Andy Walton - Class 2: The Fig Tree - The Tree

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:02

   Right. So here we are for part two of the Fig Tree a sign for all time. And we’re going to have a really quick recap of part one. So basically, there’s three talks that are put together part 1 was all about the fruit. And part two is all about the tree and part three is all about the future.

2. 0:28

   And so, what we’re doing tonight is the part 2 1, which Is all about the actual tree itself. So let me just click forward on this. So, if you remember what we said, was part one, we went back to Genesis and we looked at. We looked at the Fig Tree in Genesis and we’ll do a little recap on nothing just a in just a moment.

3. 0:56

   But tonight we look we considering the Fig Tree itself and And basically, I think what we said last time was that the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil itself was a fig tree and I’ll recap just very slightly in a second just to remind you of what we said. And we pointed out that the figure itself and what was going on with the Fig, was all to do with Jesus is sacrifice in symbolic terms.

4. 1:32

   We going to find out this evening, is that the tree itself is all about Israel. So the the Fig is about the work of Jesus. The tree itself is all about Israel in symbolic terms. So just a couple of slides, just to recap. So if you remember, we went back into the Garden of Eden we saw in there because it’s the first time that figs are actually mentioned.

5. 2:02

   And what we said was that God planted a garden Eastward in Eden and in the center of that guard. And there were two trees, there was the tree of life and there was the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. I’m basically what we said was that the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that it was itself a fig tree just as we have trees it was just a common or garden fig tree that was right in the center of the garden. That was the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. And one of the reasons that we suggested that it is the Fig Tree itself is if you remember when God said to Adam, If they couldn’t eat of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, they decided to eat this because the serpent said to them, you know, you’re not going to die.

6. 2:59

   God has said that, you’ll die, you won’t die and so they thought. Well, okay, we going to eat of eat of the fruit of it because it looked really good. And actually the serpent was right in one aspect that it was a tree that was going to make them wise and really it did it.

7. 3:17

   Open. Their eye is to understand good and evil. The moment they ate of the fruit, their eyes were opened. It says, as you can see there on the screen, the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked. So this is the second after the beating of the Fig and then what they did, of course for sewed fig leaves together and what we said was that actually this is interesting because it doesn’t say that they walked off and found a fig tree. The last tree that was mentioned was the tree of knowledge. Leaves of Good and Evil.

8. 3:49

   And the next sentence is, they sewed. Fig leaves together. And we said, actually, this is quite a strange thing to do. Why would they wander around the garden? Looking for, you know, some other tree, surely if they were ashamed at that very instant, they would grab the nearest leaves that were next to them.

9. 4:07

   And as we also said, the Fig leaves themselves are very very unpleasant to the touch. They’re almost like sandpaper, they’re not the The first leaves that you would think about in terms of grabbing to cover yourself on your skin. They’re very very coarse and sandpapery. But anyway they somehow Stitch these leaves leaves together.

10. 4:32

    So there’s almost an underlying clue. Excuse me that the Fig Tree was the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and then what we did we had to look at what was going on with the Fig wasp and the Markable circumstances of how a fig is pollinated. So I’ll just play one of the little videos that have played last time just to remind you.

11. 4:58

    Hopefully this works. And so the pollinated, wasp reaches an immature fig, but her journey is far from. Over ahead lies, the greatest challenge of her brief life clawing and squeezing her way through the gate, her wings and antennae are ripped from her. She makes the ultimate sacrifice as the final push to enter burst her abdomen.

12. 5:22

    In an epic struggle, between sacrifice and survival. The mother wasp crawls through the narrow Labyrinth towards the inner chamber. She is wounded and week airing only her eggs and the pollen gift from the former fake. If the WASP fails to pollinate the flowers, No Seeds will ever develop big fruits with no future are costly to the tree.

13. 5:42

    So they will not receive an inflow of nutrients. If the WASP does not pollinate the entire fig may be aborted. However, if she devotes herself to Pollination as well as laying eggs Ginger’s, the Fig will hold the promise of seeds. The tree will pump sugars and nutrients into the Fig, securing the future of seeds and larvae. Like, when they mature and leave the fake will ripen. Thus completing the cycle of mutual benefit that we are. And if you remember, there was a few of the videos, and when you put all the phrases together, what you get at these exact phrases in one of the videos said that a figures like an enclosed Garden because all the flowers, you need Uniquely are inside the fruit itself, there’s no other fruit tree, like it from that aspect.

