Trees in the Bible

We put up our Christmas tree a few days ago, which is still one of my favorite traditions (getting on the ladder to hang outside lights, not so much). After thinking about chestnuts roasting on an open fire I got to thinking about trees, and ultimately about trees in the Bible. Did you know there is a theme that runs throughout the pages of Scripture?

From the earliest pages we see Adam and Eve get into trouble because of a tree. They had free reign to eat from any of the multitudes of fruit-bearing trees, but there was a single exception: the tree of knowledge of good and evil was off limits. Once they listened to the serpent and disobeyed God they were evicted from the garden that served as their home. Because they ate of the forbidden tree, they were barred from eating of the tree of life. The tree of life gave them immortality, and if they ate that in their sinful state, there would have been no hope of being forgiven and resurrected to a better life in eternity.

Adam and Eve’s sin meant that something had to be done to destroy the curse. Jesus reversed the curse when He hung on a tree at Calvary. As Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.’” Paul was able to say, “It is written” because he was quoting Deuteronomy 21:23. Jesus, who never sinned, became a curse by bearing our sin in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24) so that we can be forgiven of the sin nature we were born into.

It all comes full circle when we realize we will eat from the tree of life in heaven; Revelation 22:2 tells us the tree of life will be present in the New Jerusalem, and each month it will produce a new fruit that will bring healing to the nations. We missed the opportunity to eat from the tree of life in the Garden of Eden, but if we have been forgiven by our Savior on the tree, then one day we will get to eat from the tree of life in the New Jerusalem.

When you look at your Christmas tree this year, let it be a reminder to you of the tree of life from which we will one day eat, and know it is only possible because of the tree that Jesus once hung upon.   

Moses and Jesus

Last week I wrote about Moses and the snake he grabbed at the burning bush, and now I want to think about the rock that Moses used to get water for Israel in the wilderness. In Exodus 17 God told Moses to strike a rock with his staff (the same staff that was turned into a snake in chapter 4), and when Moses obeyed, water gushed out of the rock. There were an estimated two million people, not to mention animals, in this wilderness caravan, so a substantial amount of water would be needed to satisfy the group. About forty years later God instructed Moses to speak to a rock in order to get more water (Numbers 20), but instead of speaking to it, Moses hit the rock with his staff, but this time he struck it twice. For this act of disobedience Moses was told he would not be able to enter the Promised Land with the rest of Israel, and that Joshua would be his successor.

This seemingly harsh punishment for Moses makes a little more sense when we factor in Paul’s words in I Corinthians 10:4; speaking of those years in the wilderness, the apostle said they “all drank from that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.” We need to think about that rock Moses struck as a picture of Christ. As the Suffering Servant, Jesus needed to be struck, or crucified, only once (Hebrew 9:28); because of that we can speak directly to Him (Hebrews 4:16). Moses misrepresented the Messiah by his actions.

It is actually fitting that Moses was not able to lead Israel into the Promised Land. In that same passage from 1 Corinthians Paul said Israel was “baptized into Moses (v.2),” who was the mediator of the Old Covenant law and its system of works. Jesus became the mediator of a New Covenant (Hebrews 12:4) by His shed blood. Moses is the face of a system of works that cannot save, so he could not have led the nation into the land that is a picture of eternal life with God. His successor, Joshua, was the perfect man for the job; Joshua, after all, means “Jehovah saves,” so he serves as a picture of Jesus, the only way to the Father (John 14:6). Jesus’ Greek name was actually the equivalent of Joshua.

If you are relying on your own goodness to earn you a spot in heaven, you need to instead focus on Jesus, the only one able of taking you to the Promised Land.   

Moses' Snake

The story of Moses at the burning bush is one that is probably familiar to most of us, but there is one detail that may get overlooked. In Exodus 4:2 the Lord asks Moses to throw his rod on the ground, and when he does the rod becomes a snake. The Lord next asks Moses to pick up the snake, and again Moses obeys. When he grabbed the serpent it was immediately transformed back into Moses’ walking stick. The point of this exercise was to demonstrate God’s sovereignty to Moses, proving to him that this call was real and that God would empower Moses to stand before the most powerful man on earth.

But here is the detail that may often get overlooked: “So he cast it on the ground and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it (v.3).” Moses was scared of the snake; scared enough to actually run away from it. Yes, Moses grabbed the snake when God told him to, but we must not think Moses was a snake person. He was not the kind of guy to keep a pet python in a terrarium in his bedroom. Moses is a man after my own heart—I once dialed 911 when I found a snake in our bathroom. If God told me to pick up a snake I’d like to think I would obey, but until then, I’ll keep a safe distance.

Moses not only obeyed God’s instruction to pick up the snake, but he even did in it the specific way God told him to: by the tail. Snakes are not normally grabbed by the tail, unless you just want it to turn around and bite you. But that is what God told him to do, and his obedience caused the snake to turn back into a harmless rod. This was God’s way of getting Moses to trust Him. After all, if he could not confront a snake, he would never be able to confront Pharaoh. No one promised that obeying God would always be easy, but when we trust Him, good things happen. Even if we do not understand what God is doing in the present, it could be that He is equipping us to do something in the future. When you are tempted to run from your problems, stand in God’s strength and face them. What looked like a deadly snake may just turn out to be a harmless walking stick.

Make a Good Play

Last week I was watching the New England Patriots’ football game for the first time this season. I was not familiar with Cordarrelle Patterson before the game, but he really made an impression on me. You may not be a football fan, but please stay with me for a minute. Early in the game Patterson was called on to return a kickoff, and after a decent run, he lost the ball after taking a big hit from the defender, and eventually lost the fumble. The other team quickly scored, which resulted in another kickoff. Patterson once again caught the ball deep in the end zone, and instead of taking a touchback and getting the ball on the twenty-five, he decided to run the ball out and was tackled around the fifteen yard line. I felt bad for the guy; I figured he was trying to make up for his fumble with a big kick return, but he only made things worse. I also figured he was due for an earful from his coach, and I wondered if he would be returning kicks any longer after that performance.

He was. In fact, the very next kickoff brought Patterson back out for the Pats, and when he got his hands on the ball, he returned it ninety yards for a touchdown. His teammates were obviously happy for him, and he no doubt felt like he had helped atone for the earlier damage he had done.

I thought that was a great picture of determination. It is easy to throw in the towel or have a pity party when things aren’t going our way. Patterson had to put his mistakes out of his mind because dwelling on them could easily lead to poor decisions. This is something I believe we all have to do at some time or another, and I am not just thinking about sports. We make mistakes, we sin, and we let people down. When we do we can dwell on them or we can put them out of our mind. We should learn from our mistakes when possible, but we must decide to look forward, not back.

I like how Paul said it: “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things that are before, I press on towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14).” Maybe you have dropped the ball and let someone down; don’t let that keep you from trying to do better next time. There’s plenty of time still on the clock, so get out there and make a good play.