The Tree of Life
Revelation 22:1-5 The angel showed me the river of the water of life, which was as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb. 2In the middle of the city’s street and on each side of the river was a tree of life that yielded twelve kinds of fruit. The tree yields its fruit every month, and its leaves are for the healing of the nations. 3There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city. His servants will worship him. 4They will see his face. His name will be on their foreheads. 5There will no longer be any night or any need for lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.
There is an extraordinary tree on Kalaloch Beach inside Olympic Park in Washington state. Some people call it “The Tree of Life” because of the way the tree continues to thrive – even though its roots travel to nowhere. If you look at the picture on the screen, the tree appears to be suspended in the air.
Erosion under the tree has taken away its ability to grab water and nutrients from the soil. Still, it continues to thrive and grow green leaves every spring.
The roots have no soil to hold it in place during the intense storms on the west coast. There is no logical explanation for why it hasn’t toppled over yet. Healthy trees fall victim to vicious wind and rain, but this tree is cemented in place without having an anchor.
It’s called “The Tree of Life” since it continues to live by resisting extreme conditions with limited resources.
God placed two trees in the middle of the Garden of Eden. They were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve disobeyed God as they ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. “You will not surely die,” whispered Satan. “You can be like God,” was the devil’s great lie. God’s children listened to the fallen angel instead of their Creator God. Sadness and sin entered God’s new creation. Fear and foreboding now reigned. Doubt and death would now consume Adam and Eve and their countless children throughout the ages.
God said, “Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, so that he does not reach out his hand and also take from the Tree of Life and eat and live forever …” he drove the man out, and in front of the Garden of Eden he stationed cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned in every direction to guard the way to the Tree of Life (Genesis 3:22-24).
God banishing Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden was both punishment and protection. God’s children had sinned. They had brought death upon themselves and all of creation. But God did not want his children to go back into the Garden to eat from The Tree of Life. It would have been like they were zombies – destined to be like the living undead.
Who would want that?!
Death is a curse. It is a punishment for sin. Death will eventually claim one hundred percent of people. We will all get older. We will get wrinkles and grey hair. Our bodies will age. They’ll break down. They’ll fall apart. Our minds won’t be as sharp as they once were. As my mom told me with her myriad of health problems, “Getting old isn’t for wimps.” My mom has moved in with my sister and my dad has moved in with me. My dad spoke honestly for most people in getting older, “This isn’t the way I wanted it to be.”
We don’t want life to be this way. We want to be young and spry and healthy. Some people in our culture try to cheat aging. They will use dyes, creams, and clothing to appear more youthful. They will use Botox injections to remove wrinkles. They’ll drive expensive sports cars to look
younger. There is a tech millionaire who receives regular blood transfusions from his teenage son to supposedly reverse his aging.
But aging gracefully is a Christian characteristic. We may not like it that we are slowing down, having more dental work done, and getting stronger prescriptions for our glasses. We may not enjoy the doctor visits filling up our calendar and the pharmacy filling up our bathroom counter. We may not appreciate having to use a cane or a walker or a chauffeur to get around. But these are all the effects of God’s curse upon his creation after the fall, “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19).
We certainly don’t like it when we get older and frailer … and our children have to start caring for us. I remember years ago when I was visiting one of our shut-ins at her daughter’s house. The sweet saint was in her 90s. She told me she felt guilty that her daughter and son-in-law had to care for her. I asked her, “Did you teach your daughter the Fourth Commandment?” “Of course, I did, Pastor,” she said. I replied, “Your daughter taking care of you is her way of honoring you as her mother. She is showing her love for God by showing her love for her mother.”
The husband painting the fingernails of his wife with dementia is his way of keeping his marriage vows of loving her in sickness and in health. The wife helping her weak husband to the bathroom so he can vomit from the chemotherapy is fulfilling her marriage vows of cherishing and supporting him. The children are showing familial love by changing the adult diapers of their parents who once changed their diapers when they were babies.
Getting older is not easy. It is not fun. It’s not for wimps. It’s not the way we want it to be.
Yet, like The Tree of Life on Kalaloch Beach, we continue to live and thrive during extreme conditions. We live and thrive – not because we are so strong – but because Jesus is so strong.
God immediately saw his children’s sin in the Garden. He couldn’t overlook the sin. God witnessed that death had entered his creation, but he could not just wish death away. God knew that his children would be cursed by death, so he made a promise to rescue his children from death. God told the serpent, “I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel” (Genesis 3:15).
Just as the devil overcame man by a tree, so in turn would the devil be overcome by the Son of Man on a tree. God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son. Jesus, God’s Son, comes into our flesh and blood that he might crush the ancient serpent and pay the price demanded by sin. Christ Jesus was born of a woman, so he had human flesh and blood. For the price God demanded for salvation was blood – divine blood. Jesus Christ, the spotless Lamb of God, shed his divinely human blood upon the altar of a tree.
The tree of the cross — an instrument of torture and death — is the tree upon which Jesus is lifted up. On the cross, Jesus suffers and dies. On the cross, Jesus lays down his life that our lives might be restored. Jesus hung his head crowned with thorns so he could restore humanity as the crown of his Father’s creation. The Son of God dies on the tree of the cross to bring life to the sons and daughters of God.
Jesus turns an instrument of death into a tree of life. We gaze upon the One who became sin for us that we might be saved. He was struck by the serpent’s poison. But at the same time, he crushed the Ancient Serpent’s head.
Because of Jesus, we no longer need to fear death. Aging and dying still stink. Yet, death is also a blessing. Continuing to live in this sinful, fallen world like zombies? Who would want that?!
God allows us to get older, to become weaker, to fall apart. This is both for our punishment and our protection. This is so that we realize that this world is not our real home. We are strangers here. Heaven is our real home. Jesus has made death a blessing for us. There is no logical explanation on why God gives us this great blessing of dying so we can truly live. Only we as Christians can view death as not the end … but only the beginning. We die to this sinful, painful, yucky life. We rise to a new, exciting, glorious life. Upon our resurrection on the Last Day, we will be given new, imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual bodies (1 Corinthians 15:42-44).
Upon our death as Christians, we will once again be able to eat from the transplanted Tree of Life. The apostle John describes the fruit of this tree in the Book of Revelation: “The angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 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” (Revelation 22:1–2).
Ah, now we are back where we started, only better! This is paradise restored, and then some. The Tree of Life. No more deadness of winter. Fruit twelve months of the year. Healing and wholeness and life forever. Yes, this is what is in store for us, dear saints in Christ! Access to the Tree of Life once again, no more being kept out or driven away. The Tree of Life transplanted from paradise lost to paradise restored. Adam and Eve were not allowed to eat from its fruit so they would not live in their sin forever. But now, they and all their Christian children, will be able to eat of its heavenly fruit and truly live forever.
This Tree of Life is yours because of what Jesus accomplished for you on the tree of the cross. “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the Tree of Life and so that they may enter through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14).
Life is not easy. Aging is challenging. Yet, that’s how God teaches us patience and perseverance. Caring for those who are aging is demanding. Yet, that’s how God allows us to keep his commandments and our vows. Dying is often hardest of all. Yet, Jesus turns death into a blessing for us. Aging and dying keeps us focused on one day eating from the Tree of Life.
The story of salvation told through Christmas trees. Amen.