THE TREES OF THE LORD ARE SATISFIED
[p. 225] THE TREES OF THE LORD ARE SATISFIED
Psalm 104:13 - 17; Judges 9:7 - 15
In reading these scriptures, I wish to speak about divine provision; that is, God’s provision for His people, to the end that we might be, as it says here, “satisfied” spiritually, and, as satisfied, available to Him. The psalm is a very remarkable one, even from the standpoint of the physical creation as we have it, for it brings out the wonderful bountifulness of God. It begins, as you will observe, with blessing by the psalmist. He says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty”. In saying this the inspired psalmist is about to cover the salient features of the physical creation as we have it, and no one who knows God can fail to be affected as he soberly takes account of the physical creation. The apostle Paul also witnesses to this; he says, “The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead”, Romans 1:20.
No one who looks into the heavens calmly and soberly, as knowing God, can fail to be affected as the psalmist. And as we survey the earth, teeming as it is with divine bountifulness, in its fruit, as watered by the rain of heaven and covered with ornamentation, which was divinely intended to meet man’s eye as God created him, no one can fail to be similarly affected. For you will recall how that in planting the garden (God Himself did that, “eastward in Eden” ) , He “made to grow out of the ground every tree that is pleasant to the sight”. Genesis 2:8,9. That is not to be overlooked, it is mentioned before trees yielding food: so that God intended man to be surrounded [p. 226] with evidences of His bounty, both in regard to his eye and his food; and the psalmist had this in his mind, as he ascribed greatness to God. He says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty”. Psalm 104:1. When at your leisure, you may run down this psalm, you will, I believe, be impressed with what I have spoken of.
The psalmist further says, “Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment; who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain” Psalm 104:2; for in intervening to bring the creation into existence as we have it, light was the first great feature, and so God clothed Himself with it as with a garment. He said, “Let there be light, and there was light”. Genesis 1:3. He began to operate in the light; God does not operate in the darkness. Satan operates in the darkness; God operates in the light. So he clothed Himself with it as with a garment, and stretched out the heavens like a curtain; for the fruitfulness of the earth as evidencing His bounty should be dependent on the heavens. He commands the waters to recede: “The mountains rose, the valleys sank”, Psalm 104:8 and he caused the water-brooks to run in the valleys, so that there should be drink for all; and then it says according to the verse we read, “He watereth the mountains from his upper chambers”.
Now, having arrived at this verse, my thought is not to occupy you with what is material or physical, but with what is spiritual. My thought is to show that God brought in the means of satisfaction from “His upper chambers”. At the outset of creation it would appear that the earth was self-sustaining. When moisture was necessary, “A mist”, we are told, “arose from the earth”. Genesis 2:6. There is nothing said about water coming down. The first mention of water coming down is that the windows of heaven were opened in order to let out the waters of the [p. 227] deluge; but that was not blessing. After that we have the idea of heaven, a cloud may come over it, as God said, “When I bring a cloud over the earth”. Genesis 9:14. From that point onwards we have the divine intent that the earth should be nourished from heaven. I do not know, dear friends, how much we are exercised about looking up into heaven; but the Scriptures are plain that all spiritual nourishment issues from heaven. We have a beautiful touch in Psalm 133:3 “The dew of Hermon”, which refers, I apprehend, to the mediatorial position of Christ. He has gone far above all heavens; and the dew, the fructifying power of heaven, is caught, as it were, and gathered up by Him and shed down upon the mountains of Zion; that is to say, upon the saints. It descends upon the mountains of Zion just as the precious ointment on Aaron’s head in the same psalm flows down upon his beard, and down to the skirts of his garments, so that we might be dignified. The dew comes down from Hermon, pointing to His mediatorial position in heaven, consequent upon which all the nourishment of heaven flows down to us. I would I could convey to you how interesting we are to heaven, dear brethren. If one sinner who repents gives joy to heaven, how much joy must one hundred Christians, believers in Christ, who have the Spirit, and who come together in the light of heaven and in the enjoyment of what is there, afford to heaven. I love to think of what we are to heaven, even we ourselves, as gathered here at the present time; and how the Lord would cause the dew to come down upon us so that we might be here satisfied, as it says, “He watereth the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works”. God intended that the earth should be satisfied — that it should, as furnished from heaven, be available for fruitfulness.
Then the next verse: “He causeth the grass to [p. 228] grow for cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth”. I just touch on that verse as amplifying what I have been saying, that as we are satisfied we are available to God for His own blessed purposes. One would shudder at the thought of being in this world unavailable to God. Think of the millions of people on the earth at the present moment who are entirely unavailable to their Creator! God intended that Adam should be available to Him. If He set him up in the garden with all its fruitfulness, He intended that he should be available to Him, and so He walked in the garden in the cool of the day; but Adam was not available. It is an immense thought to get into one’s soul that the divine intent in leaving us here is that we should be available. But how available? As satisfied. The earth is satisfied, and so it yields. It says, “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth”. Now that is a general statement. You see that the earth is available to God, so that He might exhibit His bounty in meeting the need of the cattle and the need of man; but then He must return to man.
