Written by Ray Ogle part 1
Now that I have had my own personal revelation that Christ is in me and Christ is my life, the Bible is now a whole new collection of scriptures just waiting to be revealed to my knowing the fullness that is in Christ. As I have been growing in the Christ-life, certain verses of Scripture have eluded me, and I lacked understanding until now.
I had two questions. What makes
a Christian a Christian? What do
Matthew 3:10 and Luke 3:9 mean?
So I set out into Scripture to discover the understanding that has brought peace to my wondering soul.
"And now also the axe is laid unto
the root of the trees: therefore every
tree which bringeth not forth good
fruit is hewn down, and cast into
the fire." (Matthew 3:10) At my first
reading, I thought this verse was for
Israel only and referred to Israel's
rejection of Jesus as Messiah, be-
lieving that God was thus cutting
the nation off from His blessing
and from the "church age." As I be-
gan to study these verses and travel
through the Scriptures, Christ in me
revealed an awesome "panoramic"
picture I had not previously known.
The Holy Ghost, as teacher and
guide, will shed light, wisdom, and
understanding in this revelation, in
order for every believer to compre-
hend what was in God's mind at the
beginning of all creation. What an
awesome journey to truth!
In order to have any foundation of
understanding, we must first travel
to the beginning and see what the
Word says about it. Matthew 3:10
speaks of a root, and I wanted to
know exactly what this root was and
where it came from. In the Strong's,
"root" is 4491=rhiza, which is sin-
gular, meaning only one root, not
many. In this verse, we have one root
(singular), and many trees (plural).
If this verse had read, "the root of the
tree," then I would have more read-
ily accepted that it was referring to
only Israel, because Israel is referred
to as an olive tree. We will discuss
the (plural) sense of trees later.
A root. Where, exactly, does a root
come from and how does it grow
and exist. In Genesis 1:1-10, God
created all the necessary elements it
takes to support life on this planet.
We see water, earth, and oxygen
(air) being brought forth first. On
day three, we see God bring forth
grass, herb, and the tree yielding
fruit after his kind. Ask this ques-
tion: Which came first, the seed or
the tree? The seed, of course, be-
cause we see that on the fourth day
(Genesis 1:16), God made the great
light (sun) to rule the day, and we all
know that it takes water, earth, air,
and light to make a plant grow, and
that the light process is what we call
"photosynthesis". We now have all
the necessary elements in place for
God to plant a garden, where the
greatest test of man will take place.
"Horticulture Class 101 is now
in session." Two questions: What
is a seed, and what does the seed
do? First, a seed is what contains
and manifests all the DNA and ge-
netic information as to what kind
of creature (being) it will become.
In this lesson, it is a tree. The seed
is what will determine what kind
of tree it will be and what kind of
fruit it will grow. In the Christ-life,
the seed holds within it ALL the
character and nature for that which
it is, and will become. In Strong’s,
the seed’s nature is: Nature = 5449,
5453=phue, phusis = growth (by
germination or expansion), natural
production (lineal descent); a genus
or sort, native disposition, constitu-
tion or usage, man(kind), nature(al).
5453 = “to puff or blow,” to swell
up, but only used in the implicated
sense, to germinate or grow (sprout,
produce), spring (up). Very simply
put, a peach seed will become what?
A peach tree! And it will bring forth
what? Peaches!
Second, a seed (when germinat-
ed) will miraculously spring life
within it and begin to grow. The ba-
sic seed, when properly nourished,
will sprout and begin to grow in two
different directions. The part of the
seed that will grow up is called the
“shoot” or “blade”. The part of the
seed that will grow downward is
called the “root”. As the seed grows,
the shoot will break through the soil
and photosynthesis will begin; the
sunlight, water, earth, and air are all
partakers in feeding the plant, caus-
ing it to grow and take root. As the
blade grows and gets bigger, the root
also begins to dig deeper and deeper
into the earth, and as the root ex-
pands more and more, it becomes
the foundation and support system
of the tree. Eventually, you no longer
recognize that there ever was a seed
because the seed transformed into
and became the root. What we now
see is that the tree grew and matured
and what we now have is a root, a
tree, and eventually fruit that bears
new seed. In this lesson, our tree
will be a peach tree.
