The Right Fruit

MMin Ellen M.

Did you ever really notice that the whole Bible deals with salvation and redemption with anagricultrual theme? The story of man begins in a garden. At the end of all things, orrather the new beginning of the new heaven and a new earth we are again placed in a sortof garden. Rev 22:2 says "in the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river,there was the tree of life, which bore twelve kinds of fruits, and yielded her fruit everymonth, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."The right fruit necessitates the right seeds. A farmer planting his crops is very selectiveabout the seeds he buys depending on the purpose and desired outcome of the crop heintends. He takes into account the kind of soil and the climate in his area. This is so muchlike Yeshua's familiar parable of seeds and the Sower in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8.In fact many of the things He taught centered on seeds or fruit. He said also in Matthew12:33, "either make the tree good and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt andhis fruit corrupt- for the tree is known by his fruit."The whole plan of the redemption of mankind is constructed around the theme ofagriculture in Israel- the seasons and the former and latter rains. Joel 2:23 says "...Hehas given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to rain down for you the rain,the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month." This speaks of the first andsecond coming of Messiah. Our modern day church has missed so much of both the richmeaning of Messiah in the times and the seasons of the agricultural calendar, for theyteach us about Him. Adopting the calendar and holidays of Rome all those centuries agoand for almost 2 thousand millennia ago now has obscured this from believers in MessiahYeshua. The festivals celebrated in a yearly cycle by the children of Israel wererehearsals for recognising who the Messiah would be and what He would do. The fourspring festivals (the former rain) speak of one harvest and reveal the redemptive work ofMessiah Yeshua in His first coming. The three fall festivals (the latter rain) correspond tothe second coming and the final harvest. It's all about seeds and crops and harvests!From the beginning there was a good seed and a bad seed. In the garden at the centrethere was the tree of life which, if man ate, would cause him to live forever. Near thistree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. After the fall of man into sin, Godpromised a Seed who would crush the head of the serpent, the bad seed. The seed can betraced through Scripture through the choosing of Avraham to be the progenitor of thePromised One. On down through Scripture there is the theme of good seed and bad seed.We know that the beautiful book of First John speaks also of the good seed. The seed isthe Word of God. What does it do, this seed?I John 3:9 says "Whoever is born of God does not commit sin, for His seed remains in him,