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1948 - 2008 Here lies the figgy fixation of Israel becoming a nation in 1948.
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Israel became a nation in 1948, we are in the 60th year. They said it then, and some still claim now that the generation that seen Israel become a Nation would see all the things Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 come to pass. However, that is not what the Bible says.
In 1988 it was 40 years since, the ideal term of a generation. Many, including Hal Lindsey even prophesied the coming of Christ in 1988 because of this figgy fixation. 2008 is 60 years. 60 is pushing it.
Though I suspect some will still hold on to their belief until 100 years pass since 1948, 2048, when by all means the absolute limit has been pushed beyond reach, and the delusional belief must finally come to an end. RIP. It will not be mentioned anymore after then.
Let us reason as it is written, where this "figgy fixation" has bloomed from. From this one sentence, three verses, comes forth the claim that Israel would become a Nation someday...
Mat 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
How in the world? How does this mean Israel would someday become a Nation? It is rather a simple illustration that fig trees put forth leaves in summer, and just as they knew that, they should know that when they seen all those things Jesus spoke beginning to happen, that Judea would be trodden of the Gentiles, and all things Jesus spoke of would come upon that same generation, telling those in Judea to run for the hills before it would come to pass.
If there is a lesson to be learned from this illustration, it is that Jesus did come upon a fig tree having leaves, (so summer was near), but having no fruit.
Mat 21:18 Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
Mat 21:19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
Mat 21:20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
His action was of a symbolic nature, no offense to mother nature at all. I do not believe for one second Jesus decided to curse a tree because he was hungry and there was no fruit. The fig tree had leaves, was living, but the tree was fruitless. The disciples were amazed how soon it withered!
C.H. Spurgeon said:
"The blighted fig tree was a singularly apt simile of the Jewish state. The nation had promised great things to God. When all the other nations were like trees without leaves, making no profession of allegiance to the true God, the Jewish nation was covered with the leafage of abundant religious profession. Scribes, pharisees, priests and elders of the people were all sticklers for the letter of the law, and boaster of being worshipers of the one God, and strict observers of all his laws. Their constant cry was, "The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these." "We have Abraham to our Father" was frequently on their lips.
They were a fig tree in full leaf.
But there was no fruit upon them; for the people were neither holy, nor just, nor true, nor faithful towards God, nor loving to their neighbor. The Jewish church was a mass of glittering profession, unsupported by spiritual life. Our Lord had looked into the temple, and had found the house of prayer to be a den of thieves. He condemned the Jewish church to remain a lifeless, fruitless thing; and it was so. The synagogue remained open; but its teaching became a dead form. Israel had no influence upon the age. The Jewish race became, for centuries, a withered tree: it had nothing but profession when Christ came, and that profession proved powerless to save even the holy city. Christ did not destroy the religious organization of the Jews: he left them as they were; but they withered away from the root, till the Roman came, and with the axes of his legions cleared away the fruitless trunk."
"Soon" was right, within 40 years this came to be, within that same generation.
Speaking some of trees, grass, and flowers...
People are as grass, springing up as life, all over, but here today, gone tomorrow. Some people are as flowers, their beauty stands out among the grass, but just the same, here today, gone tomorrow.
Works are as trees. They have deeper roots into the earth than grass and flowers, they produce more leaves and fruit, and do remain on earth longer.
The works of Messiah are as a tree, the best tree of all, the Tree of Life. You are not banished from this Tree of Life anymore. By One man, Adam, mankind was banished from the Tree of Life, and by One man, Jesus, the Tree of Life is freely offered to all. Messiah delivered us from that banishment. His works did. He gave his life for the ransom of many.
God knows mankind is evil from their youth, that if we live long enough to know right from wrong, we are going to sin, it's just a matter of time. That's why God sent the Deliverer. We who are delivered from the curse of the law are not free to break the law. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have passage to the Tree of Life, having received eternal life in the paradise of God.
To put it gently, the "figgy fixation of 1948" has reasoning flaws. I have found that many have not really thought through to the logical conclusion of their doctrinal position when looking at the big picture. Jesus was saying that Judea would be trodden of the gentiles, saying "truly I say to you, this generation shall not pass away until all things are fulfilled".
Truth is, many cannot read the words as they are, they must claim Jesus did not mean His generation when he said "this generation", because that would change everything, all they were taught, all they thought they knew. But the truth is, Jesus said "this generation" many times in many more ways than one. Not just this once, and without the use of this figgy parable. Please, hear His words, visit this link that will present each time Jesus said "this generation", you may begin to see clearly that when Jesus said "this generation", He was referring to His generation.
Jesus spoke of JUDEA alright, but as being trodden by the Gentiles, not becoming ripe in righteousness, or as becoming a nation:
Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains:
Mat 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Mat 24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
This action was concerning Judea, Israel, Jerusalem, the whole house, even the workers of the Temple in Jerusalem, because of their works, and in part for not recognizing the time of the coming of their King, even the LORD. Jesus made the decree of utter desolation:
Mat 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple.
