Just Look At All Those Trees!
Church Programs
WHO ME? DO A PROGRAM?
Program Resources For Congregational Events
Leader's Helps
As a fall program, "Just Look At All Those Trees!" journeys through an exploration of trees in scripture beginning in the Garden of Eden and ending in that garden to show how God expelled humankind for their own protection but through his grace brought them back once more to taste of the gift of eternal life found in the Cross of Christ.
This program involves a leader who introduces the program and then concludes it. Six readers are required.
Reader 1: Introduces the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. A bitten apple, a flaming sword, and a sign "Closed for Own Good" are placed on board by reader also.
Reader 2: Introduces the cypress tree as God's CARING TREE. Places cypress tree on board and covers it after with sign, CARING.
Reader 3: Introduces the oak tree as God's TREE OF ORDER. Places oak tree next to cypress and covers it after with sign, ORDER.
Reader 4: Introduces the poplar tree as God's TREE OF PROMISE. Places poplar tree next to cypress and covers it after with sign, PROMISE.
Reader 5: Introduces the weeping willow tree as God's TREE OF WISDOM. Places willow next to poplar and covers it after with sign, WISDOM.
Reader 6: Introduces the palm tree as God's TREE OF PASSION. Places palm next to willow and covers it after with sign, PASSION.
Leader: Introduces the program and concludes it by placing the Cross as a tree next to the palm. Puts sign, CURSE, over the Cross. Directs attention back to the Garden of Eden. Sign, "Now Open," placed over sign, "Closed for Own Good." Put sign, ETERNAL LIFE, over Tree of Life.
Suggested hymn for introduction: "There Is A Balm In Gilead"
Suggested hymn for conclusion: "Thine Is The Glory" or "In The Cross Of Christ I Glory"
This program is an excellent resource for a fall kick-off for a congregation's women's, youth, or intergenerational night. Participants may be invited to a potluck meal followed by this program. Goal of the program: to create a warm night of fellowship and learn of God's grace and love for those involved.
Program
Leader: Fall a wonderful time to be out in nature. The coolness of the breeze, dispelling the heat of summer, brings a surge of refreshment to the soul. God is so evident in his creation at this time as the autumn leaves display their beauty. Fall color tours, football games, camping excursions, long hikes in parks and woods, all draw us closer to the Lord of Creation as we witness his hand in the beauty of the outdoors. The red, orange, brown, and gold of the turning leaves bring enjoyment to the eyes. The crunching beneath our feet as we walk and the rustling of fallen leaves blowing around our yards sound sweet to the ears. The toughening of hands, diligently raking that yard filled with nature's debris, makes one well aware of touch. As the piles grow, the odor of decomposition increases. The nose might also pick up that wonderful smell of burning leaves, brush, and wood which often signals the end of summer. All senses seem to be heightened at this time - even taste as cider and crisp apples are enjoyed. Our sight, hearing, touch, smelt, and taste come together to focus our attention on the season. We stand in awe of God at work as we look at all those trees!
God has been at work in nature since time began. The wonders he has created for his creatures to enjoy are breathtaking. Fall brings them alive for us. But behind those creations
especially his trees - God has a message for us today. And so we take this time to look at the trees in selected passages in the Word.
Reader 1 (Garden of Eden, Tree of Life, Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil): To begin with, we go straight to Genesis. The Lord God started big and splashy: his showcase - the Garden of Eden. (Put up sign - GARDEN OF EDEN) Here God placed Adam and Eve and provided for their every need. In Genesis 2:8 we see that God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. What a great provider! The eye saw a variety of foliage and beauty, and the taste buds were treated to an excellent assortment of fruit. Along with these trees, God planted in the midst of the garden two special trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Plant these two trees in garden) Now the first trees were given to man and woman to eat from, but God strictly forbid them to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. All the other trees the couple could look at and enjoy, but this tree was off limits!
We all know the rest of this story, as Paul Harvey would say. The forbidden tree was just too appealing. Once having eaten its fruit (Put bitten apple on tree), the couple became aware not only of good, which had always surrounded them, but of evil. Disobedience entered the world, and sin began to destroy humankind.
