TWO MASTERS

KEY VERSE: Her adversaries have become the master (Lam 1:5, NKJV).

  That verse is about the remnant of Jews who had yet to perish either by the hands of the Assyrians or the Babylonians.  The “Jewish Problem” at this time and before, is that they always served two masters. They never totally abandoned God and were the very example of diversity in worship as they usually accepted the diverse gods of the people with whom they intermingled. Jesus said much the same thing as the key verse from Jeremiah’s lips, but from God’s inspired Word:

SUPPLEMENT TO THE KEY VERSE: No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Mat 6:24)

  When in Egypt, the Hebrew people did what the Egyptians do; they served another master. Any god that the Egyptians thought up, the Hebrews served. Pharaoh was a god, and the Hebrew people served him well. They did not want to leave Egypt, but that was God’s Plan for them, “for a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11).  Against their wishes, God vanquished the Hebrews from safety in Egypt, albeit they were in servitude there. By grace, God delivered them from “master” Pharaoh. 

  While roaming in the wilderness for forty years, the Hebrews generally wanted to return to Egypt and Pharaoh’s rule. They acknowledged the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but retained pleasant memories of life in Egypt. They did what Lot’s wife did; they always looked back at what seemed like pleasure after they faced the unknown. They forgot the bondage they had been in under Pharaoh, and desired a return to it. His food was more scrumptious than manna from heaven, and poisonous vipers didn’t seem to bite them back there. 

  The Hebrews had two masters, so to speak; the comfort of God’s hand, but the pleasantries provided by Pharaoh. They endeavored to serve both - God and mammon. “Mammon” is wealth which debases moral character. Egypt offered wealth, and God offered only nourishment and safety. That was the same ruse that the Serpent used to lure Adam and Eve into his cunning plan. The Hebrews were drawn to the same scam that the Serpent had used, and were continually, even when they were away from “the serpent” Pharaoh!

  God allowed the Hebrews to be cleansed from their unrighteousness as all of them died in the wilderness between Egypt and Israel. All those who had known sin were still attracted to Egypt. They followed God’s direction, but their hearts belonged to Pharaoh. That doubleminded “heart” is what needs circumcised. Circumcision of the flesh was not enough to cut-off the attraction to sin!

  With a new start, Joshua entered the Promised Land where God would provide for them a future and a hope. They had that when King David became King. Of course, David was only symbolic of the prosperity and hope that they would have centuries later with the real King – the Son of David (Jesus). After they had hope, the Israelites continued to look toward Egypt for safety. Although, they were not to do so, the people of Israel, and later Judah, continued to depend on Pharaoh and Egypt for safety – in the very face of God who would keep them safe! They continued serving two masters for centuries – God and Pharaoh – without realizing that Pharaoh was representative of Satan. Their two masters were God and the Serpent just as always!

  God provided the Israelites with multiple warnings. When threatened, God always provided, but soon they forgot God and turned to the gods of other peoples. Why would they do that? Like Pharaoh, they offered more pleasantries than God. Faith in God is not about prosperity in this world but the next. Believers must remain patient and endure temptation to the end to gain the ultimate safe-place. The Israelites failed to understand that trusting the Lord was not for once but for all time. They cared little for the longsuffering part of the promise, but wanted it now! 

  Finally, God destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel after dissension had split the country in two (Satan destroys gradually by division). Soon after, Judah was destroyed, along with the Temple and God-worship. God asked that they remain in Israel, but the people of Judah who were left insisted on going to Egypt for the safety and prosperity to be found there. After all those centuries, it seems the Jews never forgot what Egypt offered. However, the grass was not greener nor the riches any more prevalent in Egypt than back home in Judah. God again destroyed the remnant of the remnant of the remnant of the Jews, with the exception of those who would return home, and patiently endure Babylonian rule!

  The plight of the Hebrew people demonstrates two things: (1) God’s people can freely give up their safety for false promises, and (2) the remnant to endure to the end are the few who will ultimately be saved, according to the Word of God:

 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Mat 7:13-14)

  The example of the depletion of the Hebrew people is a lesson for Christians: They cannot serve two masters, because in the end, they will despise God and trust their other master. The Israelites usually looked toward God, but went the way of prosperity and perceived safety. When they depended on Egypt for protection, their trust was in the gods of the pharaohs. God assured them of that, and Jesus assures Christians of the same thing!

  Christians, just as the Israelites, were destroyed not by other gods, but the pursuit of temporal safety and short-lived pleasure. Pharaoh nor the Egyptian gods were really their masters; they were their own masters in pursuit of their own pleasure and endeavoring to keep themselves safe from their adversary – the Devil. Just as Jeremiah lamented to the Jews, “Her adversaries have become the master,” the same applies to Christians to this day. Christians’ Adversary (Satan) has become their master, even their silent partner in this life. 

  Compare your desires, behaviors, and actions: Do you follow the Will of God or submit to your own will? Is your ego your master or is Ego Eimai (I AM) your Master? I submit that the true master of those who call themselves “Christians” is their own Super-ego - the part of the self which protects the ego. In other words, the cunning Serpent still confuses the naïve creatures. Mankind still depends on themselves for nourishment and safety. We do a fine job of “dressing and keeping” our own souls, but not “serving and preserving” the souls of other and the understanding of God (Gen 2:15). 

  Never assume that you will be part of the remnant who remains under the safe-life of God in His safe-space. To be of God’s Kingdom means that the realm of Satan be divested from your hearts. Where is your interest? Is it the reward of eternal safety in heaven or in the pleasantries of the world?

