A Cross Pollination

A word by Steven Springer, posted on the “Elijah List” on 3/22/2016, included this phrase, “I see in the Body of Christ that there will be A CROSS POLLINATION [emphasis mine] of the Church and its many parts working together and encouraging each other.”

I’m pretty sure that Springer’s usage of the phrase “cross pollination” is in relationship to flowers and bees cooperating in one unified creation of honey sweetness, but I also see that it applies to the heart of man inwrought by the cross of Christ (creating the purest and sweetest compound known to man).  In the early stages of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, a mere three days into their journey, Moses threw a tree into the bitter waters of Marah to make them sweet for drinking and quenching thirst.  Many years later, Jesus Christ declared to anyone who is thirsty, “Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!” (John 7:38 CJB).

Moses’s tree and Jesus’ cross are one in the same.  Since the heart is the origin from which “flow the springs [or issues] of life” (Proverbs 4:23), the heart must be healed of its bitterness all the way back to its source.  Only the cross of Christ applied to the waters of the heart sweetens the disposition, and only the bride of Christ, whose “lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb” (Song of Songs 4:11), articulates that sweet disposition corporately.  Only the tree of life (the cross upon which our Lord became a curse for us) thrown into the abundant waters of the multi-membered heart expression can transform a synthetic corporation of mechanical efficiency (the bone-of-His-bone body of Christ) into a biological oneness of organic harmony (the flesh-of-His-flesh bride of Christ).  Our Bridegroom is looking for one sweet, cohesive and single-minded bride, not a multitude of swarming busy bees working overtime to produce sweetness.

A cross (of Christ) pollination grounds unity on the revelation of Jesus Christ (sweetness of taste and stomach [as to its digestibility]), whereas a cross pollination grounded on the church is merely sweetness in the mouth (sweetness of taste and bitterness in the stomach).  Honey, which is the end product of cross pollination, represents the individual’s mature wisdom; the honeycomb, which is the end housing of honey, represents the congregation’s mature and manifold wisdom.  In short, honey represents individual wisdom and the honeycomb represents corporate wisdom.  Wisdom, being the proper application of knowledge, and honey its representative compound, the honeycomb simply says it more fully.  The body of Christ, like worker bees, each contribute to the edifying of itself in love, thus taking many private revelations public (making a manifold expression of the full counsel of God).  Unconscious function (like breathing and blood circulation), however—though a necessary and fundamental function of the body—does not rise to the level of conscious and voluntary commitment.  The mysterious bride of Christ, rising up and out of the body of Christ in conscious and voluntary commitment, is giving herself wholly and exclusively to her Bridegroom in this glorious hour!  Everything hidden is being exposed (except nakedness and shame) to those in covenant marriage.  

        

If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom then love is its end.  Indeed, love is the greatest of the three primary graces (faith, hope and love).  In fact, faith and hope sometimes fail, but “Love never fails [it never fades nor ends]” (1 Corinthians 13:8 AMP).  Many have rightly discerned the pertinence of Hosea, chapter 6, verses 1-2 in this hour: “Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day that we may live before Him.”  But the next verse is the point: “So let us KNOW, LET US PRESS ON TO KNOW THE LORD.”

“Knowing” in Scriptural vernacular speaks of sexual intimacy between a husband and wife.  He is calling His bride into the bedchamber!  We must press past fear and give ourselves wholly and exclusively to our Husband; shrinking back now is a grievous reaction to His extended heart of love and desire for intimacy.  For the bride to shrink back in fear on her wedding day is unthinkable and virtually unforgivable.  An act of visceral repulsion cannot be feigned.  Those that shrink back from the heart are in danger of remaining forever unknown.  These are those who do all kinds of things in His name—even working wonders—but have never entered into the Holy of Holies (the  bedchamber of our Lord) to experience true intimacy (see Matthew 7:22-23). 

Though honey glistens the individual eye with revelation, and new life is breathed into endurance by its sweetness, we need the dripping honeycomb of the corporate eye of revelation to enter into the bridal chamber of bittersweet love.  The Rock is the root of every sweet flower and to enjoy the fullness of Christ we must be both cross (of Christ) pollinated and cross (the body) pollinated.  Just as many stings occur in pursuit of pure honey, so we must endure much stinging to obtain the sweetest revelation.  We are made a city compact together; if war is needed to bring peace, if flesh must be rebuked to reach spirit, then we must be willing to pay the price to place our unity on spiritual ground.  We can no longer pray and seek God with all our hearts and then shove aside the answers because we do not like the vessels used or the methods employed.

It takes the pollen of a thousand flowers to make a cup of honey, and it will take many unified Christians to clarify our mind and individual purpose.  We see and know in part, but the more our part is shared and enlarged toward wholeness, the larger our part becomes and the more enlightened we become with growing consensus.  Yes, it takes courage and purpose to delve deeply into life with others; the deeper we penetrate into relationship with our brother or sister, the more real we become with each other, the more stings we encounter.  Our flesh and theirs will object to such intrusion.  However, and notwithstanding this price, if we are to sweeten our lives (and others) we must deal with each other at a stamen level.  A stamen is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower; we must have intimacy at a reproductive level if we are to enjoy the drippings of the honeycomb and reproduce after our kind.