The Heavenly Race: Chapter 4 - God's Palm Tree Saints
By John Hames
"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree." -- Psalm 92:12.
God often compares His people to trees. But whenever He does, He selects the fruit-bearing palm to represent the Spirit-filled believer. There is a divine reason for this. The palm tree is full of sap. We read in Psalms 104:16, "The trees of the Lord are full of sap." This has reference to the palm. The very life of the tree is in the sap which flows through the trunk and branches producing fruit and beauty. In like manner every grace and fruit of the Spirit must be fed and nourished by the heavenly sap of the Spirit. Let us notice some traits of the palm tree which has its counterpart in the palm tree saint.
I. The palm tree is noted for its deep roots which go down until they strike the living springs of water. This is a type of a Spirit-filled saint, who has struck the living streams of Pentecost and is constantly fed by the indwelling Comforter. Just as the flowing water feeds the roots of the palm tree and sends its life-giving sap to the very top leaf, in like manner the Holy Spirit floods the soul with the love of God until all the fruits and graces of the Spirit grow and flourish with a living freshness the year round.
II. The palm tree is an evergreen which characteristically typifies the constant freshness of the Spirit-filled life. Nearly all of the fruit-bearing trees put on their beauty in the spring of the year. Then when the cold winter approaches, they shed their foliage and the life goes down into the roots. This is typical of a great many Christians who have religious spells during a special revival meeting and then seem to shed their freshness and their beauty until another revival comes.
The palm tree saint lives below the surface where the streams are constantly running over the hidden roots of his soul. There is an eternal freshness in his inward being.
D. L. Moody said that after he received the mighty; fiery baptism with the Holy Ghost, he preached the same sermons and used the same illustrations, but it all seemed so new to the people, and not a single sermon did he preach after that but that souls were saved. How blessed and refreshing to meet those who have not lost their freshness of first love! Everything they say seems to grip and bless the people.
III. The palm tree is noted for its beauty. It has a green, flourishing top the year round. As it basks in the sunlight, it is beautiful to behold. In this respect it typifies the palm tree saint that has been clothed with the graces and tempers which grow and flourish in the bosom of Jesus. The Holy Ghost imparts a Christly manner, a tenderness of speech, and gives one a winning disposition, a power to draw, and a heavenly influence. There is a beauty that belongs to the life of true holiness that is sadly neglected these days. Some people are noted for their straight, radical life. They stand out against everything that is wrong, such as lodges, tobacco, and worldliness in every form. But oh, how they lack the beauty and sweetness of the Spirit! God wants to beautify the saints until they will be attractive and manifest the sweetness of Jesus to a lost world. The Holy Ghost can take the most uncouth person that ever lived and save, sanctify, and fill him with a heavenly charm so that he will be attractive.
IV. The palm tree is noted for its sweet fruit. How true this is in the truly sanctified life. All bitter roots of carnality have been burned out, and the longer the indwelling Comforter abides, the sweeter one's life will be. The Holy Ghost wants to sweeten our dispositions so that we will become lamb-like and Christlike in our spirits and in all our behavior. There is nothing that so surprises and convicts the unsaved as when they see one manifest a sweet spirit while under pressure. A holiness that does not keep sweet under all circumstances is a sham. It is said of the mother of John Wesley that one of her children asked several times for the same privilege and was denied with a "no." The child asked again and again. The answer was always "no." The patient mother responded . "no" twenty times, and the last time was in the same sweet tone of voice as the first. We are not saying that this was right. The point we are making is that the mother kept sweet and calm under trial. We are not surprised that such a mother gave to the world two of the greatest preachers that ever lived since the apostles' day.
