Article of Faith: Jesus is the tree of life (2), By Femi Aribisala

Death came through one tree. Salvation also came through another tree.

When God decided to destroy mankind through the Flood, He told Noah to build an ark made from trees. This ark, made with gopher wood, was a type of Jesus, the Tree of Life.

Noah’s wooden ark of salvation performed the same function as Jesus’ wooden cross of salvation. Those who sought refuge in Noah’s ark were saved. Similarly, those who seek refuge in Jesus’ ark will be saved.

Aaron’s Rod

Another symbol of Jesus as the Tree of Life, was Aaron’s wooden rod. When God sent Moses to Pharaoh to liberate the children of Israel, He told him to throw down Aaron’s wooden rod. When he did, Aaron’s rod became a serpent.

But why?

As sinful men, we were the children and servants of the devil. So, Jesus, the Tree of Life in Aaron’s rod, became a serpent like sinful man. So that:

In all things (Jesus) had to be made like (us), His brethren, that He might be (for us) a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for (our sins). (Heb 2:17-18).

Jesus used death to defeat death and enthrone life. Therefore, Aaron’s rod became the serpent that swallowed up the serpents of Pharaoh’s magicians, whose rods were diabolically also turned to serpents. Thereby, death was swallowed up in victory by Jesus, the Tree of Life in Aaron’s rod. (1 Corinthians 15:54).

When each of the 12 tribes were required to place wooden rods before the Ark of the Covenant, Aaron’s wooden rod came back to life and budded. It grew flowers and had almonds that were already ripe enough to be eaten. (Number 17:8). In which case, a piece of wood came back alive from the dead.

Aaron’s rod became a type of Jesus, the Tree of Life, who rose from the dead.

Moses’ Wooden Rod

Israel’s salvation from Egyptian slavery also came through a tree, representing Jesus, the Tree of Life. Moses’ wooden rod parted the Red Sea, enabling the Israelites to cross over to safety through the midst of the sea on dry land. When Pharaoh’s army of 600 stubborn pursuer horsemen foolishly followed suit, Moses stretched forth his rod again and the sea rushed backed, drowning the Egyptian army in the waves of the sea.

Therefore, Moses’ wooden rod was a type of Jesus, the Tree of life that brings salvation.

Ark of the Covenant

Still in the wilderness, God told Moses to make the Ark of the Covenant. This was a sacred chest made of acacia wood, covered inside and outside with pure gold.

The ark was like Jesus, a Tree of Life. It served as Emmanuel, God with Israel. It represented God’s physical throne on earth. It inhabited God’s presence in Israel, providing the access denied by the cherubim guarding the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. God’s holy presence in the ark protected the nation, led the Israelites into battle, and atoned for their sins through the mercy seat during sacrificial rituals.

Bronze Snake On Wooden Pole

When the people murmured against God and Moses in the wilderness, God sent serpents to bite and kill them. But when some repented and asked Moses to plead to God on their behalf, and take away the serpents, God asked Moses to do something strange.

The Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live. (Num 21:8).

This harked back to the Garden of Eden, where the serpent, emblematic of Satan, bit Adam and Eve by tricking them into eating the forbidden fruit. Now in the wilderness, salvation came, not by taking the snakes away, but by Moses making a molten serpent and lifting it on a wooden pole.

As with Aaron’s rod, this wooden pole was a type of Jesus, the Tree of Life. Anyone who looked at this serpent was healed of snake bites and lived.

Fourteen centuries later, Jesus pointed out that this bizarre cure was a symbol of his crucifixion.
He said:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14-15).

Curse of the Law

The Law of Moses says:

He who is hanged is accursed of God. (Deut 21:23).

This law was enacted 1,400 years before Jesus was hanged on a tree. This meant that since Jesus was crucified by hanging on a tree, He came under God’s curse. This made Jesus’ crucifixion a stumbling block to the Jews. They reasoned the Messiah could not have been under God’s curse since Jesus was hanged on a tree.

But Paul put this at the centre of the gospel. He recognised that Jesus’ hanging on a tree at Calvary was designed precisely to redeem mankind from God’s curse of the law. So, he says:

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Gal 3:13-14).

In effect,

(God) made (Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor 5:21).

Tree of Life

Death came through one tree. Salvation also came through another tree. Death came through the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Life comes through Jesus, the Tree of Life. Salvation comes as we eat the fruit of Jesus. As we partake of Jesus, we become Trees of Righteousness.

It is important to recognise that Jesus was crucified in a garden.

John says:

Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid. (John 19:41).

So, in one garden, the Garden of Eden, Adam messed up everything for us. But in another garden, the Garden of Calvary, Jesus redeemed all our losses.

Jesus says:

To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. (Rev 2:5).

Blessed are those who do (God’s) commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. (Rev 22:14).

And so, Genesis began with access denied to the Tree of Life. Revelation ends with access gained to the Tree of Life. John says in Revelation:

He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. (Rev 22:1-4).

The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. (Rev 22:17). CONCLUDED.