14. 6:29

    There’s only one way into the Fig. It’s a very narrow way in. It’s so narrow in fact that the little fig wasp it’s only 2 millimeters long makes the ultimate sacrifice. If you notice that phrase when the little fig wasp gets into the hole, it tears off its wings and tears off its and 10 ISO. No way out now and in fact, when it goes through the whole somehow rather the Fig knows that it’s gone in and closes up the whole behind the Fig wasp, there’s actually no way out for it.

15. 7:05

    And so you heard the phrase that this fig wasp is the Fig wasp is wounded and weak. You heard the phrase that it’s devoted to pollination and it’s all about the promise of seeds because it’s fig wasp is pollinating the The flowers that are inside the Fig itself. And you also heard that it says that the future of the Fig is secured because of what this little fig wasp is doing and when I first listened to all of that it seemed to me to have so many Links.

16. 7:38

    Of course to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and we know he is the ultimate sacrifice. He was wounded and was weak. He was devoted to the cause he did create the The future seeds and he did secure our future. So and all of that staking place, of course, in this enclosed Garden, we just one very narrow way in. So the last bit of recap was just me saying, well look, if the Fig was the forbidden fruit then actually, this is quite amazing because they both ate from it. But inside this fig is all the symbology for salvation. All the key elements of salvation. Are inside the very fruit that God said don’t eat Jesus. As we know, is the one and only way to be saved. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life we’re told in numbers of different places in the Bible, how Jesus was wounded, and how he gave himself as a sacrifice. He was absolutely devoted.

17. 8:43

    There was no, you know, there was there weren’t two tracks for Jesus. There was one track and he was on that track, and just like the Fig wasp, Hasn’t got another life. It’s purely on a mission to find the Fig and to Polonaise it and Jesus as we know created future seed and he did it because of his sacrifice.

18. 9:06

    So that we are all able. Now to be part of the promises that God has made and Jesus has guaranteed all those who accept his sacrifice an amazing future life in the the kingdom that’s coming on this Earth. And so what I was stunned about really was the fact that God in the very test that he had given them at got the solution, the symbolic solution to their test embedded in the very fruit that he had told them not to eat.

19. 9:38

    I mean, to me, that was just mind-blowing. So that’s the sort of little introduction. And we now going to move on, and we’re not so much looking at the Fig. Now, we’re looking at the tree itself. So what does God say about the tree itself? And how do we link it? It how do we link the Fig Tree to Israel?

20. 10:02

    Well, one of the things that we told in Genesis 2:9 is that out of the ground, made the Lord God to grow every tree. That is Pleasant to the sight and good for food the tree of life. Also in the midst of the garden and the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.

21. 10:22

    So the tree of life and the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, God put in the midst of the garden itself. And in Genesis 3 verse 3, it says, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it. Neither shall you?

22. 10:41

    Touch it, lest you die. So we’ve been told twice, within just a couple of verses that the tree was in the midst of the garden. Now, what is interesting about that because I’m basically saying that the tree itself is symbolic of Israel as a nation. Well, let’s just have a look at some verses here in relation to what God says about Israel and Jerusalem, which is, of course, the capital of Israel Ezekiel chapter 5 verse 5 says, thus saith the Lord.

23. 11:16

    God, this is Jerusalem, I have set it in the midst of the Nations. And countries that are round about her. Exactly the same word and God is describing. Almost everything. All the nations are surrounding Jerusalem, God has put it in the midst. In Micah chapter 5 verse 7. It says the remnant of Jacob, which is another name for Israel will be in the midst of many people’s, like, do from the Lord, like showers on the grass and so on.

24. 11:51

    So there’s another Reference to Israel being in the midst of many people. So just like the tree was, in the midst of the garden and we saying the tree is symbolic of Israel itself. God is using exactly the same language when it comes to describing the situation if you like of Israel. In fact of course if you were to put all the landmasses of the planet together and somebody is currently doing that for me there, you can actually see that Israel is absolutely Central Center of of the entire land mass. And and so once upon a time probably before the flood the world was just one large land mass and there’s a lot of evidence to suggest that at the time of the flood, the land must broke up into the way.

25. 12:41

    Way that we see it today. But so at the very beginning Israel as physically, you know, center of the entire land mass, maybe that will come back one day. Maybe the landmass will come back together. I don’t know. But it’s interesting, isn’t it? When you put all the landmasses together, it really is in the midst of the land, mass of the Earth.

