Beginning...and the End (Pastor Greg Hudson, 10/11/25)

Believe it or not, trees tell stories. Have you

experienced that before? It's not there anymore,

but when I was at Southern back in the 1900s,

the old days, if you walk down the promenade

of Southern, there's a little detour down on

the one end and it's called the Prayer Garden.

That's still there. There's some little seating

places, some places to pray or contemplate. But

there used to be there a big giant slice of a

tree that was there. A big tree. And there was

a bench in front of that tree. And I see a few

people nodding like they saw that tree as well.

And if you look at a cross -section of a tree,

there's a bunch of rings, right? And what do

those rings represent? Each ring is approximately

a year. how much the tree has grown during the

past year. And someone had taken the time to

count the rings on this tree. And I forget what

year it started, but the year it had fallen down

or the year it was chopped down, and they began

to count back. And they could say, well, this

was the year that Southern was founded. And this

was the year that the school first started in

Graysville. And this was when the Civil War was.

And this was when George Washington was president.

This was when the pilgrims came on the Mayflower.

And it counted back about 400 years of history

from that one tree. And we can recognize that

trees tell stories. If you were to go down to

Camp Kalaqua in Florida, High Springs, that's

where the one gentleman was transferring to.

At Camp Kalaqua, there's a... spring that bubbles

up out of the ground and it's cold if you go

swimming in there and around that spring and

down the river there's a boardwalk and you can

begin to walk down that boardwalk and it's not

too far that you get and there's a little overlook

and there's a sign and there's a particular tree

that has a name this particular tree anybody

know what it's named not no it's called big dan

Big Dan is the name of this tree. And they haven't

counted the rings because the tree is still alive.

But just from its size, they estimate that this

tree of Big Dan is about 2 ,000 years old. 2

,000 years old. Perhaps starting to grow around

684 B .C., before Christ. So 2 ,000 years old.

So you can imagine. how much history that big

tree has observed, how much history that tree

has witnessed. Many of you know that I used to

teach just down the road at Georgia Cumberland

Academy. The very first pastor of the church

that first formed on that campus before it was

a school was a gentleman by the name of Arthur

W. Spalding. He later became kind of famous for

writing children's books. There's a school that

used to be named for him right up the road. And

if you were to read his biography, I don't know

if it's an autobiography, but it tells the story

of when he was a young preacher, he would go

into the woods on that property and he would

practice his sermons preaching to the trees so

they could hear that message of God, so he could

work on it, so he could... practice. Years later,

when that campus was purchased by the conference

to become Georgia Cumberland Academy in the 60s,

they actually planted some trees there for beautification

so it would look nice. And they planted several

rows along the entry road of dogwoods. And by

the time I was there in the 2000s, some of those

trees, you know, 40 years old now, had become

diseased, had died. And so they had to cut some

of them down and they planted new ones. But as

they cut some down, they cut some of them up

into little wood slivers and they passed them

out with a little stamp of the school seal there.

And on the back it says, this slice of dogwood

is a little piece of GCA history taken from a

tree planted here in 1962. So over... 40 years?

50 years? How many families did these trees have

drive by as they're dropping their kids off on

the first day of school with probably tears in

mama's eyes and excitement in the kids' eyes?

So those trees can certainly tell stories. And

today we're going to look at some stories in

the Bible of trees, that trees share with us.

We're going to go back to the very beginning.

To Genesis is where we're going to start. But

before we're through, we're going to see about

three different scenes that involve trees. And

these scenes actually sum up the entire story

of salvation. You know, in just less than two

weeks, right in this room, we're going to start

a series called The Future Unfolding. Looks kind

of like this. The Future Unfolding. That starts

two weeks from yesterday, from last night. And

then for about two weeks, every night but Wednesday,

we're going to invite people to come and to learn

that story of salvation through the lens of Bible

prophecy. We hope that you will plan, you'll

put that on your calendar, but more than that,

that you will invite someone to come with you.

Your friend, your neighbor, the person you work

with. Right outside this door by the exit way,

there's a box of these signs. There's about 20

of them, I think. I hope that you'll take one

and make sure you get the little metal stand

in the other box and that maybe you could put

it in your yard. And so the people that drive

by your house could maybe be interested and follow

the website. Or maybe you live down a country

road and there's no place that would be good.

I bet you drive past some intersections. where

there's signs for realtors or signs for elections,

get one carefully, look out for traffic, but

stick that sign into that place so that in the

next two weeks, people will have the opportunity

to know that something is coming so that they

can come and hear the story of salvation. If

you're on social media, if you're on Facebook,

you may have already seen some ads that have

popped up. that have started to be displayed.