But God loved his creations so that he did not destroy them. Now knowing good and evil, God feared that his creations would reach out and take the fruit from the tree of life, eat, and live forever. For their own protection they were driven from the garden. A guard was set before the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword (Put flaming sword on board and sign "Closed For Own Good" over Garden of Eden) to turn away those who sought to eat of the tree of life. And so we plant in our garden forest a guard before these first biblical trees. Before the closed door to this garden we turn away, like our first parents, saddened and feeling abandoned.
Reader 2 (Cypress Tree): However, God did not abandon his first children nor has he abandoned us. Yet death, which is so evident in the falling of our autumn leaves, came into the world to protect us. And God continues to use trees to focus attention on his protection. Look at the tree in Genesis 6. (Put cypress tree on board) The world had gotten so bad, God set out to destroy it. But salvation came in the form of a tree. Noah built an ark out of cypress wood and covered it with pitch. Now this tree is an evergreen which is valuable in carpentry and building. Some of its hard, red wood is used in making shingles. Pitch, the residue distilled from wood, is used in varnish and caulking. The ark, built by human hands using God's material, was a piece of salvation for Noah and his family. The cypress symbolizes God CARING for his people. And so we plant in our fall garden, God's CARING TREE. (Place CARING sign over tree)
Reader 3 (Oak Tree): Noah and his family were faithful, but their descendants continued to taste the forbidden fruit of sin. However, God still cares and does not abandon his unfaithful children. The prophet Isaiah points us to another tree - the oak. (Put oak tree on board). The leaves of this tree are often made into garlands and used in floral arrangements decorating our homes at this time of year. The little acorn fruit provides nourishment for the busy squirrels storing up for winter. It also symbolizes the promise of bigger things for from a little acorn a mighty oak tree will come if watered and nourished properly. The timber from this hardwood tree is tough and durable. Its beautiful grain makes its use in woodwork and furniture valuable. We hear of the oak in the book of Isaiah, chapter 6, where the prophet speaks of a city which will lie in ruin.
Israel has turned its wandering eyes upon other gods. It has turned from the God of its creation who has nurtured and cared for it. God will not tolerate this from his people. He warns that he will destroy their dwelling place if they continue to travel this road. Their homes will no longer be decorated with garlands of fall leaves or centerpieces because their inhabitants will go into exile. Isaiah asks how long his people would continue to not listen to their God and turn their backs on him. And God responds, "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; until the Lord sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth (a sumac tree) or an oak, whose stump remains standing when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump" (Isaiah 6:11-13).
Salvation is promised to Israel. An acorn of hope, from which the mighty oak of deliverance will come, is planted into the spirit of God's people. We read in Isaiah 11:1: "A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." Salvation will come eventually to Israel, the mighty oak of the lineage of King David, the son of Jesse. Order from chaos will be restored in God's time in spite of the unfaithfulness of his people. The holy city and its chosen inhabitants will be chopped down in order for new life to appear. And so, we plant the oak, symbolizing ORDER, in our garden. (Place ORDER sign over tree) God's tree of order is important in our lives for it signifies our days are in God's hands and promises will be kept in his time. The fruit of our waiting will be rewarded like the acorn and the stump. We are often impatient in waiting for God's time and order and chafe at circumstances which go against our grain. But look at the grain of the oak which is so beautiful in the finished product. As the master craftsman rubs the wood with the plane, so our Master creates a wonderful piece of workmanship out of the struggles in our lives.
Reader 4 (Poplar Tree): The next tree we'll look at in God's fall lineup is the poplar. (Put poplar tree on board) This slender, quick-growing variety of willow includes aspens, cottonwood, tulip tree, white and black poplars, tacamahas (a North American shade tree), and the balsam poplar, also known as balm of Gilead. The gospel hymn, "There Is A Balm In Gilead," talks of the soothing, medicinal qualities of this balsam tree which brings healing to the soul, but is also used in expectorants and cough syrups.
