Post by Gary on May 10, 2017 10:00:18 GMT -6
Friday, May 12th, is the first of several major milestones this year. This day marks exactly 70 prophetic years since the rebirth of Israel on May 14th, 1948. In the Bible, prophetic "days" or "times" appear to consist of 360 days each (e.g. Daniel 7:25, 9:24-27, 12:7, Revelation 11:2-3, 12:6, 12:14, 13:5). In addition, this Sunday Israel celebrates its 69th anniversary, which means that Monday begins the 70th regular solar year since Israel became a nation. Psalm 90:10 tells us that a generation is 70 or 80 years long.
There is wide agreement among dispensationalist and futurist scholars that the Parable of the Fig Tree that Jesus told His disciples in His Olivet Discourse was a prophecy of the rebirth of Israel because the fig tree represents national Israel in Scripture (e.g. 1 Kings 4:25, Jeremiah 24:5, Hosea 9:10, Matthew 21:18-20, Mark 11:12-14, Luke 3:7-9, 13:6-9, John 1:47-49). The immediate context of the parable was the Time of Jacob's Trouble, also known as the Tribulation. In other words, the generation that sees Israel reborn and the fig tree "put out its leaves" is the same generation that will see the completion of the Tribulation and the return of Jesus Christ.
The fig tree withered during Jesus' first coming because the nation rejected their Messiah. The Jewish people put to death their own King (Matthew 27:37, Mark 15:2, John 19:19, Acts 2:36). And after Jesus' resurrection and ascension and the establishment of the Church on Pentecost, the Jewish authorities continued to persecute the Believers. Most of the Believers in Judea and Samaria were scattered abroad because the persecution was so great. In less than forty year's time there were no Believers left in Jerusalem and the city and Temple were utterly destroyed by the Romans. Most of the Jewish people were either killed or exiled. The fig tree was cut down.
For over 1,800 years the land remained a desolation and the Jewish people remained in exile in the Diaspora, yet throughout that two millennia period God continued to miraculously preserve and protect the Jewish people. Their ethnicity, culture, traditions, and religion were largely preserved despite repeated attempts to destroy them by Islamic caliphates, the Roman Catholic Church, and more recently, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Arab nations.
Simultaneously, the institutional Church began a great doctrinal decline during the Middle Ages. Beliefs that were central to the Christian faith in the first few centuries after Christ, such as the Gospel, Universal Priesthood, Sola Fide, confession to God, and premillennialism, were slowly replaced by ritualism, ornate liturgy, Works-righteousness, sacramentalism, indulgences, and allegorical hermeneutics. The Reformation saw the reemergence of early Church soteriology, but the reformers largely carried over Roman Catholic eschatology.
But nearing the close of the 18th century, many Christian scholars began reading and interpreting unfulfilled prophetic Scriptures for their plain meaning, a hermeneutic fitting with how the prophecies of Christ's first coming came to pass. Premillennialism, dispensationalism, and pre-tribulationism all saw a resurgence and found widespread acceptance in the Protestant/Evangelical churches. In the midst of that eschatological revival, scholars began to recognize the clear distinction between the Church and national Israel. They began to see that the Bible was replete with yet-to-be-fulfilled promises to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. The timing of this relearned knowledge was impeccable because within a century the ancient prophecies began to be fulfilled.
1897: The Fig Seed Is Planted
For centuries persecuted Jews around the world had dreamed of their homeland and a renewed covenant with Yahweh, but the spiritual and political obstacles to achieving those dreams seemed to be insurmountable. Yet the dream took seed-form in 1897 when Theodor Herzl gathered a delegation of Jews from around the world to Basel, Switzerland and founded the World Zionist Organization. There at the First Zionist Congress Zionism became a full-fledged political movement and the body adopted the Basel Declaration, which finally put the dream into words:
1917: The Fig Seed Sprouts
Zionism continued to grow, spurred on by favorable sentiments among Evangelical leaders in Britain and the United States. On November 2, 1917, the fig seed germinated when the Jewish people achieved their first major political victory in nearly two millennia. British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour announced that the British government, which was soon to take possession of the Holy Land from the Ottomans, now favored the establishment of a Jewish homeland:
Just 15 days later British troops marched into Jerusalem and by the end of that year had captured the city. The Ottoman Empire was soon defeated and the path was clear for the reestablishment of Israel.