And there's at least two people or four people

already this far out who have clicked and said,

hey, we want to register for this. We want to

be a part of this event. Whether or not they

come, we don't know for sure. We can only pray

about it. But we can recognize that they have

seen it and that they have been invited to hear

this story of salvation. Today we're going to

look at the story from the perspective of trees.

So turn in your Bibles. all the way back to the

beginning, to Genesis. Of course, the very first

verse, you probably don't even need to look it

up, but Genesis 1 .1 says, in the beginning,

God created the heavens and the earth. And if

you read down through the rest of Genesis 1,

over and over it says things like, and God said,

let there be light. And it was so. And the light

came into existence. And each day, God spoke

and something else was created. Something else

came into existence. And when God looked at it,

each day He said, this is good. Until finally

He gets to the end of creation and He says, this

is very good. And then if we turn to Genesis

2, we begin to see another portion of the story

take place. Genesis 2, we'll read verse 8. It

says, So right there in the heart of the garden,

there were... Lots and lots of trees, but there

were two trees that were named in particular.

The tree of life, and then the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil. And particular directions were

given for these trees. Skip down to verse 16.

It says, Not eat. The tree of the knowledge of

good and evil. You shall not eat. And the day

that you eat of it, you shall surely die. So

there in the midst of the garden were trees.

Trees that could tell stories. Trees that in

essence were just like any of the other trees.

It doesn't say that these trees were toxic. It

doesn't say these trees were on fire, were poison,

anything like that. The only thing that set this

tree apart is that God said, no. God said, don't

eat from this particular tree, and so that set

it apart. But, we know the story, and we know

what happened. That even though these trees were

set apart, by the time you flip one more chapter

to chapter 3, you see Eve. there with a beast,

with a serpent and a tree. And this serpent,

it says, is more cunning. And it begins to talk

to her. And it begins to question her. Did God

really say you can't eat of every tree of the

garden? And she said, well, God said we can eat

of the trees, but the fruit in the midst of the

garden, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch

it, lest you die. God never said don't touch

it. She added that part. And then the serpent

said to the woman, the very first lie, you shall

not surely die. The very, very first lie. For

God knows that in the day you eat of it, your

eyes will be opened and you will be like God.

Now they weren't going to be like God and have

the power to speak things into creation. They

weren't going to be like God and be all -knowing.

And be omnipresent and omnipowerful. But it said

that they would be like God, knowing good and

evil. Now they already knew God. They had a growing

relationship with the loving God. God is love.

They knew that aspect. But if they were to take

that fruit and disobey, then they would begin

to know and realize. The evil part. And that's

what God wanted them to avoid. But unfortunately,

Eve listened to that serpent and tried to argue

with that serpent and tried to have a conversation

and was tricked and deceived. And in verse 6

it says, So the woman saw that the tree, it was

good for food, it was pleasant to the eyes, and

a tree desirable to make one wise, because she

would know disobedience. She would know evil.

And she took of its fruit and ate. And she also

gave to her husband with her, and he ate. And

suddenly, as you read on down through the story,

they took and they ate from that tree and they

recognized that something had changed. Because

now they suddenly... What happened? We're seeing

each other differently. We're naked here. We're

not clothed with this robe of the glory of God

anymore. And then, oh no, here comes God coming

in the cool of the garden. And they hid themselves

away from their Creator. Have mercy. They hid

themselves away from God. And just as Satan had

told the first lie, God comes and asks the first

question. And He says, where are you? Why are

you hiding from Me, your Creator? But as we skip

down to the end of that chapter, verse 22, it

says, Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man

has become like one of us, one of the Godhead,

to know good. They knew good. They were supposed

to know good. To know good and evil. And now,

lest he put out his hand and take also of the

tree of life and eat and live forever, because

they had disobeyed and ate from the tree of the

knowledge of good and evil, they were now forbidden

to eat from the tree of life. Notice the next

verse. It says, Therefore, the Lord God sent

him, Adam, out of the garden of Eden to till

the ground from which he is taken. So he drove

out the man. And He placed cherubim, angels,

at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming

sword which turned every way to guard the way

to the tree of life. And so there they were in

that perfect place. They knew the goodness of

God, but because they disobeyed, now they were

experiencing the evil of sin and its consequences.

And because of that, that is why we have wars.

That is why we have crime. That is why we have

death and heartbreak and all those different

things which keep our attention off of God. It's

because a choice was made and they were cast

out away from that tree of life. But even in

the midst of that, there's this very first gospel

promise. If we go back to Genesis 3 .15. God

is speaking to the serpent and He curses him

because you have done this. And then God in speaking

to the serpent said, I will pit enmity or I will

pit conflict. I will pit strife between you serpent

and the woman and between your seed and her seed.

