Oh my goodness, this passage hit me right between the eyes while I was doing a Bible search on another subject!
Matthew 13:31. He spoke another parable in figure to them and said. The Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32. And it is smaller than all the small seeds, but when it grows, it is greater than all the small herbs, and becomes a tree so that the birds of heaven come and nest in its branches. (AENT)
WOW! Even though I've read this passage a gazillion times, what came to me as I read it this morning was that we humans are like that tiny mustard seed. We all have the ability to grow and bloom right where we are planted, and thus become a "tree" where the "birds of heaven" can come to nest.
Trees, no matter what kind or size they are, have their roots firmly planted in the earth (which is their physical sustenance) as they relentlessly strive to grow upward, toward the heavens. They are symbols of life and strength and steadfastness. Children climb them, people admire them; they provide fruit, nuts, homes for certain animals and insects; shade, or simple conversation for old folks sitting on their porch reminiscing.
They've been used to build houses and strong fortresses and boats, wagons, tools and toys.
A tree, through no fault of its own, helped cause the downfall of man (Genesis 3:5-7), but Y'shua died on a tree - and the death of our perfect and sinless Messiah ultimately resulted in the salvation of mankind (Matthew 27, Acts 10:34-39, etc.)....
I see trees as evidence of YHWH.
ReplyDeleteThey grow straight up, not in spirals, and when you cut them down they don't just turn to a putrefied mess, rather, you can dry them and cut them and shape them and nail them and they last more than a human lifetime. Tell me that is not of God?
I had a dream last night and it go like this.
ReplyDeleteThere was a man with me as I am outside at the back of the house, there were trees of kinds but the bamboo tree got my attention as it grows tall and full of leaves. I told the man that it was a bamboo tree as I recognized it. Then the man bring me to the front porch of the house and showed me a populated place with almost no tree existed. He told that soon all of the trees will be gone and the rich people doesn't care about them including all the poor people live below the hill. What the rich people care about is where they walk. They're spending lots of money and made the walkway concrete for them to walk.
Very revealing dream and I am asking YHWH for wisdom and understanding.
Shalom Sister Carmen,
Is dendrochronology a good thing to use when measuring ages? The reason that I ask is this article:
ReplyDeletehttp://6000years.org/frame.php?page=noahs_ark
Yes, but with all scientific techniques, dendrochronology has its limits. Unlike a living tree, which reveals the number of years, since it first sprouted, confirming the year it began growing, the year of origin of an ancient tree sample is not revealed by the rings alone. All you know is the age of the tree when it stopped growing. So to determine when a petrified tree trunk lived, other techniques must be used. In the case of the article you referenced, you have to realize it is heavily biased and contains a lot of indefensible, unsupported, and unverified claims about the “Ark” found in Turkey.
DeleteFor example, the article states (in a photo caption): “Petrified wood deck timber - note that there are no tree rings found in any of the timber samples. This is as we would expect from the pre-flood world, where there were no seasons due to the protective water canopy surrounding the earth.” The sample is not proven to be “Petrified wood deck timber”, nor is it certain (or likely) that there were “no seasons”, even if the earth were covered by a “protective water canopy”. So to assume trees would not have had rings at the time of the Flood is indefensible. We also have no idea what “gopher wood” is/was as referred to by its single use in scripture (Genesis 6:14), so even if you find a verified piece of wood in the Ark in Turkey, it can’t be assumed to be “gopher wood” for we have no samples of “gopher wood” to compare! And without knowledge of what “gopher wood” was, we don't know if it had rings or not!