PAGE 47 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (THE FIG TREE)

The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is a copy of the Tree of Life; they are hard to tell apart from afar because they both have many fig leaves, which represent works.  Yeshua,  Jesus, uses a barren fig tree to symbolically curse the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil that had overtaken the religious system in Jerusalem and to teach his disciples about the Kingdom.  The scripture says in Mark 11:12-14


"The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Yeshua was hungry."


The name Bethany means "house of figs"; this is where the Tree of Life, with it's abundance of spiritual fruit was flourishing. Yeshua was leaving there and heading near Bethpage, which means "house of unripened figs". This is the city of the religious leaders and where the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil had a stronghold.  The scripture says:


"And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it.  When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs." Mark 11:13


Yeshua uses this fig tree as a teaching tool: he actually knows the truth that this tree has no fruit, but is teaching  his disciples that from afar, it looks like the Tree of Life because of its many fig leaves.  He then curiously tells them  that it isn't the "season" for figs.


The Greek word for "season" is koinos and the Hebrew word is moed.  It means "appointed time". Yahweh has his own calendar set with his appointed times and seasons when he manifests and takes action on Earth.  The remnant of believers in Yahweh Elohim, the triune God, are to understand what season in God's calendar they are in.  Jeremiah prophecies about the religious leader's lack of understanding of the Messiah Yeshua's appointed first time of visitation. He says:


"Even the stork in the heavens knows her times (moed), and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming (moed), but my people know not the judgment of Yahweh." Jeremiah 8:7


Yeshua rebukes the Pharisees and Sadducees for not understanding the appointed time of his coming:


"He answered them, 'When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times (koinos)." Luke 16:2,3


By saying that it "...isn't the season (koinos) for figs...", Yeshua is teaching his disciples that it is not the time for the religious and political structure in Israel to bear spiritual fruit or be the Tree of Life to the world. He later prophecies about the time in the future when that will take place:


"Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near." Matthew 24:32


The Greek word for "summer" is theros  and the Hebrew word for "summer" is quts.  it means the the time or season for the second fig harvest which occurs in August and September. Yeshua's first coming fulfilled God's springtime feasts on His calendar. The fig tree bears fruit in the spring and in the early fall. His first coming brought in a harvest of a remnant of individual believers pictured as in Mary, Martha and Lazarus of Bethany, the "house of figs".  The time between the two fig harvests represents the times of the Gentiles.  The second coming of Yeshua will be about the harvest of souls of the nation of Israel: the time when Yeshua brings down the Tree of Life with him to Jerusalem. The appointed time on God's calendar where the Kingdom of God is restored to the nation of Israel.  This is fulfilled in the appointed fall feasts in God's calendar. This "summer" season is right around that time.


Yeshua is telling his disciples to be aware that this summer season is near when they see leaves on the fig tree.  He is talking here about the Tree of Life; that it will happen slowly.  First, they will see leaves and then later, comes the Spirit or the fruit harvest.  The leaves that will appear first are the political and religious structure of Israel being reborn in the land which, miraculously  happened in the year 1948. The Bride of Christ must be aware that we are in the season of Yeshua's second coming at this present time!


Yeshua tells his disciples that the fig tree that they see near Bethpage is not the Tree of Life because it isn't the "appointed time" or "season" for that. Instead, it is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the tree that the religious leaders of that time had embraced. It is the copy, full of leaves or vain religious works. 
He then places a curse on Satan's Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil:


"Then he said to the tree, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again,' And his disciples heard him say it.'" Mark 11:14


He then goes on to cleanse the Temple of it's evil; the disciples then pass by the tree again and see that it had withered and died.  Yeshua will in the next few days judge Satan's tree by being crucified on a tree very near to where this particular cursed tree was. He is stating a prophecy that in the future, mankind will never make the mistake that Adam and Eve made: the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and Satan's schemes will completely be done away with, and no one will ever eat fruit from it again!