THE TRUE ISRAEL by George Ide Butler

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 23, 1872

THE TRUE ISRAEL.

By George Ide Butler

BY ELD. GEO. I. BUTLER.

(Concluded.)

We next introduce the illustration of the olive tree given us by Jeremiah and continued by the apostle Paul. It is remarkable how the apostle seizes this illustration at the very point where it is left by the prophet. So that the illustration becomes like one connected account, although written by different writers hundreds of years apart.

“The Lord called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit; with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.” Jer. 11: 16. “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. 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. And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in; for God is able to graft them in again. 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! 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 fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Rom. 11: 17–26.

To any one who has read the connection of these two passages of scripture, it will be very clear that the same olive tree represents the whole of Israel. Jeremiah and Paul both have been speaking of Israel in the immediate connection, and the comparison can refer to nothing else.

Here, then, we have a mighty tree representing the whole house of Israel, and, for a certain cause, some of its branches are broken off. These broken branches, then, being detached from the tree, no longer compose a part of it. They receive no benefit from the parent stock, and it is not benefited by them. What becomes of these stocks after the branches are broken off? A wild olive is graffed on, contrary to nature, and becomes a part of the tame olive tree, partaking of its fatness, and really forming a part of it, just as much as the apple scion inserted in the apple tree, which is so common a sight to us all, becomes a part of the apple tree, while the old limb cast aside is rejected and worthless, only with this difference: In the case of the olive tree, the old branch, under certain conditions, may be graffed in again, and become a part of the original tree. But mark this: Unless it is again graffed in according to these conditions, it will forever remain a foreign body, and not receive a particle of benefit from the olive tree.

Now let us come back to the thing illustrated—Israel. The branches broken off are those given to unbelief. Why was Abraham chosen as the first representative of this family? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” Rom. 4: 3. And again, he became the “father of all them that believe.” Now the opposite of believing is unbelieving. And just as quick as the natural branches, or the literal seed, cherish that, they are cut off; they cease to be Abraham’s true children; they no longer belong to Israel; they are severed from the olive tree. What about the Gentiles then? As soon as they have the same kind of faith Abraham had, they become children of him who is the “father of all them that believe.” Is there any danger of these branches, which have thus been graffed in, losing their connection with the tame olive tree? “Thou standest by faith.” “Be not highminded, but fear.” “But toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” Is there any hope for these broken-off branches? Oh! yes. Our Lord has made full provisions for every one who possesses the proper character, and for only such. “And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in, for God is able to graft them in again.”

Can anything be plainer from this illustration than that character alone determines the question, Who are the true Israel of God? Unbelief and unfaithfulness cut a man off entirely, while faith and obedience unite him securely. A man may remain in unbelief and he will remain cut off, and in no way benefited by blood relationship. Then the mass of the literal Jews remain to-day cut off entirely from true Israel, and in no way can they become united only by believing in Christ, of which there is but very little hope; and in no way can they share in those promises made to Israel, but by being converted and having faith in Christ. We have thus ascertained how we become united to Israel, how we are separated from him, and what the conditions are by which we remain and constitute a part of him. These statements are so plain and explicit we think none will dispute them.

We will then proceed further and notice the latter part of the apostle’s statements in which some think a different idea is taught. “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 fullness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Verses 25, 26. What is the “mystery” the apostle speaks of? It is, that “blindness in part” is happened to literal Israel; that is, a part of them have become “blinded” through unbelief, pride, and the rejection of the truth, while a part did receive Christ, and thus continue to belong to Israel; as the apostle says in the 7th verse of this chapter, “Israel hath not obtained

that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” The “election” are those who accept salvation on the conditions God has offered. The rest became blind, their hearts became gross, they are given over to “hardness of heart, and blindness of mind.” How long is this blindness to continue? “Till the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” This “blindness in part” is just the same as the breaking off of the natural branches in the breaking-off comparison above, through unbelief. Of this, there can be no doubt. The “mystery,” then, of which the apostle speaks, is really the process by which the natural seed are broken off and give place to the Gentile believers, who enter into all the promises made to Abraham and Israel.

