It is once again time for us to redesign our home, our office, even our mobile phone themes to give way to the Christmas tree. Well, they say that the Christmas tree is a form of pagan practice, that nowhere in the Bible do you see a Christmas tree being put up or being commanded by the law. As for me, I have no idea where or when the practice of the Christmas tree came to be, but as long as the name Jesus CHRIST is lifted up, God is glorified.
I’ve always believed what Paul said in Romans 1:20, that the entire Creation speaks about its Creator. That the constellations themselves speak of Redemption, that numbers speak of God’s order, and that even colours and metals speak truths about The Creator. But this is not the topic for this season. What I’m curious about is what are trees in God’s eyes? What about the Christmas tree which God so honoured that it remains attached and associated with the name of His Son, Jesus Christ?
I believe that God allowed this non-Scriptural practice to persist because the Christmas Tree speaks of truths about God and His Son.
The Christmas Tree
The Christmas Tree is not so unscriptural at all as trees in the Bible are abundant and are easy to interpret. All trees point to The Tree which is found in the beginning of beginnings, The Tree of Life. It is the very tree that when eaten upon brings eternal life to the partaker. Throughout the Bible one will see that this Tree in the Garden points to Jesus Christ who is The Way, The Truth, and The Life (John 14:6).
My conception of The Christmas Tree is one that is made up of 5 levels, all of which symbolizes blessings and gifts from God to man with 5 being The Greatest Gift to 1 being the lesser blessings.
Level 1 – Material Blessings. The lowest point of the Tree symbolizes the lesser gifts. These are the literal gifts given by man to man and they are usually (if not always) in material form. Material blessings or wealth is a blessing indeed but it is a lesser blessing; they are important by they are not the goal. Nevertheless it finds itself grafted in the Tree of Life.
The Lord Jesus’ first miracle is a miracle of wealth. Jesus Christ turned water to wine (John 2). In John 21, Jesus Christ gave a huge business profit for the fishermen.
Level 2 – Physical Blessings. A notch above the material blessings are the blessings of health. It is true what they say, ‘health is wealth’. There is no point being a billionaire if you are paralyzed in bed all day. This is why The Lord Jesus spent the majority of His ministry healing people. Jesus hates disease and He made sure that none of His children are enslaved by such.
Level 3 – Blessings of the Soul/Mind. Here we have the higher blessings which include the Gifts of The Spirit: Love Joy Peace. Included here is Wisdom, which Solomon regarded as ‘more precious than gold, more precious than silver (Proverbs 16:16), more precious than rubies’ (Proverbs 3:15) .
Level 4 – Blessings of the Spirit. Level 4 blessings are too good that they are beyond the comprehension of any man. That’s why The Bible just told us to enjoy it: For God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, His ways are higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). These blessings include the Forgiveness of Sin, the Forgiveness of sins, Righteousness to the Father, not to mention the gift to be called God’s Children. Can you imagine those gifts? The spirit of sonship?! Gifts!! These are all given to us!
If Level 4 blessings already blow our minds away, then what is God’s Greatest Gift to man and Creation? Of course this, being The Greatest of all, reserves the Highest place in The Tree and it is symbolized by something no less than a golden shining Star. It stands far above the rest of the blessings because without Him, no gift nor blessings will ever reach from God to man.
Above The Star there is nothing, beside Him, there is none that can compare. This Greatest Blessing is the reason why we all exist and why we will forever exist. He is the very reason for all the other blessings, the lesser or the greater. And because of Him is the reason why we all rejoice in this festive season. And it is also because of Him why this season is called CHRISTmas.
The Greatest Gift of all – The Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Through the death of ONE MAN, many will be saved. -Romans 5:19
The Greatest blessing, which was freely given to us by God, is the gift of His one and only beloved Son, who had to die on the cross for our sins. Born as man and crucified as a criminal, Jesus Christ cancelled all the penalties of our sin, lifting the curse of our punishments and allowing all of heaven to rain its blessings upon us.
This is the truth behind The Christmas Tree. It tells the story of the sinless Man, who is far above all, crucified so that everyone and everything under Him can live.
In this Christmas of 2013, we remember you, Lord Jesus, and above all, we honour you.
A Merry Christmas to all from Grace Counselling Centre! Amen!