Summer Fruits

Summer fruits were an awesome part of biblical life. July’s in Israel feature a plethora of summer fruits, such as bananas, cherries, lemons, mangoes, nectarines, watermelon, and pears. Even today, Israel is a mighty source of summer fruit to the Middle East!

Summer fruit is a bit finicky, though. It’s wonderful in its season but it dries quickly. Even a quick drought may affect a year’s harvest, and what is most-significant about summer fruit is its subtle but sweet announcement to the world that a season is coming to an end— a transition is taking place. Andd we often hate change!

The poet said,

We would rather be ruined than changed

We would rather die in our dread

Than climb the cross of the moment

And let our illusions die.

W.H. Auden, The Age of Anxiety: A Baroque Eclogue, Princeton University Press.

Seasons are a part of God’s work in this world, and it is not until we joyfully and faithfully transition within that which God is doing that we find peace and contentment in life.

The Creator & Purpose of Seasons

ORIGINAL DESIGN: Genesis 1:14: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”

COVENANT WITH NOAH: Genesis 8:22: “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”

Subby Szterszky noted: “Like the sign of the rainbow, the cycle of the seasons testifies that God will preserve and redeem his created order, despite the ongoing sinfulness of humanity.”

Much of this reason is better explained in God’s covenant with Noah. The earth, as was then, fell under God’s judgment through a universal flood, but God spake to Noah, reminding him that man, and the earth, have a future.

Someone noted that seasons provide an abundance of contrasts in life:

the contrasts of life and its seasons

change and changelessness

C.S. Lewis teased this out through the words of Screwtape in his book, The Screwtape Letters:

The humans live in time, and experience reality successively. To experience much of it, therefore, they must experience many different things; in other words, they must experience change. And since they need change, the Enemy [i.e. God] (being a hedonist at heart) has made change pleasurable to them, just as He has made eating pleasurable. But since He does not wish them to make change, any more than eating, an end in itself, He has balanced the love of change in them by a love of permanence. He has contrived to gratify both tastes together in the very world He has made, by that union of change and permanence which we call Rhythm. He gives them the seasons, each season different yet every year the same, so that spring is always felt as a novelty yet always as the recurrence of an immemorial theme.

death and revival

abundance and need

kindness and severity

Romans 11:22: “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”

unity and diversity

death and revival

Solomon noted in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war, and a time of peace.”

There is time for all the seasons of your life.

FB Meyer: “Do NOT be in too great a hurry. There is time for everything that has to be done. He who gave you your life-work has given you just enough time to do it in. The length of life's candle is measured out according to the length of your required task. You must take necessary time for meditation, for sleep, for food, for the enjoyment of human love and friendship; and even then there will be time enough left for your necessary duties. More haste, less speed! The feverish hand often gives itself additional toil.”

Managing the Changing of Seasons

Recognize that God is always the same

Hebrews 13:8: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

Malachi 3:6: “For I am the Lord, I change not; Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”

James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Psalm 102:25-27: “Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: Yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, And thy years shall have no end.”

Recognize that each season of life has its challenges & its blessings

blessings

of summer- swimming; growth of plants; rest

of harvest/fall-cooler weather; pumpkin spice; candy corn; football

of winter-snow; Christmas

of spring- revival; new life

challenges

of summer- scorching heat; dehydration

of harvest/fall- leaves; shorter days

of winter- cold; apparent death of plants and living plants and trees

of spring- pollen and allergies

Recognize that some purposes of God will outlast your season of life

What God is doing in this world is eternal, and the things which we grapple with may never be fully known. David never got to see the Temple which burned in his heart to build. Abraham never saw the nation that God promised to raise up. Eve never saw the Messiah who should crush the serpent’s head. Jeremiah never met Cyrus.

Our life is for God’s purpose, and we may not know what God is at work doing in this world. Sometimes, we die before we see all that God was doing.

Jeremiah 1:10: “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”

Jeremiah 31:27-29: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, That I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah With the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, To pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, And to destroy, and to afflict; So will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord. In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.”

Think of John the Baptist

it was prophesied that he would prepare the way for Messiah

Isaiah 40:1-3: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, That her warfare is accomplished, That her iniquity is pardoned: For she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

Malachi 3:1: “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, Even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: Behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.”

he would die before he saw Jesus die, be buried, and rise again

in Herod’s prison cell, John began to doubt that Jesus was Messiah:

Matthew 11:1-3: “And it came to pass, when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?”

