Vision of the Trees

By Hazel Holland

About twelve years ago a group of us from the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church I use to attend were on a weekend prayer retreat up at Cedar Falls, because we wanted to hear the Spirit speak more clearly in our lives. So I decided to go out on a solitary walk to listen to what He might want to say to me…

I ended up lying on my back on the floor of an old, broken down and discarded wagon. It was part of the set-up that contributed to the pioneer spirit of Wagon Camp at Cedar Falls. As I stretched out on the weathered floor of the wagon, I was immediately struck with the beauty of a white fir towering above me. Sunlight was pouring down on each individual needle, causing the evergreen to sparkle like glistening dew. The reflection of the soft rays of sunlight made the fir look like it was wearing a crown of diamonds.

Immediately I was reminded of a similar scene I had seen of a white fir in a vision five months earlier on December 15, 1995. The pastor had been preaching on our need to renounce our arrogant spirit of individualism, our spiritual pride and superiority. As he began to pray, I began seeing a series of pictures (back then I had a hard time calling it a “vision”) of stately evergreen trees in a forest…

The Vision

Out of the darkness of the night a pine tree appeared, perfect in symmetry and beautifully decorated with sparkling white lights. The miniature white Christmas lights were clear as crystal and perfectly spaced throughout the tree’s branches. But the many artificial lights only lit up the tree, not the darkness around it. After thirty seconds the pine tree faded and was replaced by a second pine, a little bigger than the first.

The second pine tree that appeared was covered with blue Christmas lights that were evenly spaced, and perfectly placed throughout its branches. Like the first pine tree it had perfect symmetry, but only magnified itself. It gave off no light to the darkness around it. After thirty seconds it too faded, and was replaced by an even bigger pine.

Like the other two pines before it, this third evergreen was also perfect in symmetry and decorated with multicolored lights that were evenly spaced throughout its branches. However, even though each successive tree was bigger and decorated with more lights, each seemed to give off less light. After another thirty seconds this third pine tree also faded and was replaced by a dense forest of artificially lit trees.

Then quite unexpectedly, a long string of unlit multicolored Christmas lights (like the ones I had seen on the last tree pine tree), appeared from the right and began to circle the forest of trees. I saw the long strand of unlit multicolored lights pass before my eyes a couple of times as it bound the forest of trees securely together. Gradually the forest faded from view and its artificial lights disappeared just like I had seen the others do.

Immediately a ray of Light pierced the darkness of the night and revealed a white fir standing with such beauty and grace. Every needle on every branch glistened like the morning dew. Although no artificial lights decorated its branches, it sparkled and shone brighter than all the other trees had done as it beautifully reflected the Source of Light that shone upon it. All of a sudden the tree was bathed in breath taking colors of every kind as a rainbow of promise rested on each needle. Its glory and splendor surpassed the grandeur of a mighty cathedral. As it beautifully reflected the Source of the Light that continued to shine upon it, it illuminated the darkness of the forest around it.

Interpretation

As I continued to lay on the old wagon floor looking up into the trees, meditating on what God was saying through this vision, I noticed that there were a number of trees that were totally dead standing beside living trees. I also noticed that surrounding the white fir that stood in front of me were many dead branches among the living trees that needed to be pruned.

Had these dead trees and branches failed to receive the necessary Son-light? Is that why they had died? I wanted to remove the ugly dead wood because it marred the beauty of the surrounding forest, but I knew that was the job of the Master Pruner. He would eventually separate the dead wood from the living branches. Until then the “dead” and the “living” stood together waiting for the Pruner…

In a similar way God wants to prune the dead wood in our lives. He wants to lop off the dead branches and make room for new growth so that we can continue to grow and flourish as we sink our roots down deep into Him… For apart from Him we have no Life.

As I continued to lay there on the bed of the wagon, God brought the following passage of Scripture to my mind. “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. But now, all of you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment” (Isaiah 50:10-11).

God is saying, “I am the Light. I am the Source of Light. You were created to reflect My light; not to make your own light. Any light that you create will eventually go out in darkness. I am the Light and in Me there is no darkness” (Isaiah 50:10-11).

