Fruit From the Tree

"When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.  She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it.  Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked...and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden"  (Genesis 3:6-8)

"...because you have done this...your desire will be for your husband and he will rule over you."

(Genesis 3:16b)

The woman...

Interesting how her broken relationship with the Lord God now also means broken relationship with the man.  She no longer trusts him fully; she questions everything about him.  Why had he not stopped her from the enemy's deception?  He was right there!

The intimacy she once had with the Lord God is shattered, so much so that she and the man had hidden from Him in shame and fear.  She realizes that the intimacy she also shared with the man - being naked and unashamed, open and vulnerable, trusting each other - was shattered too.  How is it that her broken relationship with the Lord God is now mirrored in her broken relationship with the man?  Oh, if she had only not eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  If she had only turned away from the lies of the enemy!  If only the man had intervened!

Fruit from the Tree.

Like Adam and Eve, we too have eaten the fruit of that tree, the fruit that brings shame.  We feel naked, vulnerable and exposed in ways we were never meant to feel.  Like Adam and Eve we too cover ourselves with "fig leaves" to avoid true intimacy in our relationships with each other, and we hide from the Lord God to avoid true intimacy with Him.

Where shame is birthed, fear quickly follows.  And down through the ages the enemy continues to use these debilitating emotions - shame and fear - to keep us hiding from God and from each other.  

Fruit from the Tree.

There is another Tree.

In Jesus' day the Cross was an instrument of shame.  Crucifixion was not just a way to cause someone a slow and painful death, although have no doubt about it, it was a crushing way to die.  But it was also a very public way of shaming a person.  In crucifixion you were left out in the open as your life slowly drained out of you.  You were completely exposed, naked, powerless, without dignity.  The Cross was a symbol of shame so horrific that people would not even speak the word out loud.

Think of it!  Jesus, God in human flesh, hanging on a Cross.  He who clothed the heavens in all their glory...now naked and exposed.  He who covered Adam and Eve with animal skins...now uncovered and vulnerable.  Why would God choose an instrument of such shame to redeem us?

Because He knew the only way to take shame from us was to transfer it onto Himself.

"For God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."  (2Cor.5:21)

"We keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who, for the joy set before Him, endured the Cross, scorning its shame...

...scorning its shame...

and sat down at the right hand of God."  (Hebrews 12:2)

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there He put the man He had formed.  And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.  In the middle of the garden were the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.  She also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate it.  (Genesis 2:8-9, 16-17, 3:6-7)

The Woman...

She had seen this only once before, this spilling of blood.  Crimson blood from an innocent animal seeping into the ground, slowing staining the dust as its life left it.  Before banishing her and the Man from the garden, the LORD God had clothed them - covered their nakedness - with garments of skin from the animal.

Innocence was slain, blood was shed, so that she and the Man would be covered as they went out into the chaos of a fallen world.  The LORD God had provided.  But it had come at a cost.

Now her son Abel's crimson blood has been spilled out on the ground, soaking into the hard dirt.  The Woman's tears water the soil where he has been cut down by his brother Cain.  How did it come to this so quickly?  The curse of the Fall has spread - is spreading - tears mixed with shed blood, slowly seeping across the hard earth.  She has gained what she craved, what she so deeply desired:  the knowledge of good and evil, the wisdom she thought would be hers by eating the one thing the LORD God had held back from her.  Death is the result and her son Abel's blood cries out from the ground.  Can you hear it?

The LORD God had hinted at a Deliverer when He banished her and the Man from the garden.  The promise of God that salvation would come through the Woman had once filled her with hope.  Surely her son Cain...or would it be Abel?

Now both her sons are lost to her...

Connecting the Dots: Gleaning...Shavuot...Pentecost...

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.  Suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  There appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit...that day there were added about three thousand souls."  Acts 2:1-4, 41

Today we celebrate the feast of Pentecost, commemorating the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on God's people.  It was the birth of the Church.  Today our Jewish friends will be celebrating the feast of Shavuot, which is what they were doing at the Temple when the Holy Spirit was given all those years ago.