1923: The Fig Shoot Appears
On September 29, 1923 the British Mandate for Palestine came into effect, which gave Jews full legal permission to return to Israel and international legal support for a Jewish homeland. The seed was now a tree - albeit a small one with many things endangering it. Notice again the year: 1923.
1947/48: The Fig Tree Puts Forth Leaves
Jews migrated to the Holy Land en masse, especially after the close of World War II. Jewish settlements budded everywhere. On November 29, 1947 the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 181, which formally established a Jewish nation in the land. War broke out immediately between Jews and Palestinians, which culminated in the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. The buds were now leaves and the terminal generation spoken of in Matthew 24:32-34 began.
1967: The Fig Tree Blossoms
Immediately after Israeli independence in 1948, all the neighboring Arab countries gathered together and attacked the tiny nation in what I personally believe was the best candidate war for Psalm 83 if indeed Psalm 83 was a prophecy. The belligerents included the exact nations listed in Psalm 83 and excluded the exact nations listed in Ezekiel 38. There is a lot of debate over Psalm 83's timing, and whether it is in fact an actual prophecy or not, so I'm not dogmatic about this, but it does appear to fit.
Initially, Israeli forces were outnumbered 2-to-1 and both the British Foreign Ministry and the CIA believed that Israel would lose the war. Yet Israel miraculously prevailed and even gained back more of the land that God had allotted to Jacob. The war lasted exactly 9 months, 2 days, and 3 weeks.
Then in 1967 Israel's Arab neighbors again attempted to destroy the Jewish nation. This time Israeli forces were outnumbered nearly 3-to-1 in deployed troops, aircraft, and tanks, but the nation was miraculously preserved again. Hundreds of Israeli troops were killed, but tens of thousands of Arab soldiers perished in the conflict. The war lasted only six days, from June 5th to June 10th, and on June 7th Israeli forces captured the ancient city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. The Zionists now had military control of Zion. The fig tree began to blossom.
2017 - 2024: Does The King Return To Tend His Fig Tree?
All that now remains is for the King of Israel to return and inspect the fig tree for fruit again. We know from Scripture that this time He will find fruit because Israel will have placed their faith in Messiah having weathered the storms of the Tribulation and the relentless onslaught of the antichrist. Perhaps 2017 is the year that the Tribulation begins.
Psalm 90:10 tells us a generation is 70 or 80 years in length. If the Tribulation lasts from 2017 to 2024 that would be 70 to 77 prophetic years since the rebirth of Israel and 70 to 77 regular solar years since the international establishment of a Jewish homeland in 1947. Both ranges fall right between 70 and 80 years.
In Genesis 6:3 God promised that mankind had 120 years left until the Flood came. The Tribulation is the second cataclysmic global judgment and the beginning of the fulfillment of the Parable of the Fig Tree began when the seed was planted in 1897 - 120 years from this year.
Likewise, 100 years after the Jews were promised a future homeland by the British government is this year. Abraham was 100 years old when his promised son was born (Genesis 21:5). In turn we see a sign in the sky depicting the birth of another promised son this September.
A Jubilee period was 50 years in length. On the fiftieth year the captives went free and the land was returned to its rightful owner. 50 years from the Israeli conquest of Jerusalem is also this year. Perhaps the captives in this world are about to go free and are about to receive their promised inheritance.
