May 4th, 2026
by John Cole
by John Cole
Read below what John Cole wrote as his manuscript for this sermon. Watch or listen to this sermon on our website and app or YouTube channel. The sermon post on the website and app includes a brief outline to help you follow along and discuss with others.
Isn’t it amazing how God produces enormous trees from tiny seeds inside of small gum balls like this? God is the giver of life.
This 79 foot Sweetgum tree in New York illustrates that point well. It took a lot of growth for a small seed to fall out of one of these gum balls and grow into a tree like that. That’s a prospering tree.
Today’s sermon will be from Psalm 1:3 about being “Blessed as a Tree of Life”. We’ll let the Bible answer for us the question, “What does it mean to truly prosper?”
Let’s begin by reading all of Psalm 1.
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the man That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; And in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so: But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
As we saw last Sunday, Psalm 1 in connection with Psalm 2 introduces the Book of Psalms with two ways: the way of the fruitful tree, the Blessed Man, and the risen Son or the way of perishing chaff, the ungodly, and the raging nations. Psalm 1 centers on the fruitful tree. To set the context of this fruitful tree, we’re going on a long walk.
A LONG WALK AMONG TREES
Today, let’s take a stroll through Scripture. We’ll chase the theme of life-giving trees from the garden of Eden to the garden of the new heaven and new earth. Now get ready, this walk is thousands of years long!
Imagine being placed into a beautiful garden and then being instructed by God to choose life instead of death. To eat of one tree and not the other. God makes a covenant that brings blessing or cursing—depending on how you respond. It’s a test related to the commission God gave them. Trust and obey the Lord’s word, and you will live in blessing. Easy choice?
That depends on if you trust God or want to experience the options for yourself. By trusting and obeying God, you wouldn’t get to define your own right and wrong for yourself. You wouldn’t get to try the other option. You wouldn’t get to be your own king. Instead, you would delight in the law and kingship of the Lord.
You may know what Adam and Eve did. And if you don’t, I plan for us to go through that account in scripture soon. God gave them a test with…
Genesis 2:9
…the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Simply put, Adam failed the test, and so did Eve. Adam did not guard the garden and his wife from Satan. Alongside his wife, he rebelled against God’s word by taking and eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. He chose the way of the ungodly.
And yet, God gave a promise that centered around a future Son who would defeat Satan and restore their access to the tree of life. They and all following them were to hope in this promise.
Genesis 3:15
…it [the promised Seed/Son] shall bruise thy [Satan’s] head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Graciously, God promised the good news of a coming Son who would choose wisdom and obedience where Adam chose foolishness and rebellion. He would delight in doing the will of God. He would defeat and cast out Satan. He would pass the test on their behalf.
But He would be bruised in the process. It would cost Him to do the will of God. This Man would give life to the dead through His own suffering. And the dead needing life was Adam, Eve, and all us of us. We have followed in their way.
We have all been exiled from the tree of life. Because of their sin and our sin, we have been cut off from the life of God into a kingdom of darkness. Toil and conflict. Blowing in the wind to our perishing end.
Genesis 3:24
So he [God] drove out the man… to keep [guard] the way of the tree of life.
Yet God’s promise remained. Centuries later, God met with Abram and Sarai by a tree. God made a covenant with Abram and He gave them new names. He promised to bless all nations through the life and obedience of their future Son. God illustrated the future obedience and blessing of this future Son by providing…
Genesis 22:13–18
…a ram caught in a thicket [group of bushes/trees] by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son… [in verse 18 God said] And in thy seed [the promised Son] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…
From a tree, this ram became a sacrificial substitute, rescuing the life of Abraham’s son. This looked forward to how the promised Son would be both bruised for and a blessing to the nations.
Hundreds of years later, Abraham’s offspring—Israel—needed rescued again. God appeared to Moses as a burning fire in a bush—a sort of tree that didn’t die even though it burned with fire. A bush in which the life and glory of God was being manifested.
Exodus 3:2-5
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
God called Moses into His presence at a tree on holy ground. It was like a temporary garden temple. God made Moses a prophet and priest to represent and lead Israel.
