In order to
understand a number of passages in the scriptures it is necessary to understand
certain symbolisms also found in God’s word.
Among those is that Israel is represented as a vine, and as a fig
tree. The last symbol is really a key to
the prophetic series I just wrote since the whole point was that the fig tree,
Israel, was budding, a symbol of both her restoration as a nation and the big
clue that we are in the last days of this human society, or world (Matt. 24:32-35,
Mark 13:28-31, Luke. 21:29-33).
There are a
number of places in the Old Testament where Israel is likened to a vine, or
vines in a vineyard. The first place we
are going to look at is found in Isaiah:
“Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a
song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a
very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and
planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and
also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes,
and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men
of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have been
done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked
that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now go to;
I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge
thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and
break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: And I will lay it
waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and
thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the
vineyard of the LORD of hosts is
the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for
judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.” (Isa
5:1-7)
This is
actually a prophecy of Israel’s exile from its land as well as the negation of
his covenant with them (vs. 5; Eph. 2:14-15).
So this points towards the exile of the Jews which began in 70ad. Yet we see that Israel here is present as a
vineyard which produces no fruit.
Jeremiah takes the symbol a step further, “Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art
thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?” (Jer
2:21), thus we see Israel identified as a vine.
This
knowledge is important because it helps us to understand more fully Paul’s
words to the Romans regarding Israel and the Church:
“For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what
shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
For if the firstfruit be holy,
the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and
thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them
partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree…” (Rom 11:15-17)
Thus we see
as regard’s the promise to Abraham Israel couldn’t fill the number of the
Church, so Gentiles were “grafted into” the vine of Israel to replace her
cutting off. That doesn’t mean that
Israel was replaced in God’s plan by the church completely, Paul informs us
that God will return favor to Israel:
“For I would not, brethren, that ye
should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of
the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written,
There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness
from Jacob: For this is my
covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the
gospel, they are enemies for
your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.”
(Rom 11:25-28)
Now we look
at some of the scriptures which refer to Israel as a Fig Tree. We find our first on in Hosea:
“I found Israel like grapes in the
wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first
time: but they went to
Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that
shame; and their abominations
were according as they loved.” (Hos 9:10)
Note the “grapes”
reference here, evoking the symbol of the vine we already saw in the form
of the fruit of the vine. In this verse
we see Israel also likened to the first fruits of the Fig, and, by
extrapolation a fig tree. However, to
nail the symbolism down properly we must go to the prophet Joel:
“He hath
laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and
cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.” (Joe. I: 7)
So both the
vine and the fig tree are used here as symbols of an Israel lid waste, again a
reference to the exile which began in 70ad.
Knowing this helps us to recognize the significance of Jesus’ words to
his disciples when he was asked about the last days to watch for the beginning
of the restoration of the Jews to their homeland to know that they are in the
last days, as we mentioned in the first article in our series on Israel in
Prophecy (Matt. 24:32-35; Mk. 13:28-30; 21:29-33).
Thus we see
how symbols relate and help us to come to a deeper understanding of important
truths.
No comments:
Post a Comment