Between those who are following in the ways of

Satan. And those who are choosing to follow in

the ways of God. There's going to be conflict.

There's going to be strife. And then the verse

shifts just a little bit. It goes from plural

to singular. Because it says there's going to

be conflict between descendants. That's a group

of people. That's plural. But then it turns to

singular. And it says he. One particular descendant.

One particular individual. who would arise from

the line of those following God. It says, He

shall bruise your head, snake. And snake, you're

going to bruise His heel. Who is that talking

about? Who is that individual? It's Jesus. The

Savior who is going to arise from that line of

godly people. The Creator who is going to step

into the midst of the creation. And the picture

there is someone voluntarily reaching out and

stepping on the head of a venomous snake. I know

some people like snakes. Maybe some people here.

I am not one of those people. I'm not going to

step on a snake. I may shoo it away. I'm probably

not going to kill it unless it's after me. But

I'm not going to voluntarily step on the snake.

Which is worse, a wound to the foot or a wound

to the head? You can survive a foot. You can

survive a broken leg. You can survive with no

legs. But a head wound is harmful. A head wound

is deadly. And this is the picture of Jesus,

the Creator, coming into the midst of the creation.

And in verse 21, it says, For Adam and his wife,

the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed

them. They had seen themselves as naked because

of their disobedience. But this symbol pointing

forward to the death of Jesus Christ allowed

them to be clothed with something else, clothed

with an animal, just as Jesus would be the Lamb

of God to take away the sins of the world. But

that first sin, we can point to Adam and Eve,

but we can remember that it's not just Adam and

Eve. Because in the New Testament, In Romans

3, it says, for all have sinned. And in the way

that's written, it says all have sinned and are

falling short of the glory of God. And just a

page over from that in Romans 6, it says, and

the wages of sin is death. We have all sinned.

We have all earned that wage. We have all earned

that paycheck, that paycheck of death. And because

of that, that is why the world is the way it

is. That's the story of some trees there in Genesis.

Well, let's go to the bookend of the Bible. That

was the beginning. Let's go all the way to the

end. Let's go to Revelation. Before we get to

the very end, we're going to pause in Revelation

2. Revelation 2 and 3 share some messages to

some different churches that are in modern -day

Turkey. churches which were actual churches,

but also which correlate with different eras

of church history. In Revelation 2 and verse

7, it says, He who has an ear, let him hear what

the Spirit says to the churches. To him, to them,

who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree.

of life which is in the midst of the paradise

of god so there's a promise there for those that

overcome the devil for those who stand on christ's

side there's a promise to eat again from the

tree of life which they were forbidden to after

the garden of eden and if we turn on over to

the end to revelation chapter 21 revelation chapter

Revelation 21 · chapter mention Revelation 21 · chapter mention

21 we begin to see how the fall destroyed the

earth, and yet how through the grace of God,

things begin to turn. Revelation 21 and verse

1, it says, Now I saw a new heaven and a new

earth. For the first heaven and the first earth

had passed away, and there was no more sea. I

didn't put it on there, but I love the next verse

as well. I, John, saw the holy city. The new

Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,

prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband.

Even if you don't have the picture with you now,

I know that many of you can remember that sight.

In verse 4, it says, God will wipe away every

tear from their eyes. There shall be no more

death. What was the... The result of them eating

from that tree, from disobeying, from having

that knowledge of not just good but also evil,

it said you will surely die. But it says that

there's going to be a time in heaven when there's

no more death. Usually when we think about heaven,

we think about what is going to be there. Streets

of gold, you get to sleep next to a lion, or

ride on a giraffe, or whatever it might be. But

this verse... talks about what is not in heaven.

There's no more death. There's no more sorrow.

There's no more crying. There shall be no more

pain for the former things have passed away.

That's what happens when that curse is wiped

away and we get to experience the wonders and

the glories of heaven for a thousand years and

then a new earth. for all eternity. There's no

more pain or death. No more tears. No more heartbreak.

Look over one more chapter to the very last chapter.

Verse 22. It says, He showed me a pure river

of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding

from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Crystal

clear water. Maybe you've been somewhere and

seen a spring or... An ocean water that is just

so clear you can see through it and see the fish

swimming. And then in the next verse, verse 2,

it says, In the middle of its street and on either

side of the river was the tree of life, which

bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit

every month. And the leaves of the tree were

for the healing of nations. Adam and Eve were

pushed out of the Garden of Eden. And an angel

with a flaming sword was placed in front of the

gate so that they could no longer have access

to the tree of life. But a day is coming when

we will have access again to that tree of life.

