Here it is guys, part two of my special Christmas Seasonings Blog.
If you haven’t seen Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas, I highly suggest it.
Where are Christmas trees in the Bible?
The whole Biblical story begins in a tree lot: the Garden of Eden was filled with trees. Adam and Eve were given the fruit of these trees to eat but the story draws our attention to two of these trees in particular, first, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, then later, the Tree of Life. One tree was off-limits because in eating from it, man would surely die, but Adam ate from the first tree and was thrown out of the garden so he couldn’t eat from the second.
Mankind would have to wait until the path to that tree was reopened.
First, let’s go back to the evergreen trees we take into our homes and decorate with stylized ornaments, the trees we claim we are not able to find in the Bible. When God created the world, He filled it with trees. He hung fruit on the trees. When it was time to build His house and make it beautiful, God brought trees inside. The walls of His temple were frescoed with images of trees. The lamp stand in His tabernacle was an almond tree! Guess what He placed on the tree in His house… Lights! Beautiful green trees, covered in fruit and filled with lights inside a house.
That was God’s idea, not mankind’s.
The early church had plenty of reasons to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25th and even though it had nothing to do with the winter solstice, it’s actually quite fitting that we celebrate the birth of Jesus in the middle of the cold, bleak winter when the world appears to be sleeping and dying. When you think about it, winter is the darkest and coldest time of year. Is it then at that time, we are proclaiming the turn of history from darkness to light, from coldness to warmth and from death to life.
Crazy, right?
Let’s go back to Adam real quick to tie it altogether. Adam stole fruit from the tree and ate it. Now when you steal something, you’re required to put it back, but how could he? Adam had already eaten it and it had gone down inside and had become a part of him. The only way for Adam to put that fruit back would be to, as crazy as it sounds, to put himself on a tree. That was exactly what Jesus did! He was the last Adam. Jesus was able to do what Adam could not do. Jesus put Himself on a tree, making us right with God. Jesus was God’s blessed fruit, hung on His blessed tree.
Remember the swaddling cloth from part one? It comes back into the story again at Jesus’ burial. Nicodemus brought all the funeral preparations frankincense, aloe and cloth. Why did Nicodemus bring the cloth? To wrap the body of our crucified Savior Jesus, put to death on a tree.
The Bible begins with trees. Adam stole the fruit from God’s tree and ate it. The fruit that the first Adam stole was put back on the tree by the last Adam when He Himself hung on a cross.
So when you see trees in a Christmas tree lot, imagine all those trees as crosses that will never be used because of Jesus’ finished work. He reconciled us to God. He is the Light of the world that has pierced the darkness. When you see empty Christmas trees, see the empty cross, and when you see the empty cross, see the empty cloths, when you see the empty cloths, see the empty tomb and do just as the disciples did: run and tell the great news that Jesus is alive!
I truly hope this blog has warmed your heart during this time where people seem more bitter than usual. If you have come across those who dampen the Christmas spirit in you, just show some grace and compassion, like Christ did on the cross : )
Be bold and shine.
-Becca.
Crimson Letters 