How We Love Our Christmas Trees
Today we are launching our Christmas series because, let’s be honest – now that we have celebrated all that we are thankful for, many people have already turned their attention to Christmas. And what’s the first decoration we all put up to kick off the Christmas season? The TREE!
Now, thinking about Christmas trees, there are quite a few different ways people do their Christmas tree. So, I’ve got a few questions that help determine what kind of Christmas Tree person you are.
- Live or Artificial?
- Tinsel, garland, or not?
- Fancy or sentimental?
- Up before Thanksgiving or after?
- White lights or colored?
- Angel, bow, or star on top?
- Take it down Christmas Day or after the NewYear?
As I already said, today we are kicking off our new series called “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” where we are going to look at the big traditions most associated with Christmas – the stuff that every American, regardless of beliefs, celebrates. But the twist is that I will show you how each of these parts of our Christmas celebration points to the story of Jesus.
Origins of the Christmas Trees
But first, I have to recognize that some of our traditions go much further back than the birth of Jesus. Many in the pagan pre-Christian world decorated their homes in the wintertime with evergreens to remind them of the life to come in the spring. They saw these short days of winter as a sign that the Sun god was weakening. So they celebrated on the Winter solstice (December 21 or 22) that the Sun god was going to get healthy again and the days would lengthen.
Now our version of the Christmas tree has German roots. In the 1500s, the main prop of a popular medieval play about Adam and Eve was a “paradise tree,” a fir tree hung with apples, that represented the Garden of Eden. The Germans set up this paradise tree in their homes on December 24, the religious feast day of Adam and Eve. They hung wafers on it symbolizing the eucharistic. As an old story goes, one night Martin Luther saw the stars around the evergreen trees on his walk home and decided to add candles in his family tree for lights – and that’s why we put lights in our trees today.
Back to the German tradition – In the same room as the Paradise Tree was the “Christmas pyramid,” a triangular construction of wood that had shelves to hold Christmas figurines and was decorated with evergreens, candles, and a star – it was similar in concept to the nativity scenes many of us put out in our homes. And by the 16th century the Christmas pyramid and the paradise tree had merged, becoming the Christmas tree.
Interestingly, the Puritans said absolutely NOT! To the New England Puritans, Christmas was sacred. The pilgrim’s second governor, William Bradford, wrote that he tried hard to stamp out “pagan mockery” of the observance, penalizing any frivolity. The influential Oliver Cromwell preached against “the heathen traditions” of Christmas carols, decorated trees, and any joyful expression that desecrated “that sacred event.” In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts enacted a law making any observance of December 25 (other than a church service) a penal offense; people were fined for hanging decorations.
But finally, in the early 1800s with the influx of German and Irish immigrants, the Christmas tree became mainstream in America. However, even today, you can find YouTube videos and blogs asking if Christians should celebrate Christmas.
Christmas Tree of Life?
Now I know, some of you might be wondering how I’m going to take a pagan tradition, outlawed by the puritans and turn this into a Biblically based message for you today. But I love a challenge!
Now remember, the basis for our Christmas tree goes back to the German tradition of bringing in a Paradise Tree – the tree of Life! So let’s start there – where the tree of life is first mentioned in the Bible.
The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2:9
So Adam and Eve were able to eat from the tree of life. The command they were given was not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
But then, when Adam and Eve sinned and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil – once their eyes were open to right and wrong, that is when God banned them from the garden so they could not continue to eat from the Tree of Life and have eternal life in a sinful state.
And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.
Genesis 3:22
From this moment in history forward, God’s desire has been to get us back to the tree of life.
Cross as Eternal Tree of Life
As we cross from the Tree of Life found into the Old Testament, there is an important tree in the story of Jesus which is key to our eternal life. Lets take a look:
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”
1 Peter 2:24
Do you see here, how what we always refer to as a cross, is here referred to as a tree. And it’s important to see the cross as a tree because of the connection Paul makes to the Galatians between Christ’s death on the cross and the curse given to those hung on a tree in the Old Testament.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
Galatians 3:13
Think about this for a moment: Jesus as the vine is the new tree of life. We are instructed to eat from this tree when Jesus tells us to “Eat my flesh and drink my blood.” Our act of taking communion is a reminder that we receive the eternal life we so desire when we eat from this new tree of eternal life, from the body of Jesus Christ who took the curse for all our sins onto his very body as he hung on a tree on Golgotha.
And now, because of Jesus’ act of incredible grace and mercy, we are given a choice between life and death. Jesus is the tree of life. This new tree of life has overcome the power of death. So to obtain the eternal life with God that He originally desired for us, all we have to do is choose Jesus – to abide in him, put our faith in him, and demonstrate our trust in him by joining the family of God as we participate in communion – eating from the tree of eternal life – Jesus Christ!
The Tree of the Life to Come
After this beautiful picture of Jesus becoming the tree of Life for us, the Bible is not yet done speaking of this tree of eternal life. You see, in Revelation, where the Bible describes the new heaven and the new earth, what our eternal home will be like, we find the tree of the life to come for all of us to once again enjoy the fruit of.
Revelation 2:7 – Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Revelation 22:2 – On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:14 – Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
I love how God takes his original design in the garden of Eden and through all the ups and downs of history – even with all our sin, rebellion, and disobedience, he still offers us a way to be reunited with him and to experience the eternal life he destined us for. And it’s not minor part of our future home – it is mentioned these 3 times – showing the significance it plays for our eternal state.
Our Response to this Offer of Eternal Life
The question each of us has to decide, however, is if we believe this offer for eternal life truly exists for us, and if the path scripture describes for how we can obtain eternal life is actually true. You see, I think most people WANT eternal life. People want to stay young and stay healthy forever – that’s what keeps the skin care, hair dye, vitamin and supplement industries all going strong. People are afraid of aging and death – because for those without a hope for eternity, that marks the end.
But God created us to be eternal beings, and that’s why we have this desire to live forever – that’s not by accident. Take a look at what the Teacher in Ecclesiastes says:
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.
Ecclesiastes 3:11
Do you see, God set eternity in our hearts! And he offers us a way to experience that eternal life. But we have to follow his route, rather than the myriad of paths offered to us that falsely offer eternal life. We can’t buy any product to give us the life we desire. We can be successful enough, or achieve enough fame to ever make us actually immortal. Even the most important people throughout history are quickly forgotten.
God is the only one who can point us toward the path of eternal life with him. First, it was through the tree of life He put in the garden of Eden. But when Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the garden, our eternal life came from the fruit of an unlikely tree, the broken body of our Savior, hung on a cross as a curse for the sin of Adam and Eve and every one of us. And as our physical bodies wear out, we sit longing to eat from the Tree of the Life to Come – from the tree in the new center of the city in the new earth God has created to spend eternity with us all.
Each and every one of us have been offered eternal life because of the One we celebrate this Christmas season. And if you haven’t yet put your faith in Jesus, I encourage you to take that step today. Choose the life that comes only through the life of Jesus Christ and stop chasing all the false paths which you already know never leave you fully satisfied.
A New View of Your Christmas Tree
Now when you go home and look at your Christmas tree or if you haven’t put it up, when you finally get around to doing that – I hope you will look at your tree in a whole new way. Don’t think that your Christmas tree is just a fun decoration to place your presents under. You see, that tree in your home you cover with ornaments from various life moments and memories is more than just a celebration of a season in winter. It is a reminder of the eternal life that God offers to each and every one of us.
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