God of Creation: Plant World (Part 3)

A tree can look like it’s dying in autumn while it’s quietly preparing for spring. That single detail opens a much bigger question: are the systems inside the natural world the product of chance, or the fingerprints of an intelligent Creator who planned life down to the smallest scale? Brother James continues his God of Creation series by walking through the overlooked marvels of the plant kingdom, from winter buds wrapped like protective parcels to the precise patterns of leaf growth that maximize air and sunlight. 

We also slow down and look inside a leaf, calling it what it truly is: a chemical laboratory. You’ll hear a clear, memorable explanation of photosynthesis, chlorophyll, veins, pores, and oxygen release, and why the complexity still stirs humility. Then the focus shifts to flowers and fertilization, where pollination depends on timing, fragrance, nectar, and the insect world, especially bees. The argument builds step by step toward a single claim: behind creation stands the Lord God Almighty revealed in Scripture. 

From there, the teaching turns personal. If God cares for grass, trees, and blossoms with such detail, what does that say to someone carrying grief, disappointment, or rebellion in hardship? The episode connects creation to conscience, wisdom from the book of Job, and finally to Jesus Christ crucified and risen. We’re challenged to examine the “fruit” our lives produce and to stop trusting our own strength for eternity.

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Transcript

Winter Buds And Hidden Preparation

Leaf Patterns And Intelligent Design

Photosynthesis In The Green Leaf

Pollination And Flower Design

God’s Care In Sorrow And Loss

Reviewing The Case For A Creator

Job’s Question About True Wisdom

The Cross And The Creator King

What Fruit Are You Bearing

Salvation Invitation And Warning

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Thank you so much for those kind words of introduction and greetings to one and all. I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. I'm Brother James, and this is the Preaching of the Cross Radio Broadcast, thirty minutes of Bible teaching and Bible instruction, set forth with two distinct purposes in mind. Number one, to make the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ known to those who have never truly been born again. And number two, to be an edification, a blessing, a help, and an encouragement to those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and received Him as their personal Lord and Savior. This is broadcast number seven in a series of radio lessons entitled The God of Creation, and we are talking about just that. We are talking about God, the God who created the heavens and the earth and all that in them is. Now, if you've not listened to our previous uh six broadcasts in this series, uh you might immediately be tempted to uh argue with that statement on the basis of some uh evolutionary theory or some uh uh scientific uh hypothesis or proposition that you've heard set forth at some time in your life. But the truth of the matter is, as we have already seen in the first six lessons, and as we will continue to see as we go through these studies, the heavens declare of the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork, day into day out of their speech, and night into night showeth knowledge. There is no speech or language where the voice of God is not heard, because the invisible things of him are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead. And wherever we look, if it's to the honey bee, as in our first two lessons, if it's to uh the bees and the plants, or water works, as in our third and fourth lessons, or in the plant world, as in our last two lessons, everywhere we look we see the unmistakable evidence of an intelligent, super mind guiding and presiding over all of creation, and the Bible declares this person to be the Lord God Almighty of the Bible. We want to have a third lesson now on this matter of the uh plant world and the plant kingdom and bring out some things that we have not uh discussed hitherto. The wonders of plant life are not over when summer is past. You know, some of the most remarkable features are seen when the leaves fall in the autumn. We look at a tree from which dead leaves are dropping uh to the ground, and we feel a tinge of sorrow. Here's the end of life for thousands of lovely bits of foliage, but the tree itself has been making preparations for another season. It is not so concerned with its present, apparently dying condition as with preserving its beauty and vigor until next springtime, when it will burst forth again into fresh beauty and power. And this brings us to something which is truly astonishing and usually unnoticed. I'm thinking of the buds, winter buds, which are already in place before the leaves fall. Break off, if you will, a leaf from the shining willow. Look closely at the base of the leaf stalk using a magnifying glass, and what you'll see will be something you will not forget. Right at the spot where the leaf was broken off, you'll notice a tiny bud enclosed in a single wrapping, which is an ideal example of nature's way of doing up a parcel. This wrapping consists of two small leaves joined at their margins, which exactly fit into each other. You may, if you're careful, strip off this wrapping in one piece by using a needle. Then with your magnifying glass, examine what the wrapper contains. Here are five or six of next year's leaves, absolutely perfect even to the branching veins and the delicate toothing at the edges. There's a space between these