THE MIRACLE IN THE GARDEN

Mark 11:12-14, 20-21

Morning Meditation 9/26/16

Mark 11:12-14, 20-21 says, “And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it . . . And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.”

The fig tree stands in Scripture types as the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel was fruitless when Jesus came on the scene. They refused Him as the Messiah, and because of this, He set them aside.. This is typified in the curse of the fig tree. The next morning after Jesus had cursed the fig tree as they passed by it, the disciples noticed that it was “dried up from the roots.” The word “from” translates the Greek preposition “ek” and suggests that life was still in the roots. God’s covenant with Israel is an eternal and unconditional covenant. Paul says in Romans 11:26 that all Israel will be saved. This simply means that Israel will ultimately be saved. It does not mean that Jews who die in rejection of Jesus will be saved. Israel is set aside as a nation until the time in God’s providence He begins to deal with them again. This is happening in a small way today but God’s clock will begin to tick again with Israel after the rapture and during Daniel’s seventieth week which is the last seven years of world history as we know it and is identified in the Book of Revelation as the Tribulation period.

I am looking at a picture as I type this meditation of an ancient olive tree (not a fig tree) in the Garden of Gethsemane. It has olives on it. (See Isa. 24:13; Jer. 11:16; Rom. 11:17 where the olive tree is also a symbol of Israel).Yet when you look at it from the limbs that are green and loaded with olives, they are attached to a stump that is dead. I observed these trees closely when I was in the Garden area. Our guide said these trees dated back to the time of Christ. He said these trees did not have fruit on them until 1948. He said from that time they have been bearing olives. When you look at the trunk is appears to be as dead as a box of rocks. But the fruit bearing limbs coming out of it are loaded with olives. A miracle? I’m sure this would mean nothing to an unbeliever. He would find some scientific explanation. But it could not remove what is obvious if you were there looking at it.

This is the garden where Jesus was betrayed with a kiss from Judas. Peter drew his sword and cut of Malchus ear (John 18:10). Here Jesus sweat as it were great drops of blood in agony as He anticipated the cup He must drink on the cross. He prayed, “. . . O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). Some believe that the sins of the world so pressed in upon Jesus at this point that this prayer was prayed that His life might be sparred so that He could die, not in the garden, but, on the cross. I do not take that view. I believe that Jesus prayed this prayer in awesome dread of what would happen on the cross. He knew all that would happen there including His separation from God. I believe the prayer was a genuine agony seen in the bloody sweat and expressed in words that we might know that God has only one possible way of salvation. If God Himself could come up with a plan where He could be “Just and the Justifier of the one meeting the conditions” (Rom. 3:26), you can be sure all of heaven would have rushed to rescue Jesus from the cross, and the other plan instituted. When we read these words of Jesus “. . . if it be possible, let this cup pass from me . . .” we know that the silence of God thundered with ear deafening finality, “There is no other way.”

After we had prayer as a group we were allowed to go off in whatever part of the garden we desired and have a time of private prayer and meditation. My wife and I got under one of the olive trees and prayed for our family, church, all of those who get the morning meditations and some others that I pray for daily.

The Jewish nation is a miracle of God as surely as the New Birth is a miracle that brought us as believers into a saving relationship with God. God is in the process of bringing His people back into the land. They are being brought back unsaved. National salvation will not come to Israel until the Lord’s return as is described in Revelation 19, i.e., His literal appearing. Then what Zechariah 13:6 says will be fulfilled: “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” No saved person has to ask, “What are these wounds in thine hands?” You see, all of us who are saved know beyond a shadow of a doubt that “. . . he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities . . .” This is a matter of the heart for us as believers. We are humbled by His willingness to “be made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” This is no mere intellectual belief. It is a matter of the heart. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10:10).

Those dead tree trunks are a sign unto us that He can bring life out of death. God did this nationally for Israel in 1948. And there is fruit to be seen of His working in their national life. He willing and will do it spiritually. First, He will save any Jew that repents of sin and unbelief and puts his trust in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. The saved Jew is not to identify in this age with the nation of Israel spiritually. I didn’t say he could not identify with them nationally. But the place for saved people from all nations in this age is the local Church. Because of space I will not quote this passage but please pick up your Bible and read it: Ephesians 2:13-22; 3:21. You will find that in the church of which Christ is the Head, “the middle wall of partition” has been broken down. That middle wall of partition is described as the “law of commandments” (vs. 15). We are not under law. The Jew is not under law and the Gentile never has been. But the law separated the Jew from the rest of the world. Jesus is calling out a people for Himself today and the place where those people ARE DEVELOPED after salvation is the local Church (See Eph. 4:11-16).

Then He will do it nationally when He comes again to earth to establish His kingdom. All the kingdom promises to Israel will be fulfilled at His return. Jesus begins the conversion of national Israel during the tribulation (after the rapture) when He seals 144,000. This is described in detail in Revelation chapter seven (Rev. 7:4-8). They are called the “first fruits” in Revelation fourteen (Rev. 14:1-5). Then when He comes to the earth Isaiah’s prophecy will be fulfilled: Isaiah 66:8 says, “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children..” From the time Israel ceased to be a nation until 1948 all that you could see of them in their national life was a dead trunk. When Israel became a nation in 1948 the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane were dead. Now there are live limbs coming out of those dead trunks with olives on them. A miracle? Our guide told us that these trees did not bear fruit until after they became a nation in May of 1948. I believe it is a miracle in the garden. You’ll have to make your own choice of what to believe.

Let’s pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Psa. 122:6 says, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.” Let’s pray that they will believe the gospel because the vail that is upon their eyes will not be removed until they FIRST believe (2 Cor. 3:14). It is not, remove the vail and then believe. That would make God responsible for their unsaved condition. They are responsible (John 1:11-12), and UNTIL they accept Jesus by FAITH alone, the veil will remain.

My God bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White