Afraid of heights? Then I know a job that is not for you — a treetopper.
A treetopper is a man who straps long, steel spikes onto his boots, hangs a saw from his belt, and wraps a strong rope around the trunk of a tree. Then he shimmies up the tree by digging the spikes into the bark and flipping the rope up every few steps. Treetoppers sometimes climb to a height of 150 feet or more. Sounds dangerous? It is.
When the treetopper reaches the desired height, he starts chopping. In the old days, the cutting would be done with a sharp, two-bladed axe and a hand saw. Nowadays, the treetopper pulls on the starter rope of a lightweight chain saw to engage the engine and start the saw blade whirling.
First, the treetopper cuts a large v-shaped notch on one side of the tree. Next, using the saw, he makes a flat cut, beginning at the opposite side of the tree. As the flat cut gets close to the v-cut, the upper part of the tree starts to lean and fall over. At this point the treetopper yells as loud as he can, “TIMBER!”
The top part of the tree takes seconds to free fall through the air. This part of the tree might be 80 or 100 feet long. It hits the earth with a thunderous crash, making the ground shake. The falling part of the tree pushes the main part of the tree sideways, so that the treetopper, attached by his spikes and rope, sways violently back and forth for a few seconds.
Often, when the tree stops swaying, the treetopper takes a little break for a few minutes by sitting on the tree where the cut was made. He has a bird’s eye view of the forest up there. Perhaps he feels for a few minutes like a king on an extremely high throne before climbing down.
Another Dangerous Perch
You may never have to climb a tree to a height of 150 feet to cut part of it down, but there is another great height from which everyone is in danger of falling that you need to know about. People that don’t know the Lord Jesus as Saviour are in danger of falling from the heights of this world into the depths of a lost eternity!
This fall can’t be measured in feet, but the enormity of the fall can be described in other ways. It is a fall from this world, where it’s pleasant to enjoy the light, to the darkness of hell where the light of the wicked will be put out in everlasting darkness. It is a fall from a place where men and women can freely choose to turn their lives over to God, to a place where those who have rejected Christ will remain in the hardness of their hearts forever. It is a fall from this world where goodness, truth, and beauty abound, to the barren emptiness of hell where none of those things can be found. Hell is to be avoided at all costs! “I say unto you My friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear Him, which after He hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear Him” (Luke 12:4-54And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him. (Luke 12:4‑5)).
Some people just seem cut out for doing dangerous jobs like tree-topping. But no one in their right mind should continue to take the dangerous risk of being sent away to everlasting punishment. Everyone should realize the extreme danger of remaining in their sins and come to the Saviour of sinners to have those sins dealt with once and for all. “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).
The Lord Jesus is uniquely qualified to be the Saviour of sinners, because He was both Man and God in the same person. As Man, He could suffer death. And this is what He did when He let Himself be taken by cruel hands and be nailed to a cross of wood. His death has infinite power to cancel out His creatures’ sins. Think of it! The Lord Jesus wanted you, and all others like you, to be with Him for eternity, so He willingly came to this earth and died for sinners! Oh the wonder and the marvel in the five words, “Christ died for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3)!
Because He died for sin, all who accept Him have their sins forgiven, and all may go to heaven. If your sins were a thousand times worse than they actually are, His blood that was shed on Calvary could still wash them away. “The blood of Jesus Christ [God’s] Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)).
Look at it this way: The Lord Jesus left the glorious heights of heaven and came down to this sin-stained earth. His purpose? To bring sinners home to glory where they can be with Him forever.
Acting on God’s offer of mercy is vitally important. Recognizing that we need that mercy is the first step toward receiving it. Read about it in “I Could Have Freed a Thousand More!”