Several years ago, a Christmas tree in the lobby of the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi made international headlines.

It probably qualified for the Guinness World Records. It has been dubbed ‘the world’s most expensive tree,’ and it made news around the world. They said it was worth over $11 million US. There was nothing cheap about the Christmas tree in the lobby of the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. The bare-bones conifer tree itself cost at least $10,000, but it was what was hanging on the 43-foot (13 metres) high tree that gave it such incredible value.

The Christmas Tree was elaborately and excessively decorated with ornaments that were breathtaking and extravagant to the human eye. Over 181 ornaments of gold and precious stones, including diamonds and sapphires, hung from the bows of the tree. Gold watches, pearl necklaces, emeralds, and many other expensive items hung on the tree.

It was a marketing ploy, and the Hotel confirmed that it had asked Guinness World Records to recognize the tree in its famous records as the ‘world’s most expensive tree.’

World’s Most Expensive Tree

The reality is that a higher, more permanent set of records lists another tree as the most expensive in the world. Again, what gave the tree its value was what hung on the tree. In fact, the world’s most expensive tree so far outstrips the value of the Abu Dhabi tree that it almost seems like poor taste to attempt a comparison.

The pearls, the glittering gold, the flashing diamonds, and all the ornaments on that Christmas Tree were dollar-store cheap when contrasted to the world’s most expensive tree.

Location was Rugged

The costliest tree of the ages was not mounted in the lobby of a luxury palace hotel to be viewed by admiring eyes. The tree was mounted on the top of a barren little hill outside of Jerusalem. It looked more like a pole or a cross than an actual tree. But like other trees, it was once among other trees growing in a forest. It wasn’t pretty by any stretch of the imagination. No matter what angle you viewed it from, there was nothing pleasing to the natural eye.

Not Attractive – of No Value to Most

In fact, this tree was grotesquely rugged and bore all the marks of human brutality. The polished veneer of human good taste was nowhere to be seen. Just the opposite. Those who passed by didn’t bother to stop at its base and wonder at what hung upon this tree. They sneered and mocked as they passed on by. The world’s most expensive tree was of no value to most.

Infinite Value

The type of wood from the tree is not what gave it value. It was the hanging on the tree that drove its value through the roof of earth – up to Heaven itself. What was hanging on that tree was of infinite value – far above the price of diamonds, silver, and gold.  Tears come to the eye at the very thought of it.

Hanging on the Tree

A man, beaten and bruised, hung upon that tree. Yes, death by crucifixion was the Roman way of executing the worst of criminals – but this man had committed no crimes. He was perfect. He was innocent. This man had been stripped of His clothes. His back was lashed open from a horrific scourging. Men had repeatedly spewed their spit in His face and thrown their punches at Him, even pounding His head with a rod as they blindfolded Him. Then the ultimate insult – reserved for those who had committed the most despicable crimes: they nailed His hands and feet with spikes to a cross, a tree, and left Him to die.

His name was Jesus.

Through all of the torture, not a threatening swear word came from His lips. Not a flash of anger from His eyes – nothing but love. In fact, from that tree, He prayed to God and said:

Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” Luke 23:34

Bearing the Heaviest Load Ever

There is something else you need to know about the world’s most expensive tree. On that tree, God placed upon Jesus the heaviest load of all – our sins. Accumulated retrospectively from the very first sin committed and prospectively to the very last sin of the human family – the entire load of sin was upon Him while He hung on that tree. God poured down from Heaven the judgment that should have fallen on us. Jesus bore our sins and suffered the penalty for them while He hung on that Cross – the tree.

The Apostle Peter wrote:

He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree.” 1Peter 2:24.

Peter also said:

You were ransomed…not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.” 1Peter 1:19

On the Tree, a Debt was Paid

At the end, just before Jesus died, He triumphantly cried with a very loud voice:

It is finished!” John 19:30.

He then bowed His head and delivered up His spirit and expired upon the tree. What was it that Jesus finished? Jesus paid the full penalty for my sins and yours. ‘Paid in full’ is the equivalent phrase in the Greek language. His most precious blood flowed freely on that historic occasion. Jesus paid my sin debt by dying on the tree.

Without question, that tree is the most expensive tree of all time because of Who hung upon it and what He accomplished there for our sins.

Which Tree Means Most to You?

Which tree is of greater value to you – the one elaborately decorated with gold and silver that could only make it to the Guinness World Records, or the one recorded in the Bible as the tree upon which our sins were paid for in the currency of precious blood that flowed from the innocent One – the Lord Jesus Christ?

Every single person going to Heaven appreciates, in a very personal sense, what happened on that tree. Without the deep appreciation for the One who hung upon that tree, a person will never make it to God’s Heaven.

Comfort and Rest Available This Christmas

For many, this will be a sad Christmas. It will be the first Christmas since something tragic or some great loss has entered their family circle. As dark as life experiences so often are, the light of Christ can still penetrate the darkness and soothe troubled and distressed hearts. The One who was born in Bethlehem and who ultimately hung on the cross is the same One who, with great compassion, said:

Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28-29

Like the Bethlehem shepherds who, without delay that night so long ago, came to the manger and with awe and wonder viewed the Christ, and like the magi who travelled from the East and bowed down before the Child and worshipped, may each of us give Him the proper place in our hearts today.

This is one in a series of three Christmas Reflections. To read the other two, click on the links:

Christmas Reflections: The Uniqueness of Christianity

Christmas Reflections: What Do You Think of Christ

(1) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12006875