Did Yeshua Really Say That?
The Footsteps of Messiah Continue
Matthew 24 is truly the heart of Yeshua's apocalyptic prophecies. How often have we combed through the chapter trying to learn from the parable of the fig tree? Maybe the key is not to learn from the parable of the fig tree, but from the fig tree, to learn the parable. Semantics? Let's explore.
To review, in the last Footsteps newsletter, our text was:
“‘The blossoms have already appeared in the land; the time has arrived for pruning the vines, and the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its fruit, and the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along! (So 2:12-13)
The voice of the turtledove represented historical messengers of salvation to Israel throughout its history: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, Elazar, Mordechai, etc., and the last voice is King Messiah. The Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, which represents the chains of death in Abaddon. From there, the fig tree Israel would “Arise, and come away." The unrepentant Israelites were the unripe figs, blown away in the three days of darkness in Egypt (Re 6:13). Pruned. And pruned again in the wilderness. And pruned again in Babylon. And being pruned again among the nations.
The repentant Israelites were the ripened figs fit for gifts and fragrant first fruits in the Temple services. They were also the fragrance of the grapevines during the time of pruning, pointing to their circumcision for applying the blood to the doorpost. This “pruning,” a euphemism for circumcision, is seen as a prophecy of additional pruning times to come, such as crossing the Jordan in the Promised Land or upon return from the Babylonian exile to rebuild the Temple. When Messiah returns to rebuild the Third Temple, the sages say that many non-Jews will convert and be circumcised:
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“You, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.” For the LORD of armies says this: “After glory He has sent me against the nations that plunder you, for the one who touches you, touches the apple of His eye. For behold, I am going to wave My hand over them so that they will be plunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the LORD of armies has sent Me. Shout for joy and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” declares the LORD. “And many nations will join themselves to the LORD on that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of armies has sent Me to you. And the LORD will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. (Ze 2:7-12)
Did you see the repetitive promises? This represents multiple time frames. These prophecies are telescopes, or fractals, to be fulfilled multiple times. Another “telescope” explanation is that the time of pruning for Israel (circumcision) is also the time of pruning for Rome, “The Red One,” to be terminated (excision) when the Turtledove, King Messiah, returns. As the last beast kingdom of Rome's iron legs and its mingled daughter-kingdoms of clay and iron feet are connected to the head of Babylon, now the instructions of Jeremiah 29:5-7 to the exiles of Israel in Babylon have context, explaining to the Footsteps generation how to “come out from among her” in Babylon:
- ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives, and father sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may give birth to sons and daughters; and grow in numbers there and do not decrease. Seek the prosperity of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD in its behalf; for in its prosperity will be your prosperity.’
While she awaits the voice of the turtledove, Israel is to be an active participant for good in her nation of exile. She is to pray for the peace of her nation and its prosperity until a certain appointed time.
If Israel loses its identity in Babylon, believing their spiritual life in Babylon is adequate, they will suffer altar judgments with Babylon and become rotten figs of Israel. The repetition of altar judgments suggests two separate “Babylons.” Their Passover figs were no good when called to arise, for they had made their Israelite-Jerusalemite citizenship secondary to their citizenship in their nation of exile. Jeremiah 29 explains why Israel should guard her true citizenship among those nations. Just as a Jew who stayed in Babylon after the 70 years could be destroyed with the Babylonians when the Medes and Persians conquered them, so Israelites could be destroyed among the nations if they failed to listen for the turtledove's call from exile:
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For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst or your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to their interpretations of your dreams which you dream. 9 For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD. 10 “For this is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will let Myself be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’
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“Because you have said, ‘The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon’— for this is what the LORD says concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who live in this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile— this is what the LORD of armies says: ‘Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine, and plague; and I will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness. I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with plague; and I will make them an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and an object of horror and hissing, and a disgrace among all the nations where I have driven them, because they have not listened to My words,’ declares the LORD, ‘which I sent to them again and again by My servants the prophets; but you did not listen,’ declares the LORD. ‘You, therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon...
- ‘I will send on you famine and vicious animals, and they will bereave you of children; plague and bloodshed also will pass through you, and I will bring the sword on you. I, the LORD, have spoken. (Ezek 5:17)’
- “How much more when I send My four severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, vicious animals, and plague to eliminate human and animal life from it! (Ezek 14:21)
- I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and the one who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, and famine, and plague, and by the wild animals of the earth. Rev 6:8
The altar judgments of Revelation are the same as though promised to come upon Israel who identified more with the comforts of her nation of exile than her return to Jerusalem to celebrate the feasts at the appointed times.
If Israel has not lost her identity, then she will be a people within a people as in Persia at the time of Purim in the past and one of the future. They are identified among the other peoples because “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not comply with the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain. (Es 3:8)
The midrash explains the “pruning” final excision of Rome with the final circumcision of Israel:
- “The time has come for the wicked kingdom i.e., Rome, to be terminated. The time has come for the Kingdom of Heaven to be revealed to the entire world, as it is stated: ‘HASHEM will be King over all the Land; on that day, HASHEM will be One and His Name will be One’ (Ze 14:9).” 2§29
Jeremiah’s instruction to the Jews in Babylon to live peaceably in exile led to a time where they could no longer live peaceably because their Covenant identity became Haman’s target. Although they live side by side with the provincial people-groups of Babylon, those Jews who assimilated with Babylon were lost. It was the observance of the Torah that distinguished a true Jew/Israelite in Babylon.
This is why the serpent pursues the Woman in the wilderness. Her “wilderness” from Babylon to Rome is a withdrawal from the king’s system of government at the point it conflicts with Divine law. She may be in the wilderness even as she continues to live among the 127 provinces of Persia, formerly the Babylonian Empire. They are Sarah’s children clinging to Jerusalem above. Sarah died at age 127, a mother of Israel among those many nations.
At the time of pruning, as Jeremiah, Esther, and Yeshua teach, the wilderness nation is actually living among the daughters of the final red beast kingdom, “Rome,” or Edom. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Torah portion Vayishlach contains a vast amount of information about Esau/Edom, The Red One, and his descendant, Amalek, the ancestor of wicked Haman, may his name be blotted out. This Torah portion perhaps contains more Edomite, therefore, Roman, data points than any other portion of the Torah. Edom departs, and Israel remains in the Land of Israel with his family and little flocks to build Sukkot. Any among Israel who "sit upon" the red beast will be driven away from the Land with Edom.
Along a similar pattern, the man/angel with whom Jacob wrestled all night had to depart at sunrise. This signifies that his strength endured until the resurrection. Tradition says that this was Esau’s angel with whom Jacob struggled until he became Israel. Instead of one who follows, he became a leader and prince of El. His children would inherit the Land, and eventually, the original Land, the Garden of Eden. Just prior to this struggle, Jacob forms even the family and servants into “flocks” for preservation, hoping for a remnant.
We will learn more about the prophesied plague that sweeps around the world just prior to the days of Messiah in the coming lesson. Let’s wrap up this one first with a review of what our “wilderness” may be for at least one stage of the gathering. Our Song of Songs text refers to the vines in blossom giving forth their fragrance as a sign it is time to arise and come away. Midrash has given us several telescoped (fractals) applications of the prophecy. Following this worldwide plague predicted at the time of the “fig tree,” the sages write:
- “These vines in blossom allude to the righteous survivors of the plague, and regarding them the verse states, ‘And the survivor will be in Zion, and the remaining one in Jerusalem, “’holy’” will be said of him.’” (Is 4:3)
This does not mean that all who were harvested out of the earth during tribulation of the Footsteps of Messiah were wicked. Remember, many of the righteous were to be harvested as well in order to test Israel and drive her to a decision of faith in the wilderness or leaning upon the Beast from Babylon to Rome. (Ps 116:15)
The side-by-side living in Babylon eventually comes to a point of no return. The ripe figs of Israel emit the fragrance in days of darkness equivalent to the repentant Israelites in the three days and three nights of darkness in the 9th plague. The following passage from Isaiah describes this:
- The righteous person perishes, and no one takes it to heart; and devout people are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous person is taken away from evil, he enters into peace; they rest in their beds, each one who walked in his upright way.
- But come here, you sons of a sorceress, offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute! Of whom do you make fun? Against whom do you open wide your mouth and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of rebellion, offspring of deceit... (Is 57:1-4)
The wise will compare the above rebellious children to John’s revelation of the two women:
- But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. And I will kill her children with plague, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. (Re 2:20-23)
- Revelation 17: 1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.” 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns...
- 5 and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH...”
- 15 And he said to me, “The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues."
So now Yeshua teaches concerning his Footsteps and the separation of the children of the virtuous woman Israel from the children of the Harlot who became citizens of “Babylon” instead of Jerusalem:
“Now learn the parable from the fig tree: as soon as its branch has become tender and sprouts its leaves, you know that summer is near...” (Mt 24:32)
The Hebrew Matthew helps the English translation’s emphasis:
“From the fig tree learn the parable; when you see its branches and leaves sprouting,
know that he is near to the gates...
“M’etz ha-tenah...” or “FROM fig tree learn the parable.” The emphasis is not on just learning the parable, but on learning the parable from the fig tree. As Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness and fallen death state with fig leaves, so the fig tree will one day resurrect back to the Garden. "The gates" hint to the belief that Messiah ben Yosef will defeat the forces of God at the gates of Jerusalem.
The fig tree has always been Israel. We are to learn this parable from her. Many times I am questioned about the modern state of Israel. Can it truly represent the fig tree Israel with all its problems and reliance on human strength and wisdom? We have to keep an eye on the natural branches, for the natural branches are the promise of something spiritual to come in fulfillment. We don’t make Adonai’s lists for him, so it is not up to us to figure out who’s “in” and who’s “out.” That will happen through the pruning of the fig tree through Divine altar judgments. We can take heart when we see the natural branch in the Land, for Paul writes:
- So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written: “The first MAN, Adam, BECAME A LIVING PERSON.” The last Adam was a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. (1 Co 14:42-47)
In a nutshell, the prophecies caution ALL Israel against acquiring an identity of Babylon when they are in Babylon or leaning upon its daughter systems. They must know when to flee to the wilderness of Divine law in order to retain their identity and faith. The wilderness was where Israel received the Torah.
Because it will culminate in supernatural intervention, an Israelite walking in his/her Covenant will not worry about missing Messiah's return any more than a grain of wheat worries about the harvest. Instead, she will PREPARE for the harvest with an expectation of salvation and redemption. She will separate from evil.
In future lessons, we’ll examine more specific predictions about the conditions that will exist during the Footsteps of Messiah, including the plague, famine, and sword, and we’ll look at the Four Craftsmen: Elijah, King Messiah, Malchi-tzedek, and the Anointed One of War.
iiiiiii
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I'm a little under the weather this week, so the newsletter was delayed, and there won't be a live stream today. All will be well, b'azrat HaShem. We'll have the most specific tribulation predictions yet in the next few live streams, so please keep me in prayer for a quick recovery from the brain fog and fatigue that goes with this mess. All the other symptoms are lifting pretty fast now.
We can't thank the Holy One enough for the kindness of our immediate congregational family and our extended spiritual family. We appreciate the delicious, full Shabbat meal prepared by the Robinsons, Karen's hot lemonade, and all the prayers and encouragement by email...even a virtual bowl of chicken soup! The Herrons and Farleys were life-savers in setting up, running, and breaking down the book tables last weekend, and the hospitality from Jacob's Tent was unparalleled.
We should be back online with a live stream next week at the customary time, 4:00 pm Eastern.
SHABBAT SHALOM!
