The Bible is like a Tree

The Bible is like a Tree

A tree has roots, a trunk, and fruit.  The Bible also has roots, a trunk, and fruit.

The roots of the Bible is the Old Testament.

The trunk of the Bible is the New Testament.

The fruit of the Bible is Our Testament.

The tree of life is at the very beginning of the Bible, at the very end, and also the centerpiece of the Bible.

The Old Testament is the roots of the Bible.  In the Beginning the Father planted a garden, and there were two specific trees, the tree of life and the tree of knowledge (tree of death – because they died).  The tree of life would have to wait, and so the Father planted a people, the people of Israel.  The Old Testament is rooted in the people of Israel, hidden underneath that culture.   Why do I not understand the Old Testament?  It is because I am not an ancient Israelite, and also because I am unwilling to dig. 

The New Testament is the trunk of the Bible.  What is the most famous tree in the whole Bible?  The tree that Christ hung from, the cross.  The tree of death became the tree of life.  Out of the roots of the Father in the people of Israel, grows up the trunk of the Son, the cross, which many stumble over.  The message of the cross is the foolishness of God, and with our human wisdom it trips us up.  To die is to live?

Our Testament is the fruit of the Bible.  The fruit of the Spirit is ours for the taking:  love, joy, peace, patience. . .  “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”  We taste of the fruit of God, no less that the tree of life, and the Spirit speaks to us in our language.  Once we eat of the fruit of the Spirit, the roots of the Father dig into us, and in our lives grows up the trunk of the Son, the suffering cross, and from our lives the Spirit brings forth fruits – love, joy, peace, patience. . .   But if the fruit of the Spirit is our Testament, and we are a Bible for people to read, there are not enough our Testaments, not enough Bibles.

Roots/Trunk/Fruit – seen in Psalm 22

1.        The Roots of the Father (OT) in the King of Israel, David, and his suffering life, he cries a prayer, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

2.       The Trunk of the Son (NT) in the suffering of Christ on the cross, and he cries a prayer, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

3.       The Fruit of the Spirit (Our T) in our own suffering, the Spirit helps us to express even groanings like, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

The tree is one tree and Father, Son, and Spirit flow through the whole tree, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, to our Testament, what He speaks to us even right now.