THE AUTHORIZED FRUIT.

 

Many are puzzled by the identity of the fruit coming from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden!

But few are those who seek to know what is the great number of authorized fruits described by our Creator in His Word!

And yet they all are there easy to get and in all seasons!

 

Jesus-Christ compared His people with a vine of which He would be the stock. But there would be a difference between the vine which bears fruits only once a year, and His people: His people should carry fruits all the time!

This means that if we are members of the Church of Christ, we must learn how to bear our fruits unceasingly.

For this purpose, Our Creator is ready to give us the necessary power to do so as we can read in the epistles of Paul to the Galatians:

 

"²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. "(Galatians 5:22-23).

 

The Holy-Spirit that our Father agrees to give us is helping us to produce  the fruit that we must carry and this fruit will offer to those who consume it a large variety of tastes according to circumstances!

But among all the perfumes spread by our fruit, one is vital because it is the one that is feeding Jesus-Christ permanently and in abundance. Jesus-Christ will appreciate it especially at the end-times:

This Fruit is the faith.

                  

          "¹ Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher (or consummator) of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of Elohim."(Hebrews 12:1-2).

 

We said that it would be a taste that Jesus would appreciate especially at end-times, at the moment of his return on earth,

Because this Fruit will be very RARE:

 

" ⁸... Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18: 8).

 

When He was on earth, nearly two thousand years ago, Jesus was already consuming faith in a natural way, like we breathe as we can see in the following example:

                  

"²⁴So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.
²⁵Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, ²⁶and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. ²⁷When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. ²⁸For she said, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well."
²⁹Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. ³⁰And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched My clothes?"
³¹But His disciples said to Him, "You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, "Who touched Me?"'
³²And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. ³³But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. ³⁴And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction." (Mark 5: 24-34).

 

Having read about this woman, let us examine ourselves about our faith! If Jesus-Christ raised the question to know if He will still find faith on earth at the time of His return, it means that Faith is expected to become a very rare food at times of the end.

Only those who among us will have cultivated carefully will enter the kingdom of our Father, in the way of the five wise virgins of the parable described in Matthew 25. These five virgins are given in example because they took enough oil, oil that symbolizes the Holy-Spirit.

 

Do we have enough Holy- Spirit? If not, our Father will accept to give us some BUT AT THE ONLY CONDITION THAT WE OBEY HIM  AND THAT WE WILL ABANDON ALL OUR BAD WAYS OF LIFE AND OUR BAD HABITS.

 

You can compare this with us eliminating from the vine shoot, that is a  symbol for the People of our Lord, all the species of rot, mushrooms and fleas which hamper the production of a fruit of quality and without defect, the only one that can be accepted by our Father. We are not alone to achieve this work but our Father is there all the time to help us by completing and by enhancing it. Thus, if He, who is our vine grower, sees that we do the right thing to improve ourselves in order to bear fruits with faith, He will prune us in such manner that we will be able to bear more fruits with more faith. This must encourage us to work but pay attention that if our Father starts to work on us himself, in person so to say, we had better to hang ourselves very well on the rest of the vine, as the harvest will be extremely abundant. But if we don't choose the way of the Lord, read what we should expect:

 

"¹² Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. ¹³And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again."
And His disciples heard it. ...

²⁰ Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. ²¹And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."
²²So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in Elohim. ²³For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. ²⁴Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." (Mark 11: 12-14 and 20-24).

 

This is the right time to recall how Faith is defined by Paul in his epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 11:

 

"¹ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1).

 

Faith in us will not only raise mountains but it can also act as a snow-ball with others! Indeed, our neighbor, thanks to our faith, can start to believe that Jesus is his Savior; from there, he will be able to repent, to be baptized and get the Holy-Spirit. This is the way which was followed by the believers in the initial Church when people received the Holy-Spirit:

 

                   " ¹³Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), ¹⁴that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith." (Galatians 3: 13-14).

 

Another attribute of faith is:

firmness

 

as opposed to doubt and confusion which reign over the present world. Faith is in harmony with Jesus-Christ, this steadfast Rock, this Cornerstone that as the Stock supports all His Church.

 

Faith prohibits any preference between people:

 

                   " ¹ My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. ²For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, ³and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," ⁴have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
⁵Listen, my beloved brethren: Has Elohim not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?" (James 2: 1-5).

 

Life of the Faith thanks to the works which are produced! 

         

"¹⁷Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead."

(James 2:17).

 

The faith will never survive if we do not make any work, it is like a fruit that rots on the tree because nobody picked and consumed it! Here are many reasons to encourage ourselves to increase our faith. To grow in faith will help us to believe that all the Sciptures of the Lord are useful to teach us, to correct us and to inform us in justice. Having read that, we will consequently understand much better that the following words in Deuteronomy are also addressed to us, especially when we are near the end-times:

 

"¹ "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of Yehoah your Elohim, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that Yehoah your Elohim will set you high above all nations of the earth. ²And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of Yehoah your Elohim:
³"Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.
⁴"Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.
⁵"Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
⁶"Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
⁷" Yehoah will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
⁸" Yehoah will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which Yehoah your Elohim is giving you.
⁹" Yehoah will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Yehoah your Elohim and walk in His ways. ¹⁰Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of Yehoah, and they shall be afraid of you. ¹¹And Yehoah will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which Yehoah swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² Yehoah will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³And Yehoah will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of Yehoah your Elohim, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. ¹⁴So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them. (Deuteronomy 28:1-14).

 

Then, do not repeat the action of Adam, do not consume anything from the forbidden tree, on the contrary consume in abundance the Holy-Spirit and produce accordingly one of the many authorized fruits, I mean

 

FAITH!