Mat 24:2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
The temple Jesus and His disciples were looking at ain't there no more. It was made desolate with the Roman/Jewish war, roughly 42 months, 66.5 - 70 AD. Just about 40 years after Jesus said this, within that same generation, Jerusalem was trodden of the Gentiles, and the Temple in Jerusalem was made desolate. The mosque you see in Jerusalem now is not the Temple that was there in Jesus time, the one Jesus was looking at, you know that, right?
Right about now a question jumps into your mind, doesn't it! I know, I have been there! (see Jesus and the Temple)
After all, Jesus had said His were the days of vengeance to fulfill all that was written by the prophets of ol' concerning Judea:
Luke 21:22 For THESE are days of vengeance when all things that have been written are to be fulfilled.
Saying "NOW is the judgment of this world":
John 12:31-32 NOW is the judgment of this world: NOW shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
Of course when Jesus said "Now", Now was Then. See: The siege of Jerusalem for more about what Jesus had said about Jerusalem, and when and how this came to be fulfilled. The events were amazing. It was not just another war, it was an act of God.
Jerusalem was trodden by the gentiles, and the temple in Jerusalem was made desolate. That's just what Jesus said would happen. That is the context, and Jesus spoke much of this elsewhere.
But many say "the comparison of the fig tree means all Judea will be ripe with righteousness"....DOH! And many say, "Jesus just meant the generation that sees those signs, not HIS generation!", but not one of the signs was that Jerusalem would be ripe with righteousness! But true it is, Jesus was saying all he said would come to pass upon the generation that seen all the signs, saying "this generation" would not pass.
As Eusebius of Caesarea (263 - 339), Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine put it:
"But the things which took place afterwards, did our Savior, from his foreknowledge as THE WORD or GOD, foretell should come to pass, by means of those which are (now) before us. For He named the whole Jewish people, the children of the City; and the Temple, He styled their House. And thus He testified, that they should, on their own wicked account, bear the vengeance thus to be inflicted. And, it is right we should wonder at the fulfillment of this prediction, since at no time did this place undergo such an entire desolation as this was. He pointed out moreover, the cause of their desolation when He said, "If thou hadst known, even in this day, the things of thy peace:" intimating too His own coming, which should be for the peace of the whole world. But, when ye shall see it reduced by armies, know ye that which comes upon it, to be a final and full desolation and destruction. He designates the desolation of Jerusalem, by the destruction of the Temple, and the laying aside of those services which were, according to the law of Moses, formerly performed within it. The manner moreover of the captivity, points out the war. of which He spoke; "For (said He) there shall be (great) tribulation upon the land, and great wrath upon this people : and they shall fall by the edge of the sword." We can learn too, from the writings of Flavius Josephus, how these things took place in their localities, and how those, which had been foretold by our Saviour, were, in fact, fulfilled. On this account He said, "Let those who are in its borders not enter into it, since these are the days of vengeance, that all may be fulfilled which has been written." Any one therefore, who desires it, may learn the results of these things from the writings of Josephus."
PART TWO: ISRAEL
Hello Christian! Hello seed of Abraham!
Jacob was an over comer. He prevailed with God and man. His name was changed to Israel. In Galatians 6:16, the apostle Paul refers to the church as "the Israel of God."
Is Israel an apt name for God's Church? Do her members prevail with God? Do they, or will they rule as princes with God? Speaking in symbol, we can say that the man named Jacob represents a person who has not overcome, a carnal person. The man named Israel, on the other hand, represents a prevailing Christian, an over comer. It is this Christian who inherits the kingdom of God.
The Israel of God, like Jacob, prevails with God. If we can determine who the patriarchs' spiritual offspring are, we will be well on our way to understanding who the "kings" descending from Jacob are. Paul clearly establishes that Abraham's spiritual children are not necessarily his physical ones. He does this during a long discussion of God's reconciliation of Israel and the Gentiles in Romans 9 through 11, specifically in Romans 9:6-8:
"For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, "In Isaac your seed shall be called." That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed."
In Galatians 3:29, Paul tells us who these "children of the promise" are. They are Christians: "If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
Christians, then, are the spiritual children of Abraham. Spiritually understood, the descendants of Abraham, through Isaac (Romans 9:7), through Jacob (Genesis 35:11) will inherit the promises. They will inherit the "land" God promised Jacob in Genesis 35:12 ( see Matthew 5:5).
Of course, there is no "Jewish escape clause", to inherit eternal life without Christ, or to be called "God's chosen people" without accepting the salvation of God, that god has offered to all mankind through Christ, you know, what Christ has done for us. Those who belong to Christ are God's chosen people.
Yes, Israel is an apt designation for God's church; the Israel of God. This high court and kingdom of God was established by Jesus the Christ, made high priest of God, the groom of a new Israel born of a new Jerusalem. She is the mother of us all, the bride of Christ, and the general assembly of His Church. These are the true seeds of Abraham, born of spirit, not flesh, born of a promise, not in bondage, but born free, free as the wind blows, as free as the grass grows, as the sands of the sea...
[Galatians 4:22-26] For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which engendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
[Hebrews 12:22-24] But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
The Israel of God was not established in 1948. It was established a long time before that.
Hello Christian, Hello Israel!
Say it with me, please...
I Pledge Allegiance... To The God... Of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob... And To The Kingdom... For Which Christ Stands... All Nations... Under God...Invincible... With Liberty And Justice For All.
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