Shavuot celebrated the spring harvest and was one of seven feasts God commanded His people to celebrate each year (you can read about them in Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16).  He also gave them specific ways to celebrate this feast:  with a freewill offering of your hand, given as the Lord has blessed you; rejoicing before the Lord, you and your household, servants, the stranger, the orphan, the widow; remembering you were slaves in Egypt.  Then almost as a postscript He adds this,  "When you reap the harvest...you shall not reap to the corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien.  I am the Lord your God." Lev. 23:22

As I was reading about this particular feast which foreshadows the giving of the Holy Spirit, it struck me that this law of gleaning was attached to the harvest feast of Shavuot only.  It was not attached to the harvest feast of Pentecost or the harvest feast of Tabernacles.  I wondered why gleaning was included in this particular one and not the others. What was God showing His people?  So I had to do a little treasure hunting in the scriptures.

I discovered this particular law was given three times in the Torah.  Most laws are only mentioned twice (once in Leviticus and again in Deuteronomy).  Because God repeats Himself three times I wondered what precept He wanted to make sure His people understood.  Each time He gave this command He added, "I am the Lord your God".  He is identifying Himself with this action.  Because He is gracious and compassionate, He expects His people to be gracious and compassionate to each other and to those around them.

Another thing I realized is in addition to the ten percent tithe all Israelites gave to the Lord, there were gifts and offerings which would vary with each individual.  If you had a source of harvest you were to be generous with that, going over your fields only once and not harvesting all the way to the corners.  You would be doing your part in society to help the widow, the orphan, the poor and the alien - those who were most helpless could come behind your harvesters and pick up the leftovers for themselves.  In that way you would be acknowledging that you served a most generous God who had aided you when you were the most helpless as slaves in Egypt.

Of course we are no longer under the Old Testament laws of tithing and gleaning, but I believe the precept still stands.  What lesson is there here for me?  Do I only give ten percent of my resources, my time, my talent?  Do I also give gifts, offering, and gleanings during those harvest times in my life when I have an abundance?  I am aware that every day in my life may not be "harvest day"; I don't  always have "gleanings" so to speak.  But there have been many harvest days in my life when I have not always reflected the generosity of my Father.

But I still wondered why God included the law of gleaning with the harvest feast of Shavuot which foreshadowed Pentecost.  Why would God wait until His people were gathered to celebrate a harvest which reminded them to care for the widow, orphan, poor and alien to send His Holy Spirit?  What precept might He be showing us in connecting the harvest, the law of gleaning and the gift of the Holy Spirit?

I'm not going to give you any specific answer because I believe God will show each of us individually what He might want you to take away from this.  But let me remind you of these words from Acts 2 when the Spirit was given:

"All the believers were together and had everything in common...they gave to anyone as he had need...and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Just for fun:  Can you guess why the book of Ruth is read in synagogues during the celebration of this feast?

Gleanings from Exodus to Easter

Exodus 12:3,6,24:  "Tell the whole community of Israelites that on the 10th day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family...The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect...Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants."

We call it the Triumphal Entry, the day on the Jewish Calendar when God ordained for the generations to come that people select their lambs without defect for the Passover, just 4 days away.  As many were selecting their lambs this day Jesus, the Lamb of God, would be "selected" by the crowds as He entered the City on a donkey.

Exodus 12:8,14:  "That same night (Passover) you are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast...for the generations you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord - a lasting ordinance."

Although most assuredly served at the last Passover meal Jesus shared with His disciples, the lamb is not mentioned at all in any of the four gospel accounts.  The bitter herbs, the unleavened bread, the cup - all mentioned, but not the lamb.  Perhaps because as each one wrote looking back to that evening, the Lamb was so obviously present in the person of Jesus.

Exodus 6:1,6,7:  "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Now you will see what I will do to Pharoah:  Because of My mighty hand he will let them (my people) go; because of My mighty hand he will drive them out of his country...Therefore say to the Israelites:  'I AM the Lord, and I will bring you out from the yoke of the Egyptians.  I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgement.  I will take you as My own people and I will be your God.'"

About 100 years before Jesus' day, the rabbis developed a set order of celebration for the Passover meal (called a Seder).  There would be 4 cups of wine shared at different points during the meal which would correspond to the 4 promises, or "I wills", of God in the passage above from Exodus 6.

1.  Cup of Sanctification (I will bring you out).

2.  Cup of Deliverance (I will free you from being slaves).

3.  Cup of Redemption (I will redeem you with a mighty outstretched arm).

4.  Cup of Ingathering (I will take you as My people).

From piecing together the gospel accounts of that meal, along with the letter to the Corinthians, it appears that it was the 3rd cup Jesus offered to His disciples that last night when He said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of Me."  It is the Cup of Redemption that Jesus offered to His disciples, and to us, the third cup - "I will redeem you with a mighty outstretched arm" - and He did just that hours later as the mighty arm that stretched out the heavens in creation, now stretched out on a Cross of redemption.

