A reading from Mark:
“And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Neither go into the town, nor tell it to any in the town.”
Mark 8:22-26 (KJV)
According to estimates by a global coalition of scientists, there are approximately 73,300 tree species in the world, with 9,000 of them still to be discovered. 1 The most recent data I could find on how many trees are currently on the Earth in 2024 was published in 2015 in a Nature Video. 2 I find that disturbing since we have advanced exponentially in satellite technology since then, but I digress. The journal estimated approximately 3.04 trillion trees. That’s still a lot of trees!
Now, let’s delve into the fascinating world of tree growth. Have you ever pondered over how trees grow or how they were commanded to grow?
Take a look at Genesis 1:9-13 which describes the day God created trees. In this passage, it is said that God commanded the Earth to bring forth vegetation, including trees, and it was so. This is a beautiful illustration of the power and wonder of nature’s growth established that day.
And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day.
Genesis 1:9-13 (KJV)
TREES WERE CREATED ON THE THIRD DAY
The Earth was obedient to its calling. The first command from God was for it to bring forth, or “spring forth,” grass, herbs with seed, and the fruit tree with seed of its own kind. The Earth system was perfect. If we look at how a tree grows, we can see it expands in two directions at once: roots in the ground and a canopy above the ground. This duality is a tree’s natural state. Think of it also in a spiritual sense: what is seen and what is unseen.
Once the seed is in fertile soil, the root system begins to go deeper because the tree’s instinctive nature is to anchor itself and find water and nutrients. This process, driven by gravity, is called the gravitropic process. Interestingly, tree roots usually occupy a diameter three to four times the tree’s crown.
Above ground, the tree will extend its branches upwards, searching for light. This is called the phototropic process. Phototropic simply means the tree is attracted to light. It turns or changes in response to it. Photosynthesis occurs when carbon dioxide and sunlight combine with the supply of water and nutrients to feed the tree. The tree is mandated to incorporate the four elements for its energy to grow taller. Still, it is the light it “responds” to. However, a tree is set and does not move from where it is planted. It can be nurtured and pruned, dug up and moved to better ground, grown until natural death, or cut off to never grow again. In any of these scenarios, expansion, or better yet, multiplication occurs. In each acorn or fruit that a tree produces, there is a forest waiting to appear that will repeat the seasons over and over again.
Have you ever seen a tree walk to a farmer’s market and sell its fruit? A tree will never go into the marketplace to sell what it has; it stands, produces fruit, and lets the market come to it. Why? Because it knows what it is and what it is supposed to make. It waits for who is attracted to what fruit is brought forth.
THE TEST OF MANKIND
Adam and the woman God made for him were allowed to eat everything in the Garden except what the Lord kept as His portion, the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. It was the original principle of the tithe. He never wanted His family to know that knowledge. I will interject something here. Consider how many things we know today that we were not meant to learn and are part of that tree. Much knowledge is being taught today (Titus 1:11), teachings that they “ought not to do” that only lead to physical wealth and do not lead to God’s original intent for His blessing by faith. This is a heart matter and is not mentioned to condemn the wealthy, only to point out what cannot be seen; a man’s heart is where that determination is made. God alone has that authority.
The Baobab Tree. It is also Called the “Upside down tree” or “The Tree Of Life”
• Long-lived trees native to the islands of Madagascar, mainland Africa, and Australia
• Reach heights from 33 ft up to 100 ft with large single or multiple trunks ranging from 10 ft up to 33 ft in diameter.
• The trunks are stems that grow and fuse to make hollow bark rings.
• The flowers only open at dusk, and many species use bats for pollination.
• The oval fruit can be eaten or made into powder; its leaves are eaten as a vegetable.
• Some species of seeds are used as vegetable oil.
• Some of the oldest Baobab trees (1,100 to 2,500 years old) began dying in 2005, one being the approximately 2,500 years old Panke baobab tree in Zimbabwe which collapsed in 2011.
For instance, how many have to die, be mutilated, or have their lives destroyed in trials and downright “Josef Mengele” experiments before a medicine or modality is put “on the market?” Should not science–any field–seek to improve health not for their gain but for the service of mankind’s expansion? This practice comes directly from the wrong tree. And, it is not limited to science alone, but all knowledge that falls into what God calls “the accursed thing.”
I always wanted to know why God did not accept Cain’s offering. Well, we are witnessing it today. It wasn’t that he brought his second best or God was an afterthought; he was getting a harvest from the wrong tree. We are commanded to be on the side of life, not to murder one another for it; to do no harm. God was the one who took responsibility for overcoming death. He gave His Son as atonement before a tree was even established on the Earth or a Man was made out of its ground. He knew His Son was the only one capable of serving ONLY ONE GOD–the God of ALL CREATION, El Shaddai–and not trespass into knowledge reserved only for Him. He died on that tree to free us from its fruit! And remember, Jesus Christ foretold the signs of His second coming, but only the Father knows the day and hour of His judgment. It is God alone who knows (see Matthew 24:36).
There are several myths about the Baobab tree. One of them tells of a sky god who was so displeased with the tree that he removed it from his garden and cast it down away from the heavens. When it arrived on Earth, it landed upside down and began to grow.
FROM ONE ALL ISRAEL SINNED – ONE BODY
We know that from Adam’s sin, all mankind fell into a state or “mindset” of sin. Throughout the Bible, we see the redemptive process from Adam to Noah, Moses, Joshua, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all the way to Jesus Christ and the return of the Messiah. This process included God cleaning out “Israel’s House,” as we see in the story of the Israelites taking Jericho and then losing at Ai.
We know the tithe was established in Genesis chapter one. The tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil was God’s. It was His portion, and Israel knew it. So what happened in the small town of Ai (which means a heap of ruins) that would cause Israel to forget their roots, or even worse, ignore the signs and wonders that came from the unseen into the seen by God’s power?