He is not content to generalise man with the cattle, although man in one sense stands in relation to the animal creation; but he has a unique place with God, and so He returns to man in the next verse and says, “Wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine”. God never intended the cattle to have wine, nor to be anointed with oil. Man is taken up from the level of the cattle in that he is specially cared for, first by wine to make his heart glad, and secondly by oil to make his face to shine.
Now, these two features go a long way in the spiritual constitution of the people of God. We are [p. 229] lifted definitely from the domain of the cattle, as, indeed, the book of Genesis indicates. What one has noticed in regard of man in the creation is that the word ‘create’ is used more in regard of man than all the other parts of creation combined, God, as it were, anticipating the effort of the enemy to connect man with the cattle. I think the word ‘create’ is used six times in connection with man. We have the words ‘made’ and ‘formed’ but the word ‘create’ means a wholly new beginning. Thus man is lifted out of the realm of the animal creation.
Then again, in chapter 2 of Genesis, we have God specially taking account of man, and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he is morally connected with God. His spirit is received directly from God; so here his heart is to be gladdened, We are not on the divine plane of availability to God unless our hearts are gladdened; as the Lord said, “I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice”, John 16:22. I wonder if we know anything about this — being gladdened, as having the Spirit, by the Lord Jesus Himself, and then to have our faces shining. These two things go together. Unless my heart is gladdened, my countenance shall not reflect what is in heaven. The oil is the dignity that marks the man who is satisfied spiritually. He is not seeking after the things of this world; he is independent of them. He is satisfied with Christ and the things of Christ. The divine wine that God affords him gladdens his heart. What could you give him to add to that? The joy that this world pretends to afford is as nothing in his eyes.
I speak to the young people here. There never was a time when the enemy was more active in offering temptations. “Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God” 2 Timothy 3:4 is a word for the moment. Satan knows that men are lovers of pleasure, hence [p. 230] the weight of the intellect and all the powers of man are laid under tribute to provide the means of producing pleasure for the poor worldlings; whereas God would gladden your heart by wine. Wine is just a figure of what stimulates spiritually. There are special seasons of stimulation; special seasons in which the Spirit of God moves; as the saints come together their hearts are moved and stimulated. But we must not rely on these seasons, though they greatly aid us. The divine thought is continual joy in the Holy Spirit. The wine is always available.
But if one is to be supported he must eat the ‘bread’. So you will observe that in verse 15 you have bread for man. The psalmist says, “bread which strengthens man’s heart”. If one is to be maintained in gladness of heart before God, and with a shining countenance, he must not only drink, but eat. The wine is for drink, the oil is external for honour, but bread is the staff of life. It is Christ as come from heaven, beloved. It is not the product of man’s best wit and ability. Satan seeks to substitute for it the novel and all that goes with that, and the young seek to live on them; but they are “husks”. The bread comes from heaven. “The bread of God”, said the Lord Jesus, “is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world”. “The bread withal”, He says, “which I shall give is my flesh”. “Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life”, John 6:54.
It is the knowledge of that great underlying principle of eternal life in the soul that sustains one day in and day out throughout the whole year — winter and summer. It sustains one before God. It is not simply that I have it now by faith. I eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, and so I enjoy it. It is that by which my constitution is built up and sustained — “the bread of God which came down from heaven”. So He gives the bread to “strengthen man’s heart”. It is a peculiar suggestion that our hearts need to be strengthened, and they are strengthened by the bread of God which came down from heaven.
You see, dear brethren, “the trees of the Lord are satisfied”. You can understand as it goes on to say, “The trees of the Lord are full of sap”, or “satisfied”. It is not now the earth — the general thought — but the trees. Trees are used, as I have been remarking, for fruit; but they are also used for an ornament for the eye; and God intends that His people individually should understand that as satisfied they are to stand out in dignity in this world. I take it that the tree here represents a Christian — he is satisfied. It goes on to say, “The cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted”. That is to say, trees of the most exalted character.
The cedars of Lebanon in the Scripture stand for men viewed in their most exalted character. It was the timber employed in the building of the temple; it refers to human dignity. How can we get human dignity save by feeding on what comes down from heaven, the place of dignity? Heaven is the home of dignity. Jesus brought the idea down here, and maintained it in all circumstances; and the divine thought is that we should correspond; thus the believer is to stand out independent of the world, and grow in dignity; that is to say, dignity according to God. It works out by his being nothing before men, and being content to be that.
How can I be content with nothingness (as Paul said, “we are made as the filth of the world, and are the off-scouring of all things” 1 Corinthians 4:13) aside from being satisfied spiritually — aside from knowing my place with God? As Paul says again, “I knew a man in Christ”. 2 Corinthians 12:2. Think of the underlying power in his soul by the knowledge he had of his place with God, in that he was caught up to the third heaven. He says,
“[p. 232] I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven ... caught up into paradise”, 2 Corinthians 12:2 - 4. That is supreme exaltation — spiritual elevation. Think how that underlay all his movements in this world! All that man could do to him could never take away that fact that he was a “man in Christ”. He was satisfied.