From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. - Matthew 24:32-34
There is wide agreement among dispensationalist and futurist scholars that the Parable of the Fig Tree that Jesus told His disciples in His Olivet Discourse was a prophecy of the rebirth of Israel because the fig tree represents national Israel in Scripture (e.g. 1 Kings 4:25, Jeremiah 24:5, Hosea 9:10, Matthew 21:18-20, Mark 11:12-14, Luke 3:7-9, 13:6-9, John 1:47-49). The immediate context of the parable was the Time of Jacob's Trouble, also known as the Tribulation. In other words, the generation that sees Israel reborn and the fig tree "put out its leaves" is the same generation that will see the completion of the Tribulation and the return of Jesus Christ.
The fig tree withered during Jesus' first coming because the nation rejected their Messiah. The Jewish people put to death their own King (Matthew 27:37, Mark 15:2, John 19:19, Acts 2:36). And after Jesus' resurrection and ascension and the establishment of the Church on Pentecost, the Jewish authorities continued to persecute the Believers. Most of the Believers in Judea and Samaria were scattered abroad because the persecution was so great. In less than forty year's time there were no Believers left in Jerusalem and the city and Temple were utterly destroyed by the Romans. Most of the Jewish people were either killed or exiled. The fig tree was cut down.
For over 1,800 years the land remained a desolation and the Jewish people remained in exile in the Diaspora, yet throughout that two millennia period God continued to miraculously preserve and protect the Jewish people. Their ethnicity, culture, traditions, and religion were largely preserved despite repeated attempts to destroy them by Islamic caliphates, the Roman Catholic Church, and more recently, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and Arab nations.
Simultaneously, the institutional Church began a great doctrinal decline during the Middle Ages. Beliefs that were central to the Christian faith in the first few centuries after Christ, such as the Gospel, Universal Priesthood, Sola Fide, confession to God, and premillennialism, were slowly replaced by ritualism, ornate liturgy, Works-righteousness, sacramentalism, indulgences, and allegorical hermeneutics. The Reformation saw the reemergence of early Church soteriology, but the reformers largely carried over Roman Catholic eschatology.
But nearing the close of the 18th century, many Christian scholars began reading and interpreting unfulfilled prophetic Scriptures for their plain meaning, a hermeneutic fitting with how the prophecies of Christ's first coming came to pass. Premillennialism, dispensationalism, and pre-tribulationism all saw a resurgence and found widespread acceptance in the Protestant/Evangelical churches. In the midst of that eschatological revival, scholars began to recognize the clear distinction between the Church and national Israel. They began to see that the Bible was replete with yet-to-be-fulfilled promises to the nation of Israel and the Jewish people. The timing of this relearned knowledge was impeccable because within a century the ancient prophecies began to be fulfilled.
1897: The Fig Seed Is Planted
For centuries persecuted Jews around the world had dreamed of their homeland and a renewed covenant with Yahweh, but the spiritual and political obstacles to achieving those dreams seemed to be insurmountable. Yet the dream took seed-form in 1897 when Theodor Herzl gathered a delegation of Jews from around the world to Basel, Switzerland and founded the World Zionist Organization. There at the First Zionist Congress Zionism became a full-fledged political movement and the body adopted the Basel Declaration, which finally put the dream into words:
Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a publicly and legally assured home in Palestine. For the attainment of this purpose, the Congress considers the following means serviceable:
1. The promotion of the settlement of Jewish agriculturists, artisans, and tradesmen in Palestine.
2. The federation of all Jews into local or general groups, according to the laws of the various countries.
3. The strengthening of the Jewish feeling and consciousness.
4. Preparatory steps for the attainment of those governmental grants which are necessary to the achievement of the Zionist purpose.
1. The promotion of the settlement of Jewish agriculturists, artisans, and tradesmen in Palestine.
2. The federation of all Jews into local or general groups, according to the laws of the various countries.
3. The strengthening of the Jewish feeling and consciousness.
4. Preparatory steps for the attainment of those governmental grants which are necessary to the achievement of the Zionist purpose.
