My dream chocolate bar? Well, if it’s just one chocolate bar, I quite like Fruit and Nut. I suppose it would be fun to have different types of chocolate with different ingredients in each square, but then again, I can think of something better – if I’m allowed to dream.
Let’s say that an angel appears and offers me a chocolate-related wish. I don’t imagine that this would be an angel’s priority, but as this is just a dream, let me say what I’d like best of all.
I would like a vending machine in my home, where I could summon any type of chocolate bar that I wanted.
- Everything would be free of charge.
- All the chocolate would be good for my health.
- The machine would never run out of chocolate.
Now if the angel asked me to lend scriptural support to my request, I don’t think the Bible mentions chocolate, but I could point to a few texts. And before I do, let me point out that we can celebrate everything in creation and look forward to much more in heaven. Obviously, the focus is on spiritual needs. But if I create something impressive, I delight in people enjoying it, and surely the same can be said of God, provided we are thankful and using his gifts to glorify him. Chocolate is part of the beauty of creation.
I sometimes yearn for chocolate, but I also know what it is to be thirsty, though we’re rarely short of water in Ireland. But in Israel, I would think that water would have been a higher priority than chocolate, but the principle of meeting all your needs abundantly is still there.
Free of Charge
Isaiah 55:5
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
Rev 22:7
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
Good for You
We often hear about Adam and Eve taking the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden. But there was plenty of other trees and fruit; good fruit. And there was the Tree of Life. It represents eternal life and divine sustenance. After Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, God prevented them from accessing the Tree of Life, ensuring they would not live forever in their fallen state. But of course, there is a way back through Jesus.
In Revelation, the Tree of Life reappears as a symbol of restoration and eternal life in the New Jerusalem. It is described as bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding fruit every month, and its leaves are said to bring healing to the nations
What’s all this got to do with chocolate? Well, maybe if we didn’t have processed food such as chocolate, we’d hanker after fruit, something that’s good for us. But in my fantasy, I’d like chocolate to be good for me 😀. So much that if flawed in our fallen world will be fixed in the future.
Rev 22:1-2
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations
Never Runs Out
Again, there’s nothing in the Scriptures about chocolate that never runs out, but we do have the principle of inexhaustible or limitless resources. Think of Elisha and the widow’s oil in 2 Kings 4:1-7, the feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew 14:13-21 and the wedding feast of Cana in John 2:1-12, where Jesus turned water into wine. And you also have several texts about water addressing thirst, something that would have resonated with people who lived in dry lands. Maybe, if Jesus had come to Ireland, he would have used a different metaphor 😀. We don’t get a lot of sun.
John 4:13
“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 7:37-38
“On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
I suspect that the angel wouldn’t grant me my wish, but I am thankful that I can:
- Buy Fin Carre Fruit and Nut chocolate in LIDL at a relatively low price
- Eat just a few squares at a time, so it won’t do me much harm
- Go back and buy more when it runs out
So, while I am thankful for small mercies, I always think that earthly joys and pleasures are just a taste of what’s to come in the future. And, it looks like we’ll have trees in heaven, so hopefully, we’ll have all the ingredients for our dream chocolate forever! But we have so many greater things to look forward to.
Hibernia Gospel 