WE
ARE LIVING IN BIBLICAL TIMES
We are living in biblical times.
The Bible has more to say about this period than any
other time in history. There were about fifty
(50) prophecies about the First Advent of
Christ. There are over five hundred (500) prophecies
about the Second Advent of Christ. We are living in
the days preceding the Second Advent of Christ.
Just as in the days of Noah and Lot, the
common time theme was that no one believed that judgment was
near. We live on the precipice of the final
judgment. All who herald such precarious times are
deemed fools by the secular world fulfilling the scoffer
prophecies. (2 Peter 3:3)
As I continue to consider Israel,
the events of the last 70 years and meditate on the fig tree
parables of Scripture, I see the approaching pattern
of impending judgment for Israel and the World. The
common theme of Israel's minor prophets is the Second Advent
of Messiah Jesus. Hosea speaks about Israel's founding
fathers. He says, "I saw your fathers as the first
ripe in the fig tree at her first time:" (Hosea 9:10b)
Hosea speaks to the Gospels' fig tree prophecies.
Israel's fathers produced good fruit.
The horticultural aspects of the fig tree
speak, in type, to the nation of Israel as a corporate
entity. The fig tree flowers and fruits twice each year,
once on the old wood and again on the new wood. The
fig tree is the only tree in Scripture which was cursed.
(Matthew 21:19) The fig tree had a bad beginning. It
is associated with disobedience, judgment and
self-righteousness. The first usage of the fig tree
appears in Genesis 3:7. It is a symbol of
self-righteousness defiant to the Father, the Word and the
Holy Ghost. These three bear record of truth in
heaven. (1 John 5:7 KJB only as this verse has been deleted
in all modern bibles) . God finds Israel guilty of
self-righteousness ultimately for rejecting Jesus.
This is Jacob's principal transgression. (Jeremiah 24:2, 5,
8; Matthew 24:32-33; Amos 8:2; Hosea 9:10; Isaiah
59:20) Israel rejected God's "sun of righteousness".
(Malachi 4)
Each year in the Spring, in Israel, the
fig tree flowers on its prior years branches. The
flowers appear before the leaves. The flowers set
fruit "at her first time", then the leaves appear.
Later in the Summer the fig tree flowers again on the new
growth branches and sets fruit a second time. The fig tree in these parables had no
fruit at all. (Matthew 21, 24; Luke 13, 21; Mark 13)
If we apply the imagery of this parable to
Israel today and follow Jesus' command to "learn" the
parable and to "know" its interpretation we can know
"what manner of time" to expect (1) the
resurrection/rapture event and (2) the time of Jacob's
trouble or Daniel's 70th week. (1 Peter 1:11)
On May 14, 1948 Israel
declared Independence as a nation ending the Diaspora
exile. (Isaiah 11:11, 66:8; Ezekiel 20:34, 37:1-12)
On May 11, 1949, following her War of Possession or the
second Conquest of Canaan, the world, the commonwealth of
nations, acknowledged Israel as a sovereign nation.
Just as the Lord was with Joshua and Israel in the first
Conquest of Canaan, so too, the Lord was with Israel
fighting for her in the second Conquest of Canaan.
We see the Captain of the Host of the Lord fighting for
Israel in Joshua 5:13-15. This captain was the King of
Glory, the King of Israel. (Psalm 24:10; Isaiah
44:6) The Lord is a man of war. (Exodus 15:3)
This captain is the Captain of Salvation. (Hebrews
2:10) He is the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah
43:15) This captain was the Lord Jesus. (Hebrews 4:8 KJB
only; Acts 7:45 KJB only) A cursory review of
the Second Conquest of Canaan and the Arab-Israel Wars of
1948-73 there are numerous miraculous accounts of divine
intervention where the King of Glory fought for
Israel. The Captain of Salvation intends to call out
His remnant, the remnant of Jacob, who will appropriate
the testimony and faith of Jesus during the Time of
Jacob's Trouble, Daniel's 70th week.
Israel, as God's prophetic timepiece, was the
fruitless leafy budding of the proverbial "fig
tree". And Isaiah's words, spoken more than 2,700
years ago, ring in our ears the truth of God, "And it
shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set
his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of
his people...". (Isaiah 11:11; Ezekiel 20:33-38) The
second recovery of Israel is represented by the end of the
Diaspora exile, the first being the 70-year Babylonian
exile. This recovery has been with indignation.
(Zechariah 1:12). This recovery brought the Jew, as
a nation, back into the land of Canaan, albeit, in
unbelief of Messiah Yeshua. God says this
restoration has been and will be associated with the rod
of indignation and fury poured out. (Zechariah 1:12;
Ezekiel 20:34; Isaiah 48:10) Israel must endure the coming
"time of Jacob's trouble". (Jeremiah 30:7)
Israel has begun the formal process of
restoration in preparation for God's final chapter in the
redemption of the Jewish people, a people who will receive
Yeshua as Messiah.(Daniel 9:27; Revelation 1-22) The
nation commenced its restoration without flowers or
fruit. Jesus had chastised the figurative fig tree
of Matthew 21:19, which represented the political nation
of Israel in 30 A.D. cursed for failing to recognize her
Messiah. The fig tree was cut down following the
lesson of the Fig tree-Vineyard parable of Luke
13:6-9. The Temple was destroyed and the Jews
dispersed. (Daniel 9:26)
At the first Advent, the Jewish nation was
cursed and dispersed for the rejection of Messiah.
At the second Advent, the remnant Jewish nation will
receive Jesus and be delivered and saved. (Romans
11:26-27; Isaiah 59:20-21; Romans 9:27; Isaiah 10:21-22;
Jeremiah 31:7, 11,31-34; Joel 2)
Now, in a generational context, we are
seventy (70) years from the events of 1949. We are
the generation which will witness the resurrection/rapture
event. (1 Corinthians 15:52; 1 Thessalonians 4:17)
Zechariah speaks today of these 70 years of indignation
when Israel has had neither rest nor peace. (Zechariah
1:12) Jesus says the generation which sees the fig
tree bud out will see the events of Daniel's week.
Only Christ's own will be removed prior to Daniel's
week. The Christ rejecting world will bear the
furious wrath of the end of the age judgment, the furnace
of affliction, the cup of wrath and indignation. (Jeremiah
25:15-17, 51:7; Psalm 75:8; Zechariah 12:2-3; Habakkuk
2:16; Revelation 16:19)
Following this 70-year period, the prophet
Zechariah says that the Temple shall be built. (Zechariah
1:16). This can only occur after the Lord removes
his "living temples". (1 Corinthians 6:19)
The remnant Jewish nation of the future will
keep the commandments of God and have the faith and
testimony of Jesus. (Revelation 12:17, 14:12, 20:4-5)
Their faith will save them from the furnace of affliction.
(Isaiah 48:10) During Daniel's 70th week, the Fig
Tree will flower and fruit on her new year's growth.
As the Lord God of Israel said through Hosea, "I saw your
fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at her first
time", so the parable says, the LORD GOD will see the
fathers' remnant children as the "second ripe in the fig
tree at her second time".
This is the truth of this parable
following the command to "learn" and "know" the
parable of the Fig Tree of time of the end.
Blessings in Christ.........Awaiting His
appearance this Spring at the Feast of the Harvest.