The Word Prayer Line
Lesson for Thursday, June 20, 2024:
‘The Significance of the FIG TREE’
GREETINGS MY BEAUTIFUL SISTERS IN CHRIST!
I’M SO HAPPY TO BE BACK ON THE PRAYER LINE TONIGHT FELLOWSHIPPING WITH YOU ALL.
I KNOW GOD IS HERE WITH US.
Opening prayer…
PART 1
As God’s children, believers, saints, chosen ones, or His elect, we are forever learning about the ways of God, our Heavenly Father.
How do we, humans, born into sin, become God’s children or His elect?
JOHN 3:16 says that “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 6:44 says, “No one can come to me (Jesus) unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up on the last day.
Ephesians 1:4-5 says, For he (God) chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.
Now, what does the fig tree have to do with the salvation we receive through Jesus Christ?
Well, today, I was reading Matthew, chapter 24, one of my favorite Scriptures in the Bible, and when the fig tree was mentioned in verse 32, I thought about the fig trees mentioned in Jeremiah 24:2-8, which we will read later during this lesson.
Let’s read Matthew 24 (NIV) aloud….
After the reading:
The City of Judea is mentioned in this Scripture. If we are saved and born again of water and spirit, we are ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ, who will be ready for war (Revelation 19:11–16). The nations will be gathered to fight against Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:2) in what we call the battle of Armageddon. God’s enemies will be defeated, and the Antichrist and the false prophet will be “thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur” (Revelation 19:20). Jesus will set up His kingdom, and “The Lord will be king over the whole earth” (Zechariah 14:9).
REVELATION 21:2-3: “I … saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. … And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men’ ” Back to the fig tree: In GENESIS 3:6-7: When the woman (Eve) saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband (Adam) with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
After one of the 3 Babylonian attacks on Jerusalem that took place when Nebuchadnezzar was king, God showed Jeremiah 2 baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord – in a vision.
Now let’s read JEREMIAH 24:1-8 (NIV)….
1 After Jehoiachin (kin) son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the skilled workers and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord.
2 One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
3 Then the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “Figs,” I answered. “The good ones are very good, but the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 5 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. 6 My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
8 “‘But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the Lord, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt.
God fulfilled His promise and brought the Israelites back to the land of Judea and city of Jerusalem, when the seventy years of captivity ended.
Jesus told the Parable of the Fig Tree in —Luke 13:6-9—immediately after reminding His listeners of a tower over the pool of Siloam (John 9:7) which unexpectedly fell and killed eighteen people. The moral of that story is found in Luke 13:3: “Unless you repent, you will likewise perish.”
To reiterate this moral, Jesus tells the story of the fig tree, the vineyard owner, and the gardener who took care of the vineyard:
The vineyard owner represents God, the one who rightly expects to see fruit on His tree and who justly decides to destroy it when He finds none. The gardener, or vineyard keeper who cares for the trees, watering and fertilizing them to bring them to their peak of fruitfulness, represents Jesus, who feeds His people and gives them living water.
So, the fig tree itself has two symbolic meanings: the nation of Israel and the individual believer.
Today, many Israelites or Jews (and Gentiles) are still sinning and testing the Lord God. It would behoove those of us on this prayer line tonight to take heed in Matthew 24:4-14:
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.
12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
Genesis is the first book in the Old Testament of the Holy Bible; it’s referred to as the book of beginnings, including the beginning of the Hebrew nation.
I mentioned the Hebrews during our last prayer meeting, and I learned today that they were the descendants of Shem, one of Noah’s sons, through Eber and Abraham. The flood destroyed all life except that of the humans and animals that took refuge in Noah’s ark that God instructed Noah to build.
Although Adam and Eve were the first two humans God created, according to the Holy Bible, the humans that came after the flood (that destroyed the whole world) descended from Noah and his sons: Japheth, Ham and Shem.
In GENESIS 2:16-17 God is speaking to Adam and Eve: “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
The reason God put the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden was to allow Adam and Eve to exercise their FREE WILL to obey or disobey God. Humans today, still have that same FREE WILL to obey or disobey God, who will never force any human being to come to Him.
Instead, He gives us the FREE WILL to believe His word that is recorded in the Holy Bible and accept Jesus as His son and our Savior, who died on the cross for our sins, so we could be reconciled to God.
Because God is omniscient or all knowing; He knew Adam and Eve would disobey His command before they disobeyed Him.
If Adam and Eve hadn’t disobeyed God, there would not have been a need for God to create Jesus, the last or second Adam, and there would have been no need for God to appoint Jeremiah as a prophet to warn the tribe of Judah of the destruction they would face for worshipping false gods.
HOSEA 4:6 says, My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
This ends tonight’s lesson on the FIG TREE.
To God be the glory!
Thanks for listening.
The floor is now open for comments and questions.
