When the Tree Dries Up

October 2

(Luke 23:27-31 NIV) ““A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. {28} Jesus turned and said to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. {29} For the time will come when you will say, 'Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!' {30} Then "'they will say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!"' {31} For if men do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?””

(Mark 4:4-6 NIV) “As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. {5} Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. {6} But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.”

(2 Thessalonians 2:7-12 NIV) “For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. {8} And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. {9} The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, {10} and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. {11} For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie {12} and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”

Women wept and wailed as they followed Jesus to Golgotha. But Christ said, “Don’t cry for me -- instead, weep for your children. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet. If people do this when God’s Son is here and the tree is green… they will do worse things when He’s gone and the tree dries up.” Christ’s words to the women became a reality. Israel's hollow religion would soon come crashing down on both the guilty and the innocent. The three crosses on the hill that day were only a sampling of the judgment to come. When the Roman Army crushed a rebellion in Israel some years later, thousands of crosses lined the roads to Jerusalem. There was no mercy to be found. Infants were killed along with women and children, and God’s people were turned into wanderers and orphans for almost two thousand years. When the tree dries up, there is no longer any shade to be found. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day