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Tag: fig_tree

The Sun and the Moon Stood Still – Why won’t we?
The sun and moon stood still in their habitation:

at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

Habakkuk 3:11 KJV

Sun and moon stood still before God

What’s the picture?

An illustrative celestial EXAMPLE to those created ones of GOD

bowed DOWN before the GLORY of our FATHER

Habakkuk – a Prophet burdened for a people humbled

1:2 עַד־אָנָה יְהוָה שִׁוַּעְתִּי וְלֹא תִשְׁמָע אֶזְעַק אֵלֶיךָ חָמָס וְלֹא תוֹשִׁיעַ׃
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The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
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IF you have not already felt the full weight of a Prophet painting a picture for men without eyes to see —

a sun and a moon which had stood still, — then you have sensed a low and quiet place where the Lord has prepared an unseeing Common Era people by a BLINDING LIGHT in the darkness of these last days…

O LORD, how long shall I cry,
And You will not hear?
Even cry out to You, “Violence!”
And You will not save.

Habakkuk 1:2 NKJV

Sound familiar?

(Even from your own arrogant lips?)

Why do You show me iniquity,
And cause me to see trouble?
For plundering and violence are before me;
There is strife, and contention arises.

Therefore the law is powerless,
And justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore perverse judgment proceeds.

Habakkuk 1:2-3
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The LAW of which the Prophet speaks 
-- the Commandments of the LORD 
-- NO LAW = No Justice! 

Do we blindly suppose that the righteous are US? 
AND therefore WE the named and claimed PEOPLE of God suffer by His Almighty Hand! 
COULD THAT BE JUST? 
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WHY does this sound so familiar to a Common Era people who rarely read or hear the oracles of WARNING by the Prophets of God?

And what does Habakkuk ask early-on in his plea to the LORD?

Why do You look on those who deal treacherously,
And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours
A person more righteous than he?
14 Why do You make men like fish of the sea,
Like creeping things that have no ruler over them?

Habakkuk 13b-14 NKJV
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IS THIS any way to PLEA to the Lord our God of Whom WE are commanded to 'love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’ even confirmed by the Messiah and Lord Jesus? 
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More Writing on the wall
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(for those casting a first stone at Habakkuk) 
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Then the Lord answered me and said:

“Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.

“Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.

Habakkuk 2:2-4 NKJV
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Again, what is the picture? 

The SOUL of the proud is fallen. 
AND the soul of the Lord's faithful remains bowed down in the witness of our lives. 
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Therefore, for the hope of the faithful know that the LORD pronounces many woes (and NOT blessings) on the proud who seem to be in charge of our mortal lives. And to name just a few:
- hell שְׁאוֹל
- death מָוֶת
- transgressions (treachery) בָּגַד
- evil רַע
- and the violation of several specific Commandments.
THEN the LORD closes his response to the Prophet with an authoritatively THUNDERING VOICE to humble worshipers bowed down in faithfulness:

“But the Lord is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

Habakkuk 2:20
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What would happen IF Common Era worshipers would put down our devices and our coffees and entered into WORSHIP like this? 

Let thos whw with eyes to see Christ's writing in the sand see God's zeal for faithful worshipers. 
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and now:

This prayer sung by the prophet Habakkuk:

O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.

Habakkuk 3:2 NKJV

God came from Teman,
The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah

And the earth was full of His praise.

4 His brightness was like the light;
He had rays flashing from His hand,
And there His power was hidden...

He looked and startled the nations.
And the everlasting mountains were scattered,
The perpetual hills bowed.

from the prayer of Habakkuk

GET THE IDEA?

all bowed down before the Lord – in HIS Presence everything else stood still or was swept away by the hidden power of HIS GLORY!

Your bow was made quite ready;
Oaths were sworn over Your arrows. Selah

The sun and the moon stood still
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Now returning to the context of our opening picture and illustration: 
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You divided the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw You and trembled;
The overflowing of the water passed by.
The deep uttered its voice,
And lifted its hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation;
At the light of Your arrows they went,
At the shining of Your glittering spear.