After the Israelites defeated the metropolitan city of Jericho through their obedience to God’s commands, the conquest of this small town seemed like a breeze. They didn’t even take all the men, only about 2-3,000. However, during the offensive, Achan (troubler), from the tribe of Judah, stole not only monetary items but also knowledge in Ai that was forbidden. He “transgressed in the thing accursed.” (See Joshua 6-7; I Chronicles 2:7) What was the accursed thing? It is specific knowledge that was reserved only for God. God saw them as one unit, one body, and that is why they lost the first battle at Ai.
This is how it played out after they were chased away by this little rabble known as Ai. Joshua goes before God, giving an account of how His enemies would see their defeat, encamp around them, and wipe their name off the face of the Earth. He asks God, “What will you do for your great name then?” God commands Joshua to go through the ranks to find the one who sinned and deal with him. Achan confesses, and his punishment is set. Joshua takes Achan (Joshua 7:18-26), his family, and all that he had in his possession, stoned them, and then burned them in what’s called the Valley of Achor. This literally means the valley of trouble or disturbance. The fruit of the tree, yet again, was consumed, and the curse was applied in the righteous judgment of God.
Everyone loves to quote Solomon as the wisest man on Earth, yet forget that he was given that wisdom directly from the promise of God to fulfill his heart’s desire (see 2 Chronicles 1:10), and not by consuming the knowledge of the world–the wrong tree. He did not ask for wealth, possessions, honor, long life, or death to his enemies, and it was granted to him wisdom and knowledge to govern God’s people. Wealth was a byproduct of his request of the Lord, not the actual request, and it was the Lord who “highly exalted” him (see 1 Chronicles 29:25).
“Wisdom is like a baobab tree: no one individual can embrace it.”
–African proverb
However, the wisdom and knowledge he was granted did not negate the Law of God. That is where his roots were supposed to be anchored, and his boughs were to remain covered for continued growth. He forgot the word of God and was led astray by the wrong tree. He went to Egypt to buy horses (1 Kings 10:28), married the daughter of Pharaoh (1 Kings 3:1), and married many women (I Kings 11:3). Let me be clear, God did not curse Solomon; the curse was built into his disobedience, and he was aware of what would happen. Deuteronomy 17:14-20 lays out the specifics, and it is essential to read them before continuing:
14 When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;
15 Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.
16 But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.
17 Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
18 And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites:
19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life: that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them:
20 That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he, and his children, in the midst of Israel. Deuteronomy 17:14-20 (KJV).
Solomon consumed the very fruit that would consume him, and the Lord was angry with him because his heart was “turned from the Lord God of Israel.” (See 1 Kings 11) The tithe, the portion of a man that should be reserved for God alone, was breached. He forgot the word of the Lord. His growth ceased to draw from the roots of the power given to him by God, and he grew accordingly. He died around the age of fifty-five.
MANKIND’S SINFUL FOCUS
Mankind is in a state of sin, living out the physical suspension of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. We walk around the Earth in our “man-made” leaf covering and consume–some willingly and others unbeknown to them–knowledge reserved only for God. He gave us free will to choose (or not to choose) to understand what Christ did for us to return us to our original state: Spiritual Beings who were in the presence of God the Father in Eden.
What we focus on and believe in our hearts is what we become. If a person thinks they are just a product of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and its covering, they have been deceived by the one who seduced the woman. That tree wants you to believe in its fruit and what it achieves through using and perverting the natural systems God established in Genesis chapter one. It seeks the dark places reserved for God alone to achieve its goals. As laid out in this article, the dark is not only night but any area where humans were forbidden to seek knowledge reserved only for God. He is a jealous God and wants each of us to desire Him and Him alone. That takes faith!
FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT – THE TREE OF LIFE
David’s Psalm 23 is one of my favorites. It is all about God accomplishing everything good in our lives, so His name is made great, not yours or mine. David knew there would come a day when it would be made possible for all men to see who they truly were. There would come a time, appointed by God, that would redeem His children from the consequences of their disobedience. In turn, that day would reveal the unseen Tree of Life that would usher in all the promises of God the Father into this world and the Hope of a life of eternity with Him.
The fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil requires the Law. However, the Tree of Life, the one we should be rooted in, manifests differently. Its fruit is produced in the Spirit. It is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such fruit, there is no Law.
We began this journey in Mark chapter eight and will conclude there. Jesus, the physical man, filled with the invisible Christ, came to Bethsaida (physical), which means the house of the fish (spirit). The disciples bring a man to Him who is physically blind and mentally blind. They ask Him to touch or fasten Himself to the man. This happens in two places: one you can see and one you cannot. Jesus took him by the hand and led him out of Bethsaida (physical). And when He spit on his eyes and put His hand on him, it expanded his physical vision. Jesus asked if he “saw ought.” (Remember, the wrong tree bears fruit it ought not) When the man looked up, he said, “I see men as trees walking.” That’s what he saw in the physical healing. But Christ was not done. After his reply, Christ put His “hands” on his eyes again and made him look up. The man was restored in both physical and spiritual sight, and every man was seen as a spiritual child of God no longer bound to the wrong tree.
May the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob open your eyes to what He has in store for you as a child of God. Amen.
1. Elizabeth K. Gardner, “First-of-its-kind estimate of the total number of tree species,” Purdue University, Agriculture News, accessed May 1, 2024, https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2022/Q1/first-of-its-kind-estimate-of-the-total-number-of-tree-species.html. 2. “How Many Trees Are There in the World?” Scientific American, accessed May 1, 2024, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-many-trees-are-there-in-the-world-video/.
Feature Image: Bigstock.com | Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible.
