When we travel today, we often go over bridges. Some of them are so short that we hardly notice them. Others are high and long, reaching many miles. The longest bridge in the world is near New Orleans, Louisiana. It stretches for 24 miles! I know about a bridge, however, which is not the highest, nor the longest. It was not built by anyone, and at one time it was alive. It is a tree that turned into a bridge.
In Arizona there is a very large tree that forms a natural bridge over a deep canyon. Hundreds of years ago this huge tree was growing on the edge of the canyon. The mountain stream that ran through the canyon washed out the soil from around its roots. Then one day during a severe storm, the tree fell. It was so large then when it fell, that it reached all the way across the canyon! There it lay for years and years. Some people might think that this great tree was a failure.
Something happened to that tree as it lay there over the years. Gradually the wood was being changed into stone (what we call petrified wood). Now it is a solid, stone bridge which can never rot or break. Many people use it to cross the deep canyon safely.
Many people think that Jesus Christ, as a man, didn’t accomplish very much and that His life was a failure. “He is despised and rejected of men... despised, and we esteemed Him not.” Isaiah 53:33He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3). Men tried to get rid of Him by nailing Him to a cross so “that His name may be no more remembered.” Jeremiah 11:1919But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered. (Jeremiah 11:19). However, the Bible explains that by His death the Lord Jesus Christ became the “strong bridge” to take us from earth to heaven. He is the only “bridge” we can use to cross from this dark, sinful world into the light and holiness of heaven. Have you crossed this bridge by asking Jesus to wash away your sins? If not, do not wait any longer. He is longing for you to let Him into your heart today.
ML-12/28/1986