Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.
The reference to the summer fruits and the first ripe is to fig trees which produce two fruits per season. The early one is the best quality. It is what we would typically think of as figs. The latter one is fruit. It is edible; it is a fig. But it is of poorer quality.
God’s preacher saw professing believers, the children of God, full and satisfied, but of poor spiritual quality.
- They were confident in their relationship with God.
- They were the children of God.
- They were beloved of Him.
- They would have said they loved the Lord.
But they were not what they ought to have been. The preacher, and by extension the Lord,[1] desires that first ripe, sweet fruit.
How we long to see Christians who cannot be satisfied being full of a worldly sort of godliness. For too long, we have allowed ourselves a mixture of sweet and bitter water,[2] of new wine in old bottles.[3]
- We’ve mixed the world’s philosophies with the Word of God.
- We’ve mixed the world’s moralities with the righteousness of God.
- We’ve mixed the world’s systems into the church of God.
It might produce fruit, but it’s not the first ripe sort.
My soul desires the first ripe fruit.
[1] Because God spoke through him
[2] James 3:11 (KJV)
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
[3] Matthew 9:17 (KJV)
Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.
To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.
Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824
Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”
For this and, more than 5600 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.
If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.
For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.
My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org
Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more
Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi provides a means for those who appreciate my content to leave me a “tip.” I would be thankful for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment