God’s Prophetic Timeclock with Tim Moore

Part 2: Tim Moore Presentation

Tim Moore: Well, our theme this weekend is The Greatest Sign of All, but really we’re talking about God’s prophetic timeline and how it bears on Israel. We believe so much in the primacy of Israel as this greatest sign that we even decorated our office suite, or at least our mail room as you would call it, with an Israeli theme. So last year we turned our location there at Maranatha Acres into a little bit of a Jewish flavor.

But I want to open this morning with an account of the expectation for what the Lord has in store for Israel that weighed on the minds of the disciples. So if you would turn to Matthew 24, and I’ll begin reading there in verse 1. You’re very familiar with this passage if you know anything at all or have studied Bible prophecy. But it says that Jesus came out from the Temple and was going away when His disciples came out to point out the Temple buildings to Him.

Now, I really resonate with this particular verse because I understand the awe that the disciples felt. You see, they had come from Galilee down to the big city, we say down if we’re in the west because it’s south, but they went up to Jerusalem because it was so far higher in elevation than Galilee and the Jordan Valley. And they come to this incredible city which had the Temple, which had all the other buildings, and it was awe-inspiring.

Herod the Great was a great builder. If you go to this day to Israel, you can see the retaining wall that we call the Western Wall. It has blocks as big as a city block. They all fit together so tightly you can’t even get a piece of paper in between. And here are the disciples walking around saying, “Golly.” You see, the disciples came from the sticks. And I understand this, being a Kentuckian. They were what we would call “the hillbillies.” And they’ve come to the big city of Jerusalem, and they’re overwhelmed by just the magnificence of all these buildings.

And Jesus says to them in verse 2, “Do you not see all these things, these buildings, these outward manifestations of beauty that took years and years to construct and to enlarge and to beautify? Truly, I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” What? It took years to build this Temple.” Later, you know, the Pharisees and Sadducees would be amazed when Jesus would say, “Tear down this temple and I’ll rebuild it in three days.” They didn’t understand the prophetic significance of His words.

And so later, as Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives, it says in verse 3, “You’re sitting on the Mount of Olives. The disciples came to Him privately saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things happen and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?'” You see, as much as the disciples did not understand at this point, even though Jesus was trying to get it through their heads, I understand that well also. I’m kind of thick-headed, too. They recognized that somehow He would be going away. Somehow the prophesied destruction of Jerusalem would come and somehow there would be an end of the age, and it would all tie into Israel.

We know that because even after the resurrection, one of their first questions was, “Is it now that You’re going to restore Israel?” And He says, “Fellas, you don’t quite get it even still.” This is in Acts 1:6, “When they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, ‘Lord, is it at this time that You’re restoring the kingdom to Israel?'” This anticipation on the disciples’ part, yes, that there would be destruction in Jerusalem, and somehow Jesus would go away and come again. There would be an end of the age, but there would be a massive promise to be kept for Israel as God’s kingdom on Earth. They understood some.

Well, folks, we have the blessing, as I’ve said many times, of hindsight. Because unlike the prophets of the Old Testament, we know our Messiah by name. And we know that He did indeed die, He was buried, but He was resurrected by the power of God, and that He’s ascended to the right hand of God the Father. And so in our day and age, we can see signs of the times manifesting all around us that Scripture says the prophets of old longed to be able to see.

Do you realize how blessed you are? You say, “Oh, the world’s falling apart.” Well, the world’s falling together in terms of the prophetic pieces, as Jan Markell would say, which is why my friend Don Perkins gets up every morning and does a rapture jump, ready to go. One of these days he says, he’s not coming down. Because we live in the season of the Lord’s return. You know, this idea that we are seeing with our own eyes, not just reading with hindsight, but witnessing the sign of the times, is why that becomes a common theme even as we proclaim Jesus’ return.

Just a couple of years ago, we had in our six-part series of Lamplighter magazines, a focus on the Signs of the Times. We had the Signs of Nature and Nature’s God, the Signs of Society. Boy, haven’t those multiplied before our eyes even in this country. We had the Signs that are Spiritual in Nature, both positive and negative. We had the Signs of World Politics, with the nations coming into alignment. We had the Signs of Technology, as Nathan mentioned last night. But the Greatest Sign of All is the Sign of Israel for those who have eyes to see.

