The young heir turned away in sorrow. He traded the everlasting Kingdom of God for the wealth of his hour—a wealth that today is rotting along with his bones under many feet of accumulated dirt. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of God—that in which he could have had eternal treasure—is approaching in unrivaled glory and splendor.

We are to love not our life. We are not discussing here the pouring out of our sin, we are referring to the pouring out of our life! All that we are or hope to be!

We present our body a living sacrifice. We present it. We lay it on the Altar of Burnt Offering. We watch our loves and ambitions ascend to God in the flame as a sweet-smelling savor to our Creator. Can we offer less?

We drink the cup of death to self and pour out our life before God as an offering. Christ becomes Lord of our life—Lord in truth, in fact, in reality.

The will of God is ground into our will, just as the holy incense of the Tabernacle was compounded from different spices, until the two wills are indistinguishable. Then the incense is ready to be poured on the consuming fire of God. When God "smells" that perfume He is blessed.

Then God's love and blessing pour from the throne and the result is the fullness of fruitfulness, of dominion, of blessing. In the process we ourselves are changed from the "self-seeker" to the "prince who has power with God and with men" (Genesis 32:28).

The Divine Fruit—Christ—is created when a believer is willing to become a cup. When a Christian is willing to lay down his life to the Lord, then Christ is formed in other human beings.

The fruit (knop, knob) hammered into shape in the Lampstand and in its six side-branches represents Christ, who is the Fruit of God. The fruit is related to the Table of Showbread in that both portray Christ who Himself is the true Bread from Heaven.

Christ alone can give eternal life to the eater. Also, in the Substance of Christ is the Divine Seed. The Divine Seed is incorruptible. It cannot sin. It reproduces, bringing forth the image and likeness of God, thus filling the heavens and the earth with the Substance and beauty of Christ.

It is the will of God that the Body of Christ bear the Divine Fruit of Christ, first building itself up to the fullness of stature and then spreading its influence as a vine that fills the heavens and the earth.

Christ Himself is the true Vine of God, and the Father is the Farmer (John, Chapter 15). The Lord directs us to "abide in the vine." As we keep ourselves in Christ, by the graces and practices outlined in the Scriptures, the Divine Fruit—Christ—is formed in us.

It is not merely that we become righteous people. Redemption goes far deeper than producing righteous behavior in Adam. Rather, it is that the Divine Substance—Christ—is created in us. As Christ is created in us, righteous behavior begins to follow.

As we remain in Christ, being obedient to the Lord in all things, the fruit being created in us touches other people, other lives. The result is that they too experience a transformation. Christ is formed in them. They are healed and released. It is the will of God that each Christian bear much fruit, bringing forth in abundance the image and likeness of God.

He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isaiah 27:6)

To be continued.