The Two Olive Trees

1. In the eleventh chapter of Romans, what great lesson is presented by the apostle Paul?

Answer, The olive trees.

2. In what condition were these two olive trees?

“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?” Romans 11:24.

NOTE: By this reading we learn, that, one of these olive trees was of the good kind, while the other one was of the wild variety.

3. What name was given the literal family of Abraham?

“The Lord called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit,” Jeremiah 11:16.

4. What was the practice of Abraham, that prompted God to call him and his seed by this name?

“Because that Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws,” Genesis 26:5.

5. Were the teachings of Abraham in accordance with his life?

“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which He hath spoken of him,” Genesis 18:19.

6. Did the family of Abraham, or tame olive tree, have the advantage of the wild, and how?

“What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God,” Romans 3:1, 2.

7. While the family of Abraham continued to walk in the ways of God, what kind of a people would they be?

“Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation,” Exodus 19:5, 6.

8. Mention another promise made this people if they would continue to be obedient to God.

“And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God,” Deuteronomy 28:1, 2.

9. What if they failed to obey the voice of God?

“And if ye shall despise My statutes, or if your soul abhor My judgments, so that ye will not do all My commandments, but that ye break My covenant: I also will do this unto you . . . And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and ye shall flee when none pursueth you,” Leviticus 26:15-17.

10. Because of disobedience to God, what did Israel become?

“And Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people,” I Kings 9:7, last part of verse.

11. Because of disobedience, what was said of their eyes?

“Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway,” Romans 11:10.

12. Why were the branches broken from this tame olive tree?

“Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not high minded, but fear,” verse 20.

13. When the tame or natural branches were broken off, what was grafted into the root of the tame tree to take the place of the branches that were broken off?

“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,” verse 17.

14. At one time, in what condition were the Gentiles?

“Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world,” Ephesians 2:11, 12.

15. How were these wild branches grafted into the tame tree?

NOTE: If they had been grafted according to nature they would bear the same old wild fruit they had been bearing all the time. As they were grafted contrary to nature they must bear the same fruit as the tree into which they were grafted, which would bring them to a standard of right doing, or in other words, “keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus,” which is the standard by which the human family will be judged in the final judgment day.

16. What words of warning are given these branches?

“Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee,” verses 20, 21.

17. Upon what grounds will goodness be extended to these branches?

“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off,” verse 22.

18. On what grounds will the branches that were broken off be grafted in again?

“And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again,” verse 23.

19. For how long a time will the blinded branches remain in that condition?

“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,” verse 25.

NOTE: The blindness here referred to was the Jewish people rejecting Christ. At the present time many of them are accepting Him as their sacrifice, and they will accept Him more, until when He shall come again thousands of them will be glad to see Him coming in the clouds of heaven. This is one sign that we have of the nearness of Christ’s return to the earth. It is also a sign that Gentile times are nearing a close.

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