Audio Download

The Fruit of The Land – Part 1

 [Study Aired October 4, 2026]

The whole Christian world, for the most part, understands that ‘Egypt’ signifies the rebellion and sin associated with our carnal-minded flesh. Many in the churches of this world also know that the trial that Israel experienced in the story of crossing the Red Sea signifies our initial baptism we experience at the time of our Passover experience when the death angel passes over us while it is in the process of destroying the firstborn of Egypt.

Also many sermons are preached in the churches of this world which associate the trials Israel experienced for forty years in the wilderness with the trials we all live through after we repent of our sins and accept Christ as our Savior. Far fewer ministers of the churches of this world know what the ‘land’ to which we aspire as our inheritance signifies.

This ‘land’ is filled with fortified cities, filled with giants whose imposing stature makes us feel like grasshoppers. What does ‘the land’ then signify if it is not our own giant passions and the lust of our flesh which dominate us to the extent that we really are as grasshoppers in comparison to the power they have over us?

‘The inhabitants of the land’ are portrayed to us in both the Old and the New Testaments as opponents against whom we, of ourselves, have no hope of conquering:

Num 13:32  And they [the ten spies] brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
Num 13:33  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Here is that same hopeless message in the New Testament:

Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Paul is confessing that of himself he is “as a grasshopper” attempting to fight giants who also see us as mere ‘grasshoppers’ which have no hope of conquering the giants which occupy the land. However, in the very next verse, Paul also has the solution to this hopeless condition and position in which we find ourselves:

Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

‘Christ Jesus our Lord [will] deliver [us] from the body of this death.’ When that happens ‘the fruit of the land’ begins to be produced within our lives to nourish and comfort us and our family.

That is the object of this study where we will ask the question, “What are the fruits of the land, and what do those fruits signify?”

There appear to be twelve main fruits which are mentioned as being associated with the land which is promised to the Lord’s Israel. Six of those fruits are listed in the account of Israel sending “the best fruits of the land” as a gift to Joseph, who he was not yet aware was his own son. Israel wanted to appease ‘the man’ who was holding his son Simeon as a hostage until ‘the man’ saw Benjamin. So Israel sent him a gift “of the best fruits in the land.”

Gen 43:11  And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:

Over 400 years later, when Israel spies out ‘the land’ we are given another list of three more of the fruits of the land:

Num 13:23  And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

‘The land’ of our inheritance is obviously our own bodies in which the spirit of God dwells:

1Co 6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
1Co 6:20  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Our bodies are “not [our] own”, so we are in fact the stewards of ‘the land’ of our inheritance, and our inheritance is only in Christ who in turn is in His Father. The Truth is that “all things are of God… through Christ” (1Co 8:6).

Another verse mentions four more ‘fruits of the land’:

Deu 8:7  For the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
Deu 8:8  A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;

The fruit of ‘the land’ nourishes us, and this land signifies our bodies which are the temple and dwelling place of “the holy spirit of God” (Eph 4:30). This indwelling of the holy spirit involves recognition that we are but a “part” and a “joint” in this body:

1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
1Co 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14  For the body is not one member, but many.

Our bodies, both individually and collectively, are the Lord’s dwelling place, His ‘temple’ and His ‘land’ in which He dwells. This ‘many membered… body’, through the work of Christ and His spirit working within each part of His body and every part of His ‘land’, produces fruit which nourishes every part of His ‘body ‘and His ‘land.’

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

In the very next chapter we are told:

Eph 5:28  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Eph 5:29  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

Of course we are members of the spiritual body of Christ, but in these verses Paul is emphasizing the fact that we are “of His (Christ’s) flesh and of His bones” and that as such we ought to love our physical wives “even as the Lord… nourisheth and cherisheth… the church.” This object is accomplished by being nourished by ‘the fruit of the land’, and as we have taken note, the main fruits of the land which are specifically mentioned number twelve, which signifies that the fruit of the land is intended to demonstrate how the Lord cherishes and nourishes our new man as the foundation upon which our spiritual house is being built.

Here is the link to the study on the number twelve:

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/spiritual-significance-of-numbers-the-number-twelve/

In this study we will examine the twelve fruits which are specifically listed as being “the fruit of the land”, and we will see how each fruit serves to “cherish and nourish” us as the Lord’s wife.

The first fruit listed is “a little balm”:

Gen 43:11  And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:

Here, according to the BT+ is the Hebrew word translated as ‘balm’:

– Original: צרי צרי
– Transliteration: Ts@riy
– Phonetic: tser-ee’
– Definition:

 – a kind of balsam, balm, salve
 – as merchandise
– as medicine

– Origin: from an unused root meaning to crack [as by pressure], hence, to leak
– TWOT entry: 1967a
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine
– Strong’s: From an unused root meaning to crack (as by pressure) hence to leak;
distillation that is balsam: – balm.