Jeremiah cries out in Jeremiah 8:22, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?" Like Isaiah, the prophet Jeremiah has seen the spiritual sickness of disobedience, begun in the garden, rob the health of his people Israel. He knows that only by using the tree that God has provided, here in the poplar, will their sick souls be saved. But he is prophetically speaking for we as Christians know that salvation comes through the tree - a tree to be raised at Calvary. The poplar symbolizes God's PROMISE of redemption for his people. (Place PROMISE sign over tree)
Reader 5 (Weeping Willow): How God must cry over the many who will not claim the promise of salvation! Our weeping willow expresses God's lament, his anguish, his passion for his unfaithful, unbelieving children. (Put willow tree on board) The willow tree has tough, pliable shoots often used in basketry. Moses once floated in a basket down the Nile toward the waiting arms of his salvation, the pharaoh's daughter. The slender, hanging branches of the willow remind us of this barren woman who must have cried many tears because she had no child. But God planted Moses in pharaoh's court in answer to his people's tears. God planted Jesus in Jerusalem as fulfillment of his promise. The God who cared, who waited until all things were in order, who promised to redeem, who heard his people's cries for deliverance, stood before the Holy City and wept. Matthew 23:37-39 records his sorrow: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.' "
The wisdom of the ages now stood before the gates of Jerusalem preparing to do the Father's will and wept. And so we plant the weeping willow, God's tree of WISDOM, in our garden. For it is the wisdom of God which confounds the world in the shape of a tree. (Place WISDOM sign over tree)
Reader 6 (Palm Tree): The miracles the Messiah had performed, the baskets of loaves and fishes, the raising of the dead, the blind seeing, the many sensory things that the Jews could see yet not understand and which confounded their minds, would be what the crowds would hail as Jesus entered the Holy City. The 'Weeping" Lord they could not understand. The tender shoot, growing out of the stump of Jesse, growing up before them like a root out of dry ground (Isaiah 53:2), they would not recognize. Isaiah's suffering servant they did not want. They wanted an exalted, conquering victor, and so they heralded Christ's entry with branches from the palm. (Put palm branches on board)
Now this tropical tree is marked commonly by a simple stem crowned by a fan of large leaves. Certain species of palm trees are of great economic importance, such as the betel coconut, date, oil, rattan, and wax palm. The leaf of the palm has symbolized victory or rejoicing. We read in John 12:12-13 that as Jesus entered the Holy City, the crowds took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him crying, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord - the King of Israel."
The Lord entered what we in the church call Holy Week or the Week of our Lord's Passion. For Christ would endure pain, torture, and sufferings as the one who came in the name of the Lord. Salvation came heralded by the palm, and we plant the palm as the tree of PASSION in our garden. (Place PASSION sign over tree)
Leader (Cross): And so we see our final tree, the Cross, appear - a tree by which the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior was carried out. The Old Testament tells us in Deuteronomy 21:22 that when one was convicted of a crime punishable by death, he would be hung on a tree. The corpse could not remain there all night but had to be buried that same day. Anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse. And so we plant the tree of Christ in our garden, God's CURSE, which secured our salvation. (Put CURSE on Cross) It is this tree which stands before us now making passage to the tree of eternal life possible. (Put "Now Open" sign over "Closed For Own Good" sign)
Saint John saw this tree and recorded his vision for us in the final chapter of Revelation. "Then 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. On either side of the river, is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it" (Revelation 22:1-3).
And so in conclusion, we see that the loving God, who created and CARED for us, brought all things into proper ORDER to carry out his PROMISE with WISDOM through his PASSION by making Christ a CURSE for us, has bestowed on us ETERNAL LIFE. (Point to each tree and place ETERNAL LIFE sign over Tree of Life)
Salvation came into the world with Jesus who sacrificed himself upon the Cross - the tree of death which brought life to each of us. We all have tasted from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We know we are sinners in need of the grace of God. When we come to the Cross of Christ, we come to the tree which brought death to our Lord but life to his followers.
When you go out for your next autumn walk, remember the trees you planted today and rejoice in the God of your salvation. For he calls to us each day of our life to celebrate life and marvel as we "just look at all those trees!"
As a fall program, "Just Look At All Those Trees!" journeys through an exploration of trees in scripture beginning in the Garden of Eden and ending in that garden to show how God expelled humankind for their own protection but through his grace brought them back once more to taste of the gift of eternal life found in the Cross of Christ.
This program involves a leader who introduces the program and then concludes it. Six readers are required.
Reader 1: Introduces the Garden of Eden and the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. A bitten apple, a flaming sword, and a sign "Closed for Own Good" are placed on board by reader also.
Reader 2: Introduces the cypress tree as God's CARING TREE. Places cypress tree on board and covers it after with sign, CARING.
Reader 3: Introduces the oak tree as God's TREE OF ORDER. Places oak tree next to cypress and covers it after with sign, ORDER.
Reader 4: Introduces the poplar tree as God's TREE OF PROMISE. Places poplar tree next to cypress and covers it after with sign, PROMISE.
Reader 5: Introduces the weeping willow tree as God's TREE OF WISDOM. Places willow next to poplar and covers it after with sign, WISDOM.
Reader 6: Introduces the palm tree as God's TREE OF PASSION. Places palm next to willow and covers it after with sign, PASSION.
Leader: Introduces the program and concludes it by placing the Cross as a tree next to the palm. Puts sign, CURSE, over the Cross. Directs attention back to the Garden of Eden. Sign, "Now Open," placed over sign, "Closed for Own Good." Put sign, ETERNAL LIFE, over Tree of Life.
Suggested hymn for introduction: "There Is A Balm In Gilead"
Suggested hymn for conclusion: "Thine Is The Glory" or "In The Cross Of Christ I Glory"
This program is an excellent resource for a fall kick-off for a congregation's women's, youth, or intergenerational night. Participants may be invited to a potluck meal followed by this program. Goal of the program: to create a warm night of fellowship and learn of God's grace and love for those involved.
Program
Leader: Fall a wonderful time to be out in nature. The coolness of the breeze, dispelling the heat of summer, brings a surge of refreshment to the soul. God is so evident in his creation at this time as the autumn leaves display their beauty. Fall color tours, football games, camping excursions, long hikes in parks and woods, all draw us closer to the Lord of Creation as we witness his hand in the beauty of the outdoors. The red, orange, brown, and gold of the turning leaves bring enjoyment to the eyes. The crunching beneath our feet as we walk and the rustling of fallen leaves blowing around our yards sound sweet to the ears. The toughening of hands, diligently raking that yard filled with nature's debris, makes one well aware of touch. As the piles grow, the odor of decomposition increases. The nose might also pick up that wonderful smell of burning leaves, brush, and wood which often signals the end of summer. All senses seem to be heightened at this time - even taste as cider and crisp apples are enjoyed. Our sight, hearing, touch, smelt, and taste come together to focus our attention on the season. We stand in awe of God at work as we look at all those trees!
God has been at work in nature since time began. The wonders he has created for his creatures to enjoy are breathtaking. Fall brings them alive for us. But behind those creations
especially his trees - God has a message for us today. And so we take this time to look at the trees in selected passages in the Word.
Reader 1 (Garden of Eden, Tree of Life, Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil): To begin with, we go straight to Genesis. The Lord God started big and splashy: his showcase - the Garden of Eden. (Put up sign - GARDEN OF EDEN) Here God placed Adam and Eve and provided for their every need. In Genesis 2:8 we see that God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. What a great provider! The eye saw a variety of foliage and beauty, and the taste buds were treated to an excellent assortment of fruit. Along with these trees, God planted in the midst of the garden two special trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Plant these two trees in garden) Now the first trees were given to man and woman to eat from, but God strictly forbid them to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. All the other trees the couple could look at and enjoy, but this tree was off limits!
We all know the rest of this story, as Paul Harvey would say. The forbidden tree was just too appealing. Once having eaten its fruit (Put bitten apple on tree), the couple became aware not only of good, which had always surrounded them, but of evil. Disobedience entered the world, and sin began to destroy humankind.
But God loved his creations so that he did not destroy them. Now knowing good and evil, God feared that his creations would reach out and take the fruit from the tree of life, eat, and live forever. For their own protection they were driven from the garden. A guard was set before the Garden of Eden with a flaming sword (Put flaming sword on board and sign "Closed For Own Good" over Garden of Eden) to turn away those who sought to eat of the tree of life. And so we plant in our garden forest a guard before these first biblical trees. Before the closed door to this garden we turn away, like our first parents, saddened and feeling abandoned.
Reader 2 (Cypress Tree): However, God did not abandon his first children nor has he abandoned us. Yet death, which is so evident in the falling of our autumn leaves, came into the world to protect us. And God continues to use trees to focus attention on his protection. Look at the tree in Genesis 6. (Put cypress tree on board) The world had gotten so bad, God set out to destroy it. But salvation came in the form of a tree. Noah built an ark out of cypress wood and covered it with pitch. Now this tree is an evergreen which is valuable in carpentry and building. Some of its hard, red wood is used in making shingles. Pitch, the residue distilled from wood, is used in varnish and caulking. The ark, built by human hands using God's material, was a piece of salvation for Noah and his family. The cypress symbolizes God CARING for his people. And so we plant in our fall garden, God's CARING TREE. (Place CARING sign over tree)
Reader 3 (Oak Tree): Noah and his family were faithful, but their descendants continued to taste the forbidden fruit of sin. However, God still cares and does not abandon his unfaithful children. The prophet Isaiah points us to another tree - the oak. (Put oak tree on board). The leaves of this tree are often made into garlands and used in floral arrangements decorating our homes at this time of year. The little acorn fruit provides nourishment for the busy squirrels storing up for winter. It also symbolizes the promise of bigger things for from a little acorn a mighty oak tree will come if watered and nourished properly. The timber from this hardwood tree is tough and durable. Its beautiful grain makes its use in woodwork and furniture valuable. We hear of the oak in the book of Isaiah, chapter 6, where the prophet speaks of a city which will lie in ruin.
Israel has turned its wandering eyes upon other gods. It has turned from the God of its creation who has nurtured and cared for it. God will not tolerate this from his people. He warns that he will destroy their dwelling place if they continue to travel this road. Their homes will no longer be decorated with garlands of fall leaves or centerpieces because their inhabitants will go into exile. Isaiah asks how long his people would continue to not listen to their God and turn their backs on him. And God responds, "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; until the Lord sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth (a sumac tree) or an oak, whose stump remains standing when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump" (Isaiah 6:11-13).
Salvation is promised to Israel. An acorn of hope, from which the mighty oak of deliverance will come, is planted into the spirit of God's people. We read in Isaiah 11:1: "A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." Salvation will come eventually to Israel, the mighty oak of the lineage of King David, the son of Jesse. Order from chaos will be restored in God's time in spite of the unfaithfulness of his people. The holy city and its chosen inhabitants will be chopped down in order for new life to appear. And so, we plant the oak, symbolizing ORDER, in our garden. (Place ORDER sign over tree) God's tree of order is important in our lives for it signifies our days are in God's hands and promises will be kept in his time. The fruit of our waiting will be rewarded like the acorn and the stump. We are often impatient in waiting for God's time and order and chafe at circumstances which go against our grain. But look at the grain of the oak which is so beautiful in the finished product. As the master craftsman rubs the wood with the plane, so our Master creates a wonderful piece of workmanship out of the struggles in our lives.
Reader 4 (Poplar Tree): The next tree we'll look at in God's fall lineup is the poplar. (Put poplar tree on board) This slender, quick-growing variety of willow includes aspens, cottonwood, tulip tree, white and black poplars, tacamahas (a North American shade tree), and the balsam poplar, also known as balm of Gilead. The gospel hymn, "There Is A Balm In Gilead," talks of the soothing, medicinal qualities of this balsam tree which brings healing to the soul, but is also used in expectorants and cough syrups.
Jeremiah cries out in Jeremiah 8:22, "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?" Like Isaiah, the prophet Jeremiah has seen the spiritual sickness of disobedience, begun in the garden, rob the health of his people Israel. He knows that only by using the tree that God has provided, here in the poplar, will their sick souls be saved. But he is prophetically speaking for we as Christians know that salvation comes through the tree - a tree to be raised at Calvary. The poplar symbolizes God's PROMISE of redemption for his people. (Place PROMISE sign over tree)
Reader 5 (Weeping Willow): How God must cry over the many who will not claim the promise of salvation! Our weeping willow expresses God's lament, his anguish, his passion for his unfaithful, unbelieving children. (Put willow tree on board) The willow tree has tough, pliable shoots often used in basketry. Moses once floated in a basket down the Nile toward the waiting arms of his salvation, the pharaoh's daughter. The slender, hanging branches of the willow remind us of this barren woman who must have cried many tears because she had no child. But God planted Moses in pharaoh's court in answer to his people's tears. God planted Jesus in Jerusalem as fulfillment of his promise. The God who cared, who waited until all things were in order, who promised to redeem, who heard his people's cries for deliverance, stood before the Holy City and wept. Matthew 23:37-39 records his sorrow: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.' "
The wisdom of the ages now stood before the gates of Jerusalem preparing to do the Father's will and wept. And so we plant the weeping willow, God's tree of WISDOM, in our garden. For it is the wisdom of God which confounds the world in the shape of a tree. (Place WISDOM sign over tree)
Reader 6 (Palm Tree): The miracles the Messiah had performed, the baskets of loaves and fishes, the raising of the dead, the blind seeing, the many sensory things that the Jews could see yet not understand and which confounded their minds, would be what the crowds would hail as Jesus entered the Holy City. The 'Weeping" Lord they could not understand. The tender shoot, growing out of the stump of Jesse, growing up before them like a root out of dry ground (Isaiah 53:2), they would not recognize. Isaiah's suffering servant they did not want. They wanted an exalted, conquering victor, and so they heralded Christ's entry with branches from the palm. (Put palm branches on board)
Now this tropical tree is marked commonly by a simple stem crowned by a fan of large leaves. Certain species of palm trees are of great economic importance, such as the betel coconut, date, oil, rattan, and wax palm. The leaf of the palm has symbolized victory or rejoicing. We read in John 12:12-13 that as Jesus entered the Holy City, the crowds took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him crying, "Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord - the King of Israel."
The Lord entered what we in the church call Holy Week or the Week of our Lord's Passion. For Christ would endure pain, torture, and sufferings as the one who came in the name of the Lord. Salvation came heralded by the palm, and we plant the palm as the tree of PASSION in our garden. (Place PASSION sign over tree)
Leader (Cross): And so we see our final tree, the Cross, appear - a tree by which the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior was carried out. The Old Testament tells us in Deuteronomy 21:22 that when one was convicted of a crime punishable by death, he would be hung on a tree. The corpse could not remain there all night but had to be buried that same day. Anyone hung on a tree is under God's curse. And so we plant the tree of Christ in our garden, God's CURSE, which secured our salvation. (Put CURSE on Cross) It is this tree which stands before us now making passage to the tree of eternal life possible. (Put "Now Open" sign over "Closed For Own Good" sign)
Saint John saw this tree and recorded his vision for us in the final chapter of Revelation. "Then 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. On either side of the river, is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it" (Revelation 22:1-3).
And so in conclusion, we see that the loving God, who created and CARED for us, brought all things into proper ORDER to carry out his PROMISE with WISDOM through his PASSION by making Christ a CURSE for us, has bestowed on us ETERNAL LIFE. (Point to each tree and place ETERNAL LIFE sign over Tree of Life)
Salvation came into the world with Jesus who sacrificed himself upon the Cross - the tree of death which brought life to each of us. We all have tasted from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We know we are sinners in need of the grace of God. When we come to the Cross of Christ, we come to the tree which brought death to our Lord but life to his followers.
When you go out for your next autumn walk, remember the trees you planted today and rejoice in the God of your salvation. For he calls to us each day of our life to celebrate life and marvel as we "just look at all those trees!"
