Strange Circumstance

Song of Solomon 2:10-14

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

10 “My beloved responded and said to me,
‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
And come along.
11 ‘For behold, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
12 ‘The flowers have already appeared in the land;
The time has arrived for pruning the vines,
And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.
13 ‘The fig tree has ripened its figs,
And the vines in blossom have given forth theirfragrance.
Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
And come along!’”

14 “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the secret place of the steep pathway,
Let me see your form,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your form is lovely.”

Along with the gift of life comes the blessing of uncertainty. Yes, it is a gift too. The mystery is in what we will choose. Whether we make the correct choice or no, there will be consequences of suffering and sorrow. This, too, is a gift. Deep and profound meaning and wisdom will be realized by living them through. It is granted to us to know the reasons why.

Don't ignore the signposts God has distributed along the way. God leaves them there so we will know where He is. He is our home. He is the goal.

As to where we are now, I have been contemplating the rapture reference contained in The Song of Solomon. It is a vision of springtime, and mention is made that the time has arrived to trim the vines, that the fig tree has ripened it's figs (1,2) The vines are the vineyard that is Israel (3,4) This is when He tells His beloved to rise and come away, that He will take her to the cleft of the high Rock.


At this same time of year, springtime, also comes the Feast of Passover. In the imagery  of the Exodus, which this feast memorializes, there is the warning to be properly "clothed" so as to be "ready" to leave Egypt! (Staff in hand, sandals on the feet, travel ready!) It is only those who are "covered"  by the blood of The Lamb, which have "eaten" The Lamb ("eat my flesh and drink my blood") who are leaving Egypt this night! They are going to the Promised Land! These have no inheritance in Egypt!


Fast forward in time to the observance of Passover by Jesus and His disciples! Jesus instigated, here, a vast change in the meaning, and our understanding of, the feast, endowing it with the uniquely Christian celebration of communion! There was just one thing, though, that Jesus said, at this "Last Supper" that can have a different meaning than we're used to hearing!
Luke 22:16 "for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” What if this means "The Wedding Supper of The Lamb" referred to in Rev. 19:9? Could this be the supper that is waiting to be served by The Master's hands to the good servants in Luke 12:37?  " Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them."

NOTES

1. In the world of nature, growers produce new fig trees from branches cut from other fig trees. In most cases the new trees will bear fruit about three to four years later. Fig trees are prolific and will bear two crops of fruit each year. The first crop appears in spring before the leaves. The fruit is green and is inconspicuous among the leaves as they unfold, until the time of ripening which is from about May in Israel. The young fruit appears on the branches of the last year's growth. The next crop, the late figs, grow on the new wood and ripen into late summer, in Israel to about August and September. At this time of rapid growth the fig tree has gained more leaves. http://biblefocus.net/consider/v15FigTree/Fig_Tree_and_Israel.html

2.The fig tree sheds its leaves in winter, at the end of which, even before the tree is covered with leaves, the paggim ("green figs," Song 2:13) begin to develop in the form of small fruits, which are really tiny flowers covered with a soft skin, and which continue to grow during the summer months. Hosea (9:10) compared the young nation of Israel in the heyday of its glory to bakkurot ("first-ripe figs"), which are delicious and eagerly sought after (Isa. 28:4; Jer, 24:2). Not all the paggimreach the ripened stage, some falling off or withering (Isa. 34:4). Figs that ripen at the end of summer have an inferior taste (Micah 7:1), as do those that burst when overripe (Jer. 29:17). Figs were dried in the sun and were either left whole or cut up and pressed (develah, I Sam., 25:18; I Chron. 12:40). The word kayiẓ (II Sam. 16:1–2; Jer., 40:10, 12), which may refer to summer fruits as a whole, signifies primarily dried figs (cf. Isa. 16:9; Tosef., Ned. 4:1–2). http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0007_0_06440.html

3. Isaiah 5:Let me sing now for my well-beloved 

    A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.

    My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. 

    He dug it all around, removed its stones,

    And planted it with the choicest vine.

    And He built a tower in the middle of it

    And also hewed out a wine vat in it;

    Then He expected it to produce good grapes,

    But it produced only worthless ones.

    “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,

    Judge between Me and My vineyard.

    “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?

    Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?

    “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:

    I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed;

    I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground.

    “I will lay it waste;

    It will not be pruned or hoed,

    But briars and thorns will come up.

    I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”

    For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel

    And the men of Judah His delightful plant.

    Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;

    For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.

4. With that said, you can approach your pruning in a spirit of learning and adventure, not panic. Grapes are best pruned in spring (February/March, or even as late as early April) because if pruned too early a hard frost in late winter can damage the canes and buds. (http://extension.wsu.edu/maritimefruit/Pages/GrapePruningBasics.aspx)

The Day Dawns!

We are lamps of His light until the day comes! 2 Peter 1:19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.

The day is almost upon us! I call upon The Lord! I ask for Him to fulfill His promises, for the day is at hand! Bring in Your glory, Lord! Let Your people rejoice! Isaiah 26:19 Your dead will live; Their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, For your dew is as the dew of the dawn, And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.

I pray for Your people! Come to them. Bring them home. Now is the time! Psalm 108:2-6  I will awaken the dawn!For Your loving kindness is great above the heavens, And Your truth reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, And Your glory above all the earth. That Your beloved may be delivered, Save with Your right hand, and answer me!

