Jacob 5

This theme of people joining the family of Abraham is a favorite of Paul's. He revisits it again in Galatians 3:7-9 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. joining the seed of Abraham is one of the great blessings of the gospel, in that we are able to partake of the blessings promised to him: specific lands throughout eternity, infinite posterity, and the priesthood. I've always thought that the property one feels a little out of place with the other two, almost like it isn't eternal enough, but I haven't really ever understood the whole new heaven new earth thing with this earth becoming the celestial kingdom after the resurrection anyway, so perhaps someday Abraham will explain it to me if he's got a minute.

Jacob 5:18 And he said unto the servant: Behold, the branches of the wild tree have taken hold of the moisture of the root thereof, that the root thereof hath brought forth much strength; and because of the much strength of the root thereof the wild branches have brought forth tame fruit. Now, if we had not grafted in these branches, the tree thereof would have perished. And now, behold, I shall lay up much fruit, which the tree thereof hath brought forth; and the fruit thereof I shall lay up against the season, unto mine own self.

I wonder how literally we're intended to take this allegory. Now that I have a rudimentary knowledge of the way grafting works, I understand that the strength of the roots flows to the newly grafted branches (in real trees) only if you cut off any natural branches that are growing higher on the trunk than the graft. Is the success of Christianity a direct result of the Romans sacking Israel and the dispersion of the Lord's covenant people? Could Christianity have flourished (in the world outside of Israel) if it had not been rejected there?