Now that I have had my own personal revelation that Christ is in me and Christ is my life, the Bible is now a whole new collection of scriptures just waiting to be revealed to my knowing the fullness that is in Christ. As I have been growing in the Christ-life, certain verses of Scripture have eluded me, and I lacked understanding until now.
I had two questions. What makes
a Christian a Christian? What do
Matthew 3:10 and Luke 3:9 mean?
So I set out into Scripture to discover the understanding that has brought peace to my wondering soul.
"And now also the axe is laid unto
the root of the trees: therefore every
tree which bringeth not forth good
fruit is hewn down, and cast into
the fire." (Matthew 3:10) At my first
reading, I thought this verse was for
Israel only and referred to Israel's
rejection of Jesus as Messiah, be-
lieving that God was thus cutting
the nation off from His blessing
and from the "church age." As I be-
gan to study these verses and travel
through the Scriptures, Christ in me
revealed an awesome "panoramic"
picture I had not previously known.
The Holy Ghost, as teacher and
guide, will shed light, wisdom, and
understanding in this revelation, in
order for every believer to compre-
hend what was in God's mind at the
beginning of all creation. What an
awesome journey to truth!
In order to have any foundation of
understanding, we must first travel
to the beginning and see what the
Word says about it. Matthew 3:10
speaks of a root, and I wanted to
know exactly what this root was and
where it came from. In the Strong's,
"root" is 4491=rhiza, which is sin-
gular, meaning only one root, not
many. In this verse, we have one root
(singular), and many trees (plural).
If this verse had read, "the root of the
tree," then I would have more read-
ily accepted that it was referring to
only Israel, because Israel is referred
to as an olive tree. We will discuss
the (plural) sense of trees later.
A root. Where, exactly, does a root
come from and how does it grow
and exist. In Genesis 1:1-10, God
created all the necessary elements it
takes to support life on this planet.
We see water, earth, and oxygen
(air) being brought forth first. On
day three, we see God bring forth
grass, herb, and the tree yielding
fruit after his kind. Ask this ques-
tion: Which came first, the seed or
the tree? The seed, of course, be-
cause we see that on the fourth day
(Genesis 1:16), God made the great
light (sun) to rule the day, and we all
know that it takes water, earth, air,
and light to make a plant grow, and
that the light process is what we call
"photosynthesis". We now have all
the necessary elements in place for
God to plant a garden, where the
greatest test of man will take place.
"Horticulture Class 101 is now
in session." Two questions: What
is a seed, and what does the seed
do? First, a seed is what contains
and manifests all the DNA and ge-
netic information as to what kind
of creature (being) it will become.
In this lesson, it is a tree. The seed
is what will determine what kind
of tree it will be and what kind of
fruit it will grow. In the Christ-life,
the seed holds within it ALL the
character and nature for that which
it is, and will become. In Strong’s,
the seed’s nature is: Nature = 5449,
5453=phue, phusis = growth (by
germination or expansion), natural
production (lineal descent); a genus
or sort, native disposition, constitu-
tion or usage, man(kind), nature(al).
5453 = “to puff or blow,” to swell
up, but only used in the implicated
sense, to germinate or grow (sprout,
produce), spring (up). Very simply
put, a peach seed will become what?
A peach tree! And it will bring forth
what? Peaches!
Second, a seed (when germinat-
ed) will miraculously spring life
within it and begin to grow. The ba-
sic seed, when properly nourished,
will sprout and begin to grow in two
different directions. The part of the
seed that will grow up is called the
“shoot” or “blade”. The part of the
seed that will grow downward is
called the “root”. As the seed grows,
the shoot will break through the soil
and photosynthesis will begin; the
sunlight, water, earth, and air are all
partakers in feeding the plant, caus-
ing it to grow and take root. As the
blade grows and gets bigger, the root
also begins to dig deeper and deeper
into the earth, and as the root ex-
pands more and more, it becomes
the foundation and support system
of the tree. Eventually, you no longer
recognize that there ever was a seed
because the seed transformed into
and became the root. What we now
see is that the tree grew and matured
and what we now have is a root, a
tree, and eventually fruit that bears
new seed. In this lesson, our tree
will be a peach tree.
