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.