SCANDAL OF THE CROSS: His Trial and Death

  Thus far, the scandal has been accusations against Jesus: (1) His birth of a virgin was denied, (2) his miracles were decried as fraudulent, and (3) his claim that a poor carpenter is God was ridiculed and questioned. Those things made Jesus seem scandalous, but he was not the scandalous one! (Does that ring true of the accusation this week of President Trump?). Jesus was unimpeachable, but the world impeached him! Impeach does not infer guilt; it is a mere accusation. Jesus was not guilty, but was impeached, prosecuted, and made guilty. Jesus took on all the sins of everyone in the world – past, present, and future sins.  That was the most notorious scandal in history! Why? Because people sin, and fail to accept the gift of redemption.
  What the world did to God was scandalous, not what God did to the world. The victim on the Cross was God in the flesh. The horrible deed is that the creatures endeavored to kill their creator. The sons turned on their own Father. That is the most horrific deed anyone could do! What was the sin which was so scandalous? There were two: (1) The world presumed that Jesus was not God in the flesh and many cared not whether he was or not. They just wanted their brand of justice; someone must die because of their indignation! (2) And the indignant people were the guilty ones, but transferred their guilt onto The Innocent One. Jesus readily accepted their bloody sacrifice by draining his own blood and water.  
  Blood and water? Certainly; his blood was not enough… the soldiers required his water as well. Living water flowed from his abdomen as he gave up the Ghost. It wasn’t enough that the mob killed Jesus, they wanted his Holy Ghost as well!

Gnostics thought a phantasm (ghost) died on the cross. They dismissed the idea that God’s Flesh died on that day! Moreover, those so full of knowledge (Gnostics) got it all wrong; God’s Flesh did die, but his Ghost lived on, and carried off the sins of the world and dumped them in Hell. Satan got his sins back! They were his and he owned them!
  It was a scandal that the Jews not only got the “Substance” they endeavored to kill wrong, but they also go wrong who died that day! First off, Jesus didn’t die. Death is eternal. Jesus’s body slept for parts of three days. They said that he was dead, but that was a lie. He did suffer death, but remains alive to this day. Of course, his heart ceased beating and his breath as well, but his soul was busier than ever. It took three days for Jesus’s soul to accomplish what his body had finished, then all was well between his body and soul again.
  The travesty of it all is that Jesus was mocked, denigrated, spat upon, disfigured, nailed, pierced, and left for dead, but failed to convince the Jews that he suffered death for them. It is written from Abraham’s words in Heaven, “And he said unto him, ‘If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead’” (Luke 16:31). That was so true.  Jesus died for them, rose from the dead, but the Jews were still not persuaded. The scandalous situation was that the Jews had feigned knowledge and submission to the Laws of Moses all those hundreds of years, but they never truly hearkened unto Moses. How would they heed Jesus’s resurrection, if they would not remember the God of Moses who saved them Pharaoh? The Red Sea parting was a miracle saving all the Hebrews from Egypt, and Jesus’s death saved all of mankind from perishing forever.
  It was scandalous that the Jews really did not believe Moses, let alone Jesus. The Jews persecuted the same God that Pharaoh had impersonated, mocked, and tried to kill off!
  Jesus was and still is The Tree of Life. Ironically, the Jews selected another tree over the “Jesus Tree.” It is believed that the components of the True Cross were of four species, surely representing yellow, red, black, and white races of people. Perhaps that is the case, but it appears that the Jews would have the wood from any other tree in preference to the “Jesus Tree!” In Genesis 2:16-17, it is written, “The Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.’” They could eat of the Tree of Life and any other tree in the Garden but the forbidden tree. Adam and Eve still chose the forbidden tree, and the Jewish mob chose the wood of four other trees to the “wood” of the Tree of Life!
  Today we hear the words of the “Never Trumpers.” What’s worse is that the world hollers more loudly, “Never Jesus!” People still chose the “wood” of any other “tree” to the Tree of Life! Which woods? Idols of any wood! Actually, any idols of any material or idea. That the Tree of Life would be cut down for all the other “trees’ of the Garden, and the “wood cutters” denigrate what God generated is horrific!
  That people would say, “God is dead,” although he never ceased to live, is equally terrible. That the Creatures murdered their Creator is the most horrible story ever told, and that the greatest story ever told is taken as a lie is as horrific! It was not Jesus who was scandalous, but the mob who killed Jesus, failing for their own failure to see him as “the face of God.”

God had warned Moses:

And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.”  And he said, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live… thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.” (Exod 33:19-20, 23)

  Finally, after all those years, God showed His face, and what happened? Those who saw Jesus as only a man or a phantasm died. Those who saw Jesus as the face of God lived. When God finally showed His  Face, those who saw God in Jesus’s face, are those who God will be gracious to whom He will be gracious! 
  Jesus’s crucifixion was throughout scandalous. He was the only one innocent, but the one most persecuted. That is the normative throughout the ages. Accusing the innocent is the horrible, and always has been, but the most grievous sin is killing the innocent. The psalmist, David, wrote, “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression” (Psalm 19:13).
  The murder of Jesus was presumptuous sin. David asked that that the Lord keep him from presuming evil thoughts. He further asked God, “Let them not have dominion over me.” That would imply that his thoughts were inclined to be greater than God’s and that he feared another master over God. David, since he was humble, would then be innocent of “the great transgression.” That “Greatest Transgression” was crucifying Jesus. That is THE scandal of all times!  David sought to be innocent of doing what the Jews would do, but he himself was not innocent. The travesty was that David sinned grievously against God, then God died in David’s stead!
  Was it only the Jews who killed God? No! He died for everyone (whosoever in John 3:16), and since none are without sin, Jesus died for all mankind. David didn’t want to share the guilt of killing Jesus, but when he wrote Psalm 51, he knew that he too was responsible! David was part of the scandal in killing Jesus, and like David, we are all “shapen in iniquity” (Psalm 51:5). We all killed Jesus! Is that not scandalous; that we all killed Jesus on the Cross, but thereon he died for ALL who killed him?

