There is a lot of analogy and metaphor in the Scripture . Taken in context, such linguistic tools help us quickly understand complex spiritual principles and happenings without the need for extensive Scriptural training.
The prophet Isaiah uses one such metaphor in explaining how the Lord will use Assyria as a tool to judge other nations, saying, “See, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be felled, the tall ones will be brought low. He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.” From that, we can grasp that the Assyrian army is like an ax being wielded by God – they are a brutal instrument used by the Lord to clear the land for better purpose, and that the nation of Lebanon is not unlike a forest in the way.
John the Baptist is an Old Testament prophet just like Isaiah. He is aware of the prophesies of years past, and brings up the same kind of imagery in speaking to the spiritual leaders of Israel, “The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” In John’s imagery, nations are like forests and individuals like trees. His message is very clear – those who live lives without spiritual fruitfulness will have their future truncated, and their very persons consumed by burning. It is a horrific prophesy of the eternal destruction God assigns to selfish and unrepentant individuals.
Compare such imagery to the first words from the Psalmist, who also uses a tree as metaphor:“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” In the Psalmist’s metaphor, the godly individual is a tree that does not fail to provide needed shade and fruit – they are a help to all who encounter them.
Just like a tree, we have a purpose to be helpful and fruitful. Unlike a tree, we have a choice. We can choose which kind of tree we want to be. We can be the “tree that does not produce good fruit” or the “tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season”. Better yet, we can recognize if there is fruit in and from our lives (or lack thereof), and we know that all that lays between the unfruitful and the fruitful is a season of repentance and the daily drinking in of God’s instruction.
I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Moses (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)
APPLICATION: Intentionality
Ask the Lord to show you the fruitfulness of your life. What do you see?