America, the Beautiful?

Tuesday, March 05, 2013, 8:36 a.m. – The Lord Jesus woke me with the song: America, the Beautiful / National Hymn / Katharine Lee Bates – 1913 / Samuel A. Ward http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_the_Beautiful

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Matthew 21:18-22 (ESV):

In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.

When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

Nothing But Leaves – taken in part from “Into the Sea,” dated October 2010:

“I prayed for understanding, and I looked at this passage in several different commentaries. What was consistent in the various commentaries that I read was that the fig tree represents Israel, i.e. in today’s context it would be the church, for we are God’s people (true Israel; spiritual Israel) today. The church, in this context, is like the church in Laodicea (see Revelation 3), neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, so God is about to spit them out of his mouth. The lukewarm church is spiritually dead (barren) because of their sins. The lukewarm church is professing to be fruitful, but is fruitless. It is full of professions, but is lacking in the reality of Christlikeness, holiness and fruitfulness.

“In Luke 13 is recorded a parable of a fig tree that after 3 years still did not bear fruit, so the owner wanted to cut it down. The man who cared for the fig tree asked for one more year and if it still did not bear fruit, the owner could cut it down. This represents, I believe, that God gives his people, his church, time to bear fruit and time to repent, but a day will come when God will judge, and that is what this passage in Matthew is about. This cursing of the fig tree represented a pronouncement and a carrying out of judgment by God against His people because, although they had the appearance of righteousness, they were really dead, just like this withered fig tree.”

Today: The picture the Lord Jesus is giving me today is not only of the church in America, which he intends to cleanse (see vv. 12-13), but of our leadership and government in America, and thus the nation itself, which, I believe, he is cursing as he did this fig tree.

America (and the church here) gives forth the appearance of a nation blessed of God, beautiful in nature (which it is), whose motives are pure and right, which cares about its own people and the people of the world; which sends troops into other nations to help the oppressed and the afflicted and to bring them “freedom;” which is invincible in many respects; which worships the one true God, and truly cares about the freedoms of its own people; whose leaders are truly looking out for our own good; and is a nation NOT full of lies, deceit, manipulations, and betrayal stemming from its leaders, etc.

Yet, what I believe the Lord is showing me here is that the church in America (overall), and our leadership and government in America, and thus America itself, though giving forth the appearance of bearing fruit for God Almighty, i.e. they advertise they are blessed of God and in his service, and all looks bright and shiny and hopeful here, the advertisement is misleading, i.e. it is for show (appearance only). This is especially true within our government and media (which works for the government), but sadly enough it also is true in much of today’s modern church movement which is truly of man and not of God. It looks good on the outside, and “appearance” is central, but upon close examination we find that it is truly dead (barren). So, God is cursing our nation and is promising judgment and destruction (withering from the roots of our nation).

Yet, God intends, I believe, which we can find in the words of this national hymn, to pour out his grace upon us through judgment - to “mend our every flaw,” and to refine us as gold, till “every gain” of ours truly “is divine.” In other words, I believe God will judge our nation in order to bring us to God or back to God in faith, repentance and obedience.

This Mountain - taken from “Into the Sea,” dated October 2010:

The disciples asked how this tree withered so fast, and Jesus then told them that not only could they do what was done to the fig tree but that they could tell “this mountain” to throw itself into the sea, and it would be done if they had the faith and did not doubt.

I wondered what that meant, too, so I prayerfully began to search out the scriptures to see what this meant, in the context of the previous verses. I reexamined the previous verses and their meaning. The fig tree represents God’s people who today are the church. The church being represented here, thus, is symbolic of a fruitless, dead tree upon which God has cast his proclamation of judgment and a demonstration of his power to carry out what He said he would do. Then, Jesus told his disciples that if they believed and did not doubt, that they could do the same as was done to the fig tree, but they could also say to “this mountain,” “Go throw yourself into the sea,” and it would be done.

So, if what Jesus did was representative of a proclamation of judgment against His people, then to do what he did would thus be to also proclaim judgment on God’s people (as is written about in scripture) who have the appearance of righteousness but are really dead. The whole gospel includes the fact that God will judge. The Bible says that “judgment begins with the house of the Lord.” I believe God will judge his people first for their fruitlessness, their sins of idolatry and spiritual adultery, and their refusal to repent and to turn back to God in faith and obedience. That is what this passage is about.

So, if to do what Jesus did to the fig tree means that we, as well, proclaim judgment of God on a fruitless people who claim to be God’s people, then what would it mean to tell “this mountain” to throw itself into the sea? That was my question to God, so I looked up “this mountain” in the scriptures, which then led me to Mount Zion, which then led me to Zion, which eventually led me to an understanding that Zion was another word for Israel and that the church is now Zion and the mountain is the heavenly Jerusalem. So, if we tell “this mountain,” i.e. Zion (the church) to throw itself into the sea, what does that mean in this context? That was my question to God, so I looked up the phrase “throw into the sea.”

I learned that the idea of being thrown into the sea had to do with judgment. So, to throw oneself into the sea would thus be to judge oneself. Also, being thrown into the sea meant death, potentially, so to throw oneself into the sea would be to bring about death in oneself. This brought two passages of scripture to mind:

I Corinthians 11:27-32 (NIV84): Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself… But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

Matthew 16:24-27 (NIV84): Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

I believe what the Lord is showing me here is that he is telling his disciples, not only that they can do great miracles in the physical realm, but of greater importance is that they could see great miracles of God in people’s lives in the spiritual realm if they just believed God and did not doubt. They could, in faith, proclaim the whole gospel of Jesus Christ which tells people that we are sinners in need of a Savior, that we have to acknowledge that fact to God, that we have to repent (turn from) of our sin, that we must die to our old lives (throw ourselves into the sea), that a day of judgment (the withering of the fig tree) is coming, that Jesus provided the way for us to be free of our sin and the penalty of (eternal separation from God) and the bondage to sin, and that true faith and belief in what Jesus did for us in dying on the cross for our sins means that we also must die.

There is the final judgment in which the books will be open and those whose names are written in the “Book of Life” will be with God forever, but those whose names are not written there due to their unbelief, will face eternity without God. Yet, God also judges us regularly as divine discipline so that we are not condemned with the world in eternal separation from God. And, then there is also the judgment of the time of tribulation. The book of Revelation begins with letters to the churches, the last of which is the church in Laodicea. In most of these letters, he tells the church that they must repent or else face some kind of judgment from Almighty God. So, judgment is not just something that will determine who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, but it is God’s divine discipline on his people in order to cleanse them of this world, to make them holy, to purify them and to make them a bride ready to meet their bridegroom when he returns.

So, back to this passage in Matthew 21, when it says, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer,” I believe we have to consider the context in which these words were spoken in order to understand what they mean. I believe this is speaking about believing God for the miracle of His grace, his mercy, and his forgiveness in people’s lives, which is the greatest miracle of all. When we share the whole gospel of Jesus Christ, and when we call on the people of God to repent (to throw themselves into the sea), and we believe and don’t doubt that it will be done, then we are believing God for the salvation of lives, and we are believing him for revival in the church. So, when we receive what we ask for in prayer, in this context, I believe, we are receiving the fruit of the sharing of the gospel which is a harvest of souls (lives) that are committed to bearing fruit and not just giving the appearance of having fruit. This kind of prayer in faith, I believe, is belief in God for a great spiritual awakening.

Oh, that we would pray that prayer in complete faith and not doubt so that we would see people’s hearts transformed by the working of the Holy Spirit within them, his church, in making them into fruit-bearing trees for God’s purposes and for His glory.