1917: The Fig Seed Sprouts
Zionism continued to grow, spurred on by favorable sentiments among Evangelical leaders in Britain and the United States. On November 2, 1917, the fig seed germinated when the Jewish people achieved their first major political victory in nearly two millennia. British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour announced that the British government, which was soon to take possession of the Holy Land from the Ottomans, now favored the establishment of a Jewish homeland:
His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.
Just 15 days later British troops marched into Jerusalem and by the end of that year had captured the city. The Ottoman Empire was soon defeated and the path was clear for the reestablishment of Israel.
1923: The Fig Shoot Appears
On September 29, 1923 the British Mandate for Palestine came into effect, which gave Jews full legal permission to return to Israel and international legal support for a Jewish homeland. The seed was now a tree - albeit a small one with many things endangering it. Notice again the year: 1923.
1947/48: The Fig Tree Puts Forth Leaves
Jews migrated to the Holy Land en masse, especially after the close of World War II. Jewish settlements budded everywhere. On November 29, 1947 the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 181, which formally established a Jewish nation in the land. War broke out immediately between Jews and Palestinians, which culminated in the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948. The buds were now leaves and the terminal generation spoken of in Matthew 24:32-34 began.
1967: The Fig Tree Blossoms
Immediately after Israeli independence in 1948, all the neighboring Arab countries gathered together and attacked the tiny nation in what I personally believe was the best candidate war for Psalm 83 if indeed Psalm 83 was a prophecy. The belligerents included the exact nations listed in Psalm 83 and excluded the exact nations listed in Ezekiel 38. There is a lot of debate over Psalm 83's timing, and whether it is in fact an actual prophecy or not, so I'm not dogmatic about this, but it does appear to fit.
Initially, Israeli forces were outnumbered 2-to-1 and both the British Foreign Ministry and the CIA believed that Israel would lose the war. Yet Israel miraculously prevailed and even gained back more of the land that God had allotted to Jacob. The war lasted exactly 9 months, 2 days, and 3 weeks.
Then in 1967 Israel's Arab neighbors again attempted to destroy the Jewish nation. This time Israeli forces were outnumbered nearly 3-to-1 in deployed troops, aircraft, and tanks, but the nation was miraculously preserved again. Hundreds of Israeli troops were killed, but tens of thousands of Arab soldiers perished in the conflict. The war lasted only six days, from June 5th to June 10th, and on June 7th Israeli forces captured the ancient city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. The Zionists now had military control of Zion. The fig tree began to blossom.
2017 - 2024: Does The King Return To Tend His Fig Tree?
All that now remains is for the King of Israel to return and inspect the fig tree for fruit again. We know from Scripture that this time He will find fruit because Israel will have placed their faith in Messiah having weathered the storms of the Tribulation and the relentless onslaught of the antichrist. Perhaps 2017 is the year that the Tribulation begins.
Psalm 90:10 tells us a generation is 70 or 80 years in length. If the Tribulation lasts from 2017 to 2024 that would be 70 to 77 prophetic years since the rebirth of Israel and 70 to 77 regular solar years since the international establishment of a Jewish homeland in 1947. Both ranges fall right between 70 and 80 years.
In Genesis 6:3 God promised that mankind had 120 years left until the Flood came. The Tribulation is the second cataclysmic global judgment and the beginning of the fulfillment of the Parable of the Fig Tree began when the seed was planted in 1897 - 120 years from this year.
Likewise, 100 years after the Jews were promised a future homeland by the British government is this year. Abraham was 100 years old when his promised son was born (Genesis 21:5). In turn we see a sign in the sky depicting the birth of another promised son this September.
A Jubilee period was 50 years in length. On the fiftieth year the captives went free and the land was returned to its rightful owner. 50 years from the Israeli conquest of Jerusalem is also this year. Perhaps the captives in this world are about to go free and are about to receive their promised inheritance.
