Apples of Gold
by Robert Burgess
(This was taken from one of our Discussions at
Great Eagle Ministries
International Forums )
This morning
the Lord nudged me to “Tell them about the Apple..”
So I got up and started praying about what the Lord has shown me concerning His
Sons in this hour; We are each so much like an apple
of Gold growing upon the Tree of Life, and we are finally now come into a
season of growth and maturity after a long time of hibernation. It has been
said that “Anyone can count the seeds in an apple, but only God can count
the apples in a Seed.” Notice the following Scriptures:
“A word
fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. As an earring of
gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear
(Prov 25:11-12 KJV).”
“As the
apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my
beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his
fruit was sweet to my taste (Song 2:3).”
“Who is
this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised
thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she
brought thee forth that bare thee (Song 8:5).”
The Scriptures
actually say very little about this wonderful fruit; The Lord uses the word
“Apple(s)” only three times in the Song of Solomon, and once more
in the Book of Joel where he speaks of the great and terrible devastation which
was to come upon all the fruitful trees of His Kingdom during the dark ages
(Joel 1:12). The Word of Wisdom is shown clearly in the first passage above:
This speaks to us of a “Word fitly Spoken,” a Word in “Due
Season” as it were; A Word that comes with precise timing, and exactly
fits the situations of life, and perfectly compliments what the Spirit is doing
in our lives.. The other night at our Wednesday home meeting here in Castle
Rock, I felt led to share with one of the Sisters about the inner design of the
five-pointed star that can be discovered within an apple when you cut it in
half; She cut one horizontally and sure enough, as she held each half in her
hands there were the two little five-pointed stars looking back at us, a double
witness of a mighty Word and Work of “Grace.” Now this might seem
like foolishness to some - perhaps even a bit childish; But why did the Lord
place such emphasis on the “Bride of Christ” as being one who was
“Born and Raised” under the Apple tree (Song 8:5)??
Being from
the State of
“Awake,
O north wind (of Cold Judgments); and come, thou south (the Warm Blessings of
the Lord); blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my
beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits (Song 4:16).”
Tremendous
reverses in climatic temperatures are necessary to produce good apples.. The most highly gifted people I know in the Kingdom are
ones who have suffered some great and terrible “Reverses” in this
life; They have gone from being extremely successful and highly regarded, to
being terrible failures, and a reproach to many - and back again. Some have
even come from being very successful business people to being hardly able to
work at all, or earn a dime for themselves. Some have
owned great houses and lands, but now have nothing to show in the natural, for
all their years spent toiling upon the earth. But all these terrible
“Reverses” in life have somehow opened up a “Door”
within their Spirit man to become much more sensitive to the things of the
Spirit of God than “Ordinary People.” When an apple tree
hibernates, all the “Sap (Life Blood)” goes down into the ground (a
type of Death) until the cold winter is past; Then, when the warm winds of
spring begin to blow upon the tree, the “Sap” rises up again out of
the ground (or Grave) to flood the tree with life once more (a Type of the Resurrection
of Christ).
Secondly,
apple trees must be cared for by a wise “Husbandman” in order to
produce much good fruit; He must know which branches will bear fruit for him,
and which ones will not. Jesus said:
“I am
the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away:
and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit (John
15:1-2).”
My Dad was
one who loved fruit trees, all of his life he always had some kind of fruit
growing in the back yard; Once he had a tree he called a “Fruit
Cocktail” which had five different kinds of fruit growing on it.. The Scriptures reveal that we as “Wild
Olives” have been grafted into the “Tree of Life (Israel - See Ro
11:17);” This is a wonderful truth, but even after our engrafting into
Christ there needs to be some further “Engrafting” done so we won't
continue to bear the same old “Wild Olives.” This calls for the
work of a “Wise Husbandman” the Lord Himself..
He sees something in us which is unacceptable to Him and He clips it off with
the “Pruning hook” of His Word, and then proceeds to replace it
with the “Engrafted Word (Logos) which is able to save our Souls (See Jas
1:21)..” The timing for this “Pruning” must be right, He
doesn't do it while the tree is in full bloom, but waits until the tree has
been put to “Sleep” a little; This operation is like that of a
Surgeon who puts his patient “Under” while he performs a delicate
surgery.. God is so good.. The Engrafted “Word
in due season” generally comes to us after the Holy Spirit has
“Anesthetized” us sufficiently to where we can and will receive it
without much argument; This is the mark of the Divine “Husbandman”
at work among His Apple Trees..
This
“Gardener” is also the “Pardoner,” He knows and
understands the “Times and Seasons” of our lives, and how to
correctly work on changing things in us without destroying us altogether; I
would like to see some fast and immediate changes in myself and in others, but
I am finding out that it doesn't always work that way.. But I am seeing so many
powerful changes in the lives and in the Spiritual content of God's people
lately that I can't help but believe that some wonderful kind of
“Engrafting” has been taking place here; For “By their Fruits
ye shall know them..” The fruit of the Tree of life is becoming more and
more excellent and comely as the times and seasons progress.
Last of all,
I am thinking of the Feast of Tabernacles which is just around the corner from
us now; The seventh month in the Hebrew year begins
with the blowing of “Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah)” on the evening of
Saturday September 30th. The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) is the evening of
Oct. 9th, and the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth) begins on the eve of October
14th. To keep the Feast of Tabernacles, we are told in the Scriptures to go up
to the hills and find certain kinds of Trees and build little
“Shelters,” or “Tabernacles” made up of the boughs of
these “Goodly Ones:”
“And ye
shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly (Excellent, or Godly)
trees, branches of palm trees (the Upright ones), and the boughs of thick trees
(in Close Fellowship), and willows of the brook (the humble
“Weeping” ones, bowing down in humble Worship); and ye shall
rejoice before the LORD your God seven days (Lev 23:40).”
My dear
friends when I look at all the different kinds of “Trees” that are
being assembled before us here on a daily basis, I can see that the Lord is
building a habitation, a “Shelter” as it were; This habitation is
not for Himself alone, but it is being built as a “Hiding Place”
where His people can come and find refuge in a time of trouble, a Shelter
against all the winds of adversity that will surely blow upon the earth.
“And a
man (Christ Jesus in His many-membered Sons) shall be
as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from
the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow (as in a
“Type”) of a great rock (Christ) in a weary land. And the
“Set
your affection on things ABOVE, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead,
and your
Robert Burgess