Two Trees-Two Gods - Two Books (Part 1 ; Two Trees)

Part I: Two Trees - Tree 1

The Bible is the viewmaster through which we view the Master! (Me, 7/7/2005).

Let's now view that Master!

What do you see here?

Fig 1:What do you see?

This is a simple drawing. It's interesting to ask anyone "What do you see in the drawing?" I know much of what people see because I see the same thing with my own eyes and with what I've been taught! Here are some of those things:

• A cross of wood.
• Jesus nailed to the cross.
• Jesus' sad face.
• Maybe some nails.
• A banner over his head.

Face it, that's about all the eye can see!

The most introspective may not "see" with their eyes, but are taught that there are things unseen as well:

• Jesus dying for mankind.
• The blood spilled for all our sins.
• Cavalry.
• A King.
• Agony.
• An innocent man.
• A physical man.
• Aloneness.
• Death.

What else is there to see? We "think in the box" and what I describe is "boxed" thinking.  God is not anyone to "put in a box". He is God! As an example, it seems that with Paul, God's grace was irresistible; but with scripture "free will" is taught. I believe that God can do with each of us whatever he pleases. He's not a Calvinist nor an Armenian, but IS divine. Divinity has certain attributes the created don't have. They make the rules and man merely tries to understand them! 

There is "secret knowledge" about God, but that knowledge isn't gnostic in nature. However, the humble accept Jesus at face value because he tells us what to do and we obey! That's simplicity in the hope of salvation. It's easy and even the ignorant believe as little children. Society tells us that mostly poor ignorant people still believe in God and that's mostly true, because we're
not encumbered with false knowledge!

When I read scripture it's history, prophecy, poetry, counseling, government, war and doing right and wrong. The Bible is honest about it's heroes! God used imperfect, even flawed, people to demonstrate his grace. However, it occurred to me one day that scripture (and I mean The Old Testament) is all about Jesus! It had never been preached to me before and I was angry when the pieces all came together. It wasn't me that fit the pieces, but inspiration from God.

Scripture is the inspired word of God as dictated to men who were faithful. Writers imparted God's truth in written word. The inspiration came from the Holy Spirit. The topic was about grace and the hero is Jesus. Again I say "Scripture is all about Jesus!" When we read we merely receive knowledge. That's what we all have the ability to get because we (our ancestors)were disobedient. Because of that ability, we have reason. We can use knowledge to make decisions. Mostly mankind has faulty reasoning! The penalties incurred by Adam and Eve are consequences of bad reasoning.

What people have to do when they read scripture is to open themselves to the Holy Spirit. It takes the thinking out of the box. God doesn't have to do what we believe. He can do whatever he wills. He has made statements which are called "truth", but as long as he is truthful, he can do anything he pleases! When we read scripture, we need to trust God. That entails believing that he tells the truth. When we read his words, we search for truth and the best way to find out is to listen! We listen to the Holy Spirit who will direct us to further understanding of the truth.

Part I: Two Trees - Tree 2

Let's look at another photo:

Fig. 2: Just a Real Tree

What do we see here?

• A green tree.
• The surrounding it's in the midst of.. Looking further we see more:
• A tree trunk.
• Limbs
• Leaves.
• And probably the first thing most will see is the configuration of the branches because most trees don't look like this one. We see a cross!

What is it that's there that can't be seen? Let's look at another picture.

Fig. 3: The Entire Tree

• This is a more "normal" tree, but let's use it anyhow. There are roots to the tree!
• It is capable of bearing fruit
• There is soil holding the tree in its place.
• The tree leaves are exposed to the air. They can be seen by anyone who looks.
• And digging deeper, we believe that there is moisture, nutrients, air and maybe even helpful grubs supporting the tree.
• It's permanent. It can't be moved around.
• It is natural and not man-made.
• It's alive! Things are moving around inside the tree.
• It makes sounds in the wind. It speaks to us!
• Even the plainest are beautiful because of what it is.
• It's capable of growing.

My point is this. There is more to what is there than what meets the eyes! The same is true of Scripture. We see words written in such a manner that statements are made and questions asked. Scripture has organization. However, if we only look at the words and fail to consider the message we get only the most obvious. Those who dislike reading the Bible are merely reading. They are not listening and using that new power Adam caused us to have, to consider what is read! There is much hidden in the thoughts behind the text. People fail to understand and cherish because they are merely reading words.

Fig. 4: The Natural Tree

Let's compare trees. We are the natural tree as shown in Figure 4. There is nothing special about our branches except for one thing: We are like the "Real Tree" in Figure 3., but not an exact copy! The tree in Figure 3 has unique limbs. A cross can clearly be seen because it's a special tree. This tree is one that I selected to represent  "The Tree of Life"! Within this natural tree is something which resembles a man-made tree. There is a cross than can readily be seen! In fact this tree can be hewed and what would remain as a rough-hewn cross. 

