Genesis 3:17-19
Thorns and Thistles
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.”
Exodus 3:1-4
God Talks to Moses
1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
Matthew 7:15-20
Beware of False Prophets
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
John 19:1-5
Jesus Sentenced to be Crucified
1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. 2 The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe 3 and went up to him again and again, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews!" And they struck him in the face.
4 Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews, "Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him." 5 When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, "Here is the man!"
When one first thinks of the words thorns and thistles, I believe that pleasant things do not come to mind...Many of us have been stuck with a thorn or a thistle in our lives, and it hurts...
Since the fall of of man thorns and thistles have been a negative connotation...God told us after our disobedience that the ground would produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field...Jesus warns us of false prophets who do not produce fruit...And He says by their fruit you will recognize the false prophet...Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?...
And yet among the thorns and thistles we find good things...It is Jewish tradition that tells us that the burning bush is a thorn bush, where God first talked to Moses on the Sacred Mountain of Sinai...And our Savior, Jesus wore a crown of thorns when He died for our sins...
So we see what was set out as negative, in God's Plan Jesus, our King of Kings, wore a crown of thorns to save the world on the cross...God has taken what was not good and made it into something very good and beautiful...So now when I think of thorns and thistles and stickers, I think of the beauty of the rose -and how He created a most beautiful flower...