And it says its leaves are for the healing of

the nation. And it says there's 12 fruits, each

tree yielding its fruit every month. What's your

favorite kind of fruit? Maybe it changes depending

on the season. Maybe you like peaches during

the summer or watermelons that you can cut open

and they're juicy and the juice drips down your

chin or the blueberries that you pick off the

bush. Maybe this time of year you want to take

a trip to L .A .J. or somewhere else and pick

some apples and make some applesauce and enjoy.

So many kinds of fruit are delicious. But this

is not just fruit. This is the tree. It's the

healing of the nations. What an incredible promise

that is. But what happened from the beginning

when there's the tree of knowledge of good and

evil which they ate and it caused a curse to

this ending time with this tree of life renewed

where there's hope and there's assurance and

there's something beautiful. What happened in

between there? The Bible begins with the fall

where they're forbidden to eat from the tree

of life. And it ends with glory where there's

an invitation to eat from that tree once again.

What happened in that meantime of 6 ,000 plus

years to whenever that ending is in the future?

Well, there's another tree. And trees tell stories.

Because trees tell stories of a fall, trees still...

Stories of hope in the future. And trees tell

stories of grace. Because right in the heart

of Scripture, there's a story of a Creator. The

One who had spoken and vegetation had sprung

into existence. The One who had said, let there

be trees, and suddenly the trees grew up. And

then in the heart of that story, the Creator

decides to come. into creation. And as that Creator,

as that Word became flesh, as He grew, He followed

in the footsteps of His earthly Father, and Jesus

became a carpenter. He spent His early days smoothing

the wood with sandpaper, rubbing His hands over

those rough boards to get them to the proper

place, cutting down trees, sanding. probably

with splinters in His hands, building that chair

or that table or whatever it was that was needed.

The Creator joins the creation. We're going to

look at scene 3. We're going to go to John 19.

We could go to several different Gospels. We're

going to go to John 19. And if you were to read

through 10 and 19, we know that Jesus is... spent

a week talking to His disciples. Jesus spent

an evening with His disciples in an upper room

and they broke bread and they drunk the juice

and He said, this is My body that is broken.

This is My blood that is poured out. And then

He went to pray in a garden. And as He was praying,

here comes the torches, here comes the mob, and

Jesus is arrested and taken away and those disciples

run a different direction. And there's a courtroom

scene. Kangaroo court, we'll call it, as they

were manipulating and taking Jesus and doing

what they wanted to do to Him. And then as Pilate

stands Him up and says, Who do you want me to

release? Do you want me to release Barabbas or

Jesus? And the crowd said, Release Barabbas.

Set the rebel, set the criminal free. What should

I do with Jesus? And the crowd said, Crucify

Him. crucify Him. And they put the cross upon

His shoulder and He walked down the Via Dolorosa,

the way of suffering. His back bloodied and beaten.

A crown of thorns upon His head. Weakened from

a day of being tortured from all this happening

to Him. He couldn't walk anymore and He stumbled.

They took that cross and placed it on someone

else's shoulders and He stumbled along behind.

And in John 19, verse 17, it says, and He, bearing

John 19:17

the cross, went out to a place called the place

of the skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha.

They led Him out. They had beaten Him. They'd

done all these things to Him. They took Him to

this place. And the next verse, you read it so

simply. It says, there they... They crucified

him. You could read that in a second. They crucified

him. But that word is a verb. It's an act. It's

an act of torture that's taking place as they

took this innocent man, this perfect man, this

creator, they took this carpenter and they spread

out his hands and they took a hammer and a nail

and they attached him to that wood, to that tree.

The one who had formed trees into furniture or

whatnot. Now, They are crucifying Him. And you

can read it so easy. But it's so much more than

that. And two others were with Him. One on either

side. And Jesus in the center. Nailed to the

cross. And we remember the story that on that

day, the thunder boomed. The sun became dark.

As it seemed as if God the Father was hiding

His Son from these mocking eyes and all that

was taking place. And as Jesus hung on that cross

for several hours, at the start He said, Father,

forgive them for they don't know what they're

doing. Until the time came where He said, into

My hands I commit Your Spirit. It's finished.

It's finished and His life ended. But because

of that, because of that tree of death, that's

what that cross was all about. A picture of ultimate

evil taking place. It's also a picture of ultimate

good taking place. And that cross, that tree

of death, in reality became a tree of life. Because

we read earlier, the wages of sin is death. But

that verse doesn't stop right there. It goes

on and says, but the gift of God is what? Is

eternal life. A free gift of eternal life. I

just want to read through several verses here

as we go. 1 Peter 2 .24 It says, Jesus Himself

bore our sins in His own body on the tree that

we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness

by whose stripes, by whose wounds we are healed.

