The mother tree, the house of Israel in the vineyard of the Old World, with its periodic graftings (conversions) of Gentiles, had grown strong. When Jesus ministered in Samaria (many of the Samaritans were descendants of the mixture of Israelites and immigrants from the former Assyrian Empire), for example, he found a people ready to hear the gospel (John 4). There was similarly a “grafting” after Peter had received the revelation that the gospel and all of its blessings were to go to the Gentiles (Acts 10), and, largely through the efforts of the Apostle Paul, the gentile Christians proved to be a great strength to the developing meridian Church.