This is the last in a series of posts written as devotionals for campers at Science Camp at Machen Retreat and Conference Center.
Do you remember how on Monday night we talked about trees giving life? Did you ever think about how many times the Bible compares Jesus to a tree? He is a tree of life. Listen to these passages:
Isaiah 11:1: There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
Isaiah 53:2: For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
And Jesus himself spoke of trees often. Remember, he grew up in a carpenter’s shop, by God’s purpose.
You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Matthew 7:16-18
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” Matthew 13:31-32
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. Matthew 7:3-5
After his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as Jesus was on his way to die on a tree, he cursed a fig tree for not bearing fruit. There are many layers of meaning to everything Jesus did, but it is interesting to remember what Adam and Eve did after they ate the forbidden fruit. When they realized they were naked, what did they try to cover themselves with? (Fig leaves) The very tree that was used to try to hide from God is what Jesus curses and causes to wither just before he goes to undo the curse. The thorns and thistles that inhabit the ground after Adam is cursed are given to Jesus as a crown when he is headed to the cross.
The place Jesus sought refuge to pray on the night before he died was a garden of Olive Trees. And we know that Christ purchased our redemption on a tree.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 1 Peter 2:24
The communion with God that was broken when Adam ate the fruit of the tree God commanded him not to was healed by Christ’s atoning death on the cross.
Have you ever wondered about the fruit of the tree of life? What was it like? Well those who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior will find out one day.
Revelation 22:1-2 tells us: Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! Romans 11:33
How marvelous it is to think of the infinite scope of God’s mind. Nothing in Scripture is a trivial detail. He knits every word together for His glory. We are blessed to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn from Him.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Diane