TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS - FOR THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS
TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
Sunday, September 21, 2014, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
On awakening Saturday morning, I heard “Trees”.
Luke 21:29: "Behold the fig tree, and all the trees..."
At the Tuesday Morning Bible Study, I promised the group at a future time, I would give a more detailed teaching on the seven trees of Isaiah 41: 17-19.
Chapter 41:1 begins with the Lord calling all of the
nations of the earth before him to give account for themselves. Of course, the nations are left with no
reply. The Lord uses the metaphor and
symbolism of Him planting trees to reveal the power of His Glory over the
nations (that He may be glorified).
Trees in the Holy Scripture are metaphorical of people; Jesus Christ, the Tree of Life; a righteous believer; a country or nation; the Cross; Life; the Kingdom of God; Family; Company of people; if planted by a stream means prosperity; hanging on a tree means judgment or cursed; beside still waters means peace/rest; under a green tree means idolatry, etc.
The Bible’s story of salvation begins and ends with references to symbolic trees. The Tree of Life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil are in the Garden of Eden. Then in the final chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22:14, we again find the Tree of Life. “Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.
Jesus used the sign of "the fig tree and all the trees" to know the Kingdom of God is near at hand.
TREES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS – FOR THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS
41: 17-19: “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together.”
These seven trees speak of a perfect and complete new creation. We can compare with the seven spirits of God. The Creator created the unity of all these trees dwelling together in the wilderness. Here trees are representatives of the whole of the renewed created order, praising the Lord for his righteous judgments. “Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy.”
- The Cedar = the King of the trees.
- The Shittah =the Acacia =used in the tabernacle of Moses; the humanity of Christ, Head and Body.
- The Myrtle = Esther = used for the Feast of Tabernacles = the Glory of God.
- The Oil Tree = the Holy Ghost
- The Fir Tree = the blessings of God toward his people.
- The Pine = God Himself – Hos. 14:8: “I am like a green pine; your fruitfulness comes from me.”
- The Box tree = a tall tree from Lebanon, perhaps a cedar.
41:20: “That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done, this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.”
THE CEDAR:
The cedar is the king of the trees. Jesus Christ is the king of the woods. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. His kingdom will prevail over all the other kingdoms of the earth. The voice of His Word will break the great and mighty men of the earth. Cedar was used in the ceremony for the cleansing of the leper and the ordinance of the red heifer---thus King Jesus has washed away our sins.
He will build His Church and finish it, covering it “with beams and boards of cedar”. Solomon prophesied of Jesus, “His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars” (So. 5:15). Jesus is “the Cedar”; His brethren are the “cedars” of Lebanon.
THE ACACIA:
The Acacia wood was used to build the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle of Moses in the wilderness. The Acacia is called “shittim wood” in the King James Version. This is rendered an incorruptible wood.
Jesus Christ is the Seed of the woman, the Son of man. The mystery of godliness is that the Word was made flesh. Jesus, who knew no sin was made sin for us, bearing the curse of the law, symbolized by the thorns of the acacia. He was in all points tempted like we are, fully qualified to be the one Mediator between God and man. Jesus, the Tree of Life, died on a wooden cross, typified by the brazen altar made of acacia wood. His body did not see corruption in the tomb.
The Tabernacle of Moses models the Church, God’s dwelling place. The many varieties of the acacia with its assorted uses reveal the diversity of the Body of Christ, the boards of the tabernacle prefigure the members of Christ’s Body, built and fitly framed together to form a habitation of God through the Spirit. We have been cut down in repentance, then carved and shaped by the Word of God for the master’s specific use. Our former existence in a “body of sin” is past. As a new creation, our bodies have become “the temple of God”. Ultimately, we shall receive an incorruptible body and crown like that of our Lord.
THE FIR TREE
Isaiah 55:13: “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
Jesus, the true Vine and the Tree of Life is the “choice fir” from Heaven.
Instead of Adam’s thorn-invested curse, Jesus sprang forth in resurrection to bring new life and blessing.
Solomon’s temple was assembled with “Fir trees”. Hiram (King of Tyre, Lebanon) said to Solomon, I will do all you desire concerning timber of cedar and concerning timber of fir…Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire.”
Isaiah foresaw the glory of the Body of Christ: “The glory of Lebanon shall come unto you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; and I will make the place of My feet glorious.”
Like the fir tree, the Christian is to be ‘steadfast, un-moveable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord.”
The Shulamite, a type of the Bride of Christ, declared, “the beams of our house are cedar and our rafters of fir” (So. 1:17).