And sadly, too many in the Church have had their senses dulled, their spiritual perception distracted, because Satan doesn’t want to realize that Israel is indeed the Greatest Sign of All. I hope I prove that to you by the end of the next two hours. And, well, a little bit less than that. Let me ask you a question. What was the most uncharacteristic thing Jesus ever did during His earthly ministry? You ever thought about that? The Lord healed people, He multiplied fishes and loaves, He turned water into wine demonstrating His power over time and matter. Whole sermon on just making water into wine.

But what is the most uncharacteristic thing He did? Well, even His disciples at times thought eating with Gentiles, that’s not what a Jewish holy guy would do, but He did. What about healing Gentiles? He wouldn’t do that either, but He did. What about speaking to a Samaritan woman? An unclean woman at a well. But Jesus did. Is that some of the most uncharacteristic things Jesus ever did? I want to submit to you that the most uncharacteristic thing Jesus ever did was to curse a tree.

Now, why do I say that? Because as we read in Matthew’s account, chapter 21, it says, “Now in the morning He was returning to the city, and He became hungry.” In His humanity, Jesus needed to eat just like you and me. And if I talked long enough or too long, or Baruch goes too long, your stomach will begin to rumble and you’ll be ready for lunch. “And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only, and He said, ‘No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.'” A curse on a tree. Now, Mark goes one step further in his account because he explains that when He found no fruit on the tree, it was actually not the season for fruit.

Now, this begs a question, was Jesus ignorant of the seasons of the year? Did He not realize that there would be no likely prospect of finding fruit on this lone fig tree? Well, surely that’s not the case. Jesus used so many agricultural analogies. He understood the seasons. He created the tree. He knew that it was not the season for figs. So we have to ask, was Jesus just hangry? Yeah, I hear. Well, I’ve been there. Anybody been there? Some of us get hangrier than others.

Well, the disciples were amazed as they watched the tree wither, as they came back the next day and the tree had withered. And it said it had withered from the root up. You know, if you study plants, and my wife has a green thumb, I am the hired help and I don’t even get paid very well to dig and to hoe and all those other things as she produces beautiful gardens and flowers. She’ll tell you, don’t let me have a weed eater around her flower bed, but that’s another subject. When a plant does not absorb enough water and nutrients through what, its roots, it will wilt and eventually die, even in good soil. The crisis in the plant’s life is usually first visible in the leaves furthest from the root.

But Scripture says that this tree withered from the root up because the Lord had cursed it. And that begs the question, why did He curse a tree? Well, I think we begin to understand this when we understand that Jesus had such great hopes and longings and love for His people, Israel, and for Jerusalem in particular. It says when He approached it, He wept over it. Because had they understood the time of their visitation, Jerusalem embodying the nation of Israel, embodying the people of Israel. And yet He said desolation is coming. Destruction is coming, just as I read there in Matthew 24, because they did not recognize the time of their visitation.

O, Jerusalem, you’ve killed the prophets and you’ve stoned those that I’ve sent to you. I just wanted to gather you as a hen would gather her chicks. How many of you all have watched the eagles out in California raising their two chicks? Anybody? Fascinating to watch this beautiful demonstration of life and love. And the Lord loves His people so much, and yet He proclaimed, “Behold, I leave your house desolate. And I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say,” what? Baruch Haba BaShem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

And we know that just a few years later, tragically, Israel witnessed Jerusalem being besieged and destroyed. There’s just a painting painted just in the late 1800s. There are other depictions, obviously. Another painting there on the left of people being cast down from the tops of the Temple buildings. And of course, as you saw in Avi’s presentation, a depiction in Rome of the triumph of Titus bringing back the spoils from where? From Jerusalem. Who some today like to claim there were no Jews here prior to 1948. What a satanic lie being foisted on the world today.

And yet this was foretold not just by Jesus Christ, but by the prophets of old. Indeed, Moses told, in Deuteronomy chapter 28-30, the consequences of rejecting the Lord and His provision for blessing. He said, “Cursed shall you be.” And, “Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all the peoples from one end of the Earth to the other.” And we have seen that happen through our perspective of hindsight in human history. The scattering is discussed dramatically in verse 64 of chapter 28. This prophecy, even of Moses, declared that there would be dispersion, that there would be persecution, that there would be desolation. Not only for Jerusalem, not only for the land, but indeed for the people.

