Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Jesus cried over Israel's rejection...

Luke 19...And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen; Saying, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

As a foundation of this Blog I have to go back to one week before the crucifixion of Christ. The Kingdom of Heaven message was rejected by Israel as a nation and so was the Promised King. God had promised the King and the Kingdom message to be presented to Israel. Isreal rejected both. It broke Jesus' heart to witness the attitude of rejection that came from the nation of Isreal His home country and fellowkinsmen. Jesus mourned, He sorrowed, and He cried. He cried because Israel rejected God's promised earthly Kingdom which is a hugh portion of prophetic truth contained in the Old Testament records. Jesus cried because Israel rejected the ones (the twelve and the seventy) He sent out preaching, "The Kingdom of Heaven was at hand". The message of the Kingdom to Isreal had to be presented! The Apostles, John the Baptist, and Jesus himself presented it! If the Kingdom message would not have been presented for the first three years of Jesus' ministry... even the stones would have cried out!

Luke 19:40-41...And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,

In Matthew's account of these final days of Christ he spoke of Jesus literally withering the fig tree. This literal withering of the fig tree was actually a pronounciation of Judgment by Christ upon Israel for their rejection of the promised King and the Kingdom message. It broke Jesus' heart to do such because the Kingdom of Heaven promised from the foundation of the world was rejected and therefore postponed until the 1000 year reign of Christ.

Matt 21:19-20... And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!

Marks account of Jesus's literal curse upon the fig tree spoke as such.

Mark 11:20-21... And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away

After Christ realized that Israel "lacked faith" so much that the Kingdom could not be established He wept over Israel. He knew their lack of faith. He knew their backslidden state. He knew their rejection of the Torah. He knew their rejection of the Messiah. It sorrowed Christ in His heart for the pronunciation of Judgement that was to come. The curse of the fig tree actually pointed to Israel's future destruction of the Temple in 70AD. Jesus foretold this destruction. Aniel foretold this destruction. The curse of the fig tree also pointed to Israel's lack of faith and doubtful rejection of the Messiahship of Christ.

When Jesus spoke of Israel having faith the size of a mustard seed He wasn't praising Israel... He was reproving them for their lack of faith and rejection of the King and the promised Kingdom. In Matthew you have these definative words about faith concerning if they would have recieved the Kingdom on earth...which was the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matt 21:21...Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

This moving of a mountain that Jesus spoke of was a "literal moving of mountains" just like the withering of the fig tree was a "literal withering of the fig tree" that pointed to Jesus' pronounciation of Divine Judgement upon Israel. You see...in the Kingdom on Earth (The Kingdom of Heaven) those who reign with Christ will have power over tangible Earth just like Christ had. That is how Peter walked on water. In the Kingdom Age...Jesus gave the disclples power over tangible earth, natural law, demons, scorpions, the weather, etc. Whatever they would say or would do would happen. Man was to have dominion over the natural laws of Earth in the Promised Kingdom. When Jesus wept the Earthly Kingdom was postponed until after the Rapture of the Church. Many things happened when Jesus wept!

PS...If Israel would not have rejected their own Torah...they would have recogized the Messiahship of Christ. The Torah spoke of Christ. Unfortunately, Israel followed the teaching of the Talmud more than the Torah which is the first five books of the Bible. Jesus taught the Torah.