How many of us are afraid that we are maturing? Let me explain, are you becoming more advanced or older? Personally, I dislike the phrases “old” and “aging” because they have a negative connotation. Matter is defeated by the mind. You are what you believe. Why should we designate ourselves as such when we are supposed to be speaking life?
Throughout the Bible, we read about Naaman regaining his youth by dipping seven times in the Jordan River. We also read that Abraham was electrified within himself as he hurried to greet God’s angel, Jesus, together with two other angels and Sara, who was granted youth so that two heathen monarchs would adore her even in her old age. God has given her youth as well as the ability to bear Isaac. So, where do you get your viger? I will tell you this via our Lord Jesus Christ, who endured our sins and diseases for us to have the strength and agility to carry on as planned. Our Lord Jesus is the one who heals, restores and revitalizes us.
Allow me to ask you a question. Where do you get your assistance? Where do you obtain your strength? Who has your back? Who can outrun armies and leap over mountains? Are you not God’s creation? Were you not made in the image and likeness of God? Didn’t God create you in such a wonderful and magnificent way? Didn’t God intend for you to be more than just a survivor? Didn’t you ask God for ability, and he supplied it? Did he not strengthen your hands for battle? The list goes on and on. We must be aware of our strength and vitality to fulfill the task at hand. We have been given the gift of everlasting life. We are capable. We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us. Philippians 4:13. The word of God says, His flesh shall be young like a child’s; he shall return to the days of his youth. Job 33-25.
Cedar of Lebanon is known for its longevity and resistance to decay. Similarly, Mary’s sinlessness expresses immortality and the absence of physical degeneration. The cedar is a tall and noble tree. Thus, it symbolizes Mary’s considerable spiritual stature, excellence and human perfection in God.
Webster describes the cedar as a long-lived (Cedrus libani) native to Asia Minor with short fascicled leaves and erect cones. It is 120 feet long and it has a waxy appearance. The Cedars of God, the Lebanese variety of the pine tree used to grow across Mount Lebanon in ancient times and was actually held in the highest esteem by Christian monks of the monasteries in the Kadisha Valley. The tree represented and still does today, holiness, eternity and peace.
It was known in biblical areas as “the king of trees.” The Hebrew word for cedar comes from a root word meaning firm. It is known for the “firmness of roots” (Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon). The adjective form of the word for cedar means firm, strong.
The cedar of Lebanon represents stature, firmness, grounded, structure, confidence, security, prestige, elegance, youthfulness, and uprightness.
All these attributes remind you of whom? Yes, you got it, our Lord Jesus. What a clear representation of beauty and poetry. We must be in that fertile soil that shows all the characteristics of Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 40:28-31 it says, Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles, as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:30-31.
In Psalms 18:29-32 it tells us, For by You I can run against a troop,
By my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?
Psalm 92:12-15 tells us, the righteous shall flourish like a palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, to declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.
Psalm 104:15-16 tells us,And wine that makes glad the heart of man,
Oil to make his face shine, And bread which strengthens man’s heart.
The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which He planted, to be ever green and vagarious baring fruit God is upright.
When King Solomon spoke about the cedar of Lebanon and the hyssop, he was stating that the Cedar of Lebanon is form of strength, a pillar, a strong foundation and a fortress. The hyssop is the symbol of cleansing and purification. The word of God tells us in Psalm 51:7, cleanse me with the hyssop, and I will be clean, ash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Hyssop represents our confession of our sins, and have been washed through the blood of Jesus. As we purify ourselves with the word of God, being ever present daily, we rejuvenate our inner and outer man.
To summarize, the Cedar of Lebanon represents Jesus in all his majesty and beauty. Although we may be weary, fall short and age, the lord restores us as though we were in our prime. Take refuge in him and be comforted that you were fearfully and wonderfully made.