p. 169 | The Trees of the Lord by W. W. P.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 18, 1902

The Trees of the Lord

By W. W. P.

The sap of a tree is its blood, and the blood is always the life. And so when we are told that “the trees of the Lord are full of sap,” it is the same as saying that they are full of life. It is true that the words “of sap” are supplied in our Authorized Version, and that the Revised Version renders the statement thus: “The trees of the Lord are satisfied.” But this does not change the real idea to be expressed; for a tree can no more be satisfied without the full current of sap flowing through it than a man can be satisfied without a full current of blood flowing through his whole system. And this is not a mere comparison; it is simply the statement of the same general truth under two forms. The blood is always the life, whether it be the red blood which flows in the human body, or the white blood which flows in the body of the tree; and a living organism can be satisfied with nothing but life.

On one occasion they brought to Jesus a blind man, and “besought Him to touch him.” And after Jesus had “laid His hands upon him,” He asked him whether he could see. “And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold them as trees, walking.” This man whose sight had been only partially restored, could see more clearly than many men whose sight has always been normal. These are the men who “seeing see not.” But those whose eyes have been anointed, and who see the realities of things rather than mere outward appearances, must often have been impressed with the idea that trees are in a certain sense a lower type of men, men without the power of will or the power of moving about.

A writer, who is a seer if not a prophet, has well said: “In every particular connected with organic existence, in the laws of their development, decay, and reproduction, trees and human beings are complete counterparts of one another. The former expresses the ideas suggested by the latter, only on a lower platform, as befits a humbler sphere of being. Cuvier’s well-known maxim, ‘An origin by generation, a growth by nutrition, and a termination by death,’ applies equally to both. Even their structure to a certain extent is similar. The leaves correspond to the lungs and digestive organs; the blossoms represent the distinctions of sex; and the names of trunk, arms, and limbs are given indiscriminately to similar parts of both organisms.”

It is therefore not a mere comparison, but an interpretation of facts which should appeal to us every day, when the Scripture uses the tree as a means of conveying gospel instruction. The whole field of vegetable physiology is closely allied to human physiology, revealing in infinite variety the power and the wisdom of the one life. But the tree is the king in the realm of vegetable life, and touches most closely upon the experiences of man. And so we read: “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing: to show that the Lord is upright: He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

The Lord fills the trees with His life, and the result is seen in their growth and in the fulfillment of the purpose for which each kind of tree was created. The palm tree seems to have a special lesson for us. “It grows in the desert, in places where no other tree is found; and bears there most bounteous crops of fruit,—a symbol of life triumphing over death.” “The cedar is among trees ‘as the lion among beasts, or the eagle among birds,’ a type of the Majestic.” The lesson which the trees of the Lord teach by flourishing and bearing fruit is “that the Lord is upright.” This truth may be experienced by every one who will yield himself to the unhindered working of the life of the Lord, just as the trees do. Then “he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” This is the experience which honors God. “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.”

In the words spoken at the beginning, “The fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind,” the law for all fruit bearing was established. It is simply a more full statement of this same law which is given by the Saviour in the sermon on the mount: “Every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” And again He said: “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.” The application of these principles to the human tree is made in these words: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” In the certainty with which each one of the trees of the Lord bears fruit “after his kind” is set forth the gospel teaching that “he that doeth righteousness is righteous,” and that he must be righteous in order to do righteousness. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And so the gospel commission is “to preach good tidings unto the meek, . . . to proclaim liberty to the captives, . . . to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, . . . to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto 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 Lord, that He might be glorified.” Only in this way can we be made to bear “the fruit of righteousness,” as trees of the Lord in the garden of the Lord. W. W. P.