The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Importance of Fruit, #6

Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. (James 5:7,8—NIV)

As we approach the end of the age there will be a major increase of the fruit God is looking for. Christ will come to full stature in the Lord's people.

The autumn rains are for the purpose of planting seed, and corresponds to the events of the Book of Acts. The spring rains are to bring the crop to maturity so it can be harvested.

This tells us that there is to be an outpouring of God's Spirit on the churches of the last days. While this outpouring will include mighty signs and wonders of all kinds, its purpose is to bring Christ to maturity in the saints. The coming of Christ to maturity in the saints is the maturing of the fruit for which God is looking, that is, His eternal moral law demonstrated in people. All this is so the saved nations of the earth may know what God expects of them.

Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:3—NIV)

The law of God cannot "go out of Zion" until it first has been formed in and practiced by the members of the Body of Christ.

Let us see what God says further about this.

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. (Isaiah 61:11—NIV)

When we truly receive Jesus Christ we are born again. This means Christ, the living Word, the law made flesh, is born in us. This is the Seed that God has planted in the earth.

God's intention is that what He has planted shall bear fruit in the sight of the nations of the earth. Thus we become the light of the world. All people shall see the righteousness and praise that is the Life of Jesus Christ in us, and seeing this they shall begin to be transformed into the kind of people God desires in the earth.

In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit. (Isaiah 27:6—NIV)

God wants the whole world filled with the Fruit, which is Christ. Christ always loves righteousness and hates wickedness, and God wants this to be true of every person on the earth.

We can understand from this why the branch that does not bear the fruit of righteousness is removed from the Vine. It is useless in God's Kingdom!

For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. (Isaiah 62:1—NIV)

To be continued.