2 Thessalonians 2.13 But
we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord,
because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work
of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. – St. Paul
Maybe we’re not all ag-oriented – maybe there’re some
terms in the Bible that escape our notice or we gloss over because they’re
antiquated, or point to an ancient cultural practice that we just don’t do
these days; or at least not in the way they did them then. Take the concept, the
term: firstfruits.
Firstfruits,
has to do with the first of a harvested
crop being set apart to a deity as a way of thanking said deity for the
harvest, as an appeasement of sin, and the hope of future harvests. Think of it
in the terms of ‘give back’. Here, share
some of what You’ve given me.
God started the world according to His will and purpose,
and He was way ahead of the game long before Adam and his wife, Eve ever tasted
the forbidden fruit. God did what no one ever in the history of ever, did: He
created a perfect race of beings to worship Him in freewill; no deitic pressure. But His creatures failed on their own
without Him. They perhaps knew to worship; it seems, they just didn’t want to…
So, phase two was God’s preplanned plan of redemption to
rescue His creatures from the effects of their sin: death. God said, I will be
their God, and they will love Me and accept My offer of friendship because they
want to…no deitic pressure. And God began, even in those days of sin and
separation, to tell them of His plan of redemption through a future Messiah who
would come and rescue them with the sacrifice of Himself for their sins,
opening the door of relationship with Him because they want to.
And some looked at the world in all its chaos, and
believed God. (One needn’t look far in our world to see the devastating effects
of our sin to go it alone without God.) And belief took hold. And those who
believed were called: believers. They
freely believed God, and they freely believed in God. God chose that some would
believe, and some did, and they were called firstfruits.
Firstfruits were, in ancient practice, always set apart for the deity. In God’s Kingdom, the
firstfruits are no different, they are set apart. For God. Forever. God chose
for it to be that way – much to the amazement of the rest of heaven watching
all of God’s plan, unfold.
God chose freewill believers
as firstfruits (of His plan) to be saved through the (setting apart) work of His
Spirit and through their belief in the truth (the truth that He wants men to be
His friend, and dwell with Him in eternity). The process is: a journey toward
eternity with God, not on our own, but with God, all done in freewill. No
deitic pressure. Only love, and the knowledge of God.
God chose some
to be saved, and some were saved just
because they, in freewill, believed God, with the help, not the force, of His
Holy Spirit. It happens still, to this day.
Father, Your work
of salvation is truly a mystery, but it simply boils down to this: You made a
way for me to become Your friend, and all I had to do was believe. With
freewill. It happened, it worked and I am part of it – forever. Thank You!
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment