12-13; 24:50-51; 25:29-30
[2] The Ancient One (Daniel 7:9,13, 21-22)
[3] God our Parent (Deuteronomy 32:18)
[4] Judges 3:7-15; Psalm 78:56-66
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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