Total KJV Occurrences: 6

 – balm, 6

Gen_37:25; Gen_43:11; Jer_8:22; Jer_46:11; Jer_51:8; Eze_27:17

This ‘balm’ is what Jeremiah refers to as ‘the balm of Gilead.’ This reference in Jeremiah gives us a very good sense of what this ‘balm’ does to ‘cherish and nourish’ us.

Jer 8:22  Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

That is the comforting, healing function of this ‘fruit of the land.’ That is what Christ is to us and what we are to each other if indeed we are granted to “love… and cherish [each other] as Christ the church” (Eph 5:29). This fruit signifies how we are a balm one to another, how we serve as spiritual physicians to each other and how we are instrumental in the ‘recovery of the health of the daughter of the Lord’s people.’ This ‘balm’ is merely one of the ‘fruits of the land’.

The next ‘fruit of the land’ is “a little honey”:

Gen 43:11  And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:

Here is what honey did for Jonathan, the son of King Saul:

1Sa 14:25  And all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground.
1Sa 14:26  And when the people were come into the wood, behold, the honey dropped; but no man put his hand to his mouth: for the people feared the oath.
1Sa 14:27  But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath: wherefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in an honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth; and his eyes were enlightened.

Honey signifies spiritual enlightenment. Here are those very words in the New Testament:

Eph 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

Honey in scripture also signifies the superabundance of “the riches of the glory of His inheritance IN the saints, and… the working of His mighty power.” Look at how honey is associated with the abundance of “the riches of His glory of His inheritance in the saints” as these blessings are expressed in the Old Testament. These abundant blessings are all increased within us as our old man dies daily, signified by death of the indigenous enemies within ‘the land.’

Exo 3:8  And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

As demonstrated above in the unwitting offering of Israel to his own son Joseph, honey is mentioned among the blessings of the land:

Deu 8:8  A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;

Ezekiel tells us that the blessing of the land “flowing with milk and honey” which the Lord has given us “is the glory of all lands.”

Eze 20:6  In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:
Eze 20:7  Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Joel (and all the other prophets) was not ministering to himself but to us when he prophesied this of those in whom Christ dwells:

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory [“of all lands”, (Eze 20:6)] that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Moses is one of “the prophets”, and he was not granted to enter into the land that flowed with milk and honey, signifying that ‘he was not ministering to himself but unto us’ when He prophesied:

Num 14:8  If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.

King David was also one of the prophets who ‘searched diligently what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.’ He, too, ‘ministered not unto himself but unto us’ when he used the word ‘honey’ to express the “glory of all the lands” (Eze 20:6), and the sweetness of Christ’s Words which would follow His death and resurrection:

Psa 19:9  The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
Psa 19:10  More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Psa 119:103  How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Ezekiel also uses the word honey in relation to the the enlightenment of the suffering of Christ and His Christ:

Eze 2:8  But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee.
Eze 2:9  And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
Eze 2:10  And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

There are no chapter breaks in the original Hebrew, and these are the very next verses:

Eze 3:1  Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.
Eze 3:2  So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
Eze 3:3  And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

The Lord told Ezekiel that He had appointed Ezekiel as a watchman over the rebellious house of Israel:

Eze 3:17  Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

Eze 33:7  So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

Ezekiel is just one more prophet whose words are not ministering to himself but “unto us” (1Pe 1:12). It is we who are appointed as watchmen whose words are a warning from the Lord against the rebellious house of Israel, both within and without.

Eze 3:4  And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
Eze 3:5  For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel;
Eze 3:6  Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.
Eze 3:7  But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
Eze 3:8  Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
Eze 3:9  As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.
Eze 3:10  Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears.
Eze 3:11  And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
Eze 3:12  Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.
Eze 3:13  I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.
Eze 3:14  So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.

The knowledge of what the Lord is doing is “sweet in our mouths”, but it is “bitterness in the heat of our spirit” when the hand of the Lord is strong upon us. John acknowledges that these are words, including “as honey for sweetness [when it is] in [our] mouth” but His words are “bitter in [our] belly” and “must shortly come to pass” in the lives of the Lord’s elect.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

John’s experience when eating the Lord’s words was the same as Ezekiel’s experience:

Rev 10:1  And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: [All which signify Christ]
Rev 10:2  And he had in his hand a little book open: [This very prophesy] and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,

Rev 10:8  And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.
Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly [“The heat of my spirit”, (Eze 3:14)] was bitter.

