PLANTS

“Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits. Camphire, with spikenard.Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices;A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon”, the bridegroom extols the plants of the garden of his bride in verses 13-15 of Chapter 4 in the Song of Songs. The bride has a garden. In that garden, you are a laborer “together with God” and the plants therein are the “God’s husbandry” (I Cor. 3:9). Dearly beloved in Christ, you have a ministry to perform. As a member of the Body of Christ, you pray for and minister to the other members of His body who are apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and pastors. They may also include other types of ministers of God. You may be interceding before God’s throne for some famous evangelists or some missionaries through whom God performs mighty miracles and saves multitudes. They may not know you personally but Christ calls them as “ thy plants”. What a great privilege for you are called as the garden of some ‘X’ or ‘Y’ minister who is mightily used of God throughout the world!

These ministers of God in your garden are compared to an orchard of pomegranates. God looks at you as an orchard or an enclosed garden of fruit trees. The different ministers of God performing diverse functions are but of one orchard. They are compared to pomegranates. Pomegranate is an oriental fruit much cultivated in warm countries, with a thick leathery rind and numerous seeds with pulpy edible seed coats. In India, this fruit is costlier than the other fruits. It is also used for medicinal purposes. When peeled, its seeds are found in different layers. The orchard of pomegranates produces pleasant fruits. The ministers of God in your garden win souls for Christ and such souls become the fruits pleasant to God. As an orchard of pomegranates produces innumerable fruits, so these servants of God win innumerable souls for Christ through their healing and miracle ministries. You may not know the number of souls saved through the ministry of these servants of God. But God keeps an account of these souls and embeds as many stars as the number of such souls on your crown in the Heaven.

The ministers of God in your garden are also compared to henna (camphire) and spikenard plants. Henna is a small oriental shrub with fragrant white flowers. Spikenard is aromatic oil yielded by an Indian valerianaceous plant is known as “ the plant all-heal”. The rhizome and roots of this plant have medicinal properties. Spikenard was a perfume highly prized in Roman society and was used as a perfume by Mary in anointing Jesus (Jn.12: 3).

They are also likened to the saffron plant whose dried stigmas are used as a dye and flavoring; its colour is orange – yellow. Calamus is an aromatic araceous pond-plant, also known as sweet flag. This plant has sword-shaped leaves often bearing large, asymmetrical flowers, and has flowers dominated by large petals called banners.

Cinnamon is a lauraceous tree with its spicy bark. The bark from the stems of this tree is distilled for production of fragrant cinnamon oil. The spice produced from cinnamon tree is a popular aromatic and flavouring ingredient in foods, soaps and medicines. A tree of frankincense found in Arabia produces a sweet smelling resin, which was esteemed by ancient people for use in embalming and as incense. Myrrh is a bitter aromatic, transparent gum exuded from the bark of commiphora tree and was highly valued in ancient times as an ingredient of perfume and incense. Aloe is a perfume-bearing tree and the juice of the leaves of this tree is used as a bitter purgative drug. Jews used spices and aloes in embalming dead bodies.

The trees and plants described above reveal the peculiar qualities of the ministers of God. They are like the fruit yielding pomegranate trees producing precious and innumerable fruits pleasant to God through their ministries. They are like the henna with its fragrant white flowers. This shows their holy life, which spreads its holy fragrance in this sin-laden world. They are like the spikenard plant with the gifts of healing, and are like spikenard, the costly perfume, spreading the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ Jesus throughout the world through their healing and miracle ministries.

The saffron powder is normally used as a colouring and flavouring agent in preparing the food. In India, there is a belief amongst pregnant women that oral intake of this costly powder during pregnancy would give fair complexion to the baby in the embryo. The ministers of God change the lives of persons through the glorious gospel of Christ. Murderers and criminals are convicted of their sin and become new creatures in Christ on hearing the Gospel.

They are likened to the calamus plant, which grows in water. This shows that they live themselves in the valley of tears while ministering to those who pass through this valley. Though living in the valley of tears, they spread the fragrance of Christ like the aromatic calamus. The flowers with large petals called banners are symbolic of the victories and successes being wrought through the travailing and tearful prayers of the servants of God likened to the calamus plant. This shows that these ministers of God serve as a ladder to attainment of success in your life, be it education or career or sports. The secret intercessory prayers of God’s servants bring you laurels. You may think that your own effort or the human help sans God’s grace has won laurels in your life.

They are likened to the cinnamon tree, which produces the popular aromatic and flavouring spice. Through the pastoral, teaching and prophetic ministries of these servants of God, your life in Christ blooms and becomes aromatic in this world. On smelling the fragrance of your life in Christ, the people around you are gravitated to Christ, the Source of such fragrance.

The ministers are likened to “all trees of frankincense” which produce a great quantity of the sweet smelling resin and to myrrh, the highly valued perfume. This shows that these servants of God are responsible for ensuring holiness in your life by way of their teaching and by setting high standards of holiness in their own lives to be emulated by you.

The ministers are likened to aloes used as a bitter purgative drug. The ministry of prophets serves as the bitter purgative drug to those who live contrary to the word of God, who carry on the God’s ministry against His will and who believe in false doctrines.

Your small garden in the great vineyards of God has “all the chief spices”. The personal lives of the ministers in your garden are the sweet fragrance unto God as if it emanates from “all the chief spices”. It is your responsibility to intercede before God for the ministers in your garden so that they may lead a holy and righteous life. You should also warn them if they live contrary to the Word of God. What a great testimony of God concerning your little garden!

Yours is a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters. You are a fountain of gardens. Through your personal life of holiness and righteousness, you become a fountain of the gardens planted in the Kingdom of Christ. Your personal life should bear testimony to Christ and influence the other members of the Body of Christ likened to the gardens in the Song. Holiness and righteousness should flow from the fountain of your life. Your intercessory prayers for the other members of the Body of Christ would serve as a fountain of blessings upon them.

Christ in you is a well of living waters. It is a reservoir from which the living waters of Christ flow into the world. Through you, God seeks to give the living waters to the perishing souls in this world. As such, you have to preach the gospel and present Christ to the lost souls. You should not be so selfish as to drink the living waters yourself but you should share the same with the lost souls.

Your garden has “streams from Lebanon”. Spiritually speaking, Lebanon is a place where you grow spiritually from strength to strength. The lessons taught to you by the Holy Spirit and the personal experiences encountered by you in Lebanon would flow abundantly as streams to the other members of the Body of Christ.

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