THE MESSAGE OF THE FALLEN FRUIT.
The righteous perisheth (dies), and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away (by death), none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil (to come). Isaiah 57:1
A couple of months ago I attended the burial ceremony of the father of one of my beloved sisters in the faith of Jesus Christ. After the church service was ended, we proceeded to the house of the deceased for the internment service. Just while the coffin was lowered into the grave and the dust-to-dust rite was being observed; something happened which spoke volume to my heart. The burial pit was dug very close to a cashew tree which branches run over a portion of the pit. Just while the service was going on, a ripened cashew fruit fell from the tree and dropped directly on the casket. That was a very powerful signal to me!
There were still many other fruits on the mother-tree when this single fruit fell and dropped into the earth. This fruit fell, not because it was the smallest or the biggest. In fact, there could be other fruits which have matured before this one but not yet ripe. Still hanging on the tree were other fruits yet to fully mature and ripened. And they will remain living until they become ripe for harvest. the ripening and the falling of the fruit are both controlled by nature. This is a great message regarding our entrance and exit from this world.
To many people including the relatives present at the burial, the demise of this man was a sudden and an untimely death. This our beloved father died in his mid-sixties. I also shared the same mentality of untimely death but the phenomenal of the fallen ripened fruit in the course of the burial preached another message to me: The man was ripe enough for harvest! His death was timely. it was his own time to be called back to his Maker. He fell from the ‘tree of life’ because he was ripe among many other fruits on the ‘tree’.
Death is a harvest messenger. It’s the chariot by which men are transported from this world to the world unknown. And it does not discriminate. Harvest by death is not primarily determined by age. You can bear me witness that younger people to you have died as well as those who are older than you. While everybody desires and prays to live long, nobody decides its harvest time. Only God knows when a life is ripe enough to be harvested out of this world. understanding this truth, especially as God’s children will help us to manage and moderate our sorrows when loved ones depart from this sin-cursed world.
Jesus said that every strand of your head is counted and none can fall down without the permission of your Father which is in Heaven. Perhaps you have lost a dear one recently and you are still wondering while such could have happened; just understand that such people, according to God’s knowledge and prerogatives are ripe enough for harvest out of this world. The word of God also says “The righteous perisheth (dies), and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away (by death), none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil (to come).” Isaiah 57:1. And for those who died the death of the righteous, this also is a harvest of joy. It is a harvest into everlasting joy, peace and happiness with the saints triumphant!
However, we must live the life of the righteous in order to die the death of the righteous. Life comes before death and everyone will die according to the life he lives. Sinners will die the death of the sinners. Hypocrites will die the death of the hypocrites. Wicked people will die the death of the wicked. And the righteous will die the death of the righteous. It not enough to pray or wish to die the death of the righteous, we must live the life of the righteous. There was a prophet in the Bible who prayed to God, “Let me die the death of the righteous. And let my last end be like his.” But he ended up dying like and with the wicked because he did not live the life of the righteous. I am talking about that powerful Prophet Balaam! Don’t be deceived into thinking that good works and religious activities can substitute for righteous living. Believe me under God, it won’t!
Make up your mind to live the life of the righteous so that death for you can be a tool of harvest into life of joy eternal. Otherwise, death is your harvest into eternal pain and anguish. Of the wicked, Jesus said, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” May this not be our eternal end.
© 2021.