AN OLIVE TREE

You will remember that it was the olive tree which first appeared on the new earth in the days of Noah, after the waters of the flood had subsided, and the dove returned with an olive leaf in her mouth (Gen.8: 11). This meant that the waters of judgment had passed away, and that the new vegetation had begun to show itself.

If you have not yet repented of your sins, and given your heart to the Lord Jesus Who loved you and died for you, then you are still under judgment, ready to be cut down and cast into the fire. But if you have accepted into your heart the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who bore the judgment of all your sins upon the cross, then for you the judgment, is over, and the new creation has begun in your heart. "He that believeth on him is not condemned" (John 3:18). "...if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Cor.5:17). Then you can be called an olive tree.

A GREEN OLIVE TREE

A green tree is full of sap; a green olive tree is full of oil; and oil is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. The Lord desires that every child of His should be filled with the Spirit. The best life, the happiest life and the easiest life, is for those who are willing to be filled with the Spirit. Alas, how much joy is lost; how much glory, power and blessing are left un - enjoyed; how many unnecessary tears are shed; how much reproach is brought upon the Lord's Name; all because His people do not long to be filled with the Spirit! How sad it is to see the people of God full of bitterness, quarrelling, jealousy, arguments, rebellion, and love for worldly pleasure; a people neither hot nor cold; a people who have forgotten their heavenly calling! We have to lament like Jeremiah, because the gold has become dim; "the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, ...are...esteemed as earthen pitchers" (Lam.4:1, 2).

Beloved, are you filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you a green olive tree? Or, are you only an old, dry and barren tree?

IN THE HOUSE OF GOD

If the olive tree is full of oil, if the child of God is filled with the Spirit, the Lord's whole intention is, that his or her life, testimony and ministry should be always in the House of God, and in relation to the House of God. Read the Word of God over and over again, and you will be amazed to see how much the Lord and His saints love the House of God, -the Heavenly Jerusalem, -Zion, the City of the Living God. "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob"(Psa.87: 2). "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" (Psa.137: 5,6).

If you are a green olive tree, but not "in the House of God", then God's full purpose in you is not being accomplished. Alas! how many believers there are who have love and zeal for the Lord, but who yet love to work independently. Thus their love is mostly misdirected, and their zeal is largely wasted. Even though souls may be saved through them, yet this is not God's best for them. God wants that love and zeal to be poured out in the House of God, in the Church, and to be used in building it up. Beloved, are you a green olive tree in the House of God?

In Zech.4: 11-14, we read of two trees, or two olive branches, which through two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves, into the golden candlestick. These two olive trees are explained as the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. Such is the beautiful picture which the Lord gives of Zerubbabel, the Prince, and Joshua, the High Priest, who led the children of Israel in their first expedition out of their captivity in Babylon. Having come to Jerusalem, these two men led the people in building again the Temple of God, and this ministry is described as pouring golden oil, through golden pipes into the golden candlestick.

But now the Lord is building a better Temple, made without hands. The Golden Candlestick is the Church, the Holy Jerusalem. And the Lord wants us to have the unique privilege of standing by Him, as builders together with God. He wants you to be an olive branch emptying out of itself the golden oil through golden pipes, into the golden candlestick.

Beloved, are you emptying yourself, are you being poured out in the service of the Lord? Are you spending and being spent, with all your energy and time and talent, in this great eternal work of God, which is to shed forth its heavenly light, and to show forth now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places the manifold wisdom of God? (Eph.3: 10). How greatly the Lord loves us! How great are His intentions towards us! And how great are the riches of His grace!

May the Lord make each one of us to be "a green olive tree in the House of God", for His Name's sake.
The Lord bless you,

C.E.D.