More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
August 4 - August 5, 2020
If the Old Testament had a tree nursery in it, it would be found in the book of Isaiah.
To stare at a painting of Christ on the cross today is to gaze on a portrait of the Messiah described by Isaiah 2,700 years ago. His likeness is no abstract expressionist rendering. There can be no case of mistaken identity. Isaiah’s description resembles only one person in history. Perhaps even more telling, Isaiah’s picture of the Messiah resembles no other god in history.
Like trees, Jesus gives life. Fallen humanity, however, has a habit of choosing the things that take life away. We reject Jesus, we disobey God, and we walk away from the tree of life.
It is my hope that those who read the Bible will pause when they come to one of the thousands of trees I have not included in this survey of the Old Testament. Think about all the good that trees accomplish for our benefit. What a gift from the Lord they are! Listen for the Gardener’s voice in the resonance of the Stradivarius and the wail of the Stratocaster. Taste and see that the Lord is good—and so are his trees.
When humans become the measure of all things, by definition we end up with a God no bigger than ourselves.
Birds and bees, as well as flowers and trees, number among God’s greatest tools when he explains how much he loves us. To subtract them from the Bible and our theology diminishes God’s ability to communicate his love. It relegates Jesus to the role of afterlife insurance salesman, not the one who sustains all of creation (John 1:3) and for whom all creation was made (Colossians 1:16–17).
When we are tired, when we are discouraged, when we are frustrated, when we are downcast, we need to do what Jesus did: seek solace in the woods.
Whenever the fame and the fury became too oppressive, Jesus found peace speaking to his Father among trees. If Jesus is our teacher, model, and savior, then we should follow his example. When we are tired, when we are discouraged, when we are frustrated, when we are downcast, we need to do what Jesus did: seek solace in the woods.
Go to the forest, sit under the trees, and pray. There, beneath the canopy of shade-giving branches, we, like Jesus, can b...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
If you have placed your trust in Christ, you, too, have been called from a tree.
Innocent bystander, guilty thief, and cruel soldier—they all were called from the tree. On that day the Roman soldier was the last to be called from a tree. But looking back at the Crucifixion two thousand years later, we can see a more accurate picture. In a very real sense, if you have placed your trust in Christ, you, too, have been called from a tree.
Jesus came to act as Jacob’s ladder—to be a bridge between heaven and earth, between God and humanity. Adam and Eve hid themselves using fig leaves; thus, the fig became a symbol of the separation between God and man. Jesus came to deal with this symbol and the sin it signifies.
Jesus referred to only one gem, the pearl. It’s no accident that this gem is made naturally of both inorganic and organic material. Indeed, we are told that the gates to heaven are made of this hybrid material. Despite all the jokes about Saint Peter manning the gates, Jesus—fully man and fully God—is the sole gate to heaven.
Through the Messiah’s death we are offered life. Through his sacrifice our sin is forgiven. None of this works without a tree.
Christ is the deepest root of the tree and also the highest branch on its crown.
Christ did not die on the cross to make sins inconsequential—or worse, to elevate them to the level of a sacrament. He died to free us from our bondage and addiction to sin, including our earthly addictions to wealth, power, and fame. The fruit of our lives should be rooted in the Spirit and not the flesh.
By planting and caring for trees, we show our loving respect for their rightful owner, the Lord Almighty.
Trees are the only things from our childhood that are bigger when we go back and visit them as adults. Our faith should be like that.
“I believe all improvements and inventions should be the property of the human race. No inventor has the right to profit by an invention for which he deserves no credit. The idea of it was really inspired by the Almighty.”
As Tertullian put it around the year 200, “Nature is school-mistress, the soul the pupil; and whatever one has taught or the other has learned has come from God—the Teacher of the teacher.”
God’s “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” This quote about God and nature goes on to say that people are “without excuse” if they claim not to know there is a God after going for a walk in the woods. However much this thinking might sound like Muir’s writing, he did not pen it. It comes from the Bible (Romans 1:20) and reflects the orthodox thinking of Christians in every generation from the first century onward.
How well are we stewarding the trees? Are we taking care of God’s forests? Are we being responsible or foolish stewards? We also need to question how well we are protecting God’s Word. Have we taken trees out of our theology? It has been said that everything important in life takes place between three trees—the tree in Eden, the tree on Calvary, and the tree in heaven. When we fail to take note of these trees, we risk losing the gospel. And when we lose the gospel, we lose hope.
I invite believers and nonbelievers alike to examine the Bible, paying attention to the trees that populate Scripture. You will be rewarded with a deeper understanding of the gospel as well as a greater respect for God’s second book, his creation.
