Revive Israel Discipleship Program
Yad Hashmonah, Israel
I have become fascinated by the connection in Hebrew between these intertwined concepts above, just as here we have finally parted from the long, dry, hot summer. Yeshua created summertime and the summer fruit harvest as an agricultural parable of the deeper truths of fruition, completion, and ripening - of individuals, of mankind, and of His redemptive Story.
“Kayitz” means summer. “Kayitz” can also mean summer fruit/figs ripe for harvest. “Kaytz” means End.
Jeremiah:
“...but you are to harvest the wine, summer [fruit] and oil… ” (Jeremiah 40:10)
“The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.” (Jeremiah 8:20)
Amos:
“This is what the LORD showed me: a basket of ripe summer fruit [also translated figs]… Then the LORD said to me, ‘The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer…’ ” (Amos 8:1-2)
Yeshua:
In Matthew 24, Yeshua talks about the last days, about the end of the world (as we know it) before the new heaven and earth.
“…the disciples came to him privately. ‘Tell us’ they said, ‘when will this happen and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’
“Yeshua answered: ‘Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name…
“The love of many will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved…there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.
“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. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door…” (Matthew 24:3-33 NIV; emphasis added)
The fig tree drops its large, thick-fingered leaves before the mild Israel winter. Its bare white branches look dead, like sun-bleached bones, with no life in them at all. Suddenly, as summer approaches, the branches soften. Life begins to flow in them. When leaf buds begin to appear - everyone knows summer is at hand. Then, in midsummer, the green figs grow abundant on the tree and start turning purple or yellowish depending on the variety. When the figs soften and become squeezable, they are ripe for harvest.
Yeshua, like Amos, plays with the words summer and end (kayitz/kaytz). He connects the two words to reflect a season of readiness/harvest/completion/ending. The end will come when everything is ready for the return of King Yeshua.
Jesus, in the parable of the fig tree, explains to us what these days will be like. For a season, the world will be dead, dry, and lifeless. When we see fruit coming forth, softening and ripening like a fig - we will know that the End Time harvest is at hand.
“By this is my father glorified: that you bear much fruit and be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Stand firm in my love.” (John 15:8-9)
Even as “meta” things are happening nationally and internationally, I pray on a personal and community level, for abundant, ripening fruit for each of you - the fruit of the spirit and the outflow of God’s life in every way, right now, even as the end approaches.
