25 Apr: The Healing Tree
Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat? Genesis 3:11
Scripture Reading: Genesis 3:1–11
For around $300,000, you could own a brand-new McLaren 720S—a sleek sports car with a V8 engine pushing out 710 horsepower. That’s far more power than anyone needs just to get to work.
But having that kind of speed can be tempting. One driver in Virginia found that out the hard way. Just a day after buying his McLaren, he crashed it into a tree. In only twenty-four hours, it went from a luxury showroom to total wreckage. Thankfully, he walked away from the accident.
It’s interesting how a “tree” and a bad decision can change everything so quickly. Just three chapters into the Bible, we see God’s perfect creation get scarred by a single choice involving a tree. Adam and Eve ate from the one tree God told them to avoid (Genesis 3:11), and before the story could even get moving, paradise was under a curse (verses 14–19).
However, the story doesn’t end in the wreckage. Another tree—the cross—was used to break that curse. By enduring the cross, Jesus paid the price to secure our future with Him (Deuteronomy 21:23; Galatians 3:13).
The Bible actually brings this whole “tree” theme full circle in its final chapter. John describes the “tree of life” thriving next to the “river with the water of life” (Revelation 22:1–2). This isn’t a tree of judgment or a site of a crash; it’s for “healing the nations” (verse 2). The best part? We’re promised that “no longer will there be a curse upon anything” (verse 3). It’s the ultimate restoration—the “happily ever after” we were always meant to have.
By: Asher Christman
Go deeper on: The Healing Tree
Reflect & Pray
How do we already experience the reality of Jesus’ victory over sin and death today? What do you think is an appropriate response to His sacrifice for us?
Father, don’t let me forget the price it cost Your Son to undo the curse we set in motion way back in the garden of Eden. All I can say is thank You. All I can give You is my life.