This, to a literal Jew of that age who prided himself so much on his descent from Abraham, was a mystery indeed; and it seems to be a mystery entirely misunderstood, in spite of the clearness of the apostle’s explanation, by many of our modern Gentile theologians who will have it that the literal seed which the apostle plainly declares to be broken off through unbelief are to go right in and inherit those precious promises made to true Israel.

We have here in this connection the phrase, “the fullness of the Gentiles.” We have, also, in the words of our Saviour, a similar phrase, “the times of the Gentiles.” “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” Luke 21: 24. In the old dispensation the work of God seemed almost confined to the literal seed. Prophets spoke to them, and warned them, and besought them to do the will of God. They rebelled times without number. Portions of them were cut off from time to time, till finally only a small portion of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with a very few of the others, remained. Of these, the prophet Daniel said, “Seventy weeks are determined [cut off] upon thy people and upon thy holy city.” Dan. 9: 24. That is, 490 years from the time when the decree went forth for the building again of Jerusalem, the exclusive privileges of this people ceased. When our Saviour hung upon the cross, he cried, “It is finished.” The veil of the temple was rent from top to bottom. Their typical system here met its antitype. Still they had a short day of grace to see if they would accept the offered salvation. Three years and a half from the midst of the last of the seventy weeks when their sacrifices ceased, brought them to the close when the nation rejected Jesus of Nazareth, and the apostles said, “So we turn to the Gentiles.” Here we understand the “times of the Gentiles” commenced. As the work of God had been specially manifest among the Jews before this, so it should be specially apparent among the Gentiles after this point. In the times of the Jews, if I might use such an expression, Gentiles could and did have part in God’s work, and become a part of it by the peculiar conditions required of them. So now, in the “times of the Gentiles,” the literal Jews must humble themselves and renounce those special claims they have prided themselves upon so long, and accept the lowly Nazarene; and only in this way can they be “graffed” in, and become a part of that tree from which they have been broken off.

How long are the “times of the Gentiles” to continue? We answer, “Until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” The word “fullness” in the Greek is pleroma. Greenfield defines it to mean in this very text, “abundance, multitude, the multitude of those that worship God, the whole body of Christians, the church,” comparing it with a similar expression in Eph. 1: 23.

When the “fullness of the Gentiles comes in,” then is when God has gathered out of all the Gentiles through faith and obedience to the truth, those who will accept the offered mercy. This will bring us to the close of this dispensation. There is no time brought to view in the Bible after this point is reached where another special probation is offered to these branches which have been broken off through unbelief.

God’s ways are equal. His special work was manifested among them for ages (not to exclude the Gentiles entirely, however), and then his special work was seen among the Gentiles. Then comes the consummation: “And so all Israel shall be saved.” The apostle does not merely express the fact that Israel will be saved, but he tells us just how it will be done, “and so.” The adverb so means in the manner specified. The apostle has just given us an exact description of the process, in the comparison of the olive tree representing all Israel. The natural branches which remained faithful like Abraham, and the Gentiles who are partakers of the same faith, these, and these alone, constitute Israel. These will be saved when the “Deliverer shall come out of Sion.”

Here the apostle quotes from the prophet Isaiah 59: 20. Let us read the connection from which the apostle quotes from Isaiah. Verses 16–20: “And he saw there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense. So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” Now come the words the apostle quotes to show when Israel shall be saved: “And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.”

It must be evident to the reader of these quotations that the prophet is speaking of the close of probation. “When there is no intercessor,” “when his arm brings salvation,” “when he will repay fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies,” at this same time the apostle says the “Deliverer shall come out of Sion,” and he quotes it to show when all “Israel shall be saved.” But says an objector, “Zion is in Jerusalem which has been trodden down of the Gentiles. So all Israel must be gathered to that Jerusalem.” Here, dear friend, you much mistake. That is not the Jerusalem from which the Deliverer is coming. This dispensation has a far more glorious Jerusalem of which Old Jerusalem was but a weak type, and it is from this latter one that the Deliverer is coming. The two are contrasted in Gal. 4: 25, 26. “For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Praise the Lord, the “all” here spoken of, the children, will go to the “mother” by-and-by when the Deliverer comes after them, and will receive all Israel then, and so they will be “saved.”

