The Goodly Fruit of the Land
I was listening to a Sermon recently and this point that the preacher touched on just tickled my interest, so here we have the interesting results from that. We have this in Deuteronomy 1:25 “And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought [it] down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, [It is] a good land which the LORD our God doth give us.” Numbers 13:23-25 “And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and [they brought] of the pomegranates, and of the figs. The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence. And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.”
Here we have Israel pretty much fresh out from Egypt (Sin) and now at the boarders of Canaan for the very first time, and then they proved to be not very brave and pretty faithless. They pressed Mosses for a reconosance trip first, just to see if God had done what he had promised, just to check him out first. Was this a good place or should we just go back to Egypt. Let us check out God first, so where was their faith after weeks of undeniable miracles; oceans splitting to make a dry path through the seas, fountains and floods of water from rocks in a dry desert land, food on the ground every day (except Sabbath), massive victories in battles with nil or negligible casualties, shoes and clothes that did not wear out, and the list goes on, yet they continued to doubt Gods abilities big time, and it appears, basically all the time.
Caleb and Joshua bring back a grand report of an Amazing Place; and here are the evidences in the fruits of the new Kingdom, they have pockets full of produce and a huge bunch of grapes suspended between them. Come look at all this beautiful bounties, handle them, smell them, and eat them; for these are very real. So what are the fruits of the Heavenly Kingdom that we are on the boarder of? Well Galatians has a very interesting list of the fruits of a new kingdom as found in Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Question; when was the last time you ever bumped into some of this Heavenly Crop? Are these fruits just old wives tales, fables and fiction about some fairy land of peace, beauty and harmony, in a land far far away? Why should we not be sprouting them right now and in abundances on this side of the Promised Land, and seeing them with those we meet, those we Worship with; this is a Heavenly Crop? Heaven is a reality, and not a figment of some imagination, Jesus Christ is real, Salvation from sin is real, the end of this world as we know it is real, Jesus is coming back very soon to set up his Kingdom and to rule and that is also very real. This is not a fantasy; it is a reality and it is so soon to break upon us, so how are you “In Christ?”
Why are we not each feasting on this Heavenly Bounty as we interact with each other? We should be seeing these fruit in abundance and should be able to sample and to enjoy the fruits thereof. This Heavenly Fruit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance, should be cropping bountifully and ripe fruits should be dropping on the ground all around us as we each journey through life.
These scattered fruits should allow other people who find them and to pick them up and to see that there is a better way, a much better land, that Heaven is an actual reality as they have just had a wee foretaste of the bounties. I guess we could call it “Witnessing” when in reality it is just living by Faith, “walking the walk and talking the talk.” So how good are we at this, and why do we stay on this side of the boarder when “By Faith” we can actually be sort of living in God’s Kingdom on the other side right now and daily, moment by moment, in advance of that reality.
The Redeemed of all Ages get to live in this reality world forever, so why not get a head start and practice and enjoy living in the “Kingdom of God” before it arrives here as an actuality. That is what Faith is, having and experiencing something that is so close, but not quite within your grasp. Watch children at play zooming their cars across the floor, they are the driver, it is a reality. Little girls have dolls houses and such, and they are playing mother-daughter. Country boys have plastic animals and plastic fences and they are playing farming like daddy and moving their stock about. To them it is a reality, not quite in the hand, but then that’s near enough for them.
Dear Reader; how is our Faith and trust in God? Are we living our “Heavenly Life” now “By Faith?” James admonishes us to be doers of the word and not hearers only (James 1:22) so how much doing is there? A saying years ago went something like this, “Do you have a Wish Bone or a Back Bone?” The point is about meaningless thoughts verses meaningful activity, or doing and not hearing only. Let us each resolve to be doing, practicing, and fruiting bountiful Heavenly, Promised Land crops, which is an undeniable proof of the reality of our Faith in God.