Throughout scripture "the tree of life" is symbolic of Jesus Christ. The best example is:

Revelation 2:7  "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."

"Eating of the tree of life" is eating the "bread" which is done in remembrance of Jesus. It represents the body of Jesus. Therefore, when I look at the tree in Figure 2 , I see "The Tree of Life" and because of the crossed branches I see Jesus! Jesus isn't physically seen in that tree, but he's there anyway. John Chapter 1 tells all about Jesus. He was there in the beginning!

John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
7 The same (John) came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us..."

We see here that God was made flesh. Before he was "flesh" he was still there! He became flesh so that he could feel what mankind feels and be tempted as men are tempted!

He's a special tree, but he looks much like the tree that is ordinary.

Isaiah 53:2 "For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him."

Jesus, according to Isaiah, was plain and not attractive, but on the other hand, Lucifer is a beautiful, but fallen angel. Because of the flesh, men are deceived by the aesthetics of the package, and fail to consider the gift therein!

 Now for a revelation! God said that man was made in "our image" (Genesis 1:26) .   Don't just read that! Listen to what is means. Who is "our" referring to? It is the Father and The Word! We were given spirit in our soul and are an image of the Father, but we too are material and are an image of Jesus. How much we worship ourselves! Jesus was not made in our image, but we were made in what God planned for Jesus to be! Ordinary men are ordinary as WAS Jesus.

Where was Jesus who was there from the beginning? He was "The Tree of Life" in the midst of the Garden! He was "The Voice" who spoke to Adam and Eve while walking in the cool of the Garden.. He was the one who took Adam and Eve's words back to God! 

When I look at the tree in Figure 2, I see Jesus! That's what I mean by looking beyond the words!

Let's look at another tree:

Fig. 5: The Empty Cross

What do you see here?

• It's empty!
• It is wood.
• It has two ore more pieces.
• It's upright.
• It is supported somehow.

Now let's really really look closer! Use your imagination and think out of the box!

• It's man-made. 
• It's hewed from wood.  (Why is that significant? Exodus 20:25 "And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.")
• It can be used for decoration... and is!
• It can be transported.
• It's dead.
• It can harm a person: splinters, carrying, falling, etc.
• It is dry. It can burn easily.
• It can be worshiped and some do! (Isaiah 37:19 " And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.")

Fig. 6: A Man

What do we see here?

• A man.
• Yes, Jesus! We're trained to recognize this as Jesus although we have little notion of what he looked like.
• Just a small piece of clothing (About the same as Adam wore! Ironic since it was Adam's fault that Jesus was on the Cross)..
• Flesh, hair and all human attributes.
• Thorns on his head.

Now think outside the box! What more is there?

• God!
• Spirit!
• Humility/Meekness
• Innocence
• Agony
• Love
• Loneliness
• Hope
• Royalty (he's crowned)
• Sacrifice
• A servant
• A warrior
• A ruler
• A judge
• Peace
• Redemption
• Supernatural
• A Messenger
• The Angel of God
• A wrestler
• Protection
• Savior
• Death
• Hope
• Life
• A cryer
• A Tree! (The Tree of Life)!

Let's look again at Figure 1: (What do you see?) and do look again. It's Jesus on the Cross! But when eyes are opened more widely, there is so much meaning there!

For instance. Jesus' arms are outstretched. His body looks just like that tree in Fig.s 2 & 3. Yes, I know; the cross does too, but that was the plan all along! Look at for that in The Old Testament:

Psalm 22:1"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
3 But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.
4 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
5 They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.
6 But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
9 But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts.
10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.
11 Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.
12 Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.
13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
15 My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.
18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion's mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
22 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
23 Ye that fear the Lord, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
24 For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.
25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the Lord that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.
27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
28 For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations.
29 All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul.
30 A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
31 They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this."

Some of this should sound familiar! If I was to say "Four score and seven years ago...", need I say more? Most of us learned that by the fourth grade! The rest pops to mind, or at least the author, place, purpose and the events. It's the Gettysburg Address by President Abraham Lincoln during "The War for Southern Independence"!

Jesus said this on the cross:

Matthew 27:46 "And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

Any learned Jew would recognize Psalm 22 from these few words! Jesus expressing his abandonment, said it all. Whenever, we read Mathew 27:46 we need to ask "What is it that Jesus is telling mankind?" Then we read Psalm 22 and we learn so much more. This is thinking out of the box!