26. 13:06

    Now here’s another interesting one that really does link Israel as a nation to the Fig Tree itself. So in Hosea 9 verse 10, God says I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your father’s as the first ripe in the Fig Tree at her first time. It’s a god actually says, I see Israel like two things.

27. 13:32

    I see them like the grapes but I also See them as the Fig Tree itself. So God is linking clearly. The Fig Tree to Israel and in the third talk that we that we look at will which would do in a few weeks time. We’ll see in the New Testament, numerous references to Israel being like the big being symbolic of the Fig Tree itself but there’s one to be getting on with in Hosea 9 verse 10.

28. 14:05

    In 1, Kings, chapter 4, verse 25. This is in during the reign of Solomon. So about I don’t know, a thousand BC give or take. We’re told that Judah and Israel to out self safely. Every man under his under his Vine and under his fig tree from Dan even to be ashy but all the days of Solomon.

29. 14:29

    So basically quite often there’s phrases about Israel living. being in security and in him peace and to sort of symbolize that the fig tree is used, because people didn’t live under fig trees, they lived in in houses, of course, but it was basically saying such was the Peace during the reign of Solomon that they didn’t really need walls, they didn’t need barricades, I didn’t have to lock the front door, they were able to live in peace and the and the truly that God Is using there is, of course, the Fig Tree so we see all these links to Israel. So what I’m suggesting is that the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, hopefully we’ve proven beyond all Reasonable Doubt is the Fig Tree.

30. 15:24

    And we’ve also hopefully just now proved beyond all reasonable doubt. That the Fig Tree is symbolic of Israel as a nation itself. And so, Once I’ve got these three things into changeable if you like so I could link effectively, I can link the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil to Israel. I can link Israel to the Fig Tree or can link the Fig Tree to the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. Do CO2 means that these three things now become interchangeable and when you do that, then other verses in the Bible we going to look at now.

31. 16:00

    Suddenly take on a new light. Because it’s only by unlocking the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As being the fig tree that you can see some verses in quite a remarkable way. And that’s what I’m going to show you now. So there we’ve got at the top look, the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil.

32. 16:22

    We’ve got Israel on the right. And what we’ve got linking the two together is the fact that the Fig Tree is symbolic of Israel and the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil was a fig tree. So the Fig Tree links, these two ideas together. Now, have a look at this. So this is Genesis 2:17 and God says, but of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, Old, Thou shalt not eat of it for in the day that thou eatest thereof. Thou shalt surely die.

33. 16:56

    So God is saying you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil which is I’m saying a fig tree now. Look at this right? Because in Jeremiah chapter 30 verses 15 and 16 talking about Israel. God’s God says something almost identical. He says I have had to punish you Israel because your our sins are many and your guilt.

34. 17:19

    He’s great. But all who devour you will be devoured. Now that word devour is exactly the same word in Hebrew as the word not eat or without the word. Don’t eat it back in Genesis 2:17. So those little numbers of put next to the word devour 03 98. He’s just trying to show you that it’s the same Hebrew word. So God is saying, you can’t eat Israel or who eat, Israel will be eaten.

35. 18:01

    God says, Thou shalt not eat of the fruit. During the day that you eat it, you’re going to die. And God is saying the same thing about you. So even though I’ve got to punish you sometimes Israel because you sinful, I don’t want anybody to eat you or devour you. And you might say, well, that’s a strange thing because I can understand about eating a fruit.

36. 18:25

    But how does Pete, how do people eat a nation? Well, actually, it is quite interesting, of course, because when you look at Israel and the same, really, I guess applies even in ancient times, it certainly works out now. Israel is we know was recreated on planet Earth in 1948. And it happens to be the very, the only nation really on the planet where the whole world wants to devour it.

37. 18:57

    It wants to sort of divide it into. There isn’t really a nation on Earth, that doesn’t sort of back to some extent, or a total extent, the dividing of Israel. Even America that a big supporter in many cases of Israel’s still, you know, has in its own objectives. Is Israel being split and what I’ve actually got there.

38. 19:22

    If you notice, there’s Israel in Son of a green color and this particular map shows the West Bank in, I’ll try and move my cursor. So you can see this bit here is the West Bank and this B is in brown. It really is still controlled by Israel. But most Maps show it in a different color because the world doesn’t see the West Bank as being part of Israel and what I’ve sort of learned here. Is so to put this, you know, this is a face by the way. If you can’t work out what that black blob is and and and basically this is this is somebody taking a chunk out of Israel.

