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Tag: jerusalem

  • for it was not the season for figs – 2

    for it was not the season for figs – 2

    … and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.

    In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.” – Zechariah 3:9b-10 [circa 519 B.C.]

    Looking Back to the Prophets

    From Moses to the late Prophets at the time of Zechariah and Haggai, the LORD spoke to the faithful of Jacob. (Call them: Israel, Judah, Judea, Galilee, even Samaria at the time of Jesus.) 

    They were divided after David, captured after Solomon, conquered by foreign lands and driven into distant empires. Even after rebuilding Jerusalem and the Temple, Israel would never be the same.

    Prophets spoke judgment of evil nations, cities and leaders.

    Prophesy during the times of the first dispersion accomplished the Lord’s purpose. Jerusalem and the Temple were rebuilt, then rebuilt again by Herod and Rome. Between the time of these two Temples, no word from above – generations of silence. 

    Surely those hearing of the miracles of the great Prophet approaching Jerusalem for the Passover festival had high expectations of this greatest Prophet, Jesus.

    He is the Messiah of God!

    The crowds cover the road with palms and shout:

    “Son of David,”  

    as the King of the Jews (Jesus) rode victoriously up to the gates of Jerusalem.

    ‘Hosanna!’ ‘Blessed be the Lord.’ ‘Savior!’

    And what had the prophet Zechariah written?

    “and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day..

    .. In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”

    The Sacrifice of the Lamb of God accomplished the removal of sin; yes, in a single day: Good Friday.

    What did Jerusalem expect?

    The Judeans, Galileans, Samaritans, even Jews on faithful pilgrimage to the Passover festival from other lands followed Jesus with different high expectations from nearly forgotten writings of  Zechariah and others.

    Zechariah 9:

    The oracle of the word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach (Syria) and Damascus is its resting place.

    [Of course, Rome would control all of these Mediterranean lands 500 years later, not just Judah, Galilee and Samaria.]

    The Coming King of Zion

    9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
        Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
    Behold, your king is coming to you;
        righteous and having salvation is he,
    humble and mounted on a donkey,
        on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
    10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
        and the war horse from Jerusalem;
    and the battle bow shall be cut off,
        and he shall speak peace to the nations;
    his rule shall be from sea to sea,
        and from the River A Powerful Professed King

    The crowds, some who had followed Jesus for three years, knew the Son of Man riding victoriously into Jerusalem on a donkey had all power to defeat Rome in a day!

    But it was not the Lord’s will to save Jerusalem in a day, but sinners.

    “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

    Luke 5:32

    For it was not the season for figs and those who will not repent remain cursed and will wither to be burned.

    To be continued…

  • for it was not the season for figs – prologue

    for it was not the season for figs – prologue

    Lost in the glory of the entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday we find a brief story much overlooked. The story of Jesus cursing a fig tree not only seems much out of character for the Lord, but relatively insignificant. I cannot recall ever hearing it preached simply on its own merits.

    In a brief series (for a single post does not give this story its due) we will examine in more depth the significance of the fig tree. As an introduction let’s begin with one telling of the story by the Gospel writer, John Mark, a disciple introduced in Acts.

    Mark 11: [ESV]

    Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

    12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

    Gospel of Mark 11:12-14 ESV

    That’s it.

    Prior to this Mark records:

    8 And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields.9 And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!”

    11 And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.

    The story of Palm Sunday, as we have become so familiar, nearly too familiar.

    Jesus comes riding up the road to Jerusalem, received like a King and Messiah, followed and worshiped by hundreds. He takes a look at the Temple, it’s late, they head to a local town to stay the night.

    The fig tree encounter takes place the next day. Yet like the Apostles  and hundreds of followers who would fall away before the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, we miss the point of the fig tree.

    Mark continues the commentary of the next day with actions of Jesus from another, most-familiar story:

    Jesus Cleanses the Temple

    15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

    Gospel of Mark 11:15-18 ESV

    But what of the fig tree?

    To be continued…

  • The Three o’clock Prayer Service

    The Three o’clock Prayer Service

    CHRISTIAN NEWS HEADLINES

    You will not see these HEADLINES in the Jerusalem News twenty-one centuries ago or even now.

    MIRACLE!

