Skip to main content

Wood: a Basis for a Beginning, an End and a New Beginning


Hands placed the baby in a manger.  The manger was likely made of wood and normally was a type of feeding trough for animals.

Hands placed the man on a cross.  The cross was made of wood and was used to crucify those sentenced to death.

A wooden manger represented a very humble environment in which to be placed.  As it was designed as a place where animals would be fed, the baby likely shared living space with animals.

A wooden cross represented a very humiliating way to die.  A crucifixion was normally held in a very public place.  Since two other criminals were crucified with Him, He shared dying space with criminals.

Jesus voluntarily left heaven and dwelt among mankind in human form.  Such form started out in the womb of a woman and then He first actually appeared as a baby.  By becoming human in this way, He allowed Himself to be placed in that manger.

Jesus voluntarily remained among mankind through to adulthood.  At one point, caught up in the legal system, He was put through a sham trial and was declared guilty.  While He was actually innocent, He allowed Himself to be placed on that cross.

If you’ve read this far, you may already know (or maybe should know), how the Apostle Paul framed a “beginning” for Jesus:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” (Phil 2:5-7)

The Apostle Paul also framed an “end”:

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  (Phil 2:8)

While many might look back at the crucifixion and the death of Christ and see it as the end, it was actually a “new beginning” since Jesus was raised from the dead.  The Apostle Paul framed it this way:

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  (Phil 2:9-11)

Wood, while such a very basic organic part of the earth, played a part in Jesus’ willingness to dwell among mankind.  Wood was also a part of His humility and shame but more so, it was part of His victory as He dealt with our sin and conquered death.

Wood, while such a very basic organic part of the earth, can point us so clearly to a Savior and also to a new beginning!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excel Still More!

To excel, according to some of the meanings from a few dictionaries, is to surpass others, do extremely well, outdo, do something better than anyone else. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1, we find the phrase “excel still more”.   It prompts the question:  if we are already doing something better than anyone else, why would we be encouraged to do even more? Perhaps it would be helpful to see the wording that other translations use for “excel still more” to see why we would be encouraged to do so.  Here is a sampling: • abound more and more • to keep doing so more and more • but try even harder • live that way more and more. • that you progress even more. • that you increase more and more in how you ought to walk Maybe it would also be helpful to see some other verses where the word “excel” is used: “Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means Dorcas); this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.”...
Post a Comment
Read more

Value Proposition

Value proposition:  it’s a marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service.  It should clearly and concisely communicate what customers can gain from selecting a particular brand over that of its competitors. In a value proposition, you don’t want your product to be viewed as being worth less than what your competitors offer.   But even worse, in a bit of a quirk of how letters and spaces can fall, if you take out the space between “worth” and “less”, you get “worthless”, which means something of no value.   If that word is used in conjunction with how your product is viewed by customers, it’s a word that will likely kill your brand. In the book of Philippians, the Apostle Paul, in a sense, communicated some value propositions. In chapter three, he starts off with describing the value of some things that many considered as extremely valuable in that day and age.   They had to do with status and achievement in the reli...
Post a Comment
Read more

Outrun the What?

“Outrun the rays”!  It’s a phrase I noticed on a billboard.  I think it’s a public service type campaign.  The intent, I assume, is to get people out of the harmful rays of the sun that can cause things like skin cancer.  But you really can’t outrun the rays, they travel at about 186,282 miles per second! Yet the campaign has a certain appeal to it.   “Outrun” sounds a lot like a competition and maybe it gets the competitive juices going for some.   Yet, try as you may, you still can’t outrun the rays, but you can implement strategies to avoid them.   And most of those strategies have a simple foundational aspect to them; you avoid the rays by finding some type of covering. Strategies for covering up from the rays include being in shaded areas, putting on clothing that blocks the rays or putting on sun screen. While the sun’s rays can certainly cause significant physical harm and cover is essential to combat that, there are also areas of our live...
Post a Comment
Read more