miniature leaves which cannot be detected with the naked eye. When the spring sunshine gives its warmth to these midget leaves, they will speedily grow to their full size, becoming a beautiful spray. These inner leaves surround the precious flower cluster. If you pull off a sumac leaf, a drop of milky fluid immediately fills the wound that you have made, but when this is wiped away you see a little swelling, small and pale. It is next year's leaf bud. The honey locust covers its three or four baby leaf buds with a diminutive fur lined chamber. Of course, since all the tree's possibilities for the future are in these winter buds, the tree guards them most carefully. Each little package is wrapped in layers of scales, securely gummed together, and over this is laid a coat of varnish to keep it safe from the weather. As a further precaution, some buds are carefully lined with fur, others with cotton like hairs. All are very snug and warm in their cradles. Sometimes instead of scales, a little brown cap is fitted snugly over the bud, as in the sycamore tree. Everyone has seen a pussy willow's leathery hood made in one piece and lined with a silvery fur. Wild cherry buds are slender and pointed, each sitting upon a small shelf. Butternut buds also have a shelf made for them and display a hairy ridge, something like eyebrows. Black walnut buds are clothed in rich grey velvet. Now ask yourself and be honest with yourself, but ask yourself a question. Does the tree design these wonders for itself? You know, to ask the question is to answer it, you know good and well. You know in the depths of your heart, before you could consciously answer, subconsciously God almighty has already put the answer within you. No, absolutely not. A tree does not intelligently form and fashion these leaf buds or their protective covering. The leaf arrangement in all these buds of the various trees shows much diversity and yet definite plan and design. The leaves of an apple bud are set one at a joint on alternate sides of the twig. A line joining them is a spiral that goes twice around the twig before the sixth bud is reached directly above or below the one chosen for a starting point. This is known as the five ranked order and is the plan adopted by the common fruit trees. There are many leaf plans, from two to thirteen, even more, the object being always to secure the best possible exposure to the sun and to the air. We're told by scientists that the toothing and pointing of leaves is in order to provide various little tongues for grasping and holding the rays of the sun. In fact, in regions of the world where there is more or less sunshine, you will see a variation in these depending upon the need of the plant. Now, what we have to ask ourselves is this is there a an intelligent mind in each and every plant and tree by which it exercises uh some force of will and then a measure of skill in order to make the uh miniature leaves, make them of the exact and proper shape, place them in the proper location on the tree, uh secure the leaves so that they will uh have just the right amount of sunlight for proper growth and development. You know something to believe that, to believe that this is just a matter of chance, happening, or circumstance is really more than you could ask any intelligent human being to believe. There must be evidently there must be an intelligence behind every member of the plant kingdom. The Bible declares that intelligence to be God Himself. Now let's think also about the wonderworking chlorophyll chemists in the green leaf. You know, each leaf is actually a chemical laboratory that performs amazing feats of skill, its chief business being to make starch for plant food. What remarkable food this is, for it comes not only wood, but cork, and the tender petals of flowers, the flesh of fruits, and the widest variety of gums, oils, essences, and perfumes all come from these factories. These hard working leaves accomplish an invaluable service to mankind, a service which has been previously mentioned in an earlier lesson. The imprisoning of deadly carbonic acid gas and the releasing of oxygen which purifies and renovates the atmosphere, all this machinery is compressed between the very thin walls of each leaf. If you examine a leaf, you find that the leafy skeleton is divided into a network of woody threads. These threads, or veins, that's what they look like, connect with larger ones in the leaf's stalk, and these in turn are joined to veins in the branch. Filling in the spaces between the network is a green pulp, somewhat resembling a honeycomb. It is made up of a row of cells, each cell a little bag of transparent skin filled with a colorless jelly. This jelly is itself clear, but is so full of floating particles of vivid green that the entire leaf has this bright color. These green specks are the chlorophyll chemists. They are the machinery of the laboratory. Over this network of cells there is a transparent leaf skin. The purpose of the skin is to prevent the sun from drying up the juices in the leaf. So smooth and polished is the leaf skin that of most leaves that they shed water like tiny umbrellas. The water, which is constantly rising from below through the roots, must evaporate easily, otherwise the starch factory would soon overflow. So to aid in evaporation, the undersides of the leaves have thousands of wide open mouths, little pores or stomata they're called, for the easy passage of air and vapor. Inside every leaf then proceed all the complex activities which make life possible. The name which is attached to these operations of the leaf is a rather large one, photosynthesis. It