God uprooted them out of Egypt. He led them through the Red Sea and watered them in the wilderness. And He planted them in a new land—a sort of garden from among the nations. God likened Israel to His planted tree and vine. A psalmist wrote…
Psalm 80:8-9
Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: Thou hast cast out the heathen [the nations], and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, And didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.
This was a new opportunity and test to guard God’s garden. God instructed them to build a temple with garden and tree imagery. It had an altar for atoning sacrifices that helped them trust in God’s promised provision. God was planting them on both sides of the Jordan River as fruitful trees for the nations.
God gave them prophets to speak God’s life-giving words to and through them. Their land was to become a garden in the wilderness—where God’s presence could be found. Instead of grasping to define their own wisdom, they were to lay hold on God’s wisdom and be like trees of life to the nations. As Proverbs says…
Proverbs 3:18
She [wisdom] is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: And happy [blessed] is every one that retaineth her.
Instead of laying hold on the way of death, they were to lay hold on the words of life! They were to grow up and be fruitful by hearing and obeying God’s word. They were to be led by kings who were fruitful in the word of God. But they had to keep the covenant God gave them to be the blessing they were called to be. Or instead, they would again be cursed.
Well, the people and their kings rejected God’s word and broke God’s covenant with them. Instead of being a blessing among the nations, they were a curse. They were like a withered vine with rotten fruit. They would become as a chopped down tree. They too failed their test. So God said…
Isaiah 5:5–7
…I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; And break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down…For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel…
Though they too were judged for their sin, God’s promises endured. From their condition as a stepped on vine and chopped down stump, a Man would spring up and fulfill God’s word like a new fruitful shoot of a tree.
Isaiah 6:13
… So the holy seed [promised Son] shall be the substance thereof [the remaining stump].
Isaiah 11:1–2
And there shall come forth a rod [tree shoot] out of the stem [tree stump] of Jesse, And a Branch [tree shoot] shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
This promised Seed and Shoot. This new and better David would fear God and keep His commandments.
This Son from Adam, Abraham, Judah, Jesse, and David would chose to live by God’s word—even while in a wilderness face-to-face with the same Satan Adam faced. This Man would teach and fulfill the word of the Lord in all He did. He would choose God’s will over His own desires while praying in a garden. And…
He would become the tree of life by suffering on a tree of death.
The 8th century BC prophet Isaiah wrote…
Isaiah 53:2
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, And as a root out of a dry ground…
Isaiah 53:10–11
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him… When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin…By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; For he shall bear their iniquities.
All the imagery of a victorious, bruised Son and of a tree that gives life and of a holy seed and sprouting branch from a stump all come together in Isaiah 53. And then following that chapter, the promised Son sends His servants into all the world as a work of the new creation He is making.
Those who place their trust in this promised Son would be united with His very life. Forgiven of sins and made righteous by His own righteousness—for He would bear their sins. He would be the substance of God’s vineyard people. He would be the true tree and the true vine. All who have union with Him receive His life. When He came, He boldly claimed…
John 15:1-6
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman [gardener]. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Those who abide in Jesus sprout up as fruitful branches of His life-giving self—like fruitful branches of a fruitful vine. He is the Vine of God. All who abide in Him are His branches. In Him, we overcome the kingdom of darkness and live in His kingdom of light. All who do not abide in Him will be cast out, cut off, and burnt up.
We are in the midsts of this time. If we are united to Christ by faith, we are the branches of Christ. He gives us life. He redeemed us by passing the test on our behalf and paying our sin debt. He is our crucified and risen King. He has defeated Satan. Christ is spreading His life into all the world through us. And there’s more to come, as Apostle John wrote…
Revelation 22:1-3
And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse…
Jesus fulfills as the God-Man all God’s covenant promises and requirements in which we have failed.
Eventually, the life of Christ will remove the curse of sin and bring life and blessing into all the nations. Christ is building His fruitful church in all the world and will come again. The whole earth will become a new Eden. It will be a garden filled with fruitful trees that bear fruit from the very life and word of God.
