Well, good morning, everyone. Welcome to our third in a series of texts that we called Three Trees back in the day. There's lots more trees in the Bible, but at the time I just said three, so three is what you get. Today, we'll be looking at the olive tree. And you know, we, the first series that we looked at was the fig tree. And if you remember that Nathaniel was under the fig tree and at some point, and later on, the Lord came up to him and, and, and Nathaniel says, You saw me under the fig tree. And well, you're familiar with that scripture, but the Lord says, because I saw you under the fig tree. Well, you know, just a picture of his omniscience in viewing his sheep from all eternity. He's always got his eye on them. And then he arranges to meet with them at the proper time. And then we looked at the thorn tree, the acacia tree, and that was, it's called the tree of thorns. And the thorn has always been a symbol of the curse in the Bible. From Genesis chapter 1, or 3, we learn that the Lord says, the ground will be cursed and thorns and thistles will bring forth from this point on. And then we find out that that's the very tree that they made the Ark of the Covenant box out of. the box made from the tree of thorns that contained the law, and it contained the pot of manna, the bread of life, and it contained Aaron's rod that budded. And then over all those things sat the mercy seat that overcomes all those obstacles that we would run into. So kind of our overall thought process in these lessons that we've been bringing on trees is trying to bring a little bit of a glimpse of how God reveals Himself. You know, nothing is by accident. We go back to Genesis 1 and find that He created all things. Every tree He created. And there was no accidental, well, I'd just throw some stuff up and see how it turns out. Every tree was created with purpose. Every plant, every critter, everything was created with a purpose. And you know, as we look at some of these things, we look at the spiritual significance that they represent. And we're real fond of always going back to Luke 24, where Jesus expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And I think that means all the Scriptures, not just here and there. Some of you may have a Bible with a little star that says, Messianic Prophecy. But every Scripture in some way reveals a piece of God to us, a piece of the Lord, a piece of the Savior. And you know, the Scriptures say that no man can see God in the flesh and live. But graciously, He lets us see glimpses of Himself. It's like He told Moses, I'll walk by and you can see my hinder part. Because in your flesh, you couldn't see Me and live. It would just be too much. And Paul said, you know, we see kind of through a glass darkly or opaquely. We don't get a full view, but someday we will. So, we come at this study from the standpoint of divine sovereignty and purpose and will of God in respect to the the redemption of a people that he chose and elected eternally. And that's why the earth is here. You know, Isaiah said he created the world. He created it to be not in vain. He created it to be inhabited. He created it for a purpose. And that is a vehicle for his elect to come in and be exposed to the gospel and I'm sure everyone that was here when Lance was here was just kind of awestruck when he brought out that verse, what is man that thou art mindful when he, when he talked about the immensity of the universe and, and all those things. And we have just a little slice of that pie here, but we get a look at that, the infiniteness of the universe. And that's just a, that's just a God saying to us, that's who I am. that you'll never see all of me. You'll never see the total magnificence of who I am. So as we look at these lessons from the standpoint that God created everything according to His specific will and purpose, and somehow those have to do with our redemption through His Son, then that opens things up to us in a whole new light. And we get glimpses of God. And he says, well, here's a little something to view me by. And when you add a bunch of them up together, pretty soon you get a pretty magnificent view of the One who loved you from before the foundation of the world and gave His only begotten Son that we might be saved. So these trees are purposed by God to give us a glimpse of the Lord God Almighty as He saves His people from their sins. You know, Paul wrote about this in Romans, and he was talking about some people that kind of didn't particularly want anything to do with God, but in Romans 1.20 he says, for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen. Things that we can't know anything about, things that are above us, things that we can't fathom, they're clearly seen being understood by the things that are made. We have to look at the things that are made and say, That was some awesome power that did that. Some awesome mind that created that. And he says if you look at those things and you don't recognize the hand of God in them, then you're without excuse because it's plainly manifest in everyone that those things do not come by accident. In the context of that scripture that Paul wrote to the Romans there in chapter one, he declares the fact of God's purposeful creation, at the same time emphasizing the desperate nature of man brought about by the fall and the need for a redeemer. And so every created thing relates to the grace of God and salvation. There's nothing created by accident, nothing which doesn't act in accordance with His eternal will and purpose. And so it is with the olive tree. If you'd like to follow along in your Bible, we'll go back to Genesis and and read a couple of verses from Genesis 1. In Genesis 1, verse 11, God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. said that these plants and trees would be created, and exactly as He purposed them to be created, every variety as He determined them to be created. And it was so. His Word, He spoke it, and it became. And then if you drift on down to verse 29 of chapter 1, He said, God said, Behold, I have given you, and he's speaking to Adam there, every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth. And he says every, not just some, every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth and every