You can go to Galatians 3 and it says, Christ

has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having

become a curse for us. As it is written, cursed

is everyone who hangs on a tree. Jesus hung upon

that cross taking my sins and your sins so that

we could have the blessing that only He deserves.

1 Corinthians 2 .22 For I determined not to know

anything among you except for Jesus Christ and

Him crucified. And one more, Galatians 6. But

God forbid that I should boast. Don't we like

to boast? Don't we like people to know what we

have done this week, what we have accomplished,

the good things we have done? But Paul writes,

God forbid that I should boast except in the

cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world

has been crucified to me and I to the world.

In the garden. There was a fall because they

ate from the wrong tree. They disobeyed. But

in Revelation, there's an invitation to eat again

from the tree of life, and that is possible only

because of the cross. That tree of death that

gives a promise of eternal life because of what

Jesus did on that cross oh so many years ago.

I want to close with a story. This took place...

In 2018, June of 2018, I recently read a book

about it to remind myself called Aquanaut. Aquanaut

is the name of the book. And it's a story of

a group of young soccer players in Thailand and

their coach. And after practice one day, they

decided they wanted to take a field trip and

they wanted to go explore a cave. And they went

about two or three miles into this cave. And

what they didn't know is that while they were

in there, something was happening outside. It

was beginning to rain. It was beginning to rain

very hard and that water was rushing into the

cave and when it came time to leave, they couldn't

because their access point was now underwater.

And it was several days before anybody realized

where they were and where they had gone missing.

It was almost two weeks before a rescue was attempted,

but eventually divers, diving in a cave, which

is one of the most dangerous things you can possibly

do. They swam these miles into the cave where

a few places it would rise up and they'd be in

the air, but it would dip back down again. And

they were able to eventually track down and find

that all of these young people were still alive

miraculously. And they were able to ferry them

in their food. and water and different things

like that, and medical supplies. But the question

was, how are we going to get them out? Because

it's rainy season. Well, we could wait. It's

going to be several months until that water goes

down. So they begin to pump out as much water

as they can. They're ferrying in supplies, but

they realize they have to do something. In the

midst of bringing these supplies in, one of the

divers from Thailand a Navy SEAL named Saman

Kunan passed out under this water. And the diver

that was with him tried to revive him and pulled

him along to the next place where the air came

up and tried to do CPR, but it was no use. He

gave his life attempting to rescue this group

of people. And finally, these divers, they came

up with a plan. get a special little mask to

put on these young people, like ages 6 to 12

or so. And they were going to take them through

these tiny, narrow passages. And in order to

do that, they were going to have to inject them

and cause those young people to go to sleep.

Because they knew if they were awake that they

would fight and they would struggle, they would

pull their air off, and then all would be lost.

the train navy seal and so they they caused one

or two at a time caused these young people to

go to sleep and strap them to a little stretcher

with a mask on their face and two divers one

in the front and one in the back would would

bring them out these two and a half miles through

the passages and after two weeks of being in

the cave believe it or not they all made it all

12 of them made it out but they they made it

out that rescue finally came, but one had given

their life. That Navy SEAL had died so that these

12 others might live. And as we remember the

story of salvation, we remember that perfect

Garden of Eden where sin came into the world.

We remember the promise of the future of eternal

life where there's that invitation to eat once

again from that tree of life and live forever

with Jesus. But it's all because one gave His

life. Because Jesus was willing to come to this

darkest earth, come into this place of darkness

and pain and despair, and was willing to give

His life for each one of us. And that's what

we're here to talk about. Believe it or not,

next week I'm at the other church, so this is

my last Sabbath here before our series begins.

This series, which is going to tell the story

that we're talking about. The story of salvation.

The story of a future hope. So my questions as

we end today is, have you heard that story for

yourself? Have you not just listened to it? Oh

yeah, I know about that whole cross thing. Have

you listened to it? Have you let it impact who

you are and how you live? Have you accepted that?

Because that's something that we have to do every

single day. Then a final question, have you shared

it? Have you invited someone else to know a little

bit more about Jesus, to know a little bit more

about the one who left heaven to come and die

for your salvation? Let's pray this week that

we can find someone to tell about the incredible,

eternal love of Jesus. Let's bow our heads. Dear

God, we thank You so much for all that You have

done for us. We thank You and recognize that

it's only because of You that we have a hope

for the future. But Lord, let us hope in You

and let us share with someone else. Be with each

one of us here. May we live our life for You.

In Your name we pray.