Peter was impeached for being Jesus’s friend and follower. Even Peter killed Jesus. One of his best friends was Jesus’s “Brute.” Not only Peter, but Judas Iscariot as well.  Satan had entered Judas before he sinned, and apparently remained in him. The scandal was that there were two spiritual personages who died that day: the flesh of Satan and the Flesh of God. We remember that God sacrificed His Flesh and gave up the Ghost. We forget that Satan’s flesh (Iscariot) died that day, but Judas’s “ghost” (Satan) was bound in chains until the final days when Satan’s ghost will die as the Beast is consumed in fire.
  Is it not scandalous that we think that Jesus died and his Holy Ghost fled, when it was Judas who died and Satan’s spirit which fled?
  Scandal after scandal is associated with the Cross. Is it not scandalous that centurions gambling for Jesus’s apparel were gambling with their own souls? Is it not scandalous that Jesus who would not drink wine was given vinegar and bitters to drink on the way to the Cross? Is it not scandalous that Jesus would be required to carry his own cross, when we were asked to carry his? Is it not scandalous that Jesus was disfigured beyond recognition that he was a human, when he created mankind? Is it not scandalous that we are the guilty but he suffered the penalty on our behalf?
  Let’s clear up the scandal: We all sinned, and are guilty, but Jesus paid it all! Jesus is the redeemer and we paid nothing for redemption. Jesus died so that we not perish, but we did nothing! Jesus is God and we are mere imposters as gods.

SCANDAL OF THE CROSS: Ministry of Jesus

  The accusation was that Jesus broke the Laws of God, to which Jesus responded, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil” (Mat 5:17). Indeed, Jesus was a prophet, but rather than using the mouths of “sons of men” (as in the prophets of old), Jesus used his own mouth as “Son of God.” Therein lied a huge problem - Jesus claimed to be God! Forty-eight times he used the expression “Ego Eimia;” Greek for “I AM” Likewise, he said, “I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.” (John 10:30-31).
  What made the mob angriest? That this young carpenter claimed to be the same Creator who “cut wood”, so to speak, to generate everything in existence! That was a fantastical claim, albeit not uncommon. Many others had claimed to be God, and they were laughed at. People still think they are gods and have grandiose thoughts of themselves, and perhaps are schizophrenic. Jesus was accused of that himself! (Mark 3:21; John 10:20). He may have appeared to many as Charles Manson appears to us! Psychologists, even to this day, question the sanity of Jesus (see Wikipedia article on “Mental Health of Jesus”).
  The very fact that Jesus perceived himself as God would be considered insane! Throughout history, kings of Israel and Judah had been decimated by their enemies because they acted as if they were gods. This new “King” was no different. All men, even his accusers, play the part of God when they diminish God and elevate themselves. Ironically, those who judged Jesus “guilty” and had him crucified played God as they wrongly judged their Savior. Jesus told Pontius Pilate that their sin was greater than his executioners. That is, perhaps, because Pilate merely represented his king and god, Caesar, but the Jewish leaders took a life that only God alone had a right to take.
  The most scandalous thing that anyone could do was claim that they themselves are Almighty God. Albeit, sinners, when they sin, know better than God and offend God. Jesus did nothing offensive, but his killers did. The Jews misunderstood their entire religion as they undermined and destroyed their promised Messiah. Judaism is all about Jesus, but when God came in the flesh, they saw Him, not as the glorious promise, but as a crazy man who claimed that he is God! Pharaohs, oriental emperors, Roman emperors, Inca emperors, and even Dalai Lamas have all claimed to be God. The list goes on! Totalitarian dictators assume the role of God, and ancients such as Nebuchadnezzar saw themselves as gods. When people sin, despite the Will of God, they are acting as God.
  Simon Magus claimed he was the Messiah. His claim to fame was that he was God. Obviously, Simon is still in the grave, validating he was not, but in apostolic times, half the Roman Empire believed that Simon was the promised Messiah; that he was God!
  All those who claim to be God viewed themselves with grandiose thoughts, and here comes another man who claimed that he was God! The New Agers are an eclectic group of heretics, all of whom have one thing in common; they believe that they are gods or can become gods. Even Mormons and Swedenborgians as Helen Keller believe that they would be gods after death! The world is full of people who perceive themselves as gods, but Jesus alone IS God! When people admit what they think of themselves, they are considered to be mad, and Jesus was no exception! However, that Jesus IS God in the Flesh, is the truth that sets people free from the false perception that they are supreme to God.
  Jesus’s claim was the greatest scandal of his ministry, and as we have seen, that the perceived harlot Mary was his mother. Worse yet, that Mary claimed that a “ghost” came upon her. Was the entire family crazy or was Jesus’s birth prophesied and fulfilled? If the Jews had only believed what they claim to believe, they would see that the promised Savior had come!
  Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead! Was he just another Simon Magus who performed sorcery? The Jews knew that sorcery was an abomination to the Lord, and here we have another “magician” who was better at his tricks than even Simon. That a magician would claim to be God was acceptable regarding Simon but scandalous when Jesus did miracles. The greatest miracle ever performed was declared in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.” It was scandalous that a mere carpenter believed he had done that! The apostle John knew that Jesus was there at the Creation and that his hand did the miracle (John 1). Everyone else, it seems, likely even his own mother, had doubts about that. Many Christians today have the same doubt.
  Since the definition of a “god” is an entity with the power to create, denying the Creation is denying the only God with the power to create, and that “man” is Jesus! If Jesus did not serve mankind an existence, he certainly could not preserve that existence with eternal life. If Jesus did not Create, he certainly could not resurrect the habitat that he Created! That a mild-mannered man claimed that he was the Creator was a scandalous claim. When Jesus performed miracles, the disbelieving Jews doubted even more:

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. (1 Cor 1:21-22)

  The Jews required signs (miracles), but the Gentiles wisdom, presumably reason and logic. Ironically, the Jews disbelieved the miracles, and their illogical conclusions caused their disbelief. Jesus said that if they Jews could not believe Moses and the prophets, they would not belief even if one was raised from the dead. In other words, Jews always asked God for signs, but when they were given, their reasoning made them doubters.
  God is literal much of the time. At the top of the cross, there was a sign: “King of the Jews.” What better sign could be posted, and the doubting Jews did not believe it, but the Gentiles did! Hence the gospel was taken to those who claimed to have wisdom and believed the sign which was posted!

