Jesus taught that the generation that saw the blossoming of the leaves on the fig tree would be the generation that saw His Second Coming. “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” Matthew 24:32-34 The Nation of Israel is referred to in several scriptural passages as a fig or a fig tree.
The question then is: when did Israel begin to put forth her leaves to make us to know that summer is nigh? The answer is: in 1948, when Israel became a Nation after over 2000 years of Diaspora, or since she was taken into captivity by Babylon in 587 BC. Let’s look at some of the scenarios surrounding the City of Jerusalem since Abraham.
Abraham offered his son, Isaac, on Mt. Moriah, which is in Jerusalem. This offering was similar to that of God offering His Son, Christ, who was crucified on Golgotha, which is part of Mt. Moriah. (Muslims say it was Ishmael whom Abraham offered on Mt. Moriah.)
David bought a threshing floor from a Jebusite on Mt. Moriah, where he built an altar to Yahweh.
Jewish tradition says Mt. Moriah is where God gathered dust to create Adam and Eve and where Cain slew Abel.
Moses taught Israel to worship Yahweh with the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. David, as King of Israel, and after securing peace with the surrounding countries, received plans from God to build a Temple patterned after the Tabernacle. Solomon, the son of David, was permitted by Yahweh to construct the Temple. Solomon’s Temple was the first temple and it was built on Mt. Moriah.
Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC; when they conquered Israel and took the Jewish people into captivity. The Jews went into captivity for seventy years for not allowing the land to rest every seventh year unto Yahweh, and for breaking other commandments; especially for worshiping other gods, who were in reality demonic spirits.
The Jews returned in 536 BC (after serving the seventy years of captivity in Babylon) and rebuilt the temple, which was known as Zerubbabel’s Temple.
Herod renovated this second temple, to please the Jews living under his Roman rulership.
Jesus prophesied that Herod’s (Zerubbabel’s) Temple would not have one stone left upon another in Matthew 24:2; “But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” This was fulfilled when Titus invaded Jerusalem in AD 70 and literally dismantled the temple, seeking the gold and silver from its walls and joints.
AD 135 – Hadrian barred Jews from Jerusalem, while killing those left in the Roman Empire.
AD 313- Constantine, the first Christian Roman Emperor, converted to Christianity and made Christianity legal; encouraging the building of churches on sites of Christ’s life.
AD 638 – Muslim Omar captured Jerusalem, but preserved these Christian churches and sites because Muslims regard Jesus as a great prophet like Muhammad. The Dome of the Rock was built by AD 691. The Dome of the Rock is the Holy Site for the Muslims and it is built on Mt. Moriah.
AD 1099 – the Crusaders took Jerusalem back for Christ, while slaughtering Muslims and Jewish people alike.
The City of Jerusalem has been conquered and re-conquered more than 38 times by many, including Babylonians, Medes-Persians, Greeks, Romans, Muslims, Crusaders, Ottomans, and British; yet it still stands today.
The year 1947 saw the British ask for the Jewish people to have their own State. The United Nations granted the request and divided the land into two halves, giving one to the Palestinians and the other half to Israel. Israel got the dry arid desert portion, while the Palestinians received 70% of the fertile land. (Remember the story of Abraham and Lot – Genesis 13:1-18)
May 15, 1948 – British troops withdrew from Israel or Palestine. Immediately, five Arab nations attacked Israel with the intention of pushing her into the sea (Mediterranean). When the fighting stopped, Israel remained intact by a miracle of God; but Egypt occupied the Gaza Strip and Jordan held the West Bank.
In 1967, a six-day war saw Jewish soldiers break through the Jordanian front and pray together at the Western Wall of their Temple Mount. Ancient Jerusalem was once again in Jewish hands after more than 2000 years by a supernatural victory.
The Arabs immediately warned the Jews away from the Temple Mount; and since no one knows for sure where the Holy of Holies once stood, the Jews complied, knowing that when their Messiah returns, that He would rebuild the Third Temple and then they, after cleansing themselves, would be able to enter that Holy site once again.
Israel returned the control of Islamic Holy Sites back to the Muslims, while guiding the Jews to the Western Wall. You see them on television praying at the Western Wall. They pray three times daily: “May it be thy will that the temple be speedily built in our own time.” Jesus taught us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Thirteen wars have been fought since Israel became a Nation in 1948, over the control of the West Bank, Golan Heights and the City of Jerusalem. Many treaties have been signed, with Israel conceding more and more land to the Palestinians. The Arabs are not happy and will not be happy until the Jews are wiped off the map, as Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood keep saying, and until they have control of the land and all of the City of Jerusalem.