And it is in the middle of all this hope in which we find the context of Psalms 1-2. Before the promised Son had yet come. In that time, the vineyard-people, Israel, had kings who did not live up to their call. The people themselves continually broke the covenant God made with them through Moses. Most of them failed to keep hope in God’s promised Son.
And yet, our gracious God still gave them His word—like He did with Adam. He still called them to trust in His promise to send the Blessed Man. The Son, Messiah, and King. The true Tree of Life. The Way of Life. The only Man who would perfectly keep covenant with God—the New Covenant.
He still instructed them over and over to choose the way of life and refuse the way of death. To delight in God’s Law that makes God and His way known.
By meditating in God’s word, they could hope in God’s promises and look to His Son. They could live God’s way and receive God’s life. God’s Spirit would direct them and make them fruitful in the way of God as they kept hope in the Messiah’s coming. Some responded to God’s word with trust. They did so meditating on such scripture as Psalms 1-2.
And now that the Messiah has come, the promised Blessed Man of Psalms 1-2 has proven to be as a tree who gives life to all who eat and drink of Him. All who delight in the word of God take of the Messiah and receive life. And in doing so, we abide in the Messiah and extend out as branches of the Tree—branches of the Messiah.
So that is how we apply Psalms 1-2 today. Instead of following the ungodly as perishing chaff blown in the wind, we abide in the Son and have life. We find refuge in Him. He passed every test. He obeyed the word of God. He defeated Satan. He bore our curse. He rose again to life. And He gives life and fellowship with God to all who abide in Him.
If we abide in Him, we follow Him as a fruitful tree for others. We delight in and meditate on God’s word. It nourishes and builds us up. And as the psalms helped some trust in Christ before He came, the psalms help us trust in Christ while we await His return. The psalms help us abide in Christ and His words. They help us delight in and meditate on God’s promises and instruction in all of scripture. So as Psalm 1:3 assures us…
THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE BLESSED MAN BY MEDITATING ON GOD’S INSTRUCTION…
ARE PLANTED BY THE WORK OF GOD
We don’t plant ourselves. One of our sons once played the interesting role in a school play of the shady plant in the book of Jonah. How do you act like a tree? Seems shady! Well, I guess you just stay where you were planted.
As sinners, we like to choose where we want to be planted. We like control. We think we can establish ourselves in solid, fruitful ground. But Psalm 1 makes clear that all who try to plant themselves their way and in the place of their choosing are as chaff blowing in the wind. No roots, water, or established ground.
To be well planted and watered, we must be planted by God’s word. We hope and trust in God. The one who abides in the word of God…
Psalm 1:3
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water…
As we love and study God’s revelation of Himself in scripture, we are established and nourished. God’s Spirit and word works in us. God plants us and waters us. Our sin is exposed, and our need for God’s Son is brought to light.
This is so much of what it means to follow Jesus. To abide in Jesus. Be rooted and strengthened by God’s word and Spirit working in you. Delight in God’s written word of scripture. See God’s many promises of His Son. Be grounded by obedience to God’s commands.
Q: Are you planted with trust in the word of God, or are you like chaff blowing in the wind?
When many of the people of ancient Israel refused to hear and obey God’s word and law, they refused to be planted by rivers of water. They tried to plant themselves wherever they wanted to be. So instead, they were as dead chaff blowing in the wind.
Please don’t refuse God’s word. Hear it. Believe it. And be grafted into Christ by God’s Spirit. Christ is God’s promised Son and the Tree by rivers of water. Trusting God’s gospel brings you into union with Christ.
I guess playing the role of a shady plant in a school play isn’t that bad after-all! It’s a good reminder of our need to be planted and made fruitful by the work of God. And either way—plant or Jonah—you’ll end up eaten!
We are to delight in God’s words and be planted by God in Christ. In doing so, we…
PRODUCE BY THE WORD OF GOD
Don’t you love fresh fruit? It is truly amazing how a seed grows into a plant or tree that then produces fruit you can eat. With every bite of fruit, we should be reminded that we depend on the Lord and His word to produce fruit in us. God created all things by His word. He creates a fruitful people who abide in His word. A people in Christ…
Psalm 1:3
…That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither…
Those who are planted in Christ abide in the tree that never dies.