Gene Edwards:

"JOHN, THEY HAVE COME FOR YOU. Much sooner than you had

thought. In a few minutes you will be no more. There is no

time to send word to your disciples. Nor to my mother, Mary,

who has worried so much for your safety. You will not be given

opportunity of even a single word to anyone. Nor will you be

able to ask again the question you addressed to me.

"In less than four minutes now, you will be dead. How many

thoughts can be crowded into one's mind in four minutes! How

many doubts? How many questions? Not many. But, John,

worst of all, there will be no answers.

"And blessed are you, John,

if you are not offended with me.

"They have unshackled you. The staircase is before you. The

door above is open. You can see the light of day above you

"Why is this happening to you, John? You, of all people?

Your head ... severed from your body? Why? Because of an

obscene dance by a teenage girl. How ironic!

"You will never live to see your thirty-third birthday, nor will

you know exactly why I have called you. Nor will you know if

your life on this earth counted for anything. Those long years in

the searing desert, you denied yourself of everything this earth

affords except food and water, and only enough of that to keep

you alive. You did this all for me. Yet, as you face death, there

is no evidence that your life was anything but wasted. Have

I forsaken you in the hour you need me most?

"And blessed are you

if you are not offended with me.

"You have reached the head of the stairs. You are not sure

which way they would have you turn. A guard points to the

left. You follow. Is this happening? You have less than one min-

ute before that immutable blank. You recall those long vigils

before my face. Did you misunderstand me? Were you mis-

taken? Perhaps you did not hear my voice at all?

"In all those years you lived alone in the desert you never

once knew love or comfort from another human being.

Will I not extend such comfort to you now, at last? You never had the pleasure of your own children to climb up on your lap, to give you earthly joy: You never came in contact with a woman, ever, you never had a wife. You have never known intimate love. You have never even had a friend. Your whole life was lived for your calling, and for me. Will I not now, in this last moment of your life, part the veil and allow you to see something…. anything... of my purpose in your life and in your death? You will die wondering why I ate and drank as I did, why I did not fast as you fasted, nor pray as you prayed. Was the Messiah not to be a man of sorrows and acquainted

with grief?

"You will die today at the hands of unclean, uncircumcised,

heathen, Gentile Romans. But your death at their hands will

come about only by my sovereign permission. And you will die

not understanding why I allowed this seemingly senseless act.

"You will not see the multitudes cry out in jubilation at my

entry into Jerusalem. Neither will you see me crucified, nor hear

of my resurrection and my triumph over death. You will die not

knowing that you have proclaimed the coming of no less than

the Son of God.

"Death is but a few seconds away, and still there is no answer

to your question. You will die not understanding.

"And blessed are you, John,

if you are not offended with me.

"They have opened the gate to the courtyard. There it is, the

block on which you will lay your head, and there the man who

will take your life. You will be remembered as one of the greatest

men who ever lived. But you will not know that, nor will you

hear the Son of God say, 'Of men born of women, there was

none greater than John.'

"Even now as you kneel, you wonder if you are a complete fail-

ure. You gave so much, poured out your life so completely, lived

for God so singularly. Yet, despite all this, you could not so much

as win the favor of God to the point of His giving you one answer

to one question. It was, after all, the only request you ever made.

"I did not give to you an answer. I never have. The question

of why always remains unanswered in all my dealings with men;

this is my way. But if there were one human being on this earth

to whom I would make clear my purpose, it would be you. And

it would be now. Above all other men or women who have ever

lived, I would give an answer to you."

John knelt and placed his head upon the block. When I called you, John, and told you that you would announce the coming of the Messiah, you assumed that because you were going to prepare the way for me, you would have the

oralseing that wonderful day of my coming in glory. But today

you have mer a God you do nor understand. Such is the mystery

of my sovereignty. Such are my ways in every generation. No man

has ever understood me, not fully. No man ever will. I will always

be something other than what men expect me to be. I will work

out my will in ways different from what men foresee.

"The guard has shifted his weight. The blade is raised above

you. Death stands beside you. Die, my brother John, in the

presence of a God who did not live up to your expectations.

"And blessed are you

if you are not offended with me.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT SUMMER?

Jeremiah 8:20: “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Matthew 9:36-38: “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”

Matthew 13:30: “Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”

John 4:35: “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”

The Need for Laborers

The Need for Leadership

The Need for

Amos 8:1-2: “Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.”

Signifies the end of a season!

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

The Prophecy of Amos-

God has been merciful and patient

God will not be patient forever