Friday, May 13, 2016

122. The Budding of the Fig Tree


Lamentations - a Book by Jeremiah


After the Babylonians had destroyed the city which they called the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth? Lamentations 2:15.  Jeremiah takes up this dirge: How alone sits the city that was full of people! She has become like a widow, once great among the nations, a noblewoman among the nations, but now has become a tribute-payer. She bitterly weeps in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. 1:1-2.

About 1000 years before Judah's fall, Moses had written, And if you will not for all of this listen to Me, but will walk contrary to Me, then I will walk contrary to you also in fury. And I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And you shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat. Leviticus 26:27-29.  

As armies are wont to do, the Babylonian army had destroyed the crops, slaughtered the livestock, killed the men, raped the women.  Israel had now fallen on such desperate times that in order to find food, to survive, they needed to resort to cannibalism; Shall the women eat their fruit, children of tender care? 


But, Repent Now


Again Jeremiah urges the people to repent, to seek the Lord in prayer, perhaps it is not too late to save their lives and the lives of their children.  Arise, cry out in the night. At the beginning of the watches, pour out your heart like water before the face of Jehovah. Lift up your hands toward Him for the life of your children who are faint for hunger in the head of every street.  Lam 2:19  

Jeremiah, Isaiah and many other prophets had warned them to turn from their ungodly ways; they did not treat fellow humans with dignity and they did not turn from worshipping other gods; they refused to listen and obey.  

The people of North America are in no position to look down on them for this; we have done the same things.  And the same God still has the same standards He had then and should we expect a lesser punishment?

Israel is Reborn


The history of Israel always was turbulent. Hordes were killed in battles; masses became slaves or refugees in other countries.  In spite of those events, the Bible does not allow for the idea that the race of the Israelites will ever become extinct.  The prophets repeatedly promised that Jehovah will bring His children home again.  Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their affliction. And they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, says Jehovah, that your sons shall come again to their own border. Jeremiah 31:13-17. 

I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west. I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not keep back; bring My sons from far and My daughters from the ends of the earth; everyone who is called by My name; for I have created him for My glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. Isaiah 43:5.

I will cut a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will place them, and multiply them. Yea, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Ezekiel 37:26-28.

The modern re-creation of Israel happened on May 14, 1948.   David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel and U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized the new nation on the same day. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel

In  answer to the disciple's question, what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world? Mat. 24:3.  Christ said, Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When its branch is still tender and puts out leaves, you know that summer is near. So you, likewise, when you see all these things, shall know that it (the return of Christ) is near, at the doors. Truly I say to you, This generation shall not pass until all these things are fulfilled. Mat. 24:32.


When Israel became a nation in 1948 many Evangelical Bible teachers got really excited about this prophecy.  They said that the "budding of the fig tree" represented the founding of the nation of Israel, and since Christ had said, This generation shall not pass until all these things are fulfilled, Christ would return before 1982. 1948+33 years=1981.  If one accepts, as is commonly stated, that a generation is 33 years long.  

Well, that did not happen, so the Bible students needed to take another look at the "blueprint".  They then found that the word, "generation" does not mean only, "a specified length of time" but it can refer to the entire "race" of any given people; in this case the Jews.

In Mat_24:34 "this generation shall not pass (namely, the Jewish race, of which the generation in Christ's days was a sample in character); ... until all these things be fulfilled," a prophecy that the Jews shall be a distinct people still when He (Christ) shall come again. Fausset.

Christ had already warned us against setting dates for His return! But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not the angels of Heaven, but only My Father. Mat. 24:36.  How could so many Bible believing Christians have so completely missed that point?

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