Jesus is the true Source of Life. He always produces fruit and foliage. Unlike the fruitless fig tree Jesus cursed in Mark 11,
Jesus never goes out of season.
He never goes dormant. If you abide in Jesus and His words abide in you, His Spirit will produce in you such lasting fruit as Christlike love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. Christ’s Spirit will produce in you the beautiful life Jesus lived on our behalf.
Thy only way to be fruitful and truly alive is by God’s Spirit and word producing life in you! If you are in Christ, this is true of you. And God will continue to purge out the old ways from which Jesus is saving you. As we delight in and meditate on God’s written revelation of Himself in scripture, God’s Spirit renews our minds and ways.
It’s like spiritual sap feeding our needy souls.
Q: Do you depend on your will-power or on the Spirit and word of God to produce Christlikeness in you?
I’ve been oversees and picked a fresh mango from a tree. Eating a juicy mango is such good experience. Juice runs all down your arms and all over your face. And the taste is amazing. What a generous God to produce such good—and fun—fruit!
We cannot produce what God alone produces. As He gives His word, we must feast upon it. Study it. Enjoy it. And marvel at how it produces Christlikeness in us. All who abide by faith in Christ and His words are planted by the work of God, produce by the word of God, and…
PROSPER IN DOING THE WILL OF GOD
You see, Satan promises prosperity as well. He told Eve that the fruit of the tree of good and evil would make her powerful and able to decide what is good and true for herself. She would get to prosper in what she wanted to do!
The prosperity God promises isn’t like that. Prosperity God provides first prospers your very desires and aligns them with His word. Then, it leads you in those ways according to His word.
Psalm 1:3
…And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Those who abide in the risen Son of God will persevere and prosper in the will of God—just as He did in our place.
No matter what indwelling sin we battle. Persecution we face. Affliction we grieve. Those who trust in the Blessed Son and meditate on His words will prosper in the way of God.
Love God and His word! God will make you succeed in doing His good purposes for you. In doing His commands.
Obedience to God is true prosperity.
Not what Satan, the world, and false teachers pedal. True prosperity is doing the will of God as Christ did on the behalf of all who trust in Him. It’s being in union with Jesus.
Jesus put it this way while speaking of Himself as the Vine in John 15:7-12.
John 15:7–12
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Q: Is it your will to prosper in the will of God? Do you see obedience to God as true prosperity?
Those who have found refuge in the Son… who delight in God’s law… who abide on Christ… God’s Spirit produces within them a desire to do the will of God. And it is in those desires that God answers our prayers, bears much fruit, makes us disciples, and fills us with the joy of Christ.
When we prosper in the will of God, we continue in the love of Christ. Love that is for the Father and for other followers of Christ. We are like branches reaching out from Christ who produce sweet fruit for the good of others and to the glory of God.
Satan’s temptation of prosperity only leads to being chopped down stumps with no fruit to give. Or chaff blowing in the wind with no roots. No grounding. No flourishing water to feed us.
Don’t delight for a second on the temptations of Satan and his withering kingdom!
BE A BLESSING: ABIDE IN CHRIST AND HIS WORDS, EXTENDING BLESSED LIFE INTO A WITHERING WORLD.
Adam traded access to the tree of life for a tree of death. That’s a bad trade.
You and I were made to be fruitful in communion with God and His people. Not to be cast out from His presence and cut off from His life. But unless we turn from the way of the ungodly and trust in the Blessed Man and Risen Son, we will be withering, dying outcasts. Rightly banished from God’s presence. Sadly grasping for what only brings death.
Jesus the Blessed Son died on a tree of death to become the tree of Life to all who repent from sin and trust in Him. If you haven’t, be converted to Christ. Be planted in Him. Receive the abundant life He alone gives. Love His followers.
And if you have, delight in Christ. Meditate on all of God’s word that makes Christ known to us more and more. Be nourished by God’s word…
Like a fruitful tree.
And be truly prosperous. Prosper in obedience to the words of God. Grow by the Spirit of God in you. Live in the life of Christ.