And in the fullness of time following AD 70, we saw as the Jewish diaspora was scattered to the far reaches of the Earth, especially the world of that day and age. And to this day, there are Jews scattered in virtually every country of the Earth. At least until recently. And we’ve also witnessed, as the persecution rose around the world, and most tragically, brothers and sisters, that persecution oftentimes was instigated within the Church.

As a matter of fact, as the Church took on a more and more Gentile flavor, some of the early church fathers decided that the Jews deserved to be cursed. How many of you would agree that the Jews, the Gentiles, and you and me deserve to be cursed? Yeah, that’s the Gospel. I deserve to be cursed, but I’m not. But this lie from the pit of hell that the Jews deserve death and were destined to wander the Earth as a demonstration of the Church over the synagogue?

Now, Augustine was a brilliant theologian in many ways, but he got this wrong, because he didn’t understand the promise of God that is still yes and amen for the Jewish people. Yes, a curse. Yes, a season of wrath. Yes, a dispersal. But if you read in Deuteronomy 30:1-5, Moses said that there would be a recovery as the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob came home to the land given to their fathers. And yet other church fathers and leaders had great animosity toward the Jews.

Luther referred to them as a miserable or cursed people, stupid fools, miserable, blind, and senseless, thieves and robbers, great vermin of humanity. Where do you think Adolf Hitler got some of his ideas from? He liked to cite Luther. And again, I give credit to Luther for reforming the Church among others. But he got the Jewish question wrong. As did Hitler and Haman. And today, Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and so many others. Luther’s shocking ideas for dealing with the Jews came to fruition most dramatically in recent history in the reign of Nazi Germany.

To the point that the desolation predicted by Moses and by Jesus Christ was born out virtually within the lifetime of some in this room, or at least watching. To where the Jewish people collectively often would say in the morning, “If only it were evening.” In the evening, “Oh, if only it were morning,” because of the terror of their heart and the fear and the sight which their eyes beheld. The horrors of the Holocaust. And yet, in the midst of this dispersion, persecution, and desolation, God also promised that He would preserve His people, Israel. And so wherever they went, they maintained their identity as Jews. Anybody ever met a Hittite? Anybody ever met a Roman? An Assyrian?

I can name off people groups throughout human history, and yet the Jews have survived as a people group. Some of them, you know, half and half, but- I wish I could claim that. My closest claim is to know that I’m an all-American mutt, so no telling. I did have a Grandma Jacob, so we hope that maybe there’s a little Jewish blood flowing. And my grandchildren call me Saba. But having said that, the Jews are a demonstration that God is real because as even counselors to czars and kings in Europe would tell when asked, “Prove to me God is real,” they would give a two-word answer, the Jews. The fact that they’re here proves God is real and He keeps His promises.

And so wherever they went, maintaining their identity, thriving in spite of persecution, in spite of pogroms, fulfilling the promise of God, that He would lavish His love on them once again. And that even though they were scattered throughout the nations, why? Because of their ways and their deeds, He had judged them. As a matter of fact, if you go and read the preceding verses here in Ezekiel 36, it says, “When the house of Israel was living in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds.” Last year you heard Terry Cooper describe those ways and those deeds.

What did they engage in? Idol worship and child sacrifice. What are the two greatest sins of America today? Idol worship. Child sacrifice. Woe unto those who do not learn the lessons of God’s Word. “Therefore,” God says, “I poured out My wrath on them and I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed. But I had concern for My Holy Name, which the house of Israel had profaned.” Brothers and sisters, which you and I have profaned through our sinfulness. This is not a condition only of the Jews, this is the human condition.

But God lavished His love on them and on you and me, while in our wicked state, Christ died for us. And so in their wicked state, He had concern for His name and for His people. “Therefore, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, it is not for your sake, O house of Israel that I’m about to act, but for My Holy Name,” and I will do what? “I will gather you from the nations and from all the lands that bring you,” where? “Back to your own land.