39. 19:59

    This is like the world and the nature of the world, devouring Israel, eating away at the land, that God has given them. And that is exactly what I think God is getting at. And really, this goes back to the Garden of Eden. God says, I don’t want you to eat a The tree of knowledge of Good and Evil the Fig and Adam goes and eats it.

40. 20:22

    And so does Eve in the same way with Israel, God’s at the don’t want you to eat it. I don’t want you to devour it and in the same way that’s exactly what is happening. In other words, the world is failing. The test just as Adam and Eve failed the test. So, the world is failing the test because all of them say, Israel needs to be devoured and broken up into different parts, but you only get this link really that I’ve just shown you.

41. 20:52

    If you see the tree of knowledge of good and evil as the Fig Tree because this is the link across to Israel. Here’s another one for you. So in Genesis chapter 3 verse 3. God not only said You shall not eat of it. He also said something else. He said, neither shall you.

42. 21:15

    Touch it? Lest you die. So God said, it’s not just about eating it. You can’t even touch it. Well, amazingly God says exactly the same idea in relation to Jerusalem, which, of course, is the capital of Israel and in Zachariah chapter 12. Verse 8. God says for thus, saith the Lord of hosts. After the glory, has he sent me unto the Nations which spoiled uie Jerusalem for he, that such East you touches the apple of his eye.

43. 21:52

    So, Other words, God saying, I don’t want you to touch Jerusalem because Jerusalem is the apple of my eye. Now, this isn’t a great translation, you know, it that I don’t honestly know why it’s been translated as Apple. But really that word apple is the is it’s the Hebrew for what we would call the pupil. So God is actually setting a course. The pupil is that Tiny hole that you’ve got in your eye. We’ve all got pupils haven’t been God, says, if you touch the Apple, if you touch the pupil, it should say of my eye. It’s Jerusalem is the pupil.

44. 22:38

    So, in other words there’s Jerusalem, and God says, that’s where it is. It’s in this hole in your eye. Now the reason that God says, it’s like touching the pupil is that if you try right now to touch your pupil, Your finger will actually not want to do it. You know, if you just try to, I’m trying to do it now. I don’t know why I’m trying to do this because I know I don’t want to do it, but you’re all of your instincts, tell you not to put your finger in your eye.

45. 23:08

    And that is because covering the pupil, which is that dark hole there. It’s literally just a hole in the Hebrew word for poop, or means a whole, basically, what is covering The pupil and what is protecting? The pupil is this invisible barrier here. That’s labeled number one, and of course that invisible protection that goes over your eye, is the cornea and that is basically an invisible protection over it.

46. 23:45

    Now, what is amazing about that is the cornea is the only body tissue in the A body with no blood supply. I mean, how incredible is that? There is no other body tissue in the entire body that has that, that is like the cornea. The cornea is the only body tissue with no blood supply to it. And the reason that it can’t have blood supply to, it is for practical reason, of course.

47. 24:17

    And that is because if there was blood in it, we would see everything through literally rose-tinted. Spectacles. So God has designed. This thing is incredible. Really? That there’s a living piece of tissue with no blood in it? How does that happen? It’s absolutely astounding. But here’s the thing if Jerusalem is this part here.

48. 24:41

    Okay so this if this is Jerusalem and God says if you try and touch Jerusalem, you’re like touching the pupil of my eye. Well, what you’ve got to do is to go through Invisible barrier, you see? And I believe that this invisible barrier of your, I hear. It’s symbolic of God himself. Who, of course, has no blood God.

49. 25:05

    It has no blood in him. Bloody is unique to, you know, living creatures on the earth. God has no blood in here and this invisible protection over. The eye, is amazingly symbolic of God himself and the way he protects his City Jerusalem, isn’t that incredible? But God says, if you try and touch Jerusalem, you’re breaking through my barrier, my protection over it. And if you’re going to do that, and I’m going to react and, you know, if you touch you right, you react badly, you’re going to Flinch.

50. 25:41

    You’re going to push somebody away. If they’re if you know, if they tried to poke you in the eye, it’s a it’s a horrible thing. That is what that verse is saying, do not touch it. And what God Said in the Garden of Eden, about the Fig Tree, the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil is thou shall not touch it. You see how this links amazingly to to Jerusalem and of course what do we see?

