Message summary: Since we believe in a supernatural, miracle working God, by faith and reason, we choose to examine the evidence including the creation of trees on the third day. Along with many other evidences, both in Scripture and observed in science, we affirm our faith in the creation account of the Bible. Remember, only God can make a tree.

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"Then God said, 'Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.' And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day" (Genesis 1:11-13).

Today's lead photo is from a Blue Mountain overlook on the Appalachian Trail. It shows the paler greens of the present season before the trees turn a vibrant, deeper green over the next several weeks. A predictable pattern year after year.

Trees in our region are rapidly leafing out and green now again surrounds us. Some of our trees have a flowering stage first such as our dogwoods, ornamental pear tree and our pink weeping heartbreak redbud tree.

References to trees are found all through the Bible from the very first chapter in Genesis 1 to the final chapter in Revelation 22. When I was a young boy my mom recited a poem by Alfred Joyce Kilmer titled "Trees" she had learned in school. I can still picture her smile as she recited it from memory. It ended with the line, "Poems are made by fools like me, but only God can make a tree."

Let's go back to the beginning at the third day of creation to read the first reference to trees, that moment in space and time when God made the first trees. On this day God commanded, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds."

Note especially the phrase, "Trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it." This reveals that at Creation the trees were created fully mature.

If I cut a mature tree down I can see the years of growth in the rings on the cut surface of the trunk. That makes me wonder... if I were present at the time of creation and cut down a mature tree would I have seen these rings? Of course no one can prove this one way or another, but I believe that being a "normal" tree it would have had these rings since it was created as a mature tree.

We accept the account of Creation according to Genesis 1. Those who hold this view are often mocked and ridiculed since it doesn't line up with modern "science". We want to give you something to think about today as you consider the trees around you, something virtually all of us will see at some point today.

However there are those who claim faith in God and even the truthfulness of Scripture but feel they must concede to the naturalistic, secularist viewpoint of those who regard the Creation account as merely a myth, due to what is presented by unbelieving "authorities" as overwhelming, even incontrovertible evidence for an evolutionary explanation of origins.

Think about the tree and other details of Creation which God created as mature. For instance, in regard to human creation, He created a fully developed, mature man and woman!

You've probably heard the question, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" Well, the Bible answers that. On the fifth day God created "every winged bird according to its kind" (Genesis 1:21).

Since we believe in a supernatural, miracle working God, by faith and reason, we choose to examine the evidence including the creation of trees on the third day. Along with many other evidences, both in Scripture and observed in nature and science, we affirm our faith in the Creation account of the Bible. Remember, only God can make a tree.

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber