The LORD our Passover

Continuing the indexing list for May 3^rd

Luke 21:20-24, 25-28, 29-33, 34-36 “When you see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter there into. For these be the days of vengeance* (the Last Judgment), that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.(This all took place in accord with Daniel 9:24-27 in 66-70 AD at the hands of the Romans after the death of both Peter in 68 and Paul in 66 AD.)

There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.(Spoken of in Acts by Stenphens witness of this.) And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws nigh.

He spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees; When they now shoot forth, you see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand. So likewise, when you see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say to you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but My words shall not pass away.

Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

This parable or similitude has the following meaning if we have received of the Lord (the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth) and a changed heart in which is found His character being restored. The first fig-tree was unproductive as it had already leaves but no figs or fruitfulness, this is and was Israel under its present leaders. If it had fruit it was purely of the external kind, of mans own doing, a natural fruit of limited goodness.

With international sense, when the branch is tender, summer or new life is near = a new church is about to spring forth. The fig-tree is the good of the natural, the branch is the affection of this and the leaves are the truth of good fruit.

Those who do not know or are not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word of revelation, cannot possibly know what is involved in the comparison of the Lord's coming, as the Holy Spirit, to the fig-tree and its branches and leaves. A fig-tree wherever mentioned signifies the internal or the good of the natural; the branch is the affection of this good because affection springs from good (compassion and charity) as a by product that springs from it source of the trunk, the leaves bear witness of the trees truth.

The parable indicates that a New Church is about to spring forth of the Lord's making, it has all the good of the natural, this is to say the good in the external form together with the affection and truths of the internal.

By the good of the natural it is not meant the good into which natural man is born, or which is derived from his parents, but is only the good derived from a change from the dead life, to the New Life in which there is only good in respect to its New Origin. Into this no one is born, but is led, or called by the Lord through the knowledge of good and Truth. Therefore until a man is in this good, that is spiritual good, he is not a man of the Church, however much good that he is born into and may appear to be. 

This is a treatise for the consummation of the age (where all things were formerly Israel only with few exceptions), this is seen in this, “the Last Judgment,”(Luke 21:22 in the word vengeance) and the signs which precede it are enumerated, which are meant by, “when all these things begin to come to pass.” The New Church is then to begin, as the phrase, “the kingdom of God is nigh” expresses, this coupled within the beginning an external as senn by, “Behold the fig-tree and all the trees, when they have shot forth.” This similitude is related because “the fig-tree” signifies the external church, and “tree” signifies the knowledge of the Truth and good; in “the kingdom of God” which is near. This is the New Church of this Lord's doing; because at, “the Last Judgment” the old church perishes and a New One begins.

In Luke 6:44, the fruit signifies the good of New Life, and the good of this new Life is the external good from the internal good, as compared to the natural good from the spiritual and from this the truly good man in known, as the Lord said, “Every tree is known by its own fruit; from thorns man do not get figs,nor from a bramble-bush gather they the grape,” “fig” here means the good of the external or natural man, the “grape” the good of the internal or spiritual man, “thorns” and bramble-bush” mean the evil which opposes those of the good.

*the day of vengeance: Look at Isaiah 34:8-17, 61:2-3, Jeremiah 51:5-10 (6), Romans 2:1-16 (5), 17-24, 2Peter 2:4-14 (9), 3:1-7 (7) The term Babylon (In Isaiah 34:5 the term Idumea is used as a metaphor for the church of the anti-christ, in these passages which is the church which causes a breach or division in the LORD's Church and is under His curse of destruction.) is used in Revelation 14, 16, 17, and 18, as the mother of Harlots and Abominations. Because it was in ancient Babylon that the people were of one mind and language until iniquity was the rule or the norm (in Gen. 11:6). This is also repeated in Jeremiah 51, Romans 2 and 2Peter 2 and a part of 3.