BE A BLESSING: ABIDE IN CHRIST AND HIS WORDS, EXTENDING BLESSED LIFE INTO A WITHERING WORLD.
Isn’t it amazing how God produces enormous trees from tiny seeds inside of small gum balls like this? God is the giver of life.
This 79 foot Sweetgum tree in New York illustrates that point well. It took a lot of growth for a small seed to fall out of one of these gum balls and grow into a tree like that. That’s a prospering tree.
Today’s sermon will be from Psalm 1:3 about being “Blessed as a Tree of Life”. We’ll let the Bible answer for us the question, “What does it mean to truly prosper?”
Let’s begin by reading all of Psalm 1.
Psalm 1
1 Blessed is the man That walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; And in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so: But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
As we saw last Sunday, Psalm 1 in connection with Psalm 2 introduces the Book of Psalms with two ways: the way of the fruitful tree, the Blessed Man, and the risen Son or the way of perishing chaff, the ungodly, and the raging nations. Psalm 1 centers on the fruitful tree. To set the context of this fruitful tree, we’re going on a long walk.
A LONG WALK AMONG TREES
Today, let’s take a stroll through Scripture. We’ll chase the theme of life-giving trees from the garden of Eden to the garden of the new heaven and new earth. Now get ready, this walk is thousands of years long!
Imagine being placed into a beautiful garden and then being instructed by God to choose life instead of death. To eat of one tree and not the other. God makes a covenant that brings blessing or cursing—depending on how you respond. It’s a test related to the commission God gave them. Trust and obey the Lord’s word, and you will live in blessing. Easy choice?
That depends on if you trust God or want to experience the options for yourself. By trusting and obeying God, you wouldn’t get to define your own right and wrong for yourself. You wouldn’t get to try the other option. You wouldn’t get to be your own king. Instead, you would delight in the law and kingship of the Lord.
You may know what Adam and Eve did. And if you don’t, I plan for us to go through that account in scripture soon. God gave them a test with…
Genesis 2:9
…the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Simply put, Adam failed the test, and so did Eve. Adam did not guard the garden and his wife from Satan. Alongside his wife, he rebelled against God’s word by taking and eating the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. He chose the way of the ungodly.
And yet, God gave a promise that centered around a future Son who would defeat Satan and restore their access to the tree of life. They and all following them were to hope in this promise.
Genesis 3:15
…it [the promised Seed/Son] shall bruise thy [Satan’s] head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Graciously, God promised the good news of a coming Son who would choose wisdom and obedience where Adam chose foolishness and rebellion. He would delight in doing the will of God. He would defeat and cast out Satan. He would pass the test on their behalf.
But He would be bruised in the process. It would cost Him to do the will of God. This Man would give life to the dead through His own suffering. And the dead needing life was Adam, Eve, and all us of us. We have followed in their way.
We have all been exiled from the tree of life. Because of their sin and our sin, we have been cut off from the life of God into a kingdom of darkness. Toil and conflict. Blowing in the wind to our perishing end.
Genesis 3:24
So he [God] drove out the man… to keep [guard] the way of the tree of life.
Yet God’s promise remained. Centuries later, God met with Abram and Sarai by a tree. God made a covenant with Abram and He gave them new names. He promised to bless all nations through the life and obedience of their future Son. God illustrated the future obedience and blessing of this future Son by providing…
Genesis 22:13–18
…a ram caught in a thicket [group of bushes/trees] by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son… [in verse 18 God said] And in thy seed [the promised Son] shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…
From a tree, this ram became a sacrificial substitute, rescuing the life of Abraham’s son. This looked forward to how the promised Son would be both bruised for and a blessing to the nations.
Hundreds of years later, Abraham’s offspring—Israel—needed rescued again. God appeared to Moses as a burning fire in a bush—a sort of tree that didn’t die even though it burned with fire. A bush in which the life and glory of God was being manifested.
Exodus 3:2-5
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
God called Moses into His presence at a tree on holy ground. It was like a temporary garden temple. God made Moses a prophet and priest to represent and lead Israel.
