“Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice” (Psalm 96:12).

It has been said that all of creation points upward toward its Creator, from the lowliest grass to the tallest tree. Trees are prominently featured in the Scriptures. The cedars of Lebanon, referenced more than any other, are pictures of strength and endurance. The olive tree is employed as a picture of peace and prosperity. Its leaf was brought back to Noah (Genesis 8:11). The palm tree is a picture of victory and rejoicing. Employed at the Lord’s triumphal entry (John 12:13), it will even have a special role in heaven (Revelation 7:9). Space would fail to tell of the constancy of shittim wood, the weeping of the willow, the fruitfulness of the fig, the juniper, wormwood, etc.

Salvation’s drama can be pictured with three very significant trees. Genesis 2:8, 9 tells how God planted a garden and placed in it the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the drama that unfolds through the next chapter, this tree becomes the centerpiece in man’s first sin and God’s subsequent judgment. Its forbidden fruit symbolizes forever the tragedy of man’s fall.

In the second act we see the Creator Himself, who lovingly planted the trees for man, stretched out to die upon a tree! Galatians 3:13 states: “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.” Christ took away the curse of sin and the tree of Calvary stands forever as a symbol of our glorious redemption.

The final act in heaven prominently features the tree of life: “In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2). DW