The Fig Tree Buds
Israel Reborn
“According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.
Therefore will I be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them:
I will meet then as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them.
O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.
I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee.
(Hosea 13.6‑10)
“For lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord; and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.” (Jer. 30.3)
After two thousand years the Jews came home in 1948. After wandering, and tears, and blood, they came home. Notice the animals used in Hosea's prophecy, they are the same animals that make up the Beast, the beasts that trampled Israel during the time of the Gentiles. As the prophet Hosea had said, the Antichrist Empires of Babylon (lion), Greece (leopard), Persia, (bear), and Rome (the wild "beast") had torn Israel into pieces and scattered her across the face of the earth, they had devoured and slain her, so she could know by experience that God is her only helper. All of the trespasses of the Beast upon Israel were allowed under the promise that she would eventually return home to possess the Promised Land.
The return of the Jews to Israel is the greatest single sign that the last week of Daniel's prophecy and the reign of the Antichrist is closing in on the world. The end of the time of the Gentiles is at hand, judgment is coming on the earth and the King of Kings is readying to set up his throne in Jerusalem, where he will rule the nations in righteousness.
The prophet Jeremiah pre‑scribed the history of the return and eventual salvation of the nation in this passage of Scripture:
“Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.
For I am with thee saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee: but I will correct in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.
For thus saith the Lord, thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.
There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.
All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.
Why criest thou for this affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased I have done these things unto thee.
Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.
For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.
Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy on his dwelling places; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.
And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry; and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
Their children shall also be as a foretime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them.
And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the Lord.
And ye shall be my people and I will be your God.
Behold the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.
The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until he have done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it. (Jer. 30.10-24)
"And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is nigh at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled." It is vital that a man know the times in which he lives. Jesus strongly rebuked his people for knowing how to read the signs in the skies so they could forecast the weather from day to day while not being able to read the spiritual signs of the time. The Jewish nation as a whole did not know it was the time for the first coming of the Messiah because they ignored the signs of their day. Likewise today, the world and unfortunately much of the Church, ignore the signs of the second coming with a willful ignorance. (2 Pet. 3.3‑5) More than any other sign of the end, the budding and shooting forth of the nation Israel makes possible the fulfillment of all the promises to the Jews, the judgment concerning the nations, and the final rule and worship of the Beast in Jerusalem.
The prophet Jeremiah likened the nation of Israel to figs, while the Song of Solomon symbolically tells us that the coming of the Beloved One of Israel would occur when the fig tree budded and the green figs shot forth. Israel is God's very own personally planted, watered, pruned, and purged fig tree. This is the tree from which God will reap the harvest of a redeemed nation with a pure heart toward Him. God planted the tree with the root of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; he watered it and gave it increase with David; he pruned it by captivity; and purged it through dispersion and persecution. Israel was cut to the stump after the coming, and death, and resurrection of its King. All, so the Gentiles could be grafted into the tree of life according to God's wisdom and mercy. And now, in our day; in these End Times, we consider the fig tree's new life.
A nation long dead is revived; Israel's dry bones raised to life. Them bones, them bones, oh, them dry bones, from Ezekiel 36, once just a spiritual sung longingly by the black slaves of America, has literally come to pass. Israel's rebirth serves as a constantly flashing red stop sign along the prophetic way, warning all, to stop and consider: the time of the end is at hand.
> ACT 5; SCENE 3: Antichrist & Ten Kings