The Jews are still looking for their Messiah to come and reign over the earth from Jerusalem. They have rebuilt the 70-seat Supreme Court close to the Temple Mount. They have secured, through scientific testing, the DNA of the tribe of Levi, and have located those priests scattered throughout the Diaspora. The Levis were not allowed to change their names, even when they were taken into captivity in other countries. They are using Jewish women to raise Jewish Priests who will be able to minister in the third temple when Messiah returns. They are breeding the perfect Red Heifer calf that is required by the Law of Moses to purify the Priests to be able to minister in the temple. They have the blueprints and the materials ready to build the Third Temple. The Jews are in Israel to stay and they will not give up the City of Jerusalem ever again, no matter how much pressure Obama, the Pope, the Arabs, and the European Union puts upon them to sign that into the next Peace Treaty!
Read what the Word of God has to say about the City of Jerusalem:
Isaiah 2:1-5, “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways,so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.”
II Chronicles 6:6, “but I have chosen Jerusalem that my name may be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.”
II Chronicles 7:16, “For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.”
II Chronicles 33:7, “…..My name will be honored forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem–the city I have chosen from among all the tribes of Israel.”
Genesis 12:1-3, “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you; and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing; and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Genesis 13:14-15, “The LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.”
Genesis 15:18-19, “On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”
Psalm 48:1-8, “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion in the far north, the city of the great King. God, in her palaces, has made Himself known as a stronghold. For, lo, the kings assembled themselves,they passed by together. They saw it, then they were amazed; they were terrified, they fled in alarm. Panic seized them there, anguish, as of a woman in childbirth. With the east wind You break the ships of Tarshish. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God; God will establish her forever.”
Psalm 122:6, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.” (Are you praying for Jerusalem?…God blesses those who love His City.)
Matthew 23:37, Jesus weeps for Jerusalem. “Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!”
Zechariah 14:8-11, “And it shall be in that day, living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.” (Many believe that the Dead Sea will be healed when Jesus returns as King of Kings.)
Micah 4:2, “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”
Daniel 9:27, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” (This foretells the Antichrist signing a Peace Treaty with Israel for seven years and breaking it after 3 1/2 years, declaring himself to be worshiped as God.)
Jesus was crucified on Mt. Golgotha part of Mt. Moriag and ascended to His Father from Mt. Olives close to Moriah and poured out the Baptism of The Holy Spirit on the 120 gathered together in a prayer meeting on the Day of Pentecost. This group included the Mother of Jesus, Mary. If Mary needed this Baptism in the Spirit, so do you and I.
Luke 21:20, “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.”
Jesus will return to rebuild the Third Temple on Mt. Moriah and establish peace on the earth for 1000 years, where swords will be beaten into plowshares and nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all of His Holy Mountain. All shall know Him from the child to the old man, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it!”
Jerusalem is very important in the days and years ahead. Israel is prophecy unfolding before our eyes. This generation will not pass away until all these signs that Jesus gave be fulfilled. This includes Israel signing a Peace Treaty (a Treaty that will be broken once again) and Christ returning at His Second Coming to take control of the earth and ridding the evil spirits and people of Satan from the planet once and for all. Christ came as a Lamb, the first time, and will return the second time as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and as everyone’s King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Every knee will bow before Him and every tongue shall confess Him as God and Creator of all things. Why not do this today and stand before Him in peace instead of shame?
His Believers will soon be Raptured out of this world and will get to dwell in the New Jerusalem, as described in Revelation chapter 21. (The Rapture is a separate event from the Second Coming.) Israel will live in her land and rule the earth from Jerusalem. All nations will travel to Israel to worship the Lord Jesus Christ as their God and Savior.
Luke 21:28, “Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” The Signs of the Times, which Jesus gave us, is happening all around us, as it was in the Days of Noah. Paul said that when they say Peace and Safety, then comes sudden destruction. (I Thessalonians 5:3)
Read the signs given by Jesus and the Apostles as you watch the Evening News. This is that generation – and Jesus is coming soon – and Israel shall be His City forever.