tree. in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed. To you it shall be for meat. So God in His sovereignty declares to us through His Word that all created things are according to His divine purpose and will. And so we find that verse there at the beginning of the Bible, and then at the end of the Bible in Revelation 4, verse 11. It says, If thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. So from beginning to end, we find God's purpose declared openly and clearly that things were created according to His will and according to His purpose. Paul knew some things, and he learned some things, and he says, man, I learned things it's not even lawful for me to tell you about. And even Jesus said, I've got things I could tell you, but you're not ready yet. You're not able to bear them yet, so you'll just have to wait till you're ready. But we find all these things after His own will and purpose, and no less the olive tree. You know, much if not all concerning the physical aspect of the olive tree is it's bound up spiritually and metaphorically in the Bible regarding this species of tree. And, you know, our first encounter with the olive tree is going to be found back in Genesis again. Genesis chapter 8. In Genesis 6, we have the account of the wickedness that was going on on the earth. And God said, I'm going to destroy all earth except Noah and his immediate family. And the Lord said, Noah, I want you to build an ark. He says, and then I want you to pitch it, within and without, with pitch. And you know that word pitch is the same word that you find translated also in the Old Testament as atonement. What a picture we have of the ark. And we're going to kind of get a good view of that here in a minute as we go through this eighth chapter of Genesis. And we're going to be looking specifically at verse 1 through 11. But an olive tree plays a part in this. In chapter 8, we find the end of the flood and the rains had quit. Chapter 8, verse 1. It's very telling that God says, Come thou and thy sons into the ark. This box of safety that's covered within and without with atonement, while judgment falls on everyone else. While judgment comes and destroys the rest of the world. In verse 1, God remembered Noah. It's interesting, his name means rest, a place of rest. That's his name. You'll find that in Psalm 116 too. We'll read that here in just a minute, but it's translated rest, the same word. And God remembered Noah and every living thing and all the cattle that was with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged. And the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped. And the rain from heaven was restrained, and the waters returned from off the earth continually. And after the end of a hundred and fifty days, the waters were abated. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat, And the waters decreased continually until the 10th month. In the 10th month, on the first day of the month, were the top of the mountains seen. And it came to pass at the end of 40 days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. And he sent forth a raven which went forth to and fro until the waters were dried up from off the earth. Also, he sent forth a dove from him to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him, unto the ark." Boy, what a picture, what a spiritual. If you could just grip one thing out of this whole lesson, what a picture. There's no rest outside of the ark. There's no rest outside of Christ. And then it just gets better and better She returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were upon the face of the whole earth. And he put forth his hand and took her and pulled her in unto him in the ark." What a picture of Christ pulling his people in to himself and that shelter that's covered with the atoning blood of himself. And then we find, in verse 10, and he stayed yet another seven days. And of course, we could have a whole lesson on where he got the idea, well, seven days, something happens. You know, the Lord created the world in six days, and on the seventh day, he rested. Noah's name means rest. So we have that. So he stayed yet another seven days, and again, he sent forth the dove out of the ark, and the dove came in unto him in the evening. And low in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off. So Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. You know, that was a symbol, a sign. It's a pretty common thing nowadays, or since this happened, that the dove bearing the olive branch or olive leaf has just been a symbol of peace. That's where that comes from. The Lord said, the destruction is over. Judgment is complete. Here's a symbol of peace. And he picked an olive leaf to bring that message. And again, another seven days goes by, so pretty sure that Noah was observing a Sabbath rest there. So there we have this symbol of peace with God. It's misapplied mostly in the world now, like peace between armies or this and that. But in the Bible, in the original context, it's meant as there's peace with God. You have peace with God in the Ark. in the atonement. You know, there's a thousand varieties I read of olive trees. several main varieties that yield table and olive-producing oil. And the cultivated olive tree most common and referred to in scripture is the Syrian olive tree, which is drought-resistant. Funny that we have that after the flood. Anyway, it's drought-resistant and produces a high-quality olive oil. And I don't want to just bring a bunch of facts to you and just say, well, here's all the facts about the olive tree. But keeping in mind that God created this tree with a purpose. God created this tree not for just something else to do. Every bit of it has a purpose. And we just saw, well, the leaf was a symbol of peace with God. And now we find out that it's a source of oil and high quality oil. And then we find out that there's wild olive trees, which are a subspecies of the cultivated variety. And it's, you know, we have, this is an orchard country here. But once in a while, I'll go up in the woods or somewhere out in the boonies, and you find a little wild apple tree or a wild plum or something. And the fruit's just not that good. And it's little shriveled, small stuff. And it's kind of sometimes even nasty tasting. It's