12 You marched through the land in indignation;
You trampled the nations in anger.
13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
For salvation with Your Anointed.
You struck the head from the house of the wicked,
By laying bare from foundation to neck.

Selah

When I heard, my body trembled;
My lips quivered at the voice;
Rottenness entered my bones;
And I trembled in myself,
That I might rest in the day of trouble.

Habakkuk 3:16a NKJV
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Is THIS your reaction -- contemporary christian worshiper? 
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A Hymn of Faith
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NO hymns for OUR praise band! 
NO Old Testament Prophets and their drama that could SILENCE the applause and bring the CROWD to its knees.
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Who remembers Jesus cursing the fig tree as the Lord entered Jerusalem?

The unfamiliar picture and significant symbolism Jesus drew is the same as that of Habakkuk’s hymn of faith.

We examined this great symbolism in an earlier series.

for it was not the season for figs – prologue
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Even if you choose not to read the prologue above you will find these references from Habakkuk below -with which we will conclude.

AND consider our 2025 CE Lenten theme of contrition replanted in the hearts of 21st century worshipers:
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We stood there and did nothing
- Habakkuk and other Prophets of the Lord have warned us to WORSHIP the Lord our God.
- The Messiah JESUS — Son of the Living God — enters Jerusalem cursing a tree that bore no fruit (though thousands applaud Him).
- Crowds of worshipers enter a Common Era gathering little noticing a cursed fig tree as they bring their coffees and distracting devices toward the gate of the grand stage.
- LENT?
  - WE don’t do that anymore…
for it was not the season for figs – 7

O, faithless fig tree, dear dried up vine;

do you believe that you alone have cried out to the Lord for mercy?

Habakkuk 3:

O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.

for it was not the season for figs – 7 – July 9, 2017 TalkofJESUS.com

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
March 13, 2025
King for a Common Era Holy Week 4
Jesus in Bethany

Why would Jesus, who rode into Jerusalem like KING DAVID, leave to stay in Bethany overnight, I wondered?

Gospel of Matthew 21:

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.
Gospel of Matthew 21:17-18 NKJV

Bethphage, Bethany & figs

“Bethphage; in Aramaic “place of young figs”): Near the Mount of Olives and to the road from Jerusalem to Jericho; mentioned together with Bethany – source
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The road to and from Jerusalem goes something like this:

It descends east from the Temple, crosses the Kidron valley, past the Mount of Olives & Gethsemane [five furlongs], continues east through Bethphage [2000 cubits/1000 paces] to Bethany [a Sabbath Day's journey from Jerusalem].
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I addressed the significant imagery of this journey of Jesus in an earlier SERIES
Roger @ Talk of JESUS .com

for it was not the season for figs – 8

Captive Jerusalem!
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A.D. 30 - 2024 C.E. - The Controversial Place of God
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RETURN to JERUSALEM along the ancient hillside roads from Bethany on this day prior to the Passover Sacrifice with JESUS ‘of Nazareth’ observing several controversies.

Controversies BEFORE CHRIST!

Opposition to the Lord God goes back BEFORE DAVID – yes, even before Moses and Abraham.

AND opposition to the One Living God of Scripture continues even NOW in these last days of 2024 of the COMMON ERA!

JERUSALEM, THE LAW & GOD’S BREATHED-OUT WORD all remain at the center of every opposition of twisted Truth, false prophets and stiff-necked resistance to God’s grace.

No Son of Man would ever be so controversial to a sinful world than Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior!
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

And WHAT IF JESUS returned to JERUSALEM accompanied by LAZARUS, who the Lord had called out of the GRAVE in BETHANY?

Considering Controversy on His return to Jerusalem

Gospel of Matthew 21:18 NKJV

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.

And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it,

“Let no fruit grow on you ever again.”
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Is this curse on Jerusalem for 'Good' Friday's Cross? 
.. 
or perhaps Anno Domini 70 when Rome will destroy it? 
..
or even some last day soon in the Common Era of 2024?
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Immediately the fig tree withered away.

