Saturday, August 28, 2010

No water, no fruit

This post is a follow up to last week's post, Clouds and wind, but no rain. To recap a little bit, we examined two portions of scripture:
A man boasting himself in a false gift is like clouds and wind, but no rain. (Pro 25:14 MKJV)
The brother of our Lord, Jude repeats this sentiment in his tiny, yet powerful little book over in the New Testament: 
These are sunken rocks in your love feasts, feasting together with you; feeding themselves without fear; waterless clouds being carried about by winds; fruitless autumn trees, having died twice, having been plucked up by the roots; wild waves of the sea foaming up their shames; wandering stars for whom blackness of darkness has been kept forever. (Jud 1:12-13 MKJV)
The link between these passages is obvious even to the most casual reader.  I dare say that Jude had read the aforementioned proverb at least once in his lifetime.  He probably had heard it quoted by his big brother Jesus, many times.  There is an important point to be made here. Jude addresses fellow believers:
Having made all haste to write to you about the common salvation, beloved, I had need to write to you to exhort you to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. (Jud 1:3 MKJV) 
He wrote this little book as a dire warning TO fellow believers.  He warned about those in the midst of the Body, having been fellow Christians, or those merely posing as such.  Jude's book deals primarily with apostasy. What is an apostate? Webster defines it thus:

Apostate APOS'TATE, n. [Gr.] 
One who has forsaken the church, sect or profession to which he before adhered. In its original sense, applied to one who has abandoned his religion; but correctly applied also to one who abandons a political or other party. 
APOS'TATE, a. False; traitorous. 
He likens apostate believers to sunken rocks which are a dire navigational hazard.  They are out of sight, and mind until they puncture the hull of, and sink a boat.

Waterless clouds as we have discussed previously can be a major disappointment, especially during times of drought.

Fruitless trees are also disappointing, and as we shall see in our next installment receive special treatment within the pages of scripture.

Waves of the sea.  Having been a sailor myself, I have witnessed the awesome destructive capability of raging waves.  As yet, there has been no real advances of technology to efficiently harness this energy.  They remain largely a destructive force of nature.

Wandering stars are a curious idiom of this passage.  Without going too deeply into orbital mechanics or some other deep scientific exploration, the implications thereof are profound. Stars are massive celestial bodies, boasting huge gravitational pull. Wandering stars are those that are out of their proper place, and not doing what they were designed to do.

Do apostates tend to draw all men unto themselves? One only has to look around to witness the answer to this question.

All of these similitudes have seriously negative connotations. They are destructive in nature. They have no practical use.  They are unproductive.

Interestingly enough, two of these ideas are logically related:  Clouds with no rain, and trees without fruit.

There is no fruit without water.  And without fruit, there is no harvest.

In the next post of this little series, we will be examining this aspect a little closer, so stay tuned!

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