Notes of Faith May 24, 2025
You were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree.
Romans 11:24
Recommended Reading: Psalm 128:1-4
Jesus was well known for using agricultural metaphors in His teaching. But the apostle Paul occasionally did the same. The most sophisticated example is his use of olive trees to illustrate the union of Jews and Gentiles into the redemptive plan of God (Romans 11:11-24).
Olive trees—wood, fruit, and oil—are mentioned nearly forty times in Scripture. Olive trees were so well known in the Mediterranean region that Paul could talk about the practice of grafting cultivated and wild trees knowing his readers would understand. Normally a branch of a cultivated olive tree would be grafted into a wild olive trunk to produce a new, fruit-bearing tree. In his example, a cultivated olive tree represented the Jews and the wild olive tree represented the Gentiles. “Contrary to nature,” Paul wrote, God has grafted a wild branch (Gentiles) into a cultivated tree (Jews) to extend the blessings of Abraham to all the world.
When you enjoy olive oil, remember how God has grafted Jew and Gentile into a new “tree” of faith.
The glory of the body of Christ appears in the diversity of its members.
R. B. Kuiper
Rev 5:9
"Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Phil 2:9-11
God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
All human beings came through Adam and Eve. We all carry the same blood that gives life. Sin brought death but the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross offering His blood as atonement for our sin brings eternal life to those who believe in Him. All people can be saved by the grace of God through the faith that He gives to believe in Jesus! Come, be grafted into the family today!
Pastor Dale