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               itually blinded? Romans 11:7, 25. Why? Verses 20, 32.


               COMMENT: YEHOVAH God has allowed Israel to be spiritually blinded to
               fulfill His plan. And that plan includes the salvation of all of Israel!


               13. Has the House of Judah being broken off the olive tree made it possible
               for the House of Israel being grafted in? Verses 17, 24.


               COMMENT:  Paul  pictures  Israel  as  a  natural  olive  tree  whose branches
               (the House of Judah) were broken off because of unbelief -- disobedience
               to YEHOVAH God. This made possible YEHOVAH’s grafting in of the wild
               olive branches – the House of Israel (the Gentiles).

               14.  But  can  Judah  --  though  now  "broken  off"  --  be  grafted  back
               in? Verses  23-24.


               COMMENT: Ancient Judah’s blindness will not remain forever. Their time
               of understanding and participation in YEHOVAH’s plan of salvation has not
               yet come (verse 26).


               But  in  the  meantime  the  comparatively  few  physical  Israelites  whom
               YEHOVAH God has called have become "spiritual Israelites." Through the
               Messiah, they  have become members  of the spiritual household  of
               YEHOVAH God (Ephesians 2:19) and are unified into one spiritual body --
               the Ecclesia of YEHOVAH God! (Galatians 3:28.)


               15. Ancient Israel did not have access to a large measure of YEHOVAH’s
               spirit. Yet what are they called? I Chronicles 13:2; Acts 7:38.

               COMMENT: Israel  was called  the "congregation of  Israel" because these
               people  were  physical  Israelites  in  the  Old  Testament  congregation  and

               physical Israelites of the spiritual Ecclesia the Messiah began to build 2,000
               years ago (Matthew 16:18). This is another example of the duality principle
               in YEHOVAH’s plan.

               YEHOVAH God is preparing the Kingdom of YEHOVAH God in dual stag-
               es.  First  was  Old Testament  Israel.  They  were carnal-minded, without  a
               large measure of YEHOVAH’s holy spirit. They were the carnal congrega-
               tion or  ecclesia  of  Old Testament  Israel.  In  New  Testament  times,  spirit-
               begotten physical Israelite children of YEHOVAH God are the spiritual Ec-
               clesia  of  YEHOVAH  God, composed  of members of  those  physically  de-
               scended from  Israel  who have become "spiritual  Israelites" through  the
               Messiah.



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