Isaiah 5:1-7
Jeremiah 23:23-29
Luke 12:49-59
Hebrews 11:29-40
Heavenly fruit production is what we are to be cultivating and nurturing
here on earth; they are the things we produce in the heavenly will of God.
God has given us all we need to have a heavenly fruit production, but most
people choose to produce a corrupt and worldly fruit.
As you probably surmise by now, we are not really talking about the kind of
fruit we buy from our markets and eat, but the good works we accomplish in
the heavenly will of God, including the people we cultivate to grow into
children of God who live in His heavenly will, and also do everything in
their power to end the corruption of this earth and free creation from its
present corruption.
And, we can only do this when we live the life we preach, and set the
heavenly example for everyone around us.
In Isaiah 5:1-7, the prophet writes about this heavenly fruit production in
Israel some 2,700 years ago.
1. 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.
This is an example of the heavenly tools that God gives us so that we all can have a heavenly fruit production.
2. And 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 hewed out a wine vat in it;
Then He expected it to produce good grapes,
But it produced only worthless ones.
This is because the Israelites of that day, and most of the people in the world today have rejected the heavenly will of God and seek to live their lives in the corrupt and evil ways of this world, which only produced rotten fruit, such as the tortured remains of animals that are sold in our markets.
3. "And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Judge between Me and My vineyard.
This is also being said to the people of today just as much as it was spoken to the Israelites of Isaiah’s time.
4. "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?
Why?
Because, the people turned their backs on God and rejected the things that
God created for us to have.
God was not happy with them, and He is not happy with most of the people in
the world today, and we are not to be like them.
And, because they have rejected the heavenly will of God, and didn’t have a
heavenly fruit production, the Lord tells them and us what He is going to
do.
5. "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.
6. "And 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."
And we are seeing a lot more destructive weather patterns in the world in recent years, and we believe that much of it is in response to the rotten fruit we’ve produced that is causing huge environmental problems.
7. 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.
NASB
These are all part of the problems of our own human making that are coming
back upon all of our heads.
Now, let’s take a look at Jeremiah 23:23-29 and see what we can discern
about heavenly fruit production.
23. "Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD,
"And not a God far off?
Jeremiah is sometimes referred to as “the weeping prophet” because he had a
deep sorrow for the way the Israelites turned their backs to God and
produced only rotten fruit; he felt what God feels.
If people would accept the Lord in their mind, heart, and soul, we would
have the Holy Spirit with us to prove the presence of God.
24. "Can a man hide himself in hiding places,
So I do not see him?" declares the LORD.
"Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?" declares the LORD.
We cannot hide ourselves from God; we can only lie to ourselves and pretend He is not here, but the whole of His creation is a testimony that He is here.
25. "I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, 'I had a dream, I had a dream!'
We have a lot of these false prophets in our churches, and many of them are
church leaders and clergy.
God plainly tells us His heavenly will, and if anything is counter to His
heavenly will, it is not of God.
26. "How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy
falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart,
27. who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they
relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal?
If anyone tells us that it’s ok to kill another living being, or that God
wants us to kill animals and eat their flesh, we should fully realize that
such people are speaking for the devil and not God.
If people are not promoting a heavenly fruit production, then they are not
children of God; they are children of their father the devil.
28. "The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?" declares the LORD.
In the same way that we can easily discern the difference between the grain and the chaff, we should know what things are of God and what things are of this corrupt world.
29. "Is not My word like fire?" declares the LORD, "and like a hammer which
shatters a rock?
NASB
We hope and pray we all understand this, for unless we do, we will never be
able to have a heavenly fruit production, and may even miss entering heaven.
Now, let’s take a look at what Jesus tells us in Luke 12:49-59…
49. "I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!
Jesus is saying this because of all the evil he sees being done upon this corrupt earth; He wants to burn up the evil.
50. "But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!
Jesus is referring to His pending crucifixion and death.
51. "Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division;
God created this earth in peace, and human beings destroyed this peace in
favor of listening to the devil and following his evil ways.
From that time on, we have been separating into good and evil, but the
predominant force is evil, because most people refuse to return to God and
live in His heavenly will.
52. for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three
against two, and two against three.
53. "They will be divided, father against son, and son against father;
mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against
daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
We see this happening with vegan animal rights people; for the world looks down on them because the worldly people are threatened by the truth expressed in the vegan animal rights people’s lifestyles.
54. And He was also saying to the multitudes, "When you see a cloud rising
in the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it turns out.
55. "And when you see a south wind blowing, you say, 'It will be a hot day,'
and it turns out that way.
56. "You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and
the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?
The people recognize the physical conditions upon the earth, but they fail
to recognize the spiritual ones that show us the difference between good and
evil.
This is the main problem we have upon this earth and why it is filled with
so much violence and death.
57. "And why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right?
People prefer the rotten fruit rather than having a heavenly fruit production; they prefer death instead of life.
58. "For while you are going with your opponent to appear before the
magistrate, on your way there make an effort to settle with him, in order
that he may not drag you before the judge, and the judge turn you over to
the constable, and the constable throw you into prison.
59. "I say to you, you shall not get out of there until you have paid the
very last cent."
NASB
Jesus is using the earthly legal system as an example of the evil they are
doing to themselves by preferring the rotten fruit that they have produced
and rejecting the heavenly will of God.
This is the problem we are having all over the world, including in our
churches.
Hebrews 11:29-40 is about faith in God, but not necessarily living in the
heavenly will of God, for many of them were still living in the ways of this
corrupt and evil world.
In other words, they lived with one foot in heaven and one foot in the
world; so while they may have had a heavenly fruit production at times, they
also produced some rotten fruit.
29. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.
We know that the Israelites had the faith in God to cross through the Red
Sea, and that the Egyptians only copied the Israelites, but did not have any
faith in God themselves.
We also know from reading our Bibles that the Israelites quickly went back
to living in their worldly ways and rejected God’s heavenly will.
30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they had been encircled
for seven days.
31. By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were
disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.
While Rahab believed in the all-powerful God of Israel, we are not told anything else about her life in Jericho other than that she was a harlot; however we are also told that she married a Jewish man in the line of Jesus.
32. And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon,
Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets,
33. who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness,
obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,
34. quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness
were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
We need to remember that God’s heavenly will contains no suffering or death, which means that a lot of what they did was still part of the ways of this world.
35. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were
tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a
better resurrection;
36. and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and
imprisonment.
37. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were
put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins,
being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
38. (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and
mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
To a degree we are still seeing some of these things happening today, but the children of God who live in the heavenly will of God do everything in their power to free creation from its present corruption.
39. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not
receive what was promised,
40. because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us
they should not be made perfect.
NASB
This is our inheritance in heaven.
And remember that Jesus taught us that we are to be perfect as our father in
heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48).
He also taught us to pray for God’s heavenly will to be done on earth as it
is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).
This means that we are never to return to the ungodly ways of this world,
but to always live in the heavenly will of God, which will help us have a
heavenly fruit production no matter the evil of this earth that surrounds
us.
We can be the true children of God, if we really want to.
Amen.
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