For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion, I will gather you. In an outburst of anger I hid my face from you for a moment. I cursed you. I poured out my wrath on you. But with everlasting loving kindness, I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, Yahweh, your Redeemer. Therefore, do not fear, for I am with you. I will bring your offspring,” from where? “From the East and gather you from the West. I will say to the North, give them up, and to the South, do not hold them back. Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth.”

This verse does not describe the return from captivity in Babylon. That was only to the East. But virtually in our living memory, God has been bringing the Jews back from every corner of the compass, every point on the compass, regathering them from the four corners of the earth to this day.

Part 3: Announcement

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Part 4: Transition back to Fig Tree

Nathan Jones: God’s regathering of the Jewish people is something we’ve pointed to many times. But He did not just regather them to Israel, He also reestablished them as a nation on the mountains of Israel.

Tim Moore: In addition, He revived their ancient language, brought about a resurgence of the Israeli military, and allowed them to reclaim the city of Jerusalem as their national capital. He also refocused world politics on Israel in general and Jerusalem in particular. All of those are prophetic manifestations of what Jesus referred to regarding the cursed fig tree becoming tender and putting forth leaves once again.

Part 5: Tim Moore Continued

Tim Moore: Well, folks, we return to Jesus in Matthew 24. You wonder, why did He curse a fig tree? I don’t think He was just hangry. Later in Matthew 24, as the Lord has described all the various signs that are going to be manifest, He said this, “Now learn this parable from the fig tree.” Okay, this is important. We should pay attention. If it was a parable, He didn’t just talk about a fig tree. When did He talk about a fig tree? And the disciples immediately would’ve realized that was just a few days ago when He cursed a fig tree. That was kind of unusual, out of character.

And sure enough, it withered and was cursed. “When its branch has already become tender and put forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.” What is the fig tree? The fig tree is a symbol of Israel. Cursed for a season. Withered from the root because it did not stay connected to the source of its blessing. But restored, rebudding, and bearing fruit before our eyes today.

Part 6: Transition back to Action Point

Nathan Jones: It would be easy for a message like Tim’s to focus on information without application. But Tim was careful to offer his mostly Gentile audience an action point as we await the coming of our Jewish Messiah.

Part 7: Tim Moore Continued

Tim Moore: So there is being before our eyes, the salvation of a remnant. You want prophetic fulfillment? Well listen, brothers and sisters, here is the prophetic fulfillment before your eyes that the Holy Spirit is calling individual Jews to faith in Yeshua and an everlasting relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I can point to Avi, Baruch, and Mottel right here with us today.

The Lord said in Deuteronomy to the Jewish people, “When you are in distress and all these things, the dispersion, the persecution, the desolation has come upon you,” when? “In the latter days, you’ll return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. And then He will pour out on the house of David.” Is that the Gentile church? Any of us claim to be of the house of David? Not the hereditary house. That is the Jewish people.

“And on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplication. So they will look upon Me whom they have pierced and mourn as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly for Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.” Notice God changing, talking about Me and Him, because God the Father is giving this revelation to be written in Zechariah, referring to Him, the Messiah. And so today, more and more Jews are crying out, Baruch Haba BaShem Adonai, blessed is He who comes, who has come, and who is coming again in the name of the Lord.

Closing

Nathan Jones: Tim, I thought your message really did capture the importance of Israel as God’s prophetic timeclock.

Tim Moore: Well, thanks a lot, Nathan. I think many people miss the fact that Israel is critical in God’s providence still today. You know, if we have the mind and heart of Christ, we will want to share His love for His Chosen People and realize that His promises to them are still as valid today as when He recorded them throughout His Word.

Nathan Jones: Well, folks, we have two more weeks to go as we whet your appetite to all the wonderful presentations offered at our 2025 Annual Bible Prophecy Conference in June. Next episode, we’ll share insights from Dan and Meg Price, Gentile followers of Christ who are sharing the love of Yeshua in the heart of Israel.

Tim Moore: We’ll also share more from our Question & Answer session. For now, just know that you can still get a copy of the DVD or flash drive with all the conference presentations in their entirety, along with two question and answer sessions and other bonus material. Just visit our online store or call the number on the screen. For only $25, we’ll be glad to send one to you.

With the Jewish fig tree becoming tender and putting forth leaves, we know that Jesus is near, right at the door. But if He tarries, we’ll be back again next week. Godspeed!

Prophecy Partner Program

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End of Program