In the Lord’s discourse about the signs of the end of the age, He gave us a very important timetable in Matthew 24:32-34:
even so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.
"Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
The fig tree is the symbol of the nation of Israel. It is the most important barometer of the condition of mankind, as well as a prophetic clock for the last days. It is also an assayer of the hearts of men. How we perceive Israel and its purpose, says a lot about our own spiritual condition, just as the apostle Paul related in Romans chapters 9-11. Last, but not least, Israel is a barometer of the present condition of the church as well. All of these things we will look at in some depth in this coming year, but for now I want to highlight one important point in how the condition of Israel reflects the present state of the church.
The present condition of the nation of Israel is that it is basically a secular nation, with about 90 percent of the population not being religious, and hardly even understanding what it means to be a Jew. To these it is mostly a matter of race, and they do not understand why the world hates them so much. Because of this, all but a small percentage of the people of Israel are trapped in a national and personal, identity crisis. This same percentage is probably also true of the church in relation to believers understanding who they are and why they are here.
Israel will not be able to fulfill its true purpose as a nation until it comes to understand its divine purpose, who they are, and why they exist. This is in relation to their calling from God, and they can never understand themselves until they understand Him and the calling He gave to them. The same is very true of the church. One of our main prayers for Israel is that they come to know Him and their purpose in Him. This should also be one of our main prayers for the church.
Israel is basically called to teach the nations how to be nations and how to relate to other nations in obedience to God’s ways. If we look at their modern record in these matters, we will probably conclude that they are not doing a very good job of this. This is not to imply anything about the right or wrong of their policies, but they will never do this well until they are rightly related to the Lord. No one will have right relationships to other people until we are rightly related to the Lord. If the first commandment, to love the Lord first and above all things is not the highest priority of our lives, then nothing else will work, even if we do understand our calling.
Presently, Israel can hardly think about anything more than just surviving as a nation, much less being an example to other nations. Much of the church is likewise so focused on the battles to just survive that it is still very far from even understanding its purpose, much less walking in it. This is not true of all, but it is of most. This is changing, and in the coming year many more will escape from their “bunker mentality” and embrace their calling. This will be the result of the only thing that can cause this—a restoration of our first love—God.
One of the most important spiritual events of 2004 was the release of the movie The Passion of the Christ, produced and directed by Mel Gibson. It articulated the love that God has for us better than possibly any media in history, with the exception of the Bible itself. In many ways the Lord is using “Hollywood,” and other secular media, to proclaim the gospel because so much of His church is hiding in their bunkers, only proclaiming the gospel to those who will get into the bunkers with them. I thank the Lord for Mel Gibson’s faith and courage to risk all that he did to tell the story, while doing it with uncompromising power and excellence.
Just as a powerful volcanic eruption can affect the weather of the entire planet for a time, that movie had an impact on the spiritual atmosphere of the planet. It was that powerful. When I talked to a friend who is a dentist and a Lutheran, he thought watching that movie increased his faith by ten times. It had that kind of effect on many. Just as volcanic residue can remain in the atmosphere for years, and affect the weather for that long to at least some degree, there is a spiritual residue from that movie which will remain for some time. It actually had a major impact on the Presidential election because of the way it turned so many back to God.
Of course, such a thing as this movie’s effect on the Presidential election would be hard to measure or prove, but it is true. There is presently a major turning back to the Lord and to righteousness, which is happening to some degree across the whole earth. There are many other factors besides The Passion for this, but it is happening. Africa, Asia, South America, and Central America have been experiencing such a turning for years now. We are about to see it in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. Key countries to watch are Germany, Italy, Israel, and the United States.
True revival and true evangelism are not born out of a love for the lost as much as a love for God. The true power of sacrifice is not from us taking up our own crosses as much as it is trusting in the cross of Jesus and what He accomplished. This is the source of a truly powerful, sacrificial life that is not rooted in self-righteousness, but the power of the cross of Jesus.
When we measure any sacrifices that we could make against the cross of Christ, our own sacrifices will have little weight. Those who have their attention focused rightly on the righteousness of God will usually become the most self-sacrificing people for the sake of the gospel. They will hardly even know this about themselves because their attention is not on themselves but on Him. How could anyone presume glory or position in His presence? Even so, these become the most powerful people on the planet.
For this reason, the true knowledge of who we are and what we are called to is not rooted in self-discovery, but in the knowledge of God. That is why I so appreciated The Passion of the Christ; it focused on God, on the cross of Jesus. It is good to tell the story of people, and to derive encouragement from the heroes of the faith in Scripture and in history, but only when it is founded upon the Lord and His righteousness.
One encouragement we have from history is that a single soul who gives themselves to live for God instead of for themselves can change the course of history more dramatically than any conqueror or statesmen ever could. Just as no one probably expected the kind of impact that Mel Gibson had, the Lord loves to do such things from unexpected sources. We have come to the time of many such remarkable spiritual feats from the most “ordinary” people. It is truly in this way that the Lord receives more glory than if it came from great cathedrals or spiritual professionals.
There is nothing more powerful, more revolutionary, or contagious, than someone who is getting closer to God. Any one of us could spark a spiritual revolution that changes our cities, our nations, and even to some degree, impacts the entire world in our time. However, few will ever do these things if these things are their goal. Our goal must be loving God and simply doing His will, whether it is to do great things or obscure things. However, anyone who lives with such simplicity of devotion to Christ will at least be the spark to great things being accomplished.
For our Word for the Week friends, our main goal for this year was to get much closer to God than we were at the beginning of the year. Did you do that? If we did, regardless of what else took place this year, it was a very successful year. If we did not do that, regardless of what else was accomplished, we failed at the most important thing we have been called to do. Those who will be the closest to God for eternity will be those who were the closest to Him here.