• Jesus is calling on the Father. (Verse 1)
• He feels abandonment. (Verse 1)
• He is raging inside.  (Verse 1)
• He's crying out (Verse 2)
• He's not being heard (Verse 2)
• He praises God. (Verse 3)
• Magnifies God as Holy (Verse 3).
• He recounts that God can be trusted (Verse 4 & 5) and that implies he trusts God!
• His flesh is unimportant (Verse 6)
• He is a man (Verse 6). He's physical, not a phantasm as some soon claimed!
• And on and on. You get the idea. Now study Psalm 22 and I'll bet you see much more on that cross than you saw before!

Those outstretched arms mean so much to me! Sure, they were outstretched so that they could be nailed, but they mean so much more!

Exodus 6:6  "Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:"

In scripture, Egypt represents sin and slavery to it. In this passage God is telling Moses more than his salvation to the Hebrew people. He was telling them about Jesus. God spoke of Jesus on the cross which not only is our "hope of salvation", but was Moses' as well!  Think outside the box! God was telling Moses about Jesus on the Cross! There will be no more slavery because Jesus saves, Jesus paid the price for you even though it was you who sinned, he will do it with outstretched arms! God, or Emmanuel as he was later called, told Jesus way back then why he was to die on the cross and even that his arms would be stretched out!

What else can outstretched arms mean? It's a welcoming gesture. "Come here for love!" it says without even saying it!

Matthew 11:28 "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

With outstretched arms Jesus calls "Come unto me!", and he calls not just the Jews, but ALL mankind.  Furtheremore, he will give us "rest".. That's his way of saying that there is "hope in salvation" from the troubles of this life. The flesh will finally be free of it's yoke. We will no longer be slaves to sin!

This verse reveals the "mystery of Christ"! Can you spot the mystery revealed here? Then you ask "I didn't know there was a mystery. What is the 'mystery of Christ?"

Ephesians 3:1  "For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:
3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:
7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

What is the "mystery of Christ"?

1. Grace is the way to salvation. "Grace" is the economy it takes to go to heaven!
2. In other ages men failed to know the mystery, but it is now revealed by the Spirit.
3. That gentiles are fellow heirs of that grace.
4. And for all men to see the mystery heretofore was hidden by God.

 Let me comment on the "mystery of Christ". Salvation was never by works. The Law  was purely a standard to follow and since nobody was capable of keeping the whole law, "works" just didn't work! The "dispensation of grace" was always the way to salvation! It's not new with the advent of Jesus, but was there from the day of creation! God demonstrated grace to Adam and Eve when they sinned, but had mercy on them. He provided a way to salvation. God's "voice" which spoke to them with the message of grace was "The Word"!

We know from John 1 that "The Word" was later made flesh and he was called "Jesus".  Since Jesus had mercy on these sinners, it was by grace that salvation was available to them!

It was by faith in Jesus that Old Testament  patriarchs were saved. Abraham was the standard of that faith, even to which we're compared:

Romans 4:16  "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all..."

Abraham was "saved by faith" in Jesus and it was by grace he was saved... just as people are now! That is the "dispensation of grace" and that has always been the way to salvation! This part of the mystery is no longer a mystery. However, most men at that time didn't know the mystery and merely endeavored to follow The Law.  Guess what? Little has changed!

Hebrews 11:13 "These (the Old Testament patriarchs) all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."

Our biblical fathers believed in Jesus, not from being there, but from a distance in time! What we embrace afterward, they embraced before it happened. They were persuaded that God would provide a savior and believed in him! How were they persuaded? By "The Word" himself!

The Hebrew people were God's "chosen" people and believed, and still do, that they are the only heirs of God. However, the gentiles are too! The two groups of people combined is everyone. That mystery revealed is that salvation is for all!

And lastly, the mystery was "hidden" from those who failed to have faith, but tried to enter into the kingdom of God by doing works. The Pharisees were still doing that although Jesus, the same "Voice" who spoke in the Garden, stood there speaking to them in the flesh! This "mystery of Christ" was still hidden even though he was physically right there, and it's still hidden from them because they failed to see!

Luke 16:31 " And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

The mystery was revealed to the Pharisees, but they failed to believe it! Even after Jesus rose from the dead they still failed to believe the mystery of Christ. It was he who provided salvation all along, but they just didn't believe it!

Please note here that "The Tree of Life" is symbolic of Jesus Christ if not a reference to "The Word". Then we have what I call "The Other Tree"! It is "The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil". Since "The Other Tree" was to impart knowledge and make men wise, even endeavoring to be as God, then I believe "The Other Tree" is "The God of Reason." Therefore, "Two Gods" will be the next installment!