Under the shady trees . . .

The olive tree, the fig tree and the vine tree are all in the Garden of Eden. The olive tree is the Tree of Life, the vine tree is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the fig tree is the source of Operation Fig Leaf (Adam and Eve).

Jordan says, “Those trees have special meaning. They carry a thought system with them all through Scripture. They become representatives of the nation Israel, because God’s purpose with man becomes centered in the nation Israel.

“The great events and stories that carry throughout the Old Testament--all these great and historical things God put in the Bible because those things carry a social narrative that represents the doctrine--well, these trees are that way.

“Gideon is a great example of what goes on with Israel. There are some fantastic things in Judges 6-8 about Gideon and his 300 men. They go out and defeat the Midianites and so forth, but then to see what happens to his family and how they end up back in complete total apostasy.

“Judge 9:8 says, ‘The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us.’

“In the Scripture, trees are often used to represent nations. The trees are going to look for a leader so they go to the olive tree and say, ‘Reign over us,’ but the olive tree said, ‘Should I leave my fatness, wherewith by me they honour God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?’

“The tree’s saying, ‘I mean, shall I leave what I’ve got and give to you? I don’t think so.’

“The passage goes on, [10] And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us.
[11] But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?
[12] Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us.
[13] And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?

“It’s as though the nations come to Israel and there’s these three different facets of the nation. The appeal to Israel to is, ‘Come and take who God has made you and bless us with it, reign over us, let us enjoy who God has made you,’ and yet Israel at each stage, when the nations do this, saying, ‘We need you!’ responds, ‘Ain’t no way! They’re MY blessings! And I’m not going to share them with YOU!’

“And the result is verse 14, ‘Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us.
[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 fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

“Isaiah 28 calls it ‘a refuge of lies.’ Imagine trusting in a shadow. There’s no substance there. The bramble tree is the thorny bush, barren of any fruit. Then it says, ‘and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

“In other words, it’s ‘turn or burn!’ I’ll either rule you or ruin you. Now that’s the apostasy that results when the nation Israel doesn’t function in the capacity God’s given them. Those three trees represent the three roles that the nation Israel is designed to play in the earth.”

“All the other nations are separated. For example, when Solomon builds the temple, the door into the holy place, into the presence of God in there--you know what they made it out of? Olive wood. Because that olive tree to Israel represents access. It represents the special set apart access; no other nation has it.

“Here’s this position of spiritual privilege and they fail with it. The bramble tree represents Israel in idolatry; Israel under the curse. It represents Israel under the reign of the Antichrist. What you’re seeing is a picture prophetically of the future; historically of the satanic policy of evil of seeking to corrupt them at every point. What Satan’s policy wanted to do is to take Israel and destroy her in every area that God had established the nation for. They were to be His prophets, His priests and His kings and Satan’s going to destroy them in every capacity.”