We will return with Him when He brings deliverance!  Psalm 110:3 Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew.

Hosea 6:“So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth.”

God's Progressive Lesson Plan!

I have previously stated that the creation account in Genesis chapter one is a prewritten history of the world. I would like to explain further. The elect who are to rule and reign have been given a coded outline, a "syllabus", if you will, of God's teachings to mankind. All of man's days on the earth have an appointed total, and come to seven thousand years. (Genesis 6:3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” This is 120 jubilee years to reach the total of seven thousand.)  Each "day" of creation, while literal, is also a picture of a covenantal change between God and man, incrementally bringing man (if he be willing) further in his education and spiritual progress. The hebrew words for evening and morning, in the account, also mean chaos and order, respectively, and used in that order, affirm the advancement of God's plan for man. (Psalm 90:4 For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. 2 Peter 3:8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.)

(3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.) God first lets innocence be taken from man, lets man be able to see and understand evil and how it is the opposite of good. As C.S.Lewis said, "I believe in the sun not only because I can see it, but because by it I can see everything else." So there was a separation, a judgement made and boundaries drawn, and men could see the violence enacted all around them, could feel the sorrow and the pain. A hard school indeed!

(6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”7 God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8 God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.) At first the host of heaven were not physically separated from mankind. Some of the fallen angels reproduced with "the daughters of men" and it would take a judgement of water, the flood, to reorganize the hierarchy so as to resume the appointed plan. All else was jettisoned as unprofitable, the self indulgent man and the rebellious angel.

(9 Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good. 13 There was evening and there was morning, a third day.) At this point, God chose a certain family to use, to bless all of mankind, and through this bloodline He would send a redeemer. This people were to be separated from the other nations, as God separated the land from the sea.  They were to act differently, were given laws, specific laws, which were a physical acting out of a spiritual reality, of the eventual culmination of God's purpose and plan.

(14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17 God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19 There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.) The fourth day is when God sent His Son, the preexistent Light which was only unveiled to mankind at this point in the plan. Satan, who rules the dark, can only imitate the radiant glory of the Son, and only after the fact.

( 20 Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” 21 God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.) The "gentile" nations (the sea) now teem with the creativity and blessings of God, who grants them dominion. Even the evil ones (the birds) have freedom to expand their subtle and pernicious influence.


(24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. 25 God made thebeasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.) On this day is reborn the nation of Israel (the land) which is again granted a nation and given back their land to husband. Closer to the end, at the end, of the sixth day appear The Man and His bride, to rule over all the earth and to care for it in loving communion. 

Still to come is the seventh day, the rest promised to the people of God! The transition comes very SOON!








  

Just One Thing

What does God require from us, on our part, in order for Him to save us? "Only one thing you lack". The Lord's universal complaint about mankind is just this,"There is none that seeks after God." That lack is accompanied by the symptom called sin.

We did not seek Him, He sought us. It cost Him everything. This siren song of His passion which calls us to Him, is the same music which He seeks to instill in us, a desire for nothing less than perfect Love. He wants us to want Him. He sacrificed Himself to become the Love to die for. We must trust Him beyond all of what is called reason, past all visible hope, look for Him past the end of life, itself!  Our confidence in Him is meant to burgeon past the bounds of time and space, to be established forever, as a testament to His grace and faithfulness. We are His jewels which He creates to shine forever. Our faith in Him is our vindication and justification, a solid rock on which to take our stand!

This can only be a single minded pursuit. "If the eye is single, the whole body is full of light." Any meddling with other loyalties defiles the purity of our motivation. We cannot be divided in our devotion, and still give all to the One who gave it all!

It is a scary thing to face our own death, yet Love requires nothing less! (John 12:23-26) only when we have died to this world can we be resurrected to new life in Him! If it does not cost us all we have, all we are, then we do not even approach it! Whatever we hold back from Him is what we value more than Him. Abject surrender to Him, is the only door of salvation. The only thing He requires of us, is everything OF us!

Our Sure Defense

It is both gratifying and satisfying to realize our gifts fully, first by finding out what they are, and then by feeling the meaning embodied in giving them away. Fulfillment is achieved, even in weakness, this way. What God has so generously and unstintingly bestowed, is to be passed on, in His Name, to His everlasting glory.

Despite what we may see as our good intentions, we have an adversary, who would deliberately misunderstand and twist perceptions and the visible results of our works. We will be made aware of the enemy's hostility by virtue of desperate circumstance and degrading, contemptuous social context. He fights the revealing of the glory of The Lord, which he covets for himself.

Yet this is the very time that we will find our surest, firmest voice of truth, that we can shine His brightest light through us. It is but opportunity to act out the gospel message, to live and breath the vast difference between the prince of this world and the Prince of Peace! As we provide witness, give our sure defense to the truth of what we confess, this good news also provides our ONLY defense against "a crooked and perverse generation." This Redeemer is our reason, our excuse, our motivation, our support. His words on our lips are our helmet and shield. We will stand upon The Rock, our Foundation, and will not fall. He is our Bulwark and Refuge from the lies. We will encounter every shading of misrepresentation OF us, so as to use us, confuse us, and if it were possible, to defuse us! Yet His Word defends us with the truth of our righteousness in Christ alone! Even when we are overcome by our own weakness, His love is stronger still and acts as our Intercessor and Mediator. He is our sure defense!