The teaching of being ‘grafted’ is not really an ‘individual’ truth, but is a ‘corporate’ truth.  To understand what I mean, let’s begin reading at Romans 11:1-2, “I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.”  Paul begins this chapter by assuring us that God HAS NOT cast away His earthly people, the Jews.  Israel rejected the Lord Jesus as their Messiah.

Because of their rejection of the Lord, Israel has ‘been blinded’ for a season, or period of time.  Romans 11:7-10 tells us, “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.”

Now let’s read verse 11, “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.”  Israel, as a nation, has fallen because of their rejection of the Lord.  Because of their fall, the Lord has now sent the Gospel of salvation to the Gentile nations. What is a Gentile?  Anyone who is not a Jew is a Gentile.  The Lord has done this in order to provoke the Jewish nation to be jealous.  It is important to know that when the Lord Jesus came into the world, His purpose was to “save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21).  ‘His people’ of course, were the Jews.  The Lord Himself told the Samaritan lady in John 4:22, “…salvation is of the Jews.”  Yet, in spite of the Lord’s desire to save His people, they rejected them as their Messiah and King.  In their zeal to kill Him, they said, “We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15)

Once, when Paul and Barnabas were trying to share the Gospel, a group of Jewish men heard them.  We read in Acts 13:45-46, “But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but SEEING YE PUT IT FROM YOU, AND JUDGE YOURSELVES UNWORTHY OF EVERLASTING LIFE, LO, WE TURN TO THE GENTILES.”

Now, let’s go back and read Romans 11:17-21, “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; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 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.”  Today, the Gentile nations have been ‘graffed in’ to the position of being able to receive the promised blessings the Lord had made with His earthly people, the Jews.  The Gentiles were warned that if the Lord did not spare the natural branches (the Jews), neither would He spare the Gentiles if they refuse to follow Him by faith.  Again, this is not speaking of the individual person, but the Jews and Gentiles as a whole.

Has the Lord cast off His earthly people?  “God forbid.”  Verse 23 says of the Jews, “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.”  Of this verse, William MacDonald writes in his book, Believer’s Bible Commentary, “If they abandon their national unbelief, there is no reason why God cannot put them back into their original place of privilege.  It would not be impossible for God to do this.”

We know from many prophecies that Israel will not continue in unbelief.  They must, of course, see to believe and Zechariah 12:10 says, “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and THEY SHALL LOOK UPON ME WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”  (346.4)