“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.”
Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. The imagery of the axe at the root communicates urgency: the judgment is not future but present, the ax already at the base of the tree. Every tree — not every bad apple on a tree, not every branch — that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. The fire that John preaches is the purifying and destroying fire of divine judgment. Ezekiel 15:1–8 uses the vine and fire imagery for Israel that produces no fruit; John is applying it to the trees of Judea in his moment. The question is not when judgment will come but whether the tree is bearing fruit before the ax falls.
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