God uprooted them out of Egypt. He led them through the Red Sea and watered them in the wilderness. And He planted them in a new land—a sort of garden from among the nations. God likened Israel to His planted tree and vine. A psalmist wrote…
Psalm 80:8-9
Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: Thou hast cast out the heathen [the nations], and planted it. Thou preparedst room before it, And didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.
This was a new opportunity and test to guard God’s garden. God instructed them to build a temple with garden and tree imagery. It had an altar for atoning sacrifices that helped them trust in God’s promised provision. God was planting them on both sides of the Jordan River as fruitful trees for the nations.
God gave them prophets to speak God’s life-giving words to and through them. Their land was to become a garden in the wilderness—where God’s presence could be found. Instead of grasping to define their own wisdom, they were to lay hold on God’s wisdom and be like trees of life to the nations. As Proverbs says…
Proverbs 3:18
She [wisdom] is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: And happy [blessed] is every one that retaineth her.
Instead of laying hold on the way of death, they were to lay hold on the words of life! They were to grow up and be fruitful by hearing and obeying God’s word. They were to be led by kings who were fruitful in the word of God. But they had to keep the covenant God gave them to be the blessing they were called to be. Or instead, they would again be cursed.
Well, the people and their kings rejected God’s word and broke God’s covenant with them. Instead of being a blessing among the nations, they were a curse. They were like a withered vine with rotten fruit. They would become as a chopped down tree. They too failed their test. So God said…
Isaiah 5:5–7
…I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; And break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down…For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel…
Though they too were judged for their sin, God’s promises endured. From their condition as a stepped on vine and chopped down stump, a Man would spring up and fulfill God’s word like a new fruitful shoot of a tree.
Isaiah 6:13
… So the holy seed [promised Son] shall be the substance thereof [the remaining stump].
Isaiah 11:1–2
And there shall come forth a rod [tree shoot] out of the stem [tree stump] of Jesse, And a Branch [tree shoot] shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
This promised Seed and Shoot. This new and better David would fear God and keep His commandments.
This Son from Adam, Abraham, Judah, Jesse, and David would chose to live by God’s word—even while in a wilderness face-to-face with the same Satan Adam faced. This Man would teach and fulfill the word of the Lord in all He did. He would choose God’s will over His own desires while praying in a garden. And…
He would become the tree of life by suffering on a tree of death.
The 8th century BC prophet Isaiah wrote…
Isaiah 53:2
For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, And as a root out of a dry ground…
Isaiah 53:10–11
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him… When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin…By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; For he shall bear their iniquities.
All the imagery of a victorious, bruised Son and of a tree that gives life and of a holy seed and sprouting branch from a stump all come together in Isaiah 53. And then following that chapter, the promised Son sends His servants into all the world as a work of the new creation He is making.
Those who place their trust in this promised Son would be united with His very life. Forgiven of sins and made righteous by His own righteousness—for He would bear their sins. He would be the substance of God’s vineyard people. He would be the true tree and the true vine. All who have union with Him receive His life. When He came, He boldly claimed…
John 15:1-6
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman [gardener]. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Those who abide in Jesus sprout up as fruitful branches of His life-giving self—like fruitful branches of a fruitful vine. He is the Vine of God. All who abide in Him are His branches. In Him, we overcome the kingdom of darkness and live in His kingdom of light. All who do not abide in Him will be cast out, cut off, and burnt up.
We are in the midsts of this time. If we are united to Christ by faith, we are the branches of Christ. He gives us life. He redeemed us by passing the test on our behalf and paying our sin debt. He is our crucified and risen King. He has defeated Satan. Christ is spreading His life into all the world through us. And there’s more to come, as Apostle John wrote…
Revelation 22:1-3
And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse…
Jesus fulfills as the God-Man all God’s covenant promises and requirements in which we have failed.
Eventually, the life of Christ will remove the curse of sin and bring life and blessing into all the nations. Christ is building His fruitful church in all the world and will come again. The whole earth will become a new Eden. It will be a garden filled with fruitful trees that bear fruit from the very life and word of God.
And it is in the middle of all this hope in which we find the context of Psalms 1-2. Before the promised Son had yet come. In that time, the vineyard-people, Israel, had kings who did not live up to their call. The people themselves continually broke the covenant God made with them through Moses. Most of them failed to keep hope in God’s promised Son.
