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The filet mignon of the word part 13, The law of fruit-bearing trees

America celebrates its Thanksgiving Day holiday tomorrow, November 28. It is a celebration that commemorates the first good harvest in 1621 of the Pilgrims who came to America the previous year.

Yet not everyone has reason to celebrate, especially the people of Gaza who are being starved to death by the Israeli occupation forces with the full compliance of the US government and, to our shame, the majority of churches as well.

The Israelis are now engaged in uprooting or cutting down fruit-bearing trees in Gaza so that the people starve more quickly. Here is a short clip showing this:

https://dsw.onlyoffice.com/rooms/shared/filter?searchArea=Active&page=1&sortBy=DateAndTime&sortOrder=descending

The Israeli practice is a direct violation of the laws of war. Deuteronomy 20:19, 20 commands,

¹⁹ When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you? ²⁰ Only the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.

The iniquity of the Zionist state is fully exposed by their own video posts.

Jesus’ War Against the Fig Tree Nation

When John the Baptist and Jesus walked the land as divine fruit inspectors, they found no fruit in the nation of Judea (or Judah). After three years of searching, as Jesus came to the climax of his earthly ministry, He came upon a fig tree that was full of leaves but had no fruit. Matthew 21:19 says,

¹⁹ Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

This was an act of spiritual warfare. But was it a violation of the laws of war? Not at all, because it bore no fruit. Therefore, it was classed as a non-fruitbearing tree that could be destroyed. In fact, the Jewish nation at that time had failed to bring forth “fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8), and for this reason John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:10,

¹⁰ The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

The “tree” of Judah was cast into the fire from 66-73 A.D. during the Roman War. Jerusalem itself was destroyed in 70 A.D., and the last Jewish-Edomite stronghold at Masada was taken at Passover of 73 A.D., precisely 40 years after the crucifixion of Christ in 33 A.D. If Judah had borne fruit from 30-33 A.D., it would not have been destroyed 40 years later (30-33 A.D.). God follows His own laws, because His laws reflect His own nature. God will always be true to Himself.

Nonetheless, it is characteristic of fruitless men that they will violate the laws of God. In times of war this often manifests by cutting down fruit-bearing trees. There is a spiritual cause to such actions, whether or not they recognize what they are doing.

Spiritual Roots

Deuteronomy 20:19 (NASB) is translated as a question: “For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you?” In my opinion, the KJV is more accurate: “For the tree of the field is man’s life.” Even this is not fully literal, because “life” is added by the translator. It literally reads, “For the tree of the field is man.” In other words, trees are symbolic of people.

The spiritual meaning of this verse is that fruit-bearing trees are symbolic of men. Hence, the name Gideon means “feller (of trees), a lumberman,” which is understood to be a warrior.

When men go to war and chop down fruit-bearing trees, it manifests their true hearts. They are willing to destroy the innocent along with the guilty in their desire to win the war by any means. God is not impressed by such actions, for He knows their hearts and will not acquit them for their ruthlessness.

The fruitless nation of Judah ultimately put Jesus Christ to death, a man who was fruitful in every way. They did so because their own hearts were fruitless. Although the religious leaders were proud of their knowledge of the law (Torah), their darkened hearts could not help but violate the law of war in the same manner as they violated the law that commanded them to treat foreigners equally and with love.

Years ago, when I was first learning about the art of spiritual warfare, the Lord revealed to me that the laws of war were the laws of spiritual warfare. I noted that it was common for believers to engage in spiritual warfare without regard to the laws of war. Occasionally, I was close enough to the scene of battle to see that God brought judgment upon those prayer groups for disregarding the laws of spiritual warfare. Even when they were victorious in battle, they often paid a price for their victory.

It occurred to me then that if we were to secure victory without suffering casualties ourselves, we would have to know and follow the laws of war in Deuteronomy 20. It was a lesson that followed me during the years that I was called to take the lead in spiritual warfare, beginning with the Jubilee Prayer Campaign in 1993. Prior to that time, all of my experience came while I was “under guardians and managers” (Galatians 4:2). For this reason, God did not hold me accountable personally, for in such matters, I was still a minor in training.

The Stoning of Stephen

In Acts 7 we read the story of Stephen’s arrest and his testimony. Toward the end, he told them in Acts 7:52, 53, 54,

⁵² Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; ⁵³ you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it. ⁵⁴ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.

The result is given in Acts 7:58,

⁵⁸ When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Saul consented to the stoning of this fruit-bearing tree (Acts 6:8). This event triggered his desire to persecute the church. Later, after his conversion to Christ, he deeply regretted his actions and wrote in Galatians 1:13, 14,

¹³ for you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; ¹⁴ and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.

Stephen himself, being the victim of injustice, retained the right to forgive, according to the law of victims rights. So his final words were, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” (Acts 7:60). So we find that when Saul (i.e., Paul) himself was stoned, he survived—no doubt because of Stephen’s prayer of forgiveness. Acts 14:19, 20 says,

¹⁹ But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city [Lystra], supposing him to be dead. ²⁰ But while the disciples stood around him [praying, no doubt], he got up and entered the city…

Paul, a Fruit-bearing Tree

Stephen was led by the Spirit to appeal to the throne of God to forgive their sin as they stoned him. It is not likely that Stephen knew that one among his adversaries would turn out to be a fruit-bearing tree. Yet the Holy Spirit knew, and so Stephen was inspired to forgive.

This is of special interest to us, because it shows an additional side to the law of spiritual warfare regarding fruit-bearing trees. At the time Stephen was stoned, Saul was NOT a fruit-bearing tree. Nonetheless, it appears that if Stephen had not forgiven, he would have allowed Saul/Paul to be chopped down in the city of Lystra.

God’s standard of law, then, is very high. Not only should we avoid chopping down fruit-bearing trees but even future fruit-bearing trees. But how is one to know the difference apart from knowing the future? Some of the most unlikely sinners of today could become the greatest evangelists of the future. God’s bar of justice is extremely high, and apart from being fully led by the Spirit, it is impossible to reach this standard.