Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #17 of Revelation, chapter 13, and we are continuing to look at Revelation 13:10:

He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

We are looking at the last part of the verse: “Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”  We looked at the word “patience” and at the Greek word it is derived from and we saw how it points to maintaining faithfulness to the Word of God – keeping “under” and “abiding” in the Word of God. 

But why does God identify the faith of the saints with the Great Tribulation period?  More than that, the very same thing is said regarding the Day of Judgment, in Revelation, chapter 14.  Just as Revelation, chapter 13, is in the context of the Great Tribulation period, the next chapter, chapter 14, has its context established as Judgment Day.  For instance, it says in Revelation 14:10-11:

The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Now look at Revelation 14:12:

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

It is a very similar to the statement at the end of Revelation 13:10:

… Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

In Revelation 13, this statement is in the midst of a chapter that is completely devoted to the Great Tribulation.  The preceding verses are all about the beast and Satan’s loosing and the judgment that comes upon the churches and the giving up of the unsaved inhabitants of the earth to worship the beast.  And what follows verse 10 of Revelation, chapter 13?  It talks about another beast and the image made to that beast and God goes into detail about those that worship the image of the beast; those that do not are killed.  Again, the entire chapter is about the Great Tribulation and then the verse about the “patience and the faith of the saints” is inserted right in the midst.

That is also the pattern in Revelation, chapter 14, where the context is Judgment Day.  We read verses 10 and 11, but look at Revelation 14:14-15:

And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

Then it goes on and speaks more of Judgment Day and the reaping of the wicked and their being cast into the winepress of the wrath of God.  In the midst of this is Revelation 14:12:

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Why does God give us these verses in the context that He does?  We know, from verse 10, that it is indicating that God’s people will go through the Great Tribulation and it will be a great trial for them; they must exercise tremendous patience and faith through Christ.  Likewise, Revelation 14:12 is letting it be known that “Here is the patience of the saints,” in the Day of Judgment.  It is strong proof that the people of God will be on the earth and living through the Day of Judgment. 

Some theologians thought that the true believers would be raptured (pre-Trib).  Just about all theologians thought the true believers would be raptured before Judgment Day.  They did not think God would have His people remain on the earth while the judgment was under way and, yet, that is a correction we have learned as part of the “revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” 

Again, we have looked at “patience,” but why is their also an emphasis on “faith”?  It says in our verse in Revelation 13:10: “Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”  And this is in the context of the Great Tribulation.  Also, in Revelation 14:12, “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”  And this reference to “faith” is in the context of Judgment Day.  So “faith” is strongly stressed and God commends His people and He is saying, “Here, in the Great Tribulation and, here, in the Day of Judgment, will be an illustration of the faith of the saints, my elect.”  But, why is that?  Of course, it is partly due to the severe testing of our faith in both instances.  During the Great Tribulation God’s people were tested and during this time in the Day of Judgment, God’s people are being tested.  It is a fiery trial of faith.  Yes, that is true and, yet, there is more to it.  There is something else.  There is another reason why God is speaking of the faith of the saints concerning the judgment on the churches during the Great Tribulation, in chapter 13, and concerning the judgment on the world, in chapter 14.  I think the reason for this can be seen when we turn to Matthew, chapter 21.  It says in Matthew 21:18-22:

Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. 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. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

Well, this is a curious passage, as many things in the Bible are curious.  This is one of them.   Christ, who is hungered, sees a fig tree in the way.  He approaches it, but there is no fruit – only leaves.  So he curses the fig tree so that no fruit would grow on the tree for ever.  He pronounces an eternal curse on the fig tree.  Of course, this is not a natural thing to do in being so disappointed that you pronounce an eternal curse.  Jesus did not do it because He was disappointed because of His hunger, but he did it to teach a spiritual truth – a very important spiritual truth.  When the disciples marveled and noted how soon the fig tree had withered away, Jesus uses the cursing of the fig tree as a platform to say, “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.”  Christ is saying, “I cursed the fig tree and if you have faith, you will also curse the fig tree, but not only that, but you will say unto this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea and it shall be done.”  We need to see that.  Christ cursed the fig tree, but He is saying, “So, too, will you curse a fig tree.”  Again, it is not stated quite like that but it is saying that if you have faith, you will not only do this which is done (“but also”) something in addition.  So the disciples will, likewise, curse a fig tree, but they will also say to the mountain, “Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea.” 

We wonder, “What is the point of this?”  We can see why people get frustrated with the Bible.  It is an interesting thing.  It is an incredible thing for a “man” to curse a fig tree and for it to wither away presently, right before people’s eyes.  That does show power and, yet, it was just a tree.  But that “tree” represented national Israel and when Christ cursed the fig tree, He was, in effect, ending God’s relationship with national Israel, which had been the representatives of the kingdom of God to the people of the earth for centuries.  But now the time had come and this would be confirmed when Jesus went to the cross and the veil of the temple was rent in two and it would signal the end of that relationship and the “divorce” of Israel; they would no longer be the outward representation of God’s kingdom to the people of the world.  Then God would identify with the New Testament churches throughout the church age.  But, Christ cursed the fig tree and no longer would national Israel be the Holy people of God and there would be no “fruit” from that point on and for ever.  God was no longer there.  He had left Israel and, therefore, there would be no more salvation within the Jewish religion and that continues right up to today.  If people go to a synagogue now, or if they went 100 years ago, or if they went at any point since God cursed the fig tree, there would be no salvation there.  They could listen to the Old Testament, as the Jews only acknowledge the Old Testament as the Word of God.  That is the Word of God, is it not?  They could hear a good message on some Old Testament passages and could God use that to save someone in the synagogue?  No, He would not, because there was a curse pronounced against them.  It was an eternal curse and no “fruit” would grow on that fig tree, picturing national Israel, for ever.  Therefore, there was no salvation within their synagogues or within the Jewish religious system over the course of the New Testament era because God had left them and entered into the midst of the NT churches and congregations.  That would be where salvation could take place and never again within that Israel.  That is the curse that Jesus pronounced.

His disciples, the true believers, marveled that the fig tree withered away.  Of course, they had no idea that this fig tree represented national Israel.  Then Jesus said to them, in Matthew 21:22:

Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree…

Now the fig tree represented Israel, but who does Israel represent?  Israel is used in many places (too numerous to mention) as a type and figure of the New Testament churches and congregations.  Christ cursed national Israel when He was on the earth at the time that God’s judgment came upon them and He instituted the New Testament church age, but God also had a plan that at the end of the church age, He would come to visit to see if those churches were faithful.  It was just like when, after hundreds of years, He came to visit Israel.  They were unfaithful and God judged them and He left them and never, again, would they bear fruit. 

At the time of the end, after giving them space for almost 2,000 years (1,955 years from 33 AD to 1988 AD), God came to visit and He saw the high places of the churches and their failure to uphold His Word.  He pronounced the judgment and He loosed Satan to come against the camp of the saints and the Holy Spirit came out of the midst; the Lord Jesus left the churches, just as He had left Israel many years before. 

But, notice that Christ is speaking to the believers when He said, “I cursed the fig tree and it withered away.”  When something “withers,” it dries up because it has no water.  So there was no water of the Gospel because Christ is that water; the Spirit of God is that water.  When He leaves, you have no water and it is a dry thing, like a dry branch that is only good for burning.  Likewise, when God left the churches, they withered away.  God left them, but He was not physically on the earth like He was during His earthly ministry, but He left the information in His Word and He sealed it til the time of the end for His people to “find,” as God unsealed it and showed it to them.  He opened their understanding to the fact that judgment had begun at the house of God; the churches had fallen away and there was great apostasy and God’s judgment was upon them.  Now they (the true believers) would “curse the fig tree,” as God opened up this information and gave them the ability to understand.  Remember, God said in the Book of Daniel, “None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.”  He also said, in Ecclesiastes 8:5: “A wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.”  So the Lord opened up His people’s ability to discern these things through the Word of God.  It was all “hidden” in the Scriptures and God took the covering off and it became “plain as day” for God’s people to see, especially in the Book of Jeremiah – the Babylonians represented Satan’s kingdom; Judah represented the churches; God commanded to “go into captivity,” and so forth.  Then, in Matthew 24, we saw that the “abomination of desolation” was in the churches and when we “saw” it, we were to go the mountains – to the Word of God.  God’s people began to see these things and proclaim it and, most importantly, they believed it.  They did not “see” the churches physically made desolate; they did not see all the churches torn down and “not one stone left upon the other” in a physical way, but it was through the “eyes of faith,” through the reading of the Bible.  They began to see, to believe and to trust that these things were so, and they doubted not.

Now let me ask you something.  (I know that true believers listen to these studies.)  “How sure are you that the church age is over?  How sure are you that God has judged the churches and congregations of the world?”  I know that many true believers have “zero doubt.”  There is no doubt about it.  When we take the information from the Bible and we see all the Biblical evidence, we can “see” it.  Then we have that prism to look through, as we look at the condition of the churches of the world; we see the tremendous falling away from truth in every denomination, across the board.  There is no doubt about it.  That is what Jesus is referring to, here, when He says: “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree…”  Okay, that is the first thing the people of God are going to do, because as we “see” these things and share these things, what are we telling people?  We are telling them that God has left the churches.  Is He ever coming back?  No – He is never going back to the churches and, therefore, it is an eternal curse that has been pronounced against the churches, just as an eternal curse was pronounced against national Israel.  We, by faith, are God’s instruments to do the same thing to the churches.  Has there been any “fruit” that has grown upon the “fig tree” of the churches since the Great Tribulation began and judgment began at the house of God?  No – no fruit has grown there, henceforth, and for ever.  There has been no one saved within any congregation since the very beginning of the Great Tribulation when the Holy Spirit left and Satan entered in.  Of course, there could not be any salvation: “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” but God, the Holy Spirit, has to open the ears of the hearer so they can become saved; if He is absent, He cannot open their ears.

Well, that is the first part of what Jesus is saying: “Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree,” and then He adds, “but also.”

Now those two words are a couple of huge words: “but also,” or “something else,” or “something greater.”  Christ cursed the fig tree and you will match that.  Jesus is saying, “You will do what I have done, but there will also be something else you will do by faith and it is something more than I did when the fig tree withered away.”

Lord willing, when we get together in our next Bible study, we will look into that.  What is that mountain Christ refers to that will be removed and cast into the sea?  What could that represent?