"'In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,' declares the LORD Almighty." - Zechariah 3:10
Bet you haven't done that lately. Ya know, invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree.
Well, it's best that we all start doin' it on a regular basis.
If you check out the twenty (20) Bible verses where "vine" and "fig tree" are paired, what you discover is that being under a vine and fig tree represents being under God's blessings. Easily understood blessings under the vine and fig tree are prosperity, safety, beauty, hope, and the expulsion of fear. Blessings under the vine and fig tree that require a little more thought (but blessings nonetheless) are peace from a foreign king, a place to repent, a place to reveal faith and joy even in hard times, and a place to look for the fruit of a person's life.
The point is that a person's heart gets healthy under the vine and the fig tree.
In contrast, within those same twenty (20) Bible verses where "vine" and "fig tree" are paired, what you discover is that the absence of a vine and fig tree (and therefore the absence of blessings to sit under) brings bad news, namely, the bad news of ruin by way of destruction, judgment, plague or drought.
The point is that the absence of a vine and fig tree represents stepping out from under God's blessings. And taking your life into your own hands. News flash -- that's not a good idea.
So what then does "'In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,' declares the LORD Almighty" (Zechariah 3:10) mean?
It means we should all regularly "invite a neighbor" to our home to sit under our blessings.
Talk to them.
Listen to them.
Visit together.
Catch up on one another's lives.
Be thankful to God and encourage each other.
And watch what happens to your hearts: prosperity, safety, beauty, hope, and the expulsion of fear. And if you really invest your heart in the visit, maybe you'll see a few of those rarer blessings like repentance, a testimony to faith and joy in hard times, and conversation about the fruit of a person's life.
My kids and I do this all the time. We sit under the vine and fig tree to talk, listen, visit together, catch up, be thankful to God, and encourage each other. It's a blast. We do it when it's just us. And we also enjoy "inviting people over to sit under our vine and fig tree."
Oh, yeah, you're all invited to my house for Thanksgiving Day from 11 am - 2:30 pm. Seriously. It'll be a blast. Lots of figs and fruit of the vine. Bring a dish to share.
But it will end at 2:30 because, shortly thereafter, I'm going to my brother, Ben's, and enjoy sitting under his vine and fig tree. (I haven't told him yet, so I hope he's gonna be home.)
Until then, friends, invite a neighbor over to sit under your vine and fig tree.
And may the prosperity of relationships reign.
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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