And yet, our gracious God still gave them His word—like He did with Adam. He still called them to trust in His promise to send the Blessed Man. The Son, Messiah, and King. The true Tree of Life. The Way of Life. The only Man who would perfectly keep covenant with God—the New Covenant.
He still instructed them over and over to choose the way of life and refuse the way of death. To delight in God’s Law that makes God and His way known.
By meditating in God’s word, they could hope in God’s promises and look to His Son. They could live God’s way and receive God’s life. God’s Spirit would direct them and make them fruitful in the way of God as they kept hope in the Messiah’s coming. Some responded to God’s word with trust. They did so meditating on such scripture as Psalms 1-2.
And now that the Messiah has come, the promised Blessed Man of Psalms 1-2 has proven to be as a tree who gives life to all who eat and drink of Him. All who delight in the word of God take of the Messiah and receive life. And in doing so, we abide in the Messiah and extend out as branches of the Tree—branches of the Messiah.
So that is how we apply Psalms 1-2 today. Instead of following the ungodly as perishing chaff blown in the wind, we abide in the Son and have life. We find refuge in Him. He passed every test. He obeyed the word of God. He defeated Satan. He bore our curse. He rose again to life. And He gives life and fellowship with God to all who abide in Him.
If we abide in Him, we follow Him as a fruitful tree for others. We delight in and meditate on God’s word. It nourishes and builds us up. And as the psalms helped some trust in Christ before He came, the psalms help us trust in Christ while we await His return. The psalms help us abide in Christ and His words. They help us delight in and meditate on God’s promises and instruction in all of scripture. So as Psalm 1:3 assures us…
THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE BLESSED MAN BY MEDITATING ON GOD’S INSTRUCTION…
ARE PLANTED BY THE WORK OF GOD
We don’t plant ourselves. One of our sons once played the interesting role in a school play of the shady plant in the book of Jonah. How do you act like a tree? Seems shady! Well, I guess you just stay where you were planted.
As sinners, we like to choose where we want to be planted. We like control. We think we can establish ourselves in solid, fruitful ground. But Psalm 1 makes clear that all who try to plant themselves their way and in the place of their choosing are as chaff blowing in the wind. No roots, water, or established ground.
To be well planted and watered, we must be planted by God’s word. We hope and trust in God. The one who abides in the word of God…
Psalm 1:3
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water…
As we love and study God’s revelation of Himself in scripture, we are established and nourished. God’s Spirit and word works in us. God plants us and waters us. Our sin is exposed, and our need for God’s Son is brought to light.
This is so much of what it means to follow Jesus. To abide in Jesus. Be rooted and strengthened by God’s word and Spirit working in you. Delight in God’s written word of scripture. See God’s many promises of His Son. Be grounded by obedience to God’s commands.
Q: Are you planted with trust in the word of God, or are you like chaff blowing in the wind?
When many of the people of ancient Israel refused to hear and obey God’s word and law, they refused to be planted by rivers of water. They tried to plant themselves wherever they wanted to be. So instead, they were as dead chaff blowing in the wind.
Please don’t refuse God’s word. Hear it. Believe it. And be grafted into Christ by God’s Spirit. Christ is God’s promised Son and the Tree by rivers of water. Trusting God’s gospel brings you into union with Christ.
I guess playing the role of a shady plant in a school play isn’t that bad after-all! It’s a good reminder of our need to be planted and made fruitful by the work of God. And either way—plant or Jonah—you’ll end up eaten!
We are to delight in God’s words and be planted by God in Christ. In doing so, we…
PRODUCE BY THE WORD OF GOD
Don’t you love fresh fruit? It is truly amazing how a seed grows into a plant or tree that then produces fruit you can eat. With every bite of fruit, we should be reminded that we depend on the Lord and His word to produce fruit in us. God created all things by His word. He creates a fruitful people who abide in His word. A people in Christ…
Psalm 1:3
…That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither…
Those who are planted in Christ abide in the tree that never dies.