So the apostle again contrasts the type and antitype in Heb. 12: 18–24. We quote a part: “But ye are come [by faith] unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in Heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator,” &c. This is the Jerusalem of this dispensation. We look forward to it with a glorious faith, to be swallowed up in glorious reality when the “Deliverer” shall come from it, after us, and take “all Israel” to it. We emphatically deny that true Israel in this dispensation has any special interest in old “Jerusalem which is in

bondage with her children,” but has a surpassing interest in free “Jerusalem which is above,” our mother. This is the very “city with foundations,” for which Abraham, the father of the faithful, looked, Heb. 11: 10, and which caused him to leave kindred, friends, and country. And when the glorious city of God is upon the earth, as described by John the Revelator, Rev. 21: 12, we read, “And had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.” How plain and how beautiful that all Israel, when “saved” as the apostle describes, will enter through the gates into the city.

The Saviour has been in Heaven preparing mansions for them in this city, as he told his disciples he was going to when about to leave them. John 14: 3. From this place, which is Jerusalem above, he will come and take them to himself. This is the very time spoken of in Rom. 11: 26: “There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer.” How plain the truth of God is when we take a connected view of it. Zion is in Jerusalem above as we have seen in Heb. 12. The prophet Joel speaks of it when he says, “The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem.”—Joel 3: 16—Jerusalem above, the Jerusalem of this dispensation. Thus we conclude that, when all Israel is saved as described by Paul, Christ will make his glorious advent the second time, and save them with an eternal salvation in the city of God above; and there is no place left for a return of the broken-off branches, which are no longer a part of Israel, to old Jerusalem which is in bondage with her children, and under the feet of the Gentiles, and trodden down by them.

Another thought in connection with the tame olive tree, representing all Israel, before we leave it. Israel is composed of twelve tribes. We have seen that in the city of God there are twelve gates, and these have inscribed upon them the names of the twelve tribes, showing this division into twelve parts will be continued in the future state. The apostle James recognizes the same thing when writing his Christian epistle to the “twelve tribes scattered abroad, greeting.” So there are twelve more branches in this tree. This must be so; for it comprehends all Israel. Now, whenever a believing Gentile is grafted into this tree, by faith, he must become a member of one of these tribes just as a foreigner, coming to our country and becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States, at the same moment becomes a citizen of one of the several States. This thought answers an objection often urged against our views of the one hundred and forty-four thousand spoken of in Rev. 7, of which there are twelve thousand of each tribe sealed, being Gentiles and living in the last days. There is no greater objection to this than to a Gentile becoming an Israelite at all, and this the apostle settles beyond a doubt in his illustration of the tame olive tree. It would seem necessary to say but little further in this argument as to who is meant by the true Israel of God. We think we have plainly shown, by the clearest testimony, that character determines the question entirely, and that a literal descent proves nothing.

If further testimony is desired, it can be furnished easily. Thus the apostle says in Rom. 9: 6: “They are not all Israel, which are of Israel,” and illustrates it by the case of Isaac, “Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children; but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Ishmael was as really a son of Abraham as Isaac, yet he was not reckoned as the child. He also illustrates further by Esau and Jacob. Thus we have the positive statement that blood relationship does not decide the question at all. Again in Rom. 2: 28, 29, the great apostle declares, “He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.” How could language be plainer that character alone determines the question, who are the true Israel?

Having seen that this term comprehends the true people of God, and those alone, we cannot for a moment suppose that the promises made to Israel will benefit those who, the apostle plainly declares, form no part of Israel, and, as it is only through these promises that some at the present time look for a return of the literal seed, we conclude that such return is not to be expected.

Were not this article already too lengthy, we should notice some of the scriptures relied upon to prove the gathering of the Jews to old Jerusalem. We think none of these contradict the positions taken in this article. In conclusion we would say, It is most important that we all become children of Abraham by faith, so that when he enters into the city that hath foundations, we may enter in also, and be saved with all the true Israel of God.