Trees are one of the wonderful creations of nature, and, usually, when gazing upon them, we think only of their beauty, as they are a magnificent sight during all four seasons of the year. In summer, their over-casting shadows of cooling branches covered in leaves are a blessing to man, who may rest under them during the heat of the day. In autumn, we are spellbound by the gorgeous colors of their leaves. In winter, although they have shed their lovely leaves to go to sleep, they are still beautiful when God dresses them in soft snowflakes. In spring, having awakened from a restful sleep, they return to life, sprouting forth new, delicate, tender leaves of soft green.
Trees are not only beautiful, but have their usefulness as well. They serve as a shelter in case of storm; the birds nest in their branches, and they absorb the excess moisture of the earth due to rains, thus preventing the earth from breaking up and crumbling.
In the Scriptures trees often refer to men. Good men, says the Psalmist, are like trees which bring forth good fruit. They shall be plentifully fed by the grace and mercy of God, and whatsoever they do will prosper. The fruit of the tree is the product of the earth; therefore, says the Bible, by their fruits you shall know them. Good trees bring forth good fruit, and are compared to the godly who are called Trees of Righteousness. The reward offered to these faithful trees is eternal life, and what greater reward could we have promised to us than this!
Wicked men are compared to trees that are cut down because they do not bring forth good fruit, but evil fruit; and as surely as a corrupt tree shall be cut down, so will the vengeance of God cut down the wicked in the day of His wrath. Thus the deeds of the wicked are likened to a corrupt tree without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots.
Then we have the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, so called because by eating of it man became wise and knew the difference between good and evil. But, from the eating, he derived more evil than good, as the first fruit of his body was Cain who slew his brother Abel because God accepted Abel’s offering and not his. Thus Cain became a corrupt tree whose fruit withered.
The Tree of Life was so called because it was the means of eternal life to man. But man lost the opportunity to live forever because he disobeyed God, so it became a tree of death to him instead of a tree of life. But God has promised that all who are victorious in their struggle against sin shall eat of the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God.
The army of the king of Assyria are called trees. God will smite the Assyrians so that the rest of the trees in the forest, meaning the men of the king’s army, will be so few that a child could count their number. But the remnant of Israel, those that escape the destruction of the Assyrian army, will no more lean upon him that smote them, but will lean upon the Lord.
Ezekiel, when speaking of the fate of Pharaoh and his people likens Pharaoh to a cedar of Lebanon with fair branches which water will nourish until it towers high above the trees of the forest. It will he so great and so beautiful that no tree in the garden of God will be able to compete with it; and all the trees in Eden will envy it. But the fate of Pharaoh is as certain as that of a tree which falls when it has been cut at the roots; he is to be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth, in other words, the grave; and he shall lie with those who were slain by the sword.
Bible history reveals to us that the Jews have been compared to the olive tree, which is full of fatness, yielding plenty of oil. There are two kinds of olive trees, the natural and the wild. The cultivated olive tree is of moderate height, its trunk is knotty, its bark smooth and of an ash color; its wood is solid and yellowish. The leaves are oblong and almost like those of the willow, of a green color, dark on the upper-side, and white on the under side. In the month of June it puts out white flowers that grow in hunches. Each flower is of one piece, widening upwards, and dividing into four parts. After the flower reseeds, the fruit which is also oblong and plump, is first green, then pale, and lastly black when it is quite ripe. In the flesh of it is enclosed a hard stone full of an oblong seed. The wild olive tree differs from this in that it is smaller in all of its parts. The leaf of the olive tree is a symbol of peace. We recall the dove that brought hack an olive leaf in its mouth to Noah in the ark, denoting that the water had abated off the face of the earth.
When the Jews planted a vine or fruit tree, they were not allowed to eat the fruit of it for the first three years. The fruit had to remain on the tree for three years to give it strength to grow faster and bear better fruit. The fourth year they offered it to God, and God received the first fruit of the tree because it was the best; after that they could use whatever the tree produced for themselves.
We read that when God brought the Jews into the land of Canaan they were prosperous and wanted for nothing, and could have brought Him much glory like d beautiful olive tree fit to bear fair and goodly fruit.
The Jews are the natural branches of the olive tree, hut God has broken the withered branches off because they were dead branches, uncultivated, not improved by the labor, study and care that God had devoted to them; branches that had fallen by the wayside, and needed added care and culture. As the wind scatters broken branches to and fro, so has God scattered the Jews, the broken branches, among the nations of the earth, and they are like a ship broken from its anchor and drifting aimlessly about. Now God has chosen them as a people for His Name, and has promised to regather the stray branches that have forsaken their evil ways. He will regraft the fruitful branches into the cultivated olive tree and re-establish them in their own land.
The unfaithful branches that still remain are to he destroyed, as it was when they came out of Egypt under Moses. Jeremiah and Ezekiel tell us that because Israel and the house of Judah have provoked God to anger by continuing to do evil that God is going to set fire to the unfaithful tree and consume its branches. Such is to he the fate of the broken branches of Israel who have not changed their ways and have not been found worthy to be regrafted into the cultivated olive tree.
Paul tells us that it was through the fall of the Jews that salvation came to the Gentiles to provoke the Jews to jealousy. Many Gentiles have believed the Truth, have been baptized into Christ, and have become sons of God; thus, by adoption, they are Jews of the seed of Abraham and heirs to the promises. The Gentiles have been compared to the wild olive tree, and as it was with the natural branches, so will it be with the branches pertaining to the wild olive tree; that is, only the believing and fruitful branches of the wild olive tree will be transplanted into the cultivated natural olive tree. Paul further goes on to say that the wild branches were not to become too proud and boastful and speak against the natural branches just because God has invited them to share in the glory of the natural olive tree, and warns them that since God spared not the natural branches, He will not spare the wild branches.
After the regrafting of the faithful natural branches has been completed, and the broken off branches replaced by the wild olive or adopted branches, God is going to make a new covenant with them, as they are now one people in their hearts and minds; and all will love and know God from the least of them even to the greatest. They will be the seed which the Lord has blessed; and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
A new temple of great beauty will then be arected and the land turned into a Paradise, and to this all will journey regularly to learn the ways of God, and worship before Him. In that day the nations will do honor to the Jews, for God has said He will make them a name and a praise among all people of the earth.
Now, with all the trees in harmony and at peace with God, and the earth tilled with the knowledge and glory of the Lord, as David has aptly said, the field will be joyful and all the trees of the wood will rejoice.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One