The “Wisdom Tree” is the Jewish name for the Tree of Knowledge. (I call it the “Philosophy Tree.”)
  The wisdom of that tree was twofold: discernment between good and evil. The Jews should have seen that it was the evil Judas who was dead because of Jesus’s crucifixion. That’s what the brazen Serpent on its “tree” represents. If they had, then seeing Jesus alive, their reasoning would have been that if Jesus died, but still lives, then logically, he must be God! Christianity is a reasonable doctrine. The miracle of Creation validates that there IS a God, and the Resurrection (Re-Creation) that there still IS! 
  That Jesus created and was resurrected is mythology according to the wisdom of the world, but that existence just happened and that Resurrection never will, is logical to them. The real scandal is that people believe that chance did it all! Like any creed of the world, those who deny reason accuse the one declaring truth as the scandalous ones.
  Jesus ate with publicans and sinners. He was accused of imbibing with drunks. They actually saw Jesus with publicans and sinners, and sitting with drunks, and presumed that he was a vile sinner and a drunk! It never occurred to the rumor-mongers that Jesus was not there to be one of them, but to save them from calamity. That a perceived wicked man would be King and Savior was scandalous (I am overusing that word because it is the topic of discussion.)
  Jesus was innocent of all sins, but his accusers were determined from the outset to impeach that impeccable man with fallacious accusations! Does that not sound familiar? Jesus was born to preserve mankind, but mankind was shapen in iniquity to disserve Jesus! What was the sin that caused Jesus to be crucified? People presumed that he was guilty of crimes. There are different kinds of sins, but the one who killed Jesus was presumptuous sin: “But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die” (Exod 21:14).
  “Presumptuous sin” is playing God with the lives of others, and the penalty for causing the death of the innocent is death for the accuser. Presumptuous sin is the worst sin because it sent an innocent man who came to save mankind to die himself.  Jesus’s accusers deserved death, but it was the accused who died! That an innocent man died is scandalous when it was the lynch mob who deserved death!
  Jesus was charged with much that he did not do. Jesus denied his family. The Law required that fathers and mothers be honored, and that the reward was a long life! That is the very “prescription” for eternal health. When Jesus asked, “Who is my mother?” in the eyes of the legalistic mob, he was breaking a commandment. That “commandment” was Jesus’s “Fifth Word” that he wrote with his own hand, but the mob assumed that he was denying his mother! That a True God will deny His own Command was preposterous to the mob because they were unreasonable. Jesus was not denying his mother because he was without a biological mother. The crowd presumed that he was lying and that was another scandal attributed to him!
  Of course, Jesus was not scandalous, but the irrational mob created scandal after scandal for him. To the scribes and Pharisees, everything that he did was scandalous. To the Sadducees who did not believe in the Resurrection, Jesus’s claim that he would be, was scandalous. How can the dead come alive again? That was silly thinking, as silly as this crazy man thinking that he created it all!

The irony of it all, was that it was the Jewish mob who were the rascals and Jesus and the disciples who followed him were the honorable ones. That’s how mob mentality always works. We see that now in our daily lives. Jesus was accused of being the rascal, but the rascals are those who presumed he was as sinner and had the Savior die for their presumptions!


Tomorrow, I will complete the Scandal of the Cross, about what the Cross meant, and the accusations after Jesus arose from the grave.

SCANDAL OF THE CROSS: Jesus’s Caste

  Royalty are born in prosperity. Commoners are born into humble means. The first thing that baby Jesus experienced outside the womb was rudimentary things: the timbers of the manger, animals, fodder, and his working parents. Compare that to Herod’s habitation. The boy who would be King was certainly not what we would consider to be royalty!
  Jesus was descended from King David and was of the royal house of David. However, the new dynasty was Herodian. Jesus was not of the house of the Hasmoneans, but of David himself. Herod was prosperous and respected whereas Jesus was only sustained and ordinary. That Jesus would be king was scandalous!
  King Herod saw his throne threatened. He feared baby Jesus! Perhaps he knew Judaism well. Perhaps he knew that a Messiah would come to reign. Because of the adoration from kings from afar, Herod issued the order to slaughter the innocents.
  It was scandalous that a commoner would be king, and as scandalous that a commoner would be the Messiah. God made kings. They had been from the line of David, Jeroboam, or at a minimum, the Hasmoneans. That Jesus was from line of tradesmen was scandalous, and caused the royalty to doubt his royal birth!
  Egypt symbolized sin and Pharaoh Satan. Jesus was thought to be safer in the “land of sin” with a “devil” than in his own land with evil King Herod. Throughout Judean history, it was always scandalous for the Jewish kings to turn to Eyypt for security, but that’s what Joseph and Mary did. Turning to the enemy was always heretical as Jews turned their backs on God. Jesus’s parents did what kings ordinarily did by turning to Egypt. The strict Jews of that time would have thought that scandalous. They had learned their lesson well; Jews are not to turn to Gentiles for safety, but to the Lord God of Israel alone. Because the boy who would be king did the very thing that evil Zedekiah did, was scandalous, if indeed, he was heir to David’s throne!
  Jesus was a “tradesman,” the son of a tradesman. Translators have made Joseph and Jesus out to be carpenters, perhaps because carpenters were the most prevalent of the trades. It makes sense that Jesus was a carpenter! Why so?
  Carpenters make things of wood. The Garden of Eden contained mostly things of cellulose: trees, vines, herbs, and such. In fact, think of the Garden of Eden as a “Garden of Living Trees” with the foremost of them in the midst of the Garden.
  As carpenters make things of wood, Jesus made “trees” alive by breathing life into empty souls. By that I mean, that Jesus was in the Garden as the Voice ministering to the things therein. I contend that the other trees around the two in the midst of the Garden were potential beings whose souls Jesus would make flesh. As blind Bartimaeus received his sight, immediately he, “saw men, as trees walking” (Mark 8:24). With the Garden, I see trees as men waiting to walk! In other words, the trees of the Garden are also symbolic of men who Adam was to “dress and keep” (serve and preserve).
  With that insight, I was astounded by the Hebrew meaning of, “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen 1:1). “Created” from the Hebrew (bara’) has one meaning of “cutting wood.” In other words, God fashioned things as wood would be carved. That trees were prevalent in the Garden makes sense with Jesus as the “Carpenter” who fashioned the heavenly and earthly things! “Jesus, the carpenter carved all things?” you ask. Indeed, he did:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1-3,14)