means simply that when sunlight falls upon the green plant, the chlorophyll particles snatch the rays which supply them with energy, solar heating, if you will. And by some unknown sleight of hand, they combine the carbon dioxide, which comes to them through the air, with the water which arrives chiefly from the roots, thus bringing into being sugars and starches. These sugars and starches are carbohydrate foods. The latter and later part of these are changed by the plants into fats and proteins. Fats, like starches and sugars, are composed only of oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon. Proteins consist of these three elements combined with nitrogen, sulfur, iron, potassium, and many other elements. So we can understand something of this vast business of photosynthesis by summing up the process. The leaves have as their source of energy the sun. The raw materials used are soil, water, and carbon dioxide from the air. The manufacturing plant is made up of the leaves and the bark of young stems. The operating machines or the skilled chemists are the thousands of chlorophyll bodies. The transportation system within the factory is made up of the intricate series of vascular bundles for the passage of fluids up and down. The product is carbohydrates, chiefly starch and sugar. The byproduct is oxygen, which is thrown off and used by mankind. In all this we observe a system so complicated and exact that the mind of man is baffled by the mystery of it. Before plants can be fertilized and able to propagate themselves, the pollen dust much must reach the pistil which lies at the bottom of the flower. It is the business of the pistils to form seeds to nourish and shelter them until they are ready to be sent out to the world, but this cannot be done until the pollen reaches its destination. When the pollen dust falls on the sticky stigma, it is firmly held. This tiny speck of pollen dust now bores a tube down inside the style and enters the ovary. Then a small bit of protoplasm slips down the pollen tube and mixes with the substance in the little seed beginning. Immediately the baby seed is formed and begins to grow. Now God devised the curious and altogether marvelous plan whereby pollen dust would be carried to the proper destination and reach its appointed place safely. He called upon the insect world to undertake the job, and as we have discussed, the bees are the chief agents, and naturally the creator, wishing to bring them to the flowers, gave the flowers color and fragrance as definite attractions, along with a tiny drop of sweet fluid which would reward their visit to the bottom of the flower. We've discussed this marvelous working of God, but it never ceases to amaze you to think of all the intricate details that God has gone to to provide for the needs of his creation. The more we look into blossoms, the more we realize how wisely this business has all been planned. If all the trees, depending on insects, blossomed at once, some would certainly be neglected. And so it is, there is a definite and regular order. On one tree the blossoms are just peeping forth, on another the seeds are set, still another has both fruit and seed fluttering here and there. A fourth is in the full glory of leaf foliage, with blossom time and seed sowing all but forgotten. Here again is design. Some flowers and plants have advertising cards that we've talked about, brown signaling no admittance to the bees, and the bright colors identifying the nectar. It seems that the perfume of the flowers rather than the color attracts most of the insects, but the insects have a keen sense of smell, much keener than their vision, and can detect odors quite imperceptible to us. Floral structure seems to determine what type of creature can be accommodated, and flowers which bloom at night, it's interesting, are nearly always white and sweet scented. Aquatic plants have waterborne pollen, amazing as it may seem, red, violet, and blue are the colors which are most attractive to bees and butterflies, while dull yellow, brownish, and dark purple flowers seem to depend largely on the visits of flies. All these interesting facts show that wherever we touch plant life, we are near to the great creator. Every individual plant and vegetable and tree is the special work of God. They neither weave nor spin nor paint themselves. Beholding them we see God Himself, patiently and unremittingly at work. He is present with every flower that springs up in the garden or the field or the wilderness and gives it his own touch of beauty in every one of its leaves and every tint that contributes to the beauty of its coloring. He presides over it from the first impulse of germination to the last moment of fading existence. How natural then for us to believe that if he thus cares for each blade of grass, much more will he care for those whom he has created in his own image. Some of you listening today are in trouble. It may be that bereavement has come to your home and a loved one has been taken. You prayed to God to spare that life, and you're disappointed, perhaps a bit rebellious that things did not go the way you thought they should. You're tempted to turn away from God because the sorrow has been permitted, but don't forget the lesson. Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth. You remember we talked about that the other day? You know, I've discovered that the people who go through life without trouble and sorrow usually are not the ones who have fine and attractive characters and glowing testimonies for God. It takes the crises of life to bring us close to the Father's arm, and so whatever your condition is, know that God never makes a mistake. If he cares so perfectly for the various flowers and plants and trees, how much more for you? Every green thing that springs out of the ground has something to say to us. All the leaves of the forest join in one general murmur to repeat in our ears the prophet's warning, we do all fade as a leaf. We're apt to thrust this truth out of our minds, but in order that we may not forget every autumn, when the fading time comes, God spreads before us on plain and hillside a great parable in which our own decay and death are pictured, so vividly that we all must read and reflect. Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, now green in youth, now withered on the ground. Another race the following age supplies, they fall successive and successive rise, so generations in their course decay, so flourish these when those have passed away. But my friend, when you reach the end of your cycle of days, what will it be? Endless joy with Jesus Christ or the eternal punishment of the lost? I hope and pray that you'll take advantage of God's free and perfect and present salvation through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Why hesitate any longer? Why not take Jesus, the caretaker of all creation, as your personal Lord and Savior? Now we've talked about plant life and about uh nearly three full broadcasts now, and let's review some of the things quite briefly that we've said. We've been hurried and incomplete because as we go through God's garden, we can just glance here and there for a moment at the beauties and marvels. We can't dwell too long in any one place, but we've seen the botanical classification of plant life as it is written down in Genesis. We've found it to agree with our modern scientific ideas. We've thought of the almost infinite variety of stalk and leaf of flower and fruit among hundreds and thousands of species. We've seen the curious devices for getting food for growth and seed production. We've watched the way nature provides for the wide dispersal of seeds across the earth, her mechanical devices of parachute and rocket gun, antedating our modern discoveries by thousands of years. We've gazed with awe at the downy beds in which the baby seeds lie. We've marveled at the mysteries of photosynthesis and the skill of the chlorophyll chemists in their tiny leaf laboratories. We've talked about the turning of carbon and water into all kinds of foods for the benefit of mankind. And one question keeps thrusting itself before us. What is the explanation of the mystery of the operations undertaken and carried through so easily and accurately by these humble life forms? We've come to the conclusion that the most learned scientist in the universe is unable to offer up a satisfactory solution to our problem. These tiny particles of living protoplasm guard their secret well. There's many things we'd like to know. We'd like to know whence originates that spark of life that brings superhuman power and wisdom to these cells that divide and redivide in unerring precision. How do they build for themselves their snug and secluded cradles and at the same time extract a steady stream of nourishment from soil, water, and air, snatching at passing sun rays for the indispensable light without which nothing would be possible? We watch them bring sugars and starches from carbon and water and stand amazed as we behold them delivering their products through leaf stalk and branch to the luscious fruit somewhere along the line. Who can cause us to understand anything about this? To say that it is nothing more than the working of law and some law of nature is to use the words without meaning. What is nature? Is it an entity? Does it possess a personality? Where does nature dwell? Has it ever been seen? Whatever it is, how does it convey knowledge of its law to millions of cells in all parts of the globe? How do the cells so instantly and perfectly understand the instructions as they are delivered? Where do the cells get the power to put into immediate operation the innumerable details, taking every step in this very complicated process in the correct order? This order seems to be predetermined in every case. The slightest mistake would ruin the whole result, and yet there's never a misstep. Is there a school where these cells may learn the mysterious plan? Who organized this school? Who is the headmaster? Where are the sessions held? What language is used? How long do the courses last? Are there graduation exercises? The questions could go on and on. You know, Job sought out the source of wisdom. The twentieth chapter of Job, he draws attention to many of man's accomplishments and yet his fruitless search for the prime cause of it all. Job is interested in the acknowledged fact that man has been able to perform many notable deeds. He's penetrated some distance into the earth, he's brought up silver and gold and iron and copper. His strength has enabled him to almost overturn mountains by the roots and build dams and to control the water, and yet the question remains, where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? And the Bible writer says, It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or with a sapphire. Yes, the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued for pure gold. Again, the man asks the ocean, Mighty Sea, can you tell me where wisdom dwells? The Bible answers, The deep saith, It is not in me. The sea saith, It is not with me. Destruction and death say, according to the Bible, we have heard a rumor thereof with our ears. This reluctant admission does not, of course, tell us. All that death knows. The last enemy