We have been looking at Revelation 6 for a couple of weeks now. I would like to look at it one more time. We read in Revelation 6:12-14:
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
We have been going through this passage and realizing that it has to be understood spiritually rather than literally. Revelation 6, where it talks about the darkening of the sun and the moon becoming blood and the stars falling, has everything to do with God’s judgment on the church, with the body of believers coming out of the churches and congregations and continuing to worship God and carry the Gospel message to the people of the world from the vantage point of being outside of the organized church.
Revelation 6 is really teaching us this and it is also giving us insight into the reaction of those who remain in the churches, as they are the ones being pictured here crying out for the rocks to fall on them and for the mountains to cover them from the face of an angry God. There are many Scriptures that support this understanding of what it says in verse 13:
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth…
This is language that is telling us that believers, who are typified by the stars, will come out of the congregation, out of the church, which is typified by “heaven.” The word “heaven” here is not a word that is describing the literal heavens above, but it is a word that is being used of God to describe the churches and congregations.
Why would God do this? God would do this because the church, the organized church—whether Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic, whatever it might be—has been the outward representation of the Kingdom of God on earth. When we say that it is the representation of the Kingdom of God, we mean that it is the representation of the Kingdom of Heaven because God dwells in Heaven. So God uses, sometimes—not every time that we read the word “heaven”—but He uses the word “heaven” to point to the churches and congregations of the world.
We can see this if we go back to Isaiah 14. We will look at a couple of verses that show that “heaven” can be used to describe the church. In Isaiah 14:12, it says there:
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
This word “heaven” here in verse 12 is talking about the Heaven where God dwells. This is the Heaven that is the spiritual realm of God, and Lucifer, Satan, did have access into Heaven prior to the Cross.
We see this in the book of Job when Satan went amongst the sons of God, as they went “to present themselves before the Lord,” and he accuses Job. He was actually saying to God that Job only worshipped Him as he did because He had “made an hedge around him,” and so forth. In the book of Job, we see that Satan did have access into Heaven, but then he fell from Heaven. This happened at the Cross. When Jesus was victorious at the Cross, Satan was bound and he was also cast out of Heaven.
But then it says in the next verse, in Isaiah 14:13:
For thou hast said in thine heart…
This is referring to Lucifer:
…I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…
Now again, he is talking about ascending into Heaven and exalting his throne above the stars, but look at the parallel in the last part of the verse:
…I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
This is referring to the corporate church, like the “man of sin” in 2 Thessalonians 2 who takes his seat in the temple. Lucifer, in his desire to ascend into Heaven and exalt himself above the stars, enters into the churches and congregations. He is that “man of sin” who has taken his seat, who is ruling within the church during the time of Great Tribulation. So if we look at this verse carefully, we see that “heaven” is picturing the corporate body.
If we look at the early verses in Daniel 8, we read about the he goat who, again, is just another picture that God is using to describe Satan. We read in Daniel 8:10, speaking of that he goat:
And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.
Does the devil have this kind of power? Can Satan go grab some literal stars up in the sky and throw them down and stamp upon them?
This has nothing to do with the physical universe, but it has everything to do with the body of believers, who, again, are the stars. They are cast down by Satan and he is stomping upon them, especially during the first part of the Great Tribulation.
Notice that God says that the he goat “waxed great, even to the host of heaven.” You see, the stars and the moon and the sun are the lights placed in what would otherwise be darkness; it is all dark without these celestial lights. The “heaven” is representing the church.
Or let us go to Revelation 13:13. This is referring to the beast that rose up from the earth. It is, again, Satan, the devil. Revelation 13:13:
And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
We know that the fulfillment of this verse is not literal fire coming down from Heaven, but it is what is going on in the charismatic churches, in the tongues churches, in the churches that seek after signs and wonders, and they are beginning to fall over backwards. That falling over backwards is the equivalent of calling down fire from Heaven.
