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With every morning, there
is a new day. With every planting, there is a green tomato. With every
spring, there is a fresh rosebud. With every forgiveness, there is
anticipated love. God has begotten us again unto a living hope.
Being born again, again, and again (whenever the times and the seasons are
right) throughout the journey of life is the blessed hope of every
believer. As Peter will eventually say, "But the God of all grace who
hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have
suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle . . .
." (1 Peter 5:10). Living in the flow of the times and the seasons of
life is the key of loving life and seeing good days (1 Peter 3:10).
Each of us has been called unto this eternal glory. The mystery of His
eternal glory is found in God’s statement after the great flood of Noah’s
day: "While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and
heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease" (Gen.
8:22). His eternal glory is that which flows through the seedtime and
harvest, the cold and heat, the summer and winter, and the day and night.
It is not the actual seedtime or the actual harvest. For both the planting
of the seed and the harvest of the fruit will perish. As Peter will say,
"For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of
grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away" (1
Peter 1:24). The manifestation of the bloom of the rose, the fruit of the
tomato, the love of a human being is definitely glorious. Each is produced
by God, but they will eventually fall away. For His eternal glory is not
the rose or the rose bush, nor the tomato or the tomato plant, nor the
love or the human being. It is that which produces them, the Spirit of
life — Jesus Christ.
For example, plant a tomato seed in the ground. The outer casing or husk
of the seed must rot or decay before the essence of life within the seed
can come forth with tender sprouts of life. One pushes up through the
ground seeking the light of the sun. Another one pushing into the soil
seeking water and nutrients. Without this struggle for light and water, it
does not survive. This struggle is what it means to be a created entity.
It is the fact of any created existence.
Eventually, the essence of the seed comes forth from the earth into the
heaven producing a full grown tomato plant. Hanging on the branches of the
plant are fully developed tomatoes. They are the glory of the tomato
plant. The mature tomatoes are the fullest possible manifestation of life
the tomato plant can experience.
Within each tomato are many seeds. Within each seed is the same life that
was in the seed that was planted in the ground to start the cycle of life.
Although individual tomato plants with their tomatoes live and die, the
essence of life within the seed is eternal. This is the eternal glory to
which we have been called.
God will not suffer His holy One to see corruption. Every time the seed
(the outward manifestation of anything that has the essence of life
within) falls to the ground and dies, it will bring forth abundant life.
As Jesus stated, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of
wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it
bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). It brings forth fruit
because the life within is eternal. It never dies.
There will be many plantings of the external manifestation or fruit of
life in our journey through this world. Each planting or the process by
which the outward man perishes always brings forth the harvest or the
renewing of the inner essence of life. Knowing this, especially knowing
that Jesus Christ was raised from his seedtime, we can be begotten again
unto a living hope. In the midst of the distress of things dying, we can
greatly rejoice for we know the harvest is coming. We will be kept by the
power of God through faith unto the salvation of our souls.
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