God’s Words are “sweet as honey” in our mouths simply because we accept them as His Words, the Words of His Father. The ‘belly’ in scripture signifies the desires of our flesh, and the bitterness in our belly signifies the dying daily of our flesh as we consume His Words (1Co 15:31).

‘Honey’ also signifies “the knowledge of wisdom”:

Pro 24:13  My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste:
Pro 24:14  So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.

Honey is a fruit of the land which signifies ‘pleasant words’ which are ‘sweet to the soul, and are healing to our bones’:

Pro 16:24  Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

Honey is a fruit of our land which signifies God’s always reliable and abundant provision in times of hardship and troubles:

Deu 32:13  He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;

Psa 81:16  He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

The preaching of John the Baptist was in the wilderness of Judaea (Mat 3:1), and he subsisted on “locusts and wild honey”:

Mat 3:1  In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

Mat 3:3  For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Mat 3:4  And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

Manna was Israel’s staple in the wilderness, and this is what we are told about this meal of Israel’s time in the wilderness:

Exo 16:31  And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

Honey with its sweetness was never to be offered with a meal offering or any offering made by fire unto the Lord:

Lev 2:11  No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire.

Read about the spiritual significance of the burnt offerings and the meal offerings in ‘The Law of The Offerings’ :

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-law-offerings_introduction/

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-law-offerings_burnt-offering/

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-law-offerings_meat-offering-part-1/

As these studies demonstrate the ‘meat offering’ (which is really ‘the meal offering’) is the offering Cain brought to the Lord which did not please the Lord.

The meal offering is commanded by the Lord Himself as an offering we must make to Him. It is a grain offering, and grain comes out of the earth, signifying what we give to God which comes out of us. It is an acceptable and necessary offering, but only if it is offered upon a burnt offering which consists of a slaughtered lamb or goat or an offering of the herd, meaning cattle. What made Cain’s offering offensive to the Lord is that Cain had not “done well.”

Gen 4:3  And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
Gen 4:4  And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
Gen 4:5  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
Gen 4:6  And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

This is a very brief account of why the Lord had no respect to Cain’s offering.  Clearly Cain had not ‘done well’ and had not been respectful enough to the Lord to be obedient to how the Lord had instructed Adam and his family to come into His presence. Bringing a meal offering without a burnt offering is the same as insisting that our own works are sufficient for our salvation, and the Lord, who knew “before the world began” that Christ’s sacrifice of His own life was the foundation for all other sacrifices, was having no part in Cain’s rebellious, pride-filled doctrine of salvation by his own works.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our own] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Good works and overcoming our flesh are essential to our salvation, but only if they are acknowledged as a work of the Lord in our lives and not of our own efforts:

2Ti 1:9  Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

There was to be no honey with a burnt offering because ‘sweetness’ is not the object of our “dying daily” (1Co 15:31) process. Leaven was never to be offered in any sacrifice made by fire because leaven signifies the self-righteousness of Cain and all flesh, and the Lord had declared that “no flesh should glory in his presence.”

1Co 1:26  For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory in his presence.

There is nothing in all those qualifications of our calling in which we can take any pride. Cain did not see himself as ‘foolish, weak, base nor despised.’ He did not see himself as not being alive. He certainly did not think of himself as a ‘thing which is not.’ Therefore, the sweetness of honey is not to be associated with any offering made by fire unto the Lord and the corrupting of “the leaven of the Pharisees” is also definitely forbidden.

The sweetness of honey as a fruit of the land is used by the spirit to describe how exciting and sweet the words of our mouth, our “lips [and our] tongue”, are to our Husband, Christ, as we express to Him our admiration, our love, and our gratitude and the awe we have toward Him for His spiritually handsome beauty and His glory and His power in our lives.

This is how Christ expresses His appreciation of the words of our lips and our tongue:

Son 4:10  How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
Son 4:11  Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

This study of the fruits of the land will have to be paused here after covering only the first two fruits, “a little balm, and a little honey.”

Gen 43:11  And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:

We will begin our next study with ‘spices’, and we will see how far we get with covering the fruits produced in our ‘land’.

We will close this study with the spirits warning us that the words of the great whore are just as sweet and nourishing to our rebellious, carnal-minded old man and his corrupt and dying flesh as the words of Christ are to our new man:

Pro 5:3 For the lips of an adulteress drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil;
Pro 5:4 but in the end she is bitter as gall, sharp as a double-edged sword.
Pro 5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave.
Pro 5:6 She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths are crooked, but she knows it not.