In this passage the trees have become available, so that it says, “Where the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir trees are her house” (verse 17). We must not confuse this passage with what we have in the New Testament, where the grain of mustard seed grows into a huge tree; that is abnormal. The mustard seed was never intended to be a tree. The “tree” refers to the huge Romish system that has grown up; in which the fowls of the air roost. Rome is said to be the cage of “every foul and hateful bird”. Revelation 18:2. A cage is not a nest, a house or a home; it is a prison. However foul a man might be in Rome, he is under restrictions. If he is an infidel he has to keep silent about it. Not that there are no infidels amongst them. He is under iron-bound restrictions, else he has to get out. Whereas in Protestantism, you have the birds roosting, which I apprehend means that they go in and out as they please. A bird roosts at its pleasure and moves away at its pleasure. That, I apprehend, is Protestantism; it is a place of licence for man religiously. He can hold what he pleases, and do what he pleases; that is what things have come to. So let us understand, dear brethren, that this passage has no relation to that.
This passage has reference to God’s bounty; He would provide a nesting-place and a house. That is what the trees of Lebanon are; they are satisfied;
[p. 233] they are useful for many things, and they afford a place for birds which need protection as God’s creatures. It is a mark of God’s order of things. Then again, the stork, which, perhaps, would not be considered of much account, has not only a nest, she has a house in the firs. The firs are evergreen; that is, they represent that which stands in all weathers — the energy of life. “I am like a green fir tree”, Hosea 14:8. They afford a house, as it says, “As for the stork, the fir trees are her house”.
Well now, dear brethren, to come to the book of Judges, just for a moment. You see the passage just enlarges on what I have been saying. Three species of trees are mentioned in the passage read. Nothing tests us more than to be offered a crown, even if it be a leader in a small meeting. There is nothing tests the flesh more than the offer of a crown — the place of a king. It is the aim and goal of all politicians and statesmen, and it is brought in here, as I apprehend, to test us — to bring out what is of God in His people. The trees that are mentioned — the olive, the fig and the vine — represent Christians who are satisfied, and who know their functions. They know that they are valuable to God, available and useful; and they refuse to leave their positions, their places, even though it be to rule over the saints. It is indeed a sort of comment on the whole book of Judges.
Gideon, I think, represents the spirit that God approves in the book of Judges. When his brethren in Israel offer him the throne, he says, “I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you”, Judges 8:23. That was Gideon, and Jotham was Gideon’s son. He was the remnant. The spirit of antichrist in Abimelech had slain his brethren. Jotham was the remnant, and he expresses in his parable here the spirit of his father. Gideon had declined to rule over Israel,
[p. 234] and Jotham pointed out in this remarkable parable that anyone who accepts a proffered crown that belongs to God alone — is but a bramble — he is worthless.
The olive said, “Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?” It would not leave the exercise of its functions to rule over the trees. The fig tree said, “Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit?” And the vine says, “Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man?” Think of a function like that! and yet it is within the range of everyone of us to gladden the heart of God and the hearts of our brethren. I often think of the Lord as an example in that way: “Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord”. John 20:20. One wonders whether one makes glad the people of God when they see him. It is a test, whether it be in one’s local meeting, or generally. Do I make glad the hearts of my brethren? Do I make glad the heart of God and the heart of man? The fruit of the vine is to do these two things — to make glad the heart of God and the heart of man; hence the vine says, ‘No, I will not leave that’.
What can be a greater service at any time than to minister gladness to the heart of God and to the heart of man? So the vine declines to rule over the trees. If I am spiritual — if I understand these things — if I am satisfied with the provision of heaven, I will not wish to rule over the brethren, but rather to be a fellow-helper of their joy; to be among them as one of them, however gifted or intelligent; to be among them as a brother, as a fellow-helper of their joy. You see in the bramble the opposite of all this. Jotham goes on to say in verse 15, “And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust in my shadow; and if not, let [p. 235] fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon”.
Now, look at that! See what one is capable of who thinks only of his personal prominence amongst the people of God! I knew a person, well-known amongst the saints, who said he would write a certain book and publish it, although it involved that the saints should be split in pieces. Think of that! Think of where one gets who seeks his glory, his prominence amongst the people of God! So the bramble says, “If not, let fire come out and devour the cedars of Lebanon”. Think of what the cedars of Lebanon are to God spiritually! And yet I, for the sake of my prominence amongst the people of God, would destroy them; as the apostle said, “And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died?” 1 Corinthians 8:11. Consider how serious it is to damage in any way the saints of God. Rather, as following the example set by the Lord, you will die for them.
Well now, what suffices us here is being satisfied spiritually; partaking of the provision of heaven; understanding the place I have in heaven as a man in Christ, and that my function for the moment is to be here for the will of God — to serve my own generation according to the will of God, and leave all glory, present or future, in His hands. May God bless the word to us. Amen.