Exodus 12:21-23,42:  "Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, 'Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.  Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the door frame...When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood...and will pass over...He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down"...Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come."

Passover - a night of remembering, a night of watching.  A meal shared with family and friends recalling the mighty deliverance of God so many centuries before; then staying up together through the night in obedience to God's command to honor Him by "keeping watch."  Jesus said to His disciples in the Garden, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.  Stay here and keep watch with Me."  They grew tired and fell asleep.  How my heart aches for my Lord knowing there was no one to "keep watch" with Him.  And my heart aches because I know if I had been there I too would have failed Him.

Exodus 12:12,13:  "On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn...and I will bring judgement on all the gods of Egypt.  I AM the Lord.  The blood will be the sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood I will pass over you."

The 10th plague - the death of the firstborn.  

Judgement executed on the gods of Egypt.  

Victory in the blood of the lamb. 

1500 years later there would be the death of another Firstborn, Jesus Christ.  The perfect Lamb of God would shed His blood on a cross and execute judgement on the enemy.  Oh celebrate the covering of His blood offered freely to us!

Wait...what about that 4th cup from Passover - the Cup of Ingathering?  It is not mentioned in the gospel accounts.  Jesus said to His disciples as He invited them to drink of the Cup of Redemption, "Drink from it all of you.  This is My blood of the new covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.  I tell you the truth, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in My Father's kingdom."  (Matthew 26:27-29)

The 4th Cup, the Cup of Ingathering:

"Hallelujah!

For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and be glad

and give Him glory!

For the wedding of the Lamb has come 

and His bride has made herself ready."

Revelation 19:6,7

"Now the dwelling of God is with men and He will live with them.

They will be His people and He will be their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death or mourning or pain,

for the old order of things has passed away."

Revelation 21:3,4

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!"

Revelation 22:17

The God of Compassion

"When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew privately to a solitary place.  Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.  When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick."  Matthew 14:13,14

These words from Matthew's gospel precede the account of Jesus feeding the crowd of 5,000 from five loaves and two fish.  We've all heard Sunday School stories and sermons on this miracle, teaching that God can multiply our smallest gifts and talents when we bring them to him.  And he does; but let's look a little deeper by putting this miracle in context.

"When Jesus heard what had happened..."

What did he hear? What had happened? Matthew tells us the disciples came to tell Jesus that Herod, in drunken response to his step-daughter's request, beheaded John the Baptist and brought his head on a platter to the girl. 

"...he withdrew privately to a solitary place."

Imagine our Savior upon hearing this news. Imagine him cringing in horror and grief.  His beloved cousin John who had heralded Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world - gone by the evil whim of a drunken king.  Imagine Jesus knowing that for such depravity and wickedness of man he had come into the world.  How he must have longed to be alone with the Father, to pour out his grief and sorrow.  He withdraws...

Matthew continues the story and tells us that when Jesus stepped ashore he saw a large crowd and he "...had compassion on them and healed their sick."  It is then we read the account of Jesus feeding the 5,000.  It must have taken most of the day.  This is our Jesus, ministering and caring for the people, showing compassion for their needs even in the midst of his great sorrow.

"The LORD,  the LORD

Compassionate and gracious,slow to anger, 

abounding in love and faithfulness..." Exodus 34:6

I think its important to note that when Moses asked God to "show me your glory", God caused all of his goodness to pass by Moses and the very first word he used to describe himself when showing his glory was the word "compassionate".

"The Son is the radiance of God's glory

and the exact representation of his being."  Hebrews 1:3

God's glory is revealed in his compassion towards us.  The Son is the radiance of God's glory and perfectly reveals his compassion.

"Father, the time has come.  Glorify your Son that

your Son may glorify you."  John 17:1

The incomparable compassion of the Father and the incomparable compassion of the Son - and the glory of it all:  The Cross.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..."  (Proverbs 9:10)

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.  He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden?'...God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."  When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.  (Genesis 3:1-7)

Such a familiar story, that cataclysmic event in the Garden.  The Lord God had made all kinds of trees to grow out of the ground.  They were all good for food; they were all pleasing to the eye.  but I'm struck by the phrase that Eve saw the fruit on this one forbidden tree as "desirable for gaining wisdom", so she ate.

