Like An Olive Tree

Psalm 52.7-9

Psalm 52. 8 But I am like an olive tree

    flourishing in the house of God;

I trust in God’s unfailing love

    for ever and ever.

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Three significant trees in the Bible: 

Fig tree

Palm tree

Olive Tree

All of these had spiritual significance. The fig tree represents Israel. The Palm tree is used to describe the righteous.The olive tree here is used by David to describe  himself. 

The Olive Tree has been part of the history of Israel from its beginning.

Deuteronomy 8.8 Moses noted the large presence of Olive Trees in the 

land of Israel.

7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;

David said he was like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God.

David compared his life to an Olive Tree. What did he mean?

1. An Olive Tree

Some interesting things about the olive tree. Some you may know, others you probably do not know.

Fruit Producer of Olive Oil- symbolized the Holy Spirit

We use Olive Oil to anoint the sick with. James 5

It was used in anointing prophets, priests and kings.

It was used on shields to make arrows fly off them.

Not a large tree, rather small, not attractive, although leaves appear to have a silvery sheen in the sunshine.

I Corinthians 1.26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. 27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; 28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, 29 that no flesh should glory in His presence. 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— 31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”

Psalm 128.3 sons will be like olive shoots around your table.

The olive branch was often a symbol of abundance, glory and peace. 

The Olive Tree

15 years to maturity, then bear fruit for centuries. The things you are doing for the Kingdom of God, if Jesus tarries, will have an effect here on this earth long after you have gone to be with Him. My Nana's prayers. Sunday School Teachers... My son-in-law, James' aunt DeeDee, my Dad, you

Prayers, giving, sharing God's Word, kindness, etc. are all things that will outlive you. Think eternally.

David said he was like an olive tree...

2. Flourishing In the House of God

You cannot flourish anywhere else- the Body of Christ. Romans 11.24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!

Interesting quality- cut it down, it will grow back stronger and more plenteous...  Garden of Gethsemane, place of crushing. Jesus' words about dying and producing. Prophecy of Isaiah 11.1

Most of the Holy Land was covered with olive trees until  the Ottoman Turks decimated the groves to fuel their railway locomotives. Many grew back.

 Today, Israel also grows olives, and the the branches of the tree figure prominently in the Old Testament.

Jerusalem’s Olive Trees from Biblical Era Oldest on Earth 

Garden of Gethsemane 

Hebrew word for Flourish to be or grow luxuriant or fresh or green

Psalm 92:12

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,

He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord

Shall flourish in the courts of our God.

14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;

They shall be fresh and flourishing,

15 To declare that the Lord is upright;

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

We know outwardly we are wasting away but our inner man, our spirit is being renewed day by day.

3. The Effects of This Fellowship with Christ

*Trust/ Faith

Rooted in Christ

It is interesting how our standing in Christ is tested, how it come under severe trials and yet out of that comes a deeper faith. The trees of the earth are tested in storms and winds, in droughts and floods, even disease. 

You can cut a Giant Sequoia down and the rings will not only tell years of the tree but it also gives a history. The rings reveal what kind of year it was for that tree. We are much more wonderfully made than those trees. God works through the most mysterious circumstances in our lives.

Praise

Isaiah 55.12

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 

Put our voice into it, our body into it from our spirit.

Hope 

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15.13

We have hope! Christ Jesus is our Hope.

In the most despairing places today the LORD brings hope.

In natural disasters... At funerals of Christians... You will find grief but never despair. We do not grieve like those who have no hope.

I Thessalonians 4.Believers Who Have Died

13  We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of men,  who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. 15 According to the LORD’s Word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the LORD, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the LORD Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the LORD in the air. And so we will be with the LORD forever. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.