not that good. But they survive in some places that you wouldn't think that they could survive without care. And they're resistant to a lot of things that the orchardists struggle with all the time. Bugs and Climate and things but these wild ones they're shrubby and they had smaller leaves and fruit But the wild olive tree which is very hardy and disease resistant and drought resistance back in the Bible times they use that as root stock and for the, what's called the olea europaea, which is that Syrian kind of olive tree. You know, here, Mike can probably tell you more about this than I could, but, you know, they don't just go around the orchards around here and plant a cherry seed and hope a tree comes up. They get some root stock of some proven root material, and they graft the species of cherry tree onto that that they want to grow, and they graft it to this rootstock that's really superior for taking root and producing a tree that has certain properties. So that's a common agricultural trait. My dad used to graft. He was crazy about grafting. Man, he grafted He'd always grow on fruit trees and he would graft stuff all the time. He'd be out there and he'd cut off a limb and then he would take his pocket knife and kind of split it and then he would take a limb that he wanted to graft and he would carve a little wedge out of it and then he would stick it in there and put some grafting wax on it and tie it all up with a string and then he'd just watch just to see if he could do it. But I guess the point there is it's an external application. A tree does not graft itself. It has to be done by someone. It has to be done externally. Otherwise, it would just produce the same thing. And so back in those days, they used these little drought-resistant, bug-resistant little pieces of rootstock, and they would graft on an olive tree and grow a nice fruit-producing olive tree that produced what they wanted. And you know, Paul used that metaphor in Romans 11, and he's talking about the Gentiles. And he said, and if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, a Gentile, being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree, which is a symbol of Christ here. And so it wasn't by accident that Paul used this analogy in agricultural sense, because he knew that grafting was an external process. And he knew that the only way that anybody was going to come into Christ was by an external process. It wasn't going to happen naturally. And isn't that what the Bible tells us? Not of him that willeth or him that runneth, but God. A tree has no ability to graft anything to itself. You know, the olive tree was one of the things that God declared awaited the children in the promised land in Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 7, 8, 9. The Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land. What a picture. A land of brooks, of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of the valleys and hills, a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of oil, olive, and honey, a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scaredness. Thou shalt not lack anything in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. You know, when we make bread for the, unleavened bread for the Lord's Supper, barley flour, water, and a little honey. Those are the, that's all that's in it. The same thing that is listed here in Deuteronomy chapter 8. Olive oil was really central to living in Bible times. About there in the hallway we got like nine light switches. But back then they didn't have that so they had lamps and those lamps burned olive oil and they used it for cooking. They used it for healing ointments. In Mark chapter 6 verse 13 says they cast out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. So the oil itself didn't really have a property of healing, but it was a symbol. of the Spirit of God that they brought to bear on the malady that the person was suffering. It was a picture. It's the oil itself. It's like when we have the Lord's Supper, the elements don't They don't save you, but they're a picture of what does. And it's the same as baptism. The baptism doesn't save you, but it's a picture of who actually does. And this same way, It was a picture. It's just a type. In James 5, verse 14, he wrote, "'Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.'" So again, the oil itself didn't have any properties, but it was just a symbol of who they were depending on to do the healing. It was used for religious purposes in anointing kings and priests, consecrating vessels in the tabernacle and in the temple. This oil from the olive did many things, and it was a symbol of peace and unity. just as we read in Genesis chapter 8, where it was a symbol of peace when God sent that dove with the olive leaf in it. And it came down to the ark and descended and landed there. Kind of reminds you of Jesus when the Spirit of the Lord descended on him like a dove. And this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. You know, in your program this morning, Inside the Leaf, there is an article by John Newton. And he's quoting Isaiah chapter 9, verse 16. where all these names of the Lord are printed, and one of them is the Prince of Peace. We find that it's a symbol of unity in Psalm 133, verse 1. This is a song that just when you're gathered together in this assembly to get together to worship God and sing His praises and be together with people that believe the same thing you believe. David wrote, how good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity. It's like the precious oil, olive oil, that's poured on the head, running down on the beard and running down Aaron's beard down to the collar of his robe. It's just overflowing. It is as the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion, for there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore." What a symbol of unity. How pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in peace and to know the same things. You know, the olive tree was prominently declared in the New Testament. Strange that we would find that, being facetious, of course. But you know, one of the primary places that we find in the New Testament, in the Gospel narratives, is the Mound of Olives. Luke 29, 39 says, and he came out, that's