51. 26:09

    But just as Israel is being divided or trying to be divided by the world. So remarkably is Jerusalem as well. Well, it’s the only capital city in the world right now which again, two different people say is their Capital City. The Palestinians say the east of Jerusalem is their Capital City. Israel says the entirety of Jerusalem as their capital city. And so, once again, we’ve got the world. That is trying to touch Jerusalem, divide Jerusalem and it’s similar to this.

52. 26:48

    And, you know, we’ve got the same sort of idea, of this devouring of this dividing up, this touching of God’s holy city. It’s the same sort of idea. And once again, we failing that was a weed. The world is failing that that test Here’s another thing to consider, so in Genesis 3:6. Again, it says, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise.

53. 27:22

    She took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave unto her husband with her and he did eat. And actually, you know, they did become wise because suddenly they realized they were naked, they didn’t realize that before and they were able to start Discerning between good and evil. That’s what base. Actually the serpent said would happen and in fact that bit was true, they did start understanding good and evil and it was able therefore to make them wise and that’s exactly what happened with the nation of Israel itself. Israel itself did make the people of Israel. Why is if they listened to God?

54. 28:06

    So, in Deuteronomy 4 verses 1 and 6. It says, Now Israel here the decrees and laws. I’m about to teach you follow them so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land. That’s obviously Israel. The Lord, the god of your ancestors ancestors is giving you observe them carefully.

55. 28:26

    For this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nation’s who will hear about all these. Decrees and say, surely, this great nation is a wise and understanding people So just as the tree of knowledge of good of Good and Evil, gave them wisdom. So Israel symbolic of the same fig tree, gave them wisdom as long as they listened and heard the decrees, and laws that God was about to teach them.

56. 28:59

    And we know very often, they failed in that but that didn’t stop the commands and decrees and the laws that God gave them being correct. And in fact if they did and Sometimes they did, it was showing the the Nations around them. What true wisdom was. So there’s another link between the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and Israel itself. Here’s another one that I thought was interesting so this is I was looking up about the actual tree itself in Wikipedia just to just to find out what what is the Fig Tree? How does it work?

57. 29:40

    And how does it grow? And you can go and look this up yourself but this is pretty much the first few sentences out of Wikipedia. About the fig tree and it says that the Fig Tree, tolerate seasonal, drought, and in the Middle East and Mediterranean climates are especially suitable to it situated in a favorable habitat mature, specimens can grow to considerable size as large dense, shade trees, its aggressive root system, helps the plant to root in the most inhospitable locations, and I’ll just stop there because that’s quite interesting. Because the way the root systems work They sort of spread out massively and hunt for water.

58. 30:24

    It needs lots of water but it can the way that the roots work, it’s searches out as it says there, aquifers Ravines cracks in rocks. It just hunts around really, really well better than almost all trees, really hunting for water, which enables it to survive in inhospitable locations. Well, I think we could say, you know, is Only itself is surrounded by inhospitable, Leti isn’t it? Because you know there’s little Israel as you can see on the map there sort of highlighted slightly and all those Nations that are surrounding, it are Islamic Nations and the vast majority of them and know there’s a few that are perhaps a bit more friendly but the vast majority of them actually don’t want Israel to exist or they certainly give Israel a real hard time and some of them like you ran want absolute destruction.

59. 31:20

    So to Syria. And if you look at the real surrounding peoples around Israel with the Palestinians with Hamas with Hezbollah which is Islamic Jihad with Syria. All of those peoples are like tricking Breyers that we told trying to destroy Israel and remove it from existence. So it really is a tree that is in a very inhospitable location.

60. 31:48

    And yet remarkably survives, doesn’t it amazingly. Well, I mean, Israel is is one of the very, very top developed nations in the whole world. And when you look at it, it’s the size of whales and yet it’s got incredible amounts of wealth and knowledge and infrastructure and the tree itself. If you notice, it says, the tree calls the hot environment in which it grows producing fresh and pleasant happy.

61. 32:18

    Eat at and I thought that was interesting because of course before is what Israel was created in 1948. The land that we now call Israel, which then was called Palestine was just a Wilderness. Nobody fought over it. Nobody wanted it. Nobody cared about it and the land was Barren. Israel is recreated and suddenly they turn it into an incredible land and and turned the deserts into Two, amazing. Plantations of all sorts of things, you know. Oranges, Jeff for oranges come from Jaffer in Israel. It’s amazing what they’ve done.