John recognized that Jesus was the Carpenter who created everything. However, the Jews failed to see that Jesus was not only King of the heaven and earth, but its Creator as well. The scandal of his trade made him a source of humiliation among his own people:

And he went out from thence, and came into his own country; and his disciples follow him. And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. (Mark 6:1-4)

  His friends commented about the, “mighty works which are wrought by his hands,” but failed to realize how extensive his “works” were. They thought of Jesus as a wordsmith who knew the interpretation of God’s Word without realizing that he was the one who spoke those words! They gave Jesus credit for smithing words, but not for carving the heaven and the earth!
  His own people diminished Jesus when they dismissed the importance of his trade: Is this not a common carpenter who speaks, and not a wise man? “They were offended by him,” and dishonored their own.  It was scandalous that a mere carpenter would be a pretender to the throne!
  Think on that! They knew Hebrew and knew Genesis 1:1, but failed to realize that this mere carpenter “cut the wood” for all things created! Why must God be honored? Because He is our Creator. Then God comes to the Earth in the Flesh, was of the elements of the earth, in our same image, but they failed to recognize God even when they saw him. Soon they were unable to recognize God when Jesus died for them! The “scandal of the cross” began when the Jews failed to see God in "Jesus’s face" (John 10:30).
  Jacob saw and wrestled with a “man” and recognized him:

And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. (Gen 32:9-10)

  Moses saw God but did not see His face. Finally, Moses was brought to the Mount of Transfiguration, and there he saw God’s face when Jesus and his Father appeared as one Existence.     What is scandalous about Jesus’s trade? His own people saw God face-to-face and failed to recognize Him as Jacob had. Bartimaeus saw God as a “Tree,” but his own friends could not even see Jesus as the “face of God!” They saw only a mere carpenter who had more knowledge than even King Solomon, but failed to recognize his true identity. The scandal of the cross was due to the killing of a  meek low-life carpenter who claimed to be King of the Jews. And that was blasphemy.
  Jesus is the “Tree of Life” still standing on the River of God in the City of God in Paradise. He stands in the identical place he always stood except when he was “a tree walking” among us!

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. (Rev 22:2)

  The Jews that caused him to be cut down saw Jesus as nothing more than a rebellious crazy or drunken carpenter. They played God when they cut-down God. Ironically, the Cross itself was scandalous because that was the “tree” on which the centermost “Tree” was cut down. “And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. (Acts 13:29).
  With the scandalous Tree chopped down, Jesus returned to his birthplace. His sepulcher is symbolic of the stable in which he was born. Historians believe that the stable in which Jesus was born was in a cave since that was often a common place for stables. The humiliated Jesus was laid to rest in a cave just as when he was born. Jesus was born meek and died meek. The key to Heaven is meekness just as Jesus was meek!
  Since Jesus’s birth, mankind, commencing with Herod, has endeavored to cut down Jesus, and Jesus allowed himself to be cut-down for Herod’s and the people’s sake… not just for the Jews but all mankind. God was born to be humiliated so that His creatures could have the hope of eternal life. Those who knew Jesus best, excepting John, saw Jesus as a humble carpenter fashioning wood for pay, but I see Jesus as a royal Craftsman creating royal things for free! Jesus made life with his hands, as he was the “hand of God” (Job 19:21), as well as “the face of God.” That a humble carpenter who served mankind for free is scandalous. Everything about Jesus’s purpose was a scandal to those who questioned his claim to Godhood.

SCANDAL OF THE CROSS: Scandal of His Birth

KEY VERSES: As it is written (in Isa 8:14), “Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed” (Rom 9:33). Unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed (1 Pet 2:7-8), and sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread, and he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (Isa 8:14)

  In all those passages “rock of offence” refers to THE Rock – Jesus Christ – and “offence” is “scandalous” (Greek; “scandalon”), and refers to the “Cornerstone” of the living Church. The Holy Church of God was built on nothing less than a scandal, and the Holy Cross is the symbol of Christ and the Church. There is much said about the “scandal of the cross.” However, without peeking at others perspective on the scandal, I present my version of the meaning.
  First off, the “cross” represents Jesus purpose: “For I know the thoughts (plans) that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace (well-being), and not of evil, to give you an expected end (future and hope)” (Jer 29:11).
  “Well-being” is the assurance of eternal preservation, or if you prefer, certainty that you will always exist! Even as a child, I was dismal at the thought that I would someday merely cease to exist. I didn’t consider Heaven or Hell, but poof… no longer here; annihilated as if I never was! That is morbid, and those who think in that manner are without hope! Those who believe in Hell, and care little if they make it or not, are apathetic to extending their lives. They too are without hope.
  Well-being, or peace, in this existence is dependent on having a future, not just for tomorrow, or the days of our lives, but for eternity. Life is not worth the living without Jesus. Some people actually think, Jesus takes all the pleasure out of this life, who cares about the next? The question is, which is more pleasant: excitement or contentment? (immediacy or longevity)? Christians hope for eternal future with bliss as the expected end. “Bliss” is what Jesus meant when he said, “Blessed are they…” He meant that his disciples would experience bliss (total happiness) in the heavenly Paradise.
  The cross, for me, is the directional sign-post. It points toward the heavens, and has a destination sign: “King of the Jews” is atop the cross, and the King resides in the Kingdom of God.  It should be clear by now what the “cross” part of scandal of the cross means. Let me call it “prosperity,” from the Abrahamic Covenant. God promised Abraham a blessing, “I will bless thee…” (Gen 12:2). In other words, God was willing to bliss Abraham’s descendants. However, the Jews thought it would be with prosperity in the land of milk and honey. It turned out that the prosperity of which God spoke was not in the earth but in the heaven. Deliverance of the bliss would be from the Messiah. Now we can reword the phrase to the “Scandal of Eternal Bliss.” It seems that the prosperity of Christians is due to the misfortune of our Savior’s life being considered a scandal! Because Jesus was humiliated, Christians shall be glorified. That is the “Paradox of the Scandal.”
  The Jews thought prosperity in the land would come with a warrior king/general on the order of the previous Maccabean kings. They desired to have a king who would deliver them from Roman rule. That was “bliss” for them. Kings have power, authority, riches, and prestige. They were expecting a wealthy prestigious leader who would deliver them from the evil Roman Empire. Imagine at the humiliation of the Jews when their king was a meek carpenter’s son whose birth seemed to be in iniquity!
  Consider iniquity: David was a legitimate son of Jesse and Nitzevet (from the Talmud), and the youngest of eight sons. All of Jesse’s sons and daughters were legitimate, and David the most legitimate of them all, being the youngest. With David’s legitimacy certain, consider what David said about himself: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:5). Since God ordained multiplication, it is apparent that Jesse and Nitzevet, although married, had accidentally conceived David because of pleasure. (I believe that originally, procreation was for replication only, but there is no way to verify that assumption.)
  Now examine the birth of Jesus: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost” (Mat 1:18). Mary and Joseph were “engaged” using today’s vernacular, but she was pregnant by a “ghost.” Chew on that tidbit for a moment. Place yourself in ancient Jerusalem when Mary claims, “I am with child, but I have known no one, even Joseph.” Listen to the gossip of her friends when they whisper, “Mary says a ghost impregnated her.” Thus, the scandal commenced on the day that she knew no one!
  Unlike David, “the Son of David,” was not shapen in iniquity. Jesus was shapen in righteousness as the Holy Spirit of God imbued Mary. There was no pleasure, perhaps some joy, and no coitus. There was no sperm and maybe no ovum involved. Why do I say that?

Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?  And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! (Mat 12:47-49). 

  It always saddened me to read that Jesus denied his mother and siblings, but Jesus must speak the truth as God Is Truth! I thought it rhetorical, but it surely was reality. It seems that Mary was a surrogate, and Jesus was without an earthly father or mother. Paul wrote of Melchizedek, “King of Peace, without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually” (Heb 7:2b-3). Since Abraham tithed to the King of Peace, surely Melchizedek was pre-incarnate Jesus who appeared to Abraham as a priest.
  With that said, Joseph was not Jesus’s father and Mary was not his mother. Jesus was speaking absolute truth. Neither of his “parents” were his biological parents. God was His Father and rather than multiplication, Jesus’s birth was a replication of His Father.
  Jesus, therefore, was not shapen in iniquity, but created from the elements in purity. Mary was the unused womb that would incubate Jesus as he matured, unlike Adam who was created a man. When the Holy Ghost came upon Mary, God merely breathed life into His own Flesh, and became a physical Living Spirit. The Son of Man, the Son of God, and the Holy Ghost are just the attributes of Jesus. Think outside the obvious; Jesus was called “the Son of David.” He was not called the son of Joseph on most occasions! David was more fit as a comparison than Joseph, and David was King with Jesus as legitimate heir.
  Jesus was not from David’s bloodline, but God’s. The use of the term “Son of David” is the belief that the Messiah was the promised heir of the Kingdom of David. God seldom used the eldest son as heir, but always the younger, and Jesus was the youngest heir of David. However, listen to the ancient whispers still echoing through the gossip halls: “Mary says a ghost impregnated her; that is scandalous.” People still doubt that story, and think that Mary lied.
  Think of the lyrics to the song, Mary, Did You Know: “Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?” Mary knew much: (1) That she was a virgin, (2) that the Holy Ghost Fathered her son, and (3) that Jesus was not shapen in iniquity! What the assembly thought was that, (1) Mary was a harlot, (2) who knows who was the father, and (3) that Jesus was illegitimate. Thus, the scandal commenced!
  What should have happened to Mary?  Well, there was a law for that just as there were for most things:

If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, and give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, “I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid:” Then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel's virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: And the damsel's father shall say unto the elders, “I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; and, lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, ‘I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity.’ And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city.” And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; and they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may not put her away all his days. But if this thing be true, and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to play the whore in her father's house: so shalt thou put evil away from among you. (Deut 12:13-21)

  Mary surely was thought of as a harlot! Face it, would not most rational people doubt that a ghost impregnated her? Only those, such as Joseph, Zedekiah, Elizabeth, and a few others would believe Mary, not because of their knowledge, but because of God’s inspiration. Mary never had social nor physical intercourse with a man. She was a pure vessel for a pure God’s use – nothing more, and she certainly was not a harlot. Only because of God was she shielded from stoning!
  There was another story of harlotry recounted by the apostle John:

And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?” To which Jesus replied, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (John 8:3-5)

  The scribes and Pharisees knew the Law. They referred to the penalty in Deuteronomy chapter twelve. By Law, the adulterous woman should have been stoned, and so should have the virgin Mary! The know-it-alls accused the woman of adultery, and certainly they whispered behind Jesus’s back of his own scandal; that his mother was perceived as a prostitute. Could they have thought, Jesus is merely defending the conduct of his harlot mother! Jesus corrected the gossip (Mary is not my mother) before he died, but that did little toward diminishing the scandal!
  Can you just hear the murmuring? The king says that his mother is not a harlot; that she is not his mother! 
  Did you know, Mary, that your son will make you new. That song (Mary, Did you Know) has an unintended double-meaning. Jesus surely endeavored to cut the gossip grapevine and end the scandal when he denied Mary as is mother! Not only that, later on, Mary came to believe that Jesus was not her son, but her Savior, and that he would make her new with a rebirth.
  Jesus’s birth was scandalous. Who could ever believe such a tall story and coverup? Albeit, the scandal of his miraculous birth is almost beyond belief, Jesus’s entire life was a scandal. It had to be to end up with God on the Cross.
  Harlotry was always scandalous in God’s eyes. In the Old Testament, Samaria and Jerusalem were the sister harlots, Ohalah and Oholihah. Ohalah was the oldest of the harlot “sisters” and Oholihah the younger sister who increased her harlotry beyond her “sister’s.” The nations of Samaria and Judea deserved stoning, according to Mosaic Law, but the Lord promised that the “sisters” would be rehabilitated. “And the company (those returning from exile) shall stone them (“sisters” Oholah and Oholihah/Samaria and Jerusalem) with stones, and dispatch them with their swords. (Ezek 23:47). However, like the adulterous woman, Samaria and Judea didn’t get what they deserved, but reprieve by the grace of God. Just as Jesus saved the adulterous woman in his life, his death would save the adulterous Israelites.
  The life of Jesus was certainly not a scandal, but the purpose of the Holy Cross; to save the nations from harlotry. Yet Jesus is still condemned as a myth and a phantasm by Gnosticism. Ironically, those who question that Jesus was born by knowing the Holy Ghost, claim that a ghost died on the Cross. You can see how scandalous the people are when it comes to the truth about Jesus!



Tomorrow I will continue with another scandal involving Jesus.

THE EQUAL WAY OF THE LORD

  God determines justice; people do not! (Ezek 18:25). It does not seem fair that the hand who works only part of the day gets the same reward as those who work all the day or most of the day (Mat 20:1-16). God sets the hours and the pay. There are no unions for fairness in spiritual wages. What the Squire pays is the prevailing wages for the workers. In our eyes, that seems unfair!
  What seems even less fair is that the worker who endures the work most of the day may get no reward but punishment. Of course, the pay for the willing worker, whether for all the day or just the latter portion of it, is eternal life. On the other hand, the worker who is faithful most of the day but tires and quits the labor, his pay is less than nothing; the pay for sinning is amazingly unfair in our eyes:

But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 6:22-23)

  To us, that does not seem fair, but it is equal justice in the Court of God. In order to be paid a day’s wages, the worker must still be in the vineyard when the pay is meted out. Those who have left the vineyard early, get no pay from the Landlord, but suffers death because he has no means of nourishment. Of course, that is a parable, but is applicable to the pay-scale offered by God who is the owner of the Vine. (Note that Jesus is often symbolized by the main Branch or the Vine, even as the Branch from Jesse, David’s father (Isa 11:1-3).

KEY VERSE:  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (Heb 6:10)

  Five-point Calvinists rationalize that since Paul wrote that to the Hebrews, then it only applies to the Hebrew people. That would be akin to saying, The letter to the Galatians was written to the Galatians, so it can’t be applied to any others. Obviously, since salvation is for all (John 3:16), and the criteria is the same (by Jesus’s propitiation of his blood; Rom 3:25), that any letter written to any peoples applies to all people. There are not multiple ways to be saved, lost, nor turning away.

However, those same Calvinists could find rationale in the Book of Ezekiel; to wit:

²¹ If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. ²² All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live… ²⁴ When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die… ³⁰ Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin… ³¹ Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Ezek 18)

  Obviously, those passages were written to Israel whose members had been faithful, but turned away from God. The entire Old Testament seems to be about the trials, tribulations, and salvation of Israel. If that is the case, then the entire Old Testament can be discarded. Some New Testament churches do that, but they are wrong: “If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life” (Rev 22:19).
  The entire Old Testament is a book of prophecy directed toward the revelations of which John wrote. The entire Old Testament is about Jesus, his purpose, birth, ministry, miracles, death, resurrection, and plans for the future for himself and Christians. If Christians throw away the Book of Hebrews as not pertaining to Gentiles, the entire Old Testament would need to be destroyed!
   Paul’s “mystery of God” is the revelation that the Law is about God’s grace and Jesus Christ (Ephes 3:9) which reveals that the Old Testament is all about Jesus; NOT Israel. I submit that Ezekiel was warning everyone not to fall away for to do so, there is a great penalty; the ones who fall away have the same wages as the one’s who never worked. The eighteenth chapter of Ezekiel destroys point five of Calvinism; that a true Christian cannot fall away.
  They use the rationale, that if they can fall away, they were never there in the beginning. Scripture does not say that; it says “fall away” and to fall means that one must have been up there to begin with!
  Ezekiel first refers to the wicked who have turned from their wicked ways. Those are the sinners who have been regenerated, and to whom God “forgot” their past sins (Rom 3:23 and Ezek 18:22).

Turning away from sin is work on the part of those who God transformed. God’s grace is supplemented by our works. Calvinism is based on sola gratia (grace alone). That is true in that Jesus is the one who died as a gift to us, but our part is taking the gift and magnifying the Giver of the gift. That is done by the hard work of not sinning, and is in essence voluntarily refusing the reward!
  Then Ezekiel went on to write: “The righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth.” That means the one who God made righteous (sola gratia) decided to choose continual sin, becoming the natural abominable creature again. Then Ezekiel adds, “In his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.” He is making reference to those who were righteous, not claiming to be, turn away from righteousness. “Righteousness” is living the right Way of the Lord, as the Lord lived, and that was without sinning.
  Turning-away is not measured by the quantity nor magnitude of the sins, but if the righteous man is willing to serve and obey God or not. Sinning is doing what one wants to do in spite of God’s Will, which are things offensive to God. Just as God can easily transform sinners into righteous creatures, Satan can revert them into offensive creatures. Regeneration is the decision to serve the Almighty Master, and once that decision is made, Satan steps-up his endeavors to proof that he is truly the master.
  The worker who leaves the Vine before the reward is welcomed by the poacher standing nearby with his own promise of great pay: Why work and eat the grapes, when the fruit can be had for free! That was original sin in a nutshell, and is also the doctrine of Karl Marx. Socialists want the fruit without working for it; although it may be for only part of the day! The “colossal lie” of socialism is, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs,” which is the slogan of socialism. Better said is, From each according to their hard work, to each according to his wants.
  I hesitate to write of political topics, but Marx made politics a spiritual issue when he endeavored to  kill off God by promising a Utopia when God already provides a place like that in Paradise. However, this commentary is a warning, as Ezekiel warned Israel, that Christians cannot depend on eternal security unless they work hard against principalities to obtain the reward at the end of the work day (Mat 10:22). In case you did not understand that, Matthew repeated it (Mat 24:13) for the Calvinists, perhaps!
  If you remain an unrepentant sinner, you belong to your father the Devil who treats you with all types of pleasure. On the other hand, once you are “adopted” by God, the Devil is jealous because your master and father has changed, and he steps-up his temptation to lure you back. “Sealed” in Christ does not mean that the seal can’t be unbroken, but the owner of the document can unseal the covenant himself!
  “Sealed” from the Greek, is authenticated as belonging to God, and secure from Satan. We learn from the story of Job, that the “hedge” that God put around him protected him from death but not peril. Satan and his demons cannot kill the living soul of the faithful, but he can, by chicanery, deceive the righteous into turning away. As a faithful servant to Jesus, indeed you are kept safe, but are only saved at the end of the "day." By the way, the parable of the vineyard workers pertains not just to individuals, but to the Gentiles as well who came late to the "work" day of salvation!

