2020 A.D.:  Does the Placenta Wear the Image of a 'Tree of Life' 

"The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."  Genesis 2:9

"And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”  " Genesis 3:22

"Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."  Rev 2:7 

"...down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."  Rev 22:2

     Placentas are amazing, especially when you consider all that they accomplish.  They transfer food to the baby (nutrients) and bring some of the waste products out.  They transfer gases in and out, they hold water for the baby to float in.  Amazingly, babies can have a different blood type than their mothers do.  Placentas have an inner and out layer.  The outer layer develops from the cells of the mother's uterus.  But the inner layer develops from the cell (the blastocyst) that becomes the baby.  So the placenta is composed of both the 'maker' (the mother) and the 'created thing' (the baby).  They are a 'go between', or 'a mediator' for the baby and the mother.  In a slightly similar vein, Jesus is a mediator between God the Father and sinful men.  He was composed of the being of God (the Maker) and the flesh of the human woman named Mary from the Israelite tribe of Judah (Mary, a normal human, a created thing.)

     Placentas have a 'tree of life' of sorts on their outside surface with the umbilical cord basically resembling the trunk of the tree and the blood vessels reaching out everywhere onto the surface of the placenta serving to look like the tree's branches.  Placentas are crucial in supplying what is needed to nourish the baby growing inside, providing for that small tenderly loved individual maturing under its nurturing care, just as a new Christian is developed and matured to become pleasing to God the Father under Jesus' guidance and care.  

     It is said that the tree of life named in the Book of Genesis was symbolic of a coming Jesus, centuries in the future, Who would one day teach and then die for many, to atone for the sins of those who accepted His New Covenant and followed Him, telling others as they went.  So, it may or may not be true that these blood vessels and arteries, fanning out as they do, were meant to bring the Tree of Life, and Jesus to mind when we look at it.  But it can do so in a way.