PAGE 42 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (THE FIG TREE)

Satan's false religious system is a copy of God's priestly system.  It looks good and pious on the outside but is spiritually dead.  It deceives many into believing that they have no need of salvation from Yahweh Elohim because either that 1. God does not exist. or 2.  There is no such thing as sin or that we are in an imprisoned state or 3. Any idol, any thing other than the true God, Yahweh, will save or fulfill us. or 4.  That man can save himself by his own works. or 5.  That man will establish his own utopian kingdom through the governments of the earth.  This false religious system is represented by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or the bad fig tree which bears bad or unripe figs or no fruit at all.  The bad fig tree has many leaves which represent man's self-righteous works  and from afar appears like the good fig tree, the tree of life, but has no fruit or spirit.


The good fig tree and the bad fig tree are two separate trees.  Yeshua, Jesus, says:


"No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit." Luke 6:43


"Watch out for false prophets.  They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.  Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Matt 7:15-19


Throughout the Bible,  scripture speaks of these two trees in Israel.  Yahweh gives the Prophet Jeremiah a prophecy:


"Then Yahweh said to me, 'What do you see, Jeremiah?' I said, 'Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.' 'These good figs...they will be my people and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. But like the poor figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten' says Yahweh, 'so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt...I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their fathers.'" Jeremiah 24


During the time of the Messiah Yeshua's visitation to Israel, there are two villages right next to each other in the Mount of Olives.  One is Bethany,  which means "house of figs" , and the other is Bethpage, which means "house of unripened figs."  The tree of life, the kingdom of God, was flourishing in Bethany and the bad fig tree had its hold on Bethpage.  To this day, the Mount of Olives is called the Mount of Annointing because the Kings of Judah were annointed as King with the olive oil from there and it is where King David went to worship God(2 Samuel 15:32).  It is also called the Mount of Corruption or of Evil Counsel because King Solomon on the southern ridge erected altars to false Gods for all of his foreign wives  (1 Kings 11:7). 


 Bethany is where Yeshua, Jesus, was annointed by Mary and was his home in Judah.  I believe Bethpage to be located on the southern ridge near the place King Solomon fell under the authority of Satan.  Bethpage during the time of Yeshua, was one of two meeting places for the Sanhedrin, the supreme ruling body of Israel.  Their main meeting place was at the Temple known as the Chamber of Hewn Stones.  Their other meeting place was in Bethpage near where the third altar, the Miphkad Altar was.  The priestly members of the Sanhedrin tended to  two altars within the Temple, the Incense and Burnt Sacrifice altars, and to the third, Miphkad altar that was "outside the camp" or outside the city of Jerusalem beyond the East Gate. This is where the red heifer offering is made for purification of the Temple (Numbers 19) and where the day of atonement sacrifices are burnt.  The Priests that served in the Temple lived in nearby Bethpage.  Nehemiah, when he is rebuilding the temple, discusses strengthening the place where the temple servants live above the gate of the Miphkad, the East Gate.  He says:


"... Malchiah, son of the refiner, strengthened the place of the temple servants and of the merchants, over-against the gate of the Miphkad, and to the ascent of the corner." Nehemiah 3:31


This home of the temple servants is up and above the Miphkad gate or the gate that leads to the Miphkad altar.


The Sanhedrin performed special duties at Bethpage at the time of Yeshua.  They took a census of the people, made decisions about the measurements of the Temple and Jerusalem, announced the arrival of the new moon, numbered the calendar and discussed matters concerning the red heifer.


Here on the Mount of Olives, which lies East and above the Temple in Jerusalem, we have the Tree of Life in Bethany and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in Bethpage.