"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as
its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near.
Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.” (Matt.
24:32-33)
Students of prophecy often identify the Lesson of the Fig
Tree in Matt. 24 as a reference to Israel. While the fig tree is
sometimes used to symbolize Israel, this is not one of those times. The fig tree
is one of the last trees to bud in the spring, so when it begins to get leaves
people know that summer is right around the corner. There'll be no more false
starts, no more cold snaps. Summer is now certain and soon. Jesus used this
analogy to tell people who'll be on Earth at the time that when they see the
things he described beginning in Matt. 24:15, they'll know that His
coming is really near.
Earlier in Matt. 24 He had told them that wars and
rumors of war will be characteristic of the age (Matt. 24:6), and that
the earthquakes and famines they'll notice will be like the beginning of birth
pangs, mild and infrequent at first but more intense and more frequent as the
end approaches (Matt. 24:7-8) . Then there'll be increased
antisemitism, apostasy, false prophets and deception, in the midst of which the
Gospel will be preached in all nations (Matt. 24:9-14). But when they
see the Abomination of Desolation, a man standing in the Temple telling people
he's God, things will begin to get serious fast and the countdown will begin
on the most terrifying period of time in the history of man. This is what He
compared to the fig tree getting leaves. When they see that, they know that His
return is certain and soon. That's the lesson of the Fig Tree.
Now Where Do We Go?
So then, if the fig tree isn't symbolic of Israel why are we convinced that the events of 1948 marked the beginning of the end? There
are lots of places where the Bible promises that the nation Israel will exist in its Biblical lands at the End of the Age, but the primary one is in Ezekiel
36-37.
Beginning in chapter 36 Ezekiel shifted from his message of
judgment to one of future hope. He began writing these chapters after he
learned that Jerusalem had fallen to the Babylonians and its desolation had
begun. Having earlier prophesied against the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 6) he now began speaking promises to them. Reminding the mountains
that he had pronounced judgment against the surrounding nations for trying to
possess them, and for plundering and ridiculing the towns that had dwelt upon
them, the Lord had Ezekiel say,
" But you, O mountains of Israel, will produce branches
and fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come home. I am concerned
for you and will look on you with favor; you will be plowed and sown, and I
will multiply the number of people upon you, even the whole house of Israel. The towns will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will increase the number of
men and animals upon you, and they will be fruitful and become numerous. I will
settle people on you as in the past and will make you prosper more than before.
Then you will know that I am the LORD. I will cause people, my people Israel, to walk upon you. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance; you
will never again deprive them of their children.” (Ezekiel 36:8-13)
While this was partially fulfilled after the Babylonian
captivity, the people were driven off the land again in the first century AD,
so the complete fulfillment had to begin sometime after that. Earlier, Isaiah
had prophesied that there would be a second return., and his
contemporary Amos said that after that one they would never be uprooted again.
So that's the one we're looking for.
In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time
to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower
Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and
from the islands of the sea. (Isaiah 11:11)
I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and
drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,"
says the LORD your God. (Amos 9:14-15)
According to history the second fulfillment officially began
in 1948. Why did the Lord finally do this? What had they done to deserve it?
'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your
sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake
of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have
gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among
the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know
that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy
through you before their eyes. (Ezekiel 36:22-23)
As far back as the wilderness wanderings, the Lord had
foretold of Israel's diaspora (Deut 28:64-68) and subsequent
regathering. (Deut. 30:1-4) Because of their disobedience they would be
driven from the land. After an extended period of time He would bring them
back, not because they deserved it, but because He had given His word. Their return
would be a sign to all the world. A sign that the End of the Age is upon us.
Frequently the Lord had His prophets first give a sweeping
overview statement to describe a promise and then fill in the details
afterward. Such is the case with Ezekiel's next declaration.
" 'For I will take you out of the nations; I will
gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I
will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you
from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart
and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and
give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to
follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I
gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God. I will
save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and make it
plentiful and will not bring famine upon you. I will increase the fruit of the
trees and the crops of the field, so that you will no longer suffer disgrace
among the nations because of famine. Then you will remember your evil ways and
wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your sins and detestable
practices. I want you to know that I am not doing
this for your sake, declares the Sovereign LORD. Be ashamed and disgraced for
your conduct, O house of Israel! (Ezekiel 36:24-32)
Clearly the complete fulfillment of this promise to Israel is yet future to us. But its magnitude is striking. God promised that Israel would be brought back into its Biblical lands, something already in process. Then
the people will be cleansed from all their sins, given a new heart, and the
Holy Spirit will come to dwell within them. (Obviously, this hasn't happened
yet, because it can only happen when one is born again.) Then the Kingdom
promises will begin coming true and the people will remember their former
sinful ways and detest themselves. This is another indication of the
indwelling Holy Spirit's work, convicting them of their sins. This is the same
way things happened for you and me. In a general sense, we knew were sinners
in need of a Savior when we first went to the altar, but we didn't understand
the full extent of our depravity until after we were saved and the Holy Spirit
began to reveal it to us in depth.
The Valley Of Dry Bones
Now, let's look at Ezekiel 37 where the dramatic
rebirth of the nation is foretold in the vision of the valley of dry bones.
The hand of the LORD was upon
me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of
a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw
a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones
live?"
I said, "O Sovereign
LORD, you alone know."
Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to
them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD
says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I
will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with
skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know
that I am the LORD.' " (Ezekiel 37:1-6)
Picture yourself standing in a large valley whose floor is
strewn with bones. They're scattered around randomly, none of them connected to
another, bleached and dry. It looks like they've been dumped there some time
ago and left, as if who ever did it had no further use for them.