    ישוע המשיח עלה!

    Changes in Worship

    Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service.

    Acts:3:1 NLT

    Post-resurrection Christians frequently miss some subtlety of detail in the Bible due to the amazing witness of the miracles which surround the circumstance. “Peter and John were:

    • a. going to the Temple just a few months after Jesus had been found guilty of violating church rules, was tortured, murdered and made an example to others by powerful leaders.
    • b. It was ‘three o’clock [3 p.m.] on a weekday afternoon and
    • c. the church (Temple) had a prayer service where faithful Jews actually prayed.

    Like many believers I have multiple versions of the Bible and wanted to check the facts in the English Standard Version which I generally quote. “the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. Footnotes: a. Acts 3:1 That is, 3 p.m.

    Who would be praying at 3 p.m. on a weekday?

    Yet, they did. It was customary – usual. [ctt title=”21st century worshipers take a much more casual attitude toward God than most generations before us.” tweet=”#Prayer Peter and John went to the Temple one afternoon to take part in the three o’clock prayer service. Acts 3:1″ coverup=”XSu36″]

    Nothing wrong with a 3 p.m. prayer service. Temple officials would soon show up with objections when disciples of Jesus worshiped the Lord on their way to the service by healing a man who witnessed Christ by following these leaders of the new Way.

    The NLT version heading states:

    Peter Heals a Crippled Beggar

    The text shows detail which gives glory to God.

    6 But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene,[a] get up and[b] walk!”

    9 All the people saw him walking and heard him praising God.

    The more politically correct heading of the ESV for Acts 3:1 states:

    The Lame Beggar Healed

    The witness of Peter continues: [ctt title=”Christianity is never about what we have done for Jesus.” tweet=”Our witness is what Jesus will also do for you. #Jesus” coverup=”3JM77″]

    ESV: Acts 3:9

    And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10 and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

    The King James Version (translation) has no labels

    Recalling that scripture was hand-transcribed until the printing press, note that modern editors add headings. Headline Titles help us to see the topic of a section, while we prejudicially dismiss some important detail. If fact, consider that the Bible, as a traditional Holy Writing did not even divide into chapters and verses. Like scripture before, Acts and the letters are one connected writing and the witness all connects to Christ Jesus.

    Take a look at the link below and note the headings of three renderings of the Acts text.

    Acts 3:

    • Preaching in Solomon’s Portico [NKJV]
      11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John…
    • Peter Preaches in the Temple [NLT]
      12 Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd.
    • Peter Speaks in Solomon’s Portico [ESV]
      11 While he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s.

    And if you would like to translate for yourself from the original Greek, try this:

    Κρατοῦντος δὲ τοῦ ἰαθἐντος χωλοῦ τὸν Πέτρον καὶ Ἰωάννην συνέδραμεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς πᾶς ὁ λαὸς ἐπὶ τῇ στοᾷ τῇ καλουμένῃ Σολομῶντος ἔκθαμβοι – Acts 3:11 TR

    We don’t want to get caught up in this too much and miss the importance of witness of these verified miracles and the credit all witnesses give to the risen Christ Jesus. Note, however some of our natural prejudices in thinking about a setting over 2000 years ago. It is little different than not being able to wrap our heads around the concept of praying to the Lord our God and Creator at three in the afternoon.

    Visual Prejudice of HEADLINE NEWS

    Mohammed – Crippled Beggar – Africa

    Temple

     

    Jerusalem

    Visual prejudice will not produce truth in your thoughts. The setting is not the Temple built by Solomon, but one built centuries later by a half-jew, Herod, a powerful puppet king beholden to the Caesars of Rome. The Herods, Jesus, Temple officials and Peter all appeal to traditions of Hebrew heritage.

    Peter speaks to the crowds gathered after God’s miracle healing of the man:

    “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? 13 The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus…

    22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers…

    26 God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”

    [ctt title=”But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” tweet=”Acts 4:4 – after a singular witness on their way to an obligatory prayer service.” coverup=”kaY9r”]

    As our series highlighting passages from many centuries prior to the Cross concluded with the resurrection. This post from the early history of the church reminds us that even the journeys of Acts will cover much more territory and the spread of Christianity continues for centuries.

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