Jesus is the true Source of Life. He always produces fruit and foliage. Unlike the fruitless fig tree Jesus cursed in Mark 11,
Jesus never goes out of season.
He never goes dormant. If you abide in Jesus and His words abide in you, His Spirit will produce in you such lasting fruit as Christlike love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. Christ’s Spirit will produce in you the beautiful life Jesus lived on our behalf.
Thy only way to be fruitful and truly alive is by God’s Spirit and word producing life in you! If you are in Christ, this is true of you. And God will continue to purge out the old ways from which Jesus is saving you. As we delight in and meditate on God’s written revelation of Himself in scripture, God’s Spirit renews our minds and ways.
It’s like spiritual sap feeding our needy souls.
Q: Do you depend on your will-power or on the Spirit and word of God to produce Christlikeness in you?
I’ve been oversees and picked a fresh mango from a tree. Eating a juicy mango is such good experience. Juice runs all down your arms and all over your face. And the taste is amazing. What a generous God to produce such good—and fun—fruit!
We cannot produce what God alone produces. As He gives His word, we must feast upon it. Study it. Enjoy it. And marvel at how it produces Christlikeness in us. All who abide by faith in Christ and His words are planted by the work of God, produce by the word of God, and…
PROSPER IN DOING THE WILL OF GOD
You see, Satan promises prosperity as well. He told Eve that the fruit of the tree of good and evil would make her powerful and able to decide what is good and true for herself. She would get to prosper in what she wanted to do!
The prosperity God promises isn’t like that. Prosperity God provides first prospers your very desires and aligns them with His word. Then, it leads you in those ways according to His word.
Psalm 1:3
…And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Those who abide in the risen Son of God will persevere and prosper in the will of God—just as He did in our place.
No matter what indwelling sin we battle. Persecution we face. Affliction we grieve. Those who trust in the Blessed Son and meditate on His words will prosper in the way of God.
Love God and His word! God will make you succeed in doing His good purposes for you. In doing His commands.
Obedience to God is true prosperity.
Not what Satan, the world, and false teachers pedal. True prosperity is doing the will of God as Christ did on the behalf of all who trust in Him. It’s being in union with Jesus.
Jesus put it this way while speaking of Himself as the Vine in John 15:7-12.
John 15:7–12
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Q: Is it your will to prosper in the will of God? Do you see obedience to God as true prosperity?
Those who have found refuge in the Son… who delight in God’s law… who abide on Christ… God’s Spirit produces within them a desire to do the will of God. And it is in those desires that God answers our prayers, bears much fruit, makes us disciples, and fills us with the joy of Christ.
When we prosper in the will of God, we continue in the love of Christ. Love that is for the Father and for other followers of Christ. We are like branches reaching out from Christ who produce sweet fruit for the good of others and to the glory of God.
Satan’s temptation of prosperity only leads to being chopped down stumps with no fruit to give. Or chaff blowing in the wind with no roots. No grounding. No flourishing water to feed us.
Don’t delight for a second on the temptations of Satan and his withering kingdom!
BE A BLESSING: ABIDE IN CHRIST AND HIS WORDS, EXTENDING BLESSED LIFE INTO A WITHERING WORLD.
Adam traded access to the tree of life for a tree of death. That’s a bad trade.
You and I were made to be fruitful in communion with God and His people. Not to be cast out from His presence and cut off from His life. But unless we turn from the way of the ungodly and trust in the Blessed Man and Risen Son, we will be withering, dying outcasts. Rightly banished from God’s presence. Sadly grasping for what only brings death.
Jesus the Blessed Son died on a tree of death to become the tree of Life to all who repent from sin and trust in Him. If you haven’t, be converted to Christ. Be planted in Him. Receive the abundant life He alone gives. Love His followers.
And if you have, delight in Christ. Meditate on all of God’s word that makes Christ known to us more and more. Be nourished by God’s word…
Like a fruitful tree.
And be truly prosperous. Prosper in obedience to the words of God. Grow by the Spirit of God in you. Live in the life of Christ.
BE A BLESSING: ABIDE IN CHRIST AND HIS WORDS, EXTENDING BLESSED LIFE INTO A WITHERING WORLD.
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