62. 33:00

    So I think there’s quite a lot of links to the actual setup of a fig tree as well. When we stop and think about it. Here’s another one. So I’m hunting. Now for verse is from Genesis to look for other verses that are in relation to Israel using similar language. So again, we’re back here again up Genesis 3 verses, 14 and 15.

63. 33:26

    And this is God cursing, the serpent who are deceived Eve and told her that, it was perfectly okay to eat. And devour the fig fig tree and God says, because you have done this. You’re cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field upon your belly. You will go and dust. You’re going to eat all the days of your life and I will put enmity or hatred between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed and it will bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel.

64. 33:58

    And we looked at this in quite a lot of detail last time, so I’m not going to go through that again. But suffice to say, look, we’ve got the same sort of words coming out. Out in Jeremiah 31 verse 27, which is talking about Israel. So Jeremiah 31 verse 27 says, behold the day’s come saith, the Lord that I was.

65. 34:23

    So the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of the Beast. So Israel is going to be so many to lots of seed, the seed of man in the seed of Beast. Well, we know that the Beast was all to do with the serpent because we’re told there look that the the serpent was cursed above every Beast.

66. 34:45

    So there’s obviously a bad seed and that must be the seed of the Beast and the seed of man, in this particular passage is actually the good seed. So when you then go across to the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil, you’ve got as we said last time, you’ve got good, figs and you’ve got evil fix ya.

67. 35:07

    We’ve got the seed of the woman which is good and we got the seed of the serpent, which is evil. We’ve got the seed of the Beast, which is Evil we’ve got the seed of man which is good and so that’s basically how it splits up and effectively when you put them all on the tree on the tree they were it was the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and they were some of the things that were good and the some that were evil. And if you remember what we said, was that the good figs had to be pollinated by the Fig wasp. And the Fig wasp we said was Jesus. So when you add all that together, the only way of fig could become good, IE get the nutrients from the tree to grow and develop as a fruit that you could eat is have a fig wasp pollinated.

68. 35:58

    The Fig wasp is Jesus and therefore what we’re seeing in almost symbolic code here is that the only way we individually can become a good fruit for God is to have in our lives. The sacrifice of Jesus. If that makes Hence, if we haven’t, then we come on under the side of evil, we come under the side of the seed of the serpent. We come under the side of the seat of the Beast. That’s what we’re being told.

69. 36:26

    And of course it isn’t just here we read, as we talked about last time that God even talks about figs in reference to being good and evil. I mean, this has got to be one of the biggest clues that the Fig Tree was the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil. Because God says in Jeremiah 24, verse 21 basket had very good figs even like the things that our first ripe and the other basket had very naughty The same word for evil, the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil that word translated naughty in the authorized version is the word evil. So, you’ve got very good figs and very evil figs, which couldn’t be eaten because they were so evil. And then said, the Lord unto me.

70. 37:10

    What do you see Jeremiah? And I said, figs, the good figs very good, the evil, very evil that cannot be eaten. They are so evil. So there is that link. So as I say for me, you know, when I look at the Fig Tree, I’m looking at the fruit and seeing the Lord Jesus Christ but also ourselves as well. I mean if you think about it Jesus is we you know we stood the same.

71. 37:43

    Well Jesus is the Fig wasp that is making the fruit good. But Jesus is the fruit itself. There was no pure and more wonderful. Fruit in this symbolic tree, then Jesus. It’s almost a little bit like Jesus is the shepherd and the Sheep, you know, and you think we’ll, how can you be a shepherd and the Sheep.

72. 38:04

    That’s ridiculous. But he was, and in the same way, Jesus is the Fig wasp that gives his life, but he’s also the fruit that was perfect for God. And the only fruit hanging on that whole tree of any value and worth was the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it’s Through his sacrifice that we can all be made good because our sins can be forgiven. So this tree in the middle of the garden, as we’ve tried to sort of point out is all about Israel itself and of course Jesus was of Israel.

73. 38:40

    He was a he was a Jew. Jesus said salvation is he is of the Jews. And what God is saying is and this is really the, you know, test I I sort of think Don’t say it. Except what I say about, Israel? I see I gave a rule in the Garden of Eden.