Jesus, and he went as he was want to the Mound of Olives. and His disciples followed Him." What a picture we have there of Him wanting to be in this little orchard of olive trees on this mountain. And again, if we go back and realize, in John it says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and all things that were made were made by Him. He created all those. And they all had a spiritual significance. And there He likes to go and be among those with His disciples. And going up there, you go through this garden of Gethsemane. And Gethsemane means olive press. It's where they squeezed the life out of those olives. They crushed them. They put them in this thing and crushed them until the oil ran out. And then they would filter that. And you're probably all familiar. You go to the store and you can get virgin olive oil and extra virgin olive oil and go through various processes to get more cleaner, purer oil there. You know that Mount of Olives was the site of a very famous sermon given by Jesus called the Olivet Discourse, because that's where he presented it. In that discourse, he talks about the end of the temple. Remember, the disciples came up to him and said, hey, check that temple out, man. That thing is gorgeous. Look how wonderful it is. Look how shiny it is. And he says, you know, it won't be long before there won't be one stone left upon another. It's going to be torn down. And why is that? Because the true sacrifice was there. The true sacrifice was going to come and there would be no more need for the temple or the sacrifices or anything. You see these great buildings, there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. Well, I probably mentioned in one of our previous studies that, you know, the ruler in the area at the time, he kind of spiffed up the temple because it didn't really reflect his own personal grandeur. So he gold-plated a lot of stuff and made it a lot ritzier. And when the Romans stormed that and set fire to Jerusalem in 70 AD, that thing was on fire and it melted. A lot of that gold ran between the cracks in the Roman soldiers. According to Josephus, in your history of the War of the Jews, they would go in there with their little short swords and pry those rocks apart to get to that gold that had melted and ran down in the cracks. And fulfilling this very prophecy that we just read from Mark chapter 13, verse 2, And in verse 3 it says, And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, That sounds bad. When is this going to happen? Not tomorrow, I hope. Tell us when these things shall be and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled. And you can go ahead and go over to the Gospels and read that account of the Olivet Discourse for yourself. It's quite lengthy, and so we'll not do it today. But just suffice it to say that that's where it came from. and the significance of it in our narrative here about the olive tree as a symbol or metaphor for the Holy Spirit and the sign of peace. You know, they used it as a sign of the Holy Spirit being applied, as we mentioned, in the healing and stuff. But in 1 Samuel 16, when Samuel's supposed to be picking out a king, remember Norman in his lesson from Judges was mentioning the other day that we want a king, we want a king. And the Lord said, well, they've not rejected you. They've rejected Me. And so you can give them a king, but he's going to steal all your money and go to war and kill all your young men and all that stuff. They said, that's okay. We want a regular king like the Joneses over here have a king. like the Amorites and the Hittites and all those guys. So in 1 Samuel chapter 16, they're getting down to the wire. They've rejected all of the tall, good-looking young men. And he sent and brought him in, and he's talking about David, and he was ready and with all of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look at. And the Lord said, Arise and anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. Now the oil didn't have any effectual, it was just a picture, a symbol that something magnificent was going to happen. In Isaiah chapter 61, this is a verse that Jesus quotes in the temple, and He picked up a scroll, and it was His turn to read, and He picked up a scroll at random. facetiousness again there. And he picked up this roll from Isaiah, and he read, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening of prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God, and to comfort all that mourn, to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes and the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness." That's interesting. The planting of the Lord that he might be glorified. What a spiritual picture we have there. And the Lord says, he anointed me to do this. And in the New Testament, he says, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. In 1 John 2, I think Mike went through this here some time ago, verse 27 says, But the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you, and you need not that any man teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him." So this picture of the spirit of truth coming on the believers. And once that happens, you know, we have a saying here, once you know grace, you can't unknow it. You can't go back to this prior whatever it was that you were involved in, if anything. And so if you get an anointing of the truth from the Holy Spirit, it sticks with you. You will abide in it. In Psalm 23, famous, famous, 23rd Psalm is famous. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, and he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemy. Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over." What blessings! When we just stop and think of the blessings that God has bestowed on us, and we think of the magnificence of Him, and how He created all things, and all the invisible things of Him that are clearly seen by the things that are made, We're like David. He says, when I meditate on you and the night watches, he says, I cannot attain, I think is the word he used. It's just my head is too small. but it just overwhelms our heart with the magnificence of it. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So that concludes our lesson on the old olive tree today. Symbol of blessing. Be free. Be peace.