God's Christmas Tree
"Did you know that the custom of the Christmas tree began in Germany over 1300 years ago? It was originally called, "The Christbaum" or "Christ tree."
"The first known decorated Christmas tree was in the city of Riga, in the country of Latvia, in the year 1510. It was because of a great Christian, who we have all heard of, named Martin Luther, that the Christmas tree came to mean to us what it means today.
"Martin Luther lived about 500 years ago and as he was walking through the woods, late in the evening, it was getting dark, and as he looked at the trees in the forest, he noticed behind them a beautiful backdrop of stars. He came up with the idea of trying to reproduce the effect of having stars on trees. In 1535, he decorated a small Christmas tree with candles for his children to show them how the stars twinkle through the night. Martin Luther was actually the first person in history that brought the Christmas tree from the outside to the inside.
"How does all of this relate to God's Christmas tree? I believe the first real Christmas tree was found in Jerusalem, 2000 years ago in the shape of a cross. In fact, it is amazing when you think about it how Jesus Christ was related to wood all of his life. When He was born, He was laid in a wooden manger. He grew up as a carpenter, working with wood to make a living. When He died, He died on a wooden cross that amazingly the Bible refers to as a tree.
"It is incredible when you go back and study God's word how the Bible actually refers to both Jesus Christ and His death on the cross by the word "tree." There are actually two Greek words that are used in the New Testament for the cross. One is the word "stauros" and it simply means an upright pail or stake which would take various forms at various times. It was a word that was used of the Roman instrument of crucifixion. "
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Keywords: christmas, cross, christmas tree, christ, manger, carpenter