To Be Continued…

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
March 27, 2024
for it was not the season for figs – 8
The Fig Tree Languishes

In this concluding part of our 8-part series we draw our conclusions of why JESUS on his way to Jerusalem cursed the fig tree.
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[circa 835 BC]
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The Prophet Joel:

1:3 Tell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children to another generation…

Generations recall what has been before.

Sin is always the downfall of the Lord’s chosen nation.

Surely scripture speaks contemporarily to those with ears to hear.

1:12 The vine dries up;
the fig tree languishes.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple,
all the trees of the field are dried up,
and gladness dries up
from the children of man.
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~A.D. 30
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Yesterday they shouted, ‘Hosanna!’

Eight centuries after Joel and other prophets warned Judah to repent, Jesus of Nazareth entered Jerusalem triumphantly. Even the children shouted praises and the crowds witness miracles.

Jesus then returned to nearby Bethany for the night.

A connection of Bethany to figs

Bethany was home to Lazarus, where some in the Jerusalem crowds had known that Jesus had raised him from the dead! Much is expected for this day.

Bethany “place of unripe fig tree near to Jerusalem

Bethany “house, place of unripe figs” is a village located on the E slope of Mt. Olivet, about one and one-half miles from Jerusalem.

It was called also the house of misery on account of its lonely situation and the invalids who congregated there.’ Source

Matthew 21:

18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.
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'It lies on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, fully a mile beyond the summit. Bethany has been commonly explained "house of dates," but it more probably signifies "house of misery." 
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19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!”
Gospel of Matthew 21:19

And the fig tree withered at once.

Once a withered fig, Jerusalem will wither once more

Israel and Judah had been destroyed.

Jerusalem’s walls and Temple are rebuilt after many years, first by Ezra then built back bigger and better by Herod the Great.

Rome, like other nations, has again captured a chosen people; sons of Abraham, sons of David.

A King rides up to the gates triumphantly and crowds praise Jesus.

Now the Lord returns to Jerusalem and curses a fig tree.

Do these jews praising Jesus know their scripture?

Of course they do.

“Nearly every 1st century jew knew the word of God better than most jews or christians in these last days with abundant access to unread Bibles.”

32:46 וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵהֶם שִׂימוּ לְבַבְכֶם לְכָל־הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מֵעִיד בָּכֶם הַיֹּום אֲשֶׁר תְּצַוֻּם אֶת־בְּנֵיכֶם לִשְׁמֹר לַעֲשֹׂות אֶת־כָּל־דִּבְרֵי הַתֹּורָה הַזֹּֽאת׃

and he said to them, “Place in your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to be careful to do, even all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy 32:46

Deuteronomy 8:

6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills,

8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.

10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”

Have we forgotten the lesson of the fig tree?
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Just in case you have missed the Prologue and Scripture bringing us to this conclusion: GO BACK to the PROLOGUE HERE
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Even as we have forgotten the Lord in our daily lives, Jesus the Messiah has found no fruit of repentance in Israel — in our nation

— perhaps rarely in our churches — and even in the landscapes and homes of this 21st century christian life.

The Lord found no desire of God’s chosen people to turn back to true worship of the Lord.

God our Father sent the Son to us in the flesh to become a Sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus neared the completion of His time with us on His created earth as Son of Man and then set his face toward Jerusalem and CURSED the fig tree.

‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
Deuteronomy 27:26

It was not the season for figs, but a time for sacrifice.

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up – John 3:13

Matthew 21:

²⁰When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying,

“How did the fig tree wither at once?”

²¹And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. ²²And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
What season is your faith?

+ Do you worship the Lord?

+ Would a King entering your town recognize your fruit?
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Forgive me, Lord. Help me in my unbelief, for I have not asked you to take up the evil on this mountain of my mortal life and cast it into the sea.
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Jesus IS Lord. He will return to reign forever and ever.

Amen.
July 12, 2017