Practica Prophetica

I FIND this passage intriguing:

Mark 11
¹² And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
¹³ And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
¹⁴ And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
¹⁹ And when even was come, he went out of the city.
²⁰ And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
²¹ And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which you cursed is withered away.
²² And Jesus answering said unto them, Have faith in God.
²³ For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be removed, and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says.

Jesus linked the cursing of the fig tree (which represented the cutting off of the Jewish nation as His chosen people), to faith, and to the casting of mountains into the sea. When will mountains be cast into the sea?

If we take it literally:

Revelation 16
²⁰ And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

This takes place when Babylon falls.

If we take it spiritually (the mountain being the kingdom of Babylon):

Revelation 18
²¹ And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

This takes place when Babylon falls.

The cursing of the fig tree represented the cutting off of the Jewish nation, which professed to serve God, but actually persecuted His servants. First came the spiritual fall, when they rejected His gospel message, then the literal fall in 70 AD.

The destruction of Babylon is the cutting off of those who profess to serve God but actually persecute His servants. First comes the spiritual fall, when the real gospel message is rejected (Revelation 14:6-8), then the literal fall, just at the return of Jesus.

In the time of Christ’s first advent, and the early church, great faith was exercised by Christ, the apostles, and the church. This great faith brought power from heaven. There was a great increase of light and understanding among God’s people. It was the rejection of this light that brought down old Jerusalem.

And so it must be again. Great faith must again be exercised by God’s church, and the increase of light and understanding will illuminate the world. The rejection of this light will cause the fall of Babylon. There will be a close cooperation between the church in heaven and the church on earth which will bring about these final events.

This is a mystery which we should dwell upon and search into. It is unshakable faith in God, during a time of great darkness, discouragement, and disappointment, that brings Satan’s kingdom down, and gives the victory to the Lord’s side.

1 John 5
⁴ …this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.

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Other articles by Frank Zimmerman:

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 14th, 2012 at 11:32 am and is filed under Faith. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.