Looking at the Core Values, presented by Rev. Tim Purcell, our District Superintendent, on Sunday morning, I was thinking about a core, and that brought me to the apple.
Now, it is probably wasn’t an apple Eve ate in the Garden, but it was a fruit of some sort, and this portion speaks of the redeeming word and work of God in His garden of souls.
“Like apples of gold” …..It is a simile – a way to describe a concept that shows the value in what is being said. It probably isn’t apples – maybe oranges, actually, but the idea is that the fruit is golden, which is the biblical picture of deity. Jesus Christ, in His deity, bore the heat of melting gold, so that His Word/witness could be placed in a vessel of grace.
“In settings of silver” ….. Silver is the biblical picture of redemption. When the silver is done, the silversmith can see his reflection, so God uses us as the vessel, basket of silver, where the golden fruit – spiritual nourishment, feeds from.
The Bible also talks about being the “apple of His eye”, and this is referring to the pupil of the eye, where sight comes in and reflects the glory of the Giver.
We are the redeemed vessels, holding the golden message, and are to reflect the love and grace of the Giver – God Almighty.
In this state, our words spoken fit perfectly into the place where they were intended to go, just like the fruit fits perfectly in the silver vessel.
God fits us for His service and our value is in Him.