Proverbs 3:18: Wisdom…”Her ways are pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and happy is every one that retains her. The Lord by wisdom has founded the earth; by understanding has He established the heavens.”
OLIVE TREE/ Oil Tree:
An anointed person; Anointing; Holy Spirit; Crowed by God; Life; Spiritual strength; the Glory of God; also used to construct booths for Feast of Tabernacles.
Isa. 61:3: “To appoint to them that mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the of the Lord that He might be glorified.”
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Proverbs 11:30: The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that wins souls is wise.
Biblical images of the Holy Spirit include the force of wind, the intimacy of breathing, the instincts of a dove, the energy of fire; strong; comfort and the fragrant balm of oil.
Being anointed with oil signals the presence and favor of God. The chosen of God are anointed with “the oil of joy”. Those who stand in the presence of God’s throne are anointed with oil. The Holy Spirit abides in vessels dedicated to him, and anointing oil is a symbol of that dedication and identification with him.
Jesus anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing that which is to come.
Proverbs 13:12: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
FIG TREE:
Jesus Christ, the Tree of Life and the true Vine is the fruitful fig tree from heaven.
Our new nature in Christ is the fruit of the spirit, the divine nature of Jesus. Canaan, a type of the heavenly places of Ephesians, was a “land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey. Under the peaceful reign of Christ every member of His body is to be fruitful and each living under his own fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof; so he that waits on his master shall be honored.
The Willow
Isaiah 44: 2-4”I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground; I will pour My Spirit upon your seed, and My blessing upon your offspring. they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.”
The willow, of all trees, was most dependent on moisture, so it is a beautiful and appropriate emblem of the believer and the church, moistened and refreshed by the influences of the Holy Spirit; when he comes down “like rain upon the mown grass, and as showers that water the earth,” causing those who in themselves are dry, sapless, dead, to become “trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord”, that He might be glorified.
“If any many thirst, let him come unto me and drink.”
Isa. 55:1: Ho, every one that thirsts come to the waters, and he that has no money; come buy, and eat; yes come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
The Lord summons the evangelists of outer nature,---the rain, the snow from heaven; the seed and the harvest; the mountains and hills; and trees of the field; that they may endorse and countersign the glorious promised blessings of grace and salvation. He tells, that as surely as the material world rejoices under the rains and dews; spring time and harvest; so surely will the seed or the divine word, watered by the rains and dews of the Spirit of God.
Blind unbelief may persist in scorning the message; but the mouth of the Lord has spoken it; “So shall My word that goes forth out of My mouth, it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
The blood of Jesus Christ had not been shed in vain. The living waters will eventually break through all human barriers, and the waste places of unbelief will be made to rejoice and blossom as the rose.
Through the metaphor of creation the Lord describes a festive procession through these beautiful regions. “You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace.” The way along which the procession passes is through a renovated, regeneratated, rejoicing creation. The worship of the mountains and hills will resound. The trees of the field join in the jubilant welcome. The choicest vegetations take the place of dwarf and offensive plants. The lofty cypress has supplanted the prickly thorn; the fragrant myrtle-tree has come in place of the unsightly nettle.
55:113: “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree…and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
Jesus, the true Vine and the Tree of Life is the “choice fir” from heaven (2 Kings 19:23)
The trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Ps. 104:16: “The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted, where the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.”
The magnificent triumph of the Church of Jesus Christ shall be a perpetual and enduring memorial of divine power and love, a monument of praise to Jehovah’s great name, an everlasting sign of sacrament that shall not be cut off.
Prov. 15:4: “A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.
Isa. 44:23: “Sing, O heavens for the Lord has done it. You lower parts of the earth, Shout. Mountains break forth into singing; O forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.”
We are those to whom the gracious promises have been given.
Sandwiched between Genesis and Revelation is "The Tree", the cross of salvation, which delivered us from the curse and into the blessing of life everlasting and fullness of joy.
Heaped upon us is the Lord’s pledge of covenant faithfulness and love, till word, symbolism and metaphor can go no farther. We are they who are guaranteed a divine escort through flood, river, fire and flame; for whose sake the sandy desert is transformed that even the wild beasts worship Israel’s God.
Trees are symbolic of the whole of the renewed created order, praising the Lord eternally.
Rev. 2:7 “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the tree f life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Rev. 22:2: “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
Rev. 41:18-19-Rev. 222: “I will open rivers in high places and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness…( trees of righteousness) for the healing of the nations.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V. I entered into the labors of Understanding Types and Shadows by: Kelly Varner; Dictionary of Biblical Imagery; The Harp Taken From the Willows by: John Ross MacDuff. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors.