TREE OF LIFE
By Patricia Jackson
McDowell County
After a short walk on Sunday afternoon, I settled on the front porch to enjoy the mountain views. In this time of quietness, I began to single out the many colors of green, contrasting sharply with the Blue Ridge mountain background. Dark forest green stood up next to the mountains. Further down, a large field of dark green pine trees and other varying shades of green. Our yard contained several shades of green grass and some weeds. Then I noticed the large oak tree. I wondered how many branches and leaves were on this one tree. I reflected on how God knows every tree, branch, and leaf, as well as the squirrels that hide nuts in the base, and the birds who live there.
The large oak tree in my yard is an ordinary tree, but God made “every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food” in the Garden of Eden to sustain Adam and Eve. The Tree of Life was in the midst of the garden. They would be nourished and live forever but they failed God and ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Sin had corrupted God’s perfect creation. But God has a plan to return it to its original state of perfection where sin is abolished forever.
Revelation 22:2 mentions the Tree of Life again. John tells us “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the Tree of Life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
But not everyone will be there. Revelation 2:7 tells us to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. The overcomer will not be hurt by the second death (Rev. 2:11) and will sit with Jesus on his throne Rev. 3:21. When we overcome sin in our life, we are proving God’s way is perfect and we will enjoy the rewards of Heaven. I may be physically looking at a large oak tree, but it’s nothing compared to the Tree of Life we will see when we overcome.
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Patricia Jackson is the Assistant Teacher for the Ladies Class at Redeemed Free Will Baptist Church, Glenwood, NC. She is a grant writer for non-profits, a published author and retired Nursing Home Administrator. She lives in Rutherford County with her husband. Contact information: email address: wyo2go@bellsouth.net.
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