Wisdom...The fear of the Lord is its beginning, the writer of Proverbs tells us.

We often think the fear of the Lord is something that makes us draw back, cringe in terror.  That is true for enemies of God.  For us as believers, however, it is more often a reverence and awe for Him.  It is a positive thing.  It is an invitation to draw near in intimacy, with the spine-tingling awareness that we belong to the Creator of the Universe who calls us to come close.  It should capture us, take our breath away, causing praise to the Holy One.

We don't know how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden.  We do know it was long enough for Adam to name all the animals, to work the ground and care for it.  And to be in the very presence of the One who created it all.  The beauty of the Garden before the Fall.  The intimacy of walking with the Lord in the cool of the day.  Everything that should have inspired awe in them.  Everything that should have inspired the "fear of the Lord."

I wonder...

Did Eve - amidst all the treasures and beauty of the Garden, in the very presence of our God - become so familiar with Him and His goodness that she lost her sense of awe?  Her fear of the Lord?  Had she grown so familiar with God and all His goodness and provision that she was no longer amazed?  No longer enchanted?  Did the glory of God grow dim to her because of familiarity?  Did she just "presume" He would always be there, always provide?  And so taking the one thing He had forbidden was somehow o.k?  Somehow not that bad?

"When she saw that the fruit of the tree was...desirable for gaining wisdom...she ate."

Did she not know that the fear of the Lord, the awe, reverence and respect that produces a desire to obey, would provide the wisdom she so dearly craved?

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."

So it is with me.  I am Eve.  I have found myself taking the Lord and my relationship with Him for granted; presuming on His goodness and grace.  I find lately that my study of the scriptures can be academic and dry, purely intellectual.  I realize that I, like Eve perhaps, can become so overly-familiar with the Lord that the sense of awe is lost.  May it never be so!

This year my one word is "Behold!"  It is a word often (unfortunately) translated as "See" in our English translations.  It is a word used many times in the Hebrew scriptures and it means so much more than "see".  It means to fix my eyes upon, see with attention, observe with care.  It means to remember before Whom I stand.  

Oh Lord, may I more intentionally behold You this coming year, treat my relationship with You with great attention and care, fix my eyes upon You more fully.  May I never again become so familiar in my relationship with You, that I miss Your glory, that I miss the sense of great awe that You - Holy God - have called me to come have a relationship with you.

"We saw His star in the East and have come to worship Him."

We will be visiting our kids and grand kids in New Mexico for Christmas.  Where they live is known as the High Plains Desert; the elevation is 4,000 ft. and it is miles and miles of farmland and dairies.  There is very little urban development there so the night skies are blanketed with thousands and thousands of bright stars.  It is something I don't often get to see where I live because of all the light pollution.  The artificial light and glow produced in heavily populated areas in California interferes with the natural light of the stars, making the display of the night skies difficult to observe.  So when I am out on the vast plains of New Mexico I make sure to go out in the deep of the night to look up.

The psalmist writes, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge."

When I spend time gazing at the night skies filled with the "work of His hands", I am reminded of the vastness of God and how small I am.  It moves me to worship.  I wonder if the Magi felt something similar when they saw His star in the East.  Little is known of them from scripture but they are thought to have been a sect of wealthy pagan priests from the area of Babylon who searched out the mysteries of the Universe through astronomy and astrology.  Perhaps they too "heard" the heavens pouring forth speech, declaring the glory of God.  Matthew tells us they saw His star and came to worship Him.

Searching and pondering the wonders of the night skies and the magnificence of God moves us to worship Him too.  The majesty of His Creation compels us to pause in wonder, to stare in awe and fascination, and to drop to our knees in praise.  But just as the artificial light produced by large city areas diminishes the heavenly lights above us today, so too does the artificial light that exists in the fast-paced world in which we live.  There seems little opportunity in the busyness of the "information age" to search and to ponder.  The artificial light produced by our culture gradually seeps into our lives and diminishes our ability to see the True Light of the World, our Savior Jesus.

The very One whose hands stretched out the heavens and marshaled the starry host at Creation came to us as a little baby born in a stable thousands of years ago.  Not many noticed.  Perhaps they too were busy, living in the artificial light of their time. But some noticed...because they were looking.  The Magi searched, saw, came, worshipped.

May we also take time to search...to ponder...and then to worship the One who is worthy of all our praise.