Parable of The Fig Tree Continued

The Two Trees

Gen. 2:9, “ And 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 mist of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil”. Vs. 16, “ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “ of every tree of the garden thou may freely eat”: Vs. 17, “ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shall surely die”. Sounds similar to the bad fig tree doesn’t it? Who was it that tempted the woman in the garden? Of course it was Satan, the one that always tries to play the role as “ in place of Christ”. Gen 3:6, “ And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat”. Vs. 7, “And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were both naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Jesus, four thousand years later would be giving His disciples the same warning. What happened to the man and woman in the garden could also happen to us today. 2nd Corinthians 11:3, “ But I fear , lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his sublity, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ”. What happened in the garden? Did Eve eat an apple? Did she put fig leaves to cover her mouth? Scripture says that they covered their loins with fig leaves. Fig leaf as defined by a dictionary: something meant to hide something else, something shameful and wrong. The key to understanding what had happened lies in the word beguile. The word beguiled as used in Gen. 3 is number 5377 and means to lead astray or seduce. The Greek word as found in 2nd Cor. is number 1818 and means to wholly seduce. That teaching might be foreign to some but what happened in the garden would give the Biblical explanation as to why Caine’s genealogy is not found in the generations of Adam.

Fig Tree of Isaiah and the Book of Revelation

It’s amazing when one examines God’s word how the prophets all say the same thing on a given subject. In this case the subject is the fig tree. Jesus, the disciple John, ( Book of Revelation ), and Isaiah all give the warning of the bad figs that are not fit to eat. Isa. 34:1, “Come near ye nations, and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that there is therein; the world and all things that come forth of it”. Vs. 4, “and all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll; and all their host shall fall down, as a leaf falleth off from the vine and as a falling fig from a fig tree”.

And Rev. 6:13, “ And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind”.

2nd Peter 1:20, “Knowing this first, that no prophesy of the spirit is of any interpretation”. Vs 21, “ for the prophesy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

The Number of The Beast

Revelation, 13 :18, “ Here is wisdom, let him that have understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is 666. The word count in the Greek dictionary is number 5585 and 5586 and means to count by numeration– over a long period of time. Jesus Christ called Peter a small rock ( Petros ) on which Christ would build His church. Matt. 16:18. Of course these pebbles of Rev. 13:18 are worn smooth by water ( see Rev. 17:15 ) since the event that happened in the garden of Eden. Satan seduced Eve in the garden and Jesus warned His disciples not to follow Eve’s example and have men lead us away from understanding God’s Word by following the teachings and traditions of men. All Godly wisdom comes from above and gives us understanding. The number six is the number for man. When the numbers 666 are added together they add up to 18 which in Biblical numeric’s is the number for bondage. Many do not realize that Satan comes at the sixth trump, seals us with false teachings, and we reap the consequences of the false teachings by his vials. Jesus does not return until the seventh trump, seals us with His truth and the consequences of his truth are blessings and rewards.

The word beast is interchangeable with the number of man. But what man and when did this false teaching start? Remember the discourse in Genesis the 4th chapter between God and Cain, especially after Cain slew his brother? Breaking into the middle of verse 4: 15, “ And the Lord set a mark on Cain, less any find him shall kill him. In many ways human nature has not changed. Cain would not listen to God then and ever since that time some men have placed themselves between God and men. Because of the lack of understanding of the scriptures, they have passed on the teachings and traditions of men. That is why Jesus told His disciples to learn the parable of the fig tree. He does not want us to follow the first christ or impersonator that comes along. Jesus disciples need to be grounded in the word of God. The Apostle Paul says it best, 2nd Tim. 2:15, ” Study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needed not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus day were making merchandise right in the Temple of God by selling offerings to the general public. Today, as then, we need to realize that we can only offer to God our growth in the scriptures and applying that knowledge in our life. Isn’t that what the word workman refers to in 2nd Tim. 2:15? The parable of the fig tree separates those that are Christians from those that are only playing church. Back to page 1)