Today's Bible Study, Authored by Arthur
Cincotti. 12/18/2022
Listen to our Bible
Study Discussion at: It's a Tree of Life! Podcast
Or watch the Video Zoom Session of our Study on YouTube:
It’s a Tree of Life!
“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and he who wins
souls is wise” Prov. 11:30
For those of you who
have already nailed your pagan, Druid evergreen tree to the living room floor,
rest easy; were going to temper that notion today.
Trees have an important
role in God’s economy.
By Gen. 2 we encounter the “tree of life” and the “tree of the knowledge of
good and evil”.
Though the birth
narrative doesn’t involve a tree directly, we are pretty certain that Jesus was
laid in a wooden manger, and that Joseph was a carpenter; not incidental
details.
The trade of carpenter,
in Jesus time was a somewhat different designation than we are accustom to
today. He certainly didn’t have one of those cool, Dewalt impact drivers like
the one I hope to get.
The word in Greek;
“tekton” means a craftsman in wood. This could include, instruments for agriculture
such as a yoke, or handles for sickles and hoes, plows, but also some wooden
furniture, doors and wooden roofs. One source, citing an ancient papyri
indicating that a carpenter could earn 50 denari a month, which was as much as
a mason and twice as much as a shepherd, or water carrier.
Articles made of wood require the death of a
tree.
In Rev. 7:2,3, an angel,
“cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom
it was granted to have the earth and the sea, saying,’Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till
we have sealed the servants of our
God on their foreheads.”
Prov. 3:18, “She
(wisdom) is a tree of life to those who take hold of her.”
Prov. 15:4, “A wholesome
tongue is a tree of life”
Prov. 13:12, “But when
the desire comes, it is a tree of life.”
As a woodworker myself I have often thought, I take trees
and refashion them into something useful for man. God takes us and refashions
us into someone glorifying to Himself. In both cases, the refashioning requires
a death.
Britannica: “The modern
Christmas tree originated in western Germany. The main prop in a popular
medieval play about Adam and Eve was a ‘paradise tree,’ a fir tree hung with
apples, that represented the Garden of Eden.” ..the Christmas tree was
popularized in the mid-19th cen. by German-born Prince Albert, husband of Queen
Victoria.
Hosea 14 speaks of
“Israel Restored at Last”
1. “O Israel, return to the LORD your God.
For you have
stumbled because of your iniquity.
4. I will heal their backsliding
I will Love them
freely
My anger has
turned away from him.
8. Ephraim shall say
‘What have I to do
anymore with idols?’
I have heard and
observed him.
I am like a green
cypress tree;
Your fruit is
found in Me.”
In vrs. 8 God Himself
promises to be an evergreen place of shelter for Ephraim. “Your fruit is
found in Me.” is a promise to us as well.
Before, Israel made
idols of wood (Is. 44:13-17) and Ps. 115:4-8
Please don’t worship
your Christmas tree, or any of the trappings of the season. Worship Christ
alone, as the “wise men” did; “For we have seen His star in the East and have
come to worship Him” Mt. 2:2
He was laid in a wooden
manger, destine to face a more notorious piece of wood, the cross, in order to
rescue us from the bondage of sin and death. He was sent on a rescue mission!
Rev. 22:2, “in the
middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life,
which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The
leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
-----Join us for
another Bible Study Next Week -------
or
Join our “Victory over
the Darkness”, “The Bondage Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of
Discipleship Classes via the mt4christ247 podcast!
at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You
can also find it on Apple podcasts
(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mt4christ247s-podcast/id1551615154). The
mt4christ247 podcast is also available on Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts,
Spotify, iHeartradio, and Audible.com.
These teachings are also available on the MT4Christ247 You
Tube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MT4Christ247
Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the
class materials, share your progress, and to be encouraged.
My wife, TammyLyn, also
offers Christian encouragement via her Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast
Ask, Seek, and Knock on Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.