Book 4 of Musings Degrees of Fruit-bearing

How can it be that some reap Christ thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, and some a hundredfold?

How will this be manifest in the present world? In the spirit world after we die? In the new heaven and earth reign of the Lord?

The parable of the sower is a key parable because it shows us that the Kingdom of God is first an internal kingdom. The Christian religion of our day emphasizes an external Heaven. If we are "saved," when we die we go to Heaven. But this is not the message of the New Testament.

There is an external kingdom of God, the rule of God through Christ through the saints over the nations of the earth. But the external kingdom is a result of the establishing of the inner kingdom. God must rule in us before we can rule the world. Does that make sense to you?

The Kingdom of God is sown in the human heart as a Divine Seed. It actually is Christ, the living Word of God.

Sometimes the seed falls on hard ground and does not germinate.

Sometimes the seed germinates but there is not sufficient depth of soil and it perishes. Can the growth of the Divine Seed actually perish and bring forth no eternal fruit? According to the Bible this can take place.

Sometimes the seed germinates but the cares of life choke it out and it perishes, bearing no lasting fruit.

Sometimes the seed falls into an honest and good heart. Then the Kingdom of God, which is Christ, grows and brings forth fruit: some to a thirtyfold extent; some to a sixtyfold extent; some to a hundredfold extent.

Let me say at this point that if we wish to be someone who brings forth the Kingdom of God in a permanent manner, we must have an honest and good heart. We must have an honest and good adamic nature.

I don't think there is enough said about integrity today. If we do not have integrity as an adamic person, it is not possible to bring forth Christ to a lasting extent.

Why is this? It is because the adamic personality must choose to decrease. It must permit itself to be crucified that the new Life of Christ may be formed in the personality.

The adamic personality must work itself out of existence, so to speak. It must persevere in hardships until Christ is formed. It must contribute to its own demise.

The Kingdom of God cannot be formed in an individual in any manner other than through the crucifixion of the adamic nature. Since the adamic nature makes the choice whether or not it will submit to the program of crucifixion, integrity in the adamic nature is necessary if the Kingdom of God is to be established in the individual.

Now why should there be degrees of fruit-bearing, of the forming of Christ in us?

Perhaps there are two reasons why there are degrees of fruit-bearing, with one person bearing less of Christ than another.

The first reason would be election. We who live in a democracy are not fond of the idea that God would choose one person to be closer to Him than another. In America today the person chosen to be not as close might sue to gain equal access. But if we are going to be able to be at peace in the Kingdom of God we just have to accept the fact that God will appoint one person to glory, another to lesser glory, another to very little glory, and another to destruction.

God hardens hearts, and God gives gifts that cause us to desire His Presence. We may not think this is fair, but God is the Potter and He does what He will with the clay.

We can be assured that God indeed is fair; and if we knew all there is to know about God's choices, I think we would discover God is fair.

The first reason for differences in fruit-bearing, then, is Divine election to one status or another.

The second reason is our degree of diligence. It is evident that some people seek Christ more diligently than do others. We might argue that it is God who puts into our heart the degree of diligence we apply to gaining Christ. I would not doubt for one moment that such is the case.

However, I like George MacDonald's position. He said, in so many words, that if you want to be elected, then act like it. I believe this to be precisely true. Instead of wondering if God has chosen you, act like you have been chosen for the highest throne in the Kingdom Seek God with all your strength night and day. Pray in Jesus' name to be filled with the fullness of the Father, the fullness of the Son, and the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Do not let any consideration hold you back or dampen your zeal. Keep at it for your whole lifetime.

Don't talk yourself out of it, making sure you come short of God's Glory.

Then see what God will do!

I think God in time past God has looked for someone to stand in the gap for Him so He would not destroy the land. He found none. I have determined, by God's grace, as long as I am alive, this never will be the case. How about you? Are you totally determined while you are alive God can never say "I looked for someone to stand in the gap but I could not find such a person"?

I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. (Ezekiel 22:30)

In the new world of righteousness, there will be some who have a portion of eternal life. There will be others who have more eternal life, more of Christ in them.

Finally there will be those who are filled with all the fullness of Christ. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes.

But how will the extent to which we have reaped Christ be manifest in the present world, in the spirit world after we die, and in the new heaven and earth reign of the Lord?

The kingdom that grows in us is revealed in what we are in personality and how we behave. It is eternal life, the very Life of God given to us through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eternal life is observable in our personality today in the kind of person we are and how we behave.

What we are and how we behave will not be different after we die.

What we are and how we behave will be the same after we are raised from the dead.

It is eternal life. It is the treasure we are laying up in Heaven.

I think you and I can bear the fruit of Christ to a hundredfold extent, if that is what we desire above all else. This is my goal. How about you?

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. (Luke 8:15)

But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. (Matthew 13:23)