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TREES AS MEN, NATIONS, AND DOCTRINES

  Blind Bartimaeus, during the transformation from blind to seeing, began to see things others could not see; “I see men, as trees walking” (Mark 8:24). When I read about the Garden of Eden, I see a garden of trees, as men who would soon be walking. I see the Garden as a fertile land full of souls who would soon be living. Adam, when the time comes, was to “dress and keep” the Garden. (Gen 2:15), or in other words, to serve and preserve the “trees” of the Garden. Within the Garden were three types of trees: (1) The Tree of Life, (2) the tree of knowledge, and (3) the peripheral trees around the two in the midst of the Garden. Adam was to serve and preserve God and others. He sought to serve the Tree of Knowledge and neglected the Tree of Life.
  The various and sundry trees are still extant, and spread all over the world. The Tree of Life still stands majestically in the heavenly Paradise (Rev 22:2). I believe that the Tree of Life remains standing in the same place as it was in the beginning – in the Garden! For thirty-three years, I see the Tree of Life and a Man walking, speaking, loving, and dying for mankind. I believe Jesus is the Tree of Life who walked among us, but who returned to his Root – Father God: “If the root be holy, so are the branches” (Rom 11:16). Who is the “Branch?” Jesus Christ is the main “Branch” from which the other branches off-shoot: “I am the vine (main branch), ye are the branches” (John 15:5).
  To better understand today’s key verses, keep this passage in mind: “But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it” (Mark 4:32). This refers to the mustard plant whose small seed turns into a towering plant which resembles a towering tree.

KEY VERSES: Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent: In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it. (Ezek 17:22-24) 

  My personal belief is that the Tree of Life was the olive tree. Scripture refers to Israel as the Green Olive Tree (Jer 11:16). I believe that references not only the people but them as branches of THE Olive Tree in the Garden whose fruit they could freely eat. However, other woods are used to reference God. For instance, God’s House was walled with cedars of Lebanon. Solomon’s “beloved” is described as, “His countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.” That is the Lord God to whom he wrote his song. In the key verses, the cedar tree refers to God manifested, or Jesus Christ.

The cedar tree is as old as time itself. The Lord will crop off a tender shoot – the baby Jesus, and plant it (Jesus) upon a high mountain (Calvary). And eminent! “Eminence” is “standing above all others” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). That describes the cross and Jesus as eminent over the two adjacent crosses, or more profoundly, eminent over all the people (trees mocking, trees lurking, and trees crying).
  The key verses also describe branches from the eminent cedar tree as, “It shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar.” Disciples of Jesus are the boughs of the eminent cedar tree. The Cedar (Jesus) was the structure of the Church founded in Israel. Not by coincidence to the walls of the Temple being lined with cedars of Lebanon. Christians are the inner structure of the Church, and likely the “lumber for the pillars” as Christians are the pillars of the Church (Rev 3:12). Why of cedar? Cedar is long-lasting, and that passage refers to those who endure in Christ to the end.
  The next message from the key verses is, “Under it (Jesus) shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell.” Now recall the verse that I asked to keep in mind: “But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.” The giant mustard plant and the majestic cedar have commonality; fowls shall dwell under both. Who are the fouls? Refer to the most mysterious riddle in the Bible which is in Ezekiel 17. Fouls are the eagles in that riddle, and they represent nations – one whose twig brought forth a high tree and another a low tree. The “high tree” although it represented Babylon, it too represents the Tree of the Knowledge whose philosophy is of men (the foul fowls).
  The “low tree” whose twigs became majestic, but then withered and died. Although that represents Israel, it also represents to Doctrine of God from the Tree of Life. In the riddle, the question was asked whether it would wither or die. The green tree (Babylon/the Tree of Knowledge) flourished and both shall die. The low tree (Israel/the Tree of Life) will be exalted (from the key verses.) John the revelator saw the Tree of Life still standing on the River of God in the Garden Paradise in Heaven. That great “cedar” (aka olive tree) still stands, but where is the grand Green Tree? The Tree of Knowledge was cut down but the lowly Tree of Life still stands!
  The question arises, When was the tall green tree of knowledge cut down? After it withered and died after serving its purpose! Regarding Judas, “’I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.’ And they said, ‘What is that to us? see thou to that.’ And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself” (Mat 27:4-5). Perhaps it withered and was cut down when Satan died vicariously on the same day that Jesus was crucified on his tree. We know that the fig tree bore no fruit in the parable of the fig tree. That “tree,” representing Judas and Satan, will be burned in the fiery pit, and then there will be no more Tempter!
  Judas betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. That was the price of Jesus’s blood (Mat 27:6) that was spilled from the Jesus Tree when he paid the price for the “birds” who gather under his tree, but also those under the Judas Tree!
   “The love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10), and upon the Judas Tree God was sold out for the love of money. The love of God is the Root of all Good in contrast to the love of money. Indeed, the tree, its roots, its branches and twigs represent nations and men. Whenever scripture starts using trees for admonishment, think of “trees as men walking.”