We will not get into a big discussion of this, but when the guards came to take Jesus and it began the time when He would have His trial and be crucified, when they first came to Him, Jesus said, “I am He,” and they all fell over backwards. The reason that this happened was because Christ should have called down fire from Heaven to destroy them, to burn them up, like we have in the Old Testament example of Elijah who called down fire from Heaven when some of the king’s men came to take him. But Jesus had to fulfill all Scripture. He had to do the Father’s will and go to the Cross. So instead of consuming them with a burning fire, they fall over backwards.
Now in the churches of our day, you have people come up—and I do not watch this kind of stuff, but you hear about it—and they come down the aisle and the pastor, or whoever, touches them on the forehead and they fall over backwards. They think that this is a great sign of God’s presence, of God’s blessing, when it is completely the opposite. It is indicating that God is judging them; they are under His wrath. If it is supernaturally being done, it is being done by the power of Satan and not God. Yet the important thing that we want to look at is:
…he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Where is this taking place? When people are falling over backwards, it is happening in the church, but it is said to be equivalent to “heaven.” Just like falling over backwards is equivalent to the fire coming down, the church is equivalent to “heaven.” Again, we see that the churches and congregations are typified by “heaven.”
Going back to Revelation 6, we read in Revelation 6:14:
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together…
This is a very difficult verse, or it has been for a long time. Throughout the Church Age, people would just look at this and think, “Well, it is the end of the world, and it is just figurative language. It is just a picture that God is using. Here is the wide expanse of the whole universe, the whole creation that God made, and God is just kind of wrapping it up like a scroll. He is rolling it all together. It is the time of the end. The world is over. The universe is finished.”
Actually, this is in view because this is coming and very shortly, but the language here is not pointing to this. When it says “And the heaven departed as a scroll,” we just saw that the heavens or heaven can typify the church. The word “departed” in Revelation 6:14 is only found in one other place in the New Testament, which is in Acts 15, and we read in Acts 15:37-40:
And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; and Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
These two men were missionaries and they were a team. They went forth together for a long period of time, but over this man named John Mark, who had gone with them previously on a missionary journey but left them during the trip, a sharp contention developed. We are not told why, but Mark departed from them. So now, maybe he has been strengthened by the Lord, maybe he is determined to finish the course and he wants to, once again, go with these missionaries. Mark had time to pray and to think about what he did, and so, now, he is of the mind, “I am going to faithfully be a missionary for God.” But Paul thought it not good to take him because Mark had been out there on the mission field with them and, for whatever reason, he had left them.
Barnabas, probably thinking that we have to forgive and so forth and that we should give someone another chance, wanted to take John Mark. The contention was so sharp between these two, both faithful men of God and missionaries who brought the Gospel to the world of that day, “that they departed asunder.” They both went different ways, and this is the word that we find in Revelation 6:14:
And the heaven (divided or) departed (asunder)…
Remember, we are looking at the church. We are looking at this word “heaven” as typifying the church. “The church departed asunder” is really how we can understand this.
And the heaven departed (asunder) as a scroll when it is rolled together…
Why a “scroll?” The word for scroll is “biblion.” It means exactly how it sounds, “Bible.” “Biblos” or “biblion” is the Greek word for “book,” and the Bible is the Book. Do not be fooled by libraries that have thousands and ten of thousands of different manuscripts. This is the Book that is most important in the world. This word “scroll” is the word “biblion,” and it is the same word that is found in Hebrews 10:7, where it says:
Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book—or biblion—it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
We know, of course, that this is the Scriptures. This is the Bible. This is the Word of God.
It is also found in Luke 4:17:
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
This is “biblion.” It is the scroll. In those days, they would have had parchment. They would have paper that would roll up like a scroll. When they wanted to read it, they had to unroll it and hold it. They might read the prophet Isaiah, and when they were done reading, they would roll it back up and close the book.
So Revelation 6:14 is telling us:
And the heaven (or the church) departed (asunder) as a scroll when it is rolled together…
“When it is rolled together”—if you are holding the scroll and spreading the two ends from each other, then the book is opened. When you roll the scroll back together, the book is closed.
