The
word today is "planting". The watchman's Bible study notes and related verses are in
brackets.
Genesis
2:8
[ Life
in God’s Garden
] The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put
the man whom He had formed.(The Lord God is a planter and gardener from the beginning and He has revealed this when He first created heavens and earth).
Exodus 15:17 You will bring them in and plant them In the mountain of Your inheritance, In the place, O LORD, which You have made For Your own dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.(The Lord brings His people and plant them in the place He has made for His own dwelling. Therefore the place must be holy because He is holy. Ex3:5, 19:6; Lev19:2;
1 Peter 1:16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” )
Numbers
24:6 Like
valleys that stretch out, Like gardens by the riverside, Like aloes
planted by the LORD, Like cedars beside the waters.
(As
the vision of God's people depicted by Balaam, they will be planted
by rich supply of waters, the Holy Spirit. The planting of His people
will be at Spirit-filled places)
(John 7:37 "On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." )
Psalm
92:13
Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the
courts of our God.
(Again,
it is clearly stated that they will be planted at the place where God
dwells, a holy place. A place where God would meet with His people
who daily seek His face. God wants His people to seek His face! )(Psalm 27:7-9 "Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.8When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
9 Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.")
Psalm 104:16 The trees of the LORD are full of sap, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,
(The trees planted by the Lord are full of nourishment from Him. They themselves are rich in nourishment for others as well. They are never dried up. No burn-out. These are people who constantly drink from the Lord before Him. They will have eternal life.)
(John 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” )
(John 6:54-56 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 56He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. ")Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help.
(Israel was the vineyard planted by the Lord and He expects the same nature of Him from them. But He was disappointed.
(Jesus Himself has warned all Christians on this matter. No one is exempted from the standard and plumb line of God.
(Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’)Isaiah 61:3 To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”
(The Lord's planted His people in His own house, having redeemed and washed them by the blood of Jesus, filled them with and sanctified them by the Holy Spirit, and He expected them to live the godly righteous life, emulating His Son Jesus, that He may be glorified. This is the goal of Christian salvation, as announced both in the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt and the salvation brought to all peoples by Jesus Christ's crucifixion and perfect sacrifice on the cross.)
(Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.)
(Jesus Glorified God and God thus glorified Him: John 13:31-32 "So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. 32 If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. ") (We too are required to glorify God: Romans 8:17 "and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified." )
Jeremiah 11:17 “For the LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”
(When the nation of Israel worshiped other god(s), they brought ruin and disasters on themselves. The same for today's 'Christian' nations/peoples. God does not change. The standard of His holiness remains the same. )
( Hebrews 12:28-29 "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire." )
(2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 "Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.")Jeremiah 31:28 And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the LORD. Jeremiah 45:4 “Thus you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Behold, what I have built I will break down, and what I have planted I will pluck up, that is, this whole land.
(The Lord watches carefully over what He has planted. He even pluck up the unsuitable ones. )
(Matthew 3:9-11 "and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ")Ezekiel 17:3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “A great eagle with large wings and long pinions, Full of feathers of various colors, Came to Lebanon And took from the cedar the highest branch. 17:22 Thus says the Lord God: “I will take also one of the highest branches of the high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and will plant it on a high and prominent mountain. 23 On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; I, the Lord,have spoken and have done it.”
Watchman's Summary:
Amazing
how God chooses what to plant. Here He summed up what He will plant,
from where He will pick them, the place He will plant them, what they
will become, what benefits they will give others, and why He wants to
do all these plantings. We serve an awesome God!
How wonderful it is to be a majestic cedar for the glory of the Lord!
The watchman now watches what kind of plant he is and will become...
