Tree of Life

I almost dropped my chicken nugget. My mouth hit the floor and I sat up straighter in my seat. My eyes opened wide as I read the words on the page, and I think I may have gasped. I forgot about the chicken nugget for a moment as the words came alive and the meaning of what I was reading became clear. Crystal clear. 

I immediately called my best friend. You will not beLIEVE what I am about to tell you, I said. When I told her what I had called to tell her, there was a split second pause...Excuse me? she said. I repeated what I had just said a second time. I could hear her rifling through her Bible. Well maybe that's an exaggeration, but I know she was looking. One of the greatest things she and I have in common is our love of the Bible, and anytime one of us digs out a nugget (not the poultry kind), we are quick to share. This one was a doozy. Then she saw it, too. I imagine if she had a chicken nugget, she would have let it fall to the floor. It was that earth shattering. 

I couldn't contain my excitement, but I had to give her a little back story. 

I am so glad I went to church yesterday, I told her. 

The pastor was teaching from Psalm 1. Blessed (happy, fortunate, prosperous, and enviable) is the man who walks and lives not in the counsel of the ungodly (following their advice, plans, or purposes), nor stands (submissive and inactive) in the path where sinners walk, nor sits down (to relax and rest) where the scornful (and mockers) gather. 

But his delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on his law (the precepts, instructions, and teachings of God) he habitually meditates (ponders and studies) by day and night. 

He shall be like a tree firmly planted (and tended) by the streams of water, ready to bring forth it's fruit in it's season; it's leaf shall not fade or wither; and everything he does shall prosper (and come to maturity). 

It was this last part, the part about the tree that had me wondering. I was remembering a couple of other trees I had read about in the Bible. One of them was in Genesis. In fact, there are several trees mentioned in Genesis. There are regular trees, like the ones we see every day. Then there was a special tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, you know the one. Adam and Eve ate from it and brought down the curses on us all.  Paradise lost. 

Then there was that other mysterious tree in the Garden of Eden, the Tree of Life. I always wondered about that. What was that about? God told them they could eat from any tree in the garden,  and does not exclude the Tree of Life  when he tells them so, but they wanted that other tree. The only one that was off limits.

Isn't that just like us, to want the one we have been told we can't have? 

Then there is a Tree of Life in Revelation. The Bible describes it in beautiful detail. 

Then he showed me the river, whose waters give life, sparkling like crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the lamb through the middle of the broadway of the city; also on either side of the river was the tree of life, with it's twelve varieties of fruit, yielding each month it's fresh crop; and the leaves of the trees were for the healing and restoration of the nations. 

It sounds so much like the tree in Psalm 1 that I wondered if they could be the same. It never hurts to be curious, so when I got home I did a tiny one minute comparison. And it turned into something else entirely. Before I knew it I was flipping back and forth from Genesis, to Revelation, and dipping my toes back down in Psalms, where I started. I also had my phone open with my Strong's App, that gives me the Hebrew meaning of every word. And that's when I noticed it. 

All the trees in Genesis, and Psalms have the same Hebrew meaning. Even the Tree of Life in Genesis. Ets is the Hebrew word, with a little hat over the E.  Tree, wood, timber. Wood, pieces of wood. Definitions I expect for the word tree. Not earth shattering. 

But. Then. I saw that the Greek word for tree in Revelation does not mean the same as in Genesis. Or Psalms. This tree is different. The word for this tree is Xulon. 

It means that which is made of wood. As a beam from which anyone is suspended, a gibbet. 

A cross. 

And that is why I almost dropped my chicken nugget. The Tree of Life...is a cross. Paradise regained.