This is the point that God is making here. When it comes to the time of the Great Tribulation, according to His timetable and salvation plan, there will be a separation of the wheat and the tares and of the sheep and the goats. There will be a separation within the church that will depart asunder those who had been traveling the same path for nearly 2,000 years. Then, the book, the scroll, will be rolled together. To those who remain in the churches and in the congregations, the Bible becomes a sealed book. The Light of the Gospel is put out.
In order to appreciate the Bible or to receive the blessings of God, it has to be open. No one can become saved just because they have a Bible in their house or in their church. They have to open up the Bible. They have to read what the Bible says. If the Bible is closed, there is no salvation; there is no blessing of God. There are no spiritual blessings of any kind.
Let us go back to Isaiah 29. In Isaiah 29, I think that we will see exactly what God has in mind by the scroll being rolled together. In Isaiah 29:10-12, it says:
For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
The point that God is making is that when the Book is closed or sealed or rolled together, then the “vision of all” is worthless. It is worthless. What they are teaching in the church is in vain because there can be no blessing. They need the Light of the Gospel. They need God’s Spirit behind the words, not just reading the words. If God determines that there is a famine of hearing in the land, then there will be no blessing.
This is what is being pictured in Revelations 6 with the heaven departing asunder “as a scroll when it is rolled together.” It is all closed up and the Light of the Gospel has been put out. It is extinguished.
Let us go back to Revelation 6:13, because we did not really look at the last part of this verse. Once again, Revelation 6:13:
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
We have the stars in heaven, and we have the fig tree and figs. They are synonyms. The stars and the figs are one and the same. The fig tree and heaven are one and the same. What the fig tree represents, the heaven represents. What the stars represent, the figs represent.
It is interesting when we read about the fig tree in the New Testament. We read verses like Matthew 21:19, which is referring to Jesus, where it says:
And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
Now turn to Matthew 24. Matthew 24 is a chapter dealing with our time of the Great Tribulation. It says in Matthew 24:32:
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
This is what happened when Christ came to the fig tree. There were only leaves. He was looking for fruit. There was no fruit on the fig tree, so He cursed it with an eternal curse and it withered away.
In Matthew 24, it is referring to the fig tree that is putting forth leaves—no fruit. In Revelation 6, we have the stars of heaven falling to the earth even as figs falling from a fig tree. If the figs fall off of the fig tree, there is no fruit. It is a fig tree in leaf, but no fruit.
There is a connection between all of these passages, especially with Matthew 24, as the previous verses were talking about a darkening of the sun and the moon not giving its light and the stars falling from heaven. So what we are going to try to do for the rest of our time today is to try to understand the parable of the fig tree, and I think that we finally can. I think that we will understand the parable of the fig tree. Once we do, then we should, as it says here in the following verse, in Matthew 24:33:
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
When we understand the parable of the fig tree, we know that Christ is at the door, that it is the end of the world and that what we are seeing in other parts of the Bible is absolutely true, that the time of the end is close at hand, that maybe we do only have four years left, that maybe Christ will return in the year 2011. This is because, if we understand the parable of the fig tree, “ye know that summer is nigh.” We know these things.
We have previously understood that the fig tree was national Israel coming together and being a nation in the world, as they did in 1948. There could be and there probably is some element of truth in this—that it is pointing to what this verse has in mind. But just think, that happened in 1948. We are in the year 2007. So is this really what God was signaling? It was not the right century. We are in a different century. It was not even the right millennium. We are in another millennium.
If Israel being a nation again is the signpost that lets us know that we are close, well, yes, maybe it can give us the general ballpark, but it is not letting us know exactly how close we are. So there has to be more to this parable of the fig tree. There has to be more information, and I think there is.
If we go back to 1 Kings 4:25, it says there:
And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
This is speaking about Israel dwelling safely and it is likened to being “under his vine and under his fig tree.” But let us also go to Zechariah 3. The books of Zechariah and Malachi are at the end of the Old Testament. We read in Zechariah 3:9-10:
For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.
The fig tree can, at times, be looking at the Lord Jesus. It can, at times, be associated with the outward representation of God—the Old Testament Israel or the New Testament church. At times, it pictures the church under judgment, like in the book of Joel. In Joel 1:6, it says:
For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion.
This is referring to Satan, who is typified by the Babylonians coming out of the north.
Then we read in Joel 1:7:
He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
This is language that is describing Satan’s assault upon the congregation. It is as though he barked the fig tree.
Also, in Joel 1:10-12:
The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
All of these trees represent the churches and congregations. When it comes to the time of God’s judgment beginning at the house of God, then all of these trees are assaulted and they whither away because they have no root. They whither away because they have no water, spiritually speaking. Christ has departed and left, and so they are destroyed.
Now turn to Joel 2:21-22, where it says:
Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
The next verse talks about the early and latter rain. Then it tells us in verse 24:
And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
So on one hand, the fig tree is withered. It is destroyed. It is bearing no fruit. There is no harvest.
On the other hand, there is a fig tree bearing fruit, and that would be the Lord Jesus Christ. He is typified by the fig tree and the vine, as we read in John 15, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” Jesus is the fig tree that we want to be a part of. In order to have salvation, we have to be a part of that tree, but the other fig tree is what represents Christ, the church, and that is being judged and it is withering.
Let us also go to Jeremiah 5. We read in Jeremiah 5:15-17:
Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.
Again, this is Satan coming against the church.
Let us go over to Jeremiah 8:11-13:
For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
So here God is indicating that there will be no fruit. There will be no fruit within the church. Keep in mind that the book of Jeremiah is looking ahead to our day and this time of Great Tribulation when God is judging the churches of the world.
We will see this very clearly in Jeremiah 24. In Jeremiah 24, I think that we will all have a better understanding of the fig tree and the figs, after we read some of the verses here. In Jeremiah 24:1-5:
The LORD showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
So the “good figs” are a type and a figure of those who were in Judah, in Jerusalem, who were carried away captive. They go to Babylon. They are “good figs,” because Judah is representing the church and Babylon is representing Satan’s rule out there in the world—it is representing the world itself. When any of the Jews would go to Babylon, they were considered to be like “good figs.” This is just like today when any believers come out of the church and when any of God’s people leave the congregations, they are being pictured by “good figs.”
But let us keep reading in Jeremiah 24. We read in Jeremiah 24:6-10:
For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt: and I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
Again, the “evil figs,” the bad figs, are those who did not go into captivity and were rebelling against the king of Babylon and fighting against him. They are representing those who remain and stay in the church. They are the ones who would dismiss the whole idea of the end of the Church Age with a wave and will not even look into it to try to check it out and study it to so if it is so. Their attitude is, “It just can not be. It just can not be. The church has been going on for nearly 2,000 years, and now, all of a sudden, you are saying that the Church Age is over.”
Well this is what God is saying in the Bible. That is what He is teaching. He has made a separation of figs, just like the wheat and tares, just like the sheep and the goats—good figs/evil figs. The good figs, God’s people, will leave the church. The bad figs will remain; they are going to stay.
As far as God is concerned, Jesus came to the fig tree during His ministry upon earth. He visited the fig tree, looking for fruit. He was a hungered. He was looking for something to eat and there was no fruit, because Israel, in itself, produced no fruit, except for bringing Christ to the Cross. That was the fruit that God actually designed them for, but there was no fruit amongst the nation of Israel, as far as a great work of salvation in their land.
So when God tells us in Matthew 24 that He is visiting the corporate body once again, He is coming to the church, to the congregation, and He is finding no fruit. He is finding that there are no good figs. The figs have left the tree, and the only thing that remains are “evil figs” that can not be eaten. Therefore, He says in Matthew 24:32:
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
The word “summer” identifies with “harvest.” It has everything to do with a harvest. So if we are seeing that the fig tree is in leaf in the church, and we are because there is no fruit there, then we can know that it is harvest time and that God is saving a great multitude of people outside of the church in the world today. We can know that these things are currently underway and taking place.
Also, Matthew 24:33 says:
So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
This is what we have come to realize. We realize that the judgment on the church is like a red flag. It is like a sign that God has given. This is actually why He says in Luke 21:25:
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars…
God is giving us an indicator so that we can realize that we are close to the very end of the world and that the Judge is standing right at the door.