{"id":2208,"date":"2024-02-13T06:33:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T11:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/?p=2208"},"modified":"2024-02-12T23:04:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-13T04:04:56","slug":"a-rotting-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/a-rotting-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"A Rotting Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

When the Interpreter had done, he takes them out into his garden again, and had them to a tree, whose inside was all rotten and gone, and yet it grew and had leaves. Then said Mercy, \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d \u201cThis tree,\u201d said he, \u201cwhose outside is fair, and whose inside is rotten, it is to which many may be compared that are in the garden of God; who, with their mouths, speak high in behalf of God, but indeed will do nothing for Him; whose leaves are fair, but their heart good for nothing but to be tinder for the devil\u2019s tinderbox.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Notes and Commentary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the lesson of Proverbs<\/a>, the pilgrims follow the Interpreter again into the garden. The garden, as noted earlier, represents the visible church. Here they see a curious sight. In the garden is a tree. On the outside the tree is \u201cfair\u201d with leaves and new growth. But on the inside it is rotten and decayed. Mercy asks the Interpreter: \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Interpreter explains that the tree represents many \u201cthat are in the garden of God.\u201d There are many in the church \u201cwho, with their mouths, speak high in behalf of God, but indeed will do nothing for Him.\u201d Their hearts remain unchanged, \u201cgood for nothing but to be tinder for the devil\u2019s tinderbox.\u201d Jesus, quoting Isaiah 29:13, calls them out as hypocrites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
\u201cThese people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.\u201d
(Matthew 15:7\u20138)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the outside the tree looks fair with promising growth. But on the inside it is rotten and filled with decay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Continue Reading Notes and Commentary<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The text for <\/strong>The Pilgrim’s Progress<\/strong><\/em> is public domain<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes and Commentary for Part II \u00a92014, 2024 Ken Puls<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from 
the New King James Version (NKJV) \u00a91982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Return to A Guide to John Bunyan\u2019s The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress Part 2<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Interpreter had done, he takes them out into his garden again, and had them to a tree, whose inside was all rotten and gone, and yet it grew and had leaves. Then said Mercy, \u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d \u201cThis tree,\u201d said he, \u201cwhose outside is fair, and whose inside is rotten, it is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[108,295,12,11,96],"class_list":["post-2208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-the-pilgrims-progress","tag-hypocrisy","tag-idleness","tag-john-bunyan","tag-pilgrims-progress","tag-remaining-sin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4lLgO-zC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2208"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2210,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208\/revisions\/2210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenpulsmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}