The Crib And The Cross Were Both Made Of Wood"

God used wood for his purposes. At the Conference Convention in Exiria, a banner hung from the church ceiling which caught my eye, it said, "The crib and the Cross both were made of wood," God gave through a tree both times, a tree was used to make the manger to bring the Christ child into this world, and a cross from a tree was made to take this Christ, this messiah from the world. The tree of God was also a giving tree. It gave life through the manger to the Son of God, and the Cross, the tree of death brought life life through the body and blood of Jesus, shed and given for our live, for our salvation, our eternal glory.

The Son of God was lifted up as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness to give life to those who had been bitten. The cross, the symbol of death, came to be a symbol of life, the symbol of giving, the symbol of sacrifice, the symbol of true and gracious love. As you gaze at the cross before you today, do you see it as a symbol of life for you? Do you see it as the only way to your salvation? Do you see it as your cross, your only way to gain the salvation which is ours as God’s children?

The crib and the cross were both made of wood is an apt phrase for us to dwell on today. The crib gave us Jesus the babe and the cross gave us Jesus the crucified and risen Lord. The wood of these two thing, the crib and the cross gave us God plan for salvation.

God was the great architect who designed the bridge for our freedom, but he not only designed it, he built it, and he built it out of materials that no one would of thought of, he built it out of a cross and the body and blood of his son He didn’t ask anyone else to do the work, he kept it in the family, and then he shared the completed work with all people who would believe that he did the work, he shared it with all who would believe that the work was done for them. Yes, God used the cross of Calvary, the old rugged cross to build a bridge between himself and us.

As John says, ’"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son." Gave his only son. God was willing to sacrifice part of himself, he was willing to give up his son to death, so that you and I could be liberated from the chains of death, so that you and I wouldn’t be prisoners of death any longer, but we might be free people who have the freedom of God’s love.

The crib and the cross were both made of wood reminds us of God’s plan for salvation. God gave us his only son through the crib as he loved us enough to do that, but at the same time He used the wood of the cross to bring victory out of death. For Jesus hung on that cross for your and mine salvation.

Through the crib and the cross God gave salvation to us. He gave then and he continues to give now to use each time we repent and believe in the salvation which is ours through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God gave and continues to give.

I would like to close with a story about a tree that gave and gave as it reminds of the the giving tree of the cross.

From Shel Silverstein comes the following: