The Olive Tree

I am going to tell you right up front, I will shatter one illusion for you in this entry. So like taking a band-aid off of a wound we will do this early and quickly. The olive trees in the garden of Gethsemane are not from the time of Christ. No matter what you may have heard this simply is not true. In the siege of Jerusalem during 70AD all trees surrounding the walls were cut down to be used in the siege ramps and weapons. 

There are some very old trees you will see pictured just not 2000 years old.

There are some valuable lessons still to be learned from the Olive trees though.

The olive tree is gnarled and twisted. And there are what appears to be big voids in the structure of the tree but it is actually telling the tale of the relationship between the Christians and the Jews.

Look closely at the tree in the picture. You will notice the heart of the trunk is dying. You would expect that in a few years this tree would die off and topple over. And it would if it were not for the Nazir. The nazir are little shoots that come up off the roots of the tree and grow alongside the main trunk. They twine themselves around the main trunk.

Now some of you know that I enjoy the art of Bonsai. This ancient horticultural art form takes a tree and stunts its growth from the careful trimming of roots and branches. In this art form sometimes we also weave the shoots of the tree creating a beautiful trunk as they grow. The fact is, as the woven shoots grow they merge together into one tree trunk. The same is true for the olive tree shoots but there is more.

The Nazir actually become the support system for the decaying center of the tree. The old core of the tree may die out but the new shoots will give it new life.

Now look at that word nazir very carefully. It is the root of a very familiar name…Nazareth. Who was it that came from Nazareth? The shoot of Jesse through the line of David – Jesus!

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. Is 11:1-3

Jesus was sent by God not to destroy the Nation of Israel, not to abolish the law but to fulfill it. The tree (Judiasm) was rotting. The nation was not even aware, but Jesus pointed how in so many ways how they had lost their way.
Jesus was the shoot that came to save the tree not to cut it off as they feared. The one from Nazareth was the nazir of the Jew.

But there is something more. In Israel today they have a name for Christians. They say it as if it is derogatory, but I believe it is prophetic. It finds its root in the Olive tree. When a tree is young nazir appear at the root of the young olive tree and they need to be cut off. They are referred to as “suckers”. When the Jew refers to a Christian they call him/her a nazir meaning they are suckers and need to be cut off. I believe the “nazir” is playing its prophetic role. How far from the truth

The “olive tree” of the Jew has rotted. Our tour guide indicated 70-80% of Israel is Jew in name and nationality only not religion. Even those who walk around with prayer shawls and phylacteries are so lost. There are equivalent to a modern day Sadducee or Pharisee. You remember Jesus called them white washed tombs. (They whitewashed the tombs in the days of Jesus to make certain people would not unwittingly come in contact with the dead and thus make themselves unclean.) I believe we, the “Nazir” are called in this church age to spring up around the tree of Israel and support it. We are called to the point of making Israel envious of our relationship with God.

I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. Romans 11:14

We are called to this role until the time of where the Jews are restored not just to their homeland but to faith.

What was intended to be an insult is the word of the Lord.