Later that day after I got home from Cedar Falls the Lord began giving me more Scriptures that seemed to confirm what He had earlier revealed as I lay on the broken down wagon. Just as He confronted ancient Israel with her spiritual pride and idolatry, He is confronting the church today with our spiritual pride and idolatry. “Open your doors, O Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars!”Wail, O pine tree, for the cedar has fallen; the stately trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan; the dense forest has been cut down” (Zechariah 11:1-2).

"Once you were a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest. You towered on high, your top among the thick foliage... Your branches grew long, spreading because of abundant waters. You were majestic and beautiful because I made you beautiful... Because you became proud of your height and your thick foliage, I handed you over to the ruler of the nations to deal with your wickedness... You are destined for death… “(Ez.31:3-14).

“Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord. “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, "when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh…even the whole house of Israel in uncircumcised in heart” (Jeremiah 9:23-26).

Although the Lord was originally confronting unfaithful Jerusalem in this allegory given in Ezekiel 16, He is also confronting spiritual Israel (the church) as He sees that many of us have fallen into the same spiritual condition. “I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels… But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute” (Ezekiel 16:6-15).

Ezekiel goes on to say in the rest of chapter sixteen that Jerusalem preferred strangers to her own Husband because she engaged in "prostitution" with the nations around therby breaking the covenant with the Lord. Although Israel broke the covenant time and time again, the Lord remembered His covenant with Israel and established an everlasting covenant--the new covenant that is built on better promises--God's promises --not ours.

Not Connected to the Source

Several years later I began to understand more fully that the only way we can remain faithful to our Husband and not run after other lovers is if we stay connected to Him--the True Vine. We must stay connected to the Source of Love, Jesus Christ, and receive the Holy Spirit (Sap) if we are going to “stand firm” and not be among those whose “love grows cold”.

In the church I believe there are two kinds of branches holding on to the True Vine. One kind of branch is on the Vine but not tapped into the Source (the Holy Spirit), and is therefore cut off because it bears no fruit. The other kind of branch is connected to the Source, and is therefore pruned so that it will bear even more fruit.

A professed Christian who is on the Vine, but not connected to the Vine (the Holy Spirit Sap) is weak and unable to bear fruit. Remember the fig tree that Jesus cursed? It had leaves but no fruit. That was because the sap went straight to the leaves. The sap was not supposed to go to the leaves but to the fruit. Remember we’re not called to produce fruit—we’re called to bear fruit? We’re called to reflect Him!

A branch only gets its strength from being connected to the Sap in the Vine. When we receive our strength and nourishment from Him alone there’s no effort in “abiding”—in “resting” in Him. In that way we show ourselves to be His disciples when the Sap is running through us, because then as we are pruned by Him we will bear much fruit that will last.

Trees Already Dead

Seven years ago as I stood with the rest of the congregation in a particular church for closing prayer, I was slain in the Spirit as God brought upon me His heart of travailing intercession for those who were superficially attached to the Vine, but not connected to the Source.

As I lay on the floor of the church I saw what I had failed to see seven years earlier regarding the pine trees in this vision. The trees that I had seen artificially decorated with man’s light were already dead. As God “showed me” the vision of the pine trees for the second time I realized that the artificial lights were actually exposing the dead branches, but I had failed to see that earlier. My attention had been focused on the perfect form and shape of the trees, along with the perfect placement of artificial lighting instead of recognizing the true condition of the “trees”.

I became overcome with travailing intercession for the church as I realized with greater clarity what God is saying to us through this vision. Those who are on the Vine, but not connected to the Sap in the Vine are eventually going to be cut off from Him, because they are already dead. Uncontrollable weeping and wailing overcame me as I found myself interceding and repenting for those who were physically alive but spiritually dead—for those who have a profession of godliness, but have no Holy Spirit power in their lives.

But nothing is impossible with God! He can make dead bones live! His love can demolish all the idols that we have set up in our hearts to replace Him! He’s calling us now to repent of our pride and idolatry, and turn to Him. Only when we turn to Christ is the veil taken away. When we see Him in His beauty, we will be transformed into His likeness, and reflect only Him (1Corinthians 3:16-18).

Forgive us, dear Lord, for what we have done.
We repent of our pride,
We submit to Your Son.
Break the chords of our bondage,
And we will be free.
Bring us back from captivity.
We renounce our own light.
We receive Your fire.
You are our Light,
Our heart's desire.