To Redeem the Time You Must Know the Season

Ecclesiastes 3:1

¹ To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

In the northern hemisphere it is fall, but in the southern hemisphere it is spring. Proximity matters in the universal laws of the Most High.

I Corinthians 13:11

¹¹ When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

Where are you in your development as a maturing child of GOD. Think upon the above scripture in terms of rebirth in Christ, if you profess to be a follower of His. When I was a carnal man, I spake as a carnal man, I understood as a carnal man, I thought as a carnal man: but when I became born again in Christ, I put away carnal things. To clarify what I mean by carnal things, here is a description given by the Apostle Paul.

Galatians 5:19-21

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; ²⁰ idolatry and sorcery; hatred, discord, jealousy, and rage; rivalries, divisions, factions, ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Now, going back to Ecclesiastes 3:1, do you know where you are in your development relative to the time and season of your life? Are you where you need to be in proximity to where you have been called by GOD to be? Are you considering these things in relation to the universal laws of GOD? If not, you are still carnal and that is why you are still captive to the behaviors listed in Galatians 5:19-21. The consequences are exactly what was stated in this writing by Paul, you are not in place to inherit the Kingdom of GOD. This is in line with what YEHOSHUA HAMASHIACH taught, or in other words the teachings of Christ or in light of the revealed truth the teachings of the Almighty GOD.

In the northern hemisphere where I am writing this, we are in the first week of Autumn. I understand that physical things are a shadow of spiritual things and just as the Creator ordained seasons to change in the natural to indicate an upcoming environmental change, in the grander spiritual realities of life there are changes coming that we need to be aware of and to be prepared for. The truth has been sown, and harvest time is fast approaching. Are you yielding the spiritual fruit required by a holy and uncompromising GOD? We don’t want to be as the fig tree that Christ gave us a parable about for a lesson.

Luke 13:7-9

7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”

Here is another lesson Christ gave regarding harvesting the fruit He expects.

John 15:1-8

¹ “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ⁸ By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

This writing is not to bring condemnation but conviction if needed. The works of the flesh have already been condemned, that is why Christ came to give us rebirth through His spirit, so that we could escape condemnation. We escape condemnation by escaping the captivity of the flesh with all of its wicked ways through the cross of Christ. The cross of Christ facilitates rebirth into new spiritual life, unto reconciliation with GOD, which empowers the production of good and righteous fruit. If you love truth, then you embrace this reality with the cost, but if you love carnal living then you reject this reality for a lie to quell the dissonance from the concerns of condemnation and to numb the conviction. A popular lie which does this for those resisting the truth is the lie of unconditional love and unconditional pardon through the sacrifice of Christ. The truth is clear through the teachings of Christ as evident in the understanding of the apostle Paul, as he writes in his letters to the Romans.

Roman 8:1

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Christ gave His life on the cross to bring us the resurrection life of the Spirit, not to sponsor carnal living. From the beginning the Slanderer has been seeking to kill, steal, and destroy through deception encased in carnal seduction.

Genesis 3:6
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Paul’s letter to Timothy captures the state of those living out of touch with the truth and spiritual seasons and times in 2 Timothy chapter 3.  I would like to emphasize verse 3:4 in this text.

2 Timothy 3:4

⁴ traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

Traitorous => yielding to the enemy

Reckless => not regarding warnings

Conceited => living with an inflated importance of their own thoughts and feelings

Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of truth leads to prioritizing pleasure over truth which makes one susceptible to the lies of the enemy. This is why we see such a proliferation of false teachings in congregations of people that take the name of the Lord in vain. They profess to be followers and disciples of Christ, but they do not adhere to His words. Here is the full block of text surrounding 2 Timothy 3:4 for the context of time and season.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

1But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come. 2For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good, 4traitorous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5having a form of godliness but denying its power. Turn away from such as these!

To have the power to turn away from the lies and deceptions of the enemy, you must first fear GOD. The Slanderer knows that the fear of GOD is the first step man takes toward inclining his heart to truth, so there is a lie which abounds that the fear of GOD is merely reverence. How can someone with perverted values through a love of pleasure reverence a call to abandon the prioritization of pleasure over truth? It is not possible. That is why all of those who do not fear GOD, in the sense of being terrified to live in opposition to Him, are still living carnal lives and fall short of producing fruit worthy of the divine harvest. The terror of GOD is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom.

The Savior in Mathew 10:28

²⁸ And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:10-11

¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. ¹¹ Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

King Solomon in Proverbs 2:1

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The carnal man does despise GOD and that is why he chooses a false god and a false gospel after the deception of the Slanderer. For those who can hear, hear the call of YAHWEH through Christ and surrender your life in self-denial to the truth of His Word. This is the day of salvation, the season of receiving the truth of Christ into your heart by faith that you may be born again and be reconciled to YAHWEH, so you can bear much fruit for the appointed season and time of harvest.