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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Opened Flowers, part 6 in this series


Pure Heart
Palm trees, cherubim and blooming flowers carved on the walls of Solomon's temple are symbols to remind the Israelites of the Garden of Eden from which Adam and Eve were driven as a result of sin. “In a symbolic sense, readmission to the paradise of God is now to be had only by means of atonement for sin at the tabernacle.” (I Kings 6, Zondervan NIV Study Bible text note p. 485). Many early Jewish synagogues were adorned with similar motifs. 

 

In earlier blogs I talked about the significance of the palm trees and cherubim. Now I would like to take a look at what the blooming flowers may represent on a deeper level of revelation by the Holy Spirit. First of all, we know from the scriptures that Jesus is the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley. So the opened or blooming flowers were prophetic representations of  the fragrance of Christ who was yet to come and live in us one day. When lost sinners experience the fragrance of Christ in us, they are drawn to the Father God for His complete salvation. Just like the fragrance of a rose or a gardenia draws us away temporarily from our problems to a better place. Our spirit is lifted to a higher plane of excellence and wonder.

Being able to give a short, personal testimony of what Jesus Christ has done for us, is a good evangelistic tool. But if someone comes in direct contact with the love of Christ in us, they will see He is real and loves them personally. If people can experience Christ first-hand by seeing, smelling, touching, or tasting Christ, they will want to have what we have. People don't need preaching of the Gospel message, as much as they need-- to experience Christ and His transforming grace. Fully mature, saints of God are His representatives in the earth and vessels through which He reaches out to others to bring them into His kingdom.

Next Matthew 6:28 reminds us not to worry about having food or clothes, because our Heavenly Father will provide for all our needs. "See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these." Jesus instructed us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things would be given to us. Verse 34, "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Beautiful, opened flowers are a reminder of God's divine love and provision for us.

Fully matured, blooming flowers reveal the pistols and stamens which are the reproductive organs of the plant. The very heart or life of the plant is exposed to the weather, the sun, the rain, dust and wind. Only by opening up fully does it experience pollination so its life cycle can begin again or other plants can be produced. Think about the bumper crop of acorns we had this past fall. The abundant spring wind maximized the pollination and produced much fruit this fall which landed on the ground not only to feed the animals, but to produce new, baby oak trees all around the area. Fruit plants will die out if they don't experience successful pollination which is how and where the fruit itself is formed on the branches in the weeks and months ahead. The wind carries the pollen through the air so it is deposited on the reproductive organs. Of course, bees also help carry pollen from one plant to another so the life cycles continues each year.

Selah
Finally, our hearts need to be pollinated by the wind of the Spirit which produces the fruit of the Spirit in us. We can't produce spiritual fruit in and of our own natural ability. We have to present our opened hearts to the Spirit and ask Him to do His work of sanctification in us. Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit do not force themselves upon us. They present themselves to us and we have the divine opportunity to invite them into our hearts. Therefore, opened flowers can represent the importance of having our own hearts “open” to receive grace, power and revelation from God for our personal growth and maturity. Then it also means we are open or available to sharing God's love with others so that Christ can be reproduced in them.

Are you looking for a gift to give someone for Christmas or their birthday? Susan Crouch of Statesville, North Carolina painted these gorgeous watercolor flowers and graciously donated them for use with this article. They illustrate just how beautiful God's creations are and how wonderful His love is for us. She paints full-size prints and also has a collection of beautiful, scripture note cards for purchase on her website. Please check out her work at www.susancrouch.com.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Palm Tree (a new discovery), part 5

Have you ever read The Book of Enoch? Genesis 5 tells us Enoch is the man who "walked with God; then was no more, because God took him away." I am currently reading it for the first time in my life. It is filled with fascinating information about cherubim, Satan, the origins of evil spirits, hell, the Temple of YHWH and other biblical subjects. It has more factual details than the books of the Bible and contains conversations Enoch had with angels and with God. I can highly recommend Khanokh, The Sky Tripper, I Enoch, True Names Version, Translated and Interpreted by Jackson H. Snyder II, 2009. (www.JacksonSnyder.org).

Today I learned some more details about the tree of life which is in the paradise of God, but will be transplanted into God's temple following the Great Judgment. To my complete surprise, it is depicted as a date palm tree similar to the photo I posted in my second article back in Sept. 2011. 1 Enoch, chap. 24-25 describe the tree of life as having fruit resembling dates and having blooms that give off a "fragrance beyond all fragrance." The fruit will be for the bacharim  meaning "the elect or chosen ones" who will have access to the Temple of YHWH. The elect will eat fruit from this tree and live forever without any grief, plague, tragedy or pain.

Date palm tree from Dubai
If you scroll down and read my earlier post, Palm Tree, part 2 you see that palm trees were embroidered on the curtains of the wilderness tabernacle along with cherubim and opened flowers. Now I learned today the date palm tree is also found in 1 Enoch and will be what the tree of life looks like in the temple of YHWH during Jesus' millennium reign on earth. That means that God gave Moses instructions to embroider not just any palm tree, but one resembling the tree of life found in the Garden of Eden. So we see the tree of life showing up at the creation, in the wilderness tabernacle and again beside the throne of God in Revelation. Saints who are overcomers in this life will be granted to eat from the tree of life and live forever when once again Eden is restored. In my next post I plan to write about the opened flowers and their symbolism.

"Tree of Life Ministries" is the name of our non-profit organization and twenty years ago we chose to use an oak tree for our logo simply because we had a huge, 100 year old one growing in our backyard in Florida. I took a photo of it and asked an artist to make us a pen and ink drawing we could use on our letterhead and business cards. Hmmm. Guess we never stop learning new things the longer we live. Now we have to pray about changing our logo. Sometimes the traditions of men need changing when they discover the truth!