that should be destroyed is death. We read its grudging admission that it's heard a rumor. But in Job twenty eight, verses twenty-three to twenty-eight we read, It is God who understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof, for he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth unto the whole heaven, he establisheth it, yea, and searched it out, and unto man he said, Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding. And there's the answer, my friend. There's a God, a God who understands, a God who created heaven and earth, the source of all things in the universe, inanimate and living, from starry worlds of immeasurable size to microscopic details. This is he who made the oceans, the lakes, the rivers, and filled them with various forms of life. This is the God who placed on earth the thousands of forms of living things, birds, insects, animals, and man. He made the trees. His enemies, amazing as it may seem. The almighty creator, Jesus Christ, hangs suspended between heaven and earth, helpless it would seem, forsaken by man and his father, because the sins of the world were piled upon him. He died for us, and thank God he rose again, the conqueror over death and the grave, that we through faith in him might have everlasting life. This God, by his own affirmation, is a gardener and a husbandman. He says in Isaiah 60 21 and 61 3, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord. This planting is more precious to him than all the different kinds of trees, nineteen of them mentioned in the Bible, and all the other products of his omnipotence. Jesus often spoke of his followers as trees and branches of the vine, and mentioned their fruit bearing. He tells us that we reveal whether we're saved or not by the kind of fruit we bear. Luke 6, 43 and 44. There is no good tree that bringeth forth corrupt fruit, nor again a corrupt fruit tree that bringeth forth good fruit. For each tree is known by its fruit, for of thorns men do not gather figs, nor if a bramble bush gather they grapes. Now you think for a moment What sort of fruit are you bearing? You say, Well, I'm an apple tree. All right, are you bearing sweet, lovely apples? Are you bearing crab apples, sour and distasteful? I want to know. God wants to know. You see, the type of fruit dictates the type of tree. Are you God's planting, God's tree, God's marvelous recreation by the new birth? Are you still that same old man producing sin and bitterness and hatred and despair? My friend, you can be born again by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, if he is mighty enough to create all this great plant kingdom, he is mighty enough to born you again and create in you a clean heart and a living spirit. Sins forgiven, burdens lifted, joy unspeakable and full of glory. The Bible says if you'll humble yourself, believe from your heart that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again, confess before men your faith in his blood atonement, and call upon him from a sincere and believing heart. He will save your soul, forgive your sin, and give you everlasting life. Now you know it's an amazing thing the root of pride and how deep it runs in the heart of a man. After considering what we've considered just on today's program, nevertheless, all the others, uh how could a man possibly lean to his own understanding or his own intelligence or his own abilities and think I, by my strength, my might, my wisdom, my intelligence, my ability, I am going to see myself home to heaven. I'm going to take care of myself. Why why you know good and well that you couldn't make one living plant. Not one. Nevertheless, all that might be in your yard, nevertheless, all that might be in your village, nevertheless all that might be in your state, nevertheless all that are existent on the face of planet earth, and yet you are going to reject the wise counsel of that Creator when he tells you, Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Whosoever drinketh of this water that I shall give him shall never thirst again. The water that I give him be eternal life springing up within him. Why would any mere mortal man reject the wisdom and counsel of a God who proves his might, who proves his wisdom, who proves his superiority in every leaf, in every blade of grass, in every plant? That's the deception of Satan, my friend. It's the misleading of unclean spirits that would try and get you to lean to your own intelligence, your own understanding, your own way. The Bible says there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Jesus Christ said of himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me. Now if Jesus is the only way, then all other ways are but deceptions of Satan. Don't take them, don't be misled, don't be deceived. God didn't create all this great creation in vain, and he didn't create you in vain. He created you for the purpose of enjoying your company for all of eternity, but your sin is separated between you and your God. You must repent of that sin. It must be cleansed and washed away, and the only cleansing agent for sin is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Won't you believe on him? Trust him from the depths of your heart today as your soul's salvation.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

Thanks for tuning in today. Join us every weekday for another episode of the Preaching of the Cross Radio Podcast. For hundreds of hours of in-depth expository Bible teaching, please visit our YouTube channel, JamesWorks.com, our terminology page, Bible Baptistland, or our website, BibleBaptistLand.com. Until next time, and throughout eternity, make Jesus Christ.