74. 38:59

    What to do? And don’t devour it. God says the test is exactly the same in the world right now. Except what I say about Israel, do not devour her, don’t eat her. Don’t destroy her. Don’t chew her up. Don’t split her in half the Fig. Tree is still a test for today. The last thing I was just going to cover in just a few slides and this is a massive subject, but for those of you who might be watching this later on YouTube, obviously I’m doing it live right now but for those who might be wondering to themselves, what is the significance of Israel? I mean, why Israel?

75. 39:41

    I thought I’d just very quickly show a couple of slides. This is a big talk just on its own as you can imagine but I just thought it’d be good to show a few slides as the significance of Israel. In Acts 1:6, Jesus is raised from the dead. He’s on the Mount of Olives, he’s with his disciples and they’ve all come together and they asked him and said, Lord, are you going to at this time restore again, the kingdom to Israel.

76. 40:10

    So the disciples were expecting the Risen Lord. Jesus Christ to immediately set up a kingdom of which they believe, of course he was going to be the king. Are you going to restore it? You’ve got me into did it this time? And Jesus said, well, it isn’t for you to know the times and the seasons.

77. 40:29

    So basically says, well yes, I’m going to do it, but now isn’t the time, okay? So a little bit later on in Acts of the Apostles, and this is after Jesus ascended into heaven, and so he’s left planet Earth, he’s gone into heaven. And the Apostle Paul is as a Christian bound up in prison, effectively in Rome. And he says some interesting word. He says for the hope of Israel, I am bound with this chain and I sort of wonder how many of us if we were thrown into prison for our Christian fuse.

78. 41:06

    Would say, well I’m here in prison because it’s for my hope of Israel. I wonder how many Christians in the world would say for the hope of Israel that I’m Bound in Chains, but that was the Apostle Paul who was probably the greatest of the the Christians at that time. If we were going to put them in some sort of order because God commissioned the Apostle Paul to go to the non-jewish people.

79. 41:31

    The Gentiles to tell them about the truth and he’s truth was all centered on Israel. So why is Israel? So, so, so important. Well, this is what I wanted to quickly show you just a couple of slides because I didn’t really get a handle on this when I grew up and I reckon it, I was in my probably 30 days before I really grasp this bit in Genesis chapter 10. So going all the way back to Genesis your around about 2,000 years before Christ at this point in time. And you read about a kingdom that was on the earth. In fact, it was the very first Kingdom that ever existed according to the scriptures and it wasn’t a good Kingdom. It was a kingdom that was run by a chap called Nimrod and his kingdom was called Babel and it was in the land of shinar and on that map that you can see there.

80. 42:33

    You basically got where Babel was it wasn’t just it was a sea. City. But it actually covered quite a large territory in terms of its influence. And that’s why it was called a kingdom because it was it was not just one very localized place. It actually covered quite a large territory and if I just put it onto the map so you can see hopefully you can just about see their the name modern Nations on the earth so you can see there. It’s sort of covers modern day.

81. 43:02

    It was in, modern-day Iraq. Anyway, these people that lived in Babel with Nimrod ruling over them, decided to build this city and a tower. And God was not happy with this situation because it was all about and you can read about it. In Genesis chapter 11, it was all about them replacing God’s thinking, and God’s ways and God’s religion with man’s thinking and man’s ways, and a made-up, man’s religion.

82. 43:35

    And it says, God says, behold the people of one they have all got one language. Nothing is going to be restrained from them which they have imagined to do. Let go to let us go down and there confound their language and that’s what God did. And that’s where we get all the, the languages of the world sprang from this one place, the word Babel in Hebrew means, confusion and Nimrod himself, the ruler of this place for some time.

83. 44:05

    His actual name in Hebrew means rebellion and the great tower that they would building was all to do with false worship, not the worship of God. But false Worship. In fact, what they did was worshipped Nimrod at the very same time that all this is going on. There was somebody else. And this, somebody else was called Abraham and Abraham lived in the territory of the kingdom of Babel, he lived in Ur of the Chaldeans these on the exactly the same map look and God picked out Abraham and said to him, get out of your country, the king, you know, the kingdom of Babel basically and from your Kindred, or your family and from your father’s house because I’m going to take you to a land and I’m going to show you where it is and I’m going to make of you a great nation, a kingdom. And I’m going to bless you and make your name great and you’re going to be a blessing now.

84. 45:03

    God didn’t pick a Mouse because you know, he sort of looked like somebody that God wants to work with. They got a nice long, white beard and he looked like a prophet God picked Abram Abraham out because he was faithful, in fact he was probably the only faithful person in bit like with Noah where God saw Noah and picked him out out of all the people on the Earth and said, you’re going to build me an ark God picked out a brand for the same reasons.

