Cities With Trees That Give Life

March 10, 2002 pm
MF Blume

Deuteronomy 20:10-12  When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:


This morning we read from this same chapter in verses 19-20. Many people claim to be Christians but never produce fruit that gives life to onlooking souls.
 
And since it speaks about a city, we considered that there is a city in the book of Revelation called New Jerusalem, that has a tree of life in it.
 
If you want to be preserved forever, be a tree that bears fruit to give life to souls.
 
 But these three verses before those speaking of the fruit trees speak also of warfare. And we see the picture of Israel's confrontation with cities that God wants them to conquer. The battle today is over souls. God is invading cities across the world. Notice how God looks at our spirits as cities. We need to take the cities of our lives, and not let the devil have possession and ownership of them.
 
God wants us to rule and reign with Him. And if God is conquering a city, He wants that city to be a tributary to Him.
Deuteronomy 20:11  And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
This is how God looks at our lives. He is going to destroy all that is evil one day. So God's kingdom comes to people's lives, as Israel's forces came to cities. The writers of the Bible said these things…
1 John 2:1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not….

1 John 1:4  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

The only real peace that exists is in Jesus.
Psalm 84:9-10  Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Servitude to God is a joy and pleasure. Its like saying that 1/1000 of God's wealth is better than the entire wealth of mankind put together. God is going to destroy all wickedness one day. And God rewards those in His kingdom with JOY UNSPEAKABLE AND FULL OF GLORY.
 
The cities that make peace with Israel will be tributaries for Israel. This goes along with the idea of the fruit trees in verses 19-20 from this morning's service.
Deuteronomy 20:19-20  When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.
Think of it. God is saying the same principle all over again using trees this time. The element in the picture of the cities that adds to the thought of the fruit trees is as follows: And that is the reason when we compare these following scriptures, we see believers as part of the overall Body of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 22:2  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.
ONE TREE OF LIFE on either side of the River of Life.
Ezek 47:12  And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.
MANY TREES ON EITHER SIDE OF THE RIVER.
 
Why the discrepancy? Jesus is the tree of life and we are the branches.
 
We are tributaries.
 
We are extensions of His will.
Proverbs 11:30  The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
Notice that God considers fruit coming from a righteous Christian with the idea of winning souls. Let's be extensions of God's will.

Tributaries of God's Spirit.

Trees of Life!

Cities of Life!