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was
prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together,
bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin
covered them, but there was no breath in them.(Ezekiel 37:7-8)
In what looks like an animator's dream, the bones slowly
begin to rise and join themselves together from the feet up to form skeletons,
each bone in its proper place. Tendons appear and begin to snake along the
bones attaching themselves to make the bones move. As each one connects you
can hear the clicking sounds of the tendons conducting tests, making the bones
move on command. Muscle and flesh begin to cover them and finally skin spreads
out along limbs and around torsos, enclosing the muscle and flesh and giving
the bodies a finished, though lifeless, form.
Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy,
son of man, and say to it, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the
four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.' "
So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life
and stood up on their feet—a vast army. (Ezekiel 37:9-10)
The breath that gives them life comes from the four winds,
used symbolically to represent a sovereign act of God. This tells us that
though they are now living beings, they are not yet possessed of the Spirit of
God. That will come later, as we'll see. The people would first be gathered
together in unbelief, a secular nation. This is seen in their status today,
brought back after a 2000 year absence by a sovereign act of God, but not yet a
covenant people again. This is what God meant when He said it wouldn't be
because they deserved it, but because He promised it.
Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the
whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone;
we are cut off.' Therefore prophesy and say to them: 'This is what the
Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I am going to open your graves and bring you
up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, my
people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up
from them. I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle
you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I
have done it, declares the LORD.' " (Ezekiel 37:11-14)
The complete fulfillment of the Dry Bones prophecy requires
two more things only God can do. He must put His Spirit in them and He must
bring the faithful of their past out of the grave to join them. His Spirit
will come when they're ready to recognize Him as the Messiah they put to death
so long ago. Zechariah said this would happen during their final time of trial
at the end of the age.
"And I will pour out on the house of David and the
inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on
me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an
only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. (Zechariah 12:10)
The Hebrew of this verse reveals an astonishing secret.
After the phrase They will look on me it contains two untranslated Hebrew
letters, an aleph and a tau. They are the first and last letters of the Hebrew
alphabet. In Genesis 1:1 the same two Hebrew letters show up after the
phrase “In the beginning, God ...” Was the Lord planting little clues as to
the the identity of the Messiah? In Revelation 22:13, Jesus called
Himself the First and the Last. That verse contains two letters as well.
They're the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek
alphabet, another Messianic title. Someone's trying to tell us something.
Daniel 12:1-2 says that following the Great
Tribulation Daniel's people will come out of their tombs, some to everlasting
life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. This is the Bible's first
mention of two resurrections, one for the faithful and one for the damned.
Those who are resurrected to life will dwell in Israel during the Millennium,
the final fulfillment of Ezekiel 37:13. From Rev. 20:11-15 we
learn that the resurrection of the damned will happen 1000 years later at the
Great White Throne judgment.
One Nation Under One King
The word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, take a
stick of wood and write on it, 'Belonging to Judah and the Israelites
associated with him.' Then take another stick of wood, and write on it,
'Ephraim's stick, belonging to Joseph and all the house of Israel associated with him.' Join them together into one stick so that they will become one
in your hand.
“When your countrymen ask you, 'Won't you tell us what you
mean by this?' say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going
to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim's hand—and of the Israelite
tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah's stick, making them a single
stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand.' (Ezekiel 37:15-19)
Then God had Ezekiel tell us of the reunion of the two
kingdoms into one. The word translated stick of wood means scepter. It is a
symbol of a king's authority. By joining them together Ezekiel was symbolizing
the two kingdoms becoming one again.
Some day a couple of clean cut young people might come to
your door to tell you about the Mormon church. In the course of your
discussion they may offer to show you proof that Joseph Smith, the church's
founder, is named in the Bible. Turning to Ezekiel 37 they'll show you
this passage and tell you that the word translated stick means scroll, or book
(it doesn't). They'll say that Ephraim stands for the Mormon people and the
stick of Joseph is the Book of Mormon, written by Joseph Smith. They'll say
the passage means that one day the Book of Mormon will be merged with the Bible
(Judah's stick) so that all the world will know that both are correct. But
you'll know different, and will be able to prove it from the verses below. That
will probably end the discussion.
Hold before their eyes the sticks you have written on and
say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will take the Israelites
out of the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from all around and
bring them back into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land,
on the mountains of Israel. There will be one king over all of them and they
will never again be two nations or be divided into two kingdoms. They will no
longer defile themselves with their idols and vile images or with any of their
offenses, for I will save them from all their sinful backsliding, and I will
cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God. (Ezekiel
37:20-23)
This is the Lord's interpretation of the passage in question
and makes it clear that He'll reunite the divided Kingdom and never again will
there be two kingdoms on the mountains of Israel. But look at what he says
next.
" 'My servant David will be king over them, and they
will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my
decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where
your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children will
live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever. I will
make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will
establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among
them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and
they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.' " (Ezekiel 37:24-28)
That's right. King David will be their King. He's called
the prince to distinguish him from the Messiah who will be King of the whole
Earth. The Lord will bring His ancient people into the everlasting covenant and
He'll dwell among them in His Temple forever. He had Ezekiel devote 9 chapters
to explaining in detail how this would come about (Ezekiel 40-48). This
demonstrates the most obvious difference between Israel and the Church. Israel is promised that God will one day dwell among them on Earth forever. The Church is
promised that we will dwell with Jesus in Heaven forever. While both promises
come true, the people and the locations involved are clearly very different.
There are prophecies through out the Bible that
demonstrate the need for the nation Israel to exist again as the time of the
end approaches. But none contains such a clear picture of their development
from a tiny remnant of an ancient people into a covenant nation that will once
again be the center of God's attention and the pre-eminent kingdom on Earth.
It's something only He could do, and it's no wonder that the enemy has
dedicated all of his resources in an effort to prevent it. The battle of the
ages is looming and Israel is right in the middle of it. You can almost hear
the footsteps of the Messiah. (09-29-07)