85. 45:32

    Abraham was faithful in. In fact they Abraham’s own father. Terah was not faithful. He actually were told in Joshua, worshiped idols and that’s why God said, you’ve got to have to leave it all behind Abraham. So here is that Ibrahim down there in are of the called he’s and God led him. He didn’t know where he was going. And God led him out of this area of Babel and this false Kingdom that had been set up and he took him out as an individual, man. Yes, he had got servants and wives and a bit of an Entourage that when tweaking, but Abraham was the one that God called out Now, the point is, this Babel was the beginning of the kingdom of men.

86. 46:16

    It was the, it was the home if you like the beginning of all the opposition to God, setting itself upon Earth as a as a kingdom, that would push back against God and want nothing to do with God and have their own religious thinking, but Abraham was the father of the nation of Israel.

87. 46:40

    And Elvis the beginning of the kingdom of God, and is the still the beginning of the kingdom of God. In fact, Israel is the unti dose to Babel. That’s what exactly what it is. It’s the antidote to Babel and therefore, Israel became sense of the whole plan and purpose of God. And when Jesus comes back, Israel will be the central nation of the entire planet out of which will emanate the teachings of God.

88. 47:17

    What is really interesting is that Babel means confusion, and if you look up the name Israel, in Strong’s Concordance, it actually means god prevails Oh you might say God succeeds or you might say in modern terms Godwin’s. In other words, this confusion that were set up at the time of Babel which has continued to this day.

89. 47:41

    The whole world really has become a great. Big Kingdom of men is going to be replaced by Israel, and Israel means god wins and God is going to win. He is going to replace all the wicked Kingdom. Eames on this Earth. And so when they said, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?

90. 48:04

    The disciples. When Jesus was risen from the dead hoped and prayed, it was going to happen there and then good news for us. It didn’t happen there. And then otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. Now, it needed time to go by to allow more and more people to be able to come to a knowledge of these things.

91. 48:23

    But Jesus is going to return to set up the kingdom. And in that same chapter, it says But while they were watching, Jesus was taken up from them and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly towards heaven, as he went up behold, two men that were Angels stood by them in white apparel and they said, you, men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up into heaven, this same, Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven.

92. 48:51

    Will come will so come in like manner, as you’ve seen him go into heaven. So they said he’s going to to come back. He is going to come back. Oh, just two more slides to go. We’re told in an incredible prophecy in Daniel chapter 2. All about the return of Jesus and how the kingdom of God is going to replace all kingdoms on this Earth. And it says, in that verse that you can see on the screen in the days of these Kings, shall the god of Heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.

93. 49:26

    And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. Full but it will break in pieces and consume all the kingdoms and it will stand forever. So when Jesus comes back and that Little Rock falling out, the sky is symbolic of Jesus coming back to this earth and he grinds to powder all the nations on this Earth, whether it be the United States of America or whether it be the United Kingdom or whether it be Russia or Iran or Australia. The whole lot will end up coming under the control of one king and that is The king, the Lord Jesus Christ ruling from Jerusalem and ruling from Israel. And this is my very poor attempt at trying to see what it might look like in the future with some pretty terrible Graphics there, but it says that Jerusalem is going to be raised up.

94. 50:15

    It says that all nations are going to flow unto it when Jesus comes back and that God’s teaching will go forth to all people. In fact, the Bible says it much better than me In Isaiah chapter 2 verse 2. It says in the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s House will be the highest of all the most important place on Earth.

95. 50:40

    It will be raised above the other Hills and people from all over the world will stream there to worship people. From many nations will come and say come, let’s go to the mountain of the Lord. So the house of Jacob’s God, there he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his paths for The Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion, that’s Jerusalem. His word will go out from Jerusalem. The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes.

96. 51:09

    They will Hammer their swords into plowshares, and their Spears into pruning. Hooks Nation will no longer fight against Nation, nor train for war anymore. And surely in the light of what we see at the moment with Ukraine and Russia, you know, surely this is an incredible and wonderful picture. That he’s coming but it’s an incredible and wonderful picture that all emanates from the Fig Tree, which is surely a sign floor time.

97. 51:37

    And next time, we’ll have a look and see all the passages in the New Testament that reference the Fig Tree and show remarkably how it even predicts the future and the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening.