THE FRUIT, THE ROOT, & THE VINE
Ultimately, the quest for enlightenment can be reduced to the study of fruits, roots and vines. These simple metaphors easily explain what is necessary for spiritual atonement. There is one good root and it is God. From this root all goodness comes. It exists forever. It has always been and always shall be. Seek this good root and connect oneself to it so that one may bear good fruit and have eternal identity in it.
How can one gain the benefit of the good root so necessary to bear good fruit? Certainly, one can produce no good fruit on ones own. One is not born already connected to God. What good fruit has one ever borne apart from God? One can try to sow ones own seeds and create ones own good root, but self righteousness always falls short of perfection, which is the glory of God. One can try to graft ones fruit directly to the good root, but the good root will not accept such a graft. One could graft oneself to many other roots and vines, but all other roots and all other vines result in wild fruits.
In the Garden of Eden there are two trees, both had come forth from the good root and both were forbidden to eat from at that time. To do so would require one to disobey God and steal God's fruit. One tree is called the Knowledge of the Difference between Right and Wrong, and the other tree is called the Tree of Life. Eve ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of the Difference between Right and Wrong after being lured to do so by the influence of the Devil. She then persuaded Adam to eat the fruit. This is the first great sin that damned mankind, for not only had mankind disobeyed God, but once someone knows the difference between right and wrong, they must do right or be cut off from God. The innocence of mankind became ignorance. Eve put the will of the Devil before the will of God. Likewise, Adam put Eve's will before God's will. Thus, both Adam and Eve were equally guilty and equally damned. They had cut themselves off from God by putting their own wills before the will of God. (There is another theory about the forbidden fruit having something to do with sex, but you can figure that out yourself.)
At this time God guarded the Tree of Life so that mankind might not eat of it also, have everlasting life, and think themselves Gods. And from this time forward, mankind was born spiritually dead, cut off from God. Instead of bettering themselves, by eating the fruit, Adam and Eve found themselves "naked" before God and sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves in a vain attempt to make amends for this.
In the book of Genesis, one is able to get a basic understanding of what is acceptable to God. In this book of the Bible, Cain and Able, sons of Adam and Eve, make offerings to the Lord, or God. Cain, a farmer, makes an offering of beautiful fruits which he has grown himself, Able, a shepherd, makes a sacrifice of the first of his flock, to atone for his sins. For the prideful fruit offering, the Lord had no regard, but for the humble sacrifice, the Lord was pleased. Later, in a fit of jealousy, Cain kills Able.
Why was Cain's offering not acceptable? This is because no fruit a person may produce on his or her own is acceptable to God. You are not the judge of what is acceptable. For your fruit may look acceptable in your own eyes, but not in the eyes of God. Your works alone won't save you. Self righteousness is a vain attempt at atonement or becoming acceptable to God.
There is only one solution to the predicament of the human condition. Graft oneself to the good tree which proceeds from the good root. But what is this good tree and how can one graft oneself? The good tree is the truth, the life, and the way. The only truth, the only life, and the only way for one to gain the benefit of the good root. The Tree of Life might be said to be symbolic of Jesus Christ, which comes forth from the good root and offers one a way to graft oneself to the good root through him, the good vine. But how can one graft oneself, existing in error, to the truth which is perfect and forever? How is one to be cleansed so that one may graft oneself?
A price had to be paid in order for atonement to be possible. Jesus (the truth) was crucified on a cross, or "tree", to pay the price for our sins and allow for a clean graft for any who believe and accept his sacrifice. Even in his crucifixion Jesus did not die forever, but took the keys of death away from Satan and was resurrected after three days. Now, if one believes in Christ, one is grafted spiritually to Christ. The Devil cannot destroy a believer forever when one sins, as one has been forgiven and saved through the blood of Jesus. The blood of Christ might be likened to living water.
It has been said that the Devil would have never allowed the crucifixion of Christ if it knew what would happen on the cross. Perhaps, the Devil thought the truth had been killed once and for all, but in reality, a sacrifice was made for all mankind. Instead of winning the war once and for all, the Devil lost the war once and for all.
Only through Christ can one have life and only through the graft is one able to bear good fruit. But knowing and believing are two different things. It is repentance, acceptance, faith, and trust which seal the graft. Just knowing how to graft oneself is not the same thing as grafting oneself. One is saved in the graft, but proof of the graft will be seen in ones fruit. For no good fruit can be borne apart from the good root. Nor can bad fruit come from the good root. A wild vine makes wild wine. Only good fruit comes from the good root, and good fruit makes good wine. Thus it is that through Christ's sacrifice, one may graft ones wild branch to him, the good vine and by this graft bear good fruit.
Good fruit takes time to grow. Fruit does not appear on a branch fully formed and ripened. The leaves on a grafted branch first turn towards the sun and are nourished. The branch then flowers, buds, is pollinated, and only then does fruit form and begin to grow.
Take your time and carefully guard your fruit lest it be stolen, become bad by frost, withered from heat, or diseased by some evil influence. Also, if one fails to sanctify the graft one has made in love, the graft will be rejected, and one will fall away, wither, and be lost. Good fruit makes good wine. This in mind, do not to get drunk on the Lord's wine, for if one consumes all the